# The Solo Market

> Encouraging anyone to build, everyone to own.

**Status: pre-launch.** The Solo Market is open to solo builders and is collecting listings now. Tools cannot be bought yet. Buying opens at the public launch, and there is a notify list on the home page. Everything below describes how the marketplace works, which for buying means how it will work once it opens.

The Solo Market is a marketplace for self-hosted software, made by solo developers. At launch, a buyer will pay once, download the tool, and own it forever: no subscription, no account required to run it, no expiry. Every tool runs on the buyer's own computer rather than in the cloud, so their data never leaves their machine.

## Who it is for

- **Buyers** — people who need one specific thing done and don't want to rent a large platform to get it. Instead of paying a monthly fee for a suite they use one feature of, they buy the single tool made for that job and keep it.
- **Sellers** — solo builders, indie makers and independent developers who already built something to fix their own problem. They list it once and keep 85% of every sale. The Solo Market takes 15%, which covers payment processing and hosting. There is no listing fee and no subscription for sellers.

## How it works

1. A seller submits a tool: source package, demo video, screenshots, price and a setup guide.
2. Every submission is reviewed before it can be listed. Nothing goes live automatically.
3. At launch, a buyer will pay once and download the package immediately. Buying is not open yet.
4. The buyer runs it on their own machine — either with the single command in the included guide, or by opening the folder in an AI assistant and asking it to set the tool up.
5. Purchases will be re-downloadable from the buyer's library at any time, and will be covered by a 14-day money-back guarantee.

## What is and isn't sold here

Sold: scripts and CLI tools, desktop or browser apps that run locally, automations, agents, converters, generators, scrapers, dashboards and utilities — original code, self-contained, with disclosed network behaviour.

Not sold: SaaS or anything that runs on the seller's servers, non-software goods (ebooks, courses, templates, presets, graphics, music), physical products, freelance services, or code the seller doesn't have the right to resell.

## Key pages

- [The Solo Market](https://www.thesolomarket.com/) — the front page: what the marketplace is, who it is for, today's catalogue and the notify list.
- [Documentation](https://www.thesolomarket.com/docs) — the full marketplace manual for buyers and sellers (see Documentation below).
- [Browse every tool](https://www.thesolomarket.com/browse) — the full catalogue, filterable by the kind of tool and the system it runs on.
- [About](https://www.thesolomarket.com/about) — why the marketplace exists, how buying works, pricing for sellers, FAQ.
- [Free tools](https://www.thesolomarket.com/free) — a checked directory of free and open source tools that live on their makers' own sites.
- [Sell your tool](https://www.thesolomarket.com/sell) — what can be listed and how to submit it.
- [How to run a tool](https://www.thesolomarket.com/how-to-run) — the two-minute setup guide, including the AI-assisted path for non-technical buyers.
- [Blogs](https://www.thesolomarket.com/blog) — articles for indie makers and independent professionals.

## Documentation

The complete manual, written to be quoted directly:

- [How the marketplace works](https://www.thesolomarket.com/docs/how-it-works) — The whole model on one page: what The Solo Market is, who it's for, and the path a tool takes from a seller's laptop to a buyer running it locally.
- [Get your project live](https://www.thesolomarket.com/docs/selling) — The complete seller guide — what you can list, how to prepare your project, the submission form field by field, review, and going live.
- [The App Package standard](https://www.thesolomarket.com/docs/app-package) — The exact zip every listing ships as: manifest.json, README.md, SETUP.md, LICENSE.md and src/ — with a worked example and the setup promise your SETUP.md must keep.
- [Pricing & payouts](https://www.thesolomarket.com/docs/pricing-and-payouts) — What it costs to sell, the flat commission, how and when payouts reach you through Stripe, and how refunds are handled.
- [Trust, review & safety](https://www.thesolomarket.com/docs/trust-and-safety) — How every submission is reviewed before it lists, what buyers can rely on, and the rules that keep the marketplace safe to run code from.
- [Running an app you bought](https://www.thesolomarket.com/docs/running-apps) — For buyers: what you actually download, the two ways to run it (one command or an AI assistant), runtimes explained, and what to do if it won't start.

