Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

DocSpring VS Makerkit.dev

Compare DocSpring VS Makerkit.dev and see what are their differences

DocSpring logo DocSpring

PDF filling API that makes it easy to fill out PDF forms and convert HTML to PDFs

Makerkit.dev logo Makerkit.dev

MakerKit is a SaaS Starter Kit for Next.js, Remix, Firebase and Supabase. Build unlimited SaaS products in record time with the best SaaS Boilerplate.
  • DocSpring PDF Template Editor
    PDF Template Editor //
    2025-02-26
  • DocSpring HTML Template Preview
    HTML Template Preview //
    2025-02-26
  • DocSpring HTML Template Editor
    HTML Template Editor //
    2025-02-26
  • DocSpring Auto-generated Web Form
    Auto-generated Web Form //
    2025-02-26
  • DocSpring E-Signatures
    E-Signatures //
    2025-02-26
  • DocSpring View Submissions
    View Submissions //
    2025-02-26
  • DocSpring View API Request Logs
    View API Request Logs //
    2025-02-26
  • DocSpring Postman Collection
    Postman Collection //
    2025-02-26

We provide a PDF filling and generation API:

  • Upload your PDF to our visual template editor to set up form fields and data types
  • Post JSON to fill out existing PDF forms with data
  • Generate editable PDF forms, or overlay static data on top of fields
  • Create HTML/CSS templates with Liquid fields, then post JSON to generate PDFs
  • Use our merge API to combine multiple PDFs into a single document

PDF generation doesn't need to be complicated or take weeks of engineering time. Use our battle-tested service to start filling out PDFs in minutes.

  • Makerkit.dev Dashboard
    Dashboard //
    2024-12-07
  • Makerkit.dev Choose Plan
    Choose Plan //
    2024-12-07
  • Makerkit.dev Landing Page
    Landing Page //
    2024-12-07
  • Makerkit.dev Pricing
    Pricing //
    2024-12-07

Makerkit is a production-ready SaaS starter kit built with Next.js App Router and Supabase that helps developers launch faster.

It provides a robust foundation with built-in authentication, team management, billing integration, and Super Admin - all powered by a modular architecture that makes customization and maintenance a breeze.

Whether you're building a B2B or B2C application, Makerkit handles the complex infrastructure so you can focus on building your product's unique features using modern tools like TypeScript, React, and Tailwind CSS.

DocSpring

$ Details
freemium $49 / Monthly (Starter - 50 PDFs / mo)
Release Date
2017 October
Startup details
Country
United States
State
Delaware
City
Newark
Founder(s)
Nathan Broadbent
Employees
1 - 9

Makerkit.dev

$ Details
$299 / One-off
Release Date
-
Startup details
Country
Singapore
Founder(s)
Giancarlo Buomprisco
Employees
1 - 9

DocSpring features and specs

  • Automated PDF Generation
    DocSpring allows users to automate the generation of PDFs by filling out templates with data. This can significantly reduce the time and effort needed to create documents.
  • API Integration
    DocSpring offers a robust API, which allows developers to integrate PDF generation into their own applications easily, enhancing productivity and workflow automation.
  • Flexible Templates
    The platform supports flexible and customizable templates, enabling businesses to maintain brand consistency while meeting specific document formatting requirements.
  • Secure Data Handling
    DocSpring is SOC 2 Type II compliant. We ensure data security through encryption and secure storage options, making it suitable for handling sensitive information.
  • Ease of Use
    The user interface is designed to be intuitive, making it easy for businesses to create and manage PDF templates without requiring extensive technical knowledge.

Makerkit.dev features and specs

  • Marketing Pages
    Landing page, pricing, FAQ, and other marketing pages included
  • Blog and Documentation
    Full-featured blog/documentation system with CMS integration
  • Authentication
    Complete auth system with email, OAuth, and MFA support
  • Billing
    Integrated payment system with Stripe and Lemon Squeezy support
  • Super Admin
    Admin dashboard to manage users, subscriptions and content
  • Translations (i18n)
    Multi-language support
  • Organizations/Teams
    Team management with roles and permissions system
  • Plugins
    Non-core functionality included as plugins: Testimonials, Roadmap, AI Chatbot, Waitlist

Analysis of Makerkit.dev

Overall verdict

  • Makerkit.dev is a solid, well-built SaaS starter kit that helps developers skip weeks of boilerplate setup by providing production-ready authentication, billing, and multi-tenancy features out of the box.

Why this product is good

  • Provides pre-built, production-ready SaaS boilerplate covering authentication, subscriptions, and team/organization management
  • Supports popular modern stacks like Next.js, Remix, Supabase, and Firebase
  • Saves significant development time by eliminating repetitive setup and configuration work
  • Comes with documentation, active maintenance, and community support
  • Includes billing integration with providers like Stripe and Lemon Squeezy
  • Built with TypeScript and modern best practices for maintainable, scalable code

Recommended for

  • Solo developers and indie hackers looking to launch a SaaS product quickly
  • Startups wanting to validate ideas without building infrastructure from scratch
  • Development teams needing a reliable, well-structured foundation for multi-tenant apps
  • Developers already familiar with Next.js, Remix, Supabase, or Firebase
  • Anyone wanting to avoid reinventing authentication and billing systems

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to DocSpring and Makerkit.dev)
PDF Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Developer Tools
0 0%
100% 100
Document Automation
100 100%
0% 0
Boilerplate
0 0%
100% 100

Questions & Answers

As answered by people managing DocSpring and Makerkit.dev.

Which are the primary technologies used for building your product?

DocSpring's answer

Ruby on Rails, React, AWS

Makerkit.dev's answer:

Makerkit uses Next.js 15 (App Router), Supabase, React.js, Typescript and Stripe.

