22 Remote Side Hustles You Can Do Entirely From Home

Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared on The Penny Hoarder.

Looking for a side hustle that doesn’t require you to do the whole outside thing? Then a remote side hustle might be for you.

We gathered remote side hustles you can do from home, and many of them can be quite lucrative.

Before we dive in, let’s talk about the primary term you’re going to need to know as a remote side hustler: freelancing.

Looking for a Remote Side Hustle? Freelance

While you can find part-time or seasonal (temporary) remote work if you look hard enough, the vast majority of remote side hustlers operate as freelancers. There are a ton of pros to freelancing, but there are some trade-offs, too.

Pros:

• You can work whatever hours you want — as long as you get the work done by deadline, you should get paid.
• The “employer” can’t require that you attend specific meetings. If they attempt to make attendance compulsory, you are allowed to bill extra for your time.
• You can work from wherever you want, and can deduct expenses like work equipment and travel costs on your taxes.
• You only have to take on jobs and clients you enjoy working with.

Cons:

• You can’t always expect the hours to be consistent with any one specific client.
• You’ll have to set aside money to pay your taxes, and your taxes will be higher as you’re paying the employer and employee portion of FICA taxes.
• You won’t get benefits (but hopefully you get those from your regular, full-time job.)
• You must purchase all the equipment you use — the client doesn’t have to provide it, and may not be able to provide it without violating IRS guidelines.

If you’re doing this as a side hustle, you probably have a full-time job that makes a lot of the cons moot. For example, if you already have health insurance, the fact that freelancers don’t get health insurance is no big deal. With limited cons, let’s look into some of the best remote side hustles.

Top Remote Side Hustles and Where to Find Them

Some resources are keyed into one specific job or niche, but there are plenty of websites that amalgamate remote work opportunities for freelancers of all stripes. Here are some of the top generalist sites to watch as you’re looking for side hustle opportunities.

• WFH Baddies: Massive Facebook community that regularly posts remote work opportunities. Many of the jobs are full-time, but you’ll find part-time or freelance work in there, too.
• FlexJobs: Remote job listings from any number of fields.
• HireMyMom.com: Can connect you with remote work opportunities across a number of fields if you’re a mother.
• VirtualVocations: You can filter jobs to see only part-time, temporary or freelance positions, which is ideal for side hustlers.
• Upwork: Freelancing gigs across common online professions, like finance, accounting, design, sales, marketing, writing, legal work, etc.
• Shopify Partners: Connects you with remote jobs and projects that are linked to websites and social media, including things like graphic design, web development, photography, writing, marketing, etc.

If you’re looking for work in a specific field, we’ve got a specific resource for you, too. Let’s get into the top remote side hustles you can do from home.

1. Bookkeeping

Hourly pay range: $24-$50 per hour

Have a background in payroll or accounting? Bookkeeping is a side hustle that can be done 100% remotely. You can absolutely get started on finding bookkeeping clients by canvassing local businesses, but you’re not limited to your neighborhood. You can find remote bookkeeping jobs online via sites like:

• Backyard Bookkeeper: Part-time, remote jobs.
• Bookminders: Offers part-time, remote jobs.
• Intuit: Choose your own remote schedule as a Quickbooks Live Bookkeeper. This job is half bookkeeping, half customer service. You’ll help Quickbooks users through their bookkeeping issues as they schedule appointments.

2. Graphic Design

Hourly pay range: $20-$150 per hour

If you’re great with Photoshop, crush on Canva, and know how to navigate Procreate, a remote side hustle as a graphic designer is ideal. Most of these gigs pay by the project rather than by the hour.

Again, you can market your services to local businesses, but there’s also a ton of remote job listings online. Here are some places to start your search:

• Dribble: Freelance graphic design projects.
• Behance: Freelance graphic design jobs. Technically, the business can list a job as in-person, but almost all of the businesses list their projects as remote.
• 99Designs: Freelance graphic design gigs.

