27 SaaS ideas for passive income

Ever opened X/Twitter on weekend and watched someone tweet: “Launched a SaaS 4 days ago and it already hit $10k MRR”? (not hypothetical) That could be you. If you solve a real problem and make it easy for people to pay, you can build something on a weekend and earn every month.

Below are smart SaaS ideas split into three groups:

1. Easy & Fast to Build
2. Medium Complexity
3. Advanced/AI-Powered

Each idea is clear, practical, and has a real chance of making money. You’ll find tips on building, pricing, and how to stand out.

Easy & Fast to Build

(Minimal investment, can launch in a weekend, great for first-time founders)

1. Privacy-Friendly Analytics

What it does:
Shows website owners basic traffic stats without using cookies or tracking personal data.

Who needs it:
Bloggers, small businesses, people who care about privacy laws (GDPR).

How to build:

• Use a simple JavaScript tracker and store data anonymously.
• Show stats on a clean dashboard.

How to earn:
Monthly subscription, starting at $5/site.

Tip:
Make setup super easy, just one copy-paste script.

2. “Is It Down?” Monitor

What it does:
Checks websites or APIs and sends alerts (email, Slack, or SMS) if they go offline.

Who needs it:
Anyone with a website, especially freelancers and small business owners.

How to build:

• Use a cron job to ping URLs every few minutes.
• Use an email/SMS API for alerts.

How to earn:
Tiered plans based on how many sites and how often you check.

Tip:
Let users set custom alert rules (e.g., only notify after 3 fails).

3. Personal CRM for Networking

What it does:
Helps people keep track of who they meet, with notes and follow-up reminders.

Who needs it:
Freelancers, business owners, job seekers, creators.

How to build:

• Let users add people, log meetings/calls, and set reminders.
• Email reminders or push notifications.

How to earn:
One-time fee or yearly subscription for pro features.

Tip:
Import LinkedIn contacts for quick setup.

4. Testimonial Collector

What it does:
Gives businesses one link to collect and manage testimonials. Makes it easy to show good reviews on their site.

Who needs it:
Agencies, SaaS founders, online stores.

How to build:

• Simple form page, save data to a database.
• Show reviews with an embeddable widget.

How to earn:
Monthly subscription; higher tiers for more testimonials.

Tip:
Let users collect video testimonials for higher value.

5. Indie Hacker Project Log

What it does:
A public log for builders to share daily progress and keep themselves accountable.

Who needs it:
Developers, makers, anyone building in public.

How to build:

• Simple daily journal entries, public profiles.
• Comments and “cheer” buttons.

How to earn:
Free for public logs, paid upgrade for private logs and custom branding.

Tip:
Show trending logs to inspire users to post daily.

6. Simple Paywall Service

What it does:
Lets creators put a paywall on any page or article using a copy-paste script and Stripe checkout.

Who needs it:
Bloggers, newsletter writers, digital creators.

How to build:

• Use Stripe API for payments.
• Script to hide/show locked content.

How to earn:
Take a small percentage of each payment.

Tip:
Make sure it works on all major website builders.

7. Habit Tracker with Social Accountability

What it does:
Lets users track habits and share progress with friends to stay motivated.

Who needs it:
Anyone wanting to build good habits: students, professionals, fitness fans.

How to build:

• Users add habits, mark daily progress.
• Share public links for accountability.

How to earn:
One-time “pro” fee for more habits, themes, or reminders.

Tip:
Add streak rewards to boost engagement.

8. JSON to Spreadsheet Converter

What it does:
Drag-and-drop web tool that turns JSON files into clean CSV/Excel files.

Who needs it:
Developers, analysts, teachers.

How to build:

• Frontend for file upload, backend for parsing and export.
• Option to email the results.

How to earn:
Free for small files, pro for larger/API access.

Tip:
Support common export formats (CSV, XLSX).

9. Bio Link Landing Page

What it does:
A single mobile-friendly page for all your important social/media links.

