Laravel Starter
IntermediateWeb AppPHP Laravel with Eloquent ORM and Blade templating.
Published 27 September 2026
About Laravel Starter
Laravel is PHP's most productive full-stack framework. The Laravel Starter stack pairs it with PostgreSQL for data and a managed hosting platform for deployment, giving you an opinionated, batteries-included framework with a large ecosystem and one of the most ergonomic developer experiences in any language. Laravel's Eloquent ORM, Blade templating engine, Artisan CLI, and migration system work together so cohesively that building a CRUD application feels almost declarative.
Blade templates render HTML on the server with a clean, minimal syntax: @foreach, @if, @extends, with no JavaScript required for basic pages. Eloquent's active record pattern maps database rows to PHP objects with relationship definitions that read like plain English (hasMany, belongsTo, morphTo). Artisan commands handle code generation, migrations, queue management, and more from the terminal.
Laravel's ecosystem includes the official starter kits (auth scaffolding), Cashier (Stripe billing), Scout (full-text search), and Socialite (OAuth), all first-party packages maintained by the Laravel team. PostgreSQL support is first-class via the pgsql driver. Most PaaS hosts deploy the app from a PHP buildpack or container with a managed PostgreSQL add-on. This is a strong choice for teams that write PHP professionally or for founders who want fast iteration with a mature ecosystem behind them.
Key Features
- ✓Eloquent ORM with expressive relationships: `belongsTo`, `hasMany`, `morphTo` in plain PHP
- ✓Blade templating with layouts, components, and slots for server-rendered HTML
- ✓Artisan CLI for code generation, migrations, queues, and scheduled tasks
- ✓Laravel Breeze for instant authentication scaffolding (email/password, social login)
- ✓First-party ecosystem: Cashier (Stripe), Scout (search), Socialite (OAuth), Horizon (queues)
- ✓PostgreSQL via the pgsql driver with full migration and schema builder support
When to Use Laravel Starter
- →SaaS applications with subscription billing via Laravel Cashier
- →Multi-tenant web apps with role-based access control
- →Content management systems and editorial platforms
- →E-commerce sites with complex inventory and order logic
- →Internal business tools built quickly by PHP-proficient teams
Pros
- Laravel's ecosystem is the most complete of any PHP framework; most common requirements have a first-party package
- Eloquent's active record pattern makes database operations readable and fast to write
- Artisan's code generators cut boilerplate for controllers, models, migrations, and tests
- Strong community and extensive documentation reduce the cost of onboarding new developers
Cons
- PHP's reputation in some technical communities is a hiring obstacle despite Laravel's quality
- Eloquent's magic can obscure N+1 query problems, which takes discipline with `with()` eager loading
- Full page reloads unless you add Livewire or an API + SPA layer
- Laravel's version upgrade cadence (yearly major versions) requires periodic migration effort
Database Options for Laravel Starter
Laravel Starter with PostgreSQL
The standard choice: a full PostgreSQL instance on a managed host or your own server, connected from Laravel via Eloquent, with complete control over configuration and extensions.
Laravel Starter with MySQL
The other half of the classic LAMP-adjacent PHP stack. Eloquent talks to MySQL exactly the same way it talks to PostgreSQL, so this is a vendor choice, not an architecture change. Worth it if your host, team, or existing tooling is already MySQL-centric.
Laravel Starter with MariaDB
Laravel's Eloquent ORM and Query Builder support MariaDB through the same MySQL driver, and Laravel's own documentation lists MariaDB as a supported database alongside MySQL. Pick this over MySQL for MariaDB's fully open licensing, or when that's what your host defaults to.
These are highlighted picks. To see all the tools, check the Databases category.
Hosting Options for Laravel Starter
Deploy Laravel Starter on Railway
A container-based platform where the whole Laravel app deploys as a persistent service, a natural fit for PHP-FPM holding a live database connection pool. No free tier: the Hobby plan starts around $5/mo in usage credit, plus usage-based billing for CPU, memory, and network. Auto-deploys on push, and has no CDN of its own.
Deploy Laravel Starter on Render
The same persistent-service model as Railway, with a genuinely free tier for small Laravel apps, built-in cron jobs, and its own CDN for static assets. Free-tier services spin down after inactivity; predictable always-on pricing starts around $7/mo.
Deploy Laravel Starter on Hetzner
A self-hosted VPS running the whole Laravel app yourself, at the price of managing deployment and updates. Entry-level instances start around €4-5/mo, the cheapest option here, though there's no bundled CDN.
Deploy Laravel Starter on Fly.io
Runs the Laravel app as a container close to users across multiple regions, useful if latency to a geographically spread user base matters more than raw cost. Billing is usage-based with only a small free allowance.