3. Voice Acting

Hourly pay range: $12-$350 per hour

You will need a quiet, in-home studio to pull this one off, but if you can secure gigs, the payoff can be worth it. Voice-over acting gigs can be done remotely, and you only have to take on as much work as you can handle. Here are some places to look for some leads:

• Voices.com: Freelance talent membership marketplace
• Voice123.com: Connects freelance voice actors with clients.
• Backstage: Many of the gigs listed on Backstage can be completed remotely.

4. Video Editing

Hourly pay range: $20-$500 per hour

As platforms like TikTok have exploded to the point where even Facebook and Instagram have morphed into reels, video editing is in high demand. If you’ve got the skills, there’s lucrative and abundant side hustle opportunities out there.

Now, if you want to find social media work, your best bets are platforms that generalize for all creatives, like UpWork or FlexJobs. But if you’re interested in feature-film-length jobs, here are some video-editing specific resources for project listings:

• Backstage: Backstage does have video editor positions available for full-length films. These projects sometimes require that you be there during shooting, but if you dig you can find work-from-home gigs, too — especially post-production opportunities.
• ProductionHUB: Provides a service similar to Backstage, with part-time and freelance gigs available. Vast majority require you to be local, but there are some remote positions listed.

5. Copy Editing

Hourly pay range: $18-$70 per hour

If you’ve got grammar and SEO skills, copy editing could be a match made in heaven. It’s a little bit trickier to find freelance editing jobs — while there are a lot of remote jobs, most employers want you to sign on full-time.

They’re fewer and farther between, but there are remote freelance gigs available if you’re willing to dig a little on platforms like these:

• Remotive: Most of the creative jobs listed — including copy editing positions — are full-time. But there are freelance opportunities listed, too, even if there are fewer of them.
• Scribendi: Network of professional editors who work remotely. Does list full-time positions, but freelance gigs are available.
• WriterAccess: Connects freelance editors and clients.

6. Writing

Hourly pay range: $15-$200 per hour

You may be surprised to hear that your earning potential can sometimes be higher as a writer than an editor, but it’s true! Freelance writing also tends to work better as a remote side hustle, as your clients don’t expect you to take on full-time hours.

If all you have room for in your schedule is two pieces per month, it’s easy to find someone who’s willing to accommodate your schedule. Here are some good places to look for freelance writing positions:

• Contently: Connect with publications who use Contently’s platform. It’s usually a good idea to build up a portfolio and post it on your freelance writing website, but if you don’t have a website, Contently does provide free portfolio pages.
• ProBlogger: Job listing board that’s best for newbies, as the starting rates trend quite low. But it can help you build your portfolio to secure higher-paying gigs.
• Private Facebook groups: Once you’ve built up a reputation in a specific writing niche, private Facebook groups centered on your niche can be a great place to network with other writers and editors to find new jobs.

7. Proofreading

Hourly pay range: $19-$46 per hour

Proofreading is like lightweight editing. You’re only really looking at grammar and flow — you’re not usually expected to fact check or have any deep SEO knowledge. Because less is expected of you, the pay is lower. But so are the stress levels.

Here’s where you can find basic proofreading gigs:

8. Website Development

Hourly pay range: $41-$160 per hour

Bust out your coding skills! Web developers are in high demand. If you can reliably create, build and maintain websites and apps, web development is a phenomenal remote side hustle opportunity.

You can build your own business to market and find clients organically, but you can also supplement with gigs from these platforms:

• Toptal: Freelance web development jobs
• Webflow: If you know how to use Webflow, you can apply to be a Webflow Expert to get connected with freelance gigs.
• Gigster: Remote contracting positions for web developers

9. Website Design

Hourly pay range: $20-$29 per hour

Web design combines elements of web development and graphic design. While you don’t need to know how to code, you will need to know how to interact with different content management systems, and if you can’t do graphic design yourself, you will need to work closely with someone who does.

