Caisson vs Create T3 App
Create T3 App is the free, typesafe scaffold: deliberately only the core. Caisson is the compliance and tenant-isolation substrate it leaves to you. Here is the honest line.
Which should you use?
Pick Create T3 App to start a full-stack, typesafe Next.js app for free: it wires Next.js, TypeScript, Tailwind, tRPC, Prisma or Drizzle, and NextAuth.js: by design, only the typesafe core. Pick Caisson when that app has to carry regulated data through an audit: 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. create-t3-app scaffolds the foundation; Caisson is the compliance and tenancy substrate it says up front it does not include.
What Create T3 App is
Free typesafe Next.js stack scaffold (T3). Facts below were read from create.t3.gg on 2026-07-07.
- A CLI scaffold for the T3 stack: Next.js, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, tRPC, Prisma or Drizzle ORM, and NextAuth.js; you pick which pieces.
- Explicitly NOT an all-inclusive template: its stated design is to scaffold only the typesafe core and have you bring your own libraries.
- No billing, no multi-tenancy, and no compliance tooling; those are outside its scope by design.
- Free and MIT-licensed with a large community and Discord, verified 2026-07-07.
An honest comparison
Where Create T3 App has a capability, it is marked. Caisson is the compliance and tenant-isolation substrate; Create T3 App wins the rows it wins.
| Detail | Caisson | Create T3 App |
|---|---|---|
| Stack | Next.js + Postgres | Next.js + Prisma / Drizzle |
| Typesafe API | REST/typed | tRPC |
| Auth | NextAuth.js wiring | |
| Billing / subscriptions | — | |
| Organization multi-tenancy | — | |
| 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) | — | |
| License / price | One-time perpetual | Free (MIT) |
What Create T3 App is genuinely better at
A comparison that only flatters one side isn't worth reading. Here is what this kit does well.
create-t3-app's end-to-end type safety (tRPC from client to server, typed all the way down) is a genuinely excellent free foundation. For a TypeScript team that wants the typesafe core and nothing it didn't ask for, it is the gold-standard start.
Its whole philosophy is to add only what you need, which keeps the scaffold clean, and it is backed by one of the largest communities in the ecosystem. That restraint and support are real, honest advantages.
Where Caisson draws the line
The compliance and tenant-isolation substrate a launch kit leaves to you.
create-t3-app is upfront that it is not an all-inclusive template: it does not ship billing, multi-tenancy, or any compliance tooling. Caisson is precisely that substrate: tenancy, billing, and the compliance modules as audited packages on a standard Postgres app.
Caisson installs onto a plain Next.js + Postgres app (the same shape create-t3-app scaffolds), so you add fail-closed RLS with isolation tests, a WORM audit trail, and evidence packs without leaving the stack you started on.
Which should you pick?
You want a free, minimal, typesafe Next.js starting point and will add product features (billing, tenancy, compliance) yourself.
You need the regulated backend (tenancy, billing, database-enforced isolation with tests, and audit evidence) as maintained packages rather than hand-rolled.
Scaffold the app with create-t3-app, then add Caisson's tenancy, billing, and Compliance packages onto the same Next.js + Postgres codebase.
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.
Is Caisson an alternative to create-t3-app?
Does create-t3-app include compliance or multi-tenancy?
create-t3-app is free. Why pay for Caisson?
Ship the compliant backend.
Explore the Compliance bundle, browse every module in the marketplace, or read another comparison.