Caisson vs Bedrock
Bedrock is a modern, modular Next.js + GraphQL foundation. Caisson is the compliance substrate a foundation leaves to you. Here is the honest line.
Which should you use?
Pick Bedrock for a clean, modern Next.js + GraphQL foundation: magic-link auth, teams with per-seat Stripe billing, a typed GraphQL API (Pothos + Prisma + urql), token-based API auth, and a deliberately modular design where everything but Next.js is removable. Pick Caisson when that foundation has to meet a compliance bar: it ships fail-closed Postgres RLS with isolation tests, a WORM + hash-chained audit trail, per-tenant field encryption, and SOC 2 / HIPAA / EU AI Act evidence packs. Bedrock is a superb starting foundation; Caisson is the regulated-backend substrate on top.
What Bedrock is
Next.js + GraphQL SaaS boilerplate. Facts below were read from bedrock.mxstbr.com on 2026-07-07.
- Next.js + GraphQL (Pothos + Prisma + urql), intentionally unstyled so you bring your own UI.
- Magic-link auth, teams (projects with their own billing and members), Stripe Checkout subscription payments including per-seat, transactional emails, token-based API authentication.
- Deliberately modular: every tool except Next.js can be removed or swapped.
- One-time purchase (list $450, a sale price is shown), 14-day money-back guarantee, verified 2026-07-07.
An honest comparison
Where Bedrock has a capability, it is marked. Caisson is the compliance and tenant-isolation substrate; Bedrock wins the rows it wins.
| Detail | Caisson | Bedrock |
|---|---|---|
| Stack | Next.js + Postgres | Next.js + GraphQL + Prisma |
| Auth (magic link) | ||
| Teams + per-seat billing | ||
| Typed API | REST/typed | GraphQL |
| Fail-closed Postgres RLS + automated cross-tenant isolation tests | — | |
| WORM evidence store + append-only hash-chained audit trail | — | |
| SOC 2 / HIPAA / EU AI Act evidence packs + OSCAL export | — | |
| Per-tenant field encryption (envelope, per-tenant key) | — | |
| Detached evidence signing (Ed25519 + RFC-3161) | — |
What Bedrock is genuinely better at
A comparison that only flatters one side isn't worth reading. Here is what this kit does well.
Bedrock's typed GraphQL API on Pothos + Prisma with urql on the client is a genuinely nice foundation, from a well-known author. If you want GraphQL and a modular, no-magic codebase, it is a strong pick.
Projects with their own billing and members, plus per-seat Stripe pricing and token-based API auth, ship out of the box, real B2B plumbing, cleanly done.
Where Caisson draws the line
The compliance and tenant-isolation substrate a launch kit leaves to you.
Bedrock is designed as a clean base to build on; it does not ship database-enforced isolation with tests, a WORM audit trail, field encryption, or evidence packs. Caisson is precisely that layer, and it enforces isolation in Postgres RLS rather than the GraphQL resolver layer.
Both value modularity. Caisson expresses it as installable packages on a shared Apache-2.0 base, so you add exactly the compliance modules you need, and never depend 'up' on an edition.
Which should you pick?
You want a clean, modular Next.js + GraphQL foundation with teams and per-seat billing to build your own product on.
That product handles regulated data and needs database-enforced isolation, an audit trail, and compliance evidence.
Use Bedrock as the GraphQL foundation and add Caisson's compliance packages on the Postgres side for the isolation tests, WORM audit, and evidence packs.
One-time, own the source.
Caisson is a one-time perpetual license — the price never recurs, and it includes 12 months of updates from your purchase date, renewable per entitlement afterward at 40% of list per year. The Base substrate is Apache-2.0; the compliance modules are commercial.
Compliance bundle
$1,649, one-time. Fail-closed RLS, WORM, the audit chain, evidence packs, and the framework and signing carves — the whole substrate this comparison is about.
À la carte
Take a single module from $49 — audit-worm, field-crypto, or compliance-core on their own, onto your existing Postgres app.
Everything bundle
$2,259 covers every bundle and every à-la-carte module, plus the open base, in one purchase.
Common questions.
Does Bedrock include SOC 2 or compliance features?
Is Caisson also modular like Bedrock?
Can I use Bedrock and Caisson together?
Ship the compliant backend.
Explore the Compliance bundle, browse every module in the marketplace, or read another comparison.