You’re aiming to make the website look pretty, but also function well with search engine algorithms in its structure. You can find web design gigs on sites like:

• Toptal: Once again, Toptal is a good option for remote freelance gigs.
• Storetasker: Competitive network. But if you have great Shopify skills and get in, you’ll get connected with high-end clients.
• Guru: Freelance web designer listings

10. Social Media Manager

Hourly pay range: $14-$35 per hour

As a social media manager, you’ll be in charge of strategy, scheduling and possibly even composing social media posts. After your campaigns go live, you’ll also be in charge of watching the analytics to get metrics on how well each one performed.

Some management positions will be full-time, but you can find plenty of freelance or part-time positions, too:

• Sites like Upwork and FlexJobs regularly have freelance or part-time social media job postings.
• You can find both public and private Facebook groups centered around helping social media managers connect with clients.
• LinkedIn lists entry level social media jobs. Just be sure to filter for ones that aren’t full-time or in-person.

11. Virtual Assistant

Hourly pay range: $14-$30 per hour

A virtual assistant usually helps small-business owners or sole proprietors with their online chores. Think inbox management, basic data entry and maybe some light social media work.

Here are some places you can find remote virtual assistant side gigs:

• Delegated: Hires virtual assistants who have past experiences.
• Fancy Hands: Has traditional freelance virtual assistant work available for entry-level pay, but also has one-off task requests from individuals rather than business owners.
• Wing: Remote virtual assistant jobs

12. Website Tester

Hourly pay range: $5-$30 per hour

While testing websites isn’t the most lucrative side hustle on this list, it is one of the easiest to break into. Companies will pay to have you rate different features of the user experience on their websites. While the frequency of work is spotty, it’s all remote.

Here are some of the best places to find website testing opportunities:

• UserTesting: Easy sign up, and you can work when you have the time.
• TestingTime: You’ll get an email every time there’s a test you qualify for. You get to decide if you accept the assignment or reject it.
• Trymata: Get the opportunity to test about three times per week.

13. Transcription

Hourly pay range: $10-$40 per hour

Transcription services take audio content and turn it into print. You’ll be turning podcasts, YouTube videos and more into print transcripts. You can find remote transcription work on sites like:

• GoTranscript: Typically pays about $0.60 per minute of audio (not per minute you work.).
• Speechpad: Pays $0.25-$2.50 per minute of audio.
• Scribie: Abundance of work, but only pays $0.08-$0.33 per minute of audio.

14. Captioning

Hourly pay range: $17-$26 per hour

Captioning is kind of like transcribing, except the text you produce will run in the video. Closed captioning isn’t just a nice thing to have — it’s a required accommodation under the ADA, which makes it particularly important for companies with 50 or more employees. For closed captioning, you will need to add things like sounds and music — not just spoken word.

You can find captioning jobs here:

• Rev: Pick up freelance captioning shifts.
• 3PlayMedia: Contracting work available. If you fall in love with it, they do have full-time roles, too.
• VIQ: Freelance opportunities available. Captioning work is primarily for broadcast media.

15. Interpreting

Hourly pay range: $8-$94 per hour

Interpreting only happens between two languages. For example, you can interpret a conversation between spoken Spanish and spoken English, but there’s no writing or reading involved. Interpreting used to happen only in person, but with all the video technology we have today remote interpreting is taking over.

You’ll have to hold certifications to be an interpreter, but if you’re already multilingual, passing the certification tests shouldn’t be terribly difficult.

Most interpreters are freelancers, so you can already plan on working as much or as little as you want. Here’s a few places to start looking for work:

• TransPerfect: Wide range of languages. Freelance opportunities for side hustlers, but also availability for remote full-time work, too.
• Universal Language Service: Remote freelance interpreting opportunities in a wide breadth of languages.
• Propio: Once again, a number of different languages are needed. Remote contracting work available.

