🎓 Educators & Course Creators · revenue leaderboard
Top Educator Indie Makers by Revenue (2026)
23 educators & course creators ranked by publicly reported monthly revenue in 2026. Sahil Lavingia leads with $17.8M/yr (Gumroad, 2025); the median is $83K per month. All figures are self-reported or from public sources, each linked and dated.
Top Educator indie makers by revenue
Ranked by reported monthly revenue in USD (annual figures ÷ 12).
| # | Maker | Top product | Revenue | ≈ / month | As of | Source | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gumroad | $17.8M/yr (Gumroad, 2025) | $1.5M | 2025 | youtube.com | TrustMRR ↗ | |
| 2 | Kit (formerly ConvertKit) | $1.19M MRR (ConvertKit) | $1.2M | 2019 | nathanbarry.com | — | |
| 3 | Part-Time YouTuber Academy | $4M+ in 2022 | $340K | 2022 | thehustlers.substack.com | — | |
| 4 | Tailwind Plus (formerly Tailwind UI) | Mid-seven figures/yr (2020) | $300K | 2020 | adamwathan.me | — | |
| 5 | The LinkedIn Operating System | $10M+ total revenue (lifetime) | $145K | 2025 | justinwelsh.me | — | |
| 6 | Designjoy | $100K MRR (Designjoy) + $12K MRR (Productize Yourself) | $112K | 2026 | x.com | — | |
| 7 | Eden | $1M-$1.5M/yr | $100K | 2026-09 | youtube.com | — | |
| 8 | TrustMRR | $98K/mo (July 2026) | $98K | 2026-07 | linkedin.com | TrustMRR ↗ | |
| 9 | Sales.co | $90K/mo (Sales.co) | $90K | 2024 | indiehackers.com | — | |
| 10 | Conversion Factory | $1M ARR (Conversion Factory) | $83K | 2026 | corey.co | — | |
| 11 | Ultimate Brain | $1M in Notion template sales (2022) | $83K | 2022 | typefully.com | — | |
| 12 | Starter Story | $1M/yr | $83K | 2023 | patwalls.com | — | |
| 13 | DataExpert.io | $56K MRR + cohorts; $4.7M all-time (verified) | $56K | 2026-10 | trustmrr.com | TrustMRR ↗ | |
| 14 | Storemapper | ~$40K MRR (Storemapper at sale) | $40K | 2017 | saasclub.io | — | |
| 15 | TrendFeed | $29K/mo (TrendFeed + CodeSpring) | $29K | 2025 | indiehackers.com | — | |
| 16 | Small Bets | $210K profit in 9 months (info products) | $26K | 2020 | dvassallo.medium.com | TrustMRR ↗ | |
| 17 | Bingo Card Creator | ~$275K/yr sales, ~$200K profit (excl. Appointment Reminder) | $23K | 2012 | kalzumeus.com | — | |
| 18 | Elephas | $150K/yr (Elephas) | $13K | 2026 | youtube.com | — | |
| 19 | The Product Compass | $126K ARR | $11K | 2024-11 | productcompass.pm | — | |
| 20 | Bluetick | Five-figure MRR (Bluetick) | $10K | 2023 | startupsfortherestofus.com | — | |
| 21 | Livewire | $112K/yr from GitHub Sponsors | $9.4K | 2020 | calebporzio.com | — | |
| 22 | Wizard Zines | $101,558 in 2018 (zine business) | $8.5K | 2018 | jvns.ca | — | |
| 23 | Ship Your Directory | $2K+/mo (first directory) | $2K | 2025 | wpgeodirectory.com | — |
Revenue is self-reported or sourced from public statements and is not verified by IndieMakerList. Rows marked TrustMRR link to a page where TrustMRR verifies revenue from the payment provider.
Most followed Educator makers not ranked by revenue
10 educators & course creators with the biggest audiences on X who haven't shared a current revenue figure.
- 01
Dickie Bush447K followersFormer BlackRock trader who co-founded Ship 30 for 30 to teach online writing
- 02
Wes Bos441K followersCanadian full-stack JavaScript teacher behind JavaScript30 and the Syntax podcast
- 03
Matt Pocock368K followersTypeScript and AI engineering educator behind Total TypeScript and AI Hero
- 04
Brad Traversy361K followersWeb dev educator behind Traversy Media, plus a public lab of indie dev tools
- 05
Gergely Orosz360K followersEx-Uber engineering manager who writes The Pragmatic Engineer newsletter
- 06
Jack Butcher354K followersFounder of Visualize Value: minimalist visuals, courses on leverage, and digital art
- 07
Miguel Ángel Durán340K followersBarcelona developer-streamer teaching programming and AI in Spanish via midu.dev academy
- 08
Kent C. Dodds330K followersJavaScript educator behind Epic React, Epic Web and Testing JavaScript
- 09
Derek Sivers286K followersMusician who accidentally built CD Baby, sold it for $22M, and writes books on how to live
- 10
Riley Brown252K followersAI creator and vibe coder who co-founded Vibecode and now builds Agent Native
Looking for products instead? how much does DataExpert.io make, how much does Refactoring UI make, how much does Productize Yourself make, how much does CodeFast make, how much does iCodeThis make — or see all products with public revenue.
Revenue leaderboards by category
Educator indie maker revenue FAQ
Who is the highest-earning Educator indie maker?
Sahil Lavingia tops the Educator leaderboard with $17.8M/yr (Gumroad, 2025) (as of 2025), about $1.5M per month. Nathan Barry ($1.19M MRR (ConvertKit)) and Ali Abdaal ($4M+ in 2022) follow.
How much do Educator indie makers earn?
Of the 90 makers in Educators & Course Creators on IndieMakerList, 23 have shared revenue publicly. Their median reported revenue is $83K per month; 20 report at least $10K per month and 7 report $100K or more.
What is the combined revenue of the top Educator indie makers?
Together the 23 ranked makers report about $4.3M per month ($52M a year). Figures are self-reported and dated differently, so treat the sum as a rough indication.
Is this revenue verified?
No — the numbers are self-reported or taken from public posts and interviews, each linked to its source. 4 of the 23 makers have a TrustMRR page, which verifies revenue from the payment provider; they carry a TrustMRR badge.