Hikari vs CoreMVP: when do I need the paid template?
Compare Hikari and CoreMVP by accounts, collaboration, billing, license, and the work needed to move an existing app.
Choose Hikari if your product fits individual accounts and recurring Stripe subscriptions and you want an MIT-licensed foundation you can operate yourself. Consider CoreMVP when shared organizations, persisted projects, lifetime purchases, or Polar billing are requirements you want supported in the foundation. Both give you source code; neither operates your application for you.
This comparison was checked on October 30, 2026 against Hikari's repository, CoreMVP's product and pricing information, and the CoreMVP documentation. Check those sources again before choosing: capabilities and terms can change.
| Decision | Hikari | CoreMVP |
|---|---|---|
| Source and price | Free under the MIT license; retain its required notice when redistributing. | One-time Solo license is $99 for one builder; Team is $299 for up to five. Read the commercial terms. |
| Accounts | Individual accounts with Supabase Auth. | Supabase Auth plus shared organizations with invitations and roles. |
| Projects | Organization and project selectors are illustrative; they do not provide persisted collaboration or projects. | Organization and project paths are part of the application foundation. |
| Payments | Stripe recurring subscriptions; its README describes verified webhooks, stored state, and server access checks. | Lifetime and recurring offers, using Stripe or Polar for new checkout; Polar setup describes provider selection. |
| Updates and operation | Use and maintain the open-source code under its license. | Lifetime template updates and critical security fixes within seven days under the published offer. You configure and operate your own deployment. |
Provider, domain, hosting and email charges are separate in both cases. The critical-fix commitment is specific to critical security fixes; it is not a general response-time promise for every issue.
How the payment paths protect access
Both applications connect provider events to stored billing state and server-side access decisions. Hikari’s subscription documentation describes verifying Stripe webhook signatures, persisting subscription state, and checking eligible access on the server. CoreMVP’s billing documentation describes the corresponding Stripe and Polar paths: signed webhook handling updates purchase or subscription records, and the application reads stored billing state for account access. CoreMVP additionally supports lifetime purchases and guest checkout alongside recurring subscriptions.
These are supported application paths, not proof of your configured provider account. Follow the customer testing guides for Stripe subscriptions, Stripe lifetime, Polar subscriptions, or Polar lifetime, as applicable, and verify the recorded payment and account access in your own test environment.
When Hikari is enough
An individual subscription product can start with Hikari's account, Checkout, webhook and access path. Follow its subscription guide, replace the example catalog with your own, and test the whole flow against your provider configuration. Its Dashboard charts and organization selectors are examples to customize, not proof that shared workspaces already exist.
Choose Hikari when its supported path matches your first product and you are comfortable implementing the missing features. A paid template is not a prerequisite for collecting subscription payments or deploying a Next.js application.
When CoreMVP removes more work
If customers need to invite coworkers into a shared organization and work with persisted projects, the foundation needs more than a workspace dropdown. It needs membership, role checks and organization-scoped data. CoreMVP supplies those application paths so you can start from them instead of building each boundary yourself. Review the documentation and test your product's own permissions before launch.
CoreMVP also supports lifetime and recurring payment paths. Its Polar documentation describes switching the provider for new checkout while preserving existing provider ownership and management paths. Choose the payment setup that suits your business and verify its actual checkout, webhook and access behavior with your own provider accounts.
Moving an existing Hikari app
CoreMVP is a separate codebase, not an automatic upgrade button. Inventory your custom UI, database tables, users, Stripe customer and subscription mappings, and deployed integrations. Compare the schemas and authentication assumptions, make a backup and restoration plan, and rehearse a migration with test data before changing a live system. Hikari's README points to its migration guidance; it does not promise an automatic transfer.
If your product already works on Hikari, weigh that migration against the work required to add the missing capabilities in place. The right choice depends on your existing customizations and the responsibility your team is prepared to maintain.