Brush Ninja: free browser art tools, $3K a month, self-reported in 2024: one builder

Brush Ninja sells browser-based tools for drawings, animation, photos, books, and games. Its $3K a month was founder-reported on the Indie Hackers product page (not independently verified), as of February 2024.

What it actually sells

Brush Ninja offers browser-based creative tools for drawing, animation, art, photos, books, and games. Its tools include an online editor for drawings and animated GIFs, stop motion animation with a camera, mosaic-style emoji art, and online drawing and painting.

The product also combines multiple photos and exports them as a single image. Brush Ninja says: “With Brush Ninja, you can unleash your creativity, whether you’re an animation pro or just getting started”. The site also lists a collection of playable games.

How it charges

Brush Ninja presents its creative tools as free. Its browser-based drawing, painting, animation, and photo tools can be used without installation. The pages we read do not state a price. The site offers a membership to unlock all features.

Where customers come from

The site identifies animation professionals, beginners, families, and other digital creatives as users. It says: “Join the thousands of artists and animators who have found a new home here”.

What stands out

Brush Ninja is built by one person, Ben Gillbanks, who created it after web development and digital art experience. Its tools run in the browser, so users do not need to install an application. The product spans GIF animation, stop motion, drawing, painting, emoji art, photo combination, books, and games.

From the official site

With Brush Ninja, you can unleash your creativity, whether you’re an animation pro or just getting started.

Use an online editor to create stop motion animations with your camera.

Join the thousands of artists and animators who have found a new home here.

Excerpts from the official website, fetched October 1, 2026.

Where it sits in the data

Brush Ninja's $3K a month is higher than 53% of the 6,604 projects with founder-reported monthly revenue in our dataset; the median across them is $2K. Snapshot: 2026-09-30. The dataset only covers founders who chose to publish their numbers, so it leans toward businesses that work; use it for scale, not as an average.

Currency

All figures are in US dollars as published. A rough yuan or euro conversion is not applied here because prices, taxes and acquisition costs differ by country.

Could you build something like this?

My view: the buyer includes beginners, families, animation professionals, and other digital creatives. Distribution would need a visible surface for search-driven discovery, sharing, tutorials, or direct outreach. The product must also address a broad range of creative jobs, from drawings and GIFs to stop motion, photos, books, and games.

The hard parts are technical execution across browsers and creative workflows, reliable saving and exporting, and feature support for users with different levels of experience. Competition would include other online drawing, animation, photo, and game tools. Camera access, file handling, account systems, memberships, and user support add operational work.

Verdict: Needs real work.

One thing to take from it

A focused product can begin with one browser-based creative task and expand into adjacent formats. Brush Ninja starts with animated GIFs from drawings and also covers stop motion, painting, emoji art, photos, books, and games. That gives founders a practical question: which related creative jobs belong in the first product, and which can wait?

Sources

Brush Ninja official website, fetched October 1, 2026
Brush Ninja about page, fetched October 1, 2026
Indie Hackers product page: revenue founder-reported on the Indie Hackers product page (not independently verified), as of February 2024

Revenue, team and start-cost figures are what the founder reported at the interview date, not current figures and not a prediction of what you will earn. Product and pricing facts come from the business's own website as checked on 30 September 2026. Method & sources · Disclosure