Building a SaaS with Laravel & Vue: The Complete Stack

Introduction

Laravel and Vue.js have been a power couple since Laravel started shipping with Vue scaffolding back in version 5.3. In 2026, this stack remains one of the most productive choices for building SaaS products — combining Laravel's robust backend capabilities with Vue's reactive frontend magic.

This guide covers the architecture decisions, tooling choices, and implementation patterns you need to build a production-ready SaaS from scratch.

Architecture Overview

A well-structured SaaS typically follows this architecture:

• Laravel API backend — handles authentication, authorization, business logic, and database operations
• Vue.js SPA frontend — or a Nuxt.js SSR app for SEO-critical pages
• PostgreSQL — the database of choice for multi-tenant SaaS apps
• Redis — for caching, session storage, and queue management
• Stripe — for subscription billing via Laravel Cashier

The key decision is whether to build a monolithic app (Inertia.js) or a decoupled API + SPA. For most SaaS products, Inertia.js provides the best developer experience without sacrificing flexibility.

Multi-Tenancy Strategies

Every SaaS needs to isolate customer data. The three common approaches:

• Single database, shared tables — add a tenant_id column to every table. Simplest to implement, riskiest for data isolation.
• Single database, separate schemas — each tenant gets their own PostgreSQL schema. Good balance of isolation and simplicity.
• Separate databases — maximum isolation, highest operational complexity. Best for enterprise SaaS with strict compliance requirements.

For most SaaS products, the shared tables approach with strict global scopes is sufficient:

// App/Traits/BelongsToTenant.php
trait BelongsToTenant {
    protected static function bootBelongsToTenant() {
        static::creating(fn ($model) => $model->tenant_id = auth()->user()->tenant_id);
        static::addGlobalScope('tenant', function ($query) {
            $query->where('tenant_id', auth()->user()?->tenant_id);
        });
    }
}

Authentication & Authorization

Laravel Sanctum provides token-based authentication perfect for SPA frontends. For a SaaS, you'll also need:

• Team management — users belong to organizations, organizations have roles
• Role-based access — admin, editor, viewer permissions using Spatie Permission
• SSO support — Socialite for Google/GitHub OAuth, SAML for enterprise clients
• Two-factor authentication — using Laravel Fortify

Subscription Billing with Cashier

Laravel Cashier makes Stripe integration almost effortless:

// Subscribe a user to a plan
$user->newSubscription('default', 'price_monthly_pro')
    ->trialDays(14)
    ->create($paymentMethod);

// Check subscription status
if ($user->subscribed('default')) {
    // Grant access to premium features
}

// Handle plan upgrades
$user->subscription('default')->swap('price_monthly_enterprise');

Don't forget to handle webhooks for subscription events — failed payments, cancellations, and trial expirations all need graceful handling.

Vue.js Frontend Patterns

For the Vue frontend, use these patterns for a maintainable SaaS:

• Composables for business logic — useSubscription(), useTeam(), usePermissions()
• Pinia for global state — user session, theme preferences, notification queue
• Feature flags — conditionally show features based on subscription tier
• Optimistic UI updates — update the UI immediately, sync with the server in the background

Deployment & Infrastructure

For a Laravel + Vue SaaS, the recommended infrastructure stack is:

• Laravel Forge or Ploi — for server provisioning and deployment
• DigitalOcean or AWS — start with a $24/month droplet, scale horizontally as needed
• Laravel Horizon — for monitoring and managing Redis queues
• S3-compatible storage — for user uploads and media files

Conclusion

The Laravel + Vue stack gives you everything you need to build a competitive SaaS product. Laravel handles the complex backend — billing, multi-tenancy, queues, notifications — while Vue provides a snappy, modern frontend experience. Start with Inertia.js for speed, add an API layer when you need mobile or third-party integrations, and scale horizontally with Laravel's built-in support for queues, caches, and horizontal scaling.