The multiple ranges, by company size
SaaS valuation multiples cluster by company size and buyer type. Small bootstrapped SaaS, roughly under $1M ARR, typically sells for 2.5x to 4x ARR, or more commonly 3x to 5x SDE (seller discretionary earnings). The buyers here are individuals, micro private equity firms, and small holdcos, and they price on profit because they need the business to pay for itself from day one.
Growth-stage companies, roughly $1M to $20M ARR with 40%+ annual growth, trade at 5x to 10x ARR. These buyers are strategic acquirers and growth equity funds pricing future revenue, not current profit. Public SaaS companies provide the ceiling context: the median public SaaS multiple has ranged from about 5x to 12x forward revenue over the past decade depending on interest rates, with elite growth and retention trading well above the median.
The mistake is anchoring on the wrong tier. A $400k ARR bootstrapped tool does not get the multiple of a venture-backed company, no matter what a headline said about a business that looks superficially similar.
- Under $1M ARR, bootstrapped: 2.5x to 4x ARR, or 3x to 5x SDE
- $1M to $20M ARR with 40%+ growth: 5x to 10x ARR
- Public SaaS median: roughly 5x to 12x forward revenue, rate dependent
- Flat or declining SaaS: 1x to 2x ARR, often less
SDE vs ARR multiples: the mix-up that costs founders
SDE stands for seller discretionary earnings: net profit plus the founder's salary and any personal expenses run through the business. It answers the buyer's real question, which is how much cash this business puts in their pocket each year. For SaaS under $1M ARR, most closed deals are priced as a multiple of SDE, not ARR.
Founders read that small SaaS sells for 3x to 4x and quietly assume that means ARR. It usually means SDE. A business doing $360k ARR with $250k SDE at 3.5x SDE is worth about $875k, which is 2.4x ARR. If you assumed 3.5x meant ARR, you expected $1.26M; the realistic number is about $875k. That is a $385k expectation gap from one misread word.
Both multiples describe the same deal from different angles. Quote SDE multiples when your margins are the story and ARR multiples when growth is the story. Buyers will run both and take the lower one seriously.
What moves the multiple
Within any range, six factors decide whether you land at the bottom or the top. None of them are secrets, and buyers check all six in the first week of diligence.
Growth and retention matter most. A SaaS growing 60% a year with 110% net revenue retention earns the top of its range; flat growth with 4% monthly churn earns the bottom or no offer at all. After that, buyers price risk: how much of the business walks out the door if the founder leaves, and how much revenue disappears if one customer does.
- Growth rate: 40%+ year over year pushes the multiple up; under 15% drags it down
- Net revenue retention: above 100% earns a premium; below 85% takes a discount
- Monthly revenue churn: under 2% is strong for SMB SaaS; over 5% scares buyers off
- Gross margin: 80%+ is standard; heavy services or infrastructure costs cut the multiple
- Founder dependency and customer concentration: a founder doing all sales and support, or any customer over 15% of revenue, both cost you
Worked example: valuing a $30k MRR bootstrapped SaaS
Take a concrete case: a solo-founder SaaS at $30k MRR, so $360k ARR. It grew 25% in the last year, monthly revenue churn is 2.5%, and gross margin is 85%. Operating costs are $110k a year across hosting, tools, and two part-time contractors, and the founder pays herself $50k. Net profit is $200k, so SDE is $250k after adding the salary back.
On profit: solid but unspectacular metrics put it around 3.5x SDE, so about $875k. On revenue: 25% growth and decent churn support roughly 2.5x ARR, about $900k. The two methods agree, which is what you want to see. A defensible asking range is $850k to $950k.
Now break it: if churn were 5% monthly and one customer were 30% of revenue, the same $360k ARR business drops to 2.5x to 3x SDE, roughly $600k to $750k. The metrics set the price, not the revenue line.
Where valuations actually clear
Marketplace data is the reality check. On Acquire.com and similar marketplaces, sub-$1M ARR SaaS listings routinely ask 4x to 6x ARR, while closed deals cluster around 2.5x to 3.5x ARR equivalents, and many listings never sell at all. The gap between asking and closing is the founder-hope premium, and buyers ignore it.
Deal structure moves the effective price too. A $900k headline with $500k cash at close and the rest as an earnout tied to retention targets is not a $900k deal; discount earnouts heavily when comparing offers. Expect 3 to 9 months from listing to close, expect diligence to reprice anything your metrics cannot back up, and if you want the top of your range, sell while growth is accelerating, not after it stalls.