The acquisition market for AI tools is real but opaque. Here's what actually determines the price — with real comparables from tools we've graded.
Current market (July 2026). Based on AI tool acquisitions in the $5k–$100k range.
| Stage | MRR Range | Multiple (ARR) | Typical Sale Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Early / unproven | $0–$500 MRR, <3 months | 1–3x ARR | $0–$18k |
| Building / emerging | $500–$2k MRR, 3–5 months | 3–8x ARR | $18k–$48k |
| Traction / proven | $2k–$5k MRR, 6+ months | 8–15x ARR | $48k–$180k |
| Defensible / sticky | $5k+ MRR, 70%+ retention | 15–25x ARR | $180k+ |
README, architecture diagram, runbook. The difference between "technical buyer required" and "any operator can run it."
Month-2 and month-3 cohort data. Shows churn risk. A 70%+ month-2 retention rate is worth more than 2 extra months of MRR.
Configurable branding, multi-tenant capable, no hard-coded founder references. Agencies pay a premium for this.
Stripe, OpenAI, domain, API integrations — all under a business entity, not the founder's personal accounts.
If operating requires you to be on call, buyers discount heavily. Every hour of founder involvement post-sale reduces acquisition value.
Less than 3 months of MRR data is priced as potential, not proof. The discount is real, not negotiable.
If margins drop below 60% at scale due to LLM costs, operators discount for the reinvestment required to maintain margins.
If all users came from one post or one referral, the growth trajectory is unproven. Buyers want to see repeatable distribution.
$5.8k MRR · 9 months · Ex-data analyst founder
$4.1k MRR · 6 months · Ex-sales engineer founder
$1.8k MRR · 4 months · Daily-use workflow
$3.3k MRR · 2 months · Microsoft founder
$680 MRR · 3 months · PM founder, early stage
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