Top 28 Most Profitable MRR Businesses
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MRR businesses represent the most predictable revenue model in tech, with scale varying from $20K to $3.65M monthly.
They all share one thing: recurring revenue that compounds over time.
Understanding what separates category leaders from niche players gives you clarity on what actually works (which is why we build our market clarity reports for over 100 product categories).
Quick Summary
The MRR landscape spans $20K to $3.65M monthly, with clear patterns separating leaders from niche players.
Top earners either built for massive markets with network effects (like ConvertKit at $3.65M/month) or found profitable niches with high willingness to pay (like Designjoy at $130K/month as one person). 30 out of 35 businesses are bootstrapped with zero or minimal ad spend.
The most capital-efficient companies focus on SEO, building in public, and product-led growth.
In our market clarity reports, you'll always find a sharp analysis of your competitors.
Top 28 MRR Businesses Ranked by Monthly Revenue
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1. ConvertKit ($3.65M/month)
ConvertKit (now Kit) is an email marketing platform built for professional creators like bloggers, podcasters, and YouTubers. It generates $3.65 million monthly ($43.8M ARR in 2024), serving 44,939 paying customers and paying out $10M+ in creator revenue. This is pure MRR because customers pay recurring subscriptions based on list size, starting at $29/month and scaling to $59/month and beyond.
Growth came from extreme niche focus (professional bloggers only), direct Skype demos, cold emailing, and free concierge migrations. Founder Nathan Barry invested his last $50K when the business hit only $2,000 MRR at 6 months instead of his $5,000 goal. The company turned down a Spotify acquisition in 2021 and now serves 600,000+ creators after 11 years.
Sources: Indie Hackers, Nathan Barry -
2. Retention.com ($1.83M/month)
Retention.com is an e-commerce retention platform generating $1.83 million monthly ($22M ARR disclosed August 2025). The company operates with just 6 employees, achieving $2M revenue per employee and 87% gross margins. This is MRR because e-commerce brands pay recurring monthly subscriptions. Founder Adam Robinson also launched RB2B, which hit $200K MRR in 6 months.
Growth centers on radical transparency, with Adam publicly sharing P&L statements and turning a cease & desist letter into viral LinkedIn content that generated 1,600 leads. The company refused VC funding, stayed bootstrapped, and generated $6M annual net income. Content-led growth through authentic storytelling became the primary channel, with Adam's personal brand driving $60,000 in new MRR monthly to RB2B alone.
Sources: FounderPath, YouTube Keynote -
3. TimeLeft ($1.16M/month)
TimeLeft is a social dinner club app organizing weekly Wednesday dinners where strangers meet based on personality matching. It generates $1.16 million monthly ($12.5M+ ARR December 2024), operating in 300+ cities across 50+ countries with 3M users and 70+ employees. This is MRR because members pay ~$20/month to participate (they pay separately for meals). The platform operates in 18 languages.
Founder Maxime Barbier, a former French nightclub promoter, manually matched people using Typeform, WhatsApp, and Stripe for 3 months before building tech. The company hit $110 week one, $20K MRR month three, $1M MRR month seven, and scaled from $1M to $10M ARR in 7 months. This was Barbier's fourth pivot after 3 years of failures, following his "3 rules": launch under 2 weeks, no technical team initially, revenue from day one.
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4. Arcads.ai ($500K+/month)
Arcads.ai is an AI video ad creation platform for e-commerce brands and agencies generating $500,000+ monthly ($6M ARR April-May 2025), serving 4,000+ customers. The company operates with 5 employees, achieving $1.2M revenue per employee while remaining profitable and bootstrapped. This is MRR because clients pay recurring subscriptions for AI video ad creation using 100+ AI agents in Gumloop.
Founder Romain Torres hit $5,000 MRR week one, reached $1M ARR in 6 months, and added $1M ARR in a single month (April-May 2025). Growth focuses on heavy AI automation for operations, competitor ad scraping with daily Slack alerts, and a three-channel strategy. Automated competitor research helps identify and replicate successful ad patterns at scale.
Sources: Nathan Latka Podcast -
5. Wave AI ($450K/month)
Wave AI is an AI-powered note-taking app that records, transcribes, and summarizes meetings. It generates $450,000 monthly (December 2024), serving 22,000 paid subscribers with 200,000+ downloads. This is pure MRR because users pay recurring subscriptions (weekly, monthly, or annual) through a freemium model. The app hit $4M ARR run rate in its first year.
Founder Josh Mohrer, former GM of Uber New York, wrote 99% of the code himself using ChatGPT despite being a first-time programmer. Growth came from organic App Store optimization and building in public on Twitter. Mohrer launched in 2023 and reached $450K MRR within 8-12 months as a solo founder before planning to hire today.
