All Side Hustle Ideas
Every idea links to its source

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

  • Digital products67
    Files sold online: templates, printables, ebooks, stock photos, fonts, presets, plugins, recorded courses
  • Software and apps205
    A web app, SaaS, mobile app, browser extension, bot or API that people pay for or that earns from ads
  • Content and media105
    A blog, niche website, newsletter, YouTube channel, podcast or social account that earns from ads, affiliate links or sponsors
  • Physical products105
    Making, printing or reselling physical goods, online or in person
  • Services and freelancing103
    Doing work for clients for a fee: freelance, consulting, done-for-you services, repairs, local services
  • Rentals and assets36
    Earning from something you own: renting property, rooms, equipment, vehicles, parking, vending machines, domains
  • Directories and marketplaces11
    A job board, listings site, directory or marketplace that connects buyers and sellers
  • Teaching and coaching19
    Live tutoring, lessons, workshops, coaching or cohort classes

Matching ideas

About the data

Startup cost
Under $100$100 to $1k$1k to $10kOver $10k
Time
Hands-offA few hours a weekPart-timeNear full-time
Where
OnlineIn personOnline and in person
Earns from
AdsAffiliateSubscriptionsOne-time salesService feesRentMarketplace cutSponsors and donations
Coding
No coding neededNeeds coding

