Marko Saric: How Plausible Grew to $1M ARR Without Investors | Subscription Heroes #24

When Plausible Analytics started more than six years ago, it was a solo project by developer Uku Taht, a privacy-friendly alternative to Google Analytics. He built a beta, shared it on Indie Hackers, and promoted it publicly to gain traction.

About a year and three or four months in, revenue had reached $400 MRR and then stalled for several months. Uku realized he needed help with marketing.

That’s when he came across a blog post by Marko Saric about alternatives to Google and how to “de-Google” your life. Impressed, Uku reached out via cold email. Marko clicked through to Plausible’s website, liked what he saw, and recognized its potential. As a marketer with experience in both large teams and independent blogging, he decided to join forces with Uku.

They’ve now been working together for over five years. The team has grown to 11 core members, plus several part-time contributors who build integrations and plugins. Plausible now serves more than 15,000 paying subscribers, with tens of thousands of people using the platform daily.

Opening the Code

When Marko joined, Plausible wasn’t open source. About six months later, they made the decision to open the code—a first for both founders.

The motivation was transparency: in a privacy-first product, trust matters, and letting anyone inspect the code could back up their marketing claims. But there were challenges. Their initial permissive license made it easy for others to fork the code, rebrand it, and resell it.

Over time, they adjusted the license to require forks to remain open source, and later kept several new features out of the self-hosted release to protect their ability to earn revenue. This allowed them to remain transparent while still sustaining the business and paying the team.

Why Content Came First

Marko’s background was in content marketing, social media, and blogging — so that’s where he started. From day one, he wrote educational and informative posts that didn’t promote Plausible directly until the end.

At the time, Plausible had just one daily visitor from Google. Over the years, those posts brought in traffic from search engines, communities like Hacker News and Indie Hackers, and eventually from ChatGPT referrals.

Even as the brand became better known, they stuck with content and social media, never adding paid ads or affiliate programs. In May, they recorded their best month yet.

No Rush for Hypergrowth

The decision to avoid ads and affiliates wasn’t driven by temptation, but by priorities. Without investors, there was no external pressure to chase maximum growth. The focus was on running a sustainable, profitable business.

Most of the team works four days a week, with flexible hours and locations. Marko believes that doubling growth speed would require trade-offs—more pressure, faster feature delivery, and more stress—that could undermine their calm approach.

Competing With Free

Going up against Google Analytics, which is free, might seem impossible. But growing awareness around privacy, fueled by regulations like GDPR and high-profile data scandals, has created a market for alternatives.

For those who care about privacy, transparency, and ease of use, Plausible offers a clear value. Customers know the company doesn’t sell their data, has no investors, and funds itself entirely through subscriptions.

Plausible’s growth story shows that you don’t need investors, ads, or high-pressure tactics to build a sustainable business. Just a clear mission, consistent execution, and the patience to let trust compound over time.