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6. Plausible Analytics ($300K+/month)
Plausible Analytics is a lightweight (under 1KB), open-source, privacy-first Google Analytics alternative generating $300,000+ monthly ($3.1M revenue 2024), serving 12,000+ paying subscribers tracking 1+ billion monthly pageviews across 50,000+ websites. This is MRR because customers pay recurring subscriptions based on pageview volume. The platform is GDPR compliant and cookie-free.
Growth came from content marketing with a viral Hacker News post "Why you should stop using Google Analytics." The company publishes ~1 blog post per week with 2,500+ word articles and has spent $0 on paid ads. They capitalized on GDPR concerns when European authorities ruled Google Analytics non-compliant in 2022-2023. First paying customer came May 2019 at $64 MRR, reached $400 MRR after 324 days, hit $10K MRR January 2021, and crossed $1M ARR July 2022.
Sources: Plausible Blog, Plausible -
7. Pointerpro ($287K/month)
Pointerpro is assessment software for consultants combining online questionnaires with automated, personalized PDF reports. It generates $287,000 MRR ($3.44M ARR) (March 2024), serving clients like Deloitte, Meta, and Adobe with users in 65+ countries. This is MRR because clients pay recurring subscriptions for platform access. The company operates with 28 people and maintains 30%+ annual growth.
Founder Stefan Debois, an engineer with 15+ years at PwC, started Pointerpro in 2012 as a generic survey tool but pivoted in 2019 to add personalized reports. The company took 12 years total to reach $287K MRR, with 7 years finding product-market fit. Growth came from content marketing and SEO targeting consultants, focusing on one killer use case rather than being generic, and building trust through enterprise social proof. Bootstrapped with only $1M raised total.
Sources: Starter Story, SaaS Club Podcast -
8. BetterPic ($270K/month)
BetterPic is an AI headshot generator transforming selfies into professional headshots in under 60 minutes. It generates $270,000 monthly ($3.24M ARR 2025), growing from $1,500 MRR when acquired December 2023 to $20,000 MRR July 2024 (13x in 7 months). The company generated 11M+ headshots with 13 people, achieving $246K ARR per employee. This is MRR from one-time purchases generating consistent revenue plus B2B subscriptions.
Founders Ricardo Ghekiere and Miguel Rasero acquired the business at $1,500 MRR and focused on product quality, specifically perfecting AI eye and hand generation. They built strong team culture, provided high-touch support to reduce refunds, and used SEO and content marketing. Starting at $29 versus traditional photography at $350+, the company stayed bootstrapped and profitable, currently raising its first funding round.
Sources: Liftoff Podcast, Starter Story -
9. RB2B ($200K/month)
RB2B is a B2B visitor intelligence tool identifying anonymous website visitors and providing LinkedIn profiles. It generates $200,000 MRR (August 2025) with credit-based pricing at $99/month for 200 leads or $300/month for 1,000 leads. This is MRR from recurring subscriptions with 10% free-to-paid conversion. Launched March 2024, it hit $200K MRR in 6 months, adding $60,000 new MRR monthly.
Founder Adam Robinson (who runs Retention.com at $1.83M monthly) used viral LinkedIn content as primary growth. He turned a cease & desist letter into a viral post generating 1,600 likes, 913 comments, and 1,600 leads. The company maintains 87% gross margins and radical financial transparency by publicly sharing P&Ls. Despite high churn (~10%), the company focused on multi-product strategy while remaining bootstrapped.
Sources: FounderPath, YouTube Keynote -
10. ZenMaid ($200K+/month)
ZenMaid is scheduling and management software built specifically for maid service businesses, generating $200,000+ monthly (May 2024). This is MRR because maid services pay recurring monthly subscriptions. The company operates with 10-15 people remotely, founded in 2013.
CEO Amar Ghose started ZenMaid as an internal tool for his own maid service, then spent 2+ years cold calling maid service owners from 5am-8am weekdays and all day Saturdays while both founders worked full-time. Very slow growth at ~$300/month MRR for 3 years, then accelerated. Took 8+ years to reach $100K MRR (2021) and 11+ years to hit $200K MRR (2024). Growth came from content marketing (YouTube, Maid Summit, podcasts) and Facebook communities.
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11. Tally ($150K/month)
Tally is a no-code form builder with unlimited submissions through a freemium model, generating $150,000 MRR (May 2025), growing from $60,000 MRR (May 2023), serving 400,000+ users. This is MRR from recurring Tally Pro subscriptions. The company operates with 4 full-time people and reached $1M ARR in 3 years.
