Sell a SaaS Business

A SaaS with real recurring revenue is the easiest kind of software to sell, and the easiest to undersell. Buyers price it off monthly recurring revenue, churn and how much of the product depends on you personally.

Under about $10k MRR you're in a market of individual buyers and small holding companies. They move fast, they pay from savings, and they walk away at the first sign of a story that doesn't add up.

What buyers pay

Two to four times annual revenue for small, healthy SaaS

The quick rule buyers use is a multiple of annual recurring revenue. Steady or growing revenue with low churn lands near the top of the range. Flat revenue with a founder who does all the support lands near the bottom, or below it.

Profit matters more than revenue once hosting and third-party API bills get large. A $2,000 MRR product that spends $900 on inference is priced on the $1,100, not the $2,000.

Ranges reflect small-deal marketplaces in 2026 and move with the market. Your buyer decides the price; these numbers tell you where the conversation starts.

Before you list

1. Twelve months of revenue by month, straight from the payment processor, with refunds and churn visible.
2. A cost sheet: hosting, APIs, email, domains, contractors. Buyers rebuild it anyway, so hand it over clean.
3. A one-page handover of how the product runs: deploys, backups, cron jobs, the three things that break.
4. The customer count split into paying, trialing and free, and how many logged in last month.
5. Screenshots of the analytics dashboard for the last 90 days. Traffic without conversions is a weaker asset than it looks.

What moves at closing

The buyer pays Tool Index once you've both signed. Then, in this order:

1. Payment processor: either transfer the account or migrate customers to the buyer's account with a dated cutover.
2. Source repository ownership, including CI secrets rotated after handover.
3. Domains, DNS and email sending domain, with the buyer verifying each one.
4. Hosting and database, or a documented export the buyer restores on their own infrastructure.
5. Third-party keys and OAuth apps re-issued in the buyer's name, never shared.

You mark the deal delivered with a note of what moved. The buyer confirms inside the inspection window and the money is released to you, minus 1 percent (minimum $19, maximum $199) and the card processor's fee. If they open a dispute, a person reviews the delivery evidence before anything moves.

What kills deals

• Revenue that cannot be tied to processor statements.
• A customer list where most accounts were created by the founder or their friends.
• Dependence on one API key the buyer cannot obtain, or a license the seller cannot assign.
• Undisclosed refunds, chargebacks or a processor account under review.

Questions

Do I need a broker to sell a small SaaS?

No. Under $50k most deals close without one. What you need is a clean revenue export, a reviewed listing and a closing where the buyer's money is held until you've handed everything over, which is what Tool Index does.

How long does it take?

Listing review takes a business day. Serious buyers usually surface within two to four weeks. Closing takes as long as the transfer checklist, typically a few days once both sides have signed.

What if the buyer never confirms delivery?

The deal has an inspection window you both agree on. If they go silent after you've delivered, you open the deal page, Tool Index reviews the delivery evidence, and the funds are released or refunded on that review.