TechLogHub Data · updated October 18, 2026
What Indie Tools Charge in 2026
We parsed the pricing tiers of every approved listing in the directory: 576 developer and maker tools, 459 of them with pricing information. Here is what an indie tool actually costs to start using in 2026.
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Free is the default, not the exception
302 of 576 listings (52%) have a genuinely free tier, freemium plan or open-source edition. Another 39 hide the number behind "custom" or "contact us", and 61 mention an enterprise plan. 181 listings publish no price at all.
The entry price clusters between $5 and $29
Across the 195 tools that publish a starting price, the median is $14 per month and the mean is $31.14: a long tail of $49-and-up plans pulls the average up. One in ten tools starts at $0.04 or less.
Monthly billing dominates; lifetime deals are a real minority
Of the tools that describe their billing, 635 bill monthly, 210 sell a one-time or lifetime licence, 135 quote an annual price up front, and only 85 lead with a time-limited free trial. For indie tools, "free forever tier" has replaced "14-day trial" as the on-ramp.
Pricing by category
Categories with at least five listings. Free-tier share and the median published entry price per month.
| Category | Listings | Free tier | Median entry |
|---|---|---|---|
| Other | 106 | 38% | $29 (35) |
| SaaS & Web Apps | 67 | 51% | $19 (29) |
| Productivity & Collaboration | 49 | 57% | $5.99 (13) |
| Finance & Fintech | 44 | 43% | $9.99 (14) |
| AI & Machine Learning | 43 | 58% | $9 (17) |
| Design & Creative | 39 | 64% | $9 (14) |
| Developer Tools | 28 | 71% | $15 (5) |
| Data & Analytics | 26 | 62% | $15 (15) |
| Education & Learning | 25 | 36% | $3.80 (8) |
| Mobile Apps | 20 | 60% | $0.99 (1) |
| API & Backend | 15 | 53% | $0 (2) |
| Gaming | 13 | 54% | $4.99 (2) |
| Sales & CRM | 13 | 38% | $49 (6) |
| SEO & Content | 10 | 60% | $15 (4) |
| AI Tools & Platforms | 10 | 70% | $0.04 (4) |
| Security & Privacy | 10 | 40% | $29 (3) |
| Project Management | 8 | 38% | $7 (3) |
| Communication & Messaging | 7 | 43% | $4.99 (2) |
| Cloud & DevOps | 6 | 83% | $1 (2) |
| AI Agents & Automation | 5 | 100% | $0 (2) |
| Database & Storage | 5 | 60% | $5 (3) |
| Customer Support | 5 | 40% | $5 (4) |
| No-Code & Website Builders | 5 | 40% | $3.33 (2) |
Currency
90% of published prices are in US dollars even though a large share of the makers are outside the US. 11 price in EUR, 5 price in GBP, 4 price in INR.
Methodology
Source: every listing on TechLogHub with status approved on October 18, 2026 (576 products). Each listing carries up to three free-text pricing tiers written by the maker or our editors. "Free tier" means the listing's pricing model is Free, Freemium or Open Source, or one of its plan tiers is itself a free plan — it leads with "Free", or names a free plan, free tier or free forever — while carrying no price of its own and describing no trial. Conditional copy such as "free for open source projects, $49/mo commercial" is counted as paid. "Entry price" is the lowest explicit amount in any tier, with the currency symbol mapped to USD, EUR, GBP or INR; prices are not converted between currencies. Percentiles are computed over listings with an explicit price. The same parser powers the structured data on every product page, and this page recomputes daily. Data is free to reuse with a link to this page (CC BY 4.0).
Is your tool in the dataset?
Listing is free. Makers who claim their page can edit pricing, post deals and publish releases.