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 9 of 14
- 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
- Content and mediaA website comparing prices for domain extensions across registrars. Earns through registrar affiliate commissions and paid data downloads.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
- Software and appsSoftware for protecting source code with encryption, built to meet the owner's own need when existing products were very expensive. It has produced steady income for years with a small remote team.OnlineHacker 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
- Content and mediaA small project built for fun that earns a little from display ads and has grown slowly.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Digital productsCo-wrote a book on user acquisition and built a video course to go with it, funded through crowdfunding backers. Income comes from sales of the book and course.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Content and mediaWrote a how-to guide for bypassing an ISP's required modem and router, and recommends a tested router through an Amazon affiliate link. Costs almost nothing to host.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Software and appsLets a couple of people use a personal instance of an open source program they run, so they do not have to host it themselves, in exchange for a small monthly fee.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 appsA lossless screen recording app for macOS sold through the Mac App Store and its own site. Adds features like animated GIF export to keep sales coming in.OnlineHacker News, 2016
- Directories and marketplacesSold a few domains at a profit and then launched a site selling high-quality startup names to fund other ventures.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Software and appsBuilt an online exam preparation platform for aspiring medical students together with a sibling. Once launched it needed very little upkeep and sold access to students.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Software and appsRuns a multiplayer Boggle-style game online. It earns from advertising and paid memberships.Hands-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 productsSells paleo diet guides and a meal plan service online.OnlineHacker News, 2016
- Content and mediaBuilt a WordPress website for people looking up information about others. It earns from Google AdSense and needs only software updates now.Hands-offOnlineHacker 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 appsRuns a set of small web apps for learning music notes, non-Latin alphabets and languages with flash cards. Income comes from ads and paid premium plans.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Software and appsSells a productivity app that grows through users sharing it with friends, and is developing a related subscription product based on customer feedback.OnlineHacker News, 2016
- Rentals and assetsBought several apartments in a new building while it was still under construction at a good price, then rented them out unfurnished to tenants.Over $10kHands-offHacker News, 2016
- Physical productsRuns a site that resells SSL certificates. Margins are thin because support requests eat into profit, so the owner would rather sell an own product.OnlineHacker News, 2016
- Content and mediaA website with a searchable product catalog that earns from Amazon affiliate links.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Physical productsWrote and sells a printed guide to using a music recording program along with music technology basics. It has to be updated for each new software version.OnlineHacker 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
- Physical productsWrote and self-published beginner books on building web apps with Django. A fulfillment company now handles shipping, so the work is mostly passing along orders and answering questions.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Content and mediaRuns a guide site for visitors interested in Silicon Valley sights. Income comes from ads.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Services and freelancingStarted a shared hosting company so existing clients could move away from big, confusing hosts. Customers pay hosting fees.OnlineHacker News, 2016
- Digital productsDesigned watch faces for a smartwatch and sold them at the lowest price in the store. Sales were strong at first, then copies appeared and they pulled the apps.Under $100OnlineHacker News, 2016
- Directories and marketplacesA community site where hobbyist voice actors connect and find work. It started by accident and now earns a steady monthly income.OnlineHacker News, 2016
- Content and mediaPublished a how-to post on single sign-on between two business platforms on an old blog and added AdSense. Earns small ad revenue from search visitors.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker 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 appsA service where customers text a photo and a physical postcard is mailed. Built with a web framework and an SMS API, and paid per postcard.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Content and mediaBlogs about travel and working remotely from an RV. Money comes from Amazon affiliate links placed in posts.OnlineHacker News, 2016
- Content and mediaA network of automated accounts that gather tech meetups and conferences for each city and tweet them, plus a weekly mailing list. Money comes from affiliate fees for conferences and workshops and from ad blocks in the newsletter.OnlineHacker News, 2016
- Software and appsBuilt a service that delivers updates for private WordPress plugins and themes, which developers otherwise find painful to manage. Customers pay for the service.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Software and appsSells a watermarking tool, and also runs a multi-week video productivity course that is paid for each time a new class fills.OnlineHacker News, 2016
- Services and freelancingDesigns websites for clients and hosts them on cloud infrastructure, collecting monthly web and email hosting fees.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Physical productsA physical sticker product that covers laptop cameras, sold through Amazon and its own website without any advertising.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Services and freelancingBuilt an automated system for deploying webshops for a web agency owner, in exchange for a fee on each shop deployed. The income ended when the client retired.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Services and freelancingA retail shop that fixes broken phones for walk-in customers, grown from one location to several. The owner later sold the business.Over $10kIn personTop Founders, 2016
- Physical productsA wholesaler supplies replacement parts to independent repair shops and recycles broken screens. Money comes from selling parts to hundreds of shops.Over $10kTop Founders, 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
- Content and mediaMaintains a documentation website for a jQuery plugin and earns a small amount from a single ad placed on it.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016