Co-founders Marie Martens and Filip Minev (life partners) used product-led growth with generous free tier and building in public from day one. Launched on Product Hunt March 2021, hitting $1K MRR immediately, but took 1.5 years to reach $10K MRR. The simple, Notion-like editor became their differentiator. They avoided discounts after learning they attracted wrong customers, maintaining transparency through blog.tally.so.
Sources: Tally Blog, Indie Bites Podcast May 2025 -
12. Photo AI ($150K/month)
Photo AI is an AI photo studio generating professional photos without physical photoshoots, reaching $150,000 MRR (October 2024) with 2,573 active subscribers at ~$31/month. This is MRR from recurring subscriptions with 87% profit margins. Zero funding, 100% bootstrapped, solo founder.
Founder Pieter Levels (creator of Nomad List, Remote OK, 70+ projects) launched February 2023, hitting $10K MRR after 3 weeks (318 customers) and $25K MRR after 5 weeks. Growth from building in public on Twitter with transparent revenue updates, viral TikTok marketing ($7K MRR from one TikTok), and 20% affiliate program. Bought photoai.com domain for $40K, started with manual processing before automating.
Sources: Twitter $10K MRR, Twitter $150K MRR -
13. ShipFast ($133K/month)
ShipFast is a NextJS boilerplate helping developers launch startups in days with pre-built code for payments, auth, emails, and landing pages. It generates $133,000 MRR (April 2024) with 1,851+ customers and 92% profit margins. This is MRR from consistent one-time purchase sales at $199 (varies with promotions) including lifetime updates for first year.
Founder Marc Lou built 27 projects before ShipFast, compiling reusable code into this boilerplate. Launched August 31, 2023, making $6,000 in 48 hours and $40,000 first month, reaching $300,000+ cumulative by early 2024. Growth from Product Hunt launch (#1 Product of the Day), building in public on Twitter (73,000+ followers), demo videos in popular movies, and showcasing what users built. Named Product Hunt's Maker of the Year 2024.
Sources: Twitter Launch, Twitter October 2023 -
14. Designjoy ($130K/month)
Designjoy is an unlimited design subscription service for agencies, startups, and entrepreneurs, generating $130,000 MRR ($1.5M-1.7M ARR 2024) as a one-man operation. This is MRR because clients pay $5,000/month subscriptions (most popular tier) with quarterly and annual options, can pause anytime. Brett Williams works on one request at a time with 1-2 day turnaround.
Founder Brett Williams spent first 4 months at only $800/month while working full-time. He built in public on Twitter/Indie Hackers, then posted a viral tweet about making $80K/month which doubled revenue to $160K overnight. Started 2017, reached $80K/month in 2020 and maintained $95K-130K MRR by 2023-2024. Product Hunt launch brought 40,000 visits. Raised prices from $2,500 to $5,000/month to manage demand and limit client slots.
Sources: Novum HQ Interview, Unkoa -
15. Baked Design ($115K/month)
Baked Design is a product design subscription for startups offering UI/UX, SaaS, website, and mobile app design, generating $100,000-$130,000 MRR (using $115,000 average). Founded March 2023, reaching this level by late 2024. This is MRR from recurring subscriptions: Basic ($4,179/month one request) and Pro ($6,317/month multiple requests) with 2-day turnaround and unlimited revisions.
Founders Alex Szczurek (Poland) and Nick used 100% Twitter/X growth initially through public design roasts strategy, quoting tweets with design critiques that went viral. They built in public, sharing MRR milestones, targeting indie hackers. First subscription July 2023 ($4,317), hit $65K revenue in 3 months, $100K MRR in 5-6 months, reached $1M ARR in 7 months. Sustained $100K+ MRR for 4+ months by late 2024.
Sources: Starter Story, FounderClix -
16. Indifferent Broccoli ($75K/month)
Indifferent Broccoli is video game server hosting specializing in survival games, generating $75,000 MRR (January 2024), with ARR growing from $500K to $1M+ rapidly. This is pure MRR from recurring monthly subscriptions for dedicated servers (Minecraft, Valheim, Palworld, 7 Days to Die, Project Zomboid, Satisfactory). Experienced 50% MRR growth in 3 days when Palworld launched, jumping from $43K to $75K MRR.
Founder Jake Gaba left Stanford to buy and grow this existing business around 2020-2021. Focused on niche survival games with rapid response to trending games (Palworld launch created overnight growth), community-focused approach, and emphasis on reliability. Started as small website acquisition that Gaba tripled in revenue within 6 months. Strategic game selection focused on hosting-friendly titles rather than every game.