Deploy Laravel Starter on DigitalOcean
A managed VPS or App Platform deployment (including Laravel-specific Droplet images) with predictable flat-rate pricing, starting around $4-6/mo for a basic Droplet or about $5/mo for App Platform's smallest tier.
These are highlighted picks. To see all the tools, check the Hosting & Cloud category.
Laravel Starter Add-ons
Each addition below extends this stack with a capability the base stack works fine without. None are required: include the ones your product actually needs when building this stack, and skip the rest.
Authentication Add-ons
Add authentication when the app needs user accounts — sign-up, login, and data scoped to a specific user instead of a fully open app.
Laravel Starter with Laravel Fortify
Laravel's official headless authentication backend: registration, email verification, password reset, and two-factor authentication out of the box, wired into Laravel's own Auth facade. The default here because it's what most Laravel projects reach for once they need more than the framework's bare guards and providers.
Laravel Starter with Auth0
A hosted identity platform with an official PHP SDK for verifying sessions in Laravel middleware, worth it over Fortify if you'd rather not self-host the auth logic at all, or need enterprise features like SSO that Fortify doesn't cover.
These are highlighted picks. To see all the tools, check the Authentication category.
CI/CD Add-ons
Add CI/CD when you want a dedicated pipeline for running tests, linting, or multi-stage builds before a deploy goes out. Many hosting platforms already redeploy automatically on every push on their own — a CI/CD tool adds the most value on top of that by gating the deploy on a passing test suite, and matters even more when the hosting choice does not auto-deploy at all, such as a self-hosted server.
Laravel Starter with GitHub Actions
Runs the test suite and triggers deployments on every push, directly from the same GitHub repo the code already lives in, with no separate CI service to configure.
Laravel Starter with GitLab CI/CD
GitLab's built-in CI/CD system, configured via .gitlab-ci.yml in the repository, the natural pick if the project's code lives on GitLab (self-hosted or gitlab.com) rather than GitHub, with the same YAML-pipeline model as GitHub Actions.
These are highlighted picks. To see all the tools, check the CI/CD Pipelines category.
Containerization Add-ons
Add containerization when you want the app packaged the same way across local development, staging, and production, or need to deploy somewhere that isn't a managed serverless platform.
Laravel Starter with Docker
Packages the whole Laravel app into a container image for consistent local development and deployment, independent of the hosting platform chosen above.
These are highlighted picks. To see all the tools, check the Containerization category.
Observability Add-ons
Add observability when you want to catch errors and performance regressions in production before users have to report them.
Laravel Starter with Sentry
Error tracking and performance monitoring with a dedicated sentry-laravel SDK, covering both HTTP requests and queued jobs. Open-source with a self-hosted path, alongside its own managed cloud.
Laravel Starter with Datadog
A broader observability platform covering APM, infrastructure metrics, and log management in one dashboard, useful once a team is already running other services worth monitoring alongside this app. Managed-only, with pricing that scales by host and usage rather than Sentry's per-error volume.
These are highlighted picks. To see all the tools, check the Infrastructure & APM category.
Email Add-ons
Add email when the app needs to send account verification, password reset, or notification messages.
Laravel Starter with Resend
A transactional email API for account verification, password resets, and notification emails, sent via Resend's official Laravel package, which plugs into Laravel's own Mail facade, with a free tier for getting started.
Laravel Starter with SendGrid
The established high-volume choice, with dedicated IP addresses and deliverability tooling for apps sending at serious scale. No permanent free plan (a 60-day trial, then paid tiers), so it earns its slot when volume and deliverability matter more than upfront cost.
Laravel Starter with Brevo
An all-in-one platform combining the transactional email API with marketing campaigns, a built-in CRM, and SMS from the same dashboard. A permanent free tier of 300 emails a day with no card required makes it an easy starting pick for an early-stage app.
Payments Add-ons
Add payments when the product is ready to charge for subscriptions or one-time purchases.
Laravel Starter with Stripe
Adds subscription billing, one-time checkout, and invoicing via Stripe's hosted Checkout or embedded Elements, with Laravel handling webhook verification and API calls server-side. The stack works fully without it; add this once the product is ready to charge for something.
Styling Add-ons
Add styling when you want a component or utility-class system to build the UI faster than hand-writing CSS from scratch.
Laravel Starter with Tailwind CSS
Laravel's own default styling choice, bundled automatically by Laravel's official starter kits. Classes go directly in templates with no separate stylesheet to maintain. The stack ships with plain CSS by default; add this if you'd rather not hand-write it.
