What is micro SaaS?
Micro SaaS is a small software-as-a-service business, usually run by one person or a tiny team, that solves a specific problem for a narrow niche. It is self-funded, has low costs and high margins, and typically earns from a few hundred to tens of thousands of dollars a month.
What micro SaaS is
A micro SaaS is a software-as-a-service product small enough for one person or a tiny team to build, sell and support. It typically has:
- A narrow niche. One job for one kind of customer: uptime checks for developers, testimonial collection for marketers, screenshots via API.
- Recurring revenue. Monthly or annual subscriptions, often $10 to $100 a month per customer.
- No investors. It is bootstrapped and profitable early because costs are mostly hosting and a few tools.
- A ceiling by design. Revenue from a few hundred to tens of thousands of dollars a month, large enough to live on and small enough to stay simple.
The term was popularized by Tyler Tringas, who ran Storemapper, a store-locator app for e-commerce sites, mostly on his own. He published the Micro-SaaS Ebook in 2016 and sold Storemapper in 2017 at roughly $40K MRR, then founded Calm Company Fund to back similar businesses.
Micro SaaS vs a SaaS startup
| Micro SaaS | SaaS startup | |
|---|---|---|
| Team | 1–3 people | 10 to hundreds |
| Funding | Self-funded | Usually venture-backed |
| Market | A niche of a niche | A large horizontal market |
| Revenue goal | $1K–$100K a month, high margin | Millions in ARR, growth first |
| Distribution | SEO, integrations, communities, founder audience | Sales team and paid acquisition |
| Exit | Optional; sells on marketplaces for a multiple of profit | Expected; acquisition or IPO |
Micro SaaS by the numbers
We count a product as micro SaaS when it is an active software or subscription product with a public recurring revenue figure between $500 and $100K a month. 68 products in the directory qualify.
- 68
- Micro SaaS with revenue
- $15,000
- Median revenue / mo
- $3,900–$27,000
- Middle half / mo
- 2023
- Median launch year
- 58
- Makers behind them
- 43%
- Built by a solo founder
- 16
- Countries
- Marketing & SEO Tools
- Most common category
- $500–$2K11 · 16%
- $2K–$10K14 · 21%
- $10K–$30K26 · 38%
- $30K–$100K17 · 25%
- Marketing & SEO Tools19 · 28%
- AI Builders18 · 26%
- SaaS Founders7 · 10%
- Developer Tools5 · 7%
- Directory Makers4 · 6%
- Analytics & Data2 · 3%
- Design Tools2 · 3%
- E-commerce2 · 3%
Revenue is self-reported or TrustMRR-verified and converted to a monthly figure only when the period is stated. Public numbers come mostly from products that are doing well.
Two things stand out. Marketing tools and AI products make up most of the list, because their buyers are used to paying monthly for software. And the median launch year is recent: AI has made it much faster to go from idea to a paid product.
Real micro SaaS examples with revenue
Every micro SaaS in the directory, ranked by self-reported revenue. Click a figure for the product's revenue history.
Also published as a ranked list: micro SaaS examples. Figures are quoted as the founders published them, with sources on their profiles.
Micro SaaS ideas that already make money
The examples above cluster into a few patterns. Each is a proven idea shape you can aim at a different niche:
- Social proof and marketing helpers. Testimonial.to by Damon Chen (started as a side project while he worked at Cisco) and Senja by Wilson Wilson both reached about $800K ARR collecting customer testimonials.
- Social media scheduling. Post Bridge by Jack Friks is at about $48K a month; the market is crowded but rewards a sharp angle.
- Monitoring and uptime. Healthchecks.io by Pēteris Caune ($26K MRR) and Hyperping show developers pay for reliability.
- APIs that do one thing. Bannerbear (images, by Jon Yongfook) and ScreenshotOne (screenshots, by Dmytro Krasun) sell a single endpoint to developers and no-code users.
- Privacy-friendly alternatives. Simple Analytics by Adriaan van Rossum sells analytics to people leaving Google Analytics; see our alternatives pages for other incumbents makers compete with.
- AI tools for one task. Photo AI by Pieter Levels generates photos of you; PDF.ai, which Damon Chen bought for about $20K, lets users chat with documents.
- Plugins for platforms with buyers. Jason Leow sells plugins for the Carrd website builder; A platform's marketplace is free distribution.
A good micro SaaS idea passes three checks: you can name 20 potential customers, they already pay for something similar or lose money without it, and you can reach them without paid ads.
How to build a micro SaaS
- Start from a problem you have seen up close, in your job, a community or a client project.
- Pre-sell or launch a waitlist before writing much code, and talk to every sign-up.
- Build the smallest version in weeks with a stack you know; the most common among these makers are listed above and on the stack page. Boilerplates such as supastarter by Jonathan Wilke exist to save that time.
- Charge from day one and test prices; read the pricing lessons.
- Launch widely, then build SEO and integrations for steady growth; see how to launch your product.
- Watch churn, not just sign-ups. The LTV calculator shows what a customer is worth at your churn rate.
- Know what it is worth. Micro SaaS businesses sell on marketplaces and through brokers; estimate yours with the SaaS valuation calculator and compare real deals in the exits database.
Start here: a micro SaaS reading path
- 01Glossary →MRR, ARR, churn and LTV, defined.
- 02Micro SaaS examples →The ranked list behind this page.
- 03ARR calculator →Turn MRR into ARR and project growth.
- 04Stripe fee calculator →What you keep from each subscription.
- 05First 100 customers →Where micro SaaS makers found their first users.
- 06Maker journeys →How long $1K and $10K MRR really took.
- 07Revenue pages →Revenue history for every product with public numbers.
- 08Indie exits →What small SaaS businesses sold for.
Frequently asked questions
What is micro SaaS?
Micro SaaS is a small, niche software-as-a-service business run by one founder or a very small team, funded by its own subscription revenue rather than investors.
Who coined the term micro SaaS?
Tyler Tringas popularized micro-SaaS with his 2016 Micro-SaaS Ebook, based on running Storemapper, a one-person store-locator app he sold in 2017 at roughly $40K MRR.
How much does a micro SaaS make?
Among the 68 micro SaaS examples in our data (products with a public recurring figure between $500 and $100K a month), the median is about $15,000 a month and the middle half sits between $3,900 and $27,000.
What are good micro SaaS ideas?
Strong micro SaaS ideas usually serve a niche you know, plug into a platform that already has buyers (Shopify, Stripe, Slack, WordPress, browsers), automate a painful recurring task, or turn an API into a simple tool for non-developers.
Is micro SaaS still worth it with AI?
Yes, with a twist. AI makes building cheaper, so generic tools face more competition. Niche knowledge, distribution and integrations with tools customers already pay for matter more than ever.
How do you sell a micro SaaS?
Small SaaS businesses usually sell for a multiple of annual profit through marketplaces such as Acquire.com, brokers, or directly to a competitor. See our exits database for real prices and timelines.