Sources: Starter Story -
17. Pallyy ($74K/month)
Pallyy is a social media management platform for scheduling, analytics, and content management across Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google My Business, generating $74,000 MRR (January 2024), serving 24,000+ users. This is MRR from recurring subscriptions. A $3/month price increase added $10K+ to MRR instantly.
Founder Tim Bennetto was a locksmith for 10 years before becoming self-taught developer via Codecademy (6 months evening learning). Ran solo for 4 years before hiring. SEO drives 95% of traffic, buying free tools like image-to-caption.io for $2K getting 4-5K clicks/day redirected to Pallyy. Created 40% lifetime commission affiliate program and SEO-optimized competitor pages. Plateaued at ~$1K MRR for 2 years, then achieved 52-58% month-over-month growth for 6 months.
Sources: Indie Hackers, Indie Hackers Post -
18. Plumbelec Marketing ($57K/month)
Plumbelec Marketing is a digital marketing agency specializing in Google Maps SEO and local search for plumbing and electrical businesses, generating $57,000 MRR (June 2025). This is MRR from recurring monthly retainers. The founder previously worked as an actual plumber in Sydney.
Founder Tom Richards started with Upwork consulting after multiple failed attempts. Implemented Hormozi's 1-1-1 model (1 service, 1 niche, 1 channel) with hyper-niche focus on plumbing and electrical only. Growth from cold outreach with case studies, Google Maps and local SEO as core service, and using ChatGPT and AI tools for efficiency. Took several years of consistent execution to reach $57K MRR.
Sources: Tropical MBA Episode #812, Apple Podcasts -
19. Robopost ($55K/month)
Robopost is social media post automation and scheduler with AI capabilities including "faceless video generator," generating $55,000 MRR (2024), reached within 12 months of launch. This is MRR from recurring subscriptions. Solo female founder from Japan selling internationally, customers initially 80% France, 20% USA.
Founder Mako built MVP in 2 months using FastAPI backend, ReactJS frontend, hosted on Linode with Celery. Mastered Meta Ads as primary driver by studying makerads.guide, creating "shocking" video ads showing immediate pain relief. First customers from personal network. Took 6 months to find product-market fit, then focused on large market rather than niche.
Sources: Indie Hackers -
20. Upvoty ($50K+/month)
Upvoty is a SaaS platform for collecting and managing user feedback, feature requests, and product roadmaps through voting boards, generating $50,000+ MRR (2023-2024). This is MRR from recurring subscriptions with tiered pricing for different company sizes.
Founder Mike Strives (solo founder) used customer-centric development by "dogfooding" his product and sending personal (non-automated) emails to every signup. Treated every customer contact as learning, documented questions and turned them into content articles. Growth from keyword research and SEO, targeted ads on specific keywords, and private beta generating first $1,000 MRR. Hit $5,000 MRR within 6 months of launch. Strives previously sold another product for millions.
Sources: Indie Hackers -
21. Bannerbear ($50K/month)
Bannerbear is a REST API and integration tool for automatic generation of social media visuals, e-commerce banners, and marketing images with no-code workflows, generating $50,000 MRR (2024). This is MRR from recurring API subscriptions with tiered usage-based pricing and high gross margins.
Founder Jon Yongfook (designer and programmer 20+ years, digital nomad in Bali) pivoted from Notion Open Graph generator to broader API. Spent nearly 1 year on 12 startups challenge before focusing. Growth from jobs-to-be-done framework, 50-50 split coding and marketing, content marketing with technical tutorials (Puppeteer, FFmpeg), and SEO focus. Journey to $10K MRR post hit Hacker News front page. Took 2 years to reach $10K MRR (2021), hit $16K MRR May 2021, reached $27K MRR 2022.
Sources: Bannerbear Blog, Twitter -
22. Papermark ($45K/month)
Papermark is an open-source document sharing platform (DocSend alternative) with analytics, tracking, and viewer controls, generating $45,000 MRR ($500K+ ARR 2024). This is MRR from recurring subscriptions with tiered pricing starting at $29/month, evolving to multiple tiers including $349 top-tier, using open-source plus commercial model.
Founder Iuliia Shnai (PhD background) built 10-11 products in 12 months before Papermark succeeded, working with co-founder Marc. Growth from "building for growth" with ~1,000 pages of SEO content including free tools, alternative pages, and localized landing pages. Fully open-sourced on GitHub, posted on Dev.to and Reddit, using two separate NextJS projects for marketing versus product. Went from $1K to $45K MRR in ~12 months of full-time work (2024).
