🌱 Open Source Makers · revenue leaderboard
Top Open Source Indie Makers by Revenue (2026)
7 open source makers ranked by publicly reported monthly revenue in 2026. Sahil Lavingia leads with $17.8M/yr (Gumroad, 2025); the median is $250K per month. All figures are self-reported or from public sources, each linked and dated.
Top Open Source 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 | Ghost | Ghost: ~$11.1M ARR | $925K | 2026 | ghost.org | — | |
| 3 | Tailwind Plus (formerly Tailwind UI) | Mid-seven figures/yr (2020) | $300K | 2020 | adamwathan.me | — | |
| 4 | Postiz | $250K MRR (verified) | $250K | 2026-10 | trustmrr.com | TrustMRR ↗ | |
| 5 | Plausible Analytics | $1M+ ARR | $85K | 2022 | plausible.io | — | |
| 6 | Capgo | $30K MRR | $30K | 2026 | x.com | TrustMRR ↗ | |
| 7 | Livewire | $112K/yr from GitHub Sponsors | $9.4K | 2020 | calebporzio.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 Open Source makers not ranked by revenue
10 open source makers with the biggest audiences on X who haven't shared a current revenue figure.
- 01
Peter Steinberger601K followersPSPDFKit founder turned creator of OpenClaw, the open-source personal AI agent
- 02
Matt Pocock368K followersTypeScript and AI engineering educator behind Total TypeScript and AI Hero
- 03
Kent C. Dodds330K followersJavaScript educator behind Epic React, Epic Web and Testing JavaScript
- 04
Mckay Wrigley228K followersBuilds and teaches AI coding; creator of Chatbot UI and founder of Takeoff
- 05
Steve Schoger128K followersDesigner behind Refactoring UI, Heroicons and Tailwind's look, now at Shopify
- 06
Tanner Linsley114K followersCreator of TanStack: Query, Table, Router, Start and other open source libraries
- 07
Jeffrey Way87K followersFounder of Laracasts, the bootstrapped video school for Laravel and PHP
- 08
Sindre Sorhus66K followersFull-time open-sourcer maintaining 1,000+ npm packages and dozens of indie Mac apps
- 09
Guilherme Rambo57K followersBrazilian indie Mac and iOS developer behind AirBuddy and VirtualBuddy
- 10
Filipe Deschamps36K followersBrazilian programming YouTuber, ex-Pagar.me CTO, creator of curso.dev and TabNews
Looking for products instead? how much does Ghost make — or see all products with public revenue.
Revenue leaderboards by category
Open Source indie maker revenue FAQ
Who is the highest-earning Open Source indie maker?
Sahil Lavingia tops the Open Source leaderboard with $17.8M/yr (Gumroad, 2025) (as of 2025), about $1.5M per month. John O'Nolan (Ghost: ~$11.1M ARR) and Adam Wathan (Mid-seven figures/yr (2020)) follow.
How much do Open Source indie makers earn?
Of the 42 makers in Open Source Makers on IndieMakerList, 7 have shared revenue publicly. Their median reported revenue is $250K per month; 6 report at least $10K per month and 4 report $100K or more.
What is the combined revenue of the top Open Source indie makers?
Together the 7 ranked makers report about $3.1M per month ($37M 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. 3 of the 7 makers have a TrustMRR page, which verifies revenue from the payment provider; they carry a TrustMRR badge.