Side Project Exit Report · September 2026
The Side Project Exit Report: what makers ask, and why.
What makers build with, what they ask, and why they sell, drawn from the projects for sale on Indiemaker. Updated monthly, with the source of every number stated beside it.
This edition covers 1–30 September 2026. Published 1 October 2026.
This month's headline
Projects that mention AI ask 40% more than those that don't.
Surprise
Nearly half of sellers aren't quitting. They're off to build the next thing.
Worth the hours
Projects with 200+ hours behind them ask more than six times as much as those built in under 50 hours.
01 · What every listing tells you
Every new listing answers the same eleven questions.
A listing can't go live on Indiemaker until it has answered all of them. Where the honest answer is "none" or "not tracked", that counts as an answer, and you'll see it.
What the answers say
What you'll find on every new listing
- Whether it makes money
- How long it took to build
- What it's built with
- Who it's for
- What it costs to run, or that it costs nothing
- Three months of traffic, or that it isn't tracked
- If it earns, how the figures are backed up
- How many hours a week it takes to run
- Why the seller is selling
- What's included in the sale
- How long the seller will help after the sale
Every question is required by the listing form. Answers are the seller's own.
02 · The AI premium
AI adds 40% to the asking price.
About four in ten projects for sale mention AI, and their sellers ask 40% more for them.
Median asking price
Calculated"Mentions AI" means the title or description uses words like AI, GPT, LLM or agent: our reading, not the seller's label.
03 · Hours in, price out
Every extra stretch of build time shows up in the asking price.
Median asking price by the hours sellers say they put in. Most sellers put in more than 200.
Asking prices, not sale prices.
04 · Why founders sell
Selling isn't giving up. It's funding the next idea.
Nearly half of sellers are moving on to a new project. Only 2% say they lost interest.
05 · Where prices sit
Something for every budget, mostly small.
Six in ten projects ask under $5,000.
06 · What people build with
The indie stack.
What sellers say their projects are built with.
Share of listings that named their stack.
07 · What's for sale
By category.
Arrows compare the average asking price of listings added in the last 3 months with the 3 months before.
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How we count
Declared means the seller told us. Calculated means we worked it out from what sellers told us. Prices are what sellers are asking, not what buyers paid.
What we leave out
Only published listings are counted: drafts and listings still under review are not. Anything a seller hasn't declared stays blank and isn't counted.
Use this data
Free to quote with a link back to Indiemaker.