Top 30 Most Profitable Indie SaaS

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Indie SaaS businesses are quietly building incredible revenue streams today, and the numbers tell a story most people miss.

These are bootstrapped operations run by small teams generating real, sustainable cash flow, not venture-backed unicorns burning millions.

Understanding what separates a $10K indie SaaS from a $500K one gives you an unfair advantage (which is why we build our market clarity reports for over 100 product categories).

In our market clarity reports, you'll always find a sharp analysis of your competitors.

Top 30 Indie SaaS Businesses — Ranked by Monthly Revenue

• 1. Systeme.io ($1,666,667/month)

  Systeme.io combines funnel building, email marketing, course hosting, and website creation in one affordable package, competing with ClickFunnels and Kajabi by undercutting on price. With $20M ARR ($1.66M monthly), this indie SaaS serves hundreds of thousands of users and paid out $5M+ in affiliate commissions. The non-technical solo founder (Aurelian) hired 3 developers via Upwork, built a 60% commission affiliate program, and targeted non-English markets first (French, Dutch, Portuguese) before English. Revenue estimated 2024 from freemium model with paid tiers starting $27/month.

  Sources: SuperFrameworks, Systeme.io
• 2. Tailwind Labs ($500K+/month)

  Tailwind Labs generates estimated $500K+ monthly from Tailwind UI (premium components at $149-$249) and Refactoring UI (design resources at $99+), hitting $4M+ in under 2 years by 2020. Founded by Adam Wathan and Steve Schoger, they achieved $2M in Tailwind UI's first 5 months and $2.5M+ lifetime from Refactoring UI by 2022. Growth came from building massive audience first (spending 2 years growing Twitter), launching with $500K in first 3 days, and leveraging educational content via Full Stack Radio podcast.

  Sources: Adam Wathan, Indie Hackers
• 3. Nomad List ($441,667/month)

  Nomad List ranks cities worldwide for remote workers based on cost, internet, weather, and safety, generating $5.3M in 2024 ($441,667 monthly). Created by Pieter Levels in 2014, this solo operation has 29,000+ paying members at $75/year and millions of monthly users. Revenue exploded from $700K in 2022 to $5.3M in 2024. Growth came from building in public on Twitter (422K+ followers), zero paid marketing, progressive price increases from $5 to $75, and media features in Time and NY Times.

  Sources: Levels.io, GetLatka
• 4. HeadshotPro ($300,000/month)

  HeadshotPro generates AI-powered professional headshots from selfies, charging $49 versus $300+ traditional photography. Launched March 2023, hit $100K within 2 weeks and reached $300K/month by late 2023. Founded by Danny Postma, who previously sold Headlime for $1M in 2021, serving 197K customers with 17.9M AI headshots created. Growth came from SEO (built 200+ programmatic pages, ranks #1 for major keywords), UGC creator partnerships on TikTok/Instagram, and B2B team plans.

  Sources: Starter Story, Indie Hackers
• 5. Snappa ($266,667/month)

  Snappa is a graphic design tool for social media and blog images targeting non-designers. Recent estimates show $3.2M annual in 2024 ($266,667 monthly), growing from $55K MRR in 2019 and crossing $1M ARR by 2020. Founded by Christopher Gimmer and Marc from Ottawa, who hit $2K MRR in first month and $10K MRR in 5 months after launching November 2015. Growth from content marketing and SEO with no paid ads initially.

  Sources: Starter Story, GetLatka
• 6. Plausible Analytics ($258,333/month)

  Plausible Analytics is a privacy-friendly, open-source alternative to Google Analytics with less than 1KB script and GDPR compliance. With $3.1M ARR in October 2024 ($258,333 monthly), this indie SaaS serves 12,000+ paying subscribers tracking 60,000+ websites. Founded by Uku Täht and Marko Saric (joined March 2020), grew to 8 employees completely bootstrapped. Growth from viral Hacker News posts (hit #1 six-seven times), timing with GDPR rulings against Google Analytics, and zero paid advertising.