Who needs it:
Creators, influencers, job hunters.

How to build:

• User picks a template, adds links.
• Shareable, short URLs.

How to earn:
Free basic, paid custom domains or extra themes.

Tip:
Pick a clever niche (e.g., musicians, authors) or offer cool domain names.

Medium Complexity

(Needs integrations, more UI, but low infrastructure cost)

10. Subscription Finance Dashboard

What it does:
Connects to your bank (via Plaid) and shows all your monthly subscriptions in one dashboard.

Who needs it:
Anyone with lots of digital subscriptions (Netflix, SaaS, gym, etc.).

How to build:

• Use Plaid API for banking info.
• Parse and sort recurring payments.

How to earn:
Monthly fee or annual plan.

Tip:
Offer cancel/reminder buttons to help users save money.

11. Niche E-commerce Insights

What it does:
Connects to Shopify and gives advanced analytics (like product bundling suggestions).

Who needs it:
Small e-commerce brands.

How to build:

• Use Shopify API.
• Data visualizations for trends, customer groups.

How to earn:
Tiered pricing by store revenue.

Tip:
Help users with next steps. Like “Create this bundle now.”

12. API for Holiday & Event Data

What it does:
Gives developers worldwide holidays and events data through an easy API.

Who needs it:
App developers, logistics, HR, marketers.

How to build:

• Build and update a holidays/events database.
• Well-documented REST API.

How to earn:
API usage-based billing.

Tip:
Support CSV and JSON formats for easy use.

13. On-Call Schedule Manager for Teams

What it does:
Helps small teams manage on-call rotations, integrates with Slack/SMS for alerts.

Who needs it:
Dev teams, support teams.

How to build:

• Calendar + team member assignments.
• Alerting system (Slack, SMS API).

How to earn:
Per-user monthly fee.

Tip:
Make the interface simpler than PagerDuty or OpsGenie.

14. Community Engagement Dashboard

What it does:
Connects to Discord or Slack, tracks member activity, and spots your most active contributors.

Who needs it:
Community managers, online group owners.

How to build:

• Integrate with Discord/Slack APIs.
• Dashboard with engagement metrics.

How to earn:
Monthly subscription based on community size.

Tip:
Show weekly or monthly engagement “champions.”

15. Serverless Log Viewer

What it does:
Central place to see and search logs from AWS Lambda, Vercel, or Cloudflare Workers.

Who needs it:
Developers using serverless platforms.

How to build:

• Pull logs from serverless providers.
• Search and filter UI.

How to earn:
Subscription based on log volume.

Tip:
Make it much simpler (and cheaper) than AWS CloudWatch.

16. SaaS Affiliate Program Manager

What it does:
Lets SaaS founders create and run their own affiliate programs, track referrals, and send payouts.

Who needs it:
SaaS startups, indie founders.

How to build:

• Dashboard for tracking signups and sales.
• Automated affiliate links and payout options.

How to earn:
Subscription based on number of affiliates.

Tip:
Offer pre-made email templates for affiliate outreach.

17. Automated Social Media Publisher

What it does:
Connects to a blog or YouTube, creates and schedules social media posts automatically.

Who needs it:
Bloggers, YouTubers, agencies.

How to build:

• Connect to RSS feeds or YouTube API.
• Integrate with social platforms.

How to earn:
Subscription; price by number of accounts or posts.

Tip:
Focus on a single platform or post type (e.g., LinkedIn carousels).

18. Lightweight Project Management for Agencies

What it does:
A simple client portal for agencies with progress tracking, file sharing, approvals.

Who needs it:
Small creative agencies, freelancers.

How to build:

• Kanban-style project tracker.
• Uploads, client comments/approval features.

How to earn:
Monthly or per-client pricing.

Tip:
Tailor for a niche, like wedding photographers or design studios.

Advanced/AI-Powered

(Uses AI or complex backend; higher cost and longer build)

19. Smart Customer Support Triage

What it does:
AI reads incoming helpdesk tickets, sorts by topic and urgency, and sends to the right agent.

