About Boilerplates Directory

What is a boilerplate?

A boilerplate is a pre-built codebase you start a project from instead of an empty folder: a SaaS starter with auth and Stripe wired in, a Next.js or Expo template, an extension scaffold, a backend generator. The good ones encode months of integration decisions — the exact weeks of setup work every new project otherwise repeats. Some are commercial products ($99–$300, typically one-time); many of the best are open-source.

Who runs it

Boilerplates Directory is built and maintained by Hugo Berton, an independent developer based in Aix-en-Provence, France. It started from a personal spreadsheet of starter kits — assembled while repeatedly answering the same question: “which boilerplate should I start this on?”

We don’t take VC money, run no display ads, and have no growth target other than “the best starter for your stack is findable here.” Revenue comes from optional fast-track submissions ($49) and transparent advertising slots. When affiliate partnerships exist, those links carry rel=“sponsored” — today there are none.

Editorial criteria

Every listing must meet four bars:

1. Real starter— a codebase that scaffolds a working project you build on. Not a tutorial, not a components screenshot, not a waitlist page for a kit that doesn’t exist yet.
2. Maintained — tracks current framework versions, recent releases or commits, issues that get answered. Abandonware wastes your evaluation time; we reject it and remove it when listings rot.
3. Honest— pricing stated up front (we put it in the description), accurate claims about what’s in the box, no fake scarcity or invented testimonials.
4. Verified live — the URL responds at review time, and the catalog is re-checked for link rot regularly.

The bar is meant to be practical, not gatekeeper-y — if your starter is solid and maintained, you’ll get in. Paid and open-source are held to the same standard.

How to get listed

Send your boilerplate to /submit. Standard review is free and takes up to four weeks; fast-track ($49) is reviewed within 48 hours and includes featured placement on the relevant category page. You only pay if we approve — full refund on rejection.

What makes us different

• Every listing reviewed by a human, not auto-imported.
• Open-source vs paid clearly badged, prices in descriptions.
• No cookies, no trackers, no behavioral retargeting (we only use Plausible — cookieless analytics).
• Sponsored entries always labelled Sponsored; affiliate links (when they exist) always rel=“sponsored”.
• Open submission, transparent rejection reasons.
• /llms.txt — clean machine-readable summary for AI assistants.