--- title: outbid.lol and the Pay-to-Rank Leaderboard Boom | daily.dev description: outbid.lol, a pay-to-rank leaderboard built by German engineer Jonathan Wilke in roughly three hours, made over $125,000 and drew more than one million... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/outbid-lol-and-the-pay-to-rank-leaderboard-boom-stunbfvbx twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: outbid.lol and the Pay-to-Rank Leaderboard Boom | daily.dev og:description: outbid.lol, a pay-to-rank leaderboard built by German engineer Jonathan Wilke in roughly three hours, made over $125,000 and drew more than one million... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/outbid-lol-and-the-pay-to-rank-leaderboard-boom-stunbfvbx og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/STUnbfVbx.png og:image:alt: outbid.lol and the Pay-to-Rank Leaderboard Boom og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # outbid.lol and the Pay-to-Rank Leaderboard Boom **[Alex CloudStar](https://daily.dev/sources/alexcloudstar)** · [@alexcloudstar](https://daily.dev/alexcloudstar) · 16 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary outbid.lol, a pay-to-rank leaderboard built by German engineer Jonathan Wilke in roughly three hours, made over $125,000 and drew more than one million visitors within 54 hours of launch, sparking a wave of clones (ClaimRank, WatchBid, betteroutbid, bottombid, Payluck.lol, Bidboard.lol, and a meta-leaderboard called outbidception.lol). Top bids exceeded $14,000 from products like Joni AI and Tibo Maker. The mechanic works because real money creates a legible, screenshot-native signal of conviction that free upvotes can't match. The author, who previously built a similar pay-to-rank site called roastme.gg, argues the core flaw in infinite leaderboards is that only the top three spots matter, so they built ownthe.day, a single-slot, countdown-clock version where one payment both claims the spot and buys more time before the site permanently shuts down if nobody pays to reset the clock. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What is outbid.lol and how much money did it make? Outbid.lol is a public leaderboard where users pay real money, with a $2 minimum bid, to hold the top rank, and being outbid drops you down the list. Built by German engineer Jonathan Wilke in about three hours and launched on a Saturday in August 2026, it earned over $125,000 and drew more than one million visitors within 54 hours, with top bids from Joni AI and Tibo Maker exceeding $13,000-$14,000. _Founders tracking viral growth mechanics can follow how trends like this unfold on daily.dev._ ### How does the bidding and anti-spam system on outbid.lol work? Bids are in whole dollars starting at $2, ties favor the older entry, and to retake first place you only owe the difference between your prior bid and the new top bid plus one dollar, rather than matching it fully. Paying five times the current top bid locks first place for three hours immune to outbidding. Tracking parameters are stripped and referral or chat links are blocked to keep the directory from filling with spam. _Developers evaluating pay-to-rank or auction mechanics for their own products can compare designs like this on daily.dev._ ### How does ownthe.day differ from an infinite pay-to-rank leaderboard like outbid.lol? Ownthe.day has exactly one slot instead of an infinite ranked list, and paying to take that slot also adds time to a countdown clock that runs continuously. If the clock hits zero before anyone pays to reset it, the site shuts down permanently and the last owner is frozen in place as a permanent record; each day otherwise resets to a fresh empty slot at midnight UTC. _Builders weighing scarcity-driven product mechanics over infinite lists can track examples like this on daily.dev._ --- Tags: [#indie-hacking](https://daily.dev/tags/indie-hacking) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/outbid-lol-and-the-pay-to-rank-leaderboard-boom-stunbfvbx) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"outbid.lol and the Pay-to-Rank Leaderboard Boom","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/outbid-lol-and-the-pay-to-rank-leaderboard-boom-stunbfvbx","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/outbid-lol-and-the-pay-to-rank-leaderboard-boom-stunbfvbx"},"datePublished":"2026-08-24T11:11:40.457Z","dateModified":"2026-08-25T08:00:26.611Z","description":"outbid.lol, a pay-to-rank leaderboard built by German engineer Jonathan Wilke in roughly three hours, made over $125,000 and drew more than one million...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/b136da4a7f4d947277b09ee2fa1f366e?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/b136da4a7f4d947277b09ee2fa1f366e?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Alex CloudStar","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Alex Cloudstar","url":"https://daily.dev/alexcloudstar","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--xA-1aKK7--/f_auto/v1767564650/avatars/avatar_ZUjetzkwG7V5behQOpH0X?_a=BAMAK+ZW0","description":"Hi there! 👋🏻 I'm a Senior Full-Stack Developer oriented on Javascript","interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"EndorseAction"},"userInteractionCount":960}},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/outbid-lol-and-the-pay-to-rank-leaderboard-boom-stunbfvbx","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"indie-hacking","timeRequired":"PT16M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Alex CloudStar","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/alexcloudstar"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"outbid.lol and the Pay-to-Rank Leaderboard Boom"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/outbid-lol-and-the-pay-to-rank-leaderboard-boom-stunbfvbx#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What is outbid.lol and how much money did it make?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Outbid.lol is a public leaderboard where users pay real money, with a $2 minimum bid, to hold the top rank, and being outbid drops you down the list. 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