  Sources: Plausible Blog, Indie Hackers
• 7. Tangle ($236,000/month)

  Tangle is a non-partisan political newsletter summarizing views from left, right, and center, generating $2.8M annually as of December 2024 ($236,000 monthly). With 80%+ revenue from subscriptions, serves 300,000+ subscribers and 60,000+ paying at $59/year. Founded by Isaac Saul, former Huffington Post reporter, grew team to 7+ employees. Growth from starting with 13 friends/family in 2019, achieving 99% monthly retention with less than 1% unsubscribe rate.

  Sources: Gaps, Tangle
• 8. Formula Bot ($226,000/month)

  Formula Bot converts natural language to Excel formulas, SQL queries, and scripts, built with no-code using Bubble.io. With $226,000 MRR in February 2024, serves 750,000+ users and 5,000+ paying subscribers. Founded by David Bressler, a data analyst with NO coding experience, built during 6-week paternity leave in July 2022. Growth from explosive Reddit launch (posted to r/Excel, became top post driving 100K+ visitors overnight), SEO as primary channel with 50%+ traffic, and rejected VC offers from Sequoia and Y Combinator.

  Sources: Picklerooms, Indie Hackers
• 9. Prerender.io ($208,333/month)

  Prerender.io converts JavaScript websites into SEO-friendly HTML for search crawlers. With $2.5M ARR ($208,333 monthly), founded by Todd Hooper who remained sole employee for first 5 years. Achieved $2.5M ARR after 5 years per October 2020 disclosure, later acquired by SaaS.group. Growth from open source strategy (released free GitHub version first), product-led growth when JavaScript SEO emerged in 2014, and word of mouth with no paid advertising.

  Sources: Starter Story, Medium

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• 10. Newcomer ($167,000/month)

  Newcomer is a tech and VC newsletter with deeply reported journalism, generating over $2M annually in 2024 ($167,000+ monthly). Serves 100,000+ free subscribers and 2,000+ paid at $200/year. Founded by Eric Newcomer, former Bloomberg reporter for 6 years, left during pandemic in 2020. Revenue grew from $1M+ in 2022 to $1.6M in 2023 to over $2M in 2024. Growth from leveraging 2,500 Bloomberg followers, Substack recommendations surge, and Cerebral Valley AI Summit events.

  Sources: Newcomer, Gaps
• 11. Baremetrics ($166,000/month at peak)

  Baremetrics provides revenue analytics for subscription businesses with one-click Stripe integration showing MRR, LTV, and churn. Peaked at $166,000 MRR (approximately $2M ARR) before selling for $4M in November 2020. Founded by Josh Pigford who built 50+ projects over 15 years before this success. Growth from radical transparency (made all metrics public from day one), partnership with Buffer to publicize their metrics, and started "Open Startups" initiative.

  Sources: Indie Hackers, Startups For The Rest Of Us
• 12. Carrd ($146,000/month)

  Carrd is a simple one-page website builder with $19/year paid plan, hosting 4 million+ websites. With $1.5M-$2M ARR (averaging $146,000 monthly) as of 2024, serves 800,000+ users. Founded by AJ (@ajlkn), a solo developer who took $2M funding in 2021 but remained mostly solo. Growth from zero marketing spend, "Made with Carrd" branding on free sites, and 90% gross margins.

  Sources: Indie Hackers, SaaS Club
• 13. Slow Boring ($117,000/month)

  Slow Boring is a politics and policy newsletter generating $1.4M annually mid-2023 to mid-2024 ($117,000 monthly). Serves 150,000+ free subscribers and 18,000+ paying. Founded by Matthew Yglesias, Vox.com co-founder who left in November 2020. Growth from leveraging Vox reputation, Substack Pro program (received $250K advance), and consistent analysis.

