▲ buyers who pay, big audience, easy to ship and get found, proven indie wins, billing handled, low fees▼ crowded
One of the best-proven marketplaces for indies: Atlassian handles billing, buyers have budgets, and Forge apps pay 0% revenue share until $1M lifetime revenue (from 2026). Build on Forge and pick an unsaturated niche.
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Users of the host300,000+ Atlassian customers (Atlassian FY25 results, Aug 2025); more than two-fifths have at least one Marketplace app (Jun 2026)
Listings6,000+ Cloud apps, including 3,700+ public Forge apps (Oct 2026); $7B+ lifetime Marketplace sales (Oct 2026)
BillingYes. Atlassian bills customers, handles licensing and pays partners.
Fees in detailForge apps: 0% on eligible earnings until a partner reaches $1M lifetime Forge revenue, then 16% and later 17%. Connect apps rise from 15% to 20% and then 25%. Atlassian announced these rates in May 2025 and later pushed the increase dates to 1 Apr 2026 and 1 Oct 2026.
Getting listedModerate. Requirements include an EULA, a privacy policy, a support channel and an app that doesn't crash; a rejected app can be fixed and resubmitted (Agile Docs post, 2020). Forge apps are hosted by Atlassian, which removes infrastructure and security work.
DiscoveryGood. Buyers search the Marketplace from inside Jira and Confluence, and listings show installs, reviews and badges. Search traffic from Jira users with a specific problem converts well.
Angles for us- Forge-native AI helpers for Jira Service Management agents, such as reply drafting or ticket triage for a specific industry
- Confluence document governance: stale-page detection, ownership reminders, compliance export
- Jira reporting for niche roles such as agencies billing clients or hardware teams
CompetitionHigh in mainstream Jira categories such as time tracking, test management and reporting. Gaps remain in niche Confluence and Jira Service Management workflows.
Platform riskAtlassian ships its own AI (Rovo) and native features, and forced the Server-to-Cloud and Connect-to-Forge migrations. Even so, the company openly relies on partners, and Marketplace revenue was $300.7M in FY25.
Sources: 1 2 3 4 5 6
▲ buyers who pay, big audience, proven indie wins, billing handled, low fees▼ crowded, host likely to clone you
Still the strongest proven indie channel in commerce (built-in billing, 0% on first $1M, merchants who pay $10-$200/mo), but saturation and Sidekick/native features mean only niche, workflow-specific apps make sense now.
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Users of the host~2.51M live Shopify stores (Mar 21, 2025, third-party count via Cropink); 4.82M 'active stores' also cited for 2025 (estimate, Cropink). >80% of merchants use apps, ~6 apps per store (Taylor Sicard, 2026, third-party)
Listings~12,320 apps (Jan 2025) -> ~17,600 (early 2026) -> 18,000+ (spring 2026); one tracker reports 29,245 live apps (Oct 2026). Third-party tracker counts, ~800 net new listings/month
BillingYes. Shopify Billing API is required for App Store apps; Shopify collects from merchants and pays out
Fees in detail0% on first $1M lifetime gross app revenue (counted from Jan 1, 2025), 15% above; lifetime cap replaced the annual reset from Jun 16, 2025. Plus 2.9% processing fee, $19 one-time partner registration. Large devs (>$20M App Store revenue or >$100M company revenue) pay 15% on all
Getting listedManual app review against App Store requirements (performance, Billing API, embedded UX). Review queues grew with submission volume; Shopify rebuilt the pipeline incl. AI-assisted self-review in spring 2026 (Taylor Sicard, 2026). No CASA-style paid security audit; time to approval not officially stated
DiscoveryIn-admin app store search plus categories, 'Built for Shopify' badge, reviews/ratings heavily weight ranking; paid search ads in the store. Zigpoll reports the App Store is ~1/3 of its signups (2026)
Angles for us- Vertical-specific B2B/wholesale workflows (e.g., quote-to-order for one niche) that generic apps and Sidekick don't cover
- Agentic-commerce readiness: product feed/catalog cleanup for AI shopping agents and ChatGPT/Perplexity shopping surfaces (inference, not measured demand)
- Accounting/ops bridges for under-served regional tax or marketplace systems (e.g., Shopify-to-local-accounting exports, as Exportly did for QuickBooks/Xero)
CompetitionVery saturated: 18k-29k apps, ~800 new listings/month, AI-built apps accelerating submissions. Most generic categories (reviews, upsells, popups, SEO) have dozens of 4.9-star incumbents
Platform riskHigh and rising: Shopify ships native Shopify Email, Forms, analytics and loyalty-type features; Winter '26 added Sidekick app extensions and Sidekick can generate custom apps inside merchant admin, shifting merchants from installing to building (Taylor Sicard, 2026)
Sources: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
▲ buyers who pay, little competition, easy to ship and get found, billing handled, low fees
A strong indie bet: native billing with no revenue share up to $200K lifetime, a thin catalog, and a documented $30K MRR portfolio built from small utility apps.
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Users of the hostAbout 245,000-250,000 customers across 200+ industries (monday.com developer pages, 2025)
Listings850+ live apps and 1.6M app installs (monday.com app developer page, 2025-26)
BillingYes. monday.com handles subscriptions and refunds and pays out monthly in USD via Payoneer, within up to 60 days of invoice approval.
Fees in detailRevenue sharing starts once an app reaches $200K lifetime revenue, after which monday.com takes 15%. This implies 0% before the threshold, though the docs don't state the pre-threshold split explicitly.
Getting listedMarketplace review plus implementing monetization. Payment-board onboarding happens the month after approval.
DiscoveryIn-product marketplace with search, categories and explainer videos. Developers also report community marketing in Facebook groups and the monday community.
Angles for us- Board and item utilities that fill gaps in native features, such as cross-board mirroring, bulk edits or advanced formulas
- Document generation from items: quotes, invoices, PDFs
- Vertical templates plus automations for agencies, construction or real estate
CompetitionLow to moderate: 850 apps for about 250k customers is a thin catalog compared with Atlassian.
Platform riskMedium. monday.com adds AI and native features (for example monday AI) but promotes partners, and its marketplace is still small.
Sources: 1 2 3
▲ buyers who pay, big audience, proven indie wins▼ no billing or high fees, host likely to clone you
This is still the best-proven indie channel in this group. The listing pool is small (~5K), distribution is in-product, and several solo add-ons reach $9K MRR. Target integration or vertical workflows with narrow OAuth scopes rather than generic AI that Gemini now bundles for free.
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Users of the host11M+ paid Workspace users/customers (May 2025, CommunicationsToday; unit ambiguous). Google has cited 3B+ total users across Workspace apps (figure from the brief, not re-verified here)
Listings~4,900-5,400 add-ons from ~3,600-4,000 developers; ~4.9-5.1B total installs; median ~10-13K installs per add-on; ~9% pass 1M installs (profitable.app estimates, Oct 2026)
BillingNone. The marketplace doesn't process payments, so you bring your own Stripe, Gumroad, Paddle or LemonSqueezy plus license-key checks (e.g. BudgetSheet used Gumroad license keys)
Fees in detail0%. Google takes no cut, but you pay your own payment processor's fees
Getting listedMarketplace review plus OAuth app verification. Sensitive scopes need brand/scope verification. Restricted scopes (e.g. broad Drive/Gmail access) need an annual CASA security assessment: Tier 2 is lab-verified, and paid lab fees can run from a few hundred dollars up to a reported $15K-75K at Tier 3. Narrow scopes (drive.file, current-document-only) avoid CASA. No official SLA for approval time.
DiscoveryIn-product 'Get add-ons' panel inside Docs/Sheets/Slides/Gmail plus marketplace search, ranked largely by installs and ratings. Education is strong: ~516 add-ons with a median of ~115K users (profitable.app). Ratings matter: freemium add-ons average 3.85 stars vs 2.71 for pure-paid.
Angles for us- Two-way sync add-ons between Sheets and a specific SaaS that has no native connector (the Sync2Sheets pattern: Notion→Sheets at $9K MRR)
- Education/teacher add-ons for Docs/Slides/Forms (largest median user counts) with a school-license upsell
- Vertical template/automation add-ons (e.g. invoicing from Sheets, Gmail-to-CRM for one niche) that use narrow scopes to avoid CASA
CompetitionModerate. With only ~5K listings, it's far less crowded than Chrome. 62.9% of add-ons are free/freemium/trial and 3.5% are pure paid (profitable.app). AI 'GPT for Sheets/Slides' categories are now crowded.
Platform riskHigh for generic AI features. Gemini was bundled into all Business/Enterprise Workspace plans in Jan 2025, so native 'help me write/create slides/formulas' features compete directly with generic AI add-ons. Niche workflow and integration add-ons are safer.
Sources: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
▲ big audience, little competition, billing handled, low fees, host unlikely to clone you
A surprisingly strong channel for desktop utilities aimed at gamers and streamers. Lossless Scaling shows the ceiling, and Valve rarely competes with you. It doesn't suit B2B micro-SaaS, though, and the 30% cut and one-time pricing are trade-offs.
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Users of the host~200M MAU (estimate, tbreak 2025); Valve's last official figure was 132M MAU (2021)
Listingsnull for software/utilities (SteamDB 'Software' and 'Utilities' tags list thousands)
BillingYes. Steam handles checkout, regional pricing, refunds and sales events
Fees in detail30% to Valve (lower tiers above $10M and $50M); $100 Steam Direct fee per app (recoupable)
Getting listedSteam Direct review (a few days); store page must be live 2+ weeks before launch
DiscoveryWishlists, tags, seasonal sales, recommendation algorithm; works well for gamer-adjacent utilities
Angles for us- PC-gamer utilities (FPS/upscaling, overlays, macro, streaming tools)
- Creator tools for streamers/VTubers (soundboards, chat overlays, clip editors)
- Desktop customization (widgets, wallpapers, audio routing)
CompetitionLow for non-game utilities; audience is gamers, so tools must fit PC gamer/creator needs
Platform riskLow: Valve rarely clones third-party utilities
Sources: 1 2 3 4
▲ buyers who pay, little competition, easy to ship and get found, billing handled, low fees▼ small audience, little indie proof
Among the best rails here (80/20, billing handled, about 1-week review) and buyers are business teams. The audience is smaller, so choose per-agent pricing.
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Users of the host73,000-74,000+ businesses (Freshworks site, 2026)
Listings500+ apps (older Freshworks blog); current count not found
BillingYes, through the Paid Apps Program: built-in payment processing and monthly billing, priced per account or per agent (Freshdesk, Freshservice, Freshsales)
Fees in detail80% developer / 20% Freshworks; payouts monthly within 30-45 days
Getting listedOpen to individuals; review for functionality, security, UX, code and docs takes about 1 week
DiscoveryMarketplace inside Freshworks products; incentive programs for paid apps
Indie proof- Saasly (Spritle) Freshworks integrations contributed ~30% of the division's revenue (Freshworks testimonial, undated)
Angles for us- Paid helpdesk add-ons for ITSM (Freshservice) such as asset or license reminders
- SLA or QA analytics for Freshdesk agents, priced per agent
- Region-specific messaging or telephony connectors
CompetitionModerate; dominated by agencies and integration vendors
Platform riskFreshworks ships Freddy AI copilots and agents that overlap AI add-ons; moderate risk
Sources: 1 2 3 4 5
▲ buyers who pay, big audience, easy to ship and get found▼ no billing or high fees
Probably the best fit for the MagicSlides-style playbook among the work-SaaS marketplaces: low listing friction, no fees, business buyers, and a publisher (Datawarehouse) that reportedly built a large business from small single-purpose apps. You must bring your own billing.
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Users of the host288,000+ HubSpot customers and 1.5M+ weekly active users (HubSpot ecosystem page, 2026)
Listings2,000+ apps (2026). In Feb 2024 there were 1,543 products, 1,251 of them paid, and third-party publishers earned an estimated $69.6M a month (independent estimate).
BillingNo. Developers bill customers themselves, for example with Stripe.
Fees in detailNone. No fees to join, list or transact.
Getting listedEasy to list: build the integration and get 3 active installs. App certification is optional and stricter, and higher partner tiers add support.
