Project guide

AI micro-SaaS

Small AI tool sites and browser extensions: 9 of 46 cases have figures vetted by a marketplace or seen by a reporter, 6 of them under 5,000 dollars a year; the other 37 are founders' own accounts

Compiled from the 50 cases in our AI micro-SaaS project: 9 grade A (8 listings or sales on the Microns marketplace, seller disclosures vetted by the platform, and 1 CNBC report written after seeing the receipts), 37 grade B (founders' own accounts) and 4 grade C leads. The income ranges on this page use grades A and B together; statements about 'grade A' rest only on the 9 cases with platform data.

Compiled 2026-10-23

Key facts

46Cases graded A or B

4Grade C leads

Income ranges use cases graded A or B (grade B is the founder's own account, with no platform data to check it), in USD; grade C leads are listed but not counted

See the steps

How the cases did it, step by step

Each step names the cases it comes from. Public sources give no reliable time data, so there are no weeks or hours.

Step 1 Pick a very narrow jobEach product does one thing: book summaries, LinkedIn outreach, landing-page audits, YouTube thumbnail critiques, screenshot-to-code, start-up idea reports.Cases: AI book-summary app · AI LinkedIn outreach extension · No-code AI landing-page audit tool · An AI tool that roasts YouTube thumbnails · Hosted screenshot-to-code · DimeADozen
Step 2 Build it fast with AI coding or no-codeDimeADozen took two people four days and about 185 dollars; WeBuilda took two months and 680 dollars to start; the landing-page audit tool is Bubble plus OpenAI.Cases: DimeADozen · Kenyan developer Enoq Moka built AI site builder WeBuilda in two months and sold it for USD 7,200 in 21 days · No-code AI landing-page audit tool
Step 3 Plug into an existing modelMost of the core work is a call to a large model: the book-summary app and the writing assistant use OpenAI's API, screenshot-to-code calls several frontier models, and the developer toolkit runs inside Claude Code or Cursor.Cases: AI book-summary app · AI writing assistant · Hosted screenshot-to-code · A multi-agent kit that turns Claude Code into an engineering team
Step 4 Get users from organic channelsNone of the nine grade A cases lists paid ads among its channels: search traffic (good domains, an open-source project), product directories, X and a blog, and share cards that users pass on.Cases: AI book-summary app · Hosted screenshot-to-code · A multi-agent kit that turns Claude Code into an engineering team · An AI tool that roasts YouTube thumbnails
Step 5 Keep maintaining it, or list it for saleOnce maintenance stopped, the book-summary app fell from a peak of about 600 dollars a month to 35. Founders who did not want to keep going listed on a marketplace: the thumbnail-critique tool sold for 3,000 dollars, WeBuilda for 7,200 dollars after 21 days, and DimeADozen for 150,000 dollars after about seven months.Cases: AI book-summary app · An AI tool that roasts YouTube thumbnails · Kenyan developer Enoq Moka built AI site builder WeBuilda in two months and sold it for USD 7,200 in 21 days · DimeADozen

At a glance

Ranges are the 25th–75th percentile of cases graded A or B, computed by script from the case data; both ends of a ranged figure are counted

Cases graded A or B: 46
Monthly income (annual figures divided by 12): $1,000 – $30,750
Cumulative income (cases with only a running total): $33,108 – $140,500

Skills involved

How many of the 46 cases graded A or B list each skill

AI-assisted coding38 of 46 cases

38 of the 46 grade A and B cases list AI coding; six of the nine grade A cases were built with it, and WeBuilda went from start to launch in two months.

No-code building4 of 46 cases

Four used no-code tools; among grade A, one is Bubble with OpenAI and one is built on Lovable.

SEO15 of 46 cases

Fifteen list SEO; among grade A, one lived on two good domains and one on an open-source project with about 80,000 stars.

Knowledge-product design2 of 46 cases

DimeADozen turned a few hundred pre-written prompts into a roughly 50-page start-up idea report sold at 39 dollars.

