Indie Founders Make Boring Screen Capture Tools Lucrative

Screen capture software might seem boring, but it serves a real needs for developers. Despite their simplicity, these tools can be surprisingly profitable.

Let's check out a few examples of seemingly boring but money-making screenshot tools.

Screenapp: $50,000/Year

ScreenApp revolutionizes videos, using AI for effortless upload, transcription, and summarization. With ChatGPT, it ensures comprehensive memory, making it the ideal solution for streamlined onboarding and training.

ScreenApp, founded by Andre Smith and Buddhika Jayawardhana in 2022, addresses the challenges of documenting extensive video content in the era of remote work. Serving as a comprehensive business assistant, ScreenApp revolutionizes the capture, organization, and consumption of videos to make knowledge storage more accessible. The vision is to establish video as the universal language for business documentation, simplifying and enhancing the productivity of remote work.

In August 2023, founder Andre-Dean Smith disclosed on Twitter that ScreenApp generated an impressive $51,835 in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR)

Xnapper: $6000/Month

Xnapper is a macOS screenshot app that simplifies the process of capturing aesthetically pleasing screenshots with features like centered framing, rounded corners, and watermarking, enabling users to create and share these visuals effortlessly.

Tony Dinh created Xnapper in 2022 out of frustration as a content creator who regularly shares images and screenshots on Twitter and LinkedIn. Dissatisfied with the complexity of existing solutions for creating attractive screenshots, he aimed to streamline the process.

Tony shared on his Twitter account that the MRR of Xnapper is $6000.

Cleanshot: $100k

CleanShot is the go-to tool for capturing your Mac's screen like a pro, featuring Quick Access Overlay for instant actions, a built-in annotate tool for quick highlights, and the ability to generate seamlessly aligned window screenshots with your wallpaper as a background.

CleanShot, crafted by Luke Oslizlo and Paweł Magiera in 2018, was born out of the founder's frustration with a cluttered desktop. The tool allows users to capture screenshots and recordings seamlessly, eliminating desktop icons.

In a 2019 interview, Luke mentioned that they were approaching the milestone of crossing the $100k mark.

Screen Studio: $3000

Screen Studio is a specialized tool designed to enhance the visual appeal of your screen recordings automatically.

Screen Studio was developed by Adam Pietrasiak in 2022. The idea stemmed from the challenges of creating and maintaining relevant 'app videos' due to the rapid changes in app interfaces. Recognizing the need for a solution, Adam conceptualized Screen Studio to simplify the process of making engaging promo videos for digital products. The core concept is to automate the process by intelligently tracking the mouse cursor and adding subtle animations and layout effects to create visually appealing videos.

According to Adam Pietrasiak, Screen Studio generated $3,467.45 on January 4, 2023.