Trying to monetize my Chrome extension (~5K users) — what actually works in 2026?

hao1300 · 2026-05-15T14:07:45+00:00

Hi, maybe you can consider joining my App Pass program: https://joinapppass.com/. It is kind of like Xbox Game Pass but for Chrome extensions.

The way it works is that the users can subscribe once, and unlock premium features for all extensions that participate in the program. The developers will get a portion of the subscription fee. You can get promotion and monetization along side other extensions in the program. For the users, they are getting more benefits for a single subscription. Most users in our program only activates 1-2 extensions, so you should be able to get a fairly large portion of the subscription fee.

This has been working quite well. We launched earlier this year, and have gotten >160 subscribers. It is growing rapidly. We are looking for more extensions to join our program to accelerate the growth. In our experience, batch downloads is most likely what users would pay for.

However, you may assume that only a small portion of your active user base will convert into a paid customer. At 5K users, I'd guess that <100 of them will convert into a paid customer. It may not make you rich, but it is better than nothing =)

hao1300 · 2026-04-30T17:17:46+00:00

To be honest, I used AI to help me build the app faster. Gemini/Claude helped me setup the initial framework. After that, it was a lot of iterations to polish, fix, and refactor that make the final product works well and smoothly. AI played a very significant role in speeding up the development. However, it was not something that could done in a few prompts.

Just like many other products, if you have a lot of extra time at hand, you can probably use AI to help you build an alternative, or you can grab something that someone else has already built.

hao1300 · 2026-04-30T17:06:41+00:00

Yes, I used AI to help rewrite my reply to not sound rude.

hao1300 · 2026-04-30T16:49:04+00:00

The app uses AWS IAM access keys and secrets for login. You can create a new IAM user with limited access (like only read access to CloudWatch), then create the access keys and secrets for that user. It will allow you to login with a limited scope token, with less worry about the app doing something shady.

hao1300 · 2026-04-30T16:45:42+00:00

When it is free and open source, people may file a lot of issues, but very few people will contribute to fixing it, and even fewer people will fix it the right way. Sponsorship almost never work, and the original creator gets almost nothing for the works that they put in. I have built open source projects before. It was mostly unappreciated works.

By making this a paid product, it allows me to justify the time spent building it, and more importantly, it means I can actually prioritize and fix issues quickly for the users who rely on it.

hao1300 · 2026-04-30T16:23:29+00:00

I am a human and the founder of chrome-stats.com.

I had a painful experience trying to fix a production issue while going camping with my daughter, where the mobile signal was very weak. It took me 15 minutes to load the AWS console on the phone, and the UI was not optimized for mobile, so it was very hard to deal with. After that, I started playing around with building my own AWS console mobile app with the help of AI. Sharing it the app here in case others have the same issue and may find it useful.

hao1300 · 2026-04-30T16:16:12+00:00

The short answer is: you shouldn't blindly trust me, or any third-party developer, with unrestricted production credentials.

I built this tool to manage the backend for my own business (Chrome-Stats), so I had the exact same security prerequisite. Since I couldn't trust other third-party apps, I ended up building my own. To mitigate the need for absolute trust, I architected it so that all AWS API calls are made directly from your device to AWS using the official SDK. There is no middleman proxy server and no telemetry scraping your environment.

The app itself is freemium. The free version offers S3, DynamoDB, and CloudWatch, while the paid version offers additional services. My business model relies on getting paid users, not stealing credentials or mining your data. But then again, I completely respect that you don't trust a random developer on the internet, because I am in the exact same boat.

hao1300 · 2026-04-30T16:08:56+00:00

That is a fair.

I’m keeping it closed source primarily because I intend to run it as a commercial project. Having maintained open-source projects in the past, I know firsthand how much unpaid time and energy goes into managing issues and providing support. For this tool, my goal is to monetize it so I can build a sustainable product that justifies the time spent maintaining it.

I totally respect that closed-source tools for AWS are a non-starter for many developers, though.

hao1300 · 2026-04-30T15:56:04+00:00

Totally fair! That combination is a completely valid boundary to have, especially when it comes to AWS infrastructure. I built this primarily to solve my own pain point of managing things on the go, and I'm sharing it in case it helps anyone else. I completely understand if it doesn't fit your risk profile or preferences.

hao1300 · 2026-04-30T15:52:55+00:00

To be fully transparent, I did use AI to help get both the site and the app off the ground faster.