Short-video content & ads6 of 46 cases

Six grew through social media and short video; the grade A thumbnail-critique tool spread through shareable roast cards that users posted.

Key points

How big the income is

Six of the nine grade A cases make under 5,000 dollars a year. The two largest: the hosted screenshot-to-code tool at 4,200–5,300 dollars a month, and DimeADozen with more than 66,000 dollars in about seven months. Measured monthly, the grade A median is a few hundred dollars, while the 37 grade B self-reports have a median above 10,000: the people who publish their numbers tend to be the ones doing well.

Microns figures are seller disclosures vetted by the platform
Annual figures are divided by 12 before comparing
Grade B self-reports have a much higher median but no platform data behind them

What they sell for

Sale prices mostly sit between a few months' and two years' income: the thumbnail-critique tool went for 3,000 dollars, about two or three months of income; WeBuilda for 7,200 dollars, about 1.8 times a year's income; DimeADozen for 150,000 dollars, a little over twice its seven months of income. The hosted screenshot-to-code tool is listed at 38,000 dollars and has not sold.

Single-purpose tools sell cheaply
Higher asking prices rest on organic traffic and a known name
An asking price is not a sale price

Dependencies and risks

Every one of these products sits on someone else's platform: model APIs, Chrome, LinkedIn, the App Store. The LinkedIn extension runs in the user's own logged-in browser to stay away from cloud automation, and the developer toolkit depends on Claude Code and Cursor, so an update to either could make it redundant.

Read platform terms first; many restrict automation
A host tool's update can replace what you built
Stop maintaining and income falls fast

