vs Shopify / Teachable
You pay for success — fees grow with revenue. We charge predictable fixed fees for the toolkit.
TCO calculator
Set your inputs
Revenue and tax follow your current stack. Card fees come from the payment method you pick (each platform has its own gateways). ShipFast and Larafast are code starters — you mostly pay the processor (Stripe, Lemon Squeezy, Paddle).
Options change with the platform: Shopify Payments vs third-party surcharges, Teachable:pay vs custom gateway, Tilda/Wix/Woo (no platform % — gateway only), boilerplates — Stripe / Lemon Squeezy / Paddle.
Approximate combined income / profit tax rate on what you keep after platform and payment costs. The model divides Year‑1 stack costs by (1 − tax%) so totals reflect “money you must earn before tax.” Use 0 if you do not want tax in this estimate.
Added on top of the payment profile (intl, FX, etc.). Default 0 — the base rate is in “Payment method”.
Shopify: plan + ~$15/mo extras per storefront. WordPress: ~$15/mo hosting per site + $80/yr premium theme. Wix, Larafast, ShipFast — Year 1 estimates; details in the PDF.
StartupCore: taxes are modeled as 0% (no withheld share). Year 1 includes self-hosted hosting & infra (stepwise by “Projects”) plus a blended payment cost — equal weight Stripe, PayPal, and NOWPayments (see code), plus fixed cents per order at ~$50 average cart. For Shopify/Wix comparisons, the calculator also adds a +$149 module/licence assumption. For the competitor, fees come from “Payment method” + optional “Extra fee %”.
TCO · Year 1
Shopify vs StartupCore
Gap
The Gap
$0
— of your current stack
$0
—
$0
StartupCore
Money wasted · Year 1
$0
Roughly what you leave on the table vs StartupCore at these inputs.
Result
Your savings over 3 years
$0
We will ask for your email after you click — only to send the PDF and calculator-related updates.
Note: the calculator’s Year‑1 estimate uses standard StartupCore hosting and licensing assumptions.
Deep dive
The breakdown
Here you see the headline gap. The PDF walks line by line: subscriptions, fees, infra. Your team can customize code safely: core updates are meant not to wipe your work where the architecture allows; if something clashes, you get a clear explanation — not a silent overwrite.
Compare capabilities ▼
| Feature | StartupCore | Typical competitor |
|---|---|---|
| Ownership | 100% your code and data | Platform keeps some control |
| Crypto | Built into the core | Plugins, limits, extra % |
| Updates | Auto-Core + storefront on Nuxt or Inertia.js · SSR for speed and SEO | SaaS: vendor cadence; dev starters: updates exist but no single product layer for the business |
| Custom code & updates | Engineers can change the product: core updates should not blindly overwrite your code — custom lives in extension points. If a path conflicts with a release, the system states what blocks the update and what to reconcile. | Auto-updates and “magic” migrations often break forks and core edits; your team debugs without clear signals from the vendor. |
| Maintenance | Managed hosting (optional) | Hidden cost centers |
Positioning
Why StartupCore
vs ShipFast / Larafast
Those kits are for developers: you ship projects on top and they do get updates. We add the same engineering base plus product-style shortcuts where it speeds launch — without pretending to be full no-code like pure builders.
vs Tilda / Wix
Do not get locked in a builder. Your code and product should belong to you, not the platform.
Custom & updates
Your team can customize deeply: updates are not built to “delete everything.” Where it matters, your layers stay yours; when paths clash, you see a clear error or conflict to fix fast.
Under the hood
Built with modern, industry-standard tools for speed and security.
Infrastructure & Stack
For people who read the fine print. The chips and cards below use the same order. The public site can run on Nuxt or Inertia.js; both support SSR — HTML is rendered on the server for faster first paint and better SEO.
The same stack works for a tiny launch and for the long haul: it carries load and concurrent users better than lightweight builders, without turning slow as you grow. Owners and operators do not need to code to run a store or school; engineers step in when you need custom product paths.
Laravel
Nuxt
Vue
Inertia.js
Docker
Manticore
PostgreSQL
Stripe
Tailwind
Filament
Centrifugo
Backend framework
Routing, middleware, and domain logic in Laravel—structure and security stay predictable as you ship features.
Web UI framework
Front can be Nuxt—file-based pages and smart defaults—or you can drive the UI through Inertia + Vue instead (see next cards). Either way you get server-side rendering (SSR): HTML is assembled on the server, so first load and perceived speed jump ahead of a typical client-only SPA and crawlers get fully rendered pages for SEO.
UI components
Composable UI with Vue—whether you ship a Nuxt front or an Inertia + Vue stack, you build once and reuse across every template you pick up from us.
Full-stack bridge
Alternative to a standalone Nuxt storefront: Inertia connects Laravel to Vue—SPA-style navigation and props without a bespoke JSON API per view. Supports SSR like the Nuxt path, so you keep the same benefits for fast initial load and SEO-friendly HTML.
Deployment
Container-ready so staging and production match—deploys stay repeatable for you or your team.
Fast search
Full-text search that stays quick as catalogs grow—no separate search microservice to wire up first.
Database
PostgreSQL for relational data—the kind of foundation you want for a real product, not a throwaway demo.
Payments
Card billing with Stripe; PayPal and NowPayments when you want wallets, crypto, or alternative rails—the same integration shape in every template.
Stripe PayPal NowPayments
Design system
Tailwind for spacing, type, and tokens—tweak the look without drowning in one-off CSS.
Admin panel
Filament gives your team tables, forms, and CRUD—without rebuilding an internal console from zero.
Real-time updates
Centrifugo for live updates—chat, presence, or notifications—without overloading the main HTTP app.
Managed hosting on tuned instances — optional if you do not want to run infra yourself.
Early access
Founder round
Founders are early buyers in our limited round: you lock a reserved slot for the Founder Bundle at $499 (one-time) for the first 100 buyers, with ongoing product access on founder terms. Separate preregistration confirms you want that slot and keeps you eligible for new StartupCore projects and licenses at no extra charge for life as we ship them (subject to the final offer terms at checkout).
Sales open May 11, 2026. From that date you have 14 days to complete payment. The window counts from the official open date, not from an email alone. If payment is not completed in time, your slot is released to the next person in queue order. The calculator above shows how moving to StartupCore can pay back in months — use it anytime.
About 97 founder slots left at $499 out of 100. Your reservation is held for 14 days; after that, unpaid slots go back into the live queue.
Partnerships
Let’s Partner Up
Are you a creator, blogger, or developer? We are looking for partners to help us grow. If you have an audience or a cool idea for a collaboration, we want to hear from you.
Send your proposal to: