What should a WordPress SaaS framework do?
I'm putting together a pre-configured blueprint for WordPress sites that will be used for launching SaaS startups. I know already that I want it to handle landing pages, signup (for different levels of service if desired), payment, and probably documentation.
But what else? I'm envisioning something where you could write the guts of your specific app in whatever language you prefer and have the WordPress "frame" pass you authenticated customers. But I don't have any investment in how that would work and I'm totally open to your input.
And then? Would there be certain extra functions you'd want to use REST API calls to the WordPress frame to handle? Would you like to be able to store configuration data on WP and just pull it into your app as you needed it?
What do you think?
I am curious why someone would choose WP for launching a startup. Is this just for the marketing side of the startup or do you propose that people use WP for the actual application as well? Whats sort of startups do you envision using WP as a base?
Hi @jerriepelser -- Good question. In the above I was envisioning a scenario where the actual application is written using whatever you like, but you'd be saved working out details like authentication, member management, possibly storefront, and lots of other things that aren't mission critical for the actual app, but that you need.
That said, I can think of lots of reasons to write an actual SaaS app in WordPress, particularly if you're already familiar with the structure of a WordPress site. It gets a bad rap in the development community sometimes, but I think that has to do with fads in language and framework choice more than anything else. That and the fact that programmers typically like the challenge of writing their own account management system or whatever.
If you prefer the look of a React-like app, well, no problem. You can put React on the front end of WordPress sites in a couple of different ways.
And the fact is, WordPress is battle hardened and runs some 40% of the sites on the web these days. A block-based site (which is the preferred way to build in WordPress these days) is performant, hits high 90s on Google Lighthouse, and makes for fast design, modifications, and so on. Tons of functionality is available through plugins.
OK, but so what kinds of startups do I think are particularly suited for WP builds? Anything content based, for sure, like a paid newsletter or podcast. Anything membership based. Anything that is form or business data based (user puts in data, back end crunches them, displays results, or waits till certain conditions are met. Anything that creates a store or a marketplace.
I haven't seen it done yet, but I suspect it'd be very good for startups that are providing a front end that results in calls to a generative AI service like ChatGPT. Everything you need on the front end -- user accounts, forms for entering the desired requests, etc -- is already there and making the call is just the same as in any other language (you'd have your choice of JavaScript or PHP in WordPress).
It would NOT, on the other hand, be a good fit (I think) for apps that require writing a complex, custom interface. So things where you edit images or videos or sound, or things where you are processing streams in novel ways, or action games, or tools for difficult engineering problems that require loads of compute. So there are plenty of things that aren't a good fit, I'll be the first to say.
On the other hand, most of the startups I see discussed here on Indiehackers are things that I think could be done in no time in WordPress, with very little (and sometimes with no) code involved.