DiscoveryIn-app marketplace search and categories, and 95% of customers have installed at least one app (9+ on average). Marketing agencies and solutions partners drive a lot of installs.
Angles for us- Single-purpose CRM utilities: property calculators, association cleanup, bulk record tools
- Industry data syncs into HubSpot for vertical SaaS products without integrations
- AI enrichment or summarization cards on records for a specific niche such as recruiting or real estate
CompetitionModerate. Big categories such as calling and enrichment are crowded, but many narrow utilities are run by small publishers.
Platform riskMedium. HubSpot keeps adding Breeze AI and native features such as data quality and org charts, but it actively promotes the partner ecosystem.
Sources: 1 2
▲ buyers who pay, big audience, proven indie wins, billing handled, low fees▼ crowded, host likely to clone you
Big rails and reach but brutally concentrated outcomes; an indie needs a sharp niche plus outside marketing.
Re-scored after review: iOS users spend the most of any consumer app store, and indie iOS apps with verified revenue are common (most Starter Story apps are iOS).
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Users of the host850M+ average weekly App Store users in 175 countries (Apple/Analysis Group, 2025 data, June 2026)
Listings~2M apps (estimate; Apple not confirmed in sources found)
BillingYes: StoreKit IAP/subscriptions; Apple handles payments and taxes; US external links allowed after 2025 court ruling.
Fees in detail15% for Small Business Program (first $1M/yr) and for subscriptions after year 1; 30% otherwise.
Getting listedApp Review usually 1-2 days; $99/yr developer fee; strict guidelines.
DiscoverySearch ads, editorial features, rankings; very competitive ASO.
Angles for us- Niche B2B/prosumer iOS tools (field inspections, trades invoicing) with subscriptions
- Mac menu-bar utilities using on-device AI
- Companion apps for popular SaaS lacking native mobile
CompetitionExtreme; vibe-coded apps flooding; RevenueCat 2026: only 17% of new subscription apps reach $1k MRR in 2 years and 4.6% reach $10k.
Platform riskHigh: Apple Sherlocks utilities (passwords, journaling, AI writing tools, calculators).
Sources: 1 2 3 4
▲ buyers who pay, big audience, little competition▼ hard to ship or get found, host likely to clone you
It has the highest-budget audience and less indie competition than Google, and a 3% transactable option exists. Setup and validation friction is real, and Copilot covers generic AI. It's a good second port for a proven Google Workspace add-on, especially B2B integrations.
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Users of the host450M+ Microsoft 365 commercial paid seats (Microsoft FY26 Q2, Jan 2026, via Office365ITPros)
BillingOffice add-ins must be free to download. You monetize either with your own billing plus a license check, or by linking a transactable SaaS offer in Partner Center (Microsoft bills; SaaS fulfillment APIs and Microsoft license management)
Fees in detail3% standard Microsoft commercial-marketplace fee on transactable offers (reduced from 20% in 2021); 0% if you bill yourself
Getting listedAppSource validation against Office Store policies, with common rejections for manifest, UX and test-account issues. A transactable SaaS offer adds Entra ID app registration and fulfillment API integration, which is heavier than Google. Optional Microsoft 365 Certification. No review-time figure found.
DiscoveryIn-app 'Get Add-ins' store inside Office and Outlook plus AppSource web. Enterprise admins often deploy centrally, so discovery skews to IT buyers.
Angles for us- Excel add-ins that connect to a specific SaaS/ERP data source finance teams use, sold per-seat to SMBs
- Outlook add-ins for vertical workflows (legal matter filing, recruiting, real-estate CRM logging)
- PowerPoint add-ins for brand-compliance/template enforcement in consulting firms, mirroring Google Slides add-on wins on the Microsoft side
CompetitionLower than Google/Chrome for indie tools. Fewer solo devs build Office.js add-ins, but AI Excel/PowerPoint assistants are crowding.
Platform riskHigh for generic AI. Microsoft 365 Copilot is built into Word/Excel/PowerPoint/Outlook (Microsoft credits Copilot for Office growth). Niche data connectors and vertical templates are safer.
Sources: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
▲ big audience, easy to ship and get found, proven indie wins, billing handled, low fees, host unlikely to clone you▼ users who rarely pay, crowded
Easiest to start and proven for spreadsheet templates (~$100K/yr examples), but low price points and ad-driven saturation make it best as a lead-gen funnel into a recurring app rather than a micro-SaaS channel.
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Users of the host86.97M active buyers, 5.71M active sellers (Etsy Q2 2026 10-Q, via Branvas); 86.5M buyers at Dec 31, 2025
Listings100M+ items for sale (Etsy 2025 10-K); digital-product share not reported
BillingYes: Etsy Payments handles checkout and instant digital download delivery
Fees in detail$0.20 listing fee per listing/renewal + 6.5% transaction fee + 3% + $0.25 payment processing (US); Offsite Ads 15% (12% once mandatory above $10K/yr sales) on attributed orders
Getting listedNone - instant listing; just policy compliance
DiscoveryEtsy search (keyword tags/titles), Etsy Ads (CPC), Offsite Ads; listings also rank in Google. Top sellers rely on keyword research tools (eRank) and email lists
Angles for us- Automated Google Sheets tools for a specific trade (mobile bar, cleaning, notary business templates) as funnels to a paid add-on/SaaS (Dream Path, Nov 2025)
- Sheets/Slides templates bundled with an Apps Script or add-on upsell (cross-sell to a Workspace Marketplace app)
- Seller tools for Etsy sellers themselves (profit/fee trackers) - many exist, so differentiate by automation
CompetitionVery high for generic digital products: visibility for broad templates 'largely determined by advertising spend' (Dream Path, Nov 2025, opinion); AI-generated templates flooding categories
Platform riskLow cloning risk, but GMS fell 4% in 2025 and active buyers dropped from 92.0M (2023) to 86.5M (2025); algorithm/fee changes are the main risk
Sources: 1 2 3 4 5
▲ buyers who pay, little competition, billing handled, low fees▼ little indie proof
Best-built billing rails among developer marketplaces (15% cut, trials, taxes handled) and an audience that already pays for tools; smaller reach and Kotlin/Java plugin dev cost are the tradeoffs. No public indie revenue figures were found.
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Users of the host12.5M+ recurring active users; ~3.2M paying customers (JetBrains Annual Highlights 2026, 2024-2025 data)
BillingYes: JetBrains handles checkout, licensing, 30-day trials, taxes/VAT, resellers; supports paid, freemium, subscriptions with fallback license, perpetual; or 'externally paid' with your own licensing.
Fees in detailJetBrains keeps 15% (capped at 25% with one month notice); reseller fees come out of JetBrains' 15%; payout monthly once balance >= $200/EUR200.
Getting listedManual review of plugin uploads; paid plugins require signing a developer agreement and integrating JetBrains licensing API; stricter verification tooling in 2026. Typically days.
DiscoveryIn-IDE plugin browser with search, staff picks and categories; paid plugins visibly labeled. Smaller catalog than VS Code means niche plugins rank more easily.
Indie proofNo named indie earnings found.
Angles for us- Paid framework-specific productivity plugins for JetBrains users (Rails, Laravel, Spring, Unreal/Rider) where buyers already pay for IDEs
- AI-agent integration plugins (Claude Code/MCP bridges) for IntelliJ users underserved vs VS Code
- Enterprise compliance/code-quality checks sold per seat through JetBrains' billing
CompetitionModerate: far fewer paid plugins than VS Code extensions; JetBrains AI Assistant/Junie and Copilot cover generic AI coding.
Platform riskMedium: JetBrains bundles AI Assistant and Junie and occasionally absorbs popular plugin features, but it explicitly promotes third-party paid plugins as an ecosystem.
Sources: 1 2 3
▲ buyers who pay, big audience, billing handled, low fees▼ hard to ship or get found, host likely to clone you
Excellent 95% rails and B2B buyers, but the 100-install + verified-org gate and GitHub's habit of building or buying winners make it a channel for a dev-tool SaaS rather than a discovery engine.
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Users of the host180M+ developers on GitHub (Octoverse 2025, Oct 2025)
BillingYes for paid GitHub/OAuth apps: GitHub bills customers on their GitHub payment method; app must handle purchase webhooks and offer monthly and annual plans.
Fees in detailDevelopers keep 95% (GitHub cut fee from 25% to 5%, Feb 2021).
Getting listedPaid listing requires the app be owned by a verified-publisher organization and have 100+ installs (GitHub Apps) or 200+ users (OAuth apps), then listing verification by GitHub.
DiscoveryMarketplace search and categories; weak traffic vs organic GitHub/README discovery; Actions dominate listings.
Indie proof- Pull Reminders Just under $4,000/month within ~4 months of launch on GitHub Marketplace + Slack (Indie Hackers interview, undated ~2018); later acquired
- Dependabot Grew to ~$14k MRR before acquisition by GitHub (podcast, Grey Baker)
Angles for us- Repo-hygiene bots for niche stacks (changelog/release notes, license/compliance, migration PRs like Laravel Shift)
- Governance for AI-agent PRs (policy checks, audit trails for Copilot/Claude-generated changes)
- Engineering-manager metrics apps for small teams priced below enterprise tools
CompetitionAI code review bots crowded (CodeRabbit, Copilot code review, Greptile etc.); niche workflow apps less so.
Platform riskHigh: GitHub keeps shipping native Copilot features (code review, agent, Dependabot was itself an acquired indie app).
Sources: 1 2 3 4
▲ big audience, easy to ship and get found, billing handled, low fees▼ little indie proof
The best rails on this list: it's free to list and you keep 100% if you use your own billing. A solid secondary channel for desktop utilities, but discovery is weak and there's little documented indie revenue.
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Users of the host250M+ Microsoft Store MAU (Microsoft, Sep 2025)
BillingOptional. Use Store commerce, or your own payment system and keep 100%
Fees in detail0% if you use your own commerce for apps; Store commerce for apps 15% (widely reported since 2021); games 12%
Getting listedFree registration for individuals and companies (since Sep 2025); certification typically fast; Win32/MSIX/PWA all accepted; own update mechanism allowed
DiscoveryStore search plus Windows Search integration; Intune deployment for managed PCs; ranking is weak for small apps
Angles for us- Windows ports of popular Mac-only menubar/productivity utilities
- Local-AI desktop tools (offline transcription, file renaming) using NPU on Copilot+ PCs
- Business utilities distributed via Intune for SMB IT admins
CompetitionModerate; many low-quality apps, fewer polished indie utilities than on macOS
Platform riskMedium-high: Windows/Copilot and PowerToys keep adding utilities (e.g. AI features in Photos/Paint/Snipping Tool)
Sources: 1 2 3 4
▲ buyers who pay, easy to ship and get found, billing handled, low fees▼ host likely to clone you
Huge SMB base, built-in billing, quick review, and few third-party rivals make Zoho an under-rated option. Zoho's own apps dominate installs, so pick gaps Zoho isn't building.
Toned down from the researcher's scores: the 150M figure counts users across all Zoho products, and the leading indie publishers there are 10-person teams.
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Users of the host150M+ users, 1M+ paying customers (Zoho, Feb 2026)
Listings2,000+ extensions across 29 Zoho products (Zoho, 2023)
BillingYes. Zoho collects payment via the Zoho Payment gateway and pays developers monthly once sales pass $100
Fees in detailNot stated in the FAQ (null)
Getting listedReview takes about 2 business days (Zoho FAQ)
DiscoveryIn-product marketplace per Zoho app plus featured home or product slots; 1M installs total by 2023, ~30K/month
Indie proof- Ulgebra 27 apps, most paid-app installs among independent developers; 9 employees (ProSaaS review, undated)
- OApps 30+ extensions listed with a team of 10 (Zoho, 2023)
Angles for us- WhatsApp or SMS messaging extensions for Zoho CRM and Desk (Ulgebra's niche shows demand)
- AI document or quote generation for Zoho CRM
- Local tax or e-invoicing connectors for Zoho Books in emerging markets
CompetitionLow from third parties. ~97% of installs go to Zoho's own extensions (ProSaaS analysis)
Platform riskZoho builds a lot in-house (55+ apps plus Zia AI) and owns most installs, so it is moderate to high
Sources: 1 2 3 4
▲ easy to ship and get found, proven indie wins▼ small audience
Strong indie proof for templates (one portfolio at ~$30k/mo) and 100% revenue kept. Best for a design-capable builder; plugins can be shipped the same day.
