Running a bootstrapped empire of 24+ SaaS products and directories
Unicorn Platform, SEObot, ListingBott +20$3M/yr
🗂️ 44 makers · 89 products
Best Directory Makers in 2026
Makers who build and monetize curated directories and listing sites. This list features 44 indie makers in this space, led by John Rush, Pieter Levels and Marc Köhlbrugge, ranked by profile depth, audience and reported revenue.
Top directory makers
44 makers, ranked.
Solo maker behind Photo AI, Nomads.com, Remote OK, Interior AI and the MAKE book
Photo AI, Vibe Jam, Interior AI +5~$219K/mo across products
Serial maker behind BetaList, WIP and Startup Jobs, shipping online for 20+ years
BetaList, WIP, Startup Jobs +11
Founder of Starter Story, the founder case-study brand acquired by HubSpot in 2026
Starter Story, Starter Story Build$1M/yr
French developer-designer behind the Uneed launch platform and Writizzy
Uneed, Uneed Residency, Writizzy$134K in 2025
Solo founder of Key Values, the job board matching engineers with values-aligned teams
Key Values~$300K–350K/yr
Software engineer turned indie hacker behind AI Directories, TransClipper and ColdConvert
AI Directories, TransClipper, ColdConvert +2$7.7K in the last 30 days
Product Hunt Maker of the Year 2018 behind Sheet2Site, Web3 Jobs and SearchConsole.ai
SearchConsole.ai, Applicant AI, Web3 Jobs +5
Dutch no-code maker of Startup Stash who built and sold five curation products
Startup Stash, StartupWatching, Road to Scale +2
AI YouTuber and founder of Future Tools, the AI tool directory and newsletter
Future Tools, Future Tools Newsletter, The Next Wave
Singapore maker who sold OpenGraph.xyz, now runs a portfolio of directory sites
OpenGraph.xyz, ClinicGeek, Dental Clinics Malaysia +4S$5K/mo
Directory website builder and SEO teacher behind Ship Your Directory
Ship Your Directory$2K+/mo
Slovakia-based 'Coding Dinosaur' who has shipped 200+ web projects
Featurenest, Download3000, Colorion +3
Pakistani solo founder of Fore Studio: Vitals and Flit Mac apps, StartupBase, Depost AI
Vitals, Flit, StartupBase +2$13.3K all-time
Apple-featured indie developer of Compresto for Mac and the Steps pedometer app
Compresto, Steps, Grok Bots$73.8K all-time
Ex-DoorDash staff engineer building Watchdog AI moderation and flightschools.fyi
Watchdog, flightschools.fyi, Hackayork +1$444 MRR
Developer behind DevHunt, Float UI, RapidForms and Wrapifai
DevHunt, Float UI, RapidForms +2
Upstate New York maker running a solo product studio with 100+ side projects
Bluesky Directory, I Worked On, Side Project MVP +3
Co-founder of open-source finance app Midday (acquired by Ramp) and Cursor Directory
Midday, Cursor Directory, Languine
No-code maker behind BuildTheKeyword, launching demand-driven small bets
BuildTheKeyword, Holihounds, SellCheq +3
Designer behind Starrt, the Carrd templates and tips hub, building small tools with AI
Starrt, Sparkstation, Breefing +2
Indonesian Webflow developer and solo maker of Unsection, a website section design library
Unsection, Gita design & Webflow subscription$1.4K MRR
Brazilian indie developer behind Public APIs, Dev Resources and the Linkero page builder
Public APIs, Dev Resources, Linkero +1
Nomad indie maker who sold Remote3 and Promptmonitor, now building open-source Dray
Dray, Thinking Orbs, Promptmonitor +2
Laravel developer behind Larafast, Blogr.ai and bytemail; sold Directify for $85K
Blogr.ai, bytemail, Larafast +1
One-person studio Amphibian Digital, maker of FrogDR and ramen.tools
FrogDR, ramen.tools, twelve.tools +1
Indie hacker and growth marketer behind NoonLaunch; sold Remote Profile
NoonLaunch, Remote Profile
Canadian developer building a portfolio of niche directories, AI tools and SaaS
aitools.fyi, Amazing Newsletters, Invoice Mama +2
German developer building RewriteBar, an AI writing assistant for macOS, on the side
RewriteBar, A Wifi Place, SnooScan