What makes your product unique?

DocSpring's answer

DocSpring is built specifically for developers who need reliable, secure PDF generation in production. We combine PDF form filling and HTML-to-PDF in a single API, with a visual template editor, typed fields, and validation to catch issues early. Our product has a lot of power features and is built to handle very advanced forms. Our infrastructure is SOC 2 Type II compliant, battle-tested, privacy focused, and optimized for high-volume workloads, so you can ship PDF features quickly and then stop thinking about them.

Makerkit.dev's answer:

Makerkit stands out by offering a truly modular architecture built with Turborepo, where core features like auth, billing, and notifications live in their own packages for better maintainability.

While most starters lock you into specific patterns or providers, Makerkit gives you flexibility with a multi-account system supporting both B2B and B2C scenarios, provider-agnostic billing, and edge-ready deployment options.

Beyond the basics, it includes production-ready features like multi-factor auth, real-time notifications, and team permissions - all built with Supabase, TypeScript, React Query, and modern tooling to make development a genuine pleasure.

Why should a person choose your product over its competitors?

DocSpring's answer

DocSpring is designed for teams who need a powerful tool with all the features you need for complex forms and business logic. DocSpring supports structured JSON, typed fields, and array iterations, and many other advanced features, so your templates stay aligned with your real data model. You get powerful validation, a visual editor, strong observability, and an API that fits into modern engineering workflows, so you spend less time fighting PDFs and more time shipping product.

Makerkit.dev's answer:

While other starters give you basic auth and a dashboard, Makerkit provides a genuinely modular foundation with the real features SaaS products need - like multi-factor auth, team permissions, real-time notifications, and provider-agnostic billing, all organized in clean, maintainable packages using Turborepo.

You get a first-class developer experience with TypeScript, React Query, and modern tooling, plus the flexibility to support both B2B and B2C scenarios, different payment providers, and edge deployment options.

Best of all, Makerkit is actively maintained with regular updates and responsive support, so you're building on a foundation that grows with your needs rather than painting yourself into a corner.

How would you describe the primary audience of your product?

DocSpring's answer

DocSpring is built for engineering and product teams who manage complex documents in production: things like financial applications, insurance forms, healthcare and legal documents, HR and payroll workflows, and government-style forms.

Makerkit.dev's answer:

Indie Hackers and Companies who want to launch quickly, without compromising on quality.

What's the story behind your product?

DocSpring's answer

I used to work at a payroll company (Gusto). We had built a similar in-house tool for filling out tax forms. I then built the first version of DocSpring (formerly named FormAPI) while I was living in Thailand. I built it to automate the filling out of visa application and visa extension forms, but realized that it could also be used for tax forms, real estate contracts, and any other kind of fillable PDF form.

Who are some of the biggest customers of your product?

DocSpring's answer

  • SaaS services serving customers in the real estate, insurance, finance, and legal industries, among many others.

User comments

Share your experience with using DocSpring and Makerkit.dev. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, DocSpring should be more popular than Makerkit.dev. It has been mentiond 5 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

DocSpring mentions (5)

  • Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (February 2025)
    I'm still working on DocSpring [1], originally launched on Hacker News in October 2017 under the name "FormAPI." It's a PDF generation API with a template editor UI for setting up fields on PDF forms. It makes it easy to turn complex tax and immigration forms into simple type-safe APIs with strong validations. I've been having a lot of fun with AI agents lately. Have tried a lot of them - Cline, Roo Code,... - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Launch HN: Onedoc (YC W24) โ€“ A better way to create PDFs
    For programmatic filling of PDFs, have a look at DocSpring: https://docspring.com. - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago
  • So you want to modify the text of a PDF by hand
    Great post. I've spend a lot of time reading through the PDF specification over the last ~5 years while building DocSpring [1], and I still feel like I've barely scratched the surface. Qpdf is a great tool. One of my other favorites is RUPS [2], which really lets you dig into the structure of a PDF. [1] https://docspring.com [2] https://github.com/itext/i7j-rups. - Source: Hacker News / almost 3 years ago
  • Workflow for automating document creation from a "database"
    Hi /u/pepeday, Iโ€™m the founder of a software product that I built to solve this problem. The service is called DocSpring: https://docspring.com We provide a platform that you can use to set up PDF templates, and automatically generate PDFs by filling in those templates with data from your database. Please feel free to send me a message and Iโ€™d be happy to speak with you and help you figure out a solution. I can... Source: almost 5 years ago
  • How do you fill copies of the same PDF certificates with Excel data?
    - https://docspring.com/ (super advanced features, a bit bloated). Source: almost 5 years ago

Makerkit.dev mentions (2)

What are some alternatives?

When comparing DocSpring and Makerkit.dev, you can also consider the following products

DocRaptor - As the only API powered by the Prince HTML-to-PDF engine, DocRaptor provides the best support for complex PDFs with powerful support for headers, page breaks, page numbers, flexbox, watermarks, accessible PDFs, and much more

ShipFa.st - The NextJS boilerplate with all the stuff you need to get your product in front of customers. From idea to production in 5 minutes.

Doczilla - Effortlessly create stunning PDFs and screenshots. Seamlessly store them in your own AWS or Google Cloud Storage bucket, putting the control and creativity right at your fingertips.

supastarter - The boilerplate for your next web app built on top of Supabase and Next.js.

wkhtmltopdf - wkhtmltopdf is an open source (LGPL) command line tools to render HTML into PDF and various image...

Nexty.dev - Launch your SaaS in days, not weeks. Nexty.dev is a production-ready Next.js and Supabase starter template for building modern SaaS applications. Launch your content, AI, or subscription service faster.