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Users of the host~500,000 users (Series D coverage, Aug 2025)
BillingFramer sells paid templates in the Marketplace. For plugins, the paid feature handling isn't documented (likely your own billing)
Fees in detailCreators keep 100% of paid template sales and 100% of plugin revenue, plus a referral commission on site-plan upgrades from template remixes (rate not stated)
Getting listedPlugins publish immediately with no review (Framer help). Templates are submitted for review; manual Creator Program applications are reviewed within a few days
DiscoveryMarketplace categories plus in-editor plugin browser; creator dashboard tracks clicks and earnings (Mar 2025)
Angles for us- Paid plugins that fill workflow gaps: SEO audit, localization, CMS import or sync from Notion or Airtable
- Vertical templates for SaaS or AI startups with built-in referral upside
CompetitionTemplate market is busy with designers; the plugin market is younger
Platform riskFramer keeps adding native AI site generation and CMS features, which can replace simple plugins and templates
Sources: 1 2 3 4 5
▲ big audience, proven indie wins, host unlikely to clone you▼ crowded, no billing or high fees
Huge, low-platform-risk distribution via free in-admin listings, but you must bring your own billing and convert free users, and 2026 review queues are long; good for freemium plugins in specific WooCommerce niches.
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Users of the hostWordPress runs 59.8% of CMS-based sites (W3Techs, undated via Barn2); WooCommerce on ~4.23M sites (Store Leads) to ~6.77M (BuiltWith), 7M+ active plugin installs (Barn2, Apr 2026)
ListingsWordPress.org: ~60,000 plugins (estimate implied by Make WordPress Plugins team, Jun 2026). WooCommerce Marketplace: ~751 extensions (Mar 2022, Freemius) - curated
BillingWordPress.org: none - free plugins only; monetize via freemium upsell with your own billing (Freemius, Lemon Squeezy, Stripe, etc.). WooCommerce Marketplace: Woo handles billing and taxes, monthly payouts ($100 minimum)
Fees in detailWordPress.org: 0% (you pay your own payment/billing-platform fees, e.g. Freemius). WooCommerce Marketplace: developer keeps 70% of net revenue, Woo 30% (Freemius, Mar 2022)
Getting listedWordPress.org: free manual review; queue exploded in 2026 - ~700 submissions/week in May 2026 (2.7x May 2025), queue peaked ~1,050 (Apr 2026), and 4,715 plugins new/pending at Aug 31, 2026 with 3,854 older than 7 days (most waiting on author fixes). WooCommerce Marketplace: selective partner application; some plugins rejected without review (Freemius, 2022)
DiscoveryWordPress.org search is visible inside every WP admin (Plugins > Add New); ranking driven by active installs, ratings, update recency and keyword match. SEOPress founder called the in-admin listing 'a crucial factor' for sustainability
Indie proof- PowerPack for Beaver Builder (freemium on WordPress.org) ~$20K/month; Pro $49-$69/yr (Indie Hackers interview, undated)
- SEOPress (solo, part-time founder Benjamin Denis) 10,000+ active installs within ~13 months, $39/yr Pro; revenue not disclosed (Freemius, Jul 2018)
- Linkerflow (internal linking; listed on WordPress, Wix, Webflow) ~$945 MRR, 22 subscriptions, $16.8K all-time (TrustMRR, updated Nov 9, 2026)
Angles for us- AI-assisted WooCommerce ops tools for one store type (e.g., B2B pricing, subscription box ops) sold freemium with Pro upsell
- Compliance plugins for new regulations (EU accessibility act, e-invoicing mandates) where site owners must act by a deadline
- AI-search/LLM visibility tooling (llms.txt, structured data for AI answers) as a lightweight freemium plugin (inference)
CompetitionVery high: ~60k plugins and record submission volume in 2026 (likely AI-assisted, but the team does not state the cause); established freemium incumbents in SEO, forms, caching, page builders
Platform riskLow-moderate: WordPress core rarely clones plugin categories, but Automattic/WooCommerce does ship 'Developed by Woo' extensions, and governance disputes (Automattic vs WP Engine, 2024) have shown platform-control risk
Sources: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
▲ big audience, easy to ship and get found, proven indie wins▼ crowded, no billing or high fees, host likely to clone you
It has the largest audience and the cheapest place to ship, with many indie wins, but store discovery is poor and the field is saturated. It works when the extension rides a specific host site's power users and you bring your own distribution. Avoid generic AI helpers that Gemini in Chrome now does natively.
Audience
Intent
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Users of the hostChrome runs on ~3.5B devices, ~65% global browser share (PYMNTS citing StatCounter, Apr 2026)
Listings~178K active extensions (Exstats, Mar 2026) or ~343K live (profitable.app, Oct 2026), depending on counting method; median ~10 users; 8.1% reach 1K+ users, 0.5% reach 100K+, <300 pass 1M (profitable.app, Oct 2026)
BillingNone. Chrome Web Store Payments were deprecated in 2020-2021, so you bring your own Stripe/ExtensionPay/Paddle/Lemon Squeezy
Fees in detail0% to Google (one-time $5 developer registration); payment processor fees only
Getting listedAutomated plus manual review, usually quick. Broad host permissions or remote code trigger longer reviews. Manifest V3 is required.
DiscoveryStore search is weak and dominated by install counts; Featured badges help. Most indie winners get traffic from SEO, Reddit/X, or by piggybacking a host site (ChatGPT, Poshmark, Gmail).
Angles for us- Power-user tools for one specific high-traffic SaaS/marketplace that sellers live in (Poshmark/Etsy/Amazon Seller Central/LinkedIn Sales Nav), the Closet Tools pattern
- Organisation/productivity layers on top of AI chat apps (folders, prompt libraries, export) that the AI vendors are slow to build
- B2B workflow extensions that bridge a web app into a CRM/ATS where the user already works (Gmail/LinkedIn → niche CRM)
CompetitionVery high: hundreds of thousands of listings and a flood of AI/vibe-coded extensions. Half have almost no users.
Platform riskRising. Gemini in Chrome (Sept 2025 onward; agentic browsing Jan 2026; 'Skills' saved prompts on any page, Apr 2026) replicates generic AI summarise/rewrite/side-panel extensions. Extensions bolted onto third-party sites also risk the host site changing or cloning the feature.
Sources: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
▲ buyers who pay, big audience, proven indie wins▼ no billing or high fees, host likely to clone you
Proven indie bot businesses exist, but Slack offers no billing and its AI push plus API restrictions raise platform risk. It suits narrow workflow bots better than general AI assistants.
Audience
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Users of the hostAbout 47.2M daily active users in 2025 (Statista estimate via DemandSage); 200,000+ paying organizations (2023)
Listings2,600+ apps and integrations, including about 350 AI-enabled apps (Salesforce, Feb 2026; Slack newsletter, Jun 2026)
BillingNo. Developers bill on their own platform; Abot used Paddle, for example.
Fees in detailNone (no marketplace billing)
Getting listedManual Marketplace review covering security, scopes, multi-workspace support and support readiness. Since May 2025, commercially distributed apps that aren't listed are limited to 1 request per minute on conversations.history and conversations.replies, which in practice pushes commercial apps into a Marketplace listing.
DiscoveryMarketplace categories and search inside Slack. Indie founders report that most early traction came from external channels such as Hacker News; KarmaBot gets most of its traffic from the Slack and Teams marketplaces.
Angles for us- Vertical workflow bots, such as on-call handoffs for small clinics or shift swaps for retail teams
- Lightweight compliance or retention tools such as message-expiry policies or export for regulated SMBs
- Slack-to-system micro-integrations for tools without official apps
CompetitionModerate. Classic bot niches (standups, polls, kudos, anonymous feedback) are crowded, and AI agents are a growing share of new listings.
Platform riskHigh for AI apps. Slack is expanding Slackbot into an enterprise AI assistant, Salesforce is pushing Agentforce, and the 2025 API terms tightened data access for third-party AI tools.
Sources: 1 2 3 4 5 6
▲ buyers who pay, little competition▼ small audience, no billing or high fees
Small but paying SMB sales audience with low competition and proven indie wins like Pipechat at €7k MRR. Bring your own billing and expect a slow review.
Audience
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Users of the host100,000+ companies (Pipedrive, Dec 2023)
Listings400+ integrations (Dec 2023)
BillingNo built-in billing found. Listings must link to your own pricing page, so you bring your own Stripe
Fees in detailNone found (commercial terms are in the Developer Partner Agreement)
Getting listedFull manual test of the app; OAuth 2.0 required; demo video, test accounts, ToS and privacy policy; up to 21 business days. Approved apps are unlisted until you publish
DiscoveryMarketplace categories and search; 134,000+ users installed at least one app in Jan-Nov 2023
Angles for us- Messaging-channel connectors (WhatsApp, Telegram, SMS) for SMB sales teams
- AI call or meeting note summaries pushed into deals
- Region-specific invoicing or e-signature sync
CompetitionModerate; ~400 apps is small compared with HubSpot or Salesforce
Platform riskPipedrive adds native AI and messaging features over time; mid-sized platform risk
Sources: 1 2 3 4
▲ buyers who pay, big audience, little competition▼ hard to ship or get found, little indie proof, host likely to clone you
It's a viable B2B channel with less indie competition and 3% billing. Admin-gated installs, heavy enterprise expectations and Microsoft's native-feature cadence make it slow for a solo builder. It's best as a port of something already working on Slack.
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Users of the host320M+ monthly active users (Microsoft, reported Dec 2023 via Windows Central; no newer official figure found)
Listings2,000+ apps (Microsoft, 2023, via Neowin); now also an Agent catalog for Copilot agents
BillingOptional. Link a transactable SaaS offer in Partner Center (subscriptions, free trials, in-app purchases, Microsoft license management) or bill yourself
Fees in detail3% on transactable SaaS offers (Microsoft commercial marketplace fee); 0% if self-billed
Getting listedTeams store validation via Partner Center, plus SaaS offer certification if transactable. Publisher attestation/Microsoft 365 Certification is often expected by enterprise admins. No review-time figure found.
DiscoveryIn-Teams app store with categories and ratings/reviews (added 2022). Admins gate installs in most enterprises, so bottom-up adoption is harder than on Slack.
Angles for us- Port a proven Slack micro-app pattern (kudos/karma, standups, polls) to Teams, where indie copies are fewer
- Teams bots for frontline/regulated workflows (shift handover, compliance check-ins) that Microsoft leaves to partners
- Lightweight Copilot agent or message extension that wraps a niche SaaS API for one industry
CompetitionModerate: ~2K apps, mostly larger vendors porting their Slack apps. Few indies.
Platform riskHigh. Microsoft ships native features aggressively (Loop, Copilot meeting recap, Planner, Approvals), and Copilot agents now sit in the same store.
Sources: 1 2 3 4 5 6
▲ buyers who pay, billing handled, low fees▼ little indie proof, host likely to clone you
Business buyers, built-in Stripe billing and per-agent pricing make it viable for niche support utilities. Avoid AI agents that compete with Zendesk's own products.
Audience
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Users of the host80,000+ companies (Zendesk site); 58% of customers have installed at least one Marketplace app (2025-26)
Listings1,500+ apps (1,800+ including partners and integrations) (Zendesk blog, 2025-26)
BillingYes. Paid apps are billed through Stripe Connect via Zendesk's Stripe app, as one-time or monthly charges per account or per agent, with trials of 1-90 days. Stripe Tax has been automatic since Dec 2025.
Getting listedMarketplace submission review. Stricter security requirements arrived in 2026 (Global OAuth, data disclosure); about 700 apps are fully compliant, and 50+ complete review each week (Apr 2026).
DiscoveryIn-admin Marketplace with search and categories; installs are tied to 75% of Zendesk ARR.
