Side hustle ideas from people who actually run them
Real side businesses, described by their owners. Filter by cost, time and how they earn.
- Ideas
- 651 ideas
- Publications
- 14 publications and shows
- Categories
- 8 categories
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- Files sold online: templates, printables, ebooks, stock photos, fonts, presets, plugins, recorded courses
- A web app, SaaS, mobile app, browser extension, bot or API that people pay for or that earns from ads
- A blog, niche website, newsletter, YouTube channel, podcast or social account that earns from ads, affiliate links or sponsors
- Making, printing or reselling physical goods, online or in person
- Doing work for clients for a fee: freelance, consulting, done-for-you services, repairs, local services
- Earning from something you own: renting property, rooms, equipment, vehicles, parking, vending machines, domains
- A job board, listings site, directory or marketplace that connects buyers and sellers
- Live tutoring, lessons, workshops, coaching or cohort classes
Matching ideas
About the data114 ideas, page 1 of 3
- Content and mediaA simple website that helps people learn Excel through exercises. The founder built it with very little effort and grew it as a dead-simple, boring niche site.Hands-offOnlineStarter Story, 2026
- Content and mediaFree chalkboards and whiteboards placed in restaurants and busy venues, which use them for daily specials. Income comes from selling small ad spots along the bottom to local businesses.Online and in personSide Hustle Nation, 2026
- Software and appsThe operator runs a few near-identical sites that each sell access to a niche database, such as investors, angels or journalists. The revenue model is not stated in the source and is likely paid access.OnlineStarter Story, 2026
- Software and appsAfter leaving an agency, the operator built a directory-related software tool that earns recurring revenue and is adding a lead-gen angle.OnlineNiche Pursuits Podcast, 2026
- Services and freelancingTrains custom image generation models for customers on request using an automated pipeline, charging per commission.OnlineHacker News, 2024
- Digital productsMade a course on spreadsheet functions and formulas hosted on a small course platform, earning a commission share.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2024
- Software and appsA free web tool for converting text case, built up over years.OnlineHacker News, 2024
- Software and appsA checklist app built for the owner's own routines that now earns recurring income.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2024
- Software and appsA random number service sold through a website and a cloud marketplace listing, left running with little attention.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2024
- Content and mediaA group of free sudoku websites that earn steady income from minimal ads.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2024
- Software and appsA GIF meme site that earns from one-off sales of watermark removal.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2024
- Software and appsCreated a web tool for making GIF memes with text that follows motion, after finding it hard to do elsewhere.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2022
- Software and appsA web app that pulls transaction data out of PDF bank statements, built after the owner needed it for personal spending analysis.OnlineHacker News, 2022
- Digital productsWrote and sells a technical book on deployment that shows the steps without higher-level tools.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2022
- Software and appsBuilt a small tool that emails a weekly digest of newly saved Twitter bookmarks, with paid subscribers.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2022
- Directories and marketplacesBuilt job listing sites and blogs that run mostly automatically and cover expenses with ads and sponsorships.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2021
- Software and appsA coupon site for developers plus a set of single-purpose web tools such as encoders and HTML cleaners.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2021
- Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2021
- Services and freelancingBuilds and schedules automations for small businesses, using knowledge gained in a day job about common business pain points.OnlineHacker News, 2019
- Software and appsRuns a subscription service that lets sites display announcement banners.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Content and mediaStarted a price comparison website for college textbooks that earns affiliate commissions, mostly from search traffic.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsA bot that posts a space-weather graph and built a following, which led to selling related t-shirts.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Software and appsSells a web service that randomly sends text reminders for kids to call their parents or for adults to call theirs.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsRuns a hobby business selling maps made in a historic style.OnlineHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsDesigned a 3D printed upgrade for a worn part in certain coffee grinders and sells it through a print-on-demand storefront. Traffic comes from repair guides.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsSells eggs from backyard hens when they lay more than the household uses.Hands-offHacker News, 2019
- Digital productsA site selling themes for static site generators that has started making sales.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsDesigns and sells sketchpads for mobile and browser wireframes through a Shopify store, reordering inventory in larger batches as it sells out.$100 to $1kOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Content and mediaAn information site about a specific skin condition that earns from display ads and Amazon affiliate links and is mostly left on autopilot.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Digital productsLists virtual machines on major cloud marketplaces that come set up for Ethereum development, with video tutorials. Revenue comes from VM sales.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Digital productsWrote and self-published a book about a game framework. Earns a small monthly income from sales.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Digital productsWriting and self-publishing a tutorial book on the Angular framework.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Content and mediaA personal technology blog that earns small amounts from on-page advertising.$100 to $1kOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Physical productsTurned public patent drawings into wall art images, cleaned up by a hired assistant and batch processed. An online store sends orders to a print and fulfillment service automatically.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Software and appsRuns a site showing historical average weather by city and month. Income so far is from ad revenue, with plans to add more features.OnlineHacker News, 2016
- Content and mediaBuilt a search tool that ranks Amazon products by ratings and review volume, grouped by price range. Money comes from affiliate links.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Software and appsBuilt a simple CMS and CRM for a freelance client and set up automated billing per user. Income grows as the client's user base grows.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Software and appsBuilt a tool that takes a keyword, translates it into many languages and shows available .com domains. It has earned some revenue from users.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Content and mediaA website comparing prices for domain extensions across registrars. Earns through registrar affiliate commissions and paid data downloads.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Software and appsLets a couple of people use a personal instance of an open source program they run, so they do not have to host it themselves, in exchange for a small monthly fee.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Software and appsA lossless screen recording app for macOS sold through the Mac App Store and its own site. Adds features like animated GIF export to keep sales coming in.OnlineHacker News, 2016
- Content and mediaBuilt a WordPress website for people looking up information about others. It earns from Google AdSense and needs only software updates now.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Content and mediaA website with a searchable product catalog that earns from Amazon affiliate links.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Physical productsWrote and sells a printed guide to using a music recording program along with music technology basics. It has to be updated for each new software version.OnlineHacker News, 2016
- Content and mediaRuns a guide site for visitors interested in Silicon Valley sights. Income comes from ads.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Directories and marketplacesA community site where hobbyist voice actors connect and find work. It started by accident and now earns a steady monthly income.OnlineHacker News, 2016
- Software and appsA service where customers text a photo and a physical postcard is mailed. Built with a web framework and an SMS API, and paid per postcard.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Content and mediaA network of automated accounts that gather tech meetups and conferences for each city and tweet them, plus a weekly mailing list. Money comes from affiliate fees for conferences and workshops and from ad blocks in the newsletter.OnlineHacker News, 2016