The AI ReceiptsHow much does ShipFast make? $1,700 last month, down 98% from its best month
The AI Receipts, published by Bambana LLC · Data checked Oct 22, 2026 · How we verify
ShipFast made $1,700 in the last 30 days, from 6 sales, per its TrustMRR profile (Stripe data, read Oct 22, 2026). In May 2024 it made about $123,000 in one month, founder Marc Lou said at the time. That is a drop of about 98%. Verified Peak: self-reported
ShipFast is not an AI business, so it is not in our verified AI dataset or its medians. We cover it because it is the clearest public example of AI tools eating a product people used to pay for, with real payment data to show it.
What is ShipFast's revenue?
| Revenue, last 30 days | $1,700 (6 sales) |
| Revenue, last 12 months | $108,000 |
| All-time revenue (since 2023) | $1,270,000 |
| Monthly recurring revenue (MRR) | $0 (one-time purchases only) |
| Price | $199 Starter, $249 All-in, $299 with CodeFast (one-time) |
| Website visitors, last 30 days | 20,100 (DataFast, via TrustMRR) |
| Founder | Marc Lou (solo, bootstrapped, per listing) |
| Verified by | Stripe via TrustMRR |
TrustMRR's profile says revenue is read from Stripe with an API key and was last synced Oct 21, 2026, so this is fresh data. About 20,000 visitors produced 6 sales, roughly 1 sale per 3,300 visitors (our calc.).
How much did ShipFast make at its peak?
About $123,000 in May 2024, by Marc Lou's own count. That month he posted that he made $131,520 across all his products, with "ShipFast — $123,400" (X, May 31, 2024). The next month he posted ShipFast at $80.2k (X, Jun 30, 2024). On Oct 20, 2026 he summed up the whole run in four lines (X, Oct 20, 2026):
| Year | ShipFast a month, as Marc Lou put it |
|---|---|
| 2023 | $0 |
| 2024 | $126,000 |
| 2025 | $25,000 |
| 2026 | $2,000 |
Self-reported. The best month is $123,000 (May 2024 post) or $126,000 (Oct 2026 summary), depending on which of his posts you use. His Oct 20 post links the TrustMRR profile, and its all-time chart peaks in spring 2024. TrustMRR's public data only gives monthly totals for the last 12 months, so we can't verify the 2024 months ourselves.
How fast did ShipFast's revenue fall?
Verified monthly revenue fell 91% in under a year, from $20,200 in Nov 2025 to $1,700 in Sep 2026:
| Month | Verified revenue |
|---|---|
| Nov 2025 | $20,200 |
| Dec 2025 | $20,300 |
| Jan 2026 | $17,200 |
| Feb 2026 | $8,200 |
| Mar 2026 | $9,500 |
| Apr 2026 | $6,300 |
| May 2026 | $6,600 |
| Jun 2026 | $3,300 |
| Jul 2026 | $4,800 |
| Aug 2026 | $3,000 |
| Sep 2026 | $1,700 |
| Oct 2026 (to Oct 21, partial) | $1,700 |
Source: ShipFast's TrustMRR profile (Stripe), monthly totals in UTC, read Oct 22, 2026. Against the self-reported May 2024 month, Sep 2026 is down 98.6% (our calc.).
Marc's Oct 20 post was seen more than 160,000 times. In the payment data, Oct 20 (UTC) shows one $299 sale and Oct 21 none, up to the last sync. A viral post about a product is not the same as people buying it.
Why did ShipFast's revenue drop?
Marc Lou didn't give a reason in his post. The readings we found, and ours:
- AI does the setup now. ShipFast sold a ready-made start: login, Stripe payments, emails, a landing page. In 2026, tools like Cursor and Claude Code can write much of that in an afternoon, and app builders like Lovable skip the code entirely. Builder Janu (X, Oct 20, 2026) put it as "the moat was speed. Speed got commoditized."
- One-time sales have no floor. ShipFast never had subscribers. Every month it needed new buyers, so when buyers slowed, revenue went straight down. A subscription business keeps its existing customers while it looks for new ones.
