Answers
How much is a website making $1,000 a month worth?
Short answer: A website earning $1,000 a month in verified profit, $12,000 a year, is worth roughly $19,000 to $28,000 at Flippa's H1 2026 averages of 1.55x for ecommerce and 2.32x for content sites, and about $27,000 at its 2.24x average for $10K–$100K deals. Revenue is not profit, and the seller's hours and Google dependence pull the figure down.
Is the $1,000 a month revenue or profit?
Check this first, because it changes the answer more than any multiple. A site with $1,000 of monthly revenue and $250 of costs makes $750 of profit and is worth a quarter less. The figures below assume $1,000 a month of verified net profit, averaged over 12 months.
What is $1,000 a month of profit worth at real 2026 multiples?
A year of profit is $12,000. At the average sold multiples in Flippa's H1 2026 Insights Report:
| Flippa figure | Multiple | Implied value | Payback |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ecommerce average | 1.55× | $18,600 | 18.6 months |
| $10K–$100K deals, average | 2.24× | $26,880 | 26.9 months |
| Content site average | 2.32× | $27,840 | 27.8 months |
| Content site top quarter | 4.68× | $56,160 | 56.2 months |
Our own October 2026 sample of listings priced $10k–150k asked a median of 2.23× annual profit, about 26.8 months. So a seller asking $25,000 to $30,000 for $1,000 a month is asking a normal price, and one asking $50,000 needs a record that justifies top-quarter pricing.
What does owner time do to that value?
At this size, the seller's hours are often the biggest hidden cost. Take a composite site with $1,000 a month of profit, asking $30,000, where the seller spends 5 hours a week writing and updating. Priced at $25 an hour in the true payback calculator, those hours cost $542 a month. The profit left for a buyer who pays for the work is $458, and the true payback is 65.5 months, 5.45× annual profit, against 30 months as listed.
Composite example, run through the true payback calculator
| Asking price | $30,000 |
|---|---|
| Stated monthly profit | $1,000 |
| Owner hours a week | 5 |
| Hourly cost of that time | $25 |
| Payback as listed | 30 months |
| Multiple as listed | 2.50× |
| Owner time per month | $542 |
| Profit you keep | $458 |
| True payback | 65.5 months |
| True annual multiple | 5.45× |
If you will do the work yourself, the headline figure is closer to right, but you are buying a part-time job as well as an asset.
What if Google traffic falls after you buy?
Most sites at this size rely on search. With 80% of revenue from organic search and a 30% fall in that traffic, the same composite site's profit drops to $724 a month and payback rises from 30 to 41.4 months, in the traffic-drop test.
Composite example, run through the traffic-drop test
| Monthly revenue | $1,150 |
|---|---|
| Monthly profit | $1,000 |
| Share of revenue from organic search | 80% |
| Assumed fall in search revenue | 30% |
| Asking price | $30,000 |
| Payback as listed | 30 months |
| Revenue lost each month | $276 |
| Profit after the fall | $724 |
| Payback after the fall | 41.4 months |
| Annual multiple after the fall | 3.45× |
| Search fall that wipes out all profit | 109% |
Frequently asked questions
How much should I pay for a website making $1,000 a month?
For $1,000 a month of verified net profit, roughly $19,000 to $28,000 at Flippa's 2026 average multiples, less if the seller works many hours or most income depends on Google search.
Is 36 times monthly profit too much for a small website?
Thirty-six months is 3 times annual profit, above the 2.24 times average Flippa reports for $10K–$100K deals in H1 2026. It can be fair for an old site with diversified income, not for a young one.
Why are small websites priced at only two or three years of profit?
Because the income is uncertain: search updates, affiliate commission cuts and owner-dependent work can all reduce it. A buyer needs to earn the price back quickly enough to justify that risk.
Sources
- Flippa, The New Era of Digital M&A: Flippa's H1 2026 Insights Report (updated 24 July 2026), read 7 October 2026
- FirstPass Memo, online-business listing benchmarks, October 2026, our own data, CC BY 4.0
- FirstPass Memo, free buyer calculators, our own calculators; the formulas are on each page
- FirstPass Memo, red-flag checker rules, our own rules, published as /rules.json
Related
- How to value a website
- True payback calculator
- Traffic-drop test
- What is a good payback period?
- Should you buy a website under $10k?
- Glossary of listing terms
- More questions buyers ask
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Composite examples are invented and labelled. Figures from other sites are quoted with a link and the date we read them; FirstPass figures are asking prices and seller-stated profit, not sale prices. Informational screening only, not investment, legal or tax advice.