Indie Maker Analytics 2024–2025: 326 Projects Analyzed
Data extracted from 326 indie maker projects shared on Hacker News "Who is making money?" threads in 2024 and 2025.
01 Overview
| Metric | Total | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Projects analyzed | 326 | 188 | 138 |
| Unique creators | 309 | 184 | 137 |
| Repeat creators (both years) | 12 | — | |
| Projects with product URL | 282 (86%) | 157 (84%) | 125 (91%) |
| Projects with product name | 323 (99%) | 186 (99%) | 137 (99%) |
| Avg marketing channels / project | 2.6 | 2.5 | 2.7 |
| Avg growth levers / project | 5.2 | 5.2 | 5.3 |
| Avg key takeaways / project | 4.9 | 4.9 | 4.9 |
12 creators appeared in both years — projects like Hacker Newsletter, Filestash, FiveThreeOne, Clues by Sam, UnlistedJobs, and BudgetSheet show multi-year persistence.
02 Revenue Analysis
Revenue Disclosure
| 2024 | 2025 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Disclosed revenue | 93 (49%) | 76 (55%) | 169 (52%) |
| Undisclosed | 86 (46%) | 57 (41%) | 143 (44%) |
| Unknown / unparseable | 9 (5%) | 5 (4%) | 14 (4%) |
Trend: Revenue disclosure increased from 49% to 55% year-over-year — makers are becoming more open about their numbers.
Revenue Distribution (160 projects with parseable monthly revenue)
| Band | Count | % of disclosed |
|---|---|---|
| $0 (pre-revenue) | 9 | 5% |
| < $500/mo | 22 | 13% |
| $500 – $1K/mo | 77 | 46% |
| $1K – $5K/mo | 32 | 19% |
| $5K – $10K/mo | 13 | 8% |
| $10K+/mo | 16 | 10% |
Median monthly revenue: $500/mo. Mean: $5,768/mo (skewed by top earners). The $500–$1K band dominates (46%) — this is the "side project sweet spot" where projects generate meaningful income without requiring full-time commitment. Only 10% break the $10K/mo barrier.
Revenue by Year
| 2024 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| Parseable projects | 88 | 72 |
| Median | $600/mo | $500/mo |
| Mean | $8,406/mo | $2,544/mo |
The 2024 mean is inflated by a few extreme outliers. The median tells the real story: most indie projects hover around $500/mo.
Top 15 Earners
| Product | Est. Monthly Revenue | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| AliveAI | $50,000+/mo | AI company, creator considering exit |
| Tapflow | ~$20,000/mo | Design templates + early traction |
| LeetCode Wizard | $15,000/mo | AI coding interview helper |
| AI Chatbot for OnlyFans | $15,000/mo | MRR, B2B creator tools |
| Dev Docs Writing | ~$12,800/mo | Freelance at $80/hr |
| CoPlay | ~$12,000/mo | $6K MRR doubling projected |
| FLX Websites | $11,000/mo | 45+ clients, web agency |
| Dead Chefs Society | ~$10,500/mo | Pop-up dining, 1099 guests |
| TF2 Item Trading | $10,000–$15,000/mo | Virtual goods trading |
| Notion Boost | ~$10,000/mo | Browser extension for Notion |
| Aptakube | $5K+/mo (est.) | Kubernetes desktop UI, $99/seat |
| MergeCal | ~$8,000/mo | Calendar merging SaaS |
| Serpentine Game | ~$7,500/mo | Word puzzle game |
| Revenue-share Marketing | $6,000–$7,000/mo | 7% of client gross revenue |
| FormBricks | ~$6,000/mo | Open-source survey tool |
03 Marketing Channels
Channel Frequency (838 total entries across 326 projects)
| # | Channel | Count | Primary | Secondary | Ongoing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hacker News | 276 | 47 | 201 | 27 |
| 2 | Word of Mouth | 87 | 40 | 10 | 37 |
| 3 | SEO / Organic Search | 44 | 27 | 1 | 15 |
| 4 | App Store | 43 | 33 | 0 | 9 |
| 5 | Product Website / Product Hunt | 28 | 9 | 3 | 15 |
| 6 | Marketplace (Etsy, Amazon, Steam) | 28 | 17 | 5 | 5 |
| 7 | Content Marketing | 18 | 6 | 6 | 5 |
| 8 | Social Media (Twitter/X, LinkedIn) | 17 | 9 | 5 | 3 |
| 9 | Paid Advertising | 13 | 4 | 5 | 3 |
| 10 | Open Source Community | 12 | 5 | 0 | 7 |
| 11 | 10 | 7 | 1 | 1 | |
| 12 | Direct Sales / Outreach | 10 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | YouTube | 9 | 7 | 0 | 1 |
| 14 | Browser Extension Store | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| 15 | Sponsorships | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 16 | Events / Conferences | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| 17 | Podcast | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Key insight: Hacker News is overwhelmingly listed as a secondary channel (201 times) — it's the thread they're posting in, not necessarily their primary growth driver. Word of Mouth (87 mentions, 40 as primary) and SEO (44 mentions, 27 as primary) are the real workhorses for ongoing growth.
