# How to Launch a Micro SaaS: Pricing, Checkout and Launch Sites

> How to launch a micro SaaS as a solo maker: one paid plan, checkout fees, VAT, hosting rules, launch queues to book early and where to post first.

- Canonical: https://zeroraised.com/blog/how-to-launch-a-micro-saas
- Published: 2026-10-29
- Updated: 2026-10-29
- Author: Jay Mokashi (https://zeroraised.com/blog/authors/jaymokashi)
- Publisher: ZeroRaised (https://zeroraised.com/)
- Section: Growth
- Tags: launch-guide, revenue, first-users, bootstrapping

How to launch a micro SaaS, in short: make one paid plan that a stranger can try, buy and get help with on their own, then book the free launch queues a month ahead and post where early adopters can try it. Pick your payment provider for the price you charge, because at micro SaaS prices the fixed fee on each payment is a large share of the sale. A solo maker's [Show HN on 19 October 2026](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50151980) shows the shape: a 14-day trial, then $99 a year or $9.99 a month, and a thread that tested the price harder than the product.

**Disclosure:** ZeroRaised publishes this guide and appears in the final section. Fees, plan rules and queue times come from each company's own pages as fetched on 22 Oct 2026 and rechecked on 28 Oct 2026, and they change, so check the linked page before you rely on one. ZeroRaised has no affiliate deal with any provider or launch site named here, and this guide makes no promise of users, sales or traffic from any of them.

## TL;DR

| Stage | What to do | What it costs or takes | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Make it sellable | One plan, a trial, checkout, a billing page and a reminder before the first charge | Stripe-hosted trial reminders go out 7 days before the trial ends | [Stripe trials docs](https://docs.stripe.com/billing/subscriptions/trials) |
| Check plan rules | Make sure your hosting plan allows commercial use | Vercel Hobby is for non-commercial personal use only | [Vercel fair use](https://vercel.com/docs/limits/fair-use-guidelines) |
| Take payment | Processor plus your own tax work, or a merchant of record | Stripe UK 1.5% + 20p; Paddle 5% + 50¢ | [Stripe UK](https://stripe.com/gb/pricing), [Paddle](https://www.paddle.com/pricing) |
| Book launch slots | Join the free queues before launch week | StartupBase free in about 4 to 5 weeks or $39 to pick a date | [StartupBase](https://startupbase.io/launch) |
| Post where people can try it | Show HN only if people can use it without a sales call | Free; no landing pages or sign-up pages | [Show HN guidelines](https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html) |
| Listen | Treat the first comments as price and positioning data | Free | [3 & Done thread](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50151980) |

The rest of this guide takes each row in order. If you have not yet checked that anyone wants the product, start with [how to validate a SaaS idea before building](https://zeroraised.com/blog/how-to-validate-a-saas-idea-before-building) and come back.

## What happened: a solo maker's paid launch on Show HN, 19 October 2026

On 19 October 2026 (13:07 UTC, from the item's timestamp in the Hacker News API), dmayle posted [Show HN: I built a task system to handle the drudgery so I could focus on tasks](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50151980). The product, 3 & Done, takes a messy brain-dump of tasks by voice or text and emails three things to do each morning, with the reason each made the cut. The post had 61 points and 55 comments when checked on 28 Oct 2026.

It is a useful example because the maker put every launch decision in the open:

- **The price.** "If you want to try the service, there's a free 14-day trial (card required), and then it's $99/year or $9.99/month after that (plus sales tax)" ([Show HN post](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50151980)). The [3 & Done home page](https://3anddoneapp.com/) shows the same plans, with the yearly one labelled "2 months free".
- **The billing promises.** "We warn you seven days before your card is charged", and cancelling keeps access to the end of the term, done "through settings -> billing, no email, no call" ([Show HN post](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50151980)).
- **A way to try it without signing up.** The link in the post goes to a trial page that ranks a list you type in, and the home page offers "ninety seconds. nothing to sign up for." ([home page](https://3anddoneapp.com/)).
- **A small stack.** "I built on Vercel (git push to serving Next.js), Neon (hosted postgres)."
- **A lesson from earlier attempts.** "My previous failures were because I spent too much time building the stuff I needed, and not building what I was supposed to be building."