Founder of 1000.tools, a curated directory capped at 1,000 tools
1000.tools, Picavatar, HuntedWall
Wrocław frontend engineer and serial maker who sold the InGastro job board for $13.5K
CMS Brew, Kavalerka.pl, Madeira Flight Risk +1
Wroclaw-based engineer who built and sold Bluesky Meter and Bluesky Stash
Bluesky Meter, Bluesky Stash, Listing Cat +1
Swiss maker of xshot.me, tweet.md, ConfettiSaaS and other tools for X users and founders
xshot.me, tweet.md, ConfettiSaaS +3
Solo founder behind TapRefer, Victrays and ReplyGain
TapRefer, Victrays, ReplyGain
Copenhagen software engineer building Race Calendar BG and Amounthly alongside a 9-5
Race Calendar BG, Amounthly, FileBridge
Indian founder of Boringlaunch, a done-for-you startup launch and SEO service
Boringlaunch, Report Card
Amsterdam maker of IndieHackerStacks and SignalScoop
IndieHackerStacks, SignalScoop
Indie maker from Kolkata building IndieExit, a no-commission micro-startup marketplace
IndieExit
Working on next.js ai templates directory and subreddit analysis tools.
Cal
Affiliate Directory Website: findaffiliate.co
Findaffiliate, Lesstock, Imgur
Personal Site: ifeakac.me
Bodyworkinteriors
Photo https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1817532594541518848/v2f6aMcU_400x400.jpg
Pbs, Iosappfinder
Directory.fm - online directory of podcast tools
Wavplus, Podkind
directory.austlaws.com, find lawyers.
Directory
Products by directory makers
89 products in this category.
DevHunt
devhunt.org
The launchpad for developer tools — 1,000+ dev tools launched and 200,000+ developers visiting.
by John Rush
Directory of custom GPTs that reached over a million visits in its first month.
by John Rush
OSSsoftware
osssoftware.org
Directory of open source tools and alternatives to paid software.
by John Rush
Hostedsoftware
hostedsoftware.org
Directory of hosted and self-hosted software.
by John Rush
NextJSstarter
nextjsstarter.com
Directory of Next.js starters and boilerplates by price, rating and category.
by John Rush
LLMmodels
llmmodels.org
Directory of large language models.
by John Rush
MVPwizards
mvpwizards.com
List of freelancers and agencies that build MVPs.
by John Rush
Aitoolfor
aitoolfor.org
A directory of AI tools for every use case.
by John Rush
Top Website Builders
topwebsitebuilders.org
Directory of all website builders.
by John Rush
SaaSsoftware
saassoftware.org
Directory of SaaS software.
by John Rush
BestAIagents
bestaiagents.org
Best AI agents and tools to build agents.
by John Rush
DirectoryHunt
directoryhunt.org
Launchpad for directories and side projects.
by John Rush
Related categories
🤖 AI Builders☁️ SaaS Founders📣 Marketing & SEO Tools✍️ Creators & Writers🧩 No-Code Makers🫂 Community Builders💻 Mac & Desktop App Makers🛠️ Developer Tools🎨 Design Tools🌍 Digital Nomads
Top countries for directory makers
Directory Makers FAQ
Who are the most popular indie directory makers?
The best-known directory makers on IndieMakerList are John Rush, Pieter Levels, Marc Köhlbrugge, Pat Walls and Thomas Sanlis. In total 44 makers are listed in this category.
What products do indie directory makers build?
Notable products include DevHunt by John Rush, AllGPTs by John Rush, OSSsoftware by John Rush, Hostedsoftware by John Rush and NextJSstarter by John Rush. 89 products are listed in this category.
How much do indie directory makers earn?
Publicly reported revenue varies widely. Examples: John Rush ($3M/yr), Pieter Levels (~$219K/mo across products), Pat Walls ($1M/yr) and Thomas Sanlis ($134K in 2025). Figures are self-reported and sourced from public posts.
Where are indie directory makers based?
The most common countries in this category are United States (6), Portugal (3) and India (3).
How do I get listed as one of the directory makers?
Submit your profile via the Submit page. Listings are free and reviewed before publishing.
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