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
Matching ideas
About the data136 ideas, page 2 of 3
- Software and appsBuilt an embeddable analytics product that avoids cookies, sold as hosted subscriptions and to customers on invoice.OnlineHacker News, 2022
- Software and appsWrote embedded software and earned a royalty on every device shipped for many years.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2022
- Software and appsCreated an open-source email verification tool, then built a paid hosted service on top of it.OnlineHacker News, 2022
- Software and appsA Mac app that creates polished product demo videos from screen recordings using cursor movements and clicks.OnlineHacker News, 2022
- Software and appsBuilt a very basic tool for an industry the owner wanted to be part of, then found a larger opportunity there that now supports them full-time.OnlineHacker News, 2022
- Software and appsSoftware that ties game stats to video footage for coaches, sold to schools in many states.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2022
- Software and appsBuilt a monitoring tool that began with GraphQL services and expanded to all APIs and web apps, running it with a couple of hours of work each workday.Part-timeOnlineHacker News, 2022
- Software and appsStarted by scraping real estate listings for personal use, then built a scraping API that handles blocking and sold access to paying customers.OnlineHacker 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
- Software and appsA service where users forward unwanted emails and it finds unsubscribe links and fills web forms for them.OnlineHacker News, 2021
- Software and appsA web app for sharing audio clips with timestamped comments, such as a music teacher giving feedback to a student.OnlineHacker News, 2021
- Software and appsA tool for recording video explanations on pull requests, to reduce misunderstandings during code review.OnlineHacker News, 2021
- Software and appsStarted a web hosting company on nights and weekends during grad school, which later became a full-time business.OnlineHacker News, 2021
- Services and freelancingDoes web work for clients and keeps income steady with annual payments for hosting, maintenance and small fixes.OnlineHacker News, 2020
- Software and appsRuns a web tool that migrates data from files like CSV, JSON and XML into MySQL databases, sold to users who need conversions.OnlineHacker News, 2019
- Software and appsBuilt a web tool for stock technical analysis and offered it white-labeled to companies with distribution, splitting profits with them.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Software and appsBuilt a platform for scavenger hunts played on phones. Sells it to team-building event companies and also to individuals for birthdays and parties.OnlineHacker News, 2019
- Software and appsA charting product for data maps, earning from subscriptions and from licensing its chart library.OnlineHacker News, 2019
- Software and appsTurned an internal debugging and remote logging tool for iOS and Android into a subscription product for customers of all sizes.OnlineHacker News, 2019
- Software and appsA browser extension that tests sites for SEO, speed and security best practices, with free and paid tiers.OnlineHacker News, 2019
- Software and appsBuilt a service with an API that lets businesses send cookies to customers and partners across Europe and the US.OnlineHacker News, 2019
- Software and appsAn open source API that generates embeddable chart images and QR codes. Monetized as a hosted service.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Software and appsRuns a subscription service that lets sites display announcement banners.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Content and mediaMoved all past writing behind Medium's paywall and removed calls to action to qualify for distribution. Earns a monthly share from reader time.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Software and appsA web tool that lets esports teams create mascot style gaming logos, currently in private beta.OnlineHacker News, 2019
- Software and appsAn outgoing text message API with flat pricing, small packages for hobbyists, and a free daily message. Has an open source version.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Software and appsBuilt a portfolio management tool for cryptocurrency investors and reached subscription revenue quickly with a basic version, while keeping a day job.OnlineHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsWrote a regular expressions pocket reference for a technical publisher, earning ongoing royalties.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Software and appsA team calendar software product that earns recurring revenue and could grow with more marketing.$1k to $10kOnlineHacker 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
- Content and mediaA regular newsletter about web tools that earns income and leads to paid writing work.A few hours a weekOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Software and appsA service for WordPress plugin and theme developers covering updates, git deployment, analytics and load testing, paid by subscription.OnlineHacker News, 2019
- Software and appsStarted a company offering marketing automation to fitness businesses, with recurring revenue and a partnership with a martial arts actor's affiliates.OnlineHacker News, 2019
- Teaching and coachingMakes screencasts that teach the Elixir language and sells access to them.OnlineHacker News, 2019
- Teaching and coachingTeaches people to build projects without code, earning from memberships and from companies that pay to be listed and to have educational content made.OnlineHacker News, 2019
- Software and appsA platform for learning to write alongside others, built around habits and streaks.A few hours a weekOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Content and mediaA morning briefing about the technology industry that readers pay for, with sponsorships that avoid ad-style promotion.A few hours a weekOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Software and appsPublishes in-depth long-term stock analyses for German-speaking investors. Revenue comes from monthly subscriptions.OnlineHacker News, 2019
- Software and appsBuilt a stock trading model for personal use, then published it on a platform where subscribers pay to follow it. Subscribers take responsibility for any trades.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Software and appsBuilt a service that keeps software dependencies up to date and supports multiple programming languages. It started as a passive project and became a full-time company.OnlineHacker News, 2018
- Software and appsBuilt a documentation product that earned its first revenue with little maintenance, and is planning a second version.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Software and appsProduces long, project-based video lessons on the Elixir language, with free videos on YouTube and premium content for paying subscribers.OnlineHacker News, 2018
- Content and mediaA football tipping website built on WordPress that earns from paid memberships and sponsored posts.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Software and appsA competitor monitoring product that began as a side project and grew into a systemised business with a team, so the owner now acts more like an investor.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 appsA subscription tool that watches DNS zones for changes and alerts the owner, keeping a revision history. Aimed at people who manage DNS for clients.OnlineHacker News, 2016
- Software and appsBuilt a document management and review web app for a large company and gets a monthly maintenance fee, needing very little time each month.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