You don't own your app.
Your platform does.
There's a distinction the vibe-coding industry doesn't want you to think about. They call everything "SaaS." It's not. Most of what's out there is something else entirely — and the difference will cost you everything you've built.
Software as a Service
You own the software. The service is hosting and infrastructure. You can take your application and run it somewhere else — the software exists independently of the service. You own your code, your data, your architecture, and your future.
Software in a Service
Your software doesn't exist outside the service. It's trapped inside someone else's platform, running on someone else's proprietary framework, stored in someone else's database. Pull the service and the software evaporates. There is nothing to take with you. Nothing to zip up. Nothing to move.
SiaS is not portable. It never was. It never will be.
"Describe your app. We'll build it. You own it."
The new wave of AI app builders — Bolt, Lovable, Floot, Replit, Create.xyz, HeyBoss, Glide, Creatr — all promise the same thing. And you don't own it. What you own is a configuration inside their platform: a set of prompts, settings, and generated code that only runs on their infrastructure, calls their proprietary APIs, and depends on their runtime to function.
"Export to GitHub" is not portability. It's a marketing checkbox. The exported code is a thin client that calls a backend that only exists inside the platform you're trying to leave. Try running it on a bare server — it won't work, because it was never designed to.
How to spot a SiaS platform
Ask these five questions. If the answer to any of them is "no," you're on a SiaS platform.
What SiaS actually costs you
The sticker price is the cheapest part. The real bill comes due later — and by then you can't walk away.
What owning your app actually looks like
Not a promise on a pricing page. A property of the architecture.
SiaS platform vs. real SaaS
| SiaS platform | Real SaaS (Tiger) | |
|---|---|---|
The vibe stack vs. one framework
That's not an architecture. It's a receipt. Every vendor is a dependency. Every dependency is a risk. Every risk is a cost you'll pay eventually.
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for→
Everything in one place
No external dependencies. No vendor lock-in. No SiaS trap. One framework that runs on one server.
Build something you own.
Build real SaaS. Not SiaS.
Tiger is an open-source, BSD-3 licensed SaaS application framework. Auth, ACL, multi-tenancy, admin, sessions, security, ecommerce, and AI integration — included. Runs anywhere PHP and MariaDB run. Zip it. Move it. It doesn't care.
TigerDen
We launch a dedicated Tiger server and hand you the keys — you own and drive the box. No setup, no build step, no server to stand up.
TigerInstall
A one-click setup on any standard LAMP host — no shell, no Composer, no DevOps.