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
Browse by category
- 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 data48 ideas
- Software and appsA minimalist Android launcher distributed free, with a paid pro version.OnlineHacker News, 2024
- Digital productsA template for a note-taking app with a user guide and video course based on the owner's personal system, sold to customers.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2024
- Physical productsPut cartoon T-shirt designs about software error messages on craft sites.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2022
- Digital productsSells a curated list of places to promote side projects, for makers wanting traffic, directly through Gumroad.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2021
- Software and appsA paid Mac App Store app that grew out of a personal need for a Safari extension that refreshes tabs automatically.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2021
- Physical productsEarns twice-yearly royalties from a published book and small licensing deals for translations in other countries.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Digital productsCompiles articles and tips from a newsletter into ebooks sold on Leanpub and Amazon.OnlineHacker News, 2019
- Digital productsBuilt a level design package and sells it on the Unity Asset Store, relying on organic discovery.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Digital productsSells a boutique Jekyll theme aimed at software people and academics, with a free base version and a paid version.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Digital productsSells a Ruby book on a self-publishing platform, first in the owner's native language and now being translated to English.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Digital productsWrites and sells books about programming, currently covering Angular and related tools, with little promotion.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Digital productsWrote introductory programming tutorials and sells them as ebooks on Leanpub.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Digital productsCreated sticker sets for a popular messaging app and earned from their sales.Under $100OnlineHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsDesigns t-shirts with jokes for machine learning and data science fans and sells them through a print-on-demand storefront.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Digital productsSells a harmonica instruction book and science fiction short story collections on Amazon, and also sells stories to magazines.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Digital productsWrites travel and lifestyle books and sells them as ebooks and print on demand on Amazon and Apple. Little ongoing work after publishing.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsRuns an online clothing store where ordering and fulfillment are automated. Sells meme shirts and promotes through social media only.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Digital productsTranslates well-regarded public domain works into English and sells them as ebooks. Finding niche topics is the key.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Digital productsWrote and self-published an e-book about CSS that has kept selling a year after launch.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Digital productsWrote an ebook on starting and growing a subscription box business, drawn from running one. Sold through Gumroad, Amazon and iBooks, and still sells a little each month.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Digital productsA small shop selling pre-production, storyboard and film treatment templates through an online marketplace.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Physical productsCreates sports-themed apparel designs sold through a print-on-demand marketplace, starting with a niche. Fulfillment times and prices have been the main obstacle.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2017
- Digital productsDesigned responsive device mockups and sells them on a graphics marketplace. Sales were strong early on and have tapered off since.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Physical productsDesigned a printed upgrade for a worn part in a popular coffee grinder and sells it through a print-on-demand marketplace. Traffic comes from a repair guide on a fix-it site.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Digital productsWrote and published an e-book on Amazon about saving money so you can work less and pursue goals.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Digital productsWrote an ebook aimed at bootcamp graduates looking for their first developer job. It sells directly and through partnerships with a couple of online bootcamps.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Physical productsUploaded humorous fan designs to a print-on-demand merchandise site and earns small royalties when items sell.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Software and appsDevelops watch faces for Android Wear and sells them as paid apps on the Play Store.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Digital productsWrites and sells a technical book about the Redux library through Leanpub, sharing the sales with a friend.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Software and appsBuilds small single-purpose mobile apps such as calculators and a flashlight. Some are sold for a fee and others earn from in-app ads.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Digital productsWrote an add-on for the ExpressionEngine CMS and sells it through a marketplace.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Digital productsDeveloped an add-on for a popular video game that earns small, usage-driven income.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Software and appsBuilt a glockenspiel app for a friend's daughter, released a free version and a paid version with extra features.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Digital productsWrote and self-published an ebook about running profitable side projects.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Digital productsDesigned a child theme for the Genesis WordPress framework in a few days, and it keeps earning monthly sales.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Digital productsPublishes several nonfiction Kindle books on Amazon and markets them for ongoing sales.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Digital productsMade custom maps from OpenStreetMap formatted for Kindle and sells them as ebooks.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Software and appsBuilt an Android app that roots and fixes problems on an ISP-supplied modem, selling it through the Play Store.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Digital productsCreates animated icons and page templates and sells them on a theme marketplace.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Digital productsWrote a book on deploying PHP applications that sells steadily from the owner's website and builds an audience list.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Physical productsA programmer humor coffee mug sold through a print-on-demand marketplace.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Software and appsA paid Android app with a list of physics puzzles, built as a learning project and earning small steady income.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Digital productsWrote a PHP library and sells licenses to developers, getting a few sales a year.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Physical productsDesigned themed t-shirts and sold them through a print-on-demand marketplace.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Digital productsWrote a short sci-fi novel sold through Kindle and iBooks stores.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Software and appsAn Android app for managing a Shopify store, sold on Google Play without marketing.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Digital productsPublished an e-book priced as an impulse purchase, expecting it to keep earning with no stock to manage.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2011
- Software and appsBuilt a to-do app for Windows Phone in evenings and sold it through the app store.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2011