Micro-SaaS businesses — subscription software with $1,000–$5,000 in monthly recurring revenue — are one of the most underrated acquisition categories. Here's how to find them, verify the numbers, assess the code, and close without overpaying.
Most sophisticated online business buyers target content sites and FBA businesses because those asset classes have more brokers, more documentation, and more comparables. This means the micro-SaaS category under $100K is relatively undercrowded — and often mispriced in the buyer's favor.
A SaaS business earning $2,500/month in MRR (monthly recurring revenue) with low churn is worth $60,000–$90,000 at market multiples. But unlike a content site that depends on Google's algorithm, a SaaS product earns predictable recurring revenue from customers who have integrated it into their workflow. Churn on small B2B SaaS can be as low as 1–2% monthly — meaning a customer acquired today has a high probability of still being a customer in 24 months.
The tradeoffs: micro-SaaS requires more technical capability than a content site. You need to either operate the code yourself (or with a developer) and handle customer support for a technical product. Sellers are often solo developers who built the product as a side project and now want to exit — so the codebase may be underdocumented and the support process informal. Pricing this technical debt correctly is the core skill of micro-SaaS acquisition.
Ideal acquisition candidate: a B2B tool serving a specific workflow (invoicing, scheduling, reporting, data export, automation) with 50–300 active paying customers, MRR of $1,500–$5,000, monthly churn under 3%, built on a mainstream tech stack (Node/Rails/Django, PostgreSQL, hosted on AWS/GCP/Heroku/Railway), minimal customer support volume, and a founder who will stay for a 90-day transition period.
Niche site buyers can review the asset without any technical knowledge. SaaS buyers who skip technical due diligence are taking on unknown liability. A few hundred dollars spent on a developer review of the codebase can uncover problems that would cost tens of thousands to fix post-acquisition.
For micro-SaaS under $50K, a 4–8 hour developer review at $100–$200/hour ($400–$1,600) is worthwhile. For deals in the $50K–$100K range, budget for a full day of technical review plus written findings.
| MRR | Monthly Churn | ARR Multiple | Est. Deal Size | Risk Signal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $3,000 MRR | <1.5% | 4–5x ARR | $144K–$180K | Low churn premium |
| $2,500 MRR | 2–3% | 3–4x ARR | $90K–$120K | Healthy micro-SaaS |
| $2,000 MRR | 3–5% | 2.5–3x ARR | $60K–$72K | Churn requires attention |
| $1,500 MRR | 5–8% | 1.5–2x ARR | $27K–$36K | High churn, turnaround needed |
| Any MRR | >10% | <1x ARR | Asset value only | Distressed, price accordingly |
Note: these multiples are for under-$100K micro-SaaS. Enterprise SaaS and growth-stage SaaS trade at significantly higher multiples (5–10x ARR and above). The sub-$100K tier trades at discounts because of founder-dependency risk, technical debt, and limited buyer pool.
Empire Flippers and Flippa list micro-SaaS businesses regularly. For off-market deals, look in indie hacker communities (Indie Hackers, MicroAcquisitions), Twitter/X, and Product Hunt. Direct outreach to developers who publicly post their MRR is a legitimate sourcing method — many solo founders are open to acquisition conversations even without a formal listing. MicroAcquisitions.com specializes in micro-SaaS deals under $1M.
Request view access to the seller's Stripe or Paddle account. Pull: current active subscription count, MRR calculation (sum of active subscriptions), 12–18 months of MRR trend, and the churn rate (cancellations per month as % of total active MRR). Cross-reference against the seller's stated numbers. Any significant discrepancy warrants a full explanation before proceeding.
Get a developer (or do this yourself if technical) to review the codebase, hosting setup, third-party dependencies, and deployment process. The goal is to assess: (1) What will it cost per month to run this after acquisition? (2) Can I maintain and improve this code, or does it require specialized knowledge? (3) Are there any hidden liabilities (security vulnerabilities, deprecated dependencies, imminent infrastructure costs)?
Request a log of the last 90 days of support tickets/emails. Understand: How many support requests come in per week? What are the most common issues? What are customers canceling for? The support ticket history is one of the most revealing documents in a SaaS acquisition — it tells you what the product actually does (vs. what the marketing page says) and what customer pain points will become your problem post-acquisition.
Agree on a price based on verified MRR, confirmed churn, and technical assessment. In a Letter of Intent (LOI), specify: purchase price, what's included (domain, codebase, customer data, email list, social accounts), escrow process, and the transition/training period (minimum 60–90 days for SaaS). Negotiate price adjustments if MRR at close is materially different from MRR at LOI.
The transfer is more complex for SaaS than for content sites. Asset handoff includes: code repository (GitHub/GitLab transfer), hosting account credentials and DNS, Stripe account (note: Stripe to Stripe transfers require Stripe's involvement for recurring subscriptions — plan for a 2–4 week migration window), customer data export, domain transfer, and all supporting services (email providers, error tracking, analytics). Keep the seller on a support contract for 90 days minimum post-close.