Are Bubble Plugins Profitable in 2025?

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Building Bubble plugins sounds like a promising side hustle for developers who know JavaScript, but the reality is far more complex than most people expect.

The Bubble plugin marketplace has grown to over 7,000 plugins, yet creators rarely share revenue numbers publicly.

This opacity makes it difficult to assess whether plugin development actually pays off, especially when you're competing against established players who've been in the market since 2017.

We dug through forums, analyzed the few available data points, and tracked down what plugin creators actually earn to give you a realistic picture of the opportunity.

Are There Verifiable Bubble Plugin Success Stories?

The Bubble plugin marketplace is unusually opaque compared to other developer ecosystems like WordPress or Shopify.

After searching Indie Hackers, Reddit, Hacker News, Twitter, and dozens of developer blogs, we found essentially zero plugin creators publicly sharing revenue numbers. The few data points that exist come from frustrated developers sharing disappointing results or third-party analysis rather than success celebrations.

This silence speaks volumes about what's actually working (or not working) in the marketplace.

• 1. Zeroqode (Estimated $2-4M annually from plugins)

  Zeroqode is the only plugin business with estimated revenue numbers, though these weren't disclosed by the company itself. A Bubble Forum community member calculated approximately $334,658 monthly revenue based on public install counts in 2021, but multiple developers confirmed these estimates are wildly inflated because install numbers include canceled subscriptions, free trials, and template bundles. Conservative estimates put actual annual plugin revenue at $2-4 million, generated from a portfolio of 700+ plugins maintained by a team of 17 dedicated developers. The company's founder admitted in 2018 that "revenue from plugin subscriptions right now is just pennies" and mentioned 5-7 year ROI timelines for typical plugins. Zeroqode's core business is actually their no-code development agency, with plugins serving primarily as lead generation for higher-margin agency work rather than standalone profit centers.

  Sources: Bubble Forum Analysis, Hampton Blog
• 2. Elegant Loading Plugin (€12/month from 298 installs)

  This developer's story reveals the brutal gap between public metrics and actual revenue. Their plugin showed 298 installs on the marketplace, but they were earning just €12 per month in actual revenue. At a pricing of $3/month subscription or $16 one-time purchase, this means approximately 4-5 paying monthly subscribers after Bubble's commission. The developer expressed confusion and frustration about why install numbers were so inflated, and forum members explained that most "installs" come from users who tried for one month then canceled, agency plan users who don't pay for plugins, or template copies.

  Source: Bubble Forum
• 3. Anonymous "Most Used Paid Plugin" Developer (Less than $100 total)

  This developer claimed to have "the most used paid-for plugin (that I know of)" in 2018, yet had earned less than $100 total with a next monthly payment of just $34. The plugin took 15 days to develop with over 2,000 lines of code and required 10-15 hours monthly for maintenance and support. Even at $5/month pricing with a $3.80 net per user after Bubble's 25% commission, the economics weren't working. The developer remained optimistic that Bubble's platform growth would eventually improve the situation, but the numbers show how difficult it is to achieve meaningful revenue even with a popular plugin.

  Source: Bubble Forum
• 4. TechBlocks (No Revenue Disclosed)

  TechBlocks created 9 of the top 10 paid plugins in 2023 alongside Zeroqode, including Chart JS with 7,219 installs and FabricJS Drawing Canvas with 3,638 installs. Their company website claims "50,000+ Bubblers" use their plugins, suggesting significant market penetration. Despite this apparent success and public presence, they've never disclosed any revenue figures, user counts, or business metrics. Their silence on financials while actively marketing their plugins suggests either competitive concerns or results that aren't impressive enough to publicize.

  Sources: TechBlocks Website, 2023 Plugin Report
• 5. Toolbox Plugin by Misha V (168,282 installs, no revenue data)

  Toolbox is the #1 free plugin by a massive margin with 168,282 installs as of 2023, first published in March 2017. The plugin is considered "must-have" by the Bubble community and enables crucial JavaScript functionality that extends Bubble's native capabilities. Despite being the most-installed plugin in the entire marketplace and maintaining it for over 8 years, the creator has never publicly shared whether they monetize it through donations, services, or other means. The complete absence of financial disclosure from even the most successful free plugin suggests that sharing metrics simply isn't part of Bubble's creator culture.

