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The Micro-SaaS Idea Database
Real ideas, real named products, revenue with an honest confidence flag on each — organised for EU builders. Bookmark it, or print to PDF (Ctrl/Cmd + P).
Konstantin Filatov · solo operator, Europe
I build micro-SaaS and run ~30 EU digital projects solo — so this database is the honest version: named products, sourced revenue flagged by confidence, and the reality-check most lists skip.
Read this first — the reality-check
Across 1,000+ analysed micro-SaaS products, the median earns about $500/month, ~70% earn under $500–1K, and only the top ~1–5% clear $50K/month (source). The headline numbers below are outliers. Pick for the problem and the leverage, then validate cheaply before you build.
1. EU regulation-driven ideas — the moat US builders can't copy ★
Forced demand (a law with a deadline) + weak indie incumbents + an EU-only knowledge moat. This is the most defensible category for an EU solo — a US founder has no reason to learn Factur-X or the EAA.
| Idea | Regulatory driver | Comparable | Build | Why EU-defensible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Structured e-invoicing / Peppol connector | Belgium B2B mandatory Jan 2026; France from Sep 2026; Germany 2027–28 (ViDA) | gap on the indie side (incumbents target enterprise) | needs-dev | Factur-X/Peppol formats are EU-only knowledge — a US builder has no reason to learn them. |
| EU VAT / OSS calc + return filing | Destination-VAT + quarterly OSS on digital sales | Quaderno, Octobat (indie MRR unpublished) | needs-dev | 27 VAT regimes + OSS mechanics; wedge one billing platform or country. |
| Accessibility testing / monitoring (NOT overlays) | European Accessibility Act live 28 Jun 2025 → WCAG 2.1 AA | Silktide, axe DevTools | needs-dev | ⚠️ Never an "overlay widget" (FTC fined accessiBe $1M, Apr 2025). Honest scan + remediation only. |
| AI-transparency / chatbot-disclosure toolkit | EU AI Act Art. 50 from 2 Aug 2026 (labelling 2 Dec 2026) | EuroComply (early market) | low-code | AI Act is EU-specific; many SME buyers. |
| Privacy-first, cookieless web analytics | GDPR: several DPAs ruled Google Analytics non-compliant | Plausible, Simple Analytics, Fathom | needs-dev | “Your data never leaves the EU” — a claim US tools legally cannot make. (Crowded — enter narrow.) |
| Cookie-consent for small sites | ePrivacy: valid, logged consent banner required | CookieFirst, Cookiebot | low-code | Local-language banners + per-country DPA nuance; Cookiebot just doubled prices — an opening. |
| Privacy-policy / terms / Impressum generator | GDPR + DE/AT Impressum law; policies must auto-update | Termly, iubenda | low-code | Impressum + EU-law update tracking beats generic US generators. |
| DSAR (access-request) handling for SMBs | GDPR: respond within 30 days; enterprise tools too heavy | Osano, Enzuzo, iubenda | low-code | GDPR workflows + EU-hosted request data + local-language portals. |
| EU-hosted / sovereign SaaS boilerplates | US CLOUD Act; NIS2 audits due Jun 2026; RFPs demand EU jurisdiction | deploy on OVH/Hetzner/Scaleway | needs-dev | Value = EU jurisdiction — structurally impossible for US vendors to match. |
2. Proven-revenue examples (validation that these models pay)
Named products with a real number and a source. "VERIFIED" = primary/live or founder-stated with a date; "credible" = well-documented via aggregators. None are audited — treat as the shape of what's possible.
| Product | What | Revenue | Source | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simple Analytics | Privacy-first web analytics (EU-hosted) | ~$50.4K MRR / $605K ARR | live public dashboard | VERIFIED (live) |
| Plausible Analytics | Open-source privacy analytics (EU) | $1M ARR / $83,637 MRR | founder blog, Jun 2022 | VERIFIED (dated) |
| ScreenshotOne | Screenshot/rendering API (devtool) | $200K ARR, 400+ customers | founder blog, Apr 2025 | VERIFIED |
| Zigpoll | Post-purchase surveys for e-commerce | ~$125K/mo (solo) | Indie Hackers interview, Jul 2026 | VERIFIED (self-report) |
| Senja | Testimonial collection & display | $1M ARR (~$83K MRR), 3,000+ customers | build-in-public, Nov 2025 | VERIFIED (2-person) |
| DataFast (Marc Lou) | Product-analytics micro-SaaS | $15.8K MRR | founder newsletter, Jan 2026 | VERIFIED (self-report) |
| TypingMind (Tony Dinh) | Better front-end for LLM APIs | $500K cumulative + ~$15K MRR sub | founder newsletter, Feb 2024 | VERIFIED (dated) |
| Carrd | One-page website builder | ~$1.5M ARR (single founder) | aggregator, well-documented | credible |
| Nomad List (Levels) | Niche community data-directory | ~$1.5M/yr | aggregator, well-documented | credible |
| Bannerbear | Programmatic image/banner API | $20K MRR (Aug 2023; dashboard now partial) | former open-metrics page | credible (dated) |
| My AskAI | AI support bot trained on your docs | ~$25K/mo, 40K users | StarterStory / getLatka, 2024 | credible |
| Leave Me Alone | Bulk unsubscribe / inbox cleaner | ~$93K/yr (2-person) | aggregator | credible |
3. For developers (you code)
The best-defended, best-verified plays for a coder are API infrastructure products — no AI hype, real moat in reliability/integrations.
