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
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- 14 publications and shows
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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
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About the data34 ideas
- Software and appsA website for visualizing road trips, earning sales through organic traffic with peaks around holidays.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2024
- Digital productsCo-wrote a Spring Boot and AWS e-book with a companion online course, sharing the income among authors.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2024
- Software and appsBuilt a Mac app for drawing and highlighting on screen during calls and presentations, after needing it personally.OnlineHacker News, 2022
- Software and appsWrote a Mac app years ago that still makes steady daily sales through the app store without marketing.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2020
- Software and appsAn independent wedding registry site for a local market. Couples pay a one-time activation fee, and Google ads bring in traffic.$1k to $10kHands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Software and appsBuilt a desktop app for managing video libraries and sells licenses. Donates the proceeds to charity.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsDesigned hardware and an iPhone app that remotely control arrays of cameras. Sold mainly to photo booth operators.Hacker News, 2019
- Physical productsSells custom signs to businesses, with an online sign creator for simple designs and help with more complex ones. A supplier makes and ships the signs.Part-timeOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsA website where customers tailor a writing pad to their handwriting style, sold as a physical product.OnlineHacker News, 2019
- Software and appsA few games the owner published that continue to sell a little each year without any input.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Software and appsPublishes several Android apps on Google Play. One got an editor's pick, which boosted sales for a while.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Software and appsBuilt a web-based synth and drum machine that is free as a demo. Sells a downloadable desktop version without the restrictions.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Software and appsSells a cross-platform desktop task manager with a Kanban-style board, through a trial-based license on Gumroad and the Mac App Store.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Software and appsA desktop tool that shrinks images without visible quality loss. Offered as a free version with paid upgrades, plus plugins for design software.OnlineHacker News, 2016
- Software and appsPublishes native apps and games along with HTML5 games, earning from app store sales. Income has declined as the stores have changed.OnlineHacker News, 2016
- Software and appsBuilt online prep resources for UK medical school entrance exams. Students pay for access, mostly in the months before the exams.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Software and appsSells a game for iPad through the App Store, which sold with almost no ongoing effort until app updates were needed for new platform requirements.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Digital productsTeaches people the Swift language with a self-written book and an online coding exercise platform. Money comes from selling these products.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Digital productsDeveloped payment gateway and product feed extensions for online store platforms and sells them.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Software and appsSells a Mac utility for cleaning disk space on the Mac App Store, with little marketing.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Software and appsPorted an older game to iPad, free to download with one in-app purchase unlocking the full version.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Digital productsSells WordPress themes for specific niches, with a small ad budget and a little customer support.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Software and appsSells personalized kids books through an iPad app and is splitting it into individual book apps.OnlineHacker News, 2014
- Software and appsSells software for creating bingo cards, needing little support.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Digital productsA website selling cupcake wrapper designs, with new designs needed to keep sales up.OnlineHacker News, 2014
- Software and appsHas a simple app in the Mac App Store that sells with no ongoing support.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Directories and marketplacesA marketplace for themes for a blogging platform.OnlineHacker News, 2014
- Software and appsBought an iOS sleep calculator app from its owner and redesigned the interface.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Software and appsBuilt an iOS app that teaches what a tesseract is and lets users manipulate it. People keep buying it in a small niche.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Software and appsA web development tool for Mac sold through the Mac App Store.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Directories and marketplacesRuns a marketplace and sells components on larger marketplaces, still earning from support and sales.OnlineHacker News, 2014
- Software and appsAn application sold within Second Life that helps users make machinima, earning small sales long after launch.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2011
- Software and appsWrote a card game for iPhone that sells steadily with almost no maintenance.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2011
- Physical productsA small hardware device that reads digital sensors and outputs data through a serial connection, sold to customers.Online and in personHacker News, 2011