Indie proofNo named indie earnings found.
Angles for us- Industry-specific sidebar apps that pull order, booking or account data from niche systems
- QA and ticket analytics for small support teams that find Zendesk QA too expensive
- Macro and help-center content hygiene tools
CompetitionModerate. AI agent and copilot categories are crowded, and Zendesk sells its own AI agents.
Platform riskHigh for AI apps, since Zendesk's own AI agents and Copilot are core paid add-ons. Lower for niche workflow and integration apps.
Sources: 1 2 3 4
▲ buyers who pay, little competition, billing handled, low fees, host unlikely to clone you▼ small audience, hard to ship or get found, little indie proof
Good as a supplemental, stable income for a polished Mac app, but curated entry and per-user split make it a secondary channel, not a launchpad.
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Listings~240+ curated Mac/iOS apps (estimate; 61 at launch Jan 2017)
BillingYes: subscription bundle ($9.99/mo base); Setapp bills users and pays developers monthly by usage.
Fees in detail70% of each user's fee goes to developers of apps that user opened, split by price-tier multiplier (not by usage time); +20% partner share if you referred the user.
Getting listedCurated: application and quality review; Setapp chooses which apps it accepts; must integrate Setapp framework.
DiscoveryEditorial curation, collections, in-app search; small catalog means each app gets visibility.
Angles for us- Mac utility filling a gap in Setapp's catalog (AI-powered file/automation helpers)
- Apps for Setapp's prosumer base: menu-bar productivity, local AI tools
- Add an existing indie Mac app as a second revenue stream
CompetitionLow in count (curated), but categories often already filled (one app per niche).
Platform riskLow from Setapp itself; macOS/Apple native features (e.g. clipboard, window mgmt in macOS) are the risk.
Sources: 1 2 3
▲ easy to ship and get found, billing handled, low fees, host unlikely to clone you▼ users who rarely pay, crowded, little indie proof
A checkout and MoR layer more than a discovery engine; the 30% Discover fee is steep and buyers lean consumer or creator. Use it for licenses and one-offs, not as a growth channel.
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Listings146,271 products tracked (InsightRaider snapshot, Oct 2026)
BillingYes. Gumroad is merchant of record since Jan 1, 2025 and handles tax/VAT; supports one-time and memberships
Fees in detailDirect sales 10% + $0.50 (5% + $0.50 above $20k/mo); Discover-sourced sales flat 30% (Dodo Payments, 2026)
Getting listedNo app review; anyone can list
DiscoveryDiscover search and category browse; 30% fee applies only to new Discover customers
Indie proofNo named indie earnings found.
Angles for us- Selling licenses for desktop utilities, scripts or Notion/Sheets tools with MoR tax handling
- Bundles of templates plus a small companion app
CompetitionVery crowded with templates, courses and prompts; the Software Development category is the top-revenue category (~$65.8M modeled revenue, 1,083 products, InsightRaider estimate)
Platform riskLow cloning risk. Risk is fee changes and low marketplace traffic quality
Sources: 1 2
▲ big audience, easy to ship and get found, billing handled, low fees▼ users who rarely pay, crowded
Good rails at 15% and viral distribution, but consumer/gamer audience has low willingness to pay; best for bots serving monetized communities.
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Users of the host200M+ MAU (reported in IPO coverage, Jan 2026)
BillingYes: native Premium Apps SKUs - user or guild subscriptions, durable and consumable one-time purchases; storefront in App Directory.
Fees in detailDiscord takes 15% on the first $1M of app revenue (net of taxes/processing), previously 30% (from June 6, 2024).
Getting listedMonetization requires enabling via developer portal and meeting Premium Apps support requirements; initially available in US, UK, EU.
DiscoveryApp Directory search/categories plus word-of-mouth between servers; virality via server invites.
Angles for us- Guild-subscription utility bots for paid communities (trading, coaching, cohorts)
- AI moderation/summaries for large servers
- Activities (embedded games) with one-time purchases
CompetitionMature bot space (MEE6, Dyno etc.); gaming/community bots crowded.
Platform riskMedium: Discord adds native AutoMod, onboarding, server subscriptions, activities.
Sources: 1 2 3 4 5
▲ buyers who pay, host unlikely to clone you▼ crowded, no billing or high fees
One-time cash and feedback, but heavy cuts, refunds and lifetime support; use only as a validation launch, not a revenue channel.
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Users of the host~1.5M entrepreneurs / email list; ~1M monthly site visits (ppc.land, Feb 2026)
Listings2,000+ products (Oct 2021)
BillingYes: AppSumo sells lifetime-deal codes and pays out after refund window.
Fees in detailAppSumo keeps ~65-80% (founder report ~70%, Dec 2024); 60-day refund window.
Getting listedApplication and negotiation; Select program exclusive; weeks.
DiscoveryEmail blasts and site featuring drive a launch spike.
Angles for us- Launch spike for a new B2B micro-SaaS to gather users and feedback
- Feature-limited LTD tier to avoid cost blowups
- AI tools for SMB marketers
CompetitionMany AI LTDs; AppSumo revenue fell 50% over 2024-2025 (Noah Kagan, Feb 2026).
Platform riskN/A for cloning; risk is lifetime support burden and declining platform.
Sources: 1 2
▲ buyers who pay▼ hard to ship or get found, no billing or high fees
The highest-budget buyers of any marketplace, but the security-review cost, packaging work and sales-led motion make it a poor first target for a solo micro-SaaS builder. It fits better as a second channel once the product already has traction.
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Users of the host150,000+ Salesforce customers (Salesforce's own claim, undated, via ExpandedRamblings); 91% of customers use at least one AppExchange app (Salesforce, Feb 2026)
Listings6,233 apps from 3,668 developers (Dec 2025, up from 5,661 in Dec 2024); Salesforce cites 9,000+ apps and expert listings and 14M+ installs (Feb 2026)
BillingOptional AppExchange Checkout exists, but most ISVs invoice customers directly; Salesforce takes a revenue share on paid-app sales either way
Fees in detailISVforce: 15% of sales, falling to 10% above a threshold for new businesses; OEM Embedded: 25% (15% above $20M) (Magicfuse, updated Jul 2026)
Getting listedMandatory security review for paid apps: $2,700 in the first year, then $300 a year (free apps exempt) (Magicfuse 2025/26). The review is known to be strict and multi-week. You must join the partner program and package the app as a managed package.
DiscoverySearch plus categories and reviews. Reviews are thin: 50.65% of apps have zero reviews (Dec 2025). Most sales come through the Salesforce admin and consultant ecosystem and outbound selling, not organic browsing.
Angles for us- Narrow admin utilities such as field-usage audits, permission-set cleanup or flow documentation, priced per org
- Vertical add-ons for small Salesforce orgs in niches like nonprofits, real estate or recruiting
- Lightweight AI summarization or data-hygiene components that sit beside Agentforce rather than competing with it
CompetitionModerate. 6.2k apps for a large enterprise base, and 75.5% of developers have only one app. Agentforce and AgentExchange (646+ agentic assets, Feb 2026) add an AI-agent layer where Salesforce is competing directly.
Platform riskSalesforce keeps bundling AI (Agentforce) and acquiring vendors. Simple data-enrichment or productivity utilities are exposed to that; deep vertical workflows are less exposed.
Sources: 1 2 3 4 5
▲ big audience, easy to ship and get found, host unlikely to clone you▼ users who rarely pay, little indie proof
Massive reach and frictionless micropayments, but low-value consumer audience and crypto payouts; little evidence of indie SaaS income.
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Users of the host1B+ MAU (Pavel Durov, March 2025)
ListingsMini apps: 100M+ MAU for Web3 mini apps (Sept 2026); count of apps not found
BillingYes: Telegram Stars required for digital goods; in-app checkout; Stars withdrawable to TON via Fragment after 21-day hold.
Fees in detailNet ~70% to developer after store/Telegram fees (estimate; ~$0.014 net per 1-Star at ~$0.02/Star)
Getting listedLightweight: create bot via BotFather; no store review; optional listing in Mini App store/catalogs.
DiscoveryMini App store, bot search, referral/affiliate programs (15-25% commissions), channel promotion; dominated by tap-to-earn games and crypto.
Angles for us- Micropayment AI utilities in chat (transcription, translation, image tools) for emerging markets
- Tools for Telegram channel/community admins (analytics, paid content)
- Small-business booking/ordering mini apps in Telegram-heavy regions
CompetitionCrowded with games/crypto; business productivity tools sparse.
Platform riskLow-medium from cloning; risk is regulatory/crypto volatility and payout via TON.
Sources: 1 2 3 4 5
▲ buyers who pay▼ no billing or high fees, host likely to clone you
Pro video and design plugins have real paying users (PxlSafe makes about $4K MRR), but you handle your own billing and Adobe's AI features are a constant threat. It's worth it if you know creative workflows.
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Users of the host90M+ Creative Freemium MAU led by Express (2026); 850M+ combined Acrobat and Express MAU (Adobe filings via fueler)
Listingsnull (no add-on count found)
BillingNo. Paid upgrades must use an external processor, and the add-on must tell users 'You'll need to pay to upgrade outside of Adobe'
Fees in detail0% (bring your own Stripe/PayPal/LemonSqueezy)
Getting listedAdobe review against listing and monetization guidelines; Adobe runs developer funding programs for priority categories
DiscoveryExpress add-ons panel with trending/featured lists; Adobe Exchange for Photoshop/Premiere (UXP/CEP) plugins
Angles for us- Premiere/After Effects automation extensions for editors (proven by PxlSafe)
- Express add-ons that bring in data (spreadsheets, CMS, product feeds) for bulk social graphics
- Brand compliance / approval add-ons for SMB marketing teams
CompetitionModerate; Express add-on ecosystem is young, and Premiere/AE extension niche has established sellers
Platform riskHigh: Adobe ships Firefly/AI features natively across Express and CC
Sources: 1 2 3 4
▲ buyers who pay, big audience▼ hard to ship or get found, little indie proof, no billing or high fees, host likely to clone you
High-intent SMB/accountant buyers, but no built-in billing, annual third-party security reviews, and new API fees on data-out make it costly for a solo dev; only for write-centric niche integrations.
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Users of the host~100M Intuit customers across all products (Intuit FY2025 results, Aug 21, 2025); QuickBooks Online-specific subscriber count not found. Online Ecosystem revenue $8.3B FY2025
Listings~750+ apps (estimate, OYN research report, Feb 2026)
BillingNot documented on listing pages; developers bill customers themselves (no marketplace billing found)
Fees in detailNo revenue share found, but Intuit App Partner Program (Jul 28, 2025) charges for API usage: Builder $0 (500k CorePlus data-out calls/mo, then blocked), Silver $300/mo, Gold $1,700/mo, Platinum $4,500/mo; data-in (Core) calls free; full variable fees from Nov 1, 2025
Getting listedThree-part review (technical, security, marketing) plus ~40-minute security questionnaire for production access; annual security review by Intuit's external vendor for listed apps or apps >500 connections, medium+ findings fixed within 2 weeks or removal. First-review duration not stated
DiscoveryQuickBooks App Store plus the in-product Apps tab (US, UK, CA, IN, AU); accountants using QuickBooks Online Accountant can recommend apps to clients when Intuit SSO is implemented
Angles for us- Write-heavy (data-in) integrations, which stay free on the Builder tier: e.g., niche marketplace/POS -> QuickBooks sync
- Accountant-facing tools distributed via QuickBooks Online Accountant recommendations (practice QA, client document chasing)
- Vertical bookkeeping helpers (e.g., short-term rental, creators) that Intuit's generic AI agents won't specialize in
CompetitionModerate: established players (Dext, Fathom, Float, etc.); Intuit pushing its own AI agents into QuickBooks
Platform riskHigh: Intuit is building AI agents (bookkeeping, payments, finance) into QuickBooks and metering read API access, raising costs for data-out apps
Sources: 1 2 3 4 5 6
▲ little competition, easy to ship and get found▼ little indie proof, no billing or high fees
It's not a standalone opportunity: no indie revenue cases were found and there's no built-in billing. Cross-publishing a Chrome extension here is nearly free and reaches corporate Windows users with less competition.
