Top side hustle ideas to boost your income in 2026

Let’s face it – most of us wouldn’t mind a little extra cash in our pockets. Side hustles are a great way to boost your income without giving up your day job.

The best ones allow you to earn money doing something you enjoy. Here are 16 of the top side hustles to explore in 2026.

Key takeaways

• Choose a side hustle that fits your skills, schedule and how much money you can afford to invest

• Check the rules on tax and insurance before you get started

• Start small - test the demand and build at a pace you can manage alongside your other commitments

Side hustles for beginners 

With side hustles, you can earn extra money without lots of training and preparation or using your own money to start a business. 

Before you settle on a particular side hustle, conduct some market research to find the best fit for you – one that interests you enough to work on in your spare time. It must be one you’re enthusiastic about and where you have the skills needed to succeed.

But it also mustn’t be so much of a commitment that it has a negative impact on your home life. The last thing you want is for it to cause problems at home or work.

How much can you earn?

The great thing about side hustles is that you don’t need to reinvent the wheel to start making money. Many popular side hustles come with a proven formula, making it easier to get started, reduce the risk of failure, and begin earning sooner.

One idea is to start selling online. It’s simple to use marketplaces like eBay or Amazon, which give you immediate access to a huge audience. Buying and selling more goods each week or opting for one of the more ambitious side hustles listed below could prove even more profitable.

Indeed, it’s estimated that the 47% of Brits with a side hustle earn around £800 a month from their activity on average. 

💡 Editor insight: The UK side hustle boom

What are the most popular side hustles?

The full range of side hustles is too vast to cover in this article, but here are a dozen of the most popular and potentially profitable side hustles for 2026:

1. Selling old or refurbished goods online

Gone are the days when second-hand clothes and bric-a-brac were the domain of junk shops and jumble sales.

Now it’s fashionable and environmentally friendly to offload clothes, books, furniture, games and accessories via platforms like Gumtree, Vinted and Facebook Marketplace. 

• If your online selling operation takes off, you might want to avoid countless trips to the Post Office by using Royal Mail’s free collect-from-home service instead 

• If you have a creative bent, you could consider reconditioning or personalising items, such as furniture, with a fresh paint job or new materials 

• Upcycling clothes and reconditioning classic electronics, such as old record players, phones, game consoles and radios, can also turn a profit 

2. Selling homemade goods

It’s not just pre-loved items that sell. You can also make money from a hobby that involves creating items from scratch.

• Bespoke or homemade goods can be sold either through your website, online marketplaces or a market stall or craft fair

• Popular offerings include freshly baked cakes, scented candles and portraits of customers’ children or pets

3. Selling photos and other media content

There's a high demand for quality photos, animations, music, and video, with platforms like Shutterstock, Adobe Stock, and Getty Images offering generous payouts for professional-grade content.

Payment structures vary by company – some offer a flat fee per use, while others provide commission, such as earning 45% of the sale price for each item or collection sold.

• Selling photos could see you paid anything from £1 to hundreds of pounds per sale, depending on the work or number of items in a sale bundle

• A word of caution – agencies don’t accept everyone who approaches them, so check eligibility requirements beforehand

💡Editor's insight: Six side hustle realities no one talks about

4. Content creation

Photos aside, you could make extra money from blogging, podcasts, vodcasts and website design. YouTube alone has over 2.5 billion users, so there’s no shortage of opportunities for anyone with a great idea, from baking and home plumbing tutorials to yoga and gym classes. 

• Starting a blog, vlog, or social media channel is a great way to make money. By promoting your content on social media, you can begin to generate income as your audience grows.

• Once you’ve built a solid following, you can attract advertisers or earn money through affiliate links to relevant companies, like cinemas or travel agents. You could even expand further by selling your own products.

5. Pet care

The old adage about not working with children or animals doesn’t apply to side hustles, as both offer great earning potential. For animals, you could sign up with a pet-sitting, dog-walking, or grooming agency.

If you're up for it, you could even offer pet-sitting services for owners who prefer not to put their pets in kennels or catteries while they’re away.

• Dogwalkers earn around £15 an hour on average, while pet sitters typically get around £22 an hour

• Local councils limit how many dogs you can take for a walk at any one time. This is typically between four and six. Always check your council’s Public Spaces Protection Order as breaching this could result in you being issued a Fixed Penalty Notice of £100

• If you want to look after pets at your home, ensure you get a Boarding for Cats and Dogs Licence from your local council

6. Childcare

Childcare typically falls into two categories: babysitting and childminding. Babysitting usually takes place at the child’s home, while childminding happens at yours.

To get started, strong references are essential, so it's a good idea to begin with the children of close friends and family. Additionally, it’s important to research the typical responsibilities and challenges involved in these roles, so you're prepared for any potential issues.

• Babysitters earn around £14 an hour on average

• You must register with Ofsted if you plan to care for children at your home. This costs £35 for the Early Years Register (0-5 years old) or £103 for the Childcare Register (5-8). You can also voluntarily register as a Nanny for £103

• You'll need a DBS check - this costs £49.50

• Consider taking a first aid for babies and children course, such as those run by the Red Cross and by Mini First Aid

7. Delivery and driver services 

If you have a car, motorcycle or even a bike, you could make deliveries for a provider such as Just Eat or Deliveroo, or even set up an independent service in your local area.

Courier services such as Gophr and CitySprint cover business-to-business deliveries and are an option if you live in a big city.

