Laravel API plus React or Inertia frontend, auth, queues, deploy. GigEasy shipped this stack in 3 weeks. Fixed monthly price, no vendor split.
- Scope
- Ship
- Iterate
monthly subscription
Who this is for
This is for the founder who wants a classic LAMP++ stack done right: Laravel on the API side, React or Inertia on the frontend, shipped by one senior engineer who can hold both ends accountable. No agency hand-offs. No backend-frontend coordination tax.
The pain today
- Most agencies split Laravel and React across two separate contractors who rarely talk.
- You pay coordination overhead that eats 20 to 30 percent of the budget before a line ships.
- Your backend engineer writes Eloquent but not Tailwind; your frontend engineer writes JSX but not policies.
- Hiring two seniors in parallel costs more and ships slower than one engineer who owns both sides.
- Discovery calls end with a decision framework nobody writes down, so you relitigate Inertia vs Next.js every sprint.
The outcome you get
- One senior engineer owning Laravel plus React end-to-end, from migrations to Vite build.
- A written Inertia vs Next.js vs separate SPA decision, done in discovery week and never re-opened.
- Auth, queues, Horizon, deploy, and observability all under one owner.
- TypeScript on the React side by default; PHPStan or Larastan on the Laravel side.
- Fixed $4,999/mo, 2 to 4 day delivery cycles, 14-day money-back guarantee.
What the Laravel + React engagement covers
The scope covers product discovery (one week), then execution across both layers. On the Laravel side: REST or GraphQL API, Eloquent models and relationships, database migrations, queues and jobs via Horizon, policies and gates for authorization, scheduled tasks, and Pest or PHPUnit tests. On the React side: Vite-based SPA, Next.js, or Inertia, depending on what the product actually needs. State management with React Query for server state and Zustand for UI state. Forms via React Hook Form. TypeScript by default on every new React project — I run Larastan on the Laravel side for the same reason.
Styling is Tailwind with a token system so the design doesn't drift. Vitest plus React Testing Library covers the frontend test layer. Deploy targets vary by architecture: Laravel on AWS ECS Fargate or a managed Laravel Forge instance, React on Vercel or behind CloudFront, Inertia co-located on the same host. One engineer making all of those decisions means one schedule, one point of contact, and no translation layer between back and front.
One senior engineer owning Laravel plus React end-to-end, from migrations to Vite build.
GigEasy — Laravel + React shipped in 3 weeks
GigEasy is a Barclays and Bain Capital-backed fintech that needed an investor-ready MVP fast. The stack was Laravel, React, PostgreSQL, Redis, Docker, Pulumi, and AWS. I shipped the full MVP in 3 weeks against a typical 10-week agency cycle — a 70 percent time reduction.
The speed came directly from single-owner full-stack development. No handoffs between a backend team and a frontend team. No API contract negotiations mid-sprint. No staging environments blocked while waiting for the other side to merge. When you're the only decision-maker across both layers, scope is compressed because clarification is instant. That is the practical case for a Laravel + React full-stack engagement with a single senior engineer.
3 weeks: From kickoff to investor demo.
Inertia vs Next.js vs separate React SPA
Three real options, each correct in different situations.
Inertia keeps Laravel routing intact and mounts React components on the server-rendered response. No separate API layer. This is the right call for internal tools, admin dashboards, and multi-tenant SaaS products where you control the user base and SEO is not a primary concern. Build time is faster because you skip the API versioning layer entirely.
Next.js gives you React with its own routing, React Server Components, and Vercel-native hosting. Laravel becomes a pure API. This is the right call for public-facing products that need Google-optimized pages, edge caching, or a frontend that ships independently of the backend release cycle.
A standalone Vite-based React SPA is the right call when the frontend lives on a different domain, when you're building a mobile web app, or when an existing Laravel API is already deployed and just needs a new customer. The decision gets written down in a one-page document at the end of discovery week. It never gets relitigated.
Authentication architecture across Laravel and React
Auth is where the most bugs live in this stack, so it is worth explaining the patterns I use.
For Inertia apps: Laravel Fortify with Inertia responses. The authentication flow is entirely server-side; React renders the UI, Laravel owns the session. Clean, no CORS issues, no token storage.
For a separate React SPA against a Laravel API: Laravel Sanctum with SPA authentication. React calls the CSRF cookie endpoint first, then posts credentials, then all subsequent requests carry the session cookie. This avoids storing tokens in localStorage, which is the most common auth mistake in this architecture.
For API-first products consumed by a React frontend plus a mobile app or third-party customer: Laravel Sanctum token authentication or Laravel Passport for full OAuth2. The right choice depends on whether you need token scopes and refresh cycles, or just a simple bearer token per user. I write the decision into the architecture document during discovery so it is never a surprise mid-project.
Pricing and what you get
Applications subscription is $4,999 per month flat. Delivery cycles are 2 to 4 days. You get daily async updates, a 30-minute sync call each week, and a 14-day full refund if you are not happy in the first two weeks.
I take one customer at a time by design — this is not an agency with 40 parallel projects. Every commit across the Laravel API and the React frontend is yours under Work Made for Hire terms. Cancel anytime after the first 14 days with no lock-in.
Recent proof
A comparable engagement, delivered and documented.
Built and shipped an investor-ready MVP from scratch
Built the entire technological base and delivered MVP in just 3 weeks, enabling a successful rapid launch and investor demo.
Read the case studyFrequently asked questions
The questions prospects ask before they book.
Inertia for internal tools, admin dashboards, and SaaS products where SEO is not a driver. It is faster to build and has one deploy. A separate SPA for public-facing products with Google SEO requirements, multi-customer scenarios, or when the frontend needs to ship on a different release cycle from the API. I write the decision down in discovery week so it is never relitigated mid-project.
Yes — Next.js is a React framework, so this falls cleanly within the same engagement. The decision between a Vite SPA, Inertia, and Next.js is about server-side rendering, SEO, and hosting, not about the React library itself. I pick based on your product's actual needs after a discovery week, not on a preset preference.
TypeScript by default on every new React project. I also run Larastan on the Laravel codebase for static analysis, which catches type-level bugs in Eloquent queries and service class contracts before they hit staging. Both layers typed, both layers tested.
Laravel Sanctum with SPA authentication: React calls the CSRF cookie endpoint, posts credentials, and all subsequent requests carry the session cookie automatically. This avoids storing tokens in localStorage, which is the most common security mistake in this setup. For products that also need a mobile app or third-party API access, I switch to Sanctum token auth or Passport depending on whether OAuth2 scopes are needed.
Laravel Reverb (the first-party websocket server, released with Laravel 11) plus Laravel Echo on the React customer. Reverb runs alongside your existing Laravel app, so there is no separate infrastructure to manage. For scale-out or multi-server setups I switch to Pusher or Soketi. Typical use cases — live notifications, collaborative editing, real-time analytics dashboards — work cleanly with this pattern.
$4,999 per month covers ongoing development with 2 to 4 day delivery cycles on each task. There is no hourly meter. The first two weeks carry a full money-back guarantee. After that, cancel anytime. Work Made for Hire terms apply, so every commit is yours from day one.
GigEasy shipped a full investor-ready fintech MVP on Laravel plus React in 3 weeks. That was against a typical 10-week agency cycle. The compression came from single-owner full-stack development — no handoffs between backend and frontend teams. Simple internal tools can ship faster; complex multi-tenant SaaS products take longer. Discovery week produces an honest timeline before any code is written.