Cases graded A or B

See them all in the case library →

BSelf-reportedAgentaOS: a 20-year payments engineer's merchant-of-record platform in Tallinn, run alone with AI agents, $9,500 MRR two months after launch$9,500 MRR · monthly
BSelf-reportedAI Buddy: a laid-off developer's Chrome sidebar AI assistant, 15 paying users and $435 MRR six weeks after launch$435 MRR · monthly
BSelf-reportedAI Flow Chat + Starpop: after a VC-backed failure and one viral tweet, Alexander Van Le bootstrapped two AI products to 20,000 dollars MRR combined$20,000 MRR · monthly
BSelf-reportedBazzly.ai: quit a 7,000-dollar-a-month job for a Reddit marketing automation tool, 1,757 dollars MRR after 15 months$1,757 MRR · monthly
BSelf-reportedBloggenAI: Mamun Miah's AI content generator, 216 dollars in its first three months, domain gone two years later$216 revenue · to date
BSelf-reportedBluedot: a Ukrainian team's AI note-taking extension for Google Meet in San Francisco, over $1,500 MRR two months after a pivot from an unsellable first product≥ $1,500 MRR · monthly
BSelf-reportedBridgeMind: a linguistics graduate's self-taught 'vibe coding operating system', live-streamed daily toward a million-dollar goal, about 14,800 dollars MRR$14,830 MRR · monthly
BSelf-reportedclawr.ing: a Portugal-based developer's service that lets an AI agent phone you, 20+ subscribers and over $100 MRR within weeks≥ $100 MRR · monthly
BSelf-reportedFounderPal: the AI marketing platform in a laid-off founder's portfolio of indie tools, about $215,000 in two years$215,000 revenue · to date
BSelf-reportedHovers.ai: a two-person AI SEO workbench from keyword research to publishing, $600 MRR in its first month$600 MRR · monthly
BSelf-reportedJobBuddy: a UK developer's AI cover-letter tool, free for two years, past $1,000 MRR only in April 2025$1,000 MRR · monthly
BSelf-reportedLeadmore AI: after a failed consumer AI product, Richard Wang built a Reddit marketing tool to about 30,000 dollars MRR in four months with no marketing spend≥ $30,000 MRR · monthly
BSelf-reportedMy AskAI: two Brits' AI support agent that plugs into Intercom and Zendesk, around 40,000 dollars MRR$40,000 MRR · monthly
BSelf-reportedNureply: an Ankara solo developer's GPT-3 cold-email icebreaker tool, 4,000 dollars a month in its fourth month$4,000 revenue · monthly
BSelf-reportedParakeetAI: a Slovenian engineer's real-time AI call assistant, bootstrapped to over 1 million dollars a month in two years≥ $1,000,000 revenue · monthly
BSelf-reportedpdforge: after selling a stake in a SaaS, a solo founder's AI-agent PDF generator whose first customers were the founder's ex-partners, $1,000 MRR$1,000 MRR · monthly
BSelf-reportedProofsource: an internal AI-visibility tool built for a finance product became its own product, five customers paying 1,500 dollars a month in the first week out of beta$1,500 MRR · monthly
BSelf-reportedReplyDaddy + NoobBookLM: a Bengaluru ex-product lead's two solo AI tools, over $5,300 MRR combined≥ $5,300 MRR · monthly
BSelf-reportedRotateProduct: a Kosovo developer's one-photo-to-360° product video tool, $6,772 MRR after 21 weeks of building in public$6,772 MRR · monthly
BSelf-reportedShortGen: a 21-year-old developer's website-to-TikTok-slideshow tool, 815 users and $80 MRR$80 MRR · monthly
BSelf-reportedStanley for X: a Stan co-founder turned a ghostwriter's playbook into an AI and hit $4,000 MRR within 48 hours of launch$4,000 MRR · monthly
BSelf-reportedSupaBird: a Berlin indie hacker's AI growth coach for X, over $2,000 MRR after two years of organic-only growth≥ $2,000 MRR · monthly
BSelf-reportedSuperpower ChatGPT: an engineer's browser extension shipped within three days of ChatGPT's launch, free for nine months, then 20,000–30,000 dollars MRR$20,000–$30,000 MRR · monthly
BSelf-reportedZipchat: after an 8-million-dollar ARR business died overnight, a Bulgarian founder's AI sales agent for e-commerce nears 2 million dollars ARR≤ $2,000,000 revenue · annual
BSelf-reportedAutoShorts.ai: an ex-Instagram employee's AI faceless-video tool at $31,000 MRR about three and a half months after launch$31,000 MRR · monthly
AData-backedDimeADozen: an AI business-idea report tool two friends built in four days for $185, sold for $150,000 after making over $66,000 in about seven months≥ $66,000 revenue · to date
BSelf-reportedJenni AI: an academic writing assistant stuck at 2,000 dollars a month for three years, then 5 million dollars ARR via short video and creators$5,000,000 revenue · annual
AData-backedNo-code AI landing-page audit tool: 497 customers, 1,000 dollars a year$1,000 revenue · annual
BSelf-reportedAudioPen: a voice-to-text writing tool built in 12 hours on Bubble, 15,000 dollars a month solo$15,000 revenue · monthly
BSelf-reportedInterior AI: Pieter Levels' AI interior-design renderer, about 35,000 dollars a month by mid-2026$35,000 revenue · monthly
AData-backedAI book-summary app: peaked at 600 dollars a month, down to 35 after the team stopped working on it$1,114 revenue · annual
AData-backedA multi-agent kit that turns Claude Code into an engineering team: 105 subscriptions in 7 weeks$343 MRR · monthly
AData-backedAI LinkedIn outreach extension: 3,300 dollars a year at a 77% margin$3,300 revenue · annual
AData-backedAI writing assistant: 527 users and 2,250 dollars a year, from a seller running 35+ apps$2,250 revenue · annual
AData-backedAn AI tool that roasts YouTube thumbnails: about a thousand dollars a month, sold for USD 3,000$942–$1,270 MRR · monthly
AData-backedHosted screenshot-to-code: the paid version of a popular open-source tool, listed at USD 38,000$4,200–$5,300 MRR · monthly
AData-backedKenyan developer Enoq Moka built AI site builder WeBuilda in two months and sold it for USD 7,200 in 21 days$4,040 revenue · annual
BSelf-reportedPDF.ai: a 10,000-dollar domain, 25,000 dollars MRR four months after launch$25,070 MRR · monthly
BSelf-reportedPhoto AI: Pieter Levels' solo AI photo app, peaking at 150,000 dollars a month, about 100,000 by mid-2026$100,000 revenue · monthly
BSelf-reportedSiteGPT: support chatbots trained on a site's content, past 10,000 dollars MRR within a month$15,000 MRR · monthly
BSelf-reportedBasedLabs: two founders built an AI video site in three days and hit 10,000 dollars MRR in under three months$10,000 MRR · monthly
BSelf-reportedChatbase: a solo project started in a final university semester, past 10 million dollars ARR in three years≥ $10,000,000 revenue · annual
BSelf-reportedGojiberryAI: validated with a done-for-you service first, 2.5 million dollars ARR in 10 months$2,500,000 revenue · annual
BSelf-reportedPostiz: open-source social scheduler, founder reports 186,000 dollars MRR$186,000 MRR · monthly
BSelf-reportedJohn Rush's AI tool portfolio: 20 tools at 3.5 million dollars ARR, SEObot alone at 120,000 a month$120,000 MRR · monthly
BSelf-reportedTypingMind: a Vietnamese indie developer's “better ChatGPT UI”, 1 million dollars in a year within 20 months$1,000,000 revenue · annual

