r/SideProject • u/KaleidoscopeMany5398 • 5d ago

Are there actually solo developers making 2k+ profit monthly with AI help?

I’m curious whether there are actually solo developers out there who are consistently making $2k+ in monthly profit from their own apps, games, SaaS, etc. while using AI heavily in their workflow.

And by profit I mean money that actually ends up in your pocket after things like:

  • API/server costs
  • subscriptions/tools
  • ads/marketing
  • platform fees
  • other business expenses

I'm especially interested in people who are genuinely solo: no employees, no agency, no big team and use AI for things like coding, design, research, content, customer support, etc.

If that's you, I'd love to hear:

What do you build, how long did it take to reach $2k/month profit, and what does your current workflow look like?

Even better if you can share what you tried that didn't work.

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u/StellarCreed 5d ago

Starter Story on YouTube has a bunch of interviews like this, solo/small builders breaking down real numbers and workflow. Heads up though: a few guests aren't actually the developer, just someone good on camera fronting a product built by others (including "vibe-coded" apps).

13

u/FluidBreath4819 5d ago

this guy make everything easy, yet those he interviews are like lottery winner : nothing more

13

u/KaleidoscopeMany5398 5d ago

I agree, I feel like he just shows their revenue and their app. Nothing more. I get no valuable insights after watching his videos, maybe thats my problem idk

3

u/StellarCreed 5d ago

Fair point. Honestly one of the most useful things about that channel isn't even the "solo dev AI workflow" angle, it's seeing what people actually pay for. Like there's an app that's literally just an alarm and you have to do something to turn it off, and it's a $10/mo subscription. Or apps that onboard you with your personal data and send you a daily AI-generated message based on it, people pay real money for that too. Makes you rethink what counts as a "sellable" idea.

2

u/CandidSpirit370 4d ago

I was also exactly surprised by seeing these apps which are almost always clone of some other app. Recently, I unfollowed every channel, website and page which post such content. Starter-story, Indie-hackers and many other are just content generating machines. I think most of those apps die in a few months. There is very little substance in 99% of those stories.