The indie hacker community — developers who build and sell products solo — has mostly converged on a specific toolset. Not because someone told them to, but because these tools have proven to reduce friction, handle compliance automatically, and let one person do the work of a team.
Here's the complete stack, organized by category.
Payments: The Three Options
Stripe is the default starting point for most indie hackers. The developer experience is excellent — the docs are clear, the dashboard is well-designed, and the API handles subscriptions, one-time payments, invoices, and refunds cleanly. The problem: Stripe doesn't handle international tax collection for you. If you have EU customers, you're responsible for calculating and remitting VAT. This is workable but annoying.
Lemon Squeezy has become very popular in indie hacker circles because it acts as a merchant of record — they handle all tax compliance globally on your behalf. You get paid out after they deduct their fees and taxes. Slightly more expensive than Stripe per transaction, but you never think about VAT again. Good for developers who don't want to deal with international tax law.
Paddle is similar to Lemon Squeezy as a merchant of record, slightly more established for SaaS, and used by a number of larger bootstrapped companies. If Lemon Squeezy is the indie hacker friendly option, Paddle is what you upgrade to when you're running a more substantial business.
Email Marketing: ConvertKit
ConvertKit (recently rebranded as Kit) is the email platform most indie hackers use. It's built for creators and small developer-led businesses, with clean automation, a good API, and subscriber segmentation that's powerful without being overwhelming.
The free tier allows up to 1,000 subscribers, which covers most projects in early stages. Pricing scales by subscriber count, which is the right model — you pay more as your audience grows, which usually tracks with growing revenue.
For transactional emails (receipts, confirmations, password resets), indie hackers typically use Resend or Postmark alongside ConvertKit. Resend is particularly popular in the developer community because of its clean API and developer-first approach.
Analytics: Plausible + Ahrefs/Semrush
Plausible Analytics is the analytics tool most indie hackers use instead of Google Analytics. It's privacy-focused (no cookies, GDPR compliant by design), shows you the data you actually need (pageviews, referrers, top pages, countries), and doesn't require a cookie consent banner. $9/month up to 10k pageviews.
For SEO keyword research — figuring out what search terms to target and what competitors are ranking for — the two main tools are Ahrefs and Semrush. Both are expensive ($100+/month) but essential for any indie hacker treating content as a growth channel. Most people pick one and stick with it. Ahrefs has a slightly better reputation for backlink data; Semrush has more integrated marketing tools.
Hosting and Infrastructure
Vercel for frontend and full-stack Next.js/React apps. The free tier handles most early-stage projects. Zero configuration deploys, edge network, good developer experience. The default choice when you're building a modern web app.
Railway for backend services, background jobs, databases, and anything that doesn't fit Vercel's serverless model. Generous free tier, easy scaling, and you don't need to manage servers manually.
Supabase for database, auth, and storage with a Postgres backend. Essentially Firebase but open source and using Postgres instead of a proprietary database. Free tier is substantial. Extremely popular for solo developers who need a backend without building one from scratch.
Hetzner for raw VPS/dedicated servers when self-hosting makes more economic sense than managed services. At $6-40/month for a European server, you get a lot of compute. Popular with indie hackers who are comfortable with Linux administration and want to avoid cloud provider markups.
Customer Support: Crisp
Crisp is the live chat and support tool most indie hackers use. Free tier allows one support inbox, two team seats, and basic chat functionality. The free plan covers everything a solo developer needs in early stages. Easy to embed, works across web and mobile.
Alternatives at the same price point: Intercom (more expensive but very polished), HelpScout (email-focused, good for async support).
Authentication: Clerk or Supabase Auth
Clerk has become the default for auth in modern Next.js apps. Drop in a few components, get social login (Google, GitHub), email magic links, and session management working in under an hour. Free up to 10,000 monthly active users.
If you're already using Supabase, Supabase Auth handles everything without adding another service. For everything else, Clerk is usually the fastest path.
No-Code Tools for Non-Technical Parts
Notion — used for documentation, roadmaps, knowledge bases, and writing. Particularly popular for public-facing roadmaps and changelogs that give users insight into product development.
Canva — social media graphics, product screenshots, landing page illustrations, and pitch decks. Most indie hackers are not designers; Canva's templates bridge that gap reasonably well.
Typefully — for scheduling Twitter/X threads and posts. Growing in public on X is a common indie hacker growth strategy; Typefully is the tool most people use to draft and schedule content.
The Full Indie Hacker Stack
| Category | Tool | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Payments | Stripe or Lemon Squeezy | % of revenue |
| Email marketing | ConvertKit | Free up to 1k subs |
| Transactional email | Resend or Postmark | Free / pay per use |
| Web analytics | Plausible | $9/mo |
| SEO research | Semrush or Ahrefs | $100+/mo |
| Frontend hosting | Vercel | Free / paid |
| Backend/infra | Railway or Hetzner VPS | $5-40/mo |
| Database + auth | Supabase | Free / paid |
| Customer support | Crisp | Free |
| Auth (Next.js) | Clerk | Free up to 10k MAU |
| Project management | Notion | Free |
| Design | Canva | Free / $15mo |
What This Tells You
The indie hacker stack isn't random. Every tool on this list either: has a free tier generous enough to get to revenue before paying, handles something annoying automatically (taxes, email deliverability, auth), or reduces the amount of code you need to write.
The goal of a solo developer building a product is to spend as little time on infrastructure and compliance as possible, and as much time as possible on the actual product and distribution. This stack achieves that better than most alternatives.
Start with Vercel + Supabase + Stripe + ConvertKit. Add the rest when you actually need it.