Ask HN: Those Making $500+/Month on Side Projects in 2026 — What People Are Actually Building

A recent Hacker News thread asked a simple question: “Those making $500+/month on side projects in 2026 — show and tell.” The responses painted a picture of what actually works in 2026. Here is what people are building, how they monetize, and what the numbers look like.

The Thread That Started It All

HN user selmas58 posted: “Those making $500+/month on side projects in 2026 — show and tell.” The thread attracted dozens of founders sharing real revenue numbers — no hype, no courses, just what worked.

1. Niche Job Boards — Steady Recurring Revenue

What: A remote HR job board running since 2019.

Revenue model: Referral traffic to job aggregators on a cost-per-click basis.

Key insight: The founder still curates jobs and uploads manually. It has become a good daily routine. This shows that not everything needs full automation — consistent effort in a niche market builds reliable income over years.

2. Book Recommendation Platform — Building an Audience

What: shepherd.com — a unique book recommendation platform.

Revenue model: Affiliate + building toward a subscription app for book diaries and personalized recommendations.

Key insight: Building “Book DNA” profiles for readers creates stickiness. The founder is working toward a private book diary app that will unlock premium features.

3. Work Assistant for Busy Professionals

What: actordo.com — a work assistant for busy professionals.

Revenue: Already exceeding $500/month.

Challenge: Churn is the main issue — acquiring users is one thing, keeping them is another. This is a universal problem in the side project space.

4. AI-Powered HN Newsletter

What: A weekly roundup of AI links and discussions curated from Hacker News itself.

Revenue model: Currently free, but the founder sees it as a potential lead-in to monetization — the same way they started their job board.

Key insight: Sometimes the best side project is one that serves the community you are already part of. Distribution is built in.

The Pattern

• Niche first, scale second — Job boards, book recommendations, professional tools. Every project targets a specific audience.
• Slow and steady wins — None of these projects went viral. They grew through consistent effort over months or years.
• Revenue comes from utility — People pay for tools that save them time or solve a specific problem, not for AI hype.
• $500/month is an achievable milestone — It does not require thousands of users. A few dozen paying customers at $10-20/month gets you there.