These are highlighted picks. To see all the tools, check the CSS Frameworks category.
Analytics Add-ons
Add analytics when you want to measure traffic, track visitor behavior, or understand how people actually use the product.
Laravel Starter with PostHog
An all-in-one product analytics platform: event tracking, session replay, feature flags, and A/B testing in one SDK. The richest feature set if you want more than pageviews.
Laravel Starter with Google Analytics
The industry-standard, free analytics platform, with native Google Ads and Search Console integration. Requires a cookie consent banner in most jurisdictions (GDPR/CCPA), and all data lives on Google's infrastructure, the tradeoff the other three picks were built to avoid.
Laravel Starter with Plausible Analytics
A lightweight, privacy-first analytics tool with no cookie banner required. A good fit for simple traffic metrics without PostHog's broader feature surface.
Laravel Starter with Umami
Open-source and self-hostable, keeping analytics data on infrastructure you control. Pairs naturally with the self-hosted Hetzner hosting option above if you want to avoid a third-party analytics vendor entirely.
These are highlighted picks. To see all the tools, check the Web & Product Analytics category.
Frequently Asked Questions about Laravel Starter
How does this compare to Ruby on Rails Starter?
Both are convention-driven, batteries-included full-stack frameworks with a built-in ORM (Eloquent vs. ActiveRecord) and templating (Blade vs. ERB). Laravel has a larger PHP-hosting ecosystem and a gentler on-ramp; Rails has a longer track record and its own native HTMX-like tool (Turbo/Hotwire) built in. Pick based on which language ecosystem your team already knows.
Should I use Laravel Fortify or Auth0?
Laravel Fortify is the ecosystem-standard choice: registration, email verification, password reset, and two-factor authentication out of the box, self-hosted and free. Auth0 is worth it instead if you'd rather not run the auth logic yourself, or need enterprise features like SSO that Fortify doesn't cover.
Should I use PostgreSQL or MySQL?
Eloquent works identically against either, so this is a vendor choice, not an architecture change. PostgreSQL is the more feature-rich default for complex queries and JSON columns; MySQL is worth it if your host, team, or existing tooling is already MySQL-centric, the classic pairing with PHP.
What's the cheapest way to run this stack?
Self-hosted PostgreSQL or MySQL and skipping the paid addition tools cost nothing beyond hosting. Every hosting option here (Railway, Render, Hetzner, Fly.io) charges from day one for an always-on Laravel process, so expect at least about $5/mo once you're past local development.
Stacks Related to Laravel Starter
HTMX + Laravel
Project
Laravel Blade templates enhanced with HTMX: PHP interactivity without writing JavaScript.
HTMX + Django
Project
Django views with HTMX for dynamic UIs without a JS framework.
Ruby on Rails Starter
Project
Ruby on Rails with PostgreSQL: convention-driven full-stack web development.
Django + HTML Templates
ProjectDjango with server-rendered templates: simple and productive.
Scores
Popularity4/5
Laravel is the most widely adopted PHP framework by a wide margin, with a mature ecosystem, extensive documentation, and a large community — a genuinely mainstream default for PHP web development.
Learning Curve2/5
Laravel's conventions (Eloquent ORM, Blade templates, Artisan CLI) are extensively documented with a famously gentle on-ramp — one of the most approachable full-featured web frameworks in any language.
Flexibility3/5
Eloquent and Blade are opinionated about how you structure models and views, trading some flexibility for consistency and productivity. Swappable at the margins (a different template engine, a different database backend via the database option) but not designed to be pulled apart piece by piece.
Performance3/5
Laravel's synchronous PHP-FPM model handles typical CRUD traffic well, but trails an async framework for high-concurrency workloads, and Blade-rendered pages mean a full page reload per interaction unless HTMX or another layer is added.
Portability3/5
Laravel itself is open-source with no vendor lock-in, portable to any PHP-capable host, and Eloquent works identically against PostgreSQL or MySQL. The main migration cost is Laravel's own conventions — a rewrite in a different framework means re-implementing that logic.
Tools in the Laravel Starter Stack
Laravel Starter Pricing
Laravel, PHP and PostgreSQL (or MySQL) are open-source and free; your costs are hosting the application and running the database. Laravel runs well on shared hosting or a small VPS, so budget about $5–20/mo on Railway, Render, Hetzner or Fly.io, with managed Postgres from roughly $6–15/mo if you don't self-host.
Laravel, PHP and PostgreSQL/MySQL are free.
Railway, Render, Hetzner or Fly.io; free tiers for testing.
Self-host either for free, or use managed Postgres from about $6–15/mo.