137 ideas, page 1 of 3

  • Software and apps
    Road trip visualization tool
    A website for visualizing road trips, earning sales through organic traffic with peaks around holidays.
    Hands-offOnline
    Hacker News, 2024
  • Digital products
    Co-authored tech e-book and online course
    Co-wrote a Spring Boot and AWS e-book with a companion online course, sharing the income among authors.
    Hands-offOnline
    Hacker News, 2024
  • Software and apps
    Minimal Android launcher with pro version
    A minimalist Android launcher distributed free, with a paid pro version.
    Online
    Hacker News, 2024
  • Digital products
    Obsidian template with guide and course
    A template for a note-taking app with a user guide and video course based on the owner's personal system, sold to customers.
    Hands-offOnline
    Hacker News, 2024
  • Digital products
    DevOps online course for small teams
    Created an online course teaching DevOps to small companies and self-hosters, which keeps selling even against bigger instructors.
    Hands-offOnline
    Hacker News, 2024
  • Software and apps
    GIF meme maker with watermark removal sales
    A GIF meme site that earns from one-off sales of watermark removal.
    Hands-offOnline
    Hacker News, 2024
  • Physical products
    Grounded charger adapters for MacBooks
    Worked with a factory to make grounded power adapters that stop case buzzing, sold on Amazon.
    Hands-offOnline
    Hacker News, 2024
  • Digital products
    Self-published book on deploying applications
    Wrote and sells a technical book on deployment that shows the steps without higher-level tools.
    Hands-offOnline
    Hacker News, 2022
  • Physical products
    Software error-message T-shirt designs
    Put cartoon T-shirt designs about software error messages on craft sites.
    Under $100Hands-offOnline
    Hacker News, 2022
  • Digital products
    Datasets of promotion resources sold on Gumroad
    Sells a curated list of places to promote side projects, for makers wanting traffic, directly through Gumroad.
    Under $100Hands-offOnline
    Hacker News, 2021
  • Digital products
    Online courses sold on Udemy
    Creates and sells courses on Udemy.
    Hands-offOnline
    Hacker News, 2021
  • Physical products
    Niche menswear online business
    Started a niche menswear business alongside a full-time job. It now runs mostly on its own at small scale.
    Hands-offOnline
    Hacker News, 2021
  • Software and apps
    Safari tab refresh extension for Mac
    A paid Mac App Store app that grew out of a personal need for a Safari extension that refreshes tabs automatically.
    Hands-offOnline
    Hacker News, 2021
  • Software and apps
    Niche Mac App Store app
    Wrote a Mac app years ago that still makes steady daily sales through the app store without marketing.
    Hands-offOnline
    Hacker News, 2020
  • Physical products
    Book royalties and foreign translation deals
    Earns twice-yearly royalties from a published book and small licensing deals for translations in other countries.
    Hands-offOnline
    Hacker News, 2019
  • Digital products
    Ebooks compiled from newsletter tips
    Compiles articles and tips from a newsletter into ebooks sold on Leanpub and Amazon.
    Online
    Hacker News, 2019
  • Digital products
    Level design tool sold on Unity Asset Store
    Built a level design package and sells it on the Unity Asset Store, relying on organic discovery.
    Hands-offOnline
    Hacker News, 2019
  • Software and apps
    Localized wedding registry platform
    An independent wedding registry site for a local market. Couples pay a one-time activation fee, and Google ads bring in traffic.
    $1k to $10kHands-offOnline
    Hacker News, 2019
  • Software and apps
    Mac app for browsing video collections
    Built a desktop app for managing video libraries and sells licenses. Donates the proceeds to charity.
    Hands-offOnline
    Hacker News, 2019
  • Digital products
    Premium Jekyll theme for developers and academics
    Sells a boutique Jekyll theme aimed at software people and academics, with a free base version and a paid version.
    Under $100Hands-offOnline
    Hacker News, 2019
  • Physical products
    Twitter bot with related merchandise
    A bot that posts a space-weather graph and built a following, which led to selling related t-shirts.
    Hands-offOnline
    Hacker News, 2019
  • Software and apps
    Buy, renovate and sell a foreclosed condo
    Bought a foreclosed condo, redid the kitchen and bathroom in spare time, and sold it for a profit later.
    Over $10kHands-offIn person
    Hacker News, 2019
  • Physical products
    Historic-style city maps sold online
    Runs a hobby business selling maps made in a historic style.
    Online
    Hacker News, 2019
  • Digital products
    Programming book sold online in two languages
    Sells a Ruby book on a self-publishing platform, first in the owner's native language and now being translated to English.
    Under $100Hands-offOnline
    Hacker News, 2019
  • Digital products
    Programming books on web frameworks
    Writes and sells books about programming, currently covering Angular and related tools, with little promotion.
    Hands-offOnline
    Hacker News, 2019
  • Digital products
    Programming tutorials sold on Leanpub
    Wrote introductory programming tutorials and sells them as ebooks on Leanpub.
    Under $100Hands-offOnline
    Hacker News, 2019
  • Physical products
    3D printed replacement parts for appliances
    Designed 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-offOnline
    Hacker News, 2019
  • Digital products
    Chat app sticker packs
    Created sticker sets for a popular messaging app and earned from their sales.
    Under $100Online
    Hacker News, 2019
  • Physical products
    Print-on-demand shirts for data scientists
    Designs t-shirts with jokes for machine learning and data science fans and sells them through a print-on-demand storefront.
    Under $100Hands-offOnline
    Hacker News, 2019
  • Digital products
    Self-published harmonica and fiction ebooks
    Sells a harmonica instruction book and science fiction short story collections on Amazon, and also sells stories to magazines.
    Under $100Hands-offOnline
    Hacker News, 2019
  • Digital products
    Self-published travel books and ebooks
    Writes travel and lifestyle books and sells them as ebooks and print on demand on Amazon and Apple. Little ongoing work after publishing.
    Hands-offOnline
    Hacker News, 2019
  • Physical products
    Sell surplus chicken eggs
    Sells eggs from backyard hens when they lay more than the household uses.
    Hands-off
    Hacker News, 2019
  • Digital products
    Themes marketplace for static site generators
    A site selling themes for static site generators that has started making sales.
    Hands-offOnline
    Hacker News, 2019
  • Software and apps
    Published indie games with small ongoing sales
    A few games the owner published that continue to sell a little each year without any input.
    Hands-offOnline
    Hacker News, 2019
  • Physical products
    Automated online clothing store with meme shirts
    Runs an online clothing store where ordering and fulfillment are automated. Sells meme shirts and promotes through social media only.
    Hands-offOnline
    Hacker News, 2019
  • Physical products
    Sketchpads for wireframing sold on Shopify
    Designs and sells sketchpads for mobile and browser wireframes through a Shopify store, reordering inventory in larger batches as it sells out.
    $100 to $1kOnline
    Hacker News, 2018
  • Digital products
    Translate public domain classics into English ebooks
    Translates well-regarded public domain works into English and sells them as ebooks. Finding niche topics is the key.
    Under $100Hands-offOnline
    Hacker News, 2018
  • Digital products
    CSS e-book sold with light marketing
    Wrote and self-published an e-book about CSS that has kept selling a year after launch.
    Hands-offOnline
    Hacker News, 2018
  • Digital products
    Ebook on growing a subscription box
    Wrote 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-offOnline
    Hacker News, 2018
  • Digital products
    Film pre-production and storyboard templates
    A small shop selling pre-production, storyboard and film treatment templates through an online marketplace.
    Under $100Hands-offOnline
    Hacker News, 2018
  • Digital products
    Online algorithmic trading courses
    Sells online courses on algorithmic trading through its own site and Udemy. Maintenance is mostly answering student emails.
    Online
    Hacker News, 2018
  • Digital products
    Online courses sold on Udemy
    Created video courses on Udemy that keep earning money after the initial work.
    Hands-offOnline
    Hacker News, 2018
  • Digital products
    Pre-built cloud VMs for learning Ethereum
    Lists virtual machines on major cloud marketplaces that come set up for Ethereum development, with video tutorials. Revenue comes from VM sales.
    Hands-offOnline
    Hacker News, 2018
  • Digital products
    Self-published game development book
    Wrote and self-published a book about a game framework. Earns a small monthly income from sales.
    Hands-offOnline
    Hacker News, 2018
  • Digital products
    Self-published programming tutorial book
    Writing and self-publishing a tutorial book on the Angular framework.
    Hands-offOnline
    Hacker News, 2018
  • Software and apps
    Small portfolio of Android apps
    Publishes several Android apps on Google Play. One got an editor's pick, which boosted sales for a while.
    Hands-offOnline
    Hacker News, 2018
  • Digital products
    Video course and book on Flask web development
    Produced a video course and a book about the Flask framework. Earns ongoing royalties from sales.
    Hands-offOnline
    Hacker News, 2018
  • Physical products
    Athletic wear designs sold on Zazzle
    Creates 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-offOnline
    Hacker News, 2017