16. Translating

Hourly pay range: $13-$33 per hour

Translators work with the written word. While transcriptionists take the audio of one language and turn it into a written form of that same source language, a translator writes in a second target language, serving as a conduit between the two. You may also work editing AI-generated translations.

You can look for work on websites like these:

• Appen: Contracting work editing AI translations
• Happyscribe: Translate captions in 67 languages. Most common languages are English, Spanish, French, German, Dutch, Portuguese, Italian and Polish.
• Gengo: Freelance translation work

17. English as a Second Language (ESL) Teacher

Hourly pay range: $3-$22 per hour

For the time being, English is the language of business. That means people worldwide want to learn it. You can find tons of online English as a Second Language (ESL) teaching gigs, connecting with people from all over the world.

For most jobs, you will have to secure TEFL certification, but that should be fairly easy as a native speaker. You don’t necessarily have to have a background in education to pursue this remote side hustle.

Here are some places to start your search for gigs:

• VIPKid: You pick your hours as an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher.
• Cambly: Connect with Cambly’s user base of English students as an online contractor.
• Learnlight: You will have to work a set schedule, but you pick the hours. Minimum of 10 hours per week.

18. Music Teacher

Hourly pay range: $22-$43 per hour

Whether you’re teaching theory, an instrument or production, becoming a music teacher has never been easier. You can set this up as a remote side hustle, allowing you to expand your side hustle beyond your local market. Get started on platforms like:

• TakeLessons: Connects you with music students and allows you to work at your own pace.
• Musika: A platform similar to TakeLessons
• Udemy: Teach a wide range of courses outside of instrumental and vocal lessons.

19. Tutoring

Hourly pay range: $10-$50 per hour

Really, you can make a side hustle of teaching anything online. You’ll have more demand for high-demand topics, and you’re likely to be offered more money if you’re a certified teacher. But really this side hustle is open to anyone depending on the platform you use.

Here are some to explore as you start online tutoring:

• Udemy: It’s not just for music — you can teach pretty much anything on Udemy.
• Skooli: For certified teachers only, but the pay matches the qualification levels. Schedule appointments and hold open office hours whenever it works for you.
• Wyzant: No teaching certification necessary to connect with students on Wyzant.

20. Customer Service

Hourly pay range: $13-$29 per hour

Remote phone customer service jobs are available, and some of them are even part-time or contract work. But you’ll find more flexible work available if you’re willing to work as a live chat representative.

Sometimes you’ll find these jobs listed on the big sites like FlexJobs, but you can also find them on:

• Arise: Contract customer service work with big brands as the end client.
• Amazon: Customer service positions can be remote. While they don’t always have part-time jobs listed, they do make their appearances. If you can secure part-time work directly with Amazon, you’re entitled to quite the benefits package.
• Cocoroco: All work is remote. Most of the listings are full-time, but there is a portion of the listings that are part-time.

21. Online Focus Groups

Hourly pay range: $40-$625

The pay for online focus groups can be high, but it isn’t consistent. That said, if you don’t mind answering some questions about a product or service you’ve used, getting selected for the right focus group can pay big dividends.

Here are some of the highest-paying platforms:

• Focusscope: About 25% of focus group listings are remote. Pays up to $400.
• WatchLAB: About 50% of focus group listings are remote. Pays up to $1,800.
• User Interviews: About 75% of focus group listings are remote. Pays up to $625.

22. Reselling Sneakers

Hourly pay range: $0-$800 per hour

Flipping kicks can be a lucrative side hustle if you do it right. While you can resell sneakers in-person at conventions, you can also run your business totally online. Typically, you’re going to want to handle the inventory and shipping yourself.

You can use sites and tools like these to build and move inventory:

• Whatnot: Live selling platform where you can find and sell inventory.
• WANTD: Live selling platform where you can find and sell inventory.
• GOAT: Can resell on GOAT, but it’s typically better for finding inventory.