All Side Hustle Ideas

Software and apps side hustle ideas

A web app, SaaS, mobile app, browser extension, bot or API that people pay for or that earns from ads.

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

8 ideas

  • Software and apps
    Gym fitness app built by a first-time coder
    An iOS fitness app built to solve the founder's own problem at the gym. The founder had never shipped code before and grew it with content and a personal brand.
    $100 to $1kOnline
    Starter Story, 2026
  • Software and apps
    Solo-built mobile game
    A mobile game built by a former big tech employee after leaving a full-time job. It grew with no paid marketing.
    Online
    Starter Story, 2026
  • Software and apps
    Data analysis software for agencies and online stores
    A micro-SaaS that replaces messy spreadsheets for agencies and e-commerce brands trying to make sense of their data. The founder spotted the problem while consulting for these businesses and built the app with Claude.
    Online
    Starter Story, 2026
  • Software and apps
    Paid online community for a niche audience
    A members-only group charges a recurring or lifetime fee for access to a niche audience and its resources. The host promotes it from an existing audience.
    Online
    The Koerner Office, 2025
  • Software and apps
    Privacy-friendly website analytics tool
    Built an embeddable analytics product that avoids cookies, sold as hosted subscriptions and to customers on invoice.
    Online
    Hacker News, 2022
  • Software and apps
    SaaS wrapper around open-source email checker
    Created an open-source email verification tool, then built a paid hosted service on top of it.
    Online
    Hacker News, 2022
  • Software and apps
    Uptime monitoring service for APIs and websites
    Built 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-timeOnline
    Hacker News, 2022
  • Software and apps
    Video recordings for pull request reviews
    A tool for recording video explanations on pull requests, to reduce misunderstandings during code review.
    Online
    Hacker News, 2021