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Users of the host~286M Edge users (May 2023, via MSPowerUser; no newer official count found); ~10.75% desktop share (Jul 2023)
Listings~28,741 active extensions, +21.6% YoY (Exstats via Konabayev, Mar 2026). 5.65% have >10K users vs 2.63% on Chrome
BillingNone in store; bring your own billing (same Chromium extension, so ExtensionPay/Stripe work)
Fees in detail0%; free developer registration via Partner Center
Getting listedManual and automated review. Reviews slowed under a surge of AI/'vibe-coded' submissions, and Microsoft added automated checks to speed them up (Feb 2025 expedited process; Sept 2026 update). No official time figure.
DiscoverySmaller store with less noise. Featured badges are evaluated on 60+ quality signals and refreshed every 15 days (Sept 2026). Edge also installs from the Chrome Web Store, which splits traffic.
Indie proofNo named indie earnings found.
Angles for us- Cross-publish any Chrome extension (near-zero extra work) to pick up enterprise Windows users with Edge as the managed default
- Enterprise-flavoured extensions (Dynamics/SharePoint/Outlook-web helpers) for corporate Edge fleets
- Chase Featured badges on quality signals while the store is still less crowded
CompetitionLow-moderate: ~29K listings vs ~178K+ on Chrome, and a higher share of extensions get meaningful users
Platform riskMedium. Copilot is built into Edge (Copilot Mode launched Jul 2025), so generic AI side-panel extensions compete with it.
Sources: 1 2 3 4 5
▲ buyers who pay, little competition, easy to ship and get found▼ small audience, little indie proof, no billing or high fees, host likely to clone you
Professional designers/agencies with budgets and a fast (~10 business days) review, but a small base and no built-in billing; good for a focused designer/agency tool, not a mass-market play.
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Users of the host~300,000 customers and 1,300+ Certified Partners (Webflow press release, Oct 15, 2024)
Listings100+ at launch (Fall 2023); 300+ apps (Webflow update, date ~2024-2025)
BillingNo marketplace billing found in docs: guidelines only require transparent pricing; developers bill users themselves (e.g., Stripe)
Fees in detailnull for apps (none documented). Templates: creators get 80%
Getting listedManual review of safety/legal, technical performance, design/usability and branding; Webflow 'aims to send a decision within 10 business days'; review stops at first blocking issue
DiscoveryApps marketplace with categories; apps install directly into sites and appear in the Designer. Partner directory described as 'oversaturated'. Webflow publishes launch-strategy guidance for apps
Angles for us- CMS power tools for content-heavy Webflow sites (bulk edits, internal linking, localization QA)
- Agency tooling: client handoff, audits, accessibility checks inside the Designer
- Interactive components (calculators, membership/community features) that Webflow lacks natively
CompetitionLow-moderate: hundreds of apps, dominated by integrations from larger SaaS vendors
Platform riskModerate-high: Webflow is shipping native AI Optimize (A/B testing, personalization), Analyze, AI Assistant and acquired GSAP - categories that third-party apps occupied
Sources: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
▲ buyers who pay, big audience, little competition▼ hard to ship or get found, little indie proof, no billing or high fees, host likely to clone you
Businesses with money and few apps, but no billing rails, weak discovery and the highest clone risk in this group; no indie revenue proof from the Marketplace itself found.
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Users of the host5M+ businesses on Stripe directly or via platforms; $1.9T total volume in 2025 (Stripe annual letter, Feb 24, 2026)
Listings125 apps (Mar 11, 2024; launched with 50 in May 2022). Newer count null
BillingNo: Stripe states 'we don't support charging for your Stripe app from within Stripe directly'; developers run their own billing (typically Stripe Checkout) and link accounts
Fees in detailNone found (bring-your-own Stripe billing at normal Stripe fees)
Getting listedReview/testing before listing: security, Stripe UI patterns, error handling, Dashboard performance; time null
DiscoveryCurated app collections in the Dashboard and Marketplace by company size and Stripe product; embedded app components for Connect platforms
Angles for us- Dashboard-embedded analytics for a niche (e.g., failed-payment recovery for one vertical) linked to own billing
- Stripe-to-accounting/tax bridges for regions Stripe Tax/Revenue Recognition doesn't cover well
- Ops tools for small Stripe Connect platforms (payout reconciliation)
CompetitionLow by count (~125+ apps), mostly larger SaaS (DocuSign, Mailchimp, Mercury)
Platform riskHigh: Stripe repeatedly ships native features (Payment Links, Checkout, Billing, Revenue Recognition, Sigma); Checkout Page founder said Stripe's launches made him doubt his product (2021)
Sources: 1 2 3 4 5
▲ buyers who pay▼ small audience, no billing or high fees
Proven indie revenue for data connectors, but the audience is smaller, there is no billing, and it is unclear whether Airtable is still investing in the marketplace. A secondary option.
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BillingNo. Developers charge off-platform and note that in the listing.
Fees in detailNone (no billing)
Getting listedExtensions built with the Blocks SDK go through a marketplace submission review. No fees or timelines were found.
DiscoveryExtensions are found from inside bases. Data Fetcher reported a few new users a day from an early marketplace listing (2022).
Angles for us- Vertical data connectors, such as e-commerce, ad platforms or a niche CRM into Airtable
- Interfaces and portals that expose Airtable data to clients
- Scheduled reports and PDF generation from bases
CompetitionLow to moderate. The catalog is small, and data-import categories have strong incumbents (Data Fetcher, miniExtensions).
Platform riskMedium to high. Airtable has pivoted heavily to AI (Cobuilder, AI fields), and its native AI can replace simple enrichment extensions.
Sources: 1 2 3
▲ buyers who pay, little competition▼ little indie proof, no billing or high fees
Business users and a reasonable review process, but no billing and no documented indie wins. A secondary distribution channel for a SaaS that already exists, not a launchpad.
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BillingNo. Asana's developer docs mention no billing support, so developers bring their own.
Getting listedSubmit for review from the developer console with a pre-flight checklist (icon, OAuth, privacy policy, support URL). Asana aims for a first response within a week; apps using app components get extra security and QA review.
DiscoveryThe App Gallery and directory, plus app components that appear inside tasks (widgets, actions, modal forms).
Indie proofNo named indie earnings found.
Angles for us- App-component widgets that show data from a niche system inside tasks
- Intake forms and request routing for specific teams such as legal or marketing ops
- Reporting and exports for portfolios that are hard to build natively
CompetitionLow to moderate. The gallery is dominated by official integrations from large SaaS vendors.
Platform riskMedium. Asana's AI Studio and AI teammates overlap with automation add-ons.
Sources: 1 2
▲ big audience, easy to ship and get found▼ crowded, little indie proof, no billing or high fees, host likely to clone you
Huge free distribution but no billing and fierce Copilot/AI-agent platform risk; use it as a top-of-funnel for a paid SaaS, not as a store. Small AI-agent companion tools show it works only at hobby-income scale.
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Users of the host50M+ monthly active developers across Visual Studio + VS Code combined (Microsoft, May 2025)
Listings100,000+ VS Code extensions (Microsoft milestone coverage, May 2025)
BillingNo native billing: no Buy button and no API to check payment (dodopayments guide). Manifest only supports a 'Trial'/'Free' pricing label. Sellers ship free and gate Pro features with license keys sold via Stripe/Lemon Squeezy/Polar/Dodo.
Fees in detail0% to Microsoft (no rails); you pay your own processor/MoR fees (~3-8%). A third-party guide's claim of a 5% Microsoft cut is unverified and conflicts with other sources.
Getting listedSelf-serve publish via vsce with automated scanning; no paid security review; minutes to hours.
DiscoveryIn-editor search sorted by installs/ratings; heavily skewed to incumbents; little featuring. Most paid conversions depend on external marketing.
Angles for us- Companion tools for AI coding agents (session history, diff review, cost/token tracking for Claude Code/Codex) billed via Polar/Stripe license keys
- Niche framework/DSL tooling (e.g. infra-as-code, SQL dialects, regulated-industry linters) where Copilot is weak
- Team-oriented paid features (shared snippets, compliance checks) sold per seat outside the marketplace
CompetitionVery saturated (100k+ extensions); AI coding category dominated by Copilot, Cursor/Windsurf forks, Claude Code, Codex extensions.
Platform riskHigh: Microsoft/GitHub Copilot keeps absorbing features (chat, agent mode, code review, commit messages); AI-native forks (Cursor etc.) use Open VSX, fragmenting reach.
Sources: 1 2 3 4
▲ buyers who pay, little competition▼ little indie proof, no billing or high fees
One of the few automation platforms where a third party can charge for a connector, but you bring your own billing and discovery is weak. Good as a niche side channel, not a main business.
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Users of the host~500,000 customers (make.com About page, accessed Nov 2026)
Listings3,000-3,500+ apps (make.com About); 1,800+ per AutomationAtlas (Mar 2026)
BillingNo billing mechanism. For community apps, partners must build their own charging system
Fees in detailPartners keep 100%; Make takes no cut 'at this time'
Getting listedCommunity apps need a signed Make partner agreement and must connect a real third-party service not already in Make or on Make's roadmap. Business review only, 2-3 business days. Public verified apps go through a multi-stage app review
DiscoveryIntegrations directory search; community apps are invite-only installs inside the partner's org, so discovery is weak
Indie proofNo named indie earnings found.
Angles for us- Paid community connectors ($1-$10/mo, Make's suggested SMB price) for niche regional APIs Make lacks, e.g. local accounting or e-invoicing
- Enterprise connectors ($50-$500/mo suggested) for vertical systems
CompetitionLower than Zapier; multiple partners may publish apps for the same service
Platform riskMake excludes services it plans to build, and its HTTP/webhook module lets users connect any API without your app
Sources: 1 2 3 4
▲ easy to ship and get found, host unlikely to clone you▼ crowded, no billing or high fees
Useful one-day boost and backlinks, with modest revenue even at a top-3 rank. Use it as a complement to a marketplace, never as the channel.
Audience
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Listings2,345 launches in Q2 2026 (~26/day estimate) vs 1,508 in Q2 2025; ~47% tagged AI (Product Hunt, Q2 2026)
BillingNone; launch channel only
Fees in detailFree to launch
Getting listedAnyone can launch; featuring is curated (third-party guides say only ~10% get featured after 2025 algorithm changes, unverified)
DiscoveryDaily leaderboard, featured homepage, newsletter; spike lasts about one day
Indie proof- BuilderKit.ai #2 of the day, $3k revenue in 3 days, $6k total soon after (Jul 2024)
- IndieMerger #3 of the day, 1,305 visitors, 210 signups, $543 from 7 purchases (~2024-25)
Angles for us- Launch each marketplace add-on (Workspace, Chrome) on PH for backlinks and a first spike
- Developer-tool or boilerplate products, which convert PH's maker audience well
CompetitionVery high and rising; AI launches make up about half
Platform riskNot applicable (no cloning), but reach per launch is volatile
Sources: 1 2 3 4
▲ little competition, billing handled, low fees▼ hard to ship or get found, little indie proof
It's a secondary port: Apple's built-in billing and 15% fee help, and competition is thin. Packaging friction, weak discovery, and no hard revenue proof found make it a second store after an extension already works on Chrome.
Audience
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BillingYes. Apple handles billing via App Store (paid upfront, IAP, subscriptions); Safari extensions ship inside a native app wrapper
Fees in detail15% under the App Store Small Business Program (<$1M/yr proceeds; Apple, Nov 2020), else 30%; $99/yr Apple Developer Program
Getting listedFull App Store review. Needs Xcode, a Mac, and packaging a web extension inside a macOS/iOS app. Developers describe the tooling and docs as painful; China AI rules can block review there (rxliuli, Aug 2025).
DiscoveryPoor. Extensions are mixed into the App Store with a small Safari extensions editorial collection; indie Safari devs rely on sponsorships (e.g. StopTheMadness Pro sponsoring Six Colors/Pixel Envy).
