research · 2,627 products
Startup Failure Rate for Indie Products: What Shuts Down and Why
What happens to products built by indie makers: how many are still running, how many were sold and how many shut down, by launch year and category, with the reasons makers gave. A solo-maker take on the startup failure rate, from 2,627 products.
By John Rush · Published · Data as of · Open data (JSON)
Indie product outcomes
n = 2,627 products- 3%of listed products have shut down
- 7%were acquired
- 7%shut down, among products launched 2016 or earlier
- 10%of makers list at least one shut-down product
Source: indiemakerlist.com/research/indie-startup-failure-rate/ · data as of 2026-10-31
01 / overall
90% of products on indie maker profiles are still running. 7% were sold; 3% shut down.
824 indie makers list 2,627 products between them. 2,352 are active, 184 were acquired and 91 are marked shut down. For indie makers who stick around, a listed product is 2.0× as likely to end in a sale as in a shutdown. Every sale with a public story is in indie exits: what bootstrapped products sell for.
- Active2,352
- Acquired184
- Shut down91
Show data table
| Status | Products | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Active | 2,352 | 90% |
| Acquired | 184 | 7% |
| Shut down | 91 | 3% |
- 7%
Among indie products launched 2016 or earlier, 7% have shut down and 13% were acquired (n = 334).
Cite this stat
Among indie products launched 2016 or earlier, 7% have shut down and 13% were acquired (n = 334). (IndieMakerList, Indie Startup Failure Rate, 2026: https://indiemakerlist.com/research/indie-startup-failure-rate/#mature-shutdown)
<a href="https://indiemakerlist.com/research/indie-startup-failure-rate/#mature-shutdown">Among indie products launched 2016 or earlier, 7% have shut down and 13% were acquired (n = 334)</a> (IndieMakerList, 2026)
02 / caveat
Why this is far below the failure rates you have heard
For all US businesses, the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that 34.7% of establishments born in 2013 were still operating ten years later. Our numbers are much rosier for three reasons. Survivor makers: profiles are added once someone has a track record. Selective listing: makers list products they are proud of; the dozens of weekend projects that never got a customer rarely appear. Cheap to keep alive: a bootstrapped app with no staff can run for years on a few dollars of hosting, so many products are “active” long after anyone works on them.
82 makers (10%) list at least one shut-down product; 77% list only active ones. Read the shutdown share as a floor. The cohort view below is more useful than the headline number.
03 / launch year
Products launched before 2010: 9% shut down, 14% sold. Launched 2025–2026: 0% shut down so far.
Outcomes take time. The older the launch cohort, the more products have been sold or closed, which is why recent cohorts look almost failure-free. Launch year is known for 1,216 of 2,627 products.
| Launched | Products | Active | Acquired | Shut down |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before 2010 | 85 | 76% | 14% | 9% |
| 2010–2014 | 165 | 79% | 15% | 7% |
| 2015–2019 | 260 | 86% | 10% | 4% |
| 2020–2022 | 222 | 85% | 10% | 5% |
| 2023–2024 | 206 | 86% | 10% | 4% |
| 2025–2026 | 278 | 99% | 1% | 0% |
- Before 20109%
- 2010–20147%
- 2015–20194%
- 2020–20225%
- 2023–20244%
- 2025–20260%
Show data table
| Launched | Shut down | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Before 2010 | 9% | 8 of 85 |
| 2010–2014 | 7% | 11 of 165 |
| 2015–2019 | 4% | 10 of 260 |
| 2020–2022 | 5% | 10 of 222 |
| 2023–2024 | 4% | 8 of 206 |
| 2025–2026 | 0% | 1 of 278 |
- Before 201014%
- 2010–201415%
- 2015–201910%
- 2020–202210%
- 2023–202410%
- 2025–20261%
Show data table
| Launched | Acquired | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Before 2010 | 14% | 12 of 85 |
| 2010–2014 | 15% | 24 of 165 |
| 2015–2019 | 10% | 26 of 260 |
| 2020–2022 | 10% | 23 of 222 |
| 2023–2024 | 10% | 21 of 206 |
| 2025–2026 | 1% | 3 of 278 |
04 / category
Analytics & Data have the highest listed shutdown share (8%); No-Code Makers the highest sale rate (24%).
Categories with at least 30 products, ordered by how often products ended (sold or closed). Subscription software and no-code products are bought often, because a recurring revenue stream is easy to value; games and courses rarely end either way.
| Category | Products | Active | Acquired | Shut down |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No-Code Makers | 38 | 76% | 24% | 0% |
| SaaS Founders | 140 | 77% | 20% | 3% |
| Fintech & Payments | 31 | 77% | 16% | 6% |
| Analytics & Data | 40 | 80% | 13% | 8% |
| E-commerce | 48 | 85% | 8% | 6% |
| Creators & Writers | 102 | 86% | 9% | 5% |
| Marketing & SEO Tools | 255 | 87% | 9% | 5% |
| Directory Makers | 143 | 87% | 11% | 1% |
| Productivity Tools | 135 | 89% | 5% | 6% |
| Mobile App Makers | 190 | 89% | 6% | 4% |
| Design Tools | 106 | 91% | 7% | 3% |
| Developer Tools | 206 | 90% | 4% | 5% |
| Community Builders | 81 | 91% | 4% | 5% |
| AI Builders | 257 | 91% | 6% | 3% |
| Productized Services | 62 | 94% | 5% | 2% |
| Mac & Desktop App Makers | 101 | 94% | 3% | 3% |
| Indie Game Makers | 346 | 94% | 4% | 2% |
| Browser Extension Makers | 34 | 94% | 6% | 0% |
| Educators & Course Creators | 161 | 96% | 4% | 1% |
| Boilerplate & Starter Kit Makers | 36 | 97% | 0% | 3% |
| Open Source Makers | 79 | 97% | 3% | 0% |
05 / reasons
Where a reason is on record, “Maker moved on” is the most common. 9 products died because a platform changed the rules.