Then the thread did what launch threads do. One commenter, asafel, asked how the maker chose $99 a year. The answer: "No, this is my first pricing strategy." It came from two directions, a bottom-up price "that is sustainable given that there is a model reading your task list every morning", and a top-down one "priced between simple todo lists that just manage your data, and more complex AI tools" ([thread](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50151980)). Another, harshalizee, pushed back: "$9.99/month for a todo app with email that was generated with AI." A third, vector_spaces, said the landing page "looks like a trivial to-do application with additional polish."

That is one launch, not a pattern, and nothing in the thread says how many people paid. It does show the questions a launch must answer on day one: the cost, the billing, the trial and why it is worth the price.

## How to launch a micro SaaS: make it sellable before you make it loud

A launch sends a burst of curious people to your site in a few hours. If they cannot try it, see the price or pay without emailing you, most of that burst is wasted.

### One plan, one price, stated plainly

A micro SaaS does one job for one group of people. The pricing should be just as narrow: one paid plan, perhaps with a monthly and a yearly option, and a trial or a free allowance. 3 & Done launched with exactly that, two billing periods for one plan and a trial ([home page](https://3anddoneapp.com/)). Tiers can come later. Setting the number itself is covered in [how to price a SaaS product](https://zeroraised.com/blog/how-to-price-a-saas-product).

### A trial that cannot surprise anyone

Decide whether the trial needs a card. A card up front filters out casual sign-ups; no card lets more people in, and you ask for payment details later. Either way, tell people before you charge them. Stripe's [trials documentation](https://docs.stripe.com/billing/subscriptions/trials) says its own reminder emails "are sent 7 days before the trial ends", and its trial-ending event defaults to 3 days before, which you can use to send your own.

### Self-serve billing and cancellation

Put plan changes, card updates and cancellation behind a settings page, not an email address. [Stripe Billing](https://stripe.com/gb/billing/pricing) lists a customer portal among its features, and Lemon Squeezy's [pricing page](https://www.lemonsqueezy.com/pricing) describes "A self-service customer portal for your store", so this is often configuration rather than a build.

### Something people can try in a minute

The [Show HN guidelines](https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html) put this better than any growth advice: "Please make it easy for users to try your thing out, ideally without barriers such as signups or emails." A demo account or a trial mode like 3 & Done's ranking demo works well beyond Hacker News.

### The boring pages

Before the launch, have these live and linked from the footer:

1. **Terms and privacy**, written for what the product actually does with data. If you send user content to an AI model, say which kind and whether it is used for training.
2. **A help page or FAQ** with answers to the five questions you already get from testers.
3. **A contact route** that reaches you, and a stated reply time you can keep alone.
4. **A changelog or status note**, so the first bug report has somewhere to be answered in public.

## Running costs and plan rules to check before you charge

Micro SaaS makers often build on free tiers, and that is fine for testing. The moment you take money, read the plan terms again, because some free plans are free on the condition that nobody pays you.

The clearest case is Vercel, which 3 & Done's maker named as part of the stack. Vercel's [fair use guidelines](https://vercel.com/docs/limits/fair-use-guidelines) say: "Hobby teams are restricted to non-commercial personal use only. All commercial usage of the platform requires either a Pro or Enterprise plan." The same page defines commercial usage as any deployment used "for the purpose of financial gain of anyone involved in any part of the production of the project". A paid micro SaaS on a Hobby team is outside those terms.

Databases are usually kinder. Neon's [pricing page](https://neon.com/pricing) lists a Free plan at $0 "with no time limits and no credit card required", with 100 CU-hrs monthly per project and 1 GB of storage per project. That is enough for many early products, but check what happens when you pass a limit before a launch sends a spike of sign-ups.

| Item | Free route | What to check before charging | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hosting on Vercel | Hobby plan | Non-commercial personal use only; paid products need Pro or Enterprise | [Vercel fair use](https://vercel.com/docs/limits/fair-use-guidelines) |
| Postgres on Neon | Free, $0 | 100 CU-hrs monthly per project, 1 GB of storage per project | [Neon pricing](https://neon.com/pricing) |
| Stripe Payments | No setup or monthly fee | A fee on every successful payment | [Stripe UK pricing](https://stripe.com/gb/pricing) |
| Stripe Billing, for subscriptions | Pay as you go | 0.7% of Billing volume on top of payment fees | [Stripe Billing pricing](https://stripe.com/gb/billing/pricing) |
| Lemon Squeezy | No monthly fee | 5% + 50¢ per transaction | [Lemon Squeezy pricing](https://www.lemonsqueezy.com/pricing) |
| Polar | Starter, free | 5% + 50¢, plus 1.5% for international cards (non-US) | [Polar pricing](https://polar.sh/resources/pricing) |

Keep a list of every service the product depends on, with its plan and the limit you are closest to.