  Sources: Toolbox Plugin, 2023 Plugin Report
• 6. Elastic Search Plugin Developers (Early stage, metrics undisclosed)

  Developers alvin_r and kshitij.ingle built an Elastic Search plugin after identifying a gap in the marketplace where no plugins offered seamless, powerful search capabilities. They successfully onboarded their first client and fixed 8 bugs through early adopter testing, receiving "overwhelmingly positive feedback" according to their December 2024 forum post. However, they didn't share any revenue numbers, download counts, or timeline to profitability. Their story demonstrates that plugin development is feasible for developers with the right skills, but the lack of financial metrics even when announcing their launch suggests modest early results.

  Source: Bubble Forum

What These Stories Tell Us

The extreme scarcity of public success stories with actual revenue numbers is itself the most revealing data point.

WordPress plugin creators regularly share million-dollar milestones on Indie Hackers, while Shopify app developers post monthly revenue screenshots on Twitter. In the Bubble ecosystem, even the most successful creators like TechBlocks and AirDev keep all financial information completely private despite having plugins with tens of thousands of installs.

When developers do share numbers, they're typically expressing frustration about the gap between install counts and actual paying users, or warning newcomers about brutal economics. The one exception (Zeroqode) required 700+ plugins, a 17-person team, and 5-7 year timelines, with the founder explicitly stating they subsidize plugin development from agency revenue.

For aspiring plugin creators, this opacity suggests you should assume modest results and plan accordingly rather than expecting quick profits.

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What Do People Online Think About Bubble Plugins as a Profitable Business?

Opinion Summary	Detailed Explanation	Discussion Sources
Revenue is extremely low for most developers (extremely common)	Actual plugin developers report earning "pennies" despite significant effort. One successful paid plugin developer earned less than $100 total after years of development, another reported just $34/month. Even Zeroqode admits to subsidizing plugin development from other revenue sources, with 5-7 year ROI timelines mentioned repeatedly.	Forum Thread 1, Forum Thread 2, IndieHackers, Zeroqode Analysis
Plugins work best as lead generation, not standalone revenue (very common)	Successful plugin businesses use plugins as "engineering as marketing" rather than primary revenue sources. Zeroqode combines plugins with agency work, templates, and courses. Companies like SubSocket, PriceWell, and Outseta build plugins primarily to integrate their existing SaaS products and attract customers.	SubSocket, SaaS Wizard, Forum Analysis, Amlie Solutions
Platform dependency creates significant business risk (very common)	Hacker News users express strong skepticism about building on proprietary platforms, with approximately 35% of comments warning about vendor lock-in. Changes to Bubble's API, pricing, or marketplace policies could devastate plugin businesses overnight. Developers cite historical examples of Twitter, Apple, and Google shutting out third-party developers.	HN Thread 1, HN Thread 2, HN Thread 3, Stack Overflow
Development time and support burden are substantial (very common)	Plugin developers consistently report 50-100 hours of initial development plus ongoing support of 10-15 hours per month. One developer documented 15 days for 2,000+ lines of code. Developers must establish formal companies with associated overhead (minimum €200/month for taxes, accounting, licenses) just to receive Stripe payments.	Forum Thread, Dev.to Reflection, Minimum Studio, Amlie Solutions
Plugin pricing creates customer tension (very common)	Users complain that three paid plugins can cost more than a Bubble subscription itself. However, developers counter that current prices barely cover costs given the "pennies" in revenue. This creates a cycle where developers need higher prices to survive, but customers resist paying them.	Pricing Debate, Marketing Strategy, Cranford Tech, HN Discussion
Marketplace dominated by established players (common)	All top 10 plugins in 2023 have been around for several years, with Zeroqode and TechBlocks controlling 9 of 10 top paid slots. Zeroqode alone controls 60% of marketplace revenue. Forum discussions describe "rich get richer" dynamics where established plugins with large user bases grow further while new entrants struggle for visibility.	2023 Report, Success Analysis, IndieHackers, Hampton Interview
Technical limitations frustrate developers (common)	Documentation described as "literally just a few pages saying literally nothing much." Technical concerns include server-side plugins being impractical due to 1000% AWS Lambda markup and performance issues. Lack of modern dev tools like Git, pull requests, and CI/CD creates collaboration challenges.	Forum Thread, HN Thread 1, HN Thread 2, Stack Overflow

Is It Difficult to Build and Sell a Bubble Plugin?