Who needs it:
SaaS companies, large support teams.

How to build:

• Integrate with Zendesk or similar via API.
• Use OpenAI or Claude API for NLP.

How to earn:
Monthly fee, priced by ticket volume.

Tip:
Show how much faster support gets with your tool.

20. AI-Generated User Personas

What it does:
Reads user data from an app or website and creates detailed, real-world user personas.

Who needs it:
Product managers, marketers, founders.

How to build:

• Connect to analytics or database.
• Use AI to group users by patterns.

How to earn:
Per-report fee or monthly subscription.

Tip:
Let users “export” personas as PDF reports.

21. Predictive Sales Lead Scoring

What it does:
Connects to a CRM, learns from past deals, and ranks new leads by how likely they are to buy.

Who needs it:
Sales teams, B2B startups.

How to build:

• CRM API integration.
• Use machine learning to score leads.

How to earn:
Subscription based on number of leads.

Tip:
Show users how to focus on “hot” leads first.

22. Automated API and Security Testing

What it does:
Continuously tests a company’s APIs for slowdowns, security holes, and breaking changes.

Who needs it:
Developers, SaaS teams, agencies.

How to build:

• User connects API endpoints.
• Use scripts and security scans, plus AI for suggestions.

How to earn:
Tiered subscription by number of endpoints.

Tip:
Send automatic reports after every test.

23. AI-Powered User Feedback Summarizer

What it does:
Collects feedback from Intercom, Twitter, app store reviews, and shows main themes and complaints.

Who needs it:
Product managers, support teams.

How to build:

• Integrate with feedback channels.
• Use AI to group and summarize.

How to earn:
Subscription based on feedback volume.

Tip:
Show trend graphs over time.

24. “Meeting-to-Task” Generator

What it does:
AI reads meeting transcripts and creates a list of action items, then pushes them to tools like Asana or Trello.

Who needs it:
Project managers, teams, consultants.

How to build:

• Integrate with Zoom/Google Meet for transcripts.
• Use AI to spot tasks.

How to earn:
Per-user monthly fee.

Tip:
Push tasks instantly to project tools.

25. Brand Mention Monitoring with Sentiment Analysis

What it does:
AI scans the web for brand mentions and tells you if the buzz is good or bad.

Who needs it:
Agencies, PR teams, founders.

How to build:

• Web crawler and alerts.
• AI for sentiment detection.

How to earn:
Monthly fee based on keyword count.

Tip:
Let users set alerts for spikes in negative mentions.

26. AI-Powered Content Repurposing

What it does:
Turns a video or article into drafts for blog posts, Twitter threads, or email newsletters, ready to publish.

Who needs it:
Creators, marketers, agencies.

How to build:

• Upload source content.
• Use AI to generate drafts for multiple channels.

How to earn:
Subscription or pay-per-use.

Tip:
Focus on a high-value content type (e.g., turning podcasts into short video clips).

27. AI-Driven Database Query Optimizer

What it does:
Reads slow database queries, learns the schema, and suggests faster versions or new indexes.

Who needs it:
Developers, SaaS teams, DBAs.

How to build:

• Log parser, database schema reader.
• AI for query suggestions.

How to earn:
Subscription per app/database.

Tip:
Specialize for a popular stack (e.g., Laravel, Django, Rails).

Building and Launching Tips

• Start small. Build a minimum version, then add features.
• Solve real pain. Pick ideas you understand, or talk to users first.
• Price simply. Monthly or yearly subscriptions work best.
• Market where users hang out. Share in niche forums, communities, or newsletters.
• Automate support. Write docs and set up auto-replies for common issues.

Conclusion & Call to Action

You don’t need a huge team or big budget to start earning with SaaS. Pick a real problem, build a tool, and launch. Focus on a simple, easy-to-use service and you’ll find paying users. Want help turning an idea into a real product, or need a code review before launch? Contact me here and let’s make it happen.