Channel Trends: 2024 vs 2025
| Channel | 2024 | 2025 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hacker News | 155 | 121 | Stable (proportional) |
| Word of Mouth | 49 | 38 | Stable |
| SEO / Organic Search | 27 | 17 | Stable |
| App Store | 24 | 19 | Stable |
| Social Media | 6 | 11 | Growing |
| Marketplace | 22 | 6 | Declining |
| Content Marketing | 9 | 9 | Stable |
| Paid Advertising | 8 | 5 | Stable |
Notable shift: Social media mentions nearly doubled (6 → 11), while marketplace channels dropped significantly (22 → 6).
04 Community Sentiment
Overall Sentiment
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Total comment mentions analyzed | 569 |
| Projects with any comments | 199 (61%) |
| Projects with zero comments | 127 (39%) |
Sentiment Categories
| Category | Count | % |
|---|---|---|
| No comments (all zeros) | 127 | 39% |
| Mixed (positive <70%) | 97 | 30% |
| Overwhelmingly positive (100%) | 68 | 21% |
| Mostly positive (>70%) | 24 | 7% |
| Negative (more neg than pos) | 10 | 3% |
The HN community is supportive: 93% of projects with feedback receive predominantly positive commentary. Only 3% face negative sentiment.
Most-Discussed Projects
| Project | Total Comments | Positive | Negative |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lightnote | 30 | 28 | 0 |
| Computer Engineering for Babies | 17 | 17 | 0 |
| UnlistedJobs | 14 | 10 | 0 |
| FiveThreeOne App | 12 | 9 | 0 |
| SmoothTrack | 11 | 10 | 0 |
| Clues by Sam | 11 | 10 | 0 |
| JustFax Online | 11 | 7 | 0 |
| AI Chatbot for OnlyFans | 10 | 3 | 2 |
| PastMaps | 10 | 7 | 0 |
| Dave-Bot (multi-product) | 10 | 4 | 2 |
Notable Quotes
On pricing courage
"Everyone was saying that $99 was too much for 'an API wrapper', but here we are, 2 years later and with hundreds of small to enterprise companies using it."
— goenning (Aptakube)
"You really shouldn't listen to too many people. The only thing that counts is paying customers; everything else is just jealous people."
— anonzzzies
On landing pages
"After seeing your landing page I finally understand what a landing page should be."
— ipaddr (Lightnote)
"Actually dropping me straight into the first lesson before I hit the paywall is very effective."
— swiftcoder (Lightnote)
On product simplicity
"There's nothing to add to it, but more importantly... nothing to take out."
— on FreeSolitaire.win
"This is the coolest thing I've seen on this thread. Single purpose and a very nice, crystal clear homepage."
— Fiveplus (JustFax Online)
On the indie maker reality
"It makes too much to give up, but not enough to be a 'real thing'. Plus, I'm still trading time for dollars."
— giarc (Laser Cut Wall Art)
"Less than 10% of my projects ever made anything."
— pstorm
"A sign of maturity is realizing the tech is always the easy part."
— jf93ap29sh
On finding your audience
"For the FIRST TIME EVER I was able to fly a proper pattern without using an external view. A whole new level of immersion, for $12. Money well spent."
— on SmoothTrack
"Made an account just to say thanks for sharing this, just bought it."
— cwing50 (SmoothTrack)
"I remember when you launched this, and I signed up for it right away. I still read it every day. I can't believe it's been 15 years already!"