If your costs grow with use, as they do when a model reads every user's data each morning, price from that cost upwards. That was the bottom-up half of 3 & Done's reasoning in its [launch thread](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50151980).

## Checkout and fees at micro SaaS prices

Every payment provider takes a percentage and, for card payments, usually a fixed amount on each payment. On a large invoice the fixed part disappears. On a $9.99 subscription it does not.

The first choice is the model, not the brand. A **payment processor** such as Stripe moves the money; you are the seller, so VAT and sales tax are your job. A **merchant of record** such as Paddle, Lemon Squeezy or Polar becomes the legal seller of your product, charges the buyer, deals with the tax and pays you what is left. Lemon Squeezy's [pricing page](https://www.lemonsqueezy.com/pricing) puts it as "Global sales tax & compliance handled for you", and Paddle's [pricing page](https://www.paddle.com/pricing) lists "Global tax and regulatory compliance" in its 5% + 50¢ rate.

| Provider (list prices, checked 28 Oct 2026) | Model | Headline card fee | Extras to add | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stripe, UK account | Processor | 1.5% + 20p standard UK cards | 2.5% + 20p EEA cards; 3.15% + 20p international cards; + 2% if currency conversion is required | [Stripe UK](https://stripe.com/gb/pricing) |
| Stripe, US account | Processor | 2.9% + 30¢ domestic cards | + 1.5% international cards; + 1% if currency conversion is required | [Stripe US](https://stripe.com/pricing) |
| Stripe Billing | Subscription layer on Stripe | 0.7% of Billing volume, pay as you go | Charged on top of the card fee | [Stripe Billing](https://stripe.com/gb/billing/pricing) |
| Paddle | Merchant of record | 5% + 50¢ per Checkout transaction | Custom pricing for high-volume, low-value transactions | [Paddle](https://www.paddle.com/pricing) |
| Lemon Squeezy | Merchant of record | 5% + 50¢ per transaction | +0.5% subscription payments; +1.5% international (outside the US); +1.5% PayPal | [Lemon Squeezy](https://www.lemonsqueezy.com/pricing), [Lemon Squeezy fees](https://docs.lemonsqueezy.com/help/getting-started/fees) |
| Polar, Starter plan | Merchant of record | 5% + 50¢ | +1.5% for international cards (non-US); paid plans from $20 /mo lower the rate | [Polar](https://polar.sh/resources/pricing) |

### What this means for a small subscription

Three things follow from the table.

**A monthly plan pays the fixed fee twelve times a year; a yearly plan pays it once.** That is a good reason to offer a yearly option. 3 & Done's yearly price is labelled "2 months free" on its [home page](https://3anddoneapp.com/), which also saves the maker eleven fixed fees per subscriber.

**Stripe on its own is cheaper per payment but not per hour.** If you sell to consumers in many countries, someone has to work out which tax applies, charge it and file it. With a processor that someone is you. With a merchant of record it is part of the higher fee. The section below covers what that work involves in the UK.

**Cross-border cards cost more on most providers.** Stripe UK charges 3.15% + 20p on international cards and adds 2% for currency conversion ([Stripe UK](https://stripe.com/gb/pricing)). Polar adds 1.5% for non-US cards ([Polar](https://polar.sh/resources/pricing)), and Lemon Squeezy adds 1.5% for transactions outside the US plus 0.5% on subscription payments ([Lemon Squeezy fees](https://docs.lemonsqueezy.com/help/getting-started/fees)). Compare providers using your real mix of countries. If you sell from the US, our list of [published US rates and surcharges](https://zeroraised.com/data/payment-fees) sets out what nine providers publish for international cards and currency conversion.

To see the difference at your own price, use our [payment fee calculator](https://zeroraised.com/tools/payment-fee-calculator). It compares the list fees of Stripe, PayPal, Lemon Squeezy, Paddle and Polar, shows what you keep, and lets you set where your account is, where the buyer's card is from and whether the sale is a subscription. Try it with both your monthly and your yearly price.