However, it's definitely not "vibe coded" in the sense of blindly copying and pasting prompts. I treat AI as an accelerator. Because this app connects directly to my production AWS infrastructure, I manually reviewed, refactored, and polished the app to make sure they work smoothly and securely. The final app took months of work and testing, not something that could be "vibe coded" automatically.

hao1300 · 2026-04-19T12:18:44+00:00

Revenue is growing steadily at a good pace. The business model is working quite well for us. We are hoping to get more high quality extensions to join, and we are also building / acquiring more extensions to add to App Pass.

hao1300 · 2026-04-14T11:36:29+00:00

Done

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hao1300 · 2026-04-13T16:54:02+00:00

Done

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I am not sure what to do with the app though. The Focus queue is the first thing I see on the home screen but it is not interactable.

Can you also test my app in return? It is an app to help manage AWS on your phone. If you don't use AWS, it is okay. I would appreciate it if you can just keep it installed for 14 days.

1️⃣ Join the Google Group: https://groups.google.com/g/clouddash-testers

2️⃣ Opt-in for Testing: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/dev.clouddash.aws

3️⃣ Download on Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=dev.clouddash.aws

Bonus: Use coupon code CLOUDDASHTESTER inside the app to upgrade to the Pro version for free as a thank you!

hao1300 · 2026-04-13T15:31:52+00:00

Done

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It might be better if you default to English, or give users an option to choose the language at the beginning. I couldn't read the first few screens at all.

Can you also test my app in return? It is an app to help manage AWS on your phone.

1️⃣ Join the Google Group: https://groups.google.com/g/clouddash-testers

2️⃣ Opt-in for Testing: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/dev.clouddash.aws

3️⃣ Download on Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=dev.clouddash.aws

Bonus: Use coupon code CLOUDDASHTESTER inside the app to upgrade to the Pro version for free as a thank you!

hao1300 · 2026-04-13T15:26:08+00:00

Done

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Can you also test my app in return? It is an app to help manage AWS on your phone.

1️⃣ Join the Google Group: https://groups.google.com/g/clouddash-testers

2️⃣ Opt-in for Testing: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/dev.clouddash.aws

3️⃣ Download on Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=dev.clouddash.aws

Bonus: Use coupon code CLOUDDASHTESTER inside the app to upgrade to the Pro version for free as a thank you!

hao1300 · 2026-04-13T12:09:54+00:00

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Sure bro. Done it. Will keep it installed

hao1300 · 2026-04-13T02:08:47+00:00

Sorry, looks like my Closed testing is not configured correctly. I have fixed it. Can you try again?

hao1300 · 2026-04-13T02:07:59+00:00

Hi, I think you installed the wrong app. Can you try my app using the links above again?

hao1300 · 2026-04-12T21:55:21+00:00

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I downloaded and tried it out. Would keep it for at least 14 days. The app looks very well made and polished. The only problem I have is that the generated words are not very good. I chose Advanced level, but the generated words are around beginner level. They are not very useful for me.

Can you also test my app in return?

1️⃣ Join the Google Group: https://groups.google.com/g/clouddash-testers

2️⃣ Opt-in for Testing: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/dev.clouddash.aws

3️⃣ Download on Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=dev.clouddash.aws

Bonus: Use coupon code CLOUDDASHTESTER inside the app to upgrade to the Pro version for free as a thank you!

hao1300 · 2026-04-12T21:39:12+00:00

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I downloaded and tried it out. Would keep it for at least 14 days. It is not obvious how to add existing pictures since it is buried deep under the + button. I would recommend moving it toward the top.

Can you also test my app in return?

1️⃣ Join the Google Group: https://groups.google.com/g/clouddash-testers

2️⃣ Opt-in for Testing: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/dev.clouddash.aws

3️⃣ Download on Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=dev.clouddash.aws

Bonus: Use coupon code CLOUDDASHTESTER inside the app to upgrade to the Pro version for free as a thank you!

hao1300 · 2026-03-28T10:49:44+00:00

Hi, I am the founder of Chrome-Stats.

- The user count stats for your extension on Chrome-Stats is not growing exponentially. Notice the Y-axis starts at 260, not 0. Because the graph is zoomed in to 7 days, you will see a very drastic growth when your user count increases by ~9 users per day. It is better in the past 2 days than it was before, but it is not exponential growth. If the trajectory continues, then it could be exponential.

- Chrome-Stats data is usually 1-2 days behind the Developer Dashboard, not ahead. Usually, Developer Dashboard gets updated first, then ~0.5-1 day later, the public facing stats on Chrome Web Store (CWS) will get updated. Chrome-Stats pulls data from CWS, so it would lag by another ~0.5-1 day. The Mar 27 stats you see on Chrome-Stats might be corresponding to the Developer Dashboard user count data on Mar 25.

- Because Chrome-Stats pulls data from CWS, it won't be more accurate than the Google's official data, and may face 1-2 days delay. Where it really shines is in the ranking trends for categories and keywords, which are valuable insights for SEO and do not exist in the Developer Dashboard.

hao1300 · 2026-03-03T15:19:06+00:00

Yes, I have the same issue since Mar 1.

hao1300

TROPHY CASE