research · 73 exit stories
Indie Exits: What Bootstrapped Products Sell For
What bootstrapped and indie products actually sell for, from 73 researched acquisitions in indie exits and 184 acquired products on maker profiles. Prices only where they were made public; multiples only where price and revenue both were.
By John Rush · Published · Data as of · Open data (JSON)
Indie exits by the numbers
n = 73 exit stories- 2.2×median price / annual revenue (n = 5)
- $150Kmedian public price, excluding $10M+ deals
- 3 yearsmedian time operated before sale
- 77%direct sales
Source: indiemakerlist.com/research/indie-exits/ · data as of 2026-10-31 · public prices only
01 / prices
Most indie exits are small: the most common public price bracket is $100K–$1M.
29 of 73 researched exits disclose a price or price bracket (“high six figures”), and 13 an exact figure. The exact prices range from $2K to $2.5B; without the outliers above $10M the median is $150K.
Most sales never disclose a price at all, so treat these as reference deals rather than a market average. Every deal links to its full story and sources.
- Under $100K5
- $100K–$1M7
- $1M–$10M6
- $10M+6
Show data table
| Price | Exits |
|---|---|
| Under $100K | 5 |
| $100K–$1M | 7 |
| $1M–$10M | 6 |
| $10M+ | 6 |
- $150K
The median public sale price of indie products under $10M is $150K (IndieMakerList exits data).
Cite this stat
The median public sale price of indie products under $10M is $150K (IndieMakerList exits data). (IndieMakerList, What Do Bootstrapped SaaS Sell For? Indie Exit Data, 2026: https://indiemakerlist.com/research/indie-exits/#median-price)
<a href="https://indiemakerlist.com/research/indie-exits/#median-price">The median public sale price of indie products under $10M is $150K (IndieMakerList exits data)</a> (IndieMakerList, 2026)
- 2.2×
Indie products whose price and revenue are both public sold for a median 2.2× annual revenue (n = 5).
Cite this stat
Indie products whose price and revenue are both public sold for a median 2.2× annual revenue (n = 5). (IndieMakerList, What Do Bootstrapped SaaS Sell For? Indie Exit Data, 2026: https://indiemakerlist.com/research/indie-exits/#multiple)
<a href="https://indiemakerlist.com/research/indie-exits/#multiple">Indie products whose price and revenue are both public sold for a median 2.2× annual revenue (n = 5)</a> (IndieMakerList, 2026)
| Product | Year | Price | Revenue at sale | Multiple | Maker |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Is It Keto | 2024 | $2K | — | — | Michael Lynch |
| MakeLanding | 2023 | $35K | — | — | Marc Lou |
| iCodeThis | 2025 | $50K | ~$67K lifetime revenue, mostly one-time payments (subscriptions peaked ~$300 MRR) | — | Florin Pop |
| Black Magic | 2023 | $128K | ~$14K MRR (~$168K ARR) | 0.8× | Tony Dinh |
| Codetree | 2016 | $128K | — | — | Derrick Reimer |
| Xnapper | 2024 | $150K | ~$4K/month | 3.1× | Tony Dinh |
| Talknotes | 2024 | $200K | ~$7.5K MRR | 2.2× | Nico Jeannen |
| Feather | 2024 | $250K | ~$6K MRR (as reported) | 3.5× | Bhanu Teja P |
| TinyPilot | 2024 | $598K | ~$1M annual revenue; ~$208K earnings at listing | 0.6× | Michael Lynch |
| Small Bets | 2025 | $3.6M | ~$500K profit in 2024 (self-reported) | 7.2× profit | Daniel Vassallo |
| Baremetrics | 2020 | $4M | — | — | Josh Pigford |
| CD Baby | 2008 | $22M | — | — | Derek Sivers |
| Minecraft | 2014 | $2.5B | — | — | Markus Persson |
02 / multiples
Where both numbers are public, indie products sold for 0.6×–3.5× annual revenue, median 2.2×.