  Sources: Gaps, Press Gazette
• 14. TinyPilot ($90,000/month)

  TinyPilot is a hardware KVM device for remote server management built on Raspberry Pi. With $80,000-$100,000 MRR (averaging $90,000), peak month hit $112K in November 2022 after Linus Tech Tips feature. Founded by Michael Lynch, ex-Google developer, grew to 7 employees before selling for $600K in April 2024. Growth from homelab community word-of-mouth and monthly blog retrospectives building trust.

  Sources: mtlynch.io, mtlynch.io retrospectives
• 15. Why We Buy ($83,000/month)

  Why We Buy is a marketing psychology newsletter with courses generating over $1M annually in 2024 ($83,000+ monthly). Achieved $750K in 2023 at 84% profit margin with $25K/month from sponsorships. Founded by Katelyn Bourgoin, 4x founder with 63,000+ subscribers and 220K+ followers. Growth from Twitter/LinkedIn engagement, SparkLoop Partner Program acquiring 15K+ subscribers, and unique formats like "Brainy Battles."

  Sources: Gaps, Growth In Reverse
• 16. ShipFast ($75,100/month)

  ShipFast is a NextJS boilerplate for developers at $199-299, hitting $75,100 MRR in March 2024. Serves 7,621+ makers with 92% profit margin. Founded by Marc Louvion, French solo developer who built 27+ products before ShipFast, now runs portfolio generating $1.2M+ annually. Growth from Twitter following (422K+ followers, over 50% of traffic), Product Hunt #2 Product of Day, and building in public.

  Sources: Indie Hackers, BuilderKit
• 17. FeedbackPanda ($55,000/month at exit)

  FeedbackPanda automates student feedback for online ESL teachers. With $55,000 MRR at 2019 exit, sold to SureSwift Capital for 7 figures ($1M+), reaching $20,000 MRR within first 9 months. Founded by Arvid Kahl and Danielle Simpson, two co-founders with no employees. Growth from solving Danielle's own pain point, launching in private Facebook groups with single comment that exploded, and browser extension integration into teacher workflows.

  Sources: Indie Hackers, SaaS Club
• 18. Bannerbear ($52,500/month)

  Bannerbear automates social media visuals and marketing images via API. With $52,500 MRR ($630K ARR as of 2024), serves 596 customers with team of 7 by 2022. Founded by Jon Yongfook Cockle, Singapore-based who launched 7 products in "12 startups in 12 months" before focusing on Bannerbear. Growth from 50/50 coding-marketing split, building in public until Feb 2024, and repositioning from "vitamin" to "painkiller."

  Sources: Bannerbear, Starter Story
• 19. Geocodio ($45,833/month)

  Geocodio converts addresses to coordinates serving Associated Press, Amazon, and Expedia. With estimated $45,833 MRR from $550K annual, crossed $1M all-time revenue by 2019. Founded by Michele and Mathias Hansen (married couple), grew to 5 employees by 2025. Growth from front page Hacker News on launch day (January 21, 2014), Unlimited plan in May 2014 as "rocket fuel," and first month revenue of $28 net covering server costs.

  Sources: mjwhansen.com, GetLatka

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• 20. Papermark ($45,000/month)

  Papermark is an open-source DocSend alternative for secure document sharing. With $45,000 MRR in late 2024, grew from $1K MRR one year prior and crossed $500K ARR in April 2025. Founded by Iuliia Shnai and Marc Seitz, two-person team from Munich who built 11 products (10 failed) before this. Growth from SEO (built approximately 1,000 pages), micro free tools for traffic, and open source credibility with full code on GitHub.

  Sources: Indie Hackers, Gaps
• 21. Stacked Marketer ($43,000/month)

  Stacked Marketer is a daily marketing newsletter with premium tier at $99/month. With $517,500 annually in 2024 ($43,000 monthly), serves 100,000+ subscribers. Founded by Emanuel Cinca in 2018, generated $2.5M+ total. Revenue shows $685K in 2022, $715K in 2023, $517.5K in 2024 (declined due to ad market). Growth from daily curation, premium tier with deep analysis, and transparent marketing coverage.

