Beyond Selling SaaS - 6 Ways to Make Money as a Developer

Forget the typical SaaS headaches—managing payment gateways, user sign-ups, and endless password reset requests. It's 2024, and you no longer need to deal with that tedious overhead. A growing number of platforms empower you to package your code, workflows, APIs, and even no-code solutions into products that customers can readily purchase—all without you ever handling their payment details or building a user authentication system. You focus on creating and maintaining the solution; these platforms handle subscriptions, registrations, and payouts.

For business owners and platform builders with limited time, this is a game-changer. Instead of doing everything yourself, you can leverage these platforms to quickly monetize your solutions and expertise.

Let's dive into the key categories, highlighting why each should matter to you, so you can step away from being a middleman in your own business and start getting compensated for your core strength: developing valuable solutions.

Disclaimer:
The platforms and marketplaces mentioned throughout this text are provided as examples to illustrate the possibilities that exist today. They are intended to give you a glimpse of the potential for monetizing your skills and solutions without the need to build everything from the ground up. These examples should not be taken as specific endorsements or recommendations to use one platform over another. Before making any commitments or investments, it's crucial to conduct thorough independent research and due diligence.

It's important to understand that while these platforms can significantly reduce the technical overhead typically associated with starting a SaaS business, success still requires a strong foundation in core business principles. This includes, but is not limited to, market research, understanding your target audience, competitive analysis, developing a compelling value proposition, and implementing effective marketing strategies.

There is no such thing as a free lunch

Furthermore, remember that these platforms are businesses themselves and need to generate revenue. Be sure to carefully review their fee structures, which can vary significantly. Some platforms may charge per user, per transaction, per API call, or take a percentage of your sales. It's essential to factor these costs into your pricing and business model to ensure profitability. The specific terms and conditions, including pricing, can be found in each platform's developer documentation. Before diving in, it's wise to take a closer look at these details to avoid any surprises down the line.

That said, let's dive in.

1. Source Code & Template Marketplaces

You might have valuable code, themes, or UI templates gathering dust. Instead of letting them languish, upload them to a marketplace with a built-in audience. These platforms handle marketing, billing, and product delivery. You simply upload your work and collect your earnings. For busy entrepreneurs, this is a fast way to generate revenue from existing assets.

Examples:

– ThemeForest: Ideal for front-end templates, WordPress themes, and design assets. Envato's payment system handles transactions, depositing your share directly into your account.
– CodeCanyon: Similar to ThemeForest, but focused on plugins and code snippets. Post your scripts, track sales, and let them manage the administrative complexities.

2. API Marketplaces

If you've built a specialized tool—like a sentiment analysis engine, image recognition model, or data enrichment pipeline—transform it into an API without the burden of user authentication or payment tiers. Publish your code, set your pricing, and let the platform manage the rest. For platform owners, this is a quick way to add valuable features without extensive development.

Examples:

– RapidAPI: Publish your API endpoints, define your pricing model (per call, subscription-based), and RapidAPI handles key management, subscription processing, and billing.

3. Automation & Web Scraping Stores

If you excel at building automations, scrapers, or bots, you don't need to build your own infrastructure and payment systems. List your workflows on a platform dedicated to these tasks. Customers execute and pay for them directly on the platform, and you receive your share. For businesses, this provides access to powerful automation tools without needing in-house developers.

– Apify Store: Publish your scrapers, crawlers, or data extraction tools. Customers pay Apify, and Apify compensates you. Scaling, billing, and user management are all taken care of.

No-Code Automation Platforms

Examples:

– Microsoft Power Automate: While not a traditional marketplace, Power Automate allows you to create and share "flows" (automations) within your organization or with partners. Businesses can purchase licenses and leverage pre-built connectors and templates, significantly reducing development time for common tasks.
– Publishing on Bubble.io: Create plugins or sell template that any user can use for their application within bubble.io.

4. App & Extension Ecosystems

Building custom extensions or apps for popular platforms can be incredibly lucrative. Instead of building a customer base from scratch, you can leverage their existing user pools. The marketplace handles the storefront, user accounts, and payment infrastructure. For platform owners, this expands the functionality of their existing systems without significant internal investment.

Examples:
– Atlassian Marketplace: Develop productivity or workflow apps for Jira, Confluence, and other Atlassian products. They have a large and engaged user base ready to purchase solutions. You publish, and Atlassian manages the rest.
– Shopify App Store: Assist e-commerce stores with analytics, marketing tools, or inventory management. Store owners already trust Shopify's payment system, and you get paid without any billing development work.

5. Integration & Workflow Directories

If you're skilled at connecting disparate APIs and services into cohesive workflows, integration marketplaces are your ideal platform. Assemble a valuable workflow and let someone else manage the payment process. For businesses, this provides access to pre-built integrations that streamline operations and improve efficiency.

– Zapier Integration Marketplace: Add your custom connectors or "Zaps" (automated workflows). Customers pay Zapier for the convenience, and you receive a portion without managing a single login page.

6. Data Marketplaces & Data-as-a-Service Platforms

You might be sitting on a goldmine of valuable data extracted from the web, processed through your proprietary algorithms, or collected from niche sources. Instead of letting that data gather digital dust, you can monetize it through specialized marketplaces. These platforms handle data discovery, licensing, secure delivery, and payment processing. For businesses, this provides access to unique datasets that can inform decision-making, fuel market research, or power machine learning models, all without the need to build data pipelines from scratch. This is where you as a "creator" come into place. You get the data and you are the one they pay because of your expertise and hustle to find it.

How It usually Works:

1. Data Acquisition: You use your coding skills (e.g., web scraping, API integrations, data mining) to collect valuable raw data. You can create a code that scrapt Twitter, Instagram or any public data to then use it.
2. Data Processing & Enrichment: You apply your code to clean, transform, and enrich the data, making it more useful and insightful. This might involve applying algorithms, statistical models, or machine learning techniques.
3. Data Packaging: You structure the data into a well-defined format (e.g., CSV, JSON, database dumps) that's easy for buyers to consume.
4. Listing on a Marketplace: You choose a data marketplace that aligns with your target audience and data type, create a compelling listing describing your dataset, and set your pricing.
5. Delivery & Monetization: The marketplace handles the rest. Buyers discover, purchase, and securely access your data through the platform. You receive your share of the revenue without managing payment gateways, user accounts, or data delivery infrastructure.

Wrap-Up:

You don't need to endure the traditional SaaS route of building payment systems, user sign-ups, or subscription logic. These platforms enable you to offload those tedious tasks. Focus on the enjoyable part: creating solutions that solve real problems. Let these platforms handle the rest—billing, user management, and infrastructure—while you collect your earnings with significantly less effort. For businesses and platform owners, this represents a faster, more efficient way to deliver value and generate revenue.