## VAT and sales tax for a one-person product

Tax is the part of a micro SaaS launch that most makers postpone, and the one that decides whether a processor or a merchant of record suits you. This section covers a UK-based seller, because the rules differ by country. It is a summary of HMRC's own guidance, not tax advice; if you are unsure, ask an accountant before launch rather than after.

**Selling to UK consumers.** GOV.UK's [registration page](https://www.gov.uk/register-for-vat) says you must register for VAT if "your total taxable turnover for the last 12 months goes over £90,000", or if you expect to pass £90,000 in the next 30 days. Below that, registration is voluntary.

**Selling to consumers in the EU.** Here the UK threshold does not apply. HMRC's [digital services guidance](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-vat-rules-if-you-supply-digital-services-to-private-consumers) says supplies to consumers outside the UK "are not liable to UK VAT. They may be liable to VAT in the country where the consumer is based." For EU consumers, HMRC's digital services guidance tells a UK business to either use the EU's scheme for non-EU sellers in one member state or register in each member state where it supplies digital services. HMRC's page still calls it the Non-Union VAT MOSS; since 1 July 2021 the EU runs it as the non-Union scheme of the [One Stop Shop](https://vat-one-stop-shop.ec.europa.eu/index_en), where a seller outside the EU [registers in one member state and declares its EU consumer sales of services there](https://vat-one-stop-shop.ec.europa.eu/one-stop-shop/declare-and-pay-oss_en). You also need two pieces of evidence of where each consumer normally lives, such as a billing address and the country code your payment provider reports.

**Selling to businesses.** The guidance is different when the buyer is a business. With a cross-border business-to-business supply, "the customer will be responsible for accounting for any VAT due to the tax authorities in their country" ([HMRC guidance](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-vat-rules-if-you-supply-digital-services-to-private-consumers)). A micro SaaS sold only to companies has a simpler tax position than one sold to individuals.

**Selling through a platform.** The same page adds: "If you supply digital services to consumers via a third party platform or marketplace, the digital platform is responsible for accounting for VAT on the supply instead of you." A merchant of record is built on the same idea.

| Who buys | Your tax job with a processor such as Stripe | Your tax job with a merchant of record |
|---|---|---|
| UK consumers | UK VAT once you pass £90,000 in 12 months, or earlier if you register voluntarily ([GOV.UK](https://www.gov.uk/register-for-vat)) | The merchant of record is the seller and handles it ([Paddle](https://www.paddle.com/pricing)) |
| EU consumers | Non-Union One Stop Shop in one member state (HMRC still calls it Non-Union VAT MOSS), or registration in each ([HMRC](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-vat-rules-if-you-supply-digital-services-to-private-consumers), [EU OSS](https://vat-one-stop-shop.ec.europa.eu/index_en)) | Handled by the merchant of record ([Lemon Squeezy](https://www.lemonsqueezy.com/pricing)) |
| Businesses abroad | The business customer accounts for VAT in its own country ([HMRC](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-vat-rules-if-you-supply-digital-services-to-private-consumers)) | Handled by the merchant of record |
| US buyers | Check each US state where you have buyers before you sell there | Handled by the merchant of record |

3 & Done's post said its prices are "plus sales tax" ([Show HN post](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50151980)), so the maker has decided to add tax on top rather than include it in the price. Make the same decision before launch and show it on the pricing page.

The right-hand column is the trade a merchant of record sells: a higher fee in place of the tax work in the processor column. For software sold with licence keys, [how to sell software online](https://zeroraised.com/blog/how-to-sell-software-online) compares the two models in more depth.

## Where to launch a micro SaaS, and how far ahead to book

Many launch boards have a free route with a wait and a paid route without one. If you only submit in launch week, the free slots land a month after the moment you prepared for.

### Small launch boards: StartupBase and TinyLaunch

Both put new products on the homepage for upvotes and keep a listing afterwards. This section covers only what they mean for your timeline.

Our [StartupBase page](https://zeroraised.com/launch-sites/startupbase) has the submission steps and the link type we found on a sampled listing. For planning, three details on StartupBase's own [launch page](https://startupbase.io/launch) matter. The free route "Launches in" about 4 to 5 weeks, with the date "assigned from the queue". It needs the "StartupBase badge required on your site", so add the badge to your site before you join the queue. And the paid route, which "Starts at $39", lets you "Launch tomorrow, or any date within 30 days", with "No badge required".