Angles for us- Port a proven Chrome extension that has no Safari equivalent, and charge upfront (Mac users are used to paying)
- iOS Safari extensions (mobile web power tools), where very few alternatives exist
- Privacy/annoyance-fix utilities for Mac power users, the StopTheMadness/Wipr pattern
CompetitionLow. Many Chrome extensions never ported, so the Safari catalogue is thin (Six Colors, 2021)
Platform riskMedium. Apple adds native Safari features (content blocking, Reader, Distraction Control in Safari 18) that overlap with popular extensions.
Sources: 1 2 3 4 5
▲ big audience, billing handled, low fees▼ users who rarely pay, little indie proof, host likely to clone you
Decent rails (80/20, first year 100%) and a large but low-spend SMB/hobbyist base; little public indie revenue proof, so treat it as a secondary port of an app proven elsewhere.
Audience
Intent
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Users of the host300M+ users of the platform (Wix claim, 2026, via Style Factory); 265M (2025). Premium subscriber count not disclosed
Listings~1,980 apps and plugins (Wix app market page via Style Factory, undated): 700+ ecommerce, 490+ marketing, ~252 design
BillingYes, optional Wix billing: Wix collects, applies tax, handles chargebacks; monthly payouts once $200 minimum reached (paid ~2 months after the revenue month). External billing also possible
Fees in detailWix keeps 20%, developer 80%, calculated after a 2.5% transaction fee and sales tax; 100% to developer for first 12 months on the platform
Getting listedApp review via Wix Dev Center; no paid security audit found; review time null
DiscoveryIn-editor App Market with categories and search; Wix Studio agencies can recommend/install apps. Ranking quality data null
Angles for us- SEO/AI-search helpers for Wix SMB sites (internal linking, schema, AI-answer visibility) - Linkerflow-style
- Vertical booking/ops add-ons for service businesses where Wix Bookings is generic
- Wix Studio agency tools (client reporting, multi-site management)
CompetitionModerate: ~2k apps, fewer than Shopify; Wix itself publishes ~25 first-party apps in key categories
Platform riskModerate-high: Wix ships its own apps (Wix Stores, Bookings, Forms, AI site/content tools) in core categories
Sources: 1 2 3
▲ buyers who pay, big audience, host unlikely to clone you▼ crowded, little indie proof, no billing or high fees
Not a place to sell apps, since there is no billing and only API owners can publish. Treat it as a free distribution add-on for a micro-SaaS you already run.
Audience
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Proof
Users of the host3.4M+ businesses (Sacra, undated)
Listings~8,000-9,000 app integrations (Sacra undated; Zapier platform page says 9,000)
BillingNone. Zapier lists integrations for your own SaaS; you bill on your own (Stripe etc.)
Fees in detailNot applicable: no marketplace sales
Getting listedPublic listing only for the API owner or a contractor it hires (publishing reqs 3.1, 7.2); app must be fully launched, not beta; tests and a test account required; no review time stated
DiscoveryApp Directory search plus partner tiers (Bronze-Platinum); Silver+ gets a featured slot once a year and newsletter/blog spots; exiting Beta needs embed signups and active users (40 for early Silver, 300 for Gold, 2,500 for Platinum)
Indie proofNo named indie earnings found.
Angles for us- Build the Zapier integration for your own micro-SaaS early and embed it to exit beta fast
- Niche vertical SaaS (e.g. a regional invoicing or booking tool) whose main value is triggers and actions in Zapier
CompetitionVery large directory; an integration is a distribution channel for an existing SaaS, not a standalone product
Platform riskLow risk to an integration itself, but you can't sell standalone Zapier add-ons; Zapier's own AI agents and Tables/Interfaces sit on top of the same apps
Sources: 1 2 3 4
▲ easy to ship and get found, billing handled, low fees▼ small audience, crowded, little indie proof
Built-in billing, but the audience is small and developers report it is 'really hard to generate meaningful revenue'. Only worth it as a sideline for an existing Bubble expert.
Audience
Intent
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Ease
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Proof
Users of the host4.7M apps built on Bubble (Contrary Research, Aug 2025); user count not found
Listings6,500+ plugins and integrations (Contrary Research, Aug 2025)
BillingYes. Bubble sells plugins and templates (one-time or subscription) and pays out via Stripe Connect or PayPal
Fees in detailBubble keeps 25%, seller gets 75% (Marketplace Policies)
Getting listedModerated. Plugins need a public demo Bubble app showing every feature, with no console errors or exposed keys. Switching free to paid needs a new listing, and installs/reviews don't carry over
DiscoveryMarketplace search inside the Bubble editor; ratings reset on price changes
Angles for us- Paid AI API wrapper plugins with good maintenance (e.g. document parsing, PDF generation)
- Vertical templates (e.g. clinic booking, marketplace) sold at a premium
CompetitionCrowded with many dead or duplicate plugins; developers say markets are small (Bubble forum, 2025)
Platform riskBubble ships native features and AI; forum users worry about Bubble 'eating its ecosystem'. Bubble's revenue grew to $74.2M in 2024, so the platform is healthy
Sources: 1 2 3 4
▲ buyers who pay, little competition▼ small audience, little indie proof
Merchants have budgets and competition is thin, but only ~41k live stores; worth it only as a cheap port of a Shopify app, not a primary channel.
Audience
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Users of the host~41,221 live stores (Store Leads, Jul 2025); 130,000+ merchants historically (via Red Stag, 2025). Company rebranded as Commerce (commerce.com)
Listings1,234 listings from 888 ISV partners (appmarketplace.com, Oct 25, 2025)
BillingOptional 'Unified Billing' (Commerce invoices and collects from merchants, remits to partners); developers may still bill directly
Fees in detailConflicting: Shopifreaks (Mar 2025) reports BigCommerce takes no cut and no listing fee (sells sponsored placements); Commerce partner agreement (rev. Sep 1, 2025) references a general 20% revenue share on public apps under the legacy program and a $5,000/yr minimum for payments apps
Getting listedTechnology partner application + app review; time null
DiscoveryMarketplace categories plus paid sponsorships and 'preferred' placements
Indie proofNo named indie earnings found.
Angles for us- Port proven Shopify niche apps to BigCommerce where incumbents haven't bothered (B2B Edition helpers, quote tools)
- Mid-market B2B catalog/pricing utilities
- Feed/agentic-commerce catalog prep for BigCommerce stores
CompetitionLow-moderate: ~1,200 listings, but the store base is small and enterprise-skewed (many apps are integrations from larger ISVs)
Platform riskModerate: smaller, slower-moving platform; risk is more about platform decline/shrinking store count than cloning
Sources: 1 2 3 4
▲ buyers who pay, big audience, easy to ship and get found▼ crowded, little indie proof, no billing or high fees, host likely to clone you
Fast-growing business audience and easy listing, but no billing rails and very little proven indie revenue; worth a connector as a funnel for an existing paid product, not as the product itself.
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Users of the hostNo official Claude MAU; 300k+ business customers (Anthropic, Sept 2025); 43.5% of US businesses on Ramp paid Anthropic (Jul 2026)
Listings2,000+ connectors and plugins in Claude Marketplace (Sept 2026); 17,000+ indexed MCP servers ecosystem-wide (mid-2026 estimate)
BillingNo per-developer billing in Claude directory for indie connectors; enterprise 'Agents and products' category lets customers apply Anthropic committed spend to listed vendors (large partners). Indie MCP servers bring their own Stripe/Polar; only ~3-6% of MCP servers show pricing (estimate). Apify offers pay-per-call rails.
Fees in detailN/A for indies (bring your own Stripe); Apify/others take platform cuts.
Getting listedAnyone on a paid Claude plan can submit; automated scan then listed as 'Community'; 'Verified' tier tested by Anthropic; local MCPB servers must be packaged as plugins. Smithery/Glama are self-serve.
DiscoveryClaude directory search with Verified/Community tiers; Smithery/Glama listings; agents choose tools with weak quality signals.
Angles for us- Vertical data connectors (legal, finance, local government data) with paid underlying data
- Connectors for popular SMB SaaS with no official connector
- Claude plugins/skills bundles for specific business roles, sold via your own SaaS subscription
CompetitionVery crowded with free open-source servers; official vendor connectors (Notion, Linear, etc.) cover major SaaS.
Platform riskHigh: Anthropic adds native capabilities (skills, web, file tools) and vendors ship official connectors that displace third-party wrappers.
Sources: 1 2 3 4
▲ buyers who pay▼ hard to ship or get found, little indie proof, no billing or high fees, host likely to clone you
The buyers have money (30M paid seats), but admin gating, heavy enterprise procurement and no proven indie path make it hard for a solo builder today. Watch it, or ship a narrow connector-style agent as a wedge.
Audience
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Users of the host30M+ paid Microsoft 365 Copilot seats (Microsoft FY26 Q4, Jul 2026); ~400M M365 users (fourweekmba, 2026)
ListingsNo count published; Agent 365 has ~40M agents registered across tens of thousands of companies (Microsoft, Jul 2026), most of them internal
BillingNo consumer-style checkout found in the Agent Store. Agents are submitted via Partner Center; paid agents rely on your own licensing or Microsoft commercial marketplace offers. Agents using company data are metered via Copilot Studio credits ($200 per 25k credits/mo)
Fees in detailNot confirmed for M365. One report says Microsoft's Windows Agent Store (Build 2026) gives developers 85% (fourweekmba, unverified)
Getting listedPartner Center submission and Microsoft 365 app certification/validation; enterprise admins must enable agents for their tenant
DiscoveryAgent Store inside Copilot (Agents > All agents), curated catalogue of Microsoft, verified third-party and colleague agents; admin gating limits organic installs
Indie proofNo named indie earnings found.
Angles for us- Vertical agents that connect Copilot to niche SaaS that lacks a Microsoft connector (e.g. regional accounting/HR tools)
- Compliance and document-QA agents for regulated SMB verticals (legal, real-estate)
- Outlook/Teams workflow agents for specific roles (recruiters, property managers)
CompetitionBig ISVs (Adobe, Zoom, Atlassian, etc.) and Microsoft's own first-party agents dominate; few indies visible
Platform riskHigh: Microsoft ships first-party agents (Researcher, Analyst, etc.) and Copilot features fast; generic agents get absorbed
Sources: 1 2 3 4 5
▲ big audience▼ users who rarely pay, crowded, host likely to clone you
A huge audience, but templates are a creator and audience game rather than a micro-SaaS channel, and integrations have no billing. Worth it only for an integration with a clear sync need that Notion won't build.
Audience
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Proof
Users of the host100M+ users (Notion, Aug 2024)
BillingTemplates: yes, Notion is merchant of record via Stripe, but only for creators approved from a waitlist. Integrations: no billing, so you bring your own.
Fees in detailTemplates: 8% + $0.40 per sale, plus 1% for non-US payouts; payouts every two weeks after a 14-day hold. Integrations: none.
Getting listedPaid template selling requires a waitlist application (review can take months), Stripe onboarding and review of each template. The integration gallery has its own review.
DiscoveryNotion Marketplace search and categories; creators also rely heavily on social media, SEO and Gumroad.
Angles for us- Sync integrations that Notion lacks natively, such as niche CRMs or banking to Notion databases, sold as SaaS
- Vertical operating-system templates paired with a paid companion integration
- Notion-to-output tools such as publishing, PDF reports or client portals
CompetitionTemplates are very saturated and AI can now generate many of them. Integrations are less crowded but monetize weakly.
Platform riskHigh. Notion AI and agents and Notion's own templates absorb many template and integration use cases.
Sources: 1 2 3
▲ buyers who pay▼ hard to ship or get found, little indie proof, no billing or high fees, host likely to clone you
Buyers pay well, but Xero just removed marketplace billing and added per-connection API fees and certification gates; viable only for a narrow accountant tool that can carry ~AUD 245+/mo platform cost once past 50 connections.
