How to sell your Micro SaaS or indie app (and get a fair price)
You built it. Now you want out, or you want to fund the next thing. Here is how to sell — whether it is a profitable SaaS or a side project you abandoned — without leaving money on the table.
- → Sell while you're still excited enough to pitch it — burned-out founders write bad listings and get bad prices.
- → SaaS closes at 2.5×–4× annual profit. Indie apps without revenue still sell — on users, SEO, code, and rankings.
- → The listing matters more than you think. A bad write-up will cost you 30% of your asking price.
- → For indie apps, confirm account transferability before you list. It is a deal-maker or deal-breaker.
- → Don't lie, don't exaggerate. Buyers verify everything, and a single inflated metric will kill the deal.
When is the right time to sell?
Most founders wait too long. The pattern looks like this: you stop enjoying it, you let it drift, churn ticks up, growth stalls, and then you decide to sell. By that point, the price you can get has dropped 30–50%.
The right moment is the one nobody likes: when it's still working, but you're already mentally checked out. That's when buyers pay the most. The same is true for an abandoned indie app — the Chrome extension with 4,000 weekly users is worth real money today, not after it breaks.
Good signs to sell now
- • Revenue or usage is stable or slightly growing
- • Churn is under 7% monthly (for SaaS)
- • You're spending less time on it than you used to
- • You have a more interesting project pulling at you
Red flags — fix before listing
- • Revenue or active users have dropped 3 months in a row
- • Churn is climbing
- • Unresolved technical debt that breaks production
- • A pending platform policy change you've been ignoring
Don't assume it's worthless
Most indie devs underprice or never list at all, because they assume nobody wants their boring tool or abandoned side project. They're wrong. Buyers value different things than you might expect.
An audience, even a small one
An app with 1,000 weekly active users is a working distribution channel. That is hard to build from scratch.
Store rankings and reviews
A 4.6★ rating with 200 reviews is a real asset. Buyers know how long that takes to build.
SEO history
If your app's website ranks for niche search terms, that equity transfers. It can justify the sale on its own.
A working codebase
Some buyers want to skip the boilerplate. A clean, deployable codebase is worth money even without users.
Recurring revenue
If you have MRR, that is the headline. Stable subscriptions are the single most valuable thing you can sell.
Domain + brand
A clean .com with a memorable name in a hot space is sometimes worth more than the app itself.
Get your numbers and assets in order
Before you write a single word of your listing, gather this. Good preparation can double your sale price.
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Revenue or usage history
SaaS: 12 months of MRR, new MRR, churned MRR. Indie app: weekly/monthly active users, retention, install vs uninstall. Trends, not single screenshots.
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Cost breakdown
Hosting, APIs, third-party tools, contractors. Be specific. "About $50/mo" is not specific.
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Churn or retention (real)
For SaaS, calculate churn: (customers lost ÷ customers at start of month) × 100, trailing 6 months. For apps, show the retention curve.
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Confirm transferability
For indie apps, check whether Chrome Store / App Store / Play Store supports developer-to-developer transfer. If not, the buyer must relist — disclose it.
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Asset inventory
Domain, code repo, hosting, payment processor, store listings, email lists, support inbox, analytics, social accounts. Every. Single. Thing.
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Document the codebase
A 1-page README with setup, deployment steps, and known issues. This single document can add hundreds to your asking price.
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Reason for selling
Have a clear, honest answer. "I want to focus on my next idea" is great. "It works, I just don't have the energy" is also fine — just be direct.
How to price it
If you have recurring revenue, anchor on a profit multiple. If you don't, use the indie-app framework that fits. Most founders either drastically underprice or wildly overprice — here's the honest middle.
Micro SaaS starting point
Asking ≈ Annual Profit × 3
Then adjust up or down based on the factors below.
Low churn (under 5%), stable for 12+ months, clean code, runs itself
Documented, easy handover, good SEO, growing slightly
Working product, modest traction, average everything
Higher churn, founder-dependent, undocumented
Recent decline, customer concentration risk, technical debt
No recurring revenue? Use the framework that fits
If you have some revenue
Asking ≈ Annual Profit × 2 to 3
Slightly lower than SaaS multiples — buyers price in platform risk.
If you have users but no revenue
Asking ≈ Active Users × $1 to $5
Higher end if your audience is engaged and monetizable. Lower end for one-shot installs.
If you only have code
Asking ≈ Build Cost ÷ 2
Estimate honestly what it would cost a buyer to recreate it. Charge roughly half — they save the months of work.
Don't anchor your asking too high. Overpriced listings sit. The best deals close fast because the price is fair from the start.
Write a listing that actually sells
The best listings answer questions before the buyer asks them. Vague listings get ignored. Specific ones get DMs within hours.
Lead with the metric that matters
If you have $1.2K/mo profit, that is your hook. If you have 3,200 weekly active users, lead with that. Don't bury it under a paragraph about your "journey."
Tell the truth about effort
Buyers want to know what they are signing up for. If it takes 8 hours/week, say 8 hours/week.
Show, don't tell
Add screenshots of your dashboard, Stripe page (sensitive info redacted), store rankings, traffic. Real data beats marketing copy.
Explain why you're selling
A clean, boring reason builds trust. "Want to focus on my new project" beats "no time" every time.
List what's included
Code, domain, accounts, store listings, customer list, social handles. Make it crystal clear so there are no surprises later.
Common seller mistakes
These are the ones that kill deals or leave money on the table.
Inflating numbers
Don't. Buyers verify everything via Stripe and analytics access. A single inflated metric and the deal dies — and your reputation in the indie community follows you.
Assuming it's worthless
Most indie devs underprice. If your app has any users, any SEO, or any working revenue, it has buyers. Don't list it for free.
Vague metrics
"Lots of users" doesn't sell. "3,200 weekly active users, 4.5★ rating, 87 reviews" sells.
Hiding the bad parts
Churn issues, complaints, technical debt, pending platform problems — disclose them upfront. Buyers find out anyway, and it builds trust when it comes from you.
Refusing read-only access
Serious buyers expect Stripe / analytics access during due diligence. Saying no is a giant red flag.
No transition plan
Buyers want to know you'll be available for 30–60 days post-sale. Offer it before they ask.
The handover playbook
A smooth handover is what separates "I got my money and disappeared" from "the buyer became a referral source." Spend the time here — it pays off in your reputation.
- 1. Sign a simple asset transfer agreement (a one-pager is enough for small deals).
- 2. Move money via escrow.com or a similar service. Never accept payment directly for amounts over $1K–$5K.
- 3. Initiate any platform transfers (Chrome Web Store, App Store, Play Store) early — they can take days.
- 4. Transfer the rest: domain, hosting, repository, payment processor, email, analytics, social.
- 5. Provide a written README, then be available for 30–60 days post-handover for questions.
Where to list it
On DealMyApp, listing is free — whether it's a profitable SaaS or an abandoned side project. We review every submission so quality stays high, and we don't take a cut. You keep what you and the buyer agree on.
Browse real listings or list your own
Every listing on DealMyApp is reviewed by humans. Free to browse, free to list.