How to Find Profitable SaaS Ideas Using Reddit (Step-by-Step)

Reddit is the world's largest focus group — and it's completely free. With 52 million daily active users sharing their frustrations, wishes, and workflows, it's the best place to find unmet needs that can become profitable SaaS products.

Here's the exact process we use at SaaSScout to mine Reddit for validated SaaS ideas.

Step 1: Pick the Right Subreddits

Not all subreddits are created equal. You want communities where professionals discuss work problems, not hobbyists sharing memes. Our top picks:

• r/startups (1.2M members) — Founders discussing real challenges
• r/SaaS (120k members) — SaaS-specific discussions
• r/smallbusiness (1.6M members) — SMB owners with tool needs
• r/webdev (2.1M members) — Developer tool opportunities
• r/marketing (730k members) — Martech gaps
• r/freelance (340k members) — Freelancer workflow pain
• r/ecommerce (180k members) — Store owner frustrations

Step 2: Search for Pain Signal Keywords

The gold is in the complaints. Use Reddit search (or SaaSScout's automated scraper) to find posts containing these high-signal phrases:

• "Is there a tool that…" — Direct product request
• "I wish there was…" — Unmet need
• "I'm tired of…" — Frustration with existing solutions
• "We switched from X because…" — Competitor weakness
• "Does anyone know…" — Looking for alternatives
• "I built a spreadsheet to…" — Manual workaround (= automation opportunity)

Step 3: Score the Opportunity

Not every complaint is a business. Use these 5 filters:

1. Frequency — Is this pain mentioned in 10+ posts across 3+ months?
2. Engagement — Do the posts get 50+ upvotes and multiple "same here" comments?
3. Willingness to Pay — Are people already paying for inferior solutions?
4. Competition Gap — Are existing tools too expensive, too complex, or missing features?
5. Your Expertise — Can you realistically build an MVP in 4-8 weeks?

Step 4: Validate Before You Build

Before writing a single line of code:

1. Create a landing page describing the solution
2. Share it in the relevant subreddits (follow rules — no spam)
3. Collect pre-signups or early access requests
4. If 100+ people sign up in 2 weeks → you have a real opportunity

Step 5: Automate the Process

Manually scanning Reddit is powerful but time-consuming. SaaSScout automates the entire pipeline: it monitors 6+ sources including Reddit, extracts pain points using NLP, scores every opportunity with AI, and presents them in a ranked dashboard.

What takes you 40 hours of manual research, we do in 3 minutes.

Real Example: How We Found a $50k/month Opportunity

In Q4 2024, SaaSScout flagged a recurring pain in r/ecommerce: store owners struggling to track competitor pricing across Amazon, Shopify, and WooCommerce. The top post had 890 upvotes and 47 "same" comments. We scored it at 85/100. Three months later, a bootstrapper launched exactly this tool and hit $50k MRR within 6 months.