Audience
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Proof
Users of the host~4.9M subscribers (Xero FY26 results, via FNArena, May 20, 2026); 4.6M at H1 FY26 (Nov 2025)
Listings~1,000+ apps (estimate, OYN research report, Feb 2026)
BillingBeing retired: Xero App Store Subscriptions billing ended - apps had to migrate billing by Jul 1, 2026; developers now bill customers themselves
Fees in detailOld model: 15% of app revenue sold via the App Store (retired). From Mar 2, 2026: API tiers (AUD/mo) - Starter free (5 connections), Core $35 (50 connections, 10 GB egress), Plus $245 (1,000), Advanced $1,445 (10,000), Enterprise on application; egress overage $2.40/GB
Getting listedApp Certification required for Plus tier and above; Advanced/Enterprise also need initial and annual Security Assessment. Starter/Core have no certification prerequisite (so likely no App Store listing benefits)
DiscoveryApp Store with categories/collections and reviews; strong accountant/advisor recommendation channel
Indie proofNo named indie earnings found.
Angles for us- AI bookkeeping QA / error detection for advisors (OYN report gap)
- Budget AR chasing priced below Chaser (£150+/mo)
- Compliance deadline monitoring for MTD/VAT in UK/AU/NZ
CompetitionModerate: many established apps (Dext, Fathom, Float, Syft, Chaser), but small apps with few reviews exist (EasyCSV, Nume); AI financial analysis/reconciliation called 'wide open' (OYN, estimate)
Platform riskHigh: Xero is building its own AI (JAX) and tightened API economics; the 2025-26 pricing change was widely described as ending the 'all-you-can-eat data buffet'
Sources: 1 2 3 4 5
▲ little competition▼ little indie proof, no billing or high fees
Under-served but unproven for indies: no billing and no documented indie revenue. Only worth it for a niche facilitation tool with an external audience.
Audience
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Users of the host60M-70M+ users (Miro developer docs, undated, likely 2024-25)
BillingNo native monetization. Developers use Stripe or Salable, both of which Miro documents.
Fees in detailNone (no billing)
Getting listedMarketplace review required before listing; no fees found.
DiscoveryThe in-app marketplace has categories such as 'paid with free trial', 'new apps' and 'Miro paid plan'.
Indie proofNo named indie earnings found.
Angles for us- Workshop and facilitation utilities such as timers, voting or retrospectives for agile coaches
- Converters into and out of boards: code to diagram, PDF to sticky notes, board to Jira
- Education and classroom tools on boards
CompetitionLow to moderate. The catalog is small and dominated by integrations from big SaaS vendors.
Platform riskMedium. Miro is shipping Miro AI features (diagram generation, summaries) that overlap with simple AI add-ons.
Sources: 1 2
▲ little competition▼ little indie proof, no billing or high fees
Little competition, but no billing and a stagnating host. Viable for a tiny utility, but Jira apps on the Atlassian Marketplace are the better bet.
Audience
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Listings247 Power-Ups at the end of 2021, with about 4 new ones a month (Blue Cat Reports, Jan 2022)
BillingNo. Atlassian provides no payment mechanism for Power-Ups; developers handle payments and licensing themselves (Atlassian developer community, Nov 2021).
Getting listedPower-Up directory submission review by Trello
DiscoveryIn-board Power-Up directory. Top third-party Power-Ups reached 100K+ board installs (Planyway 150K+, 2021), but the directory doesn't show prices.
Angles for us- Reporting and time tracking for small agencies using Trello
- Client-facing views and portals for Trello boards
- Recurring-card and automation add-ons beyond Butler
CompetitionLow by count (about 250 listings), but Trello's growth has slowed under Atlassian.
Platform riskMedium. Atlassian makes popular features native (Calendar and List Limits Power-Ups are built by Trello) and sometimes changes Power-Up plan rules.
Sources: 1 2
▲ big audience, little competition▼ hard to ship or get found, little indie proof, no billing or high fees, host likely to clone you
There is no indie-friendly paid marketplace yet. Gems can't be monetized and Connected Apps is a US-only, waitlisted preview with no billing. Use it for distribution only, and keep charging through the Workspace Marketplace or your own Stripe.
Audience
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Users of the host1B+ Gemini app MAU (Google, Aug 2026)
Listings50+ connected apps in Gemini (Oct 2026); Gems can be shared (since Sep 2025) but there is no public Gem store
BillingNone for Gems or Connected Apps (no monetization mentioned). Gemini Enterprise agents can be sold via Google Cloud Marketplace (A2A agent-as-a-service, procurement APIs)
Fees in detailGems/Connected Apps: null. Google Cloud Marketplace fees for agents not stated in the sources
Getting listedConnected Apps Platform: US-only public preview with a waitlist (Oct 28, 2026); MCP server + Google Connected Console submission. Cloud Marketplace agents: A2A Agent Card, OAuth, Google functional/security/pricing review
DiscoveryConnected apps are invoked by Gemini/Search intent; Gems are shared via link only; Enterprise agents via the admin agent gallery
Indie proofNo named indie earnings found.
Angles for us- Get on the Connected Apps waitlist early with an MCP server for an existing micro-SaaS (acquisition channel, not billing)
- Gemini Enterprise A2A agents for Workspace-heavy SMB verticals sold via Cloud Marketplace
- Use Gems as free lead magnets that point to a paid Workspace add-on
CompetitionEarly. Launch partners are big brands (Adobe, Experian, Peloton, Instacart, Canva)
Platform riskHigh: Gemini itself is the product and keeps adding native Workspace features; Google reportedly bars apps from running their own ads in it (fourweekmba)
Sources: 1 2 3 4 5
▲ billing handled, low fees▼ crowded, little indie proof, host likely to clone you
Billing is built in at a reasonable 15%, but it is US-only, AI Companion overlaps most obvious ideas, and there is no public evidence of indie success. Low priority.
Audience
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Proof
Users of the host4,363 customers paying more than $100K a year (Oct 2025, Zoom Q3 FY26); total user figure not found
ListingsAbout 2,559 apps (Mar 2025, Partnerfleet); 3,125 companies listed (Bloomberry, Mar 2026). There were 1,000+ apps and 6M+ installs in Feb 2021.
BillingYes. Zoom's own app monetization processes payments and collects sales tax.
Fees in detail15% of gross sales excluding tax. Restrictions: US developers only, USD only, a free plan is required, and the minimum paid price is $0.99.
Getting listedZoom reviews every published app. No review timelines or fees were found.
DiscoveryHomepage sections (Conversational AI, Essential Apps, App of the Month, New), categories and filters. Search matches only title keywords (Partnerfleet, 2025).
Indie proofNo named indie earnings found.
Angles for us- Industry-specific post-meeting workflows, such as telehealth intake notes or tutoring session reports
- In-meeting games, icebreakers and engagement apps for training and education
- Compliance recording and retention tools for regulated small businesses
CompetitionMeeting-AI categories such as notetakers and transcription are saturated, and Zoom's own AI Companion is included in paid plans.
Platform riskHigh. Zoom AI Companion covers summaries, notes and translation for free in paid plans, and Zoom-built apps take homepage space.
Sources: 1 2 3 4 5
▲ big audience, little competition▼ users who rarely pay, hard to ship or get found, little indie proof, no billing or high fees, host likely to clone you
A huge audience with good in-editor discovery, but monetization depends on discretionary Canva programs or external payment links, and native AI is a direct threat. Good for distribution to an external SaaS, weak as a standalone revenue rail.
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Users of the host265M+ monthly active users and 31M+ paid users (2025, TechCrunch Feb 2026)
Listings300+ apps used more than 1B times (Sep 2024)
BillingNo general billing rail. External payment links are allowed. The invite-style Premium Apps Program pays developers from Canva's $50M innovation fund based on usage, and its status in 2026 is unclear (possibly paused).
Fees in detailNot applicable. Premium Apps earn usage-based payouts from the fund; App Adoption Awards ($900K to 100 developers across 228 apps over 3 years) end June 1, 2026.
Getting listedCanva reviews all apps against its design guidelines; the review is reported to be fairly strict.
DiscoveryStrong. Since 2024, apps appear inside the Text, Elements and Photo Editor tabs and in Docs, not just a separate apps tab.
Angles for us- Deep third-party data integrations that create designs from CRM, e-commerce or spreadsheet data
- Niche-workflow apps such as print-ready packaging, real-estate flyers from MLS data or menu boards
- Brand-compliance checkers for enterprise teams, tied to the new Developer Directory
CompetitionLow by count (about 300 apps), but Canva says it now favors apps that 'AI can't easily replicate'.
Platform riskHigh. Canva's Magic Studio AI and its acquisitions cover most generic generation features.
Sources: 1 2 3
▲ big audience, billing handled, low fees▼ users who rarely pay, crowded, hard to ship or get found, little indie proof, host likely to clone you
Lower willingness to pay and a tester gate make it weaker than iOS for indie micro-SaaS; ship as a second platform.
Audience
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Users of the host3.5B+ Android users (litslink, undated figure)
Listings3.9M+ apps (Statista via litslink, Jan 2026); ~2,100 new apps/day in 2026 (Testers Community)
BillingYes: Play Billing; alternative billing allowed in US/UK/EEA from June 30, 2026 (Epic settlement).
Fees in detailSubscriptions: 10% service fee + 5% billing fee = ~15% effective (from June 30, 2026 in US/UK/EEA); IAP 15% on first $1M, 20-30% above.
Getting listed$25 one-time fee; new personal accounts need 12 testers for 14 days before production (~3 weeks gate); review up to 7 days.
DiscoveryPlay search and charts; 964/1000 apps released in 2026 have no rating; 84.5% of 2026 apps under 1k installs.
Indie proofNo named indie earnings found.
Angles for us- Android versions of iOS-only niche B2B tools
- Utilities for emerging markets with low prices
- Companion apps for small-business workflows
CompetitionExtreme saturation.
Platform riskHigh: Google builds features into Android/Gemini.
Sources: 1 2 3 4
▲ buyers who pay▼ small audience, little indie proof, no billing or high fees, host likely to clone you
Not a place to sell; useful only as a free funnel to a paid product for power-user Mac developers.
Audience
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Users of the host'Hundreds of thousands' of Mac users (Raycast Series B announcement, Sept 2024); Windows public beta Nov 2025, iOS 2025
Listings1,500+ community extensions (aiproductivity.ai, 2026; other sources say 'thousands', estimate)
BillingNone for extension authors: store extensions are free and open source in the raycast/extensions repo; Raycast monetizes only its own Pro/AI plans. Authors monetize by connecting to their own paid service.
Fees in detailN/A (no paid extensions)
Getting listedPull request to the public extensions repo; community managers review FIFO, first contact within ~a week; rejected if it duplicates existing or native features.
DiscoveryIn-app store search and popularity; per-extension install counts public (e.g. Linear ~203k).
Indie proofNo named indie earnings found.
Angles for us- Raycast extension as free acquisition channel for your own paid SaaS (e.g. micro-SaaS APIs for devs/designers)
- Integrations for fast-growing tools lacking an extension
- Windows-specific extensions as the Windows store fills up
CompetitionPopular SaaS integrations already covered; Raycast rejects duplicates.
Platform riskMedium-high: Raycast ships native AI, clipboard, snippets, notes etc. and rejects extensions duplicating native features.
Sources: 1 2 3
▲ little competition, billing handled, low fees▼ users who rarely pay, small audience, little indie proof
Better fees since 2025, but it's a consumer secondary store with little business intent. Only worth it as an extra listing for Android apps or themes.
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Users of the hostnull (no official Galaxy Store MAU found)
Fees in detail80/20 for paid apps, games, themes and items; 85/15 for subscriptions (effective May 15, 2025)
Getting listedSamsung Seller Portal review; separate themes/watch-face designer program
DiscoveryPreinstalled on Galaxy devices; top charts dominated by Samsung, games, themes and watch faces
Indie proofNo named indie earnings found.
Angles for us- Galaxy Watch faces and phone themes (a native category of the store)
- Galaxy AI-adjacent utilities for Samsung-specific features (DeX, S Pen)
CompetitionLow developer attention compared with Google Play, but users mostly install apps from Play
Platform riskMedium: Samsung bundles its own apps and Galaxy AI features
Sources: 1 2 3
▲ buyers who pay▼ small audience, hard to ship or get found, little indie proof, no billing or high fees, host likely to clone you
High-budget customers, but no billing, no indie proof found, and the Salesforce takeover adds big platform risk. Avoid as a primary channel now.
