Indie Hacker Acquisition Guide: Buy Your First Project in 2026

Why Indie Hackers Are Buying Instead of Building

The traditional indie hacker path: Learn to code → Build an MVP → Launch → Iterate → Maybe profit.

The acquisition path: Buy a working project → Improve it → Profit faster.

More indie hackers are choosing the second path. Here's why and how.

The Math of Building vs. Buying

Building a basic SaaS from scratch:

Authentication system: 20-40 hours

Payment integration: 15-30 hours

Core features: 50-100 hours

Admin dashboard: 20-40 hours

Testing and polish: 40-60 hours

**Total: 145-270 hours**

At $100/hour opportunity cost: **$14,500-27,000 in time**

Buying a starter kit or mini-SaaS:

Find and evaluate: 10-20 hours

Purchase: $500-2,000

Customize for your use case: 20-40 hours

**Total: $500-2,000 + 30-60 hours**

The math often favors buying.

What to Look for When Buying

Must-Haves:

Clean, readable code

Tech stack you know (or want to learn)

Documentation or README

Responsive seller

Clear pricing (no "DM for price")

Nice-to-Haves:

Existing users or waitlist

Revenue (even small)

Tests included

Active development history

Domain included

Red Flags:

Seller won't answer technical questions

No code samples or demos

"Just needs marketing" claims

Unrealistic revenue claims

Pressure to buy quickly

Due Diligence Checklist

Before purchasing:

Technical Review:

Can you run the project locally?

Are dependencies up to date?

Any obvious security issues?

Is the code quality acceptable?

Can you make a small modification?

Business Review:

Verify any revenue claims (screenshots, access)

Check traffic claims (analytics access)

Search for the product online (reputation?)

Ask about why they're selling

Where to Find Projects

VibePath (vibepath.store):

Focus: Projects under $5,000

Fee: $5/month subscription for full access

Best for: Quality indie hacker projects

Other Platforms:

SideProjectors (free listings, mixed quality)

Acquire.com (larger SaaS deals)

Flippa (everything, requires due diligence)

1Kprojects (abandoned projects under $1K)

Twitter/X (search "selling my side project")

After the Purchase

First 48 Hours:

Get all credentials and access

Transfer domain and hosting

Set up your own backups

Verify everything works

First Week:

Read all documentation

Understand the codebase

Make one small change to confirm you can deploy

Set up monitoring/analytics

Ready to Buy?

Browse VibePath to find your next acquisition. Every listing shows the tech stack, what's included, and seller contact info.

Your next successful project might already exist—you just need to buy it.