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Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2026 – Show and tell
21–30 of 109 posts
Re: Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2026 – Show and tell
#22I had an idea in 2008 to make a website that emailed your friends when you die. I built https://www.deadmansswitch.net/ in a weekend, and it's been making money since. Around $1k/mo now.
Re: Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2026 – Show and tell
#23I had an idea in 2008 to make a website that emailed your friends when you die. I built https://www.deadmansswitch.net/ in a weekend, and it's been making money since. Around $1k/mo now.
How do people find it, word of mouth?
Re: Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2026 – Show and tell
#24Re: Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2026 – Show and tell
#25Solo iOS app that I have been working on since January: https://bhol.app - crossed 500 MRR in June. Seeing the traction and feedback from users is the best form of motivation to keep going.
Now working on scaling it via UGC/social media, landing deals with local language schools, and upping the design with more Rive assets.
Re: Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2026 – Show and tell
#26The world is changed - given the low cost of reverse engineering and implementation, it would be product suicide to openly call out a money making product. I don't expect too many actual >500$ moneymaking projects to be listed. Would love to be proven wrong.
Yeah, the only time I see people talking about money-making side projects is when it's practically impossible to copy them. I can't see the advantage of bragging about a side project if the threat of losing marketshare for it is on the table. My side project isn't software and doesn't make $500/mo, but I still just don't talk about it.
My side-project makes money because it's in a specific niche: It requires trust that the service will still operate tomorrow, and the fact that it's been going for nearly 20 years is a selling point you can't just have Claude copy.
It helps that it's cheap, I guess, but it also operates in a market small enough that anything with less than minimal time commitment will lose money. That's why there are tens of former competitors who have all shut down now.
Re: Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2026 – Show and tell
#27My work came up with a bonus structure around a certain set of industry certifications. I looked at all the certifications available and worked out a strategy to max the bonus each year. It comes out to about $2.5k/month. So my side hustle is studying and taking tests. Over the last 5 years or so of taking tests + investing I’ve built a nice chunk of change set aside to help pay for college for my two boys (age 14 an…
How much time are in investing in these certifications on average? i would imagine running out of things to study/certify in such a long time
Re: Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2026 – Show and tell
#28My work came up with a bonus structure around a certain set of industry certifications. I looked at all the certifications available and worked out a strategy to max the bonus each year. It comes out to about $2.5k/month. So my side hustle is studying and taking tests. Over the last 5 years or so of taking tests + investing I’ve built a nice chunk of change set aside to help pay for college for my two boys (age 14 an…
That's clever and entertaining. Have you actually enjoyed any of them?
I do actually enjoy them and they’re pretty much all in my wheel house. Well I enjoy them when I have plenty of time to sit down with a cup of coffee and study. A few times I’ve been under basically deadline pressure to get the exams passed in time to qualify for the bonus, that’s not fun at all. Over about 20 certification attempts I’ve only failed one :) (they’re all pass/fail).
Re: Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2026 – Show and tell
#29Two weeks ago, I released the tactical map-based WW2 submarine sim Silent Shark (which I got feedback on from HN for beta test a few months ago https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48180924 ) and it's gone extremely well for a side project - I've had over 100 Steam reviews, 99% of them are positive, and I have sold a few thousand copies so far.
I began working on this game just 6 months ago and have only worked on it in my spare time in evenings and on weekends, instead of playing computer games. I made the early decision to use Codex for 100% of the coding, that has been a phenomenal experience.
The only Image Gen AI I've used has been to clean up 2 old and weathered historical maps I found, to make them readable.
Still have over 25,000 Steam wishlists and growing. I'm super thankful and having a blast.
Re: Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2026 – Show and tell
#30A friend and I host a monthly dinner club for people interested in exploring ethnic cuisine on Long Island. We work with one restaurant each month to create an 8-12+ course all inclusive price fixe menu. The food is usually served family style (the ambitious ones individually plate everything) and is authentic to the region we are hosting. We typically host the dinners on a Tues and Wed when the restaurants in our re…
Love this idea! Any time I visit a place that specializes in a cuisine I'm not familiar with, I tend to struggle with what to order because I don't want to commit to just one entree. Having a curated tour of tastes, so to speak, targeted to folks exploring the cuisine would be absolutely perfect. Wonderful!