diff --git a/packages/create-payload-app/src/lib/create-project.ts b/packages/create-payload-app/src/lib/create-project.ts
index b2c4ea240..96dedf775 100644
--- a/packages/create-payload-app/src/lib/create-project.ts
+++ b/packages/create-payload-app/src/lib/create-project.ts
@@ -78,15 +78,14 @@ export async function createProject(args: {
     )
     await fse.copy(localTemplate, projectDir)
   } else if ('url' in template) {
-    let templateUrl = template.url
     if (cliArgs['--template-branch']) {
-      templateUrl = `${template.url}#${cliArgs['--template-branch']}`
-      debug(`Using template url: ${templateUrl}`)
+      template.url = `${template.url.split('#')?.[0]}#${cliArgs['--template-branch']}`
     }
+
     await downloadTemplate({
-      name: template.name,
-      branch: 'beta',
+      debug: cliArgs['--debug'],
       projectDir,
+      template,
     })
   }
 
diff --git a/packages/create-payload-app/src/lib/download-template.ts b/packages/create-payload-app/src/lib/download-template.ts
index 47a1cf9ba..512827688 100644
--- a/packages/create-payload-app/src/lib/download-template.ts
+++ b/packages/create-payload-app/src/lib/download-template.ts
@@ -2,27 +2,35 @@ import { Readable } from 'node:stream'
 import { pipeline } from 'node:stream/promises'
 import { x } from 'tar'
 
+import type { ProjectTemplate } from '../types.js'
+
+import { debug as debugLog } from '../utils/log.js'
+
 export async function downloadTemplate({
-  name,
-  branch,
+  debug,
   projectDir,
+  template,
 }: {
-  branch: string
-  /**
-   * The name of the template to download
-   * Must be dir /templates/<name>
-   */
-  name: string
+  debug?: boolean
   projectDir: string
+  template: ProjectTemplate
 }) {
-  const url = `https://codeload.github.com/payloadcms/payload/tar.gz/${branch}`
-  const filter = `payload-${branch}/templates/${name}/`
+  const branchOrTag = template.url.split('#')?.[1] || 'beta'
+  const url = `https://codeload.github.com/payloadcms/payload/tar.gz/${branchOrTag}`
+  const filter = `payload-${branchOrTag.replace(/^v/, '')}/templates/${template.name}/`
+
+  if (debug) {
+    debugLog(`Using template url: ${template.url}`)
+    debugLog(`Codeload url: ${url}`)
+    debugLog(`Filter: ${filter}`)
+  }
+
   await pipeline(
     await downloadTarStream(url),
     x({
       cwd: projectDir,
       filter: (p) => p.includes(filter),
-      strip: 2 + name.split('/').length,
+      strip: 2 + template.name.split('/').length,
     }),
   )
 }
diff --git a/packages/create-payload-app/src/lib/templates.ts b/packages/create-payload-app/src/lib/templates.ts
index fa8ee24b6..19fcd0a1b 100644
--- a/packages/create-payload-app/src/lib/templates.ts
+++ b/packages/create-payload-app/src/lib/templates.ts
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ export function validateTemplate(templateName: string): boolean {
 }
 
 export function getValidTemplates(): ProjectTemplate[] {
+  // Starters _must_ be a valid template name from the templates/ directory
   return [
     {
       name: 'blank',
@@ -28,37 +29,11 @@ export function getValidTemplates(): ProjectTemplate[] {
       url: `https://github.com/payloadcms/payload/templates/website#v${PACKAGE_VERSION}`,
     },
 
-    // Remove these until they have been updated for 3.0
-
-    // {
-    //   name: 'blank',
-    //   type: 'starter',
-    //   description: 'Blank Template',
-    //   url: 'https://github.com/payloadcms/payload/templates/blank',
-    // },
-    // {
-    //   name: 'ecommerce',
-    //   type: 'starter',
-    //   description: 'E-commerce Template',
-    //   url: 'https://github.com/payloadcms/payload/templates/ecommerce',
-    // },
     // {
     //   name: 'plugin',
     //   type: 'plugin',
     //   description: 'Template for creating a Payload plugin',
-    //   url: 'https://github.com/payloadcms/payload-plugin-template#beta',
-    // },
-    // {
-    //   name: 'payload-demo',
-    //   type: 'starter',
-    //   description: 'Payload demo site at https://demo.payloadcms.com',
-    //   url: 'https://github.com/payloadcms/public-demo',
-    // },
-    // {
-    //   name: 'payload-website',
-    //   type: 'starter',
-    //   description: 'Payload website CMS at https://payloadcms.com',
-    //   url: 'https://github.com/payloadcms/website-cms',
+    //   url: 'https://github.com/payloadcms/plugin-template#beta',
     // },
   ]
 }
diff --git a/packages/create-payload-app/src/main.ts b/packages/create-payload-app/src/main.ts
index eea879c8f..1df6ee3d8 100644
--- a/packages/create-payload-app/src/main.ts
+++ b/packages/create-payload-app/src/main.ts
@@ -205,7 +205,7 @@ export class Main {
       }
 
       if (debugFlag) {
-        debug(`Using templates from git tag: ${PACKAGE_VERSION}`)
+        debug(`Using templates from git tag: v${PACKAGE_VERSION}`)
       }
 
       const validTemplates = getValidTemplates()