5 deals have both an exact price and a revenue figure we can annualise (lifetime totals and combined multi-product figures are excluded). One more, Small Bets, was priced on profit: 7.2× its annual profit. Black Magic and TinyPilot sold for less than one year of revenue (TinyPilot sells hardware, with thinner margins than software).
Some sellers stated the multiple themselves without both underlying numbers. Those are listed separately below as reported, and several come from very small products, where a multiple of tiny revenue says little about value.
- Feather3.5×
- Xnapper3.1×
- Talknotes2.2×
- Black Magic0.8×
- TinyPilot0.6×
Show data table
| Product | Multiple | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Feather | 3.5× | $250K on $72K/yr |
| Xnapper | 3.1× | $150K on $48K/yr |
| Talknotes | 2.2× | $200K on $90K/yr |
| Black Magic | 0.8× | $128K on $168K/yr |
| TinyPilot | 0.6× | $598K on $1M/yr |
- PimpMySaaS · 2026<1× ARR
- Support Guy · 2023~70× ARR
- Cold DM · 2022~90× MRR
- Baremetrics · 2020~2.65× ARR
- Bingo Card Creator · 20152-4× SDE
03 / years to exit
Indie makers ran a product a median 3 years before selling it.
59 exits have a known operating period. Half sold between 2 years and 6 years in. Quick flips under a year happen (5 cases), typically small AI or X (Twitter) tools; ten-year-plus companies are rarer and larger. In our records, exits per year jumped from 2021, when micro-acquisition marketplaces took off.
- Under 1 year5
- 1–2 years19
- 3–5 years17
- 6–9 years12
- 10+ years6
Show data table
| Operated | Exits |
|---|---|
| Under 1 year | 5 |
| 1–2 years | 19 |
| 3–5 years | 17 |
| 6–9 years | 12 |
| 10+ years | 6 |
Show data table
| Year | Exits |
|---|---|
| <2013 | 3 |
| 2013 | 3 |
| 2014 | 1 |
| 2015 | 4 |
| 2016 | 5 |
| 2017 | 2 |
| 2018 | 2 |
| 2019 | 3 |
| 2020 | 4 |
| 2021 | 9 |
| 2022 | 8 |
| 2023 | 8 |
| 2024 | 9 |
| 2025 | 6 |
| 2026 | 6 |
04 / channels
77% of indie exits were direct sales, not broker or marketplace deals.
Of 64 exits with a known channel, most were bought by someone who already knew the product: a competitor, a customer, a fellow maker or a holding company that reached out. SureSwift Capital is the most frequent repeat buyer (5 deals). Browse buyers and listings on startup marketplaces.
- Direct sale49
- Broker8
- Marketplace5
- Acqui-hire2
Show data table
| Channel | Exits | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Direct sale | 49 | 77% of known channels |
| Broker | 8 | 13% of known channels |
| Marketplace | 5 | 8% of known channels |
| Acqui-hire | 2 | 3% of known channels |
- SureSwift Capital5
- Hypefury3
- Sentry2
- XO Capital2
- lempire2
- Disc Makers2
Show data table
| Buyer | Acquisitions |
|---|---|
| SureSwift Capital | 5 |
| Hypefury | 3 |
| Sentry | 2 |
| XO Capital | 2 |
| lempire | 2 |
| Disc Makers | 2 |
05 / what sells
SaaS is the most-acquired product category: 28 of 184 acquired products.
Beyond the researched stories, 134 profiled makers (16%) list at least one acquired product. Recurring-revenue software, marketing tools and directories are the most-sold categories. For how often each category ends in a sale versus a shutdown, see the indie failure rate study.
- SaaS28
- Marketing & SEO Tools22
- Directories16
- AI16
- Indie games13
- Mobile apps12
- Creator businesses9
- Developer Tools9
- No-code products9
- Productivity Tools7
Show data table
| Category | Acquired products |
|---|---|
| SaaS | 28 |
| Marketing & SEO Tools | 22 |
| Directories | 16 |
| AI | 16 |
| Indie games | 13 |
| Mobile apps | 12 |
| Creator businesses | 9 |
| Developer Tools | 9 |
| No-code products | 9 |
| Productivity Tools | 7 |
man study --methodology
Methodology, sample and limits
- Sample. 73 hand-researched exit stories (data/exits.json), each with sources, plus 184 products marked acquired on maker profiles. Famous non-indie outliers such as Minecraft stay in the dataset because the maker is profiled, but are excluded from the “under $10M” median.