Our [TinyLaunch page](https://zeroraised.com/launch-sites/tinylaunch) covers its steps and the nofollow link we saw on a sampled listing. TinyLaunch runs weekly launch periods. Its [agent guide](https://www.tinylaunch.com/llms.txt) describes the free route as "Standard weekly launch. No payment. You launch in ~4 weeks once a spot in the free queue opens up." The $39 premium route says "Launch next Monday (skip the queue)" and includes "25% off all future launches". The [home page](https://www.tinylaunch.com/) also explains the link question: "Dofollow backlink is granted when you embed the badge with a dofollow link to the TinyLaunch landing page" on your site, and the badge goes to top 3 launches.

TinyLaunch's [pricing page](https://www.tinylaunch.com/pricing) also sells a $279 service that submits your product to 110 directories, and featured spots at $30 / week and $15 / week. Those are separate purchases from a launch. Decide on them after you have seen what the free launch brings, not before.

### A booking calendar for a solo launch

| Venue | Free route lead time | Paid option | What to have ready | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| StartupBase | About 4 to 5 weeks from the queue | From $39 one-time, any date within 30 days | The StartupBase badge on your site for the free route | [Launch page](https://startupbase.io/launch) |
| TinyLaunch | About 4 weeks, weekly launch periods | $39 per launch, next Monday | A tagline of up to 60 characters, a logo, a category | [Agent guide](https://www.tinylaunch.com/llms.txt) |
| Show HN | None; post when it is ready | None | Something people can try, ideally without sign-up | [Show HN guidelines](https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html) |
| ZeroRaised | Submit for review | None to submit | Eligibility: no institutional VC or accelerator equity | [Submit page](https://zeroraised.com/submit) |

Read the table backwards from the day you want the burst of attention. Join the free StartupBase queue about five weeks before it, and TinyLaunch's about four weeks before, so that both slots fall in the same fortnight as your Show HN. A slot that lands early is a rehearsal for onboarding and support. The $39 options buy a date, not an outcome.

### Show HN, and the rule most launches break

A Show HN is free and needs no queue, but it has rules. The [guidelines](https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html) say it is for "something you've made that other people can play with", list "sign-up pages" among things that are off topic, and say: "Don't post landing pages or fundraisers." They also say: "Please don't ask friends to upvote or comment. That's not ok on HN." 3 & Done linked straight to a trial page that works without an account. Our guide on [how to write a Show HN post](https://zeroraised.com/blog/how-to-write-a-show-hn-post) covers the title and first comment.

For more places to list once the first launch is done, our list of [free startup directories](https://zeroraised.com/blog/free-startup-directories) ranks them by effort, and [where to launch a SaaS](https://zeroraised.com/blog/where-to-launch-a-saas) sorts venues by product stage.

## Launch week: read the first comments as data

On launch day, stay in the thread, answer every question and fix small things on the spot. Track trial starts, paid conversions once trials end, and the questions people ask more than once.

The 3 & Done thread shows what the first comments usually test:

| What commenters raised | Example from the thread | What to change before your launch |
|---|---|---|
| How the price was chosen | asafel asked how the maker chose $99 a year | Be able to explain your price in two sentences, from cost and from alternatives |
| Whether it is worth paying for | "$9.99/month for a todo app with email that was generated with AI." | Say on the page what the product does that a free tool or a chatbot does not |
| The landing page | It "looks like a trivial to-do application with additional polish" | Show the hard part working, not only the interface |
| Who it is for | The maker: a subscription "changes who will use it, and how many people will use it" | Accept that charging narrows the audience, and write for the people who remain |

All quotes are from the [Show HN thread](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50151980). The maker replied to the price criticism by pointing people to the trial and to data export, which is the right move: answer the doubt with a way to check, not an argument.

Afterwards, put every repeated question on the page. For a plan for the weeks after launch, see [how to get your first 100 users](https://zeroraised.com/blog/how-to-get-your-first-100-users).

## Sources

Every page below was opened and returned a working page on 28 Oct 2026. Prices and rules change, so check the page before you rely on a number.