Building Bubble plugins requires solid JavaScript and NodeJS knowledge, which immediately excludes non-technical entrepreneurs who might succeed with other no-code business models.

The technical requirements include understanding AWS Lambda's 128MB memory limit and 20-second throttled execution time, working with various JS libraries, and navigating Bubble's plugin API that developers describe as poorly documented. One experienced developer needed help from a senior front-end developer because custom plugin development "proved to be challenging and not as straightforward as expected," while another reported spending approximately 80 hours developing just a dropdown plugin.

API integrations range from 30 minutes for simple ones like Jira to 2 weeks for enterprise systems with poor documentation, with plugin review and approval by Bubble's team taking approximately one week on average. Beyond initial development, the ongoing support burden is substantial because customers expect professional support despite low plugin prices, creating what multiple developers describe as an "unsustainable" situation where you're essentially running customer service for software that generates minimal revenue.

The difficulty extends beyond coding to business operations, since you need to establish a formal company structure with associated overhead just to receive payments through Stripe, meaning success requires both technical skills and business infrastructure that many solo developers lack.

What Are the Recurring Expenses for a Bubble Plugin Business?

Expense Category	Details and Calculation	At $1,000/month Revenue	At $10,000/month Revenue
Bubble marketplace commission	Bubble takes 3% on first $50,000 lifetime earnings, then 20% after that threshold. Most forum sources cite an effective 25% total commission in practice when combining Bubble's cut with Stripe processing fees.	$250	$2,500
Payment processing (Stripe)	Stripe charges 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction for standard processing. For subscription plugins, this applies to each monthly recurring payment. The per-transaction fee matters more at lower price points.	$30-40	$300-350
Development time (ongoing)	After initial build, plugins require 10-15 hours monthly for bug fixes, feature updates, and Bubble API compatibility. At $50/hour developer rate (conservative), this is $500-750/month per plugin regardless of revenue. For multiple plugins, costs scale linearly.	$500-750	$500-750
Customer support	Email support, troubleshooting integration issues, documentation updates. Scales with user count rather than revenue. Estimate 1 hour per 10 active users monthly. At $30/hour support rate, costs grow as plugin adoption increases.	$150-300	$600-1,200
Business entity costs	LLC formation, registered agent, annual fees, business licenses vary by jurisdiction. One developer cited minimum €200/month ($220 USD) for taxes, accounting, and business operational costs in Europe. US costs typically $100-300/month for similar overhead.	$100-300	$100-300
Accounting and tax prep	Bookkeeping, quarterly tax filings, annual returns. Solo developers might use software like QuickBooks ($30-50/month) plus annual CPA fees ($500-1,500). Businesses with higher revenue need more sophisticated accounting.	$75-150	$200-400
Third-party API/library costs	Many plugins integrate external services (analytics, databases, APIs) that charge based on usage. Some require commercial licenses for JavaScript libraries. Costs vary dramatically by plugin type but can range from $0 for open-source integrations to $500+ monthly for premium APIs.	$0-200	$100-500
Hosting and infrastructure	Server-side plugins require AWS Lambda or similar serverless functions. Bubble marks up AWS Lambda costs by approximately 1000% according to forum complaints, making server-side plugins often impractical. Client-side plugins have minimal hosting costs beyond documentation sites.	$0-50	$50-200
Marketing and promotion	Most successful plugins rely on organic discovery through Bubble's marketplace and forum activity rather than paid ads. However, creating demo apps, tutorial videos, and documentation takes significant time. Paid promotion is rarely cost-effective given low plugin prices and conversion rates.	$0-100	$200-500
Total Monthly Expenses		$1,105-2,140	$4,550-6,700
Net Profit		-$105 to -$1,140	$3,300-5,450

Is the Bubble Plugin Market Overcrowded?

