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Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2025 – Show and tell

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71–80 of 575 posts

Re: Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2025 – Show and tell

#71

I’m still selling Computer Engineering for Babies. And I just launched a new book called Simple Machines Made Simple on Kickstarter a month or two ago. Both books are basically just simple interactive demos for kids and adults. https://hackylabs.com

I got gifted Computer Engineering for Babies and big Babies last Christmas in preparation for having our first child :) They are great!

Re: Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2025 – Show and tell

#72

https://fivethreeone.app/ a weightlifting app for 5/3/1 has been earning me ~$1000 a month for over two years now. I'm actively working on a successor that allows you to create your own custom workout programs using formulas: https://vis.fitness

Thank you for building this! I've been using the app for almost a year after I switched to the Boring But Big routine.

You’re very welcome. I’ve used it for more than 500 workouts myself, but now that I have young kids, I don’t have the time to do 5/3/1 anymore.

Re: Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2025 – Show and tell

#73
Not sure if blogging, collecting blogs, and interviewing people about blogging is considered a side project but ever now and again, depending on how generous the people on the other side are, I hit 500/month in donations.

Everything I do is free for everyone but for the past few years I’ve been running an entirely optional membership program that starts at $1/month.

I’m (probably naively) a big believer in kindness and I keep refusing to monetize what I do in any other way.

Re: Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2025 – Show and tell

#74

https://fivethreeone.app/ a weightlifting app for 5/3/1 has been earning me ~$1000 a month for over two years now. I'm actively working on a successor that allows you to create your own custom workout programs using formulas: https://vis.fitness

Wow this is pretty cool. I am working on my first mobile app. what tips can you give. I am planning to build in public on twitter, substack and share my coding process here on HN. It is a carpooling app.

Don’t rely on organic App Store traffic until you’ve hit a certain size.

Re: Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2025 – Show and tell

#77
My parter and I made a fun erotic story generator called Smitten (https://smittenstories.com ) during the valentine's day weekend as a way for couples to spice things up.

Initially it was running on donations, but with model costs rising we had to add a paywall. I have a full time job but it's still fun to run this on the side by spending few hours on it over the weekends!

Re: Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2025 – Show and tell

#78
A friend and I host a monthly dinner club for people interested in ethnic cuisine. We work with a single restaurant each month to create an 8-12 course all inclusive price fixe menu. The food is served family style and is authentic to the region we are hosting. We typically host the dinners on a Tues or Wed when the restaurants in our region aren’t too busy and could use the extra business.

Since 2023 we’ve been to 44 restaurants. In 2025 we served 1,099 guests and generated $126k in revenue.

https://www.deadchefssociety.com/

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