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Users of the host30,000+ companies (Salesforce press release, Jun 2026); Intercom renamed Fin and is being acquired by Salesforce for ~$3.6B
Listings100+ at launch (2017); current count not found
BillingNone. Intercom said monetization was not on its roadmap; bring your own billing
Fees in detailNot applicable
DiscoveryApp Store search and categories; Intercom planned smarter search and recommendations
Indie proofNo named indie earnings found.
Angles for us- Fin-adjacent analytics or QA (conversation-quality scoring, reporting exports)
- Vertical data connectors that feed Fin with order or booking context
CompetitionMostly established SaaS vendors' integrations
Platform riskHigh. Fin AI agent ($100M+ ARR for Fin for Sales, Apr 2026) absorbs many support or AI add-on use cases, and the Salesforce acquisition (signed Jun 2026) makes the ecosystem's direction uncertain
Sources: 1 2 3 4
▲ little competition, easy to ship and get found, host unlikely to clone you▼ users who rarely pay, small audience, little indie proof, no billing or high fees
Don't target it as a primary market: it has a small, declining share, no billing, and a user base that doesn't like paying. Cross-publish only if porting is cheap.
Audience
Intent
Room
Ease
Rails
Safety
Proof
Users of the hostFirefox desktop share fell from 5.88% (Jun 2025) to 3.79% (May 2026) per Statcounter (via PiunikaWeb). Mozilla's dashboard shows MAU roughly stable, but no figure was retrieved
Listings~83,465 active extensions, +74% YoY (Exstats via Konabayev, Mar 2026). 34% have 0 users; only 0.69% exceed 10K daily users
BillingNone. AMO doesn't sell extensions; Mozilla points developers to external payments, subscriptions or donations
Getting listedAutomated signing plus possible manual review; source code submission required for minified/bundled code. Mozilla piloted a paid 'Promoted Add-ons' review/promotion program in 2020 and later dropped it.
DiscoverySmall store; 'Recommended' badge program drives most visibility. Users are privacy/tech-savvy and less inclined to pay.
Indie proofNo named indie earnings found.
Angles for us- Privacy/security tools sold as one-time licenses to a privacy-minded audience
- Cross-publish a Chrome extension (WebExtensions API is largely compatible) for incremental users
- Developer/power-user tooling where Firefox devtools users still congregate
CompetitionLow for paid tools but a weak market. Listing growth is mostly ports and low-use extensions.
Platform riskLow cloning risk (Mozilla rarely competes with add-ons), but a shrinking user base is the risk
Sources: 1 2 3 4 5
▲ easy to ship and get found, billing handled, low fees▼ users who rarely pay, small audience, crowded, little indie proof, host likely to clone you
Easy to ship and the billing is built in, but the audience is small and consumer-heavy, and earnings go mostly to a few creators. Treat it as a cheap side experiment, not a main channel.
Audience
Intent
Room
Ease
Rails
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Proof
Users of the host~11M monthly visits to poe.com (Mar 2026, via plisio review); no official MAU
Listings1M+ user-built bots plus 100+ official models (plisio, 2026)
BillingYes. Poe handles billing; creators set a per-message price paid from users' compute points, and Poe pays creators in dollars monthly (Stripe, 23 countries, $10 minimum)
Fees in detailPer-message price set by the creator, plus a referral payout. The original program paid up to $20 per subscriber referred (TechCrunch, Apr 2024); a 2026 review says 100% of the first monthly payment and 50% of the first annual payment
Getting listedLow friction: prompt bots or server bots (your own API) published instantly; no formal security review found
DiscoveryIn-app explore/search of bots; huge long tail; top earners concentrated
Indie proof- Program-wide (no named indie) Quora says creator run-rate is 'tens of millions'/yr and top creators earn 'hundreds of thousands per year' (company claim, unaudited, 2025)
Angles for us- Server bots that wrap a proprietary data/tool (e.g. niche document converters, domain calculators) rather than a prompt
- Media-generation bots tied to a specific workflow (e.g. product photo backgrounds) priced per message
- Use Poe as a funnel to a standalone micro-SaaS
CompetitionVery saturated (1M+ bots), and most wrap the same frontier models Poe already exposes directly
Platform riskHigh: Poe adds new official models and features every month, so a wrapper bot is easily replaced. Poe is a small player compared with ChatGPT and Gemini
Sources: 1 2 3 4
▲ easy to ship and get found, host unlikely to clone you▼ users who rarely pay, small audience, crowded, little indie proof, no billing or high fees
Good for launching free demos to a developer crowd, but useless as a place to get paid. Use it for top-of-funnel distribution only.
Audience
Intent
Room
Ease
Rails
Safety
Proof
Users of the hostnull (no official MAU found; HF reported >$100M ARR, 97% of users free per fourweekmba)
Listings1.3M+ Spaces (May 2026, neuronfeed)
BillingNo. HF bills you for hardware and PRO; there is no checkout that pays creators. To charge, bring your own Stripe/auth or embed the Space in your site
Fees in detailnull (no creator payouts)
Getting listedNone; instant publish (Gradio/Streamlit/Docker). Paid GPU hardware or ZeroGPU quotas apply
DiscoveryTrending Spaces page and likes; strong for ML/dev audience, virality via X/Reddit
Indie proofNo named indie earnings found.
Angles for us- Launch a free demo Space of a niche model as a top-of-funnel for a paid API or SaaS
- Specialized tools on top of open models (e.g. document OCR for a specific form type) with upgrade links
- Spaces for model fine-tuning/eval workflows aimed at ML engineers
CompetitionExtremely high volume, mostly free demos and research
Platform riskMedium: HF does not clone apps, but it changes free compute and inference credits (free inference credits removed Oct 2026, usagepricing)
Sources: 1 2 3 4 5
▼ hard to ship or get found, little indie proof, no billing or high fees, host likely to clone you
Directories with no billing and no indie proof found, on hosts that are stagnating or adding AI natively. Low priority.
Audience
Intent
Room
Ease
Rails
Safety
Proof
Users of the hostDropbox 18.07M paying users (Q3 2025, down from 18.24M YoY); Box customer count not found
ListingsBox: 1,500+ integrations (Apr 2022); Dropbox count not found
BillingNone. Directories link out to your app; bring your own billing
Fees in detailNot applicable
DiscoveryDirectory browse or search inside dropbox.com sidebar and Box App Center; collections curated by the host
Indie proofNo named indie earnings found.
Angles for us- Niche file workflows (e.g. auto-watermark or redact PDFs on upload) marketed directly
- Vertical compliance or retention tools for Box enterprise customers
CompetitionMostly large SaaS vendors' integrations
Platform riskDropbox Dash and Box AI bring native AI search and summaries, which threatens simple file AI add-ons. Dropbox paying users are shrinking
Sources: 1 2 3
▼ hard to ship or get found, little indie proof, no billing or high fees
The official Extensions directory is effectively closed to indies; the opportunity is selling plugins/templates to Squarespace designers off-platform, which is a content/SEO business, not a marketplace play.
Audience
Intent
Room
Ease
Rails
Safety
Proof
Users of the host5.195M unique subscriptions (Squarespace Q2 2024, Jun 30, 2024 - last official figure before going private Oct 2024, via Style Factory)
Listings46 listings from 45 ISV partners (appmarketplace.com, undated); launched Dec 2019 with 14 extensions
Billingnull - not documented publicly; extensions appear to bill users directly on their own sites
Getting listedCurated, invite/partner-only directory of 'third-party tools'; no open self-serve submission process found
DiscoverySmall curated directory inside Squarespace settings; the real indie channel is code-snippet/plugin shops sold off-platform (e.g., SQSP Themes, Squarespace Plugins) via SEO and designer communities
Angles for us- Code-injection plugins sold directly to Squarespace designers (sliders, filters, member features) rather than via the official directory
- Squarespace Commerce ops helpers (bulk editing, inventory sync) for shops outgrowing native tools
- Templates plus plugins bundles for Squarespace Circle designers
CompetitionOfficial directory: very low count but closed. Off-platform plugin/template market has established sellers
Platform riskModerate: Squarespace ships native commerce, scheduling (Acuity), email and AI tools; private-equity owned since Oct 2024
Sources: 1 2 3 4
▲ big audience▼ users who rarely pay, crowded, hard to ship or get found, little indie proof, no billing or high fees, host likely to clone you
Enormous audience but no way to charge for digital goods inside ChatGPT as of 2026 and a history of unfulfilled monetization promises; treat as a speculative funnel only.
Audience
Intent
Room
Ease
Rails
Safety
Proof
Users of the host800M+ weekly ChatGPT users (cited Dec 2025, VentureBeat); ~900M-1B reported in 2026 (eWeek, estimate)
ListingsDozens of approved partner apps at directory launch (Dec 2025); 3M+ custom GPTs created (OpenAI, Jan 2024)
BillingNone native. Apps may link out only for physical goods; digital goods, subscriptions and in-app services not allowed in submitted apps as of Jan-May 2026 forum threads; Instant Checkout/ACP not open to most devs. GPT Store revenue share stayed an invite-only US pilot (2024), no general payouts.
Fees in detailN/A for digital goods (not permitted); OpenAI said it is 'exploring' digital goods monetization.
Getting listedEvery app reviewed against OpenAI guidelines; one version under review at a time; privacy policy, support contact, teen-appropriate content required.
DiscoveryApp directory in sidebar, @-mentions and contextual suggestions by ChatGPT; OpenAI controls distribution.
Angles for us- ChatGPT app as free acquisition funnel to a paid web SaaS with account linking (auth-gated)
- Vertical data/tools apps for business workflows likely to be first to get commerce rails
- Physical-goods/commerce helpers (allowed to link out)
CompetitionBig brands (Canva, Zillow, Spotify, Adobe) launched first; GPT Store flooded with millions of GPTs.
Platform riskVery high: OpenAI controls ranking/invocation and keeps adding native features; GPT Store's promised revenue share never broadly materialized.
Sources: 1 2 3 4
▼ hard to ship or get found, little indie proof, no billing or high fees, host likely to clone you
Not a marketplace yet. Skip for now and revisit if ClickUp launches its community app marketplace.
Audience
Intent
Room
Ease
Rails
Safety
Proof
ListingsNo open third-party marketplace. A feature request for a community app marketplace is marked 'We'll Do It' (Aug 2025), and ClickUp says extensibility is 'limited to built-in features, personal developments or official integrations'.
Fees in detailNot applicable
Getting listedNo public listing path for indie apps; only official integrations appear in the App Center.
DiscoveryApp Center shows official integrations only
Indie proofNo named indie earnings found.
Angles for us- Watch for the announced community app marketplace; being an early entrant could pay off
- External tools that use the ClickUp API, such as reporting or client portals, sold directly
CompetitionNot applicable
Platform riskHigh. ClickUp bundles everything (Brain AI, docs, chat), and there is no marketplace to protect partners.
Sources: 1 2
▼ users who rarely pay, small audience, hard to ship or get found, little indie proof, host likely to clone you
A contracting store: it's gone from Android phones (Aug 2025) and it's moving to Vega OS. Don't target it for micro-SaaS.
Audience
Intent
Room
Ease
Rails
Safety
Proof
Users of the hostnull (no current user figure found; now limited to Fire TV/Fire tablets/Echo)
BillingAmazon IAP on Fire OS / Vega devices
Fees in detailnull (not confirmed in this research; historically 70/30)
Getting listedAmazon app review; new Vega OS (Linux + React Native) requires porting, WebView supported
DiscoveryFire TV / Fire tablet storefront only
Indie proofNo named indie earnings found.
Angles for us- Fire TV utility/ambient apps ported to Vega early while the catalog is thin
- Kids/education apps for Fire tablets
CompetitionShrinking ecosystem
Platform riskVery high: Amazon shut down the Appstore on non-Amazon Android devices and ended Amazon Coins on Aug 20, 2025; Fire TV is moving to Vega OS with no sideloading
Sources: 1 2 3 4