- [Show HN: I built a task system to handle the drudgery so I could focus on tasks](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50151980): the 3 & Done Show HN post, its date, points and comments.
- [3 & Done home page](https://3anddoneapp.com/): 3 & Done's trial, prices and "2 months free" yearly label.
- [Show HN guidelines](https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html): Show HN rules.
- [Stripe trials documentation](https://docs.stripe.com/billing/subscriptions/trials): trial reminder emails and the trial-ending event.
- [Stripe UK pricing](https://stripe.com/gb/pricing): Stripe UK card fees.
- [Stripe US pricing](https://stripe.com/pricing): Stripe US card fees.
- [Stripe Billing pricing](https://stripe.com/gb/billing/pricing): Stripe Billing fee and customer portal.
- [Paddle pricing](https://www.paddle.com/pricing): Paddle fee and merchant of record tax handling.
- [Lemon Squeezy pricing](https://www.lemonsqueezy.com/pricing): Lemon Squeezy fee, no monthly fee and customer portal.
- [Lemon Squeezy fees](https://docs.lemonsqueezy.com/help/getting-started/fees): extra fees for international, PayPal and subscription payments.
- [Polar pricing](https://polar.sh/resources/pricing): Polar plans and fees.
- [Neon pricing](https://neon.com/pricing): Neon free plan limits.
- [Vercel fair use guidelines](https://vercel.com/docs/limits/fair-use-guidelines): Hobby plan non-commercial rule.
- [GOV.UK: Register for VAT](https://www.gov.uk/register-for-vat): UK VAT registration threshold.
- [HMRC: VAT rules for digital services to consumers](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-vat-rules-if-you-supply-digital-services-to-private-consumers): VAT on digital services to consumers and businesses, and evidence rules.
- [EU VAT One Stop Shop](https://vat-one-stop-shop.ec.europa.eu/index_en): EU One Stop Shop since 1 July 2021.
- [EU OSS: declare and pay](https://vat-one-stop-shop.ec.europa.eu/one-stop-shop/declare-and-pay-oss_en): the non-Union scheme for sellers outside the EU.
- [StartupBase launch page](https://startupbase.io/launch): free queue time and premium price.
- [TinyLaunch home page](https://www.tinylaunch.com/): badge and backlink rules.
- [TinyLaunch pricing](https://www.tinylaunch.com/pricing): featured spots and the directory submission service.
- [TinyLaunch agent guide](https://www.tinylaunch.com/llms.txt): free queue and premium launch.

## Where ZeroRaised fits

Launch boards and Show HN bring a burst of visitors. They do not decide whether a micro SaaS keeps any of them; the price, the trial and the page do that.

[ZeroRaised](https://zeroraised.com/) is a free launch site for bootstrapped makers whose products have no institutional VC or accelerator equity. Once your micro SaaS is live, people can try it and checkout works, you can [submit it for review](https://zeroraised.com/submit). The [maker perks page](https://zeroraised.com/perks) lists separate offers for eligible makers, and the [launch sites directory](https://zeroraised.com/launch-sites) lists other places to list by audience.

So, how to launch a micro SaaS in one line: make it sellable, check your plan terms and fees, book the free queues a month out, post where people can try it, and treat the first comments as the most useful feedback you will get all year.

## Frequently asked questions

### What is a micro SaaS?

A micro SaaS is a small software-as-a-service product, usually built and run by one person or a very small team, that solves one narrow problem for a specific group of users and charges a subscription or usage fee. It is small in scope and costs, not necessarily in ambition.

### How do I launch a micro SaaS with no audience?

Make the product easy to try without talking to you, get checkout and a trial working, then post it where makers and early adopters look for new tools: Show HN if people can try it, launch boards such as StartupBase and TinyLaunch, and maker communities. Book the free launch queues weeks ahead, because the free routes on small launch boards often wait about a month.

### Should a micro SaaS use Stripe or a merchant of record?

Stripe on its own has lower list fees but leaves VAT and sales tax to you. A merchant of record such as Paddle, Lemon Squeezy or Polar charges more per sale, listed at 5% plus 50 cents, but becomes the legal seller and handles the tax. If you sell to consumers in many countries, a merchant of record is the simpler start; you can revisit the choice once revenue is steady.

### How much does it cost to launch a micro SaaS?

The fixed costs can be close to zero at launch: free database tiers exist, and StartupBase and TinyLaunch both have free launch routes. Watch for plan rules, such as Vercel's Hobby plan being for non-commercial use only, and remember that every payment carries a provider fee. Paid launch options on those two boards start at $39.

### When should I charge for my micro SaaS?

From launch, if the product already does its one job well. A free trial lets people test it first; 3 & Done launched with a 14-day trial that needs a card and warns users seven days before the first charge. Charging early tells you whether the problem is worth paying for, which free sign-ups cannot.