  Sources: Gaps
• 22. Hell Gate ($42,000/month)

  Hell Gate is NYC-focused local news, worker-owned by 7 founding journalists. With over $500K annually ($42,000+ monthly), serves 20,000+ readers and 5,300+ paying. Launched July 2022 with $28,000 from workers. Growth from minimal capital launch, free newsletter plus paid tiers at $6.99-$9.99/month, growing 10% monthly, and podcast component.

  Sources: Gaps, Letterpal
• 23. Liinks ($25,000/month)

  Liinks is a link-in-bio tool at $4/mo Premium, $10/mo Pro with no free tier. With $25,000 MRR in August 2024, serves 5,300+ paying customers. Founded by Charlie Clark, solo founder from Brooklyn, ex-Squarespace Tech Lead. Growth from Product Hunt launch 10 days after starting, started at $3/mo to undercut competition, removed free tier to reduce spam.

  Sources: Indie Hackers, Starter Story
• 24. Bluetick ($24,000/month)

  Bluetick is a warm and cold email platform sending up to 900K+ emails daily at peak. With $24,000 MRR peaked in 2024, includes Bluetick, FounderCafe, and InboxFusion. Founded by Mike Taber, solo founder who co-founded MicroConf and Startups for the Rest of Us podcast (sold both to TinySeed). Growth from MicroConf/podcast platform, focus on building targeted audience.

  Sources: Indie Hackers
• 25. Buttondown ($15,000/month)

  Buttondown is newsletter software for writers. With $15,000 MRR disclosed December 2022, built over 5+ years. Founded by Justin Duke, ex-Stripe and Amazon engineer. Growth from "Powered by Buttondown" footer in every email, patience with no marketing spend, and consistent 5-10% monthly growth.

  Sources: Starter Story, Indie Bites
• 26. HabitKit ($13,605/month)

  HabitKit is a habit tracking mobile app with privacy focus. With $13,605 MRR in June 2024, achieved $51,000 in 2023 and $110,000 January-May 2024. Founded by Sebastian Röhl, 29-31 from Germany, solo founder who self-taught Flutter. Growth from App Store Optimization breakthrough (May-June 2023, ranked top 5-10), building in public on Twitter, and translated to 10 languages.

  Sources: RevenueCat, Indie Hackers
• 27. Linkody ($12,083/month)

  Linkody is a backlink monitoring tool. With $12,083 monthly (from $145,000 ARR), serves several hundred customers. Founded by François Mommens, solo founder from Amsterdam who taught himself PHP/Symfony. Growth from SEO and link building, free SEO tools for leads, and zero paid advertising with MVP built in 3 weeks.

  Sources: Failory
• 28. FounderPal + MakerBox ($10,000/month)

  FounderPal is marketing tools for indie hackers with FounderPal at $7,800/month and MakerBox at $749/month. Made $100K in first 10 months. Founded by Dan Kulkov and Sveta Bay, couple with no coding background who learned Bubble and Xano. Growth from 70+ free tools for SEO, email marketing funnel, and stuck to one audience across 16 product launches.

  Sources: Indie Hackers, Indie Hackers
• 29. Leave Me Alone ($10,000/month)

  Leave Me Alone is an email unsubscription service. With $10,000 monthly turnover (approximately $5,000 MRR from subscriptions), serves 20K users processing 1M+ emails. Founded by Danielle Johnson and James Ivings, digital nomads who bought boat with profits. Growth from Product Hunt #1 Product of Day (made $1,186 day 1), featured in Lifehacker, and referral program with 43% conversion.

  Sources: Indie Hackers, Women Make

For each competitor, our market clarity reports look at how they address (or fail to address) market pain points. If they don't, it highlights a potential opportunity for you.