• Payments vary with the main delivery service providers, depending on location, time of day and distance covered per job, although you get to keep 100% of any tips earned

• You should tell your motor insurer if you are working as a driver. You may also need bike insurance if this is your mode of transport

Peer-to-peer car sharing is another way you can make money from driving. This activity involves loaning your car to drivers vetted by your car share company. You can hire out your car for a few hours or for multiple days. In return, you receive a commission or fee. 

• With car sharing, you typically take 60% to 70% of the daily rental fee

• Turo reckons its car providers earn around £6,500 a year on average, while another big firm in this field, Hiya, puts the average for its leasers at £650 a month    

8. DIY services 

If you're handy with tools, you can turn your DIY skills into cash by offering services like assembling flat-pack furniture, clearing gutters, gardening, house cleaning, or washing cars and windows.

The possibilities are endless, and there’s always demand for these types of property maintenance tasks.

• What you charge varies from task to task, but handyman side hustlers can earn up to £5,000 a month or more depending on the hours they put in and the work they do 

• You may need public liability insurance to cover any accidents or damage at your client’s property

• You typically use your tools and equipment, although most customers let you use their lawnmower, if gardening is your gig 

9. Mystery shopping

Fancy getting paid to shop? If the answer’s yes, mystery shopping could be for you. The job involves giving feedback about retail experiences via online surveys. Typically you are asked for opinions about the customer service or sales team working at a specified shop, service station, restaurant, booking line, etc. 

There are several types of mystery shopping assignments, including visiting shops, making  phone calls, sending emails and participating in web chats or social media interactions. To become a mystery shopper, you need to register with a provider such as Serve First or Mystery Shoppers. 

• You could earn between £4 and £40 per assignment, with payments made into your bank account each month

• The agency covers any costs you incur during a mystery shopping assignment

10. Competitions, surveys and focus groups

Companies often run competitions to gather public opinions on products, services, and issues, or to raise awareness of a brand or cause. In return, participants can win cash prizes or equivalent rewards.

However, unless you're exceptionally lucky, you'll likely need to enter dozens, if not hundreds, of competitions to increase your chances of winning.

A more practical option is to offer your services to survey companies and focus groups, who will pay for your opinions. You can share your insights by completing online surveys or participating in group discussions, typically through a web link.

• Survey sites such as Ipsos i-Say typically pay points, which you exchange for vouchers to spend at major retailers, including Amazon, Tesco and M&S 

• A survey worth 250 points would be worth around £2.50. When you’ve banked enough points you can exchange them for £5 or £10, for example

• Focus groups tend to pay in cash, and you could earn between £40 and £200 for your participation

11. Tutoring

Tutoring is a great side hustle where you can use skills you already have or want to refine. Whether it’s language, music, or academic expertise, you can leverage your knowledge to help ambitious students achieve their goals.

• Tutors can typically earn between £15 and £40 per hour, with rates averaging around £20. The amount you charge depends on the subject, location, and whether the lessons are in-person or online

• See our guide on how to become a private tutor for more information

12. Translating 

Demand for translators has grown in recent years as more and more companies offer their products and services to a wider, international audience.

This is good news for anyone who fancies earning extra cash by flexing their linguistic muscles. 

• Sign up with a recruitment agency, such as Fiverr, Peopleperhour.com and Lionbridge, comparing rates and reviews from Trustpilot and other such sites

• Translators typically set a rate per word or hour, which differs depending on the complexity of the text being translated and other constraints, such as deadlines

13. Virtual assistant services

If you're organised and good at staying on top of admin, working as a virtual assistant can be a great way to earn some extra cash.

Many small businesses and sole traders need help with day-to-day tasks but don’t want to hire a full-time employee. You could support them with things like email management, diary planning, customer enquiries, data entry or booking travel.

You don't tend to need formal qualifications - although good communication skills and an eye for detail helps.

• Offer support with admin tasks, inbox management, scheduling and customer service

• You can work from home and often fit the work around other commitments

• Start small and build up a regular client base over time through word of mouth and social media promotion

14. Social media management

If you enjoy creating social media posts for the likes of Instagram, TikTok and Facebook - your skills might appeal to a small business owner who would rather do anything but post on social media.

It requires good time keeping and the need to keep up to date with the latest trends - so if that sounds like you, you can offer your services by planning content, creating posts, replying to comments and keeping social channels active.

• Help businesses plan content and stay active on social media

• It's worth starting small - perhaps with one or two accounts - and grow from there as you prove your track record

• You can build experience quickly if you already use social platforms regularly

15. Sell digital products

So many consumers look for guides and goods online these days - with the need to physically hold a product dwindling.

Digital products can include templates, planners, ebooks, guides, spreadsheets or other online resources. If you have a useful skill or knowledge in a certain area, you can turn it into something people can download and use straight away.

And the best thing? Once it's you start selling it you don't need to keep making more. It exists digitally, meaning you never sell out.

You can sell your digital goods on websites like Etsy. But, like many things, the key is offering something people actually want to buy.

• You create one product and sell it more than once - meaning you don't need to hold stock

• You can easily keep costs low if you generate the goods you sell - but you still need a clear idea and strong promotion

16. Affiliate marketing

If you already have a following online - perhaps through your own social media channel, blog or website - you can earn money by promoting the products or services of other businesses.

To avoid irritating your audience, it tends to work best by suggesting products that align with your offerings too - this keeps it useful for your audience, rather than it looking like you're trying to force a random sale. For example, if you sell homemade cookies to a hungry audience, it might make more sense to advertise other delicious food offerings rather than plug a crypto security platform.

• You can earn commission by sharing links to other products or services

• You need content or an audience to give people a reason to click - so it might not be something you can do if you're not already active online

• You build trust by recommending things that feel relevant and useful

>> Keep learning: How to start a side hustle (and actually make money)