Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2024 – Show and tell

Hacker News Discussion ↗

Developers, makers, and entrepreneurs share side projects that generate at least $500 a month, ranging from indie SaaS tools, browser extensions, and mobile apps to physical products, content businesses, and even offline services. Common themes include solving a personal pain point, growing via word of mouth or niche communities rather than ads, and gradually evolving hobbies into sustainable “micro-businesses” that often remain part-time by choice. Contributors also touch on challenges such as discoverability, pricing, infrastructure costs, ethical gray areas (e.g. AI chatbots and cheating tools), and the heavy time demand of anything involving physical goods or in-person work.

Range of Side Projects & Incomes

  • Very wide mix: dev tools (Kubernetes UI, API mocking, uptime monitoring, scraping APIs, VPNs), consumer apps (fitness, note‑taking, plant care, language learning, job tools), games, AI utilities, newsletters, books/courses, plugins, and niche websites.
  • Many non‑software projects too: laser‑cut wall art, jewelry, rolling trays, 3D printing, Airbnb cabins, egg farming, festival payment systems, puzzle magazines, historical maps, escape rooms, etc.
  • Revenue spans from just crossing $500/mo to several thousand, and in a few cases full‑time incomes or low six‑figure businesses.

Common Success Patterns

  • “Scratch your own itch” is repeated: built to solve a personal pain (docs, festival payments, head tracking, job search, resume automation, etc.).
  • Narrow, “unsexy” niches with recurring demand (janitorial leads, checks by mail, local SEO, industrial cleaning, dividend tracking) are often profitable.
  • Many projects are years old, compounding slowly via word‑of‑mouth, SEO, and organic search rather than big launches.
  • Several open‑source tools fund development via cloud add‑ons, enterprise plugins, donations, or support contracts.

Marketing & Distribution Challenges

  • Discoverability is a major pain point, especially for physical products and indie apps; conventions and Meta/Google ads help some, others lean on Reddit/HN/communities.
  • Landing page design is hard for many; people share workflows: start from templates (Tailwind UI, bought themes), copy good sites, or hire designers.
  • Some rely almost entirely on referrals and existing networks; others experiment with ads that often barely break even.

Pricing, Value, and Customers

  • Debate over “expensive” dev tools (e.g., $99 Kubernetes UI): one camp says only paying customers matter; others note price can be “too high for them” without being objectively wrong.
  • Mix of models: subscriptions, one‑time licenses, freemium upgrades, usage‑based pricing, sponsorships, affiliate links, and ad‑supported PWAs.
  • Enterprise buyers introduce POs, compliance, and longer cycles; small‑to‑mid customers often happily self‑serve on the website.

Ethical / Social Concerns

  • Strong reactions to:
    • AI tools for cheating technical interviews and coding tests; some applaud “breaking a bad system,” others fear escalating surveillance.
    • AI chatbots impersonating OnlyFans models; some see harmless companionship, others call it exploitative and sad.
    • Gambling‑adjacent projects (poker, sports‑betting analysis) and privacy issues with location‑based apps.
  • Thread acknowledges a “broken” hiring and loneliness landscape but disagrees on individual responsibility vs “hate the game, not the player”.

Tech & Architecture Notes

  • Frequent stacks: Next.js/React/Tailwind, Tauri/Electron, Elixir/Phoenix, Django/Wagtail, Lambda + Postgres, CRDTs and SQLite in the browser, Puppeteer‑based scraping, mobile apps with native or Expo.
  • Many highlight over‑engineering regrets (complex serverless setups) vs simple monoliths; others praise Lambda for spiky festival loads.

Lessons and Meta‑Reflections

  • Survivorship bias is noted explicitly: this thread shows successes, not the graveyard of failed projects.
  • Still, multiple posters say: shipping many small things materially increases odds of at least one modest win.
  • A recurring theme: tech is the easy part; sales, support, logistics, and staying motivated over years are what make or break these side incomes.