Other cases in this project

Grade C leads: income not reliably confirmed; useful for how things were done, but not counted above.

Tools

Tools and platforms the cases mention. Every link goes to the official site, and we earn nothing from them.

Tool	Used for	Link
OpenAI API	The model API behind the book summaries, the writing assistant and the landing-page audits	Official site ↗
ChatGPT	DimeADozen's reports from a few hundred pre-written prompts; WeBuilda's site content	Official site ↗
Claude Code	One of the coding environments the developer toolkit runs in	Official site ↗
Cursor	One of the coding environments the developer toolkit runs in	Official site ↗
Bubble	No-code build of the landing-page audit tool	Official site ↗
Lovable	AI app builder used for the thumbnail-critique tool	Official site ↗
Microns	Marketplace for small projects that vets sellers' revenue disclosures	Official site ↗

Platform rules and compliance

Follow the model provider's usage policies when calling its API, such as OpenAI's usage policies.
Read the terms before automating LinkedIn, Reddit or any other platform; LinkedIn's user agreement restricts automated access, and the extension in these cases runs in the user's own browser, but the platform's terms decide what is allowed.
If users upload screenshots, documents or photos, publish a privacy policy that says how they are stored and deleted.
When selling a project, disclose revenue and traffic sources truthfully; the marketplace vets what sellers disclose.

Compare

Compare: paid AI columns on Xiaobaotong

FAQ

How much does a small AI tool site usually make?

Six of our nine grade A cases make under 5,000 dollars a year; the highest is the hosted screenshot-to-code tool at 4,200–5,300 dollars a month. The 37 grade B self-reports have a median above 10,000 dollars a month, with no platform data to check.

Do I need to code?

Six of the nine grade A cases used AI coding and two used no-code tools (Bubble, Lovable). No professional team is needed, but someone has to maintain it after launch.

Can I sell it afterwards?

Yes, but usually not for much: sales of 3,000 and 7,200 dollars appear here, and DimeADozen's 150,000 dollars is a rare exception.

Are Microns figures reliable?

Microns listings are seller disclosures vetted by the platform, which we grade A; they are not data exported straight from a payment provider.

What happens if I stop maintaining it?

The AI book-summary app made about 600 dollars a month at its peak and fell to 35 dollars a month after maintenance stopped.

Want more examples like these?

See them all in the case library →