— fraXis (Hacker Newsletter)
05 Pricing Models
| Model | Count | % | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subscription / SaaS | 82 | 25% | Recurring monthly or annual subscriptions |
| One-time purchase | 47 | 14% | Single payment — apps, books, courses, games, licenses |
| Physical product | 27 | 8% | Tangible goods — crafts, food, hardware, prints |
| Ad-supported / sponsorships | 26 | 8% | Revenue from ads, AdSense, affiliate, or sponsorships |
| Freemium | 26 | 8% | Free tier with paid upgrades or premium features |
| Services | 18 | 6% | Freelance, consulting, agency, workshops |
| Open-core | 10 | 3% | Open source with paid cloud, enterprise, or support |
| Marketplace | 8 | 2% | Selling on Etsy, eBay, Steam, or running a marketplace |
| Unknown / not disclosed | 66 | 20% | Not enough pricing info, pre-revenue, or meta-posts |
Subscription leads at 25% but doesn't dominate the way SaaS narratives suggest. One-time purchases (14%) remain viable — apps, books, and games prove that not everything needs to be a subscription. The "long tail" of ad-supported (8%), freemium (8%), and physical products (8%) shows significant model diversity.
Notable Pricing Patterns
- •Open-core is underrepresented: Only 10 projects (3%) use the open-source-with-paid-features model, despite its popularity in developer tool narratives
- •Ad-supported is more common than expected: 26 projects (8%) sustain on ads, affiliates, and sponsorships — newsletters, content sites, and free utilities
- •Physical products persist: 27 projects selling tangible goods from laser-cut maps to sweet potatoes to LED pin badges
06 Customer Acquisition Strategies
How Makers Found Their First Customers
| Strategy | Count | % |
|---|---|---|
| Community posting (HN, Reddit, forums) | 60 | 18% |
| Marketplace listing (App Store, Etsy, etc.) | 35 | 11% |
| Content marketing (blog, YouTube, SEO) | 34 | 10% |
| Scratched own itch (personal problem) | 33 | 10% |
| Network (friends, co-workers, referrals) | 27 | 8% |
| Direct sales / outreach | 19 | 6% |
| Freemium growth (free tool → monetize) | 4 | 1% |
| Paid acquisition | 3 | 1% |
| Unknown / not disclosed | 111 | 34% |
The top 3 strategies are organic: community posting, marketplace discovery, and content creation account for 39% of known acquisition strategies. Only 1% use paid acquisition — indie makers overwhelmingly bootstrap through free channels.
Strategy Breakdown
Community posting (18%)
Sharing on HN, Reddit, and niche forums. Most popular first step because the audience is already engaged and technical. Lightnote launched with interactive lessons on HN and got 30 supportive comments.
Marketplace discovery (11%)
Listing on app stores, Etsy, Chrome Web Store, or Steam and letting organic platform traffic do the work. Works best for mobile apps and physical goods.
Content / SEO (10%)
Blog posts, YouTube tutorials, or documentation that attracts search traffic. A long-game strategy — Hacker Newsletter (15 years) and Cronitor (10+ years) show how content compounds.
Own-itch (10%)
Building something you personally need. SmoothTrack ($15 head tracker), DIGRIN ($740 MRR dividend tracker), and PortDroid all started as personal tools.
Network (8%)
Leveraging existing relationships. Aptakube grew by sharing with co-workers who spread it through their companies.
Direct sales (6%)
Cold outreach, client relationships, enterprise deals. The SaaS that pivoted to $300/mo enterprise custom deployments found customers through direct engagement.
07 Product Types
| Product Type | Count | % |
|---|---|---|
| SaaS / Web App | 120 | 37% |
| Content (course, book, newsletter) | 47 | 14% |
| Physical product | 34 | 10% |
| Mobile app | 27 | 8% |
| Game | 16 | 5% |
| Services (freelance, agency) | 15 | 5% |
| Open source tool | 14 | 4% |
| Desktop app | 9 | 3% |
| Browser extension | 9 | 3% |
| Other | 35 | 11% |
SaaS dominates but only at 37% — the HN indie community is remarkably diverse. Nearly a quarter of projects are non-software (physical products, content, services). Games and browser extensions are small but distinct niches.
08 Growth Levers & Market Opportunities
Growth Lever Themes (1,702 growth levers across 326 projects)
| Theme | Mentions | Description |
|---|---|---|
| AI/ML integration | 313 | Adding AI features, leveraging LLMs, AI-powered enhancements |
| Content marketing | 247 | Blog posts, tutorials, documentation, case studies |
| Feature expansion | 89 | Adding new features, capabilities, integrations |
| Platform expansion | 87 | Multi-platform support, cross-platform growth |
| SEO | 83 | Search engine optimization, organic traffic |
| Community building | 81 | Developer communities, user communities, forums |
| Organic growth | 59 | Organic reach, natural growth, viral loops |
| API/Integrations | 49 | Building APIs, third-party integrations |
| Premium/upsell | 43 | Premium tiers, upselling, paid features |
| Referral programs | 42 | Referral systems, word-of-mouth incentives |
| Pricing optimization | 40 | Pricing strategy changes, new tiers |
| YouTube | 37 | Video content, YouTube channel, video marketing |
| Social media | 34 | Twitter/X, LinkedIn, social presence |
| Partnerships | 33 | Strategic partnerships, collaborations |
| Subscription models | 30 | Recurring revenue, subscription tiers |
| Enterprise sales | 27 | Enterprise customers, B2B focus |
| Virality | 24 | Viral mechanics, sharing features |
| Niche focus | 22 | Doubling down on specific niches |
| Marketplace presence | 22 | App store optimization, marketplace visibility |
AI is the dominant growth lever — mentioned in 313 of 1,702 suggestions (18%), reflecting the 2024-2025 AI wave. Content marketing (247) and feature expansion (89) are the next most-recommended strategies.
