The Side Project market doesn't publish quarterly earnings. But five years of launch data paints a comparable picture. 188 products, engagement trends, and the names that rose above the noise.
Five years of Side Project launch data. Volume, engagement, and the products that stood out.
The Side Project market doesn't publish quarterly earnings. But five years of launch data paints a comparable picture. 188 products, engagement trends, and the names that rose above the noise.
| Quarter | Launches | Avg Interest Score | Top Product |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 2026 | 3 | 238 | SlapMac |
| Q2 2026 | 2 | 129 | Faahh |
| Q1 2025 | 1 | 21 | CtrlV |
| Q2 2025 | 6 | 40 | Webhook Catcher |
| Q3 2025 | 3 | 94 | VinylReleases |
| Q4 2025 | 5 | 137 | The Map of Human Ideas |
| Q1 2024 | 5 | 148 | Project Plan Generator |
| Q2 2024 | 1 | 323 | Logoit |
| Q3 2024 | 14 | 151 | Startups Leaderboards |
| Q4 2024 | 3 | 71 | Ayapo |
| Q1 2023 | 10 | 178 | No-Code Exits |
| Q2 2023 | 8 | 101 | AI Chat SMS |
| Q3 2023 | 12 | 140 | MVP Recipes |
| Q4 2023 | 6 | 169 | Your Domain Bot |
| Q1 2022 | 10 | 149 | Startup Recipes |
| Q2 2022 | 7 | 140 | No-Code Builder |
The Side Project category has been cooling over the past 6 years of tracked data. Total launches went from 66 in 2021 to 5 in 2026.
Average engagement ratio across all Side Project launches: 0.25. Products above that line tend to solve a specific, painful problem. Products below it often entered a crowded space without clear differentiation.
Side Project peaked in 2021 with 66 launches. That was 5 years ago. The decline since then could signal market consolidation, saturation, or attention shifting to adjacent categories.
Average engagement per product dropped from 0.24 in 2021 to 0.12 in 2026. More products competing for the same attention pool. The community is spread thinner, which makes high-engagement launches more impressive.
The highest-performing quarter was Q2 2024, with an average interest score of 323 across 1 launches. Logoit led that quarter.
113 B2B launches (60%) vs 75 B2C (40%) across the full Side Project dataset. The split is close to even. Side Project serves both business buyers and individual users.
2021: 66 launches. Average interest: 153. Average engagement: 0.24. Top launch: Noto (715 interest).
2022: 43 launches (-35% vs 2021). Average interest: 153. Average engagement: 0.21. Top launch: Startup Recipes (612 interest).
2023: 36 launches (-16% vs 2022). Average interest: 147. Average engagement: 0.23. Top launch: No-Code Exits (669 interest).
2024: 23 launches (-36% vs 2023). Average interest: 147. Average engagement: 0.34. Top launch: Startups Leaderboards (1,029 interest).
2025: 15 launches (-35% vs 2024). Average interest: 82. Average engagement: 0.40. Top launch: The Map of Human Ideas (491 interest).
2026: 5 launches (-67% vs 2025). Average interest: 194. Average engagement: 0.12. Top launch: SlapMac (474 interest).
Current year launches compared to the same period last year. Positive means more products launching. Negative means the category cooled. Neither is inherently good or bad. A mature category with fewer but better launches is often healthier than one flooding the market with clones.
Launch volume drops but engagement per product rises. Fewer builders entering, but the ones that do find a more receptive audience. That's an opportunity signal. We flag it when we see it.
We report what happened. We don't predict. Five years of data shows patterns, but markets surprise people for a living.
Three common reasons. The market consolidated around winners. The technology matured and stopped generating new startups. Or builder attention shifted to adjacent categories. Usually it's a combination.
Volume without engagement is saturation. Engagement without volume is opportunity. Check which one you're looking at.
Sum of all interest scores in the quarter divided by number of products. Simple average. We don't weight by category or product age.
Depends on what's declining. If volume drops but engagement rises, the market is maturing. That's often good for existing players. If both drop, the category may be dying. The quarterly breakdown on each page tells you which pattern you're seeing.