Compare: Indie SaaS in a weekend

Up to 4 ways to do Indie SaaS in a weekend, side by side. Cost, tools, level, and workflow.

Indie SaaS

Code · Builder

Level: Advanced
Cost (Small): $40/mo
Weekend MVP
Cost (Medium): $75/mo
Side project
Cost (Heavy): $220/mo
Full-time founder
Tools: Claude ChatGPT Figma
Workflow: 1. Sketch UI
2. Scaffold
3. Iterate live
4. Ship
Pitfalls: • AI-shaped slop UI
• Skipping the 'why this'

Indie SaaS (Gemini long-context)

Code · Builder

Level: Advanced
Cost (Small): $40/mo
Weekend MVP
Cost (Medium): $75/mo
Side project
Cost (Heavy): $240/mo
Full-time founder
Tools: Gemini Claude Figma
Workflow: 1. Sketch UI
2. Dump the repo
3. Surgical edits with Claude
4. Voice mode for debugging
5. Ship
Pitfalls: • Pasting secrets into the context window
• Long-context drift on edits
• Cost spikes at the API tier

Indie SaaS

Code · Builder

Claude is the pair, Figma is the design surface, Vercel is the deploy target. End-to-end indie SaaS from idea to billing in a weekend.

Indie SaaS (Gemini long-context)

Code · Builder

Different ergonomic from the Claude-led pair: instead of pasting individual files per turn, dump the entire repo into Gemini and let it reason across the whole graph. Claude takes over for tight, surgical edits; Gemini handles 'change auth across 14 files' moves.

Level

Advanced

Cost (Small)

$40/mo

Weekend MVP

$40/mo

Weekend MVP

Cost (Medium)

$75/mo

Side project

$75/mo

Side project

Cost (Heavy)

$220/mo

Full-time founder

$240/mo

Full-time founder

Tools

Claude ChatGPT Figma

Gemini Claude Figma

Workflow steps

1. Sketch UI
2. Scaffold
3. Iterate live
4. Ship

1. Sketch UI
2. Dump the repo
3. Surgical edits with Claude
4. Voice mode for debugging
5. Ship

Pitfalls

• AI-shaped slop UI
• Skipping the 'why this'

• Pasting secrets into the context window
• Long-context drift on edits
• Cost spikes at the API tier