Market Opportunities
09 Repeat Creators: Year-over-Year
12 makers appeared in both 2024 and 2025 threads:
| Creator | Product | 2024 → 2025 Journey |
|---|---|---|
| duck | Hacker Newsletter | 15-year newsletter, still going strong |
| strongpigeon | FiveThreeOne | App grew, raised money for successor |
| tikotus | Cluehound → Clues by Sam | Rebranded and expanded puzzle game |
| Jabbs | UnlistedJobs | Continued building job search scraper |
| mickael-kerjean | Filestash | Maintained open-source file manager |
| firefax | Poker | Still playing live cash games |
| habosa | CodeApprove | Code review tool, steady progress |
| rozenmd | OnlineOrNot | Uptime monitoring, growing MRR |
| trubalca | TheMapsGuy | Map art business, multi-year |
| vlucas | BudgetSheet | Budget spreadsheet tool |
| czhu12 | Canine | Pet-related product |
| manuelmoreale | Blogging Project | Personal blogging |
10 Key Patterns & Takeaways for Indie Makers
Pattern 1: The $500/mo Cluster
The single largest revenue cluster is $500–$1K/mo (46% of disclosed projects). This is the indie "escape velocity" threshold — enough to validate an idea, but typically not enough to go full-time. Most projects in the HN threads are answering the implicit question "have you crossed $500/mo?"
Pattern 2: Word of Mouth is King
While Hacker News appears 276 times in channel lists, it's overwhelmingly listed as a secondary channel. The real primary growth drivers are word of mouth (40 primary mentions), App Store (33 primary), SEO (27 primary), and marketplace listings (17 primary). Organic, bottom-up distribution beats paid acquisition for indie makers.
Pattern 3: Scratching Your Own Itch Works
The most common origin story is "I built this to solve my own problem." SmoothTrack (head tracking for $15), DIGRIN (dividend tracking at $740 MRR), PastMaps (historical map exploration), and FiveThreeOne (workout tracking) all started as personal tools that found broader audiences.
Pattern 4: The Community is Overwhelmingly Supportive
With only 4% negative sentiment across 569 analyzed comments, the HN indie maker community provides encouraging feedback. The most-discussed projects (Lightnote with 30 comments, all positive) show that well-executed products attract genuine enthusiasm.
Pattern 5: AI is Everywhere in Growth Plans
AI/ML integration appears in 18% of all growth lever recommendations (313/1,702). Whether it's adding AI features to an existing tool, using AI for content generation, or building AI-native products, the 2024-2025 wave is reshaping how indie makers think about their product roadmaps.
Pattern 6: Pricing Courage Pays Off
Projects that ignore "too expensive" feedback and price confidently tend to succeed. Aptakube ignored "$99 is too much for an API wrapper" criticism and now has hundreds of paying companies. The lesson: price for your actual customers, not for the peanut gallery.
Pattern 7: Simple Products Win Hearts
The most-loved products in the dataset are remarkably simple: a solitaire game, a fax service, a puzzle game, a head tracker. "There's nothing to add to it, but more importantly... nothing to take out" captures the aesthetic that resonates with the HN community.
Pattern 8: Persistence Matters
12 creators appeared in both years' threads. Products like Hacker Newsletter (15 years running), Filestash, and FiveThreeOne show that sustained effort compounds. The "overnight success" narrative is rare — most successful indie products are years in the making.
Data Sources
- 326 project marketing JSON files from Hacker News threads (2024: 188 projects, 2025: 138 projects)
- 329 compiled insight entries with pricing and customer acquisition analysis
- 838 marketing channel entries across all projects
- 1,702 growth levers and 1,598 key takeaways extracted from community analysis
- 426 market opportunity entries
- 433 notable quotes from HN comment threads