We classified the 91 shut-down products by the reason stated in their description or the maker's milestones (keyword rules, first match wins). 41 have a reason on record. The classic VC-startup reason, running out of cash, barely appears: bootstrapped products usually stop because the maker moved on, sold, or lost access to a platform, not because the bank account hit zero.
- Platform or API change9
- Sold, then closed8
- No revenue or traction1
- External shock1
- Maker moved on22
- No reason stated50
Show data table
| Reason | Products | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Platform or API change | 9 | 10% of shut-down products |
| Sold, then closed | 8 | 9% of shut-down products |
| No revenue or traction | 1 | 1% of shut-down products |
| External shock | 1 | 1% of shut-down products |
| Maker moved on | 22 | 24% of shut-down products |
| No reason stated | 50 | 55% of shut-down products |
Platform or API change · 9
a platform it depended on changed its API, pricing or store rules.
e.g. Twitterrific (Craig Hockenberry), GBA4iOS (Riley Testut), Apollo for Reddit (Christian Selig), Juno (Christian Selig)
Sold, then closed · 8
the product was sold and later retired or merged by the new owner.
e.g. AuditShark (Mike Taber), Delicious (Maciej Cegłowski), TextWrangler (Rich Siegel), MakeLogo.ai (Nico Jeannen)
No revenue or traction · 1
the maker cites missing revenue, growth or product–market fit.
e.g. Unblock Domains (Ben Katz)
Maker moved on · 22
a pivot, a new focus, a wind-down or the product was open-sourced.
e.g. Calm Company Fund (formerly Earnest Capital) (Tyler Tringas), Pablo (Joel Gascoigne), Maybe (Josh Pigford), Howitzer (Nick Velkovski)
No reason stated · 50
the product is gone or offline but no reason is on record.
e.g. Founder Flywheel (Jakob Greenfeld), Opportunities.so (Jakob Greenfeld), Newsletter Spy (Jakob Greenfeld), Under the Radar (Jakob Greenfeld)
man study --methodology
Methodology, sample and limits
- Sample. 2,627 products on 824 rich maker profiles. Status is set from public evidence: an announcement, an acquisition, a dead domain or an app removed from its store. Products without contrary evidence count as active.
- Launch year. Known for 1,216 products. Cohort shares use only dated products; the headline uses all.
- Reasons. Classified with simple keyword rules over the product description and the maker's milestones that mention the product (platform/API change, sold then closed, no traction, external shock, maker moved on). The first matching rule wins; products with no stated reason are counted separately, never guessed.
- Limits. This is not a random sample of startups. Makers are survivors, they choose what to list, and shutdowns are under-reported. Use it to compare cohorts and categories, not as the probability that a new product fails.
- Comparison. The all-business benchmark is the BLS Business Employment Dynamics survival figure for US establishments born in 2013, which counts establishments with employees, not software products.
- 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 is the failure rate for indie startups?
Of 2,627 products listed by 824 established indie makers, 3% are marked shut down, 7% were acquired and 90% are active. That is a floor, not a true failure rate: makers list what worked and rarely list abandoned side projects. Among products launched 2016 or earlier, 7% have shut down.
What percentage of startups fail?
For all US businesses, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 34.7% of establishments born in 2013 were still operating in 2023, so roughly two in three closed within ten years. Products on established indie makers' profiles fail far less often on paper, because the makers in our dataset are already survivors.
Why do indie products shut down?
Where a reason is on record (41 of 91 shut-down products), the most common is “maker moved on” (22). 9 died because a platform they depended on changed its API, pricing or store rules, such as Apollo after Reddit's API pricing change. Running out of money is rarely the stated cause for bootstrapped products, which can run cheaply for years.
How many indie makers have had a product fail?
82 of 824 profiled makers (10%) list at least one shut-down product, while 77% list only active products. Both numbers flatter makers: most never list their failed attempts.
Are indie products more likely to be sold or shut down?
Sold. 7% of listed products were acquired versus 3% shut down. Among products launched before 2010, 14% were acquired and 9% shut down.
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-startup-failure-rate/. Licensed CC BY 4.0.
Suggested citation (APA)
Rush, J. (2026). Startup Failure Rate for Indie Products: What Shuts Down and Why [Data study]. IndieMakerList. https://indiemakerlist.com/research/indie-startup-failure-rate/
HTML link
<a href="https://indiemakerlist.com/research/indie-startup-failure-rate/">Indie Startup Failure Rate</a> (IndieMakerList, 2026)
BibTeX
@misc{indiemakerlist-indie-startup-failure-rate-2026,
title = {Startup Failure Rate for Indie Products: What Shuts Down and Why},
author = {Rush, John and {IndieMakerList}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://indiemakerlist.com/research/indie-startup-failure-rate/},
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.
- Indie Exits: What Bootstrapped Products Sell ForWhere price and revenue are both public, the median deal is 2.2× annual revenue (n = 5).
- 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, indie exit stories, all indie products and the research hub.