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 data651 ideas, page 13 of 14
- Digital productsWrote a PHP library and sells licenses to developers, getting a few sales a year.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Content and mediaRuns a simple prank site hosted cheaply on GitHub Pages that brings in a modest monthly income.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Software and appsRuns a web service for sending press releases to media, used by customers promoting books and events, with a free tier for anonymous whistleblowers.$1k to $10kOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Physical productsDesigned themed t-shirts and sold them through a print-on-demand marketplace.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Digital productsWrote a PHP book and still receives small royalty payments from it.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Software and appsBuilding a web service that helps designers create client proposals.OnlineHacker News, 2014
- Content and mediaA small site that shows random Amazon products, earning from affiliate links.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Rentals and assetsRents out a spare room for up to a week each month, needing little work beyond laundry.Under $100Hands-offHacker News, 2014
- Rentals and assetsBought discounted condos, fixed them up and rents them out through a property manager, keeping most of the rent after fees and taxes.Over $10kHands-offIn personHacker News, 2014
- Content and mediaBuilt a rhyming dictionary site where an ad unit covers the hosting costs.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Digital productsWrote and published a book on adult ADHD that still brings in a small amount from sales.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Digital productsWrote a short sci-fi novel sold through Kindle and iBooks stores.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Digital productsSells scripts and plugins through a code marketplace and a beginner's book on making WordPress plugins.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Software and appsAn Android app for managing a Shopify store, sold on Google Play without marketing.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Content and mediaRuns a showcase website for sites built with a popular front-end framework, with very low running costs and steady traffic.OnlineHacker News, 2014
- Content and mediaA site of tax and finance calculators that earns from AdSense and affiliate income, needing only occasional upkeep.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Digital productsWrote a book about payments with Stripe for Rails developers, backed by related blog posts and content.OnlineHacker News, 2014
- OnlineHacker News, 2014
- Software and appsOffers a tool and API to validate UK bank account details, and sells a data file of sort codes.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Software and appsA free site for playing with Unicode text and ASCII art, earning small ad income.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Software and appsBuilt developer tools for testing WCF services, since expanded to several products and recommended by developers on Q&A sites.OnlineHacker News, 2014
- Content and mediaBuilt a better way to browse Kindle books and earns affiliate fees when visitors buy.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2011
- Content and mediaRuns a personal blog that earns small commissions from Amazon affiliate links.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2011
- Software and appsAn app that filters unimportant calls and lets urgent ones from chosen contacts through. Sold as a paid app.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2011
- Software and appsBuilt a machine learning system that solves captchas, paid per captcha, so income continues after the build.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2011
- Software and appsRuns a text messaging service with low per-message pricing. Earns from message volume.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2011
- Services and freelancingDid site-to-WordPress theme conversions for clients, finding them through targeted AdWords ads.$100 to $1kPart-timeOnlineHacker News, 2011
- Physical productsDesigned t-shirts and had them printed on higher quality apparel, selling them through a dedicated website.OnlineHacker News, 2011
- Content and mediaAn alternative interface to Google image search with the face filter on, which earned from ad clicks on an image-heavy site.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2011
- Content and mediaA site that tells you where to buy tracks heard in DJ tracklists, earning small affiliate commissions that cover its hosting.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2011
- Physical productsDesigned and sold iPad cases through a small online store.OnlineHacker News, 2011
- Services and freelancingA photography business started with a spouse that grew enough for the spouse to quit a day job.Hacker News, 2011
- Content and mediaA search site for books that earns small amounts from affiliate sales.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2011
- Software and appsA proxy service for advertisers who want to see international ads and geotargeted landing pages, sold at a flat monthly price after minimal promotion on forums.OnlineHacker News, 2011
- Services and freelancingPlaces a former lead developer with an overseas client and earns a margin on the arrangement, alongside personal consulting.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2011
- Software and appsBuilds trading models and financial tools and licenses them to others.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2011
- Software and appsBuilt an anti-piracy licensing system for their own Android apps and then sold it to other developers as a subscription service.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2011
- Directories and marketplacesA penny auction site for a local market, relying on manual bank transfers for payment since cards are rare, with plans to white-label it.Part-timeOnlineHacker News, 2011
- Software and appsBuilt a puzzle game for iPhone sold on the App Store.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2011
- Content and mediaRuns a lyrics website that earns a small amount from AdSense.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2011
- Software and appsAn application sold within Second Life that helps users make machinima, earning small sales long after launch.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2011
- Services and freelancingOffers a service that helps startups write short, clear descriptions of their product for sites and their own pages.OnlineHacker News, 2011
- Content and mediaBuilt many small niche websites on keyword-rich domains with SEO copy to earn AdSense revenue, then sold the whole set on Flippa.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2011
- Content and mediaWrites album reviews and earns from ads and affiliate commissions when readers buy the reviewed CDs.OnlineHacker News, 2011
- Content and mediaRuns several user-submitted humor sites and earns from them plus licensing for a paid iPhone app tied to one site.OnlineHacker News, 2011
- Content and mediaRuns two small sites that earn mostly by selling text links through a link marketplace, plus some AdSense.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2011
- Physical productsSells grafting tools made by a relative's family company through an online store, after testing demand on eBay.A few hours a weekOnlineHacker News, 2011
- Software and appsWrote a card game for iPhone that sells steadily with almost no maintenance.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2011