29 Smart and Simple Passive Income Ideas for 2024

Passive income may not make you a millionaire overnight, but it can supplement your salary and help you build wealth over time.

Through investments, royalties, rentals, and revenue, passive income is money you earn without the need for ongoing work. It’s not linked to a regular job and doesn’t require your constant attention. This means more freedom, flexibility, and cash for you.

Explore these straightforward passive income ideas to strengthen your financial portfolio.

29 passive income ideas

1. Dropshipping
2. Print on demand
3. Digital products
4. Online courses
5. Blogging
6. Handmade goods
7. Affiliate marketing
8. Stock photos
9. Social media influencer
10. Rental properties
11. Stock market investments
12. Spare room rentals
13. Car rentals
14. Peer-to-peer lending
15. Shopping rewards
16. Buy an existing website
17. YouTube channel
18. REIT investments
19. Digital designs
20. Startup investments
21. Unused space rentals
22. Job boards
23. Mobile apps
24. Royalties
25. Audiobook narration
26. Vending machines
27. Spreadsheet templates
28. High-yield savings accounts
29. Parking space rentals

What is passive income?

Passive income is money earned with minimal effort. Common sources of passive income include earnings from investments, like rental property, dividends, interest on savings, or leasing equipment.

Another source of passive income is ongoing earnings from something you’ve previously created. It could be sales of a digital product, like a pre-recorded online course, or commission produced by affiliate marketing content, such as a YouTube video.

Passive income streams typically require an initial effort to set up but need little daily involvement to maintain.

Passive income ideas

1. Dropshipping

Dropshipping is a great way to earn passive income, even if you’re starting with a small budget.

In a dropshipping business, you set up an online store where customers browse and buy products. When you receive an order, you forward it to your dropshipping supplier, who ships the product.

Dropshipping’s passive income potential comes from the supplier-seller relationship. Dropshipping suppliers handle everything from manufacturing to packaging to fulfillment, so once your store is up and running, there are minimal ongoing tasks.

How to start: Use Shopify to start a dropshipping business and sell products from your online store.

2. Print on demand

If you’re an artist, designer, or entrepreneur, print on demand is a passive way to monetize your creativity. This passive income stream involves customizing white-label products like t-shirts, posters, and backpacks, then selling them on a per-order basis.

Similar to dropshipping, a third-party service will handle production and shipping, and you pay only for a print-on-demand product after you sell it.

How to start: Choose a print-on-demand company and start experimenting with designs to customize your products.

3. Digital products

Digital products are assets, tools, and pieces of media consumers can’t physically touch. These include downloadable or streamable files such as ebooks, templates, and PDFs.

Digital products can be a source of passive income because the work is front loaded and profit margins are high. You only have to make the digital product once; then you can sell it repeatedly via your online business. There’s no storage, inventory, or additional production needed.

You can sell as many digital products as you want. Many creators scale passive income from digital assets by selling kits, printables, files, and other materials professionals can use.

How to start: Use an app to give customers access to your digital products.

4. Online courses

It’s easier than ever for educators to create an online course. Whether it’s marketing, illustration, or entrepreneurship, you can create pre-recorded courses and start selling with few limitations. You can sell online courses repeatedly without holding any inventory or stock, generating passive income.

Teaching online requires some upfront investment in time. You’ll need to outline your course, record it, and create downloadable assets like templates for students to walk away with.

How to start: Create a mini-course with a few hours of content to test demand for your lessons. Then, research online course platforms like Teachable or Courses Plus.

5. Blogging

Starting a blog can be a challenging venture, but blogging businesses have shown stability as a passive income model over multiple decades.

It takes time to build a blog. But if you create quality content and promote it through platforms like social media, you’ll grow an audience big enough to generate a significant income stream.

Earn passive income from blogging by using your posts to:

• Promote affiliate products
• Create sponsored posts
• Sell products
• Run ads through Google AdSense

The best part? With a content management system, you don’t need any advanced tech skills to start a blog. Once you are up and running, you can sign up for a relevant affiliate program to add monetized links to your blog content.

How to start: Find your niche and start planning how you want to monetize your blog.

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6. Handmade goods

There are hundreds of websites for selling crafts and homemade products, offering the chance to turn a weekend side hustle into an official income stream. Some have specific niches, like video games or handcrafted goods, while others let you sell whatever you want. Popular marketplaces include:

• Faire
• Amazon
• eBay
• Ruby Lane
• AliExpress

The upfront investment needed to sell handmade goods is twofold. You’ll need to invest in materials and time to make and sell DIY goods like pottery or clothing. You’ll also want to create an online store to house your products.

Selling from your own store reduces the fees you pay on each sale, plus you can create a brand for yourself. The benefits of building a brand compound over time as you grow an audience and connect with more customers. It’ll help you sell more over time and make money online.

How to start: Browse popular products on major online selling sites to understand what makes handmade goods successful.

7. Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing is a passive income model that involves recommending a product or service to an audience. It’s a great source of passive income because you earn a commission whenever someone uses your referral link to buy the recommended product or service.