| Idea | Comparable | Build | Notes / moat |
|---|---|---|---|
| PDF-generation API / template engine | CraftMyPDF (~$15K MRR, lean-verified) | needs-dev | Invoices/reports/certificates via API/Zapier/Make. Moat = template engine + integration breadth. |
| Invoice/document OCR → structured data API | Invoice OCR (Indie Hackers) | needs-dev | Partly AI — moat is accuracy on messy docs + accumulated correction data (capture the feedback loop). |
| Uptime / API monitoring for small teams | UptimeRobot, BetterUptime ($5–29/mo) | needs-dev | Crowded — differentiate by a single stack (e.g. Supabase, cron/queue monitoring). |
| Automated DB backups (Supabase / Neon / PlanetScale) | open opportunity | needs-dev | Managed-DB users forget backups. Moat = trust + per-platform integration depth. |
| AI PR-review bot | CodeRabbit | needs-dev | ⚠️ Thin moat (LLM over a diff). Only defensible via repo context + CI lock-in; capital-heavy vs incumbents. |
4. For non-technical / no-code / AI-assisted builders
Buildable without deep coding — but note the ceiling: solo no-code founders commonly plateau $500–$2,500/mo, and most AI-wrappers have thin moats. The durable pick here is the data-moat directory.
| Idea | Comparable | Build | Notes / moat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Testimonial / social-proof widget | Senja, Testimonial.to | low-code | Strong incumbent (Senja) — enter via a tighter niche. |
| AI support chatbot trained on your docs | My AskAI (~$25K/mo) | low-code / AI | Crowded AI-wrapper; win on integration depth or one vertical, not the LLM. |
| Invoice reminder / dunning automation | InvoiceSherpa, Chaser | low-code | Boring, 70–90% margins, low AI hype. Solid recurring economics. |
| Niche appointment scheduling | vs generic Calendly/Acuity | no-code / low-code | Moat = vertical workflow (deposits, class packs) for tattoo/therapy/music/tax firms. |
| Niche template marketplace (Notion/Figma/Framer) | template stores (30% cut) | no-code | Moat = curation + creator network effects (weak early). |
| Proprietary data-moat directory | Glassdoor/G2 pattern | low-code | ★ The anti-AI-wrapper play: the dataset IS the moat and compounds. Most defensible; slow cold-start. |
5. Pains people are already asking to solve (from Reddit)
Recurring pain points builders request across r/SaaS, r/microsaas, r/indiehackers and niche subs. Second-hand (aggregated from roundups that cite the threads) — use them as leads to go verify in the actual subreddit, where you should always find the pain voiced before you build.
- Trades invoice-reminder (plumbers/HVAC send invoices, too busy to chase) — SMS+email, no accounting software
- Bookkeeper↔client transaction-categorisation portal (kill the “what was this charge?” back-and-forth)
- Small-landlord management (<10 units) — rent/maintenance/inspection reminders; big platforms are overkill
- Agency client-reporting in narrative form (not raw Looker/Supermetrics dashboards)
- Amazon FBA fee-audit / reimbursement (sellers lose $3K–15K/yr to wrong fees)
- Stripe→QuickBooks reconciliation (manual CSV reformatting eats hours/month)
- AI brand-visibility monitor (rank in Google but invisible in ChatGPT/Perplexity/AI Overviews)
- MSP client-onboarding portal (stop gathering passwords/assets via spreadsheets+email)
- Rep-first CRM that lives in the inbox (tracks what reps need, not what managers report on)
How to validate before you build (the honest filter)
- Find where the pain is already voiced — Reddit, support threads, review complaints. Build for a pain people already ask about, not one you imagined.
- Pre-sell or waitlist before code. A landing page + a payment (or even an email) tells you more than months of building.
- Prefer a moat you can defend solo — a regulatory/local angle (EU-VAT, GDPR, EAA), a dataset, or a network effect — over a generic utility an AI clones next quarter.
- Match the build to your skills. "Needs-dev" suits coders; "no-code/low-code" suits non-technical builders using AI tools.
Ready to actually build one?
The stack that turns an idea into a paid product, solo:
- Sell it without the tax headache — a merchant-of-record checkout handles global VAT for you: Stripe vs Paddle vs Lemon Squeezy.
- Host it — best EU hosting for solopreneurs.
- Run the EU company side — invoicing, VAT and accounting handled: the Xolo review.
- Build it lean — how to build a micro-SaaS solo and the no-code route.
And the full toolkit to set up, bank and invoice a one-person business the clean, legal EU way is in the EU Clean-Start Kit.
Building a media asset instead of software? Grab the companion Faceless & Media-Asset Idea Database too.
Sources
- SaaSRanger — Micro-SaaS revenue reality (1,000+ founders)
- Simple Analytics — live open dashboard · Plausible — $1M ARR · ScreenshotOne — $200K ARR
- EU e-invoicing mandates 2026 · European Accessibility Act · EU AI Act Art. 50
- IdeaProof · VibrantSnap · LaunchSaaS (Reddit-sourced)
Every figure is tied to a source and flagged for confidence. Founder-reported numbers are not audited — treat the credible ones as the shape of what's possible, the claims as market signals, and validate before building.