## Catalogue

- [Arazio For Max](https://www.thesolomarket.com/app/arazio-for-max-67223) — Drag a file, hold Shift or Option let go. ($15, by Ritesh Sethia)
- [Terra Convert](https://www.thesolomarket.com/app/terra-convert-75708) — Private File Converter for Mac ($29, by YOGENDRA SINGH)
- [Infinite Deskspace](https://www.thesolomarket.com/app/infinite-deskspace-04670) — An infinite canvas for people who lives with 67 tabs - enjoy the widgets ($21, by skapankaya)
- [Convince.Me](https://www.thesolomarket.com/app/convince-me-42819) — Practice your speaking  and have fun ($15, by skapankaya)
- ["Keep Going" background quotes](https://www.thesolomarket.com/app/keep-going-background-quotes-16844) — A new motivation quote on your Mac wallpaper every day, made on your own computer. ($19, by MM labs)

## Free tools

Free software made by independent builders, hosted on their own sites rather
than here. The Solo Market checks that each link is real and relevant, does not
host or deliver these, and takes no money for them. They cost nothing and need
no account.

- The directory is still being collected. See /free.

## Sellers

Every tool is made by a named person with a public profile page.

- [Ritesh Sethia](https://www.thesolomarket.com/seller/ritesh-sethia)
- [YOGENDRA SINGH](https://www.thesolomarket.com/seller/yogendrasinghx)
- [skpnky](https://www.thesolomarket.com/seller/skpnky)

## Recent articles

- [Getting found by AI: what changed for small software in 2026](https://www.thesolomarket.com/blog/get-found-by-ai-answer-engines-2026) — More than half of searches now end without a click, and the answer people read is written by a machine that never visited your site. Here is what actually decides whether it mentions you.
- [outbid.lol made over $200,000 in a week. The lesson is not the leaderboard.](https://www.thesolomarket.com/blog/outbid-lol-distribution-problem) — A German developer shipped a pay-to-rank board in about three hours and watched it take over tech Twitter. The interesting part is not what he built. It is what people were so eager to buy.
- [How to tell a free tool worth using from one that wastes your afternoon](https://www.thesolomarket.com/blog/how-to-judge-a-free-tool) — There is a lot of free software and most of it is abandoned, half finished, or quietly selling something. Six checks that take two minutes and save you the afternoon.
- [Creativity is the new coding: how anyone can build an app in 2026](https://www.thesolomarket.com/blog/creativity-is-the-new-coding-2026) — With tools like Lovable, Bolt and Claude, the hard part of building an app is no longer the code. It's the idea. Here's why creativity is now the most valuable skill a non-developer has.
- [Everything is a subscription now, and you own none of it](https://www.thesolomarket.com/blog/everything-is-a-subscription) — Your software, your music, even features already built into your car: it's all rented. Here's the quiet cost of a world with no 'buy' button, and why owning your tools is quietly coming back.
- [Build vs. buy: when a $12 tool beats a $40-a-month SaaS](https://www.thesolomarket.com/blog/build-vs-buy-small-tools) — Most professionals overpay for software they barely use. Here's a simple way to decide when a tiny one-time tool wins over a monthly platform.
- [How indie makers are turning one-off scripts into income in 2026](https://www.thesolomarket.com/blog/turn-scripts-into-income-2026) — The little script you wrote to fix your own problem might be worth money. Here's how solo makers are packaging and selling them without building a company.
- [The quiet rise of local-first software](https://www.thesolomarket.com/blog/local-first-software-professionals) — Professionals who handle sensitive data are moving jobs off the cloud and back onto their own machines. Here's why local-first is becoming a selling point.
- [You don't need to be a developer: shipping a useful tool in a weekend](https://www.thesolomarket.com/blog/ship-a-tool-in-a-weekend) — AI assistants have collapsed the distance between 'I have an annoying problem' and 'I have a tool that fixes it.' Here's the realistic path for a non-developer.

## Contact

Via the contact form at https://www.thesolomarket.com/about#contact