- The founder was the marketing. Commentators say Marc himself was ShipFast's main marketing channel: his audience is 414,621 followers on X (per TrustMRR), and the listing also names Meta Ads. As he moved on to newer products, ShipFast got less of his attention. That's the commentators' read; Marc hasn't said it.
How much does Marc Lou make now?
His newer products make far more than ShipFast. All four are on TrustMRR with Stripe data (read Oct 22, 2026):
| Product | Last 30 days | MRR |
|---|---|---|
| TrustMRR Verified startup revenue database and marketplace | $44,000 | $25,500 |
| DataFast Revenue-first website analytics | $31,400 | $29,300 |
| CodeFast Coding course (one-time purchase) | $3,800 | $0 (one-time) |
| ShipFast Next.js code template (one-time purchase) | $1,700 | $0 (one-time) |
| Total | $80,900 |
ShipFast is now about 2.1% of what these four took in over the last 30 days (our calc.). The two that sell subscriptions, TrustMRR and DataFast, bring in most of it. That is the real lesson: he built recurring products before the one-time one faded.
What does ShipFast teach about making money with AI?
Don't sell what AI is about to make free. A code template saved developers weeks in 2023; by 2026 an AI tool does much of that for the cost of a subscription. Subscriptions to an outcome hold up better than one-off downloads. These AI businesses sell subscriptions, and each one's MRR rose between our Oct 14 and Oct 22, 2026 TrustMRR checks:
| Business | Verified MRR |
|---|---|
| Laper AI screenwriting software for professional writers, "without the AI aftertaste". | $48,500 TrustMRR, Oct 28 2026 |
| Promptwise Generative AI video, image and audio tools sold to a paid creator community. | $65,400 TrustMRR, Oct 28 2026 |
| VirtualJK An AI "replicant" of a consultant, sold to coaches and consultants. | $48,500 TrustMRR, Oct 28 2026 |
| WaLead AI AI agents + Spanish B2B data for LinkedIn prospecting. | $24,500 TrustMRR, Oct 28 2026 |
Across the 46 AI businesses with verified revenue we track, the median is $28,500 a month (leaderboard). More: how to build a business with AI, how to make money with AI, AI SaaS ideas with real revenue and how long until an AI app makes money.
More revenue breakdowns
Another verified product on the way down: how much SEObot makes (monthly revenue down 61% this year). Growing ones: Postiz and PropGPT. The AI tools doing the eating: Cursor and Lovable.
Compare every AI company we cover: how much do AI companies make? (verified and reported revenue, side by side).
FAQ
How much does ShipFast make?
About $1,700 in the last 30 days, from 6 sales, per ShipFast's TrustMRR profile (Stripe data, read Oct 22, 2026). It took in $108,000 over the last 12 months and $1,270,000 all-time since it launched in 2023. It has no monthly subscribers: every sale is a one-time purchase.
How much did ShipFast make at its peak?
About $123,400 in May 2024, founder Marc Lou posted on May 31, 2024. On Oct 20, 2026 he summed it up as "$126,000/mo" in 2024. Both are his own figures (self-reported). Our verified data only covers the last 12 months.
Why did ShipFast revenue drop?
Marc Lou has not given one reason. Commentators point to three: AI coding tools like Cursor and Claude Code can now write the login, payment and setup code a template sells; one-time sales have no subscribers to fall back on; and Marc has been promoting his newer products. That is their read and ours, not a statement from the company.
How much does ShipFast cost?
ShipFast is a one-time purchase: Starter $199, All-in $249, or $299 bundled with Marc Lou's CodeFast course, per its TrustMRR listing (read Oct 22, 2026). The 6 sales in the last 30 days were all $249 or $299.
Is ShipFast still worth it with AI?
We do not review code templates. What the data shows: fewer people are buying it. ShipFast's own site now pitches it as a ready codebase you hand to an AI coding tool, so it can build on top. If you want to build a product with AI, compare what builders on Cursor and Lovable are doing in our breakdowns of those companies.
How much does Marc Lou make?
His four products on TrustMRR took in about $80,900 combined in the last 30 days (Oct 22, 2026, Stripe-verified): TrustMRR $44,000, DataFast $31,400, CodeFast $3,800 and ShipFast $1,700. ShipFast is now about 2.1% of that (our calc.). He may have other income not listed there.
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