Sources: Indie Hackers, Indie Hackers Post -
23. EasyGen ($41.5K/month)
EasyGen is an AI Chrome extension helping professionals create engaging LinkedIn posts with multiple variations optimized for LinkedIn's algorithm, generating $41,532 MRR (November 2024), serving 27,000+ users with 100M+ views generated and 98.7% 5-star reviews. This is MRR from recurring subscriptions at ~$60/year, positioned as $2/day "personal ghostwriter."
Founder Ruben Hassid built 480K+ LinkedIn following first, then productized his process. Grew 2 employee LinkedIn accounts from 0 to 25K and 30K followers as proof. Growth entirely from content marketing and building in public on LinkedIn (100% organic, no paid ads), using personal brand as distribution. Reached $9.1K MRR in 92 days and $41K+ MRR in 195 days (6 months of launch early 2024). Team of 6, $0 outside investment.
Sources: Starter Story, Productivity Stacks -
24. Standout CV ($38K/month)
Standout CV is a SaaS CV/resume builder with template library, writing guides, and interview advice, generating £30,000 MRR (~$38,000 USD 2024), serving 23,000+ paying customers with 18+ million organic visitors total. This is MRR from recurring subscriptions: £2.70 trial converting to £16.95/month. Free to build, pay to download.
Founder Andrew Fennell (recruitment background, self-taught SEO) used SEO-first approach with massive content library, publishing 20+ articles per month and strategic link building with "link magnets" (CV statistics, studies). Site grew to 120K monthly visitors before launching SaaS, starting with few hundred visitors within 3 months. Achieved £1M total revenue since SaaS launch. Now runs LinkQuest (SEO consultancy) at linkquest.co.uk.
Sources: Indie Hackers -
25. Amplify ($37K/month)
Amplify (formerly Notepad) is an unlimited design and content subscription providing Senior Copywriter, Senior Designer, and Project Manager for fixed monthly fee, generating £30,000 MRR (~$37-38K USD after 3 months 2024), serving SMBs and SaaS companies. This is MRR from £5,000/month ($6,250 USD approx.) with no contracts, pause or cancel options, with 6 active clients, half paying quarterly.
Founder originally launched Notepad branding agency in 2017, ran 5+ years before pivoting to subscription. Started testing with 15 existing clients from previous agency, validated through client conversations. Growth from positioning as alternative to sporadic project work, emphasizing cost savings versus in-house team, and quarterly payment options for retention. Plans to market beyond existing network and develop proprietary SaaS.
Sources: Indie Hackers -
26. Typeshare ($34K/month)
Typeshare is a writing platform to create and publish content across the internet, serving 80,000+ users with over $1 million total revenue since 2021 launch, generating $34,000 MRR (2024-2025). This is MRR from recurring subscriptions.
Founder Sam Shore started as part of "12 startups in 12 months" challenge. Influential partnerships were key to early growth, reaching $15K MRR in first year (2021-2022) through partnership strategy. Grew to $34K MRR by 2024, crossing $1M total revenue through community-driven growth and focusing on helping users improve writing. Active in indie hacker community, building in public approach.
Sources: Indie Bites Podcast 2024/2025 -
27. Revolution Design ($20K/month)
Revolution Design is design-as-a-subscription for fast-growing tech companies ("Netflix for design"), delivering top-tier designers in 24 hours, generating $20,000 MRR within 10 months while still in beta (2023). This is MRR from $4,990/month subscriptions, pause or cancel anytime, 7-day risk-free trial.
Achieved $20K MRR from 100% inbound leads (no outbound). Founders (Kerim and likely additional co-founders) kept business in beta while limiting client intake, using risk-free trial as conversion tool. Growth from positioning as affordable alternative to six-figure designer salaries, focusing on fast-growing tech companies. Team provides designers within 24 hours, solving expensive agencies and unreliable freelancers problem.
Sources: Starter Story -
28. ThumbnailTest ($16K/month)
ThumbnailTest was an A/B testing tool for YouTubers to test thumbnails and titles to optimize click-through rates with auto-rotation and analytics, generating $16,000 monthly ($10K+ MRR November 2023) before selling for six figures in 2024. This was MRR from recurring subscriptions with tiered pricing, competing against TubeBuddy by unbundling expensive A/B testing.
Founder Rox (26, Greenville NC) built entire product live on Twitch with 4,000-7,000 followers watching. Used Twitter DM outreach (DMing every follower with "YouTube" in bio) and affiliate program for YouTuber managers. Growth from personal network leverage (girlfriend and friends are YouTubers). Reached 20 paying customers ($200 MRR) in 1 month development + 14 days post-launch, hit $800 MRR in ~3 months, and reached $10,000+ MRR in ~17 months before acquisition.
Sources: Starter Story, The Bootstrapped Founder
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