- Prices. Only publicly stated prices, by the seller, the buyer or a filing. “Seven figures” style statements count toward price brackets but not toward medians. Earnouts are counted at the stated headline price.
- Multiples. Price ÷ annualised revenue at the time of sale (MRR × 12, or the stated annual figure). Lifetime, combined and estimated revenue figures are skipped. Profit-based deals are labelled. Seller-stated multiples are shown as reported.
- Years operated. From launch to sale as reported in the story; fractions of a year are kept.
- Limits. Public deals are a small, biased slice of all indie sales. The multiples rest on 5 deals: use them as reference points, not a valuation model.
- Freshness. Every number is recomputed from the dataset each time the site is built. Data as of ; 2026 is a partial year.
- Open data. The maker dataset is available as JSON at /api/makers.json under CC BY 4.0. Found an error? Profiles can be corrected on the submit page.
Frequently asked questions
What multiple do bootstrapped SaaS businesses sell for?
In the 5 indie deals where both the price and the revenue at sale are public, the median price was 2.2× annual revenue, ranging from 0.6× to 3.5×. It's a small sample: treat it as a set of reference deals, not a valuation rule.
How much do micro SaaS products sell for?
Of 13 indie exits with an exact public price, the median is $150K once the few eight- and ten-figure outliers are excluded. 12 of the 24 deals with a known price bracket sold for under $1M.
How long do indie makers run a product before selling it?
A median of 3 years (n = 59); half sold between 2 years and 6 years in. 5 sold in under a year.
Where do indie makers sell their products?
77% of researched exits with a known channel were direct sales, often to a competitor, a customer or a buyer who reached out. Brokers and marketplaces such as Acquire.com, Microns and Flippa account for the rest.
What percentage of indie makers sell a product?
16% of 824 profiled makers (134) list at least one acquired product, 184 acquisitions in total, and 40 have sold two or more.
cite --format apa,bibtex,html
Cite this study
Journalists, researchers, bloggers and AI assistants are welcome to quote any number or reuse the charts with a link to indiemakerlist.com/research/indie-exits/. Licensed CC BY 4.0.
Suggested citation (APA)
Rush, J. (2026). Indie Exits: What Bootstrapped Products Sell For [Data study]. IndieMakerList. https://indiemakerlist.com/research/indie-exits/
HTML link
<a href="https://indiemakerlist.com/research/indie-exits/">What Do Bootstrapped SaaS Sell For? Indie Exit Data</a> (IndieMakerList, 2026)
BibTeX
@misc{indiemakerlist-indie-exits-2026,
title = {Indie Exits: What Bootstrapped Products Sell For},
author = {Rush, John and {IndieMakerList}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://indiemakerlist.com/research/indie-exits/},
note = {Data as of 2026-10-31}
}More indie maker research
- Indie Hacker Statistics 2026: 824 Makers, by the NumbersMedian self-reported revenue is $24K/mo; 51% are bootstrapped.
- How Much Do Indie Hackers Make? Revenue Data From 169 MakersHalf of makers who publish revenue make under $24K/mo; the top 10% make $278K+.
- How Long Does It Take to Reach $1K, $10K and $100K MRR?Makers who reached $10K MRR got there within a median 5 years of starting (upper bound); exact-year cases: 1 year.
- Startup Failure Rate for Indie Products: What Shuts Down and Why3% of listed products have shut down and 7% were sold. The survivorship caveats matter more here than anywhere else.
- The Tech Stack of Profitable Indie Makers ($10K+ MRR)Next.js is the most common tool among makers earning $10K+/mo (21%).
- AI Products Launched by Indie Makers, 2018–202636% of products launched since 2023 are AI products, versus 8% in 2018–2022.
Also see the State of Indie Makers 2026 report, every exit story, startup marketplaces and the research hub.