What you are buying
These SaaS businesses for sale are listed by founders who connected a payment provider such as Stripe, Lemon Squeezy, Polar, or Dodo Payments, so the revenue graph on each profile comes from provider data rather than a pasted screenshot. When you buy a small SaaS company you are usually buying a codebase, a hosted production environment, a domain and brand, a customer list with active subscriptions, and the payment-provider relationship that bills those customers. In most small deals this is an asset purchase rather than a purchase of the seller's legal entity, which changes what liabilities and contracts come with it; see the guide to asset purchase versus stock purchase before you draft a letter of intent.
The hardest part of a SaaS transfer is usually billing continuity, not code. Stripe's support guidance says a seller should contact Stripe Support first to confirm which details need to change, after which the payout bank account, statement descriptor, receipt details, legal name, and tax ID can be updated; if the acquiring entity is in a different country, Stripe describes a separate process because an account's country cannot be changed. Plan that step early, because a forced migration of saved cards to a new account can cost subscribers. In U.S. asset sales where goodwill attaches, the IRS expects both buyer and seller to file Form 8594 to report how the price is allocated across asset classes, so agree the allocation in the purchase agreement rather than after closing.
What to check before making an offer
Separate subscription MRR from trailing revenue
RevenueBug's headline number is trailing 30-day revenue, which can include annual prepayments, one-time setup fees, and lifetime deals. Ask the seller for a customer-level subscription export and rebuild MRR yourself. An annual renewal spike in the last 30 days can make a business look much larger than its monthly run rate.
Review cohort retention and churn reasons
Request monthly cohorts showing how many customers and how much revenue remain after 3, 6, and 12 months. Read a sample of cancellation reasons and support tickets. Retention that depends on one integration, one feature, or the founder's personal responsiveness is a transfer risk.
Confirm how billing will move
Decide whether the existing payment account will be transferred to you or customers must be re-subscribed on a new account. Ask the seller to contact the provider before signing so both sides know which steps the provider allows. Put the agreed path and a cooperation period in the purchase agreement.
Audit infrastructure costs and owner labor
List every recurring cost: hosting, databases, email delivery, monitoring, third-party APIs, and contractors. Then estimate the hours the founder spends on support, sales, and maintenance and price that time at what you would pay to replace it. Profit that only exists because the founder works for free is not transferable.
Check code ownership and open-source licenses
Confirm that the seller or their entity owns the code, including work done by contractors, and that contractor agreements assign IP. Run a dependency license scan to spot copyleft obligations. Make sure you can deploy the product yourself from a clean account before closing.
How these businesses are valued
Small SaaS businesses are typically valued on either recurring revenue or owner earnings, and the right basis depends on what you are buying. A growing product with healthy retention can justify an ARR-based view, while a stable, owner-operated product is usually priced on seller's discretionary earnings because the buyer is paying for cash flow. The SBA describes income, market, and asset approaches as distinct valuation methods; using more than one is a useful check against anchoring on a single multiple you heard online.
Verified trailing revenue is a starting point for valuation, not a substitute for it. Convert it into normalized MRR and ARR, subtract refunds and failed-payment churn, then build a profit and loss statement that includes realistic replacement labor. Concentration in a few large customers, a single acquisition channel, or one payment provider should reduce what you are willing to pay, while documented retention and low support load can support a higher price. RevenueBug does not publish valuation multiples or appraise listings.
Model a range with the SaaS valuation calculator, then work through the buyer due diligence checklist.