ValuePulseAI

SaaS valuation multiples in 2026

Owner-operated software under $1M ARR trades at roughly 2x–4x owner earnings in 2026, rising with size. The headline multiples you read about — 6x, 8x, 12x revenue — are set on venture-funded companies a hundred times larger and do not apply to you.

Updated 30 Aug 2026 · comps refreshed 24 Aug 2026 · how we compute this

01Price your business against these bands

Six numbers, no signup. You get a range, the implied multiple, and the two metrics dragging your number down — each one costed in dollars.

Free. No account, no password. Your email is only asked for after you have seen the number.

Every adjustment is named on the method page, with the published source and the date behind it.

02The answer in full

The bands we price against

Multiples rise with size for one unglamorous reason: the buyer pool. A $60,000 business is bought by one person with savings. A $600,000 business is bought by a small fund with a mandate, and there are more of them competing.

Size bandBase multiple, owner earningsRoughly, on revenue
$1,000–$5,000 MRR2.4x1.7x
$5,000–$10,000 MRR2.8x2.0x
$10,000–$25,000 MRR3.2x2.3x
$25,000–$50,000 MRR3.6x2.6x
Above $50,000 MRR3.6x2.6x

Comps updated 24 Aug 2026. Anchored on Flippa, 20 Feb 2026 for the 2x–4x owner-earnings range on owner-operated software under $1M ARR, tilted toward FE International, 21 Jan 2026 for businesses under $2M.

Why the number you read on X is wrong for you

SaaS Capital, Jan 2025 surveys private SaaS companies and reports revenue multiples in the mid single digits. Those companies have sales teams, boards and a median revenue in the tens of millions. Applying their multiple to a $10,000 MRR business overstates it by a factor of two or more, and it is the single most common way a bootstrapped founder gets anchored badly.

The second distortion is asking price versus closed price. Marketplace listings show what sellers want. Closed-deal data shows what buyers paid, and the gap between the two is where a first-time seller loses six months.

What moves you inside the band

What a buyer checksNeutralEffect at the extreme
Monthly revenue churn3.2% a month$90,000 off a $301,000 business at 4.7%
Largest customerunder 20% of revenue$66,000 off at 42% of revenue
Growth20–40% a year$105,500 off if revenue is flat
Operating history24 months or more$60,000 off at 9 months live

Every row is the same $10,000 MRR business with one input changed, computed by the engine on this site.

How current this is

Every source we price against is listed with its publication date on the method page, and the aggregate of scores run here is published in the ValuePulse Index with the run count next to each figure — including when the count is too thin to publish a median. Comps last refreshed 24 Aug 2026.

03Common questions
What is a good multiple for a micro-SaaS in 2026?
For owner-operated software under $50k MRR, 2.4x–3.6x owner earnings is the working range, before adjustments for churn, growth, margin, age and customer concentration.
Why are micro-SaaS multiples lower than public SaaS multiples?
Because the earnings are less durable and the buyer pool is smaller. A public company's multiple prices liquidity and scale that a one-person business does not have.
Do AI features raise the multiple?
Not on their own. Buyers price retained revenue and defensibility. A feature raises the multiple only when it shows up in churn, growth or margin.
04Read next

valuation basics

What is my SaaS worth?

worked example

How do you value a $10k MRR SaaS?

red flags

How much does churn affect my SaaS valuation?

Next

A buyer will find eleven more reasons to move your number. The Value Audit finds them first, each one priced, each one with the fix.