Online entrepreneurs become affiliate marketers for a few key reasons:

• It’s easy to execute. You handle the marketing side of things while partner brands develop products and fulfill orders.
• It’s low risk. There’s no cost to join an affiliate program. You can sell established profits without upfront financial investment.
• It’s scalable. Introduce new products to your audience while your past work makes money in the background.

Earning money with affiliate marketing can be a rewarding way to add passive revenue streams to your business. Once the hours are invested, you can reap the rewards continually.

How to start: Become a Shopify affiliate or check the requirements of your preferred affiliate program.

8. Stock photos

Unlike many passive income ideas on this list, photography is a service-based business, which typically means you get paid for your time. Generally, photographers make money by securing bookings for events and photoshoots.

Alongside this business, you can also generate passive income from photography by selling photos online. Stock photo sites like Pexels, Shutterstock, and other online media houses will pay for high-quality photos and videos.

If you run your photography business on Shopify, you can also offer digital products like prints or print-on-demand shirts and hats, increasing your passive income streams.

How to start: Understand the image requirements for major stock photo libraries and devices. Also, consider which stock image subjects you might specialize in.

9. Social media influencer

To become a social media influencer—someone who can sway another person’s buying decisions—you’ll need to build a community of people who enjoy similar topics.

Are you a comics fan? Create an Instagram account and start posting consistently about the latest Marvel and DC shows. The same applies if your interest is in sports, scuba diving, home décor, or something more niche.

If you have an engaged audience, leverage that engagement to support a variety of passive income ideas. For instance, you could partner with large and small businesses to promote products to your followers. Or, make money by selling your own merch.

How to start: Find brands that fit your socials using Shopify Collabs, then build affiliate relationships to get paid for what you sell.

10. Rental properties

Real estate investing is one of the oldest ways to build long-term passive wealth.

If you have the capital available, you can invest in apartments, land, or renovation projects, and benefit from the appreciating value.

You could also lease your property for rental income. Since the job of being a landlord is pretty active, you may need to hire property managers to handle tenants and maintenance to keep your income passive.

How to start: Check the local laws and rules for investment properties in your area.

11. Stock market investments

Although the stock market might have a steep learning curve and can be confusing, it’s a great way to build lasting wealth. A common mistake most people make with investment funds is thinking short term instead of playing the long game to reach financial goals.

The goal of investing in stocks is to diversify your portfolio and reduce risk. You can do this by investing in mutual funds, index funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and high-dividend stocks that earn you capital gains over time.

How to start: Open a brokerage account at a registered financial institution. It’s recommended that you also speak with a financial adviser to help plan and hit your passive income goals.

12. Spare room rentals

Maybe you don’t have the startup capital to invest in rental properties. But, do you have an extra room in your apartment? Or are you going on a three-week road trip and don’t want to leave your house empty? You can partner with a rental company like Airbnb to rent your free space.

Airbnb connects homeowners with people who are looking for their next getaway. People prefer Airbnb because they’re sometimes cheaper and often more convenient than hotels, meaning a high demand for your free space as an Airbnb host.

While renting out one spare room to earn passive income is great, renting out 10 is even better. If you want even more income from Airbnb, you can (depending on local laws) buy apartments for the sole purpose of renting them out. You should note, though, that renting your space out often requires work upfront. You might have to furnish or renovate your space before putting it up for rent.

How to start: Check short-term rental listings in your local area to gauge nightly prices.

13. Car rentals

Your home is not the only thing you can rent out to earn passive income. You can also rent your car with a service like Turo. If you use your car to work for ride-sharing companies like Uber, sign up with platforms like Carvertise or Wrapify to earn extra money by selling advertising space on your vehicle.

Another way to turn your car into an income stream is to look for someone who needs a car for Uber or Lyft. So instead of actively driving around in your free time, you can pull up a Netflix show while your car works for you.

How to start: Read through Uber’s eligible vehicles list to see if your car qualifies. 

14. Peer-to-peer lending

Have extra cash that’s not working for you? Try peer-to-peer lending as a passive side hustle. Peer-to-peer lending involves lending money to borrowers or small businesses.

Interest rates for peer-to-peer loans are usually based on the borrower’s history. The return on these loans is typically around 5% to 6%. The more you lend, the higher your cash flow will be.

How to start: Sign up with a loans website like LendingClub, Prosper (for individuals), or Worthy (for businesses) that connects borrowers with lenders.

15. Shopping rewards

Cashback reward sites allow you to generate passive income when you shop online. After signing up, you don’t have to do anything aside from shop to make money from these sites. The more you shop online, the more points you gain, and the more passive income you can make.

A note of caution: Don’t exceed your monthly spending budget in an attempt to earn more rewards.

How to start: Set up profiles on cashback reward sites like Swagbucks, MyPoint, and Rakuten.

16. Buy an existing website

Websites on just about any topic are often put up for sale. The best part? A lot of them make a healthy income through affiliate links, ads, memberships, or products.

Buying an existing site is a great way to own a business that already has sales and traffic coming in. Once you complete your purchase, you also get access to seller support and negotiate hand-over terms with the seller to ensure