Admin Panels for Websites | Manifest vs PB

Tl;DR

Is it possible to have something better than Streamlit and Pocketbase for the quickest data visualization / SaaS PoC and backend ever?

+++ Tour guide tools

Intro

Ive been exploring few authentications method earlier this year.

And suddendly, I have found an interesting tool

That its also vibe-code friendly!: Manifest

On this post:

I want to compare how Manifest compares to Pocketbase as selfhosted BaaS solution and as admin panel

Manifest

• https://github.com/mnfst/manifest
  • https://manifest.build/
  • https://manifest.build/docs
    • https://manifest.build/docs/astro

MIT | A backend for modern workflow. 🦚 Code or vibe-code your backend in seconds with Manifest.

Why manifest

Manifest is an Open Source, portable backend that fits into 1 YAML file.

Easy for both humans and LLMs to generate and validate.

Host it on any server that can run NodeJS.

Manifest comes with essential features like auth and custom logic, and a built-in admin panel.

Manifest fits great in those type of projects:

1. 🛠️ Rapid prototyping: POCs and MVPs | Turning any entity into an authenticated user is as simple as adding a authenticable: true line to your backend file.
2. 🧩 Micro services: notification, payment, logging, file services…
3. 🏭 CRUD-heavy apps: mobile apps, directories, PIMs, E-shops
4. 🌐 Headless CMS: dynamic corporate websites, portfolios, blogs…

Manifest 101

This sounds great for quick PoCs: let them be on Python Streamlit

Streamlit PoC Post

Streamlit PyGWalker Rendered Map with locations…

Streamlit PoC

Source Code on Github. Streamlit Rendering Plotly, MermaidJS, QR, ChartJS, ApexCharts, PyGWalker with OSM geolocation data…

Or with NextJS:

NextJS SliDev

Tinkering with NextJS ToastUI and SliDev ppts…

But how to get started with Manifest?

npx create-manifest@latest  --windsurf

Manifest UseCases

Headless CMS

Via Flask, you can make a quick CMS for SSGs webapp to allow users to edit specific fields of lets say, your Astro Themes…

But after all that work to put a custom setup, your clients might come back with questions like I dont understand what the upload image button is supossed to do:

https://jalcocert.github.io/JAlcocerT/making-flask-cms-for-ssg/#flaskcms-x-quick-auth

With vibe coding, is easy to get lost into the leaves of a cool UI:

So these kind of projects that aimed to be the custom CMS editors of a pool of astro/hugo ssgs and get paid…maybe 100$ are not worth beside the learnings.

WebGenerAItor Repo

Source Code on Github. Web Generator with Astro Themes…

WebifAI Repo

Source Code on Github. WebifAI with Astro Themes…

Because of that, I started to put together this kind of high level docs, based on my learnings:

That on the future, will be transformed into proper web/ook for a DIY proposal, else a PaaS proposal that brings any WP/Ghost/no code website builder to live.

• The DIY + read is free - making things so easy than anyone + time spent can do it
• The DIY + PaaS is paid for servers and stuff - people get to configure it

Tech Consulting

This is the DWY - Accounting for my time opportunity cost

JAlcocerTech Custom Solutions

This DFY I have to refine it though

Or as I did recently with NextJS

MultiLanguage with Astro POST

Toast UI working with NextJS

Journaling with Astro POST

NextJS Reactmd editing astro sphere theme

Astro SSG to publish your PDF ebook

Flask CMS Editor for Ebook Landing via JSON

Conclusions

Some people claim that ads + proper onboarding + paywall is your source of revenue as a SaaS indie creator.

About to hit $1.2M annual revenue from my first app

am i dreaming?

just a few months ago i was looking at other apps’ revenue, wishing i’d hit $1M someday

so what helped the most?

if i had to pick one thing — it’s marketing.
not the channels or ad platforms, but the ability… pic.twitter.com/vtMFqVehLk

— sina sinry (@SinaSinry) August 2, 2025

And creating an admin panel is simple in theory.

But in practice… See this quick admin panel fastapi sqlite based from the last audio post

The ARR/MRR retention must be another topic, I guess

Manifest vs PocketBase

Ive discovered PB this year and its uses cases have been great so far.

Including the providing authentication for statically deployed SSGs via CF Workers with CSR

And the PB SMTP email integration.

So the question is clear: Which of these 2 is better to build SaaS PoCs?

FAQ

Other OSS Admin Panels

• https://github.com/ColorlibHQ/AdminLTE

MT | AdminLTE - Free admin dashboard template based on Bootstrap 5

• https://github.com/incluud/accessible-astro-dashboard

MIT | An Accessible Admin Dashboard Theme for Astro with a login page and a dashboard overview. Includes accessibility features such as landmarks, better focus-outline and skip-links navigation.

• https://github.com/SoftwareBrothers/adminjs
  • https://adminjs.co/

Open-Source Admin Panel for your Node.js Application

• https://docs.adminjs.co/installation/getting-started

• https://docs.adminjs.co/basics/authentication

• https://tailadmin.com/

MIT | Free and Open-source Tailwind CSS Dashboard Admin Template that comes with all essential dashboard UI components, pages and elements

• https://open-admin.org/
  • https://github.com/open-admin-org/open-admin

MIT | open-admin forked from z-song/laravel-ladmin (PHP). Removing jquery, now based on Bootstrap5, vanilla JS

• https://github.com/app-generator/flask-argon-dashboard

• https://github.com/akveo/ngx-admin

Customizable admin dashboard template based on Angular 10+

OSS User On Boarding

1. https://github.com/sjmc11/tourguide-js

MIT | TourGuide is a Javascript library for creating user tours and on-boarding steps for your apps.

2. https://github.com/enszrlu/NextStep/

MIT |Lightweight onboarding library for Next.js