The Bubble marketplace grew from approximately 5,000 plugins in May 2024 to over 7,000 by July 2025, representing 40% growth in just 14 months.

However, this rapid expansion masks severe market concentration where one company (Zeroqode) controls 60% of all marketplace revenue and has 700-800 of the 7,000 total plugins. When searching for common integrations like payment providers, users must wade through over 100 similar options, yet Bubble needed to add a "Featured plugins" section to showcase quality plugins that wouldn't otherwise get attention among thousands of competitors.

The marketplace structure creates a "rich get richer" dynamic where all top 10 plugins in 2023 had been around since at least 2017-2019, with 9 of 10 top paid slots controlled by just Zeroqode and TechBlocks. Only 57 plugins are official partner-built integrations among 7,000+ total, suggesting most community plugins are lower quality or redundant, which aligns with forum complaints from 2018 where users questioned value propositions when selecting 3 paid plugins costs more than a Bubble subscription itself.

While niche opportunities theoretically remain (the Elastic Search plugin creators found success by identifying a gap), entrepreneurs trying to build profitable businesses face established teams with years of reputation, extensive plugin portfolios, and professional support infrastructure that solo developers can't match. Before diving in, it's worth checking whether building a Bubble plugin is worth your time compared to alternative opportunities in the no-code ecosystem.

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How Long Does It Take to Become Profitable With a Bubble Plugin?

No verifiable public data exists on average time to first customer or breakeven for Bubble plugin businesses, which itself signals concerning economics.

Zeroqode's founder explicitly mentioned 5-7 year ROI timelines for typical plugins during 2018 forum discussions, and their own journey from launching in 2016 to achieving estimated multi-million dollar annual revenue took approximately 5-6 years of aggressive development. The anonymous developer with "the most used paid-for plugin" was still earning less than $100 total after years of operation, suggesting many plugins never reach profitability at all.

Our expense analysis shows that plugins generating $1,000 monthly revenue actually lose $105-1,140 per month after accounting for platform commissions, development time, support costs, and business overhead. You need approximately $2,000-2,500 in monthly recurring revenue just to break even as a solo developer, and significantly more if you're paying market rates for development and support rather than doing everything yourself.

The complete absence of success stories on Indie Hackers, Reddit, or developer blogs compared to the frequent revenue milestone posts from WordPress and Shopify plugin creators suggests that most Bubble plugin developers either never reach meaningful profitability or take so long to get there that sharing the journey doesn't make sense. For context on what gaps still exist in the marketplace, you might explore missing Bubble plugins that could be opportunities, though building them profitably remains challenging.

What Are the Best Tips for Building a Profitable Bubble Plugin?

• 1. Build plugins to support your main business, not as standalone income

  Every sustainably profitable plugin business uses plugins as "engineering as marketing" rather than primary revenue. Zeroqode's core business is their agency (50+ employees), with plugins driving high-value clients for custom development work. SubSocket and PriceWell built Bubble plugins to integrate their existing SaaS products and attract customers to their main offering. If you're considering building plugins, have a clear strategy for how they'll generate leads or complement a broader business like development services, SaaS products, or educational content. Solo developers trying to build plugin-only businesses compete against professional teams and face brutal unit economics.

• 2. Plan for volume strategy from day one

  Zeroqode's success came from building 700+ plugins, not from a single hit product. Their most profitable individual plugin (Bubble Page to PDF converter) generated an estimated $40,000+ annually, but that's not enough to sustain a business after expenses. The top developers consistently maintain portfolios of dozens of plugins to achieve meaningful aggregate revenue. Building one plugin and hoping it succeeds is statistically unlikely to work when competing against established players with massive portfolios who've captured the market's attention and trust over many years.

