HACKER Q&A
📣 tomerbd

Side projects that generate $0 / month


How many of you have side projects that fail to generate anything above $0 / month? Let's declutter the survivor bias.


  👤 0x54MUR41 Accepted Answer ✓
I am not going to answer your question since I don't have any side projects. But, I think the similar question was asked by a HN user a month ago. Ah, here is the thread.

Ask HN: Those making $0/month or less on side projects – Show and tell - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34547265 (1048 comments)

Hopefully, above thread also gives you some insight.


👤 kaesve
https://neonarcade.games

Just silly games I make in my free time. Ever wanted to play wordle and snake at the same time? I got you. That connect-the-pipe game, but also tetris? Sure!

They are mostly novelty games, with a focus on fun-to-make instead of fun-to-play.


👤 predictand
I have yet to try to monetize it, but https://www.techengineering.io/ is generating 0$ at the moment. There is potential for getting ads on this site, but it is not something I am putting any time into at the moment.

👤 dusted
All of my side projects either simply cost me money, or at best, cost me nothing but time ^_^

👤 brtkdotse
I have a developer podcast in Swedish (https://kompilator.se) that I initially wanted to monetize but decided it wasn’t worth the hassle. It has netted me a chance to talk to interesting people, build my personal brand, get rid of my fear of speaking and even gotten me a few new friends.

I have a stupidly simple site (https://statligskatt.se) that says where the National tax cutoff is this year, because I kept forgetting it when making prognoses for my business. Around important tax dates in Sweden, it gets a few thousand hits.


👤 metzzo
https://text2present.com/ -40$ / month but I learned a lot making it and I still have some hope left.

👤 reverseblade2
I have this 3d Bin packer. Its algorithm is pretty solid and there is some use of it. But last month only made $19.

https://bindrake.com


👤 mattbgates
Master of creating projects that have been monetized but generate $0 a month due to lack of advertising but also offering a free version.. people love free.

👤 readonthegoapp
my latest $0/mo venture (negative dollars/mo, really) is another advocacy-type site -- a quiz site for the Atlanta Beltline (a circular rail-trail inside ATL) -- designed to help promote good behavior on the Beltline -- yeah, kind of cringey, but... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

https://beltlinequiz.com/

it uses wordpress, hdquiz (free+ quiz plugin), Raft Theme (free+ theme), TinyLetter (newsletters), and some custom non-ai artwork.

i built it on this stack because my own mini-kb/lms (learning mgmt system) is not even alpha yet. :-(

if you don't know about the Beltline, and you're into urban planning/livability/biking/walking/etc., you might wanna check it out. insane gentrification engine, and opposing that, possibly helping promote livability.


👤 billylo
I made my own navigation app... sidekick-app.com; combining Google Map features with video recording, speed camera warnings and traffic sign recognition.

(e.g. accelerating towards STOP sign with speed will generate a sound.)


👤 giantg2
Me. I have some android apps that are free. I tried to charge and do ads at one point but it wasn't worth it. I think at the peak I might have had 1500 users. I probably have about 500 today.

👤 coreymaass
Timerdoro.com - It's been online for more than a decade. Hundreds of users every day. Hasn't made me dime. I suppose I could slap ads on it, but wouldn't anticipate it makes much...