About IndieMakerList

Why this directory exists

Indie makers learn best from other makers. But their stories are scattered across X threads, podcasts, old blog posts and revenue screenshots. IndieMakerList pulls them into one place: a profile per maker with their products, timeline, principles, tech stack, courses and links — so you can find role models in your niche and see what actually worked.

Explore by category (24 of them, from AI builders to indie game makers), by country, on the revenue leaderboard, or through 97 indie exits. We also list launch platforms, communities, marketplaces and courses by makers.

The curator: John Rush

IndieMakerList is created and curated by John Rush — running a bootstrapped empire of 24+ SaaS products and directories. He builds Unicorn Platform, SEObot, ListingBott and DevHunt, and shares a distribution-first playbook in public on X (@johnrush). His guides on this site, such as the directory business playbook, draw on that experience.

Methodology: how profiles are researched

1. Selection. We list independent makers and small bootstrapped teams who build and sell their own products. Makers can submit themselves, and we research notable makers proactively.
2. Research. Each rich profile (317 so far) is compiled from the maker’s own website, X profile, interviews, podcasts and product pages. Products are listed with their status — active, acquired or shut down.
3. Revenue rules. We publish revenue only when the maker reported it publicly, with the date it refers to and a link to the source. We never estimate, scrape private data or infer revenue from traffic. Older figures stay labelled with their year rather than being presented as current.
4. Updates and corrections. Every profile shows when it was last updated. Makers can request changes or removal by DMing @johnrush on X.
5. Ranking. Lists are ordered by profile completeness, audience size and reported revenue. Featured or sponsored placements are always labelled.

Stable, permanent profile URLs

IndieMakerList has been running since 2024. When we rebuilt the site, every existing profile URL at /p/<name>/ was preserved, so links shared years ago still work and keep pointing to the same maker. When a legacy profile is enriched with new research, it keeps its original address.

Open data

We want this data to be useful beyond the website, including to AI assistants and answer engines:

• /api/makers.json — the full maker directory as machine-readable JSON, including products and self-reported revenue with sources.
• /llms.txt — a plain-text summary of the site for large language models.
• /sitemap.xml and /feed.xml — every page and the latest updates.

You are welcome to use the data; please credit and link to IndieMakerList.

Contact

For submissions, corrections, featured placements or partnerships, DM @johnrush on X. New here? Start with what is an indie maker or browse all makers.