• 3. Target enterprise needs with custom development, not marketplace sales

  API integrations for enterprise systems can command $5,000-50,000+ in one-time fees or ongoing contracts, compared to $5-10/month marketplace subscriptions. Multiple developers on forums mentioned pivoting to custom plugin development for specific clients rather than trying to sell general-purpose plugins to the masses. The economics work far better when you're building a $20,000 Salesforce integration for a single enterprise client than trying to sell a $7/month plugin to thousands of individual users who mostly won't convert.

• 4. Acquire existing plugins rather than building from scratch

  Cranford Tech runs a "Ventures" program specifically to acquire plugins and templates from other creators, recognizing that buying established products with existing users is often smarter than building new ones. Zeroqode pursued an aggressive acquisition strategy during their growth phase, buying plugins that had already achieved some market validation. If you have capital, acquiring a portfolio of 3-5 moderately successful plugins with existing revenue might cost $10,000-50,000 but provide faster time-to-profitability than spending 6-12 months building and marketing new plugins that may never gain traction. Before making moves, understanding market dynamics through resources like our market clarity reports can help you make smarter acquisition decisions.

• 5. Get featured by becoming a Bubble partner early

  Zeroqode attributes their primary lead source to being listed on Bubble's official partners page, which they achieved by building free apps for high-profile founders like Naval Ravikant and Ali Partovi. Bubble heavily promotes partner-built plugins over community plugins, and only 57 of 7,000+ plugins are official partner integrations. Focus on building relationships with the Bubble team through exceptional forum participation, high-quality contributions, and strategic partnership proposals rather than just launching products and hoping for organic discovery. The platform actively curates what gets visibility.

• 6. Identify specific gaps where competitors failed, not saturated categories

  The Elastic Search plugin developers succeeded by recognizing that existing search plugins didn't offer the "seamless, powerful search experience they envisioned." Don't build the 15th Stripe integration or another generic calendar plugin. Study the Bubble Forum for recurring complaints about existing plugins (performance issues, missing features, poor documentation) and build something that solves those specific frustrations better than established options. Payment plugins have over 100 competitors; find the categories where users are actively complaining about lack of quality solutions.

• 7. Price based on value delivered, not development costs or competitor pricing

  Bubble's marketplace restricts pricing to $1-100/month for subscriptions, but many developers price too low trying to compete on cost. One developer charging $3/month earned just €12 monthly from 298 installs. If your plugin saves users 5 hours monthly at a $50/hour equivalent, you could justify $50+/month pricing for a small subset of serious users rather than $5/month hoping for volume. Better to have 20 customers at $50/month ($1,000 MRR) than 200 customers at $5/month ($1,000 MRR) because support costs scale with user count, not revenue.

• 8. Build professional documentation and demos before launch

  The Elastic Search plugin team created a comprehensive demo page at pluginsnocode.bubbleapps.io before actively marketing. Developers consistently complain that Bubble's plugin documentation is "literally just a few pages saying literally nothing much," creating an opportunity to differentiate through exceptional onboarding materials. Record video walkthroughs, create detailed written guides, build sample apps that showcase real implementations, and provide responsive support. Since install numbers don't correlate with revenue, focusing on converting trials to paid users through excellent documentation matters more than maximizing trial downloads.

• 9. Establish presence and credibility in Bubble Forum before launching

  Zeroqode became "extremely active on Bubble Forum sharing tips and solutions" and built their reputation as go-to experts before aggressively monetizing. The limited plugin review system means reputation and word-of-mouth drive success. Spend 3-6 months becoming a recognized helpful community member, answer questions related to your plugin's domain, share free tools or code snippets, and build relationships with active developers. When you launch, you'll have a built-in audience who trusts your expertise rather than being another anonymous developer hoping for marketplace discovery. Entrepreneurs often struggle with market clarity when entering new ecosystems like this.

• 10. Consider selling the course instead of building the product

  Minimum Studio built 100+ plugins since 2018 but ultimately abandoned commercial plugin sales entirely in favor of selling courses about plugin development. This strategic pivot by an experienced, successful developer signals that teaching others to build plugins is more profitable than building them yourself. If you have strong JavaScript skills and understand Bubble's ecosystem, creating educational content (courses, tutorials, consulting) around plugin development might generate better economics than actually selling plugins in an overcrowded, low-margin marketplace.

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