What is Creem?
Creem is a next-generation payment platform and Merchant of Record (MoR) built specifically for SaaS businesses and digital products. It acts as a complete "Financial Operating System" for lean startups and AI-powered companies, removing the complexity of global payments, tax compliance, and financial operations.
As a Merchant of Record, Creem becomes the legal seller of your product to end customers. This means they handle all tax obligations, fraud prevention, and payment processing while you focus on building your product. For a comprehensive comparison of payment solutions, check our SaaS boilerplates directory.
Creem Boilerplates List
Supastarter
$349SupaStarter is a top-quality, full-featured SaaS boilerplate designed to accelerate web application development by providing a robust, production-ready foundation. Frequently updated to stay aligned with the latest technologies, SupaStarter is trusted by many successful projects and hundreds of developers worldwide. It seamlessly integrates authentication, role-based access control, team and multi-tenant management, and secure payment and subscription handling with popular providers like Stripe, Lemon Squeezy, and Polar. Supporting modern frontend frameworks such as Next.js and Nuxt 3, with TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, and Radix UI components, it delivers a responsive, customizable interface including dark mode. The backend features fully typed APIs, ORM integration with Prisma or Drizzle, background job support, cron automation, and built-in internationalization (i18n). SupaStarter also includes prebuilt landing pages, marketing pages, legal templates, and email templates, enabling developers to focus on core business logic rather than repetitive setup. With a one-time purchase and scalable architecture, SupaStarter ensures fast, maintainable, and reliable SaaS deployments for MVPs or full-scale applications.
Why Use Creem for Your SaaS?
Creem handles the heavy lifting of selling software globally. As the Merchant of Record, they automatically manage:
- Global Tax Compliance: Automatically calculates, collects, and remits VAT and sales tax in over 100 countries. No need to register for tax IDs in multiple jurisdictions.
- Fraud Protection: Built-in advanced AI fraud detection and risk analysis for every transaction, protecting both you and your customers.
- Refunds & Chargebacks: Managed workflows for handling disputes and customer refunds without the administrative burden.
- Payment Infrastructure: Accept payments from 100+ countries with instant payment methods and local currencies.
Key Features for SaaS Boilerplates
When using a Next.js boilerplate or other starter kit integrated with Creem, you get access to powerful features out of the box:
- Subscription Management: Native support for recurring billing, licenses, seats, trials, and discount codes without custom development.
- Developer-Friendly API: Clean REST APIs and webhooks designed for easy integration into modern frameworks like Next.js, React, and Vue.
- Customer Portal: A self-serve portal where your users can manage their subscriptions, invoices, and payment methods.
- AI Business Insights: An AI assistant that helps you understand churn, average order value (AOV), and top-performing regions.
Creem vs Stripe
While Stripe is a payment processor, Creem is a Merchant of Record. The main difference is liability:
| Feature | Stripe | Creem |
|---|---|---|
| Role | Payment Processor | Merchant of Record |
| Tax Liability | You handle it | Creem handles it |
| Base Fee | 2.9% + 30¢ | ~5% + 50¢ |
| Best For | Domestic sales, high volume | Global SaaS, startups |
With Stripe, you are responsible for calculating and remitting taxes in every jurisdiction where you have customers. With Creem, they handle all tax liability for you. This makes Creem an excellent choice for startups that want to sell globally from day one without hiring a team of accountants.
Recommended Premium Boilerplates
While Creem boilerplates are great for getting started with Merchant of Record support, sometimes it's worth investing in a premium solution. One good paid boilerplate can fully repay itself by saving weeks of development time, providing better documentation, and offering features that would take months to build. Here are some of the best premium boilerplates we recommend:
Shipfast
$199ShipFast is a full‑stack SaaS and AI boilerplate built on Next.js, designed to help developers launch web applications and subscription-based products quickly. Trusted by over 135,000 users worldwide, it has been used to generate significant revenue and has proven itself as a reliable foundation for building production-ready SaaS products. The boilerplate includes authentication, payment and subscription management via Stripe or LemonSqueezy, database integration, email workflows, multi-tenant support, and prebuilt responsive UI components, along with templates for landing pages, blogs, and marketing content. ShipFast was created by Marc Lou, a renowned indie hacker and Product Hunt award winner, who actively uses the boilerplate to build and scale his own products. Its fully structured architecture, pre-wired SaaS flows, and ready-to-deploy setup allow developers to skip repetitive boilerplate work and focus on their product’s unique features. While it is highly effective for rapid launches, one limitation is that updates are not extremely frequent, which may require manual maintenance to keep dependencies up to date. Overall, ShipFast offers a trusted, widely adopted solution for indie founders, solo developers, and small teams seeking a fast, scalable, and feature-complete boilerplate for launching SaaS or AI-powered web applications.
Supastarter
$349SupaStarter is a top-quality, full-featured SaaS boilerplate designed to accelerate web application development by providing a robust, production-ready foundation. Frequently updated to stay aligned with the latest technologies, SupaStarter is trusted by many successful projects and hundreds of developers worldwide. It seamlessly integrates authentication, role-based access control, team and multi-tenant management, and secure payment and subscription handling with popular providers like Stripe, Lemon Squeezy, and Polar. Supporting modern frontend frameworks such as Next.js and Nuxt 3, with TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, and Radix UI components, it delivers a responsive, customizable interface including dark mode. The backend features fully typed APIs, ORM integration with Prisma or Drizzle, background job support, cron automation, and built-in internationalization (i18n). SupaStarter also includes prebuilt landing pages, marketing pages, legal templates, and email templates, enabling developers to focus on core business logic rather than repetitive setup. With a one-time purchase and scalable architecture, SupaStarter ensures fast, maintainable, and reliable SaaS deployments for MVPs or full-scale applications.
How to Choose a Creem Boilerplate
Selecting the right Creem boilerplate requires careful evaluation. Consider these factors:
1. Framework Compatibility
Ensure the boilerplate uses a framework you're comfortable with. Most Creem boilerplates support Next.js, React, or Vue. Choose one that matches your tech stack to minimize learning curve.
2. Integration Depth
Check how deeply Creem is integrated. The best boilerplates include webhook handlers, subscription management, and customer portal links pre-configured, saving you weeks of development time.
3. Documentation Quality
Good documentation is crucial. Look for boilerplates with comprehensive setup guides, API documentation, and examples of common use cases like handling subscription upgrades and cancellations.
4. Additional Features
Beyond Creem integration, consider what else you need: authentication, admin panels, email templates, analytics, etc. The best boilerplates provide a complete foundation, not just payment processing.
Creem Boilerplates FAQ
What is Creem and how does it work?
Creem is a Merchant of Record (MoR) platform designed for SaaS businesses. As an MoR, Creem becomes the legal seller of your product, handling all global tax compliance, VAT collection, and payment processing. This means you don't need to register for taxes in different countries or worry about compliance.
How does Creem compare to Stripe?
Stripe is a payment processor where you remain the merchant of record and are responsible for tax compliance. Creem is an MoR that handles all tax obligations for you. While Stripe charges ~2.9%, Creem charges ~5% but includes tax handling, fraud protection, and compliance - saving you from hiring accountants.
Which boilerplates support Creem integration?
Many modern SaaS boilerplates include Creem integration out of the box. Look for boilerplates that specifically mention Creem or Merchant of Record support in their features. This saves weeks of development time compared to building payment logic from scratch.
Is Creem suitable for startups?
Yes, Creem is ideal for startups that want to sell globally from day one without worrying about tax compliance. The 5% fee is worth it when you consider the cost of accountants, tax software, and the risk of non-compliance. It's particularly good for bootstrapped founders who want to focus on product, not paperwork.
Can I switch from Stripe to Creem later?
Yes, but it requires careful planning. You'll need to run both systems in parallel during the transition, similar to any payment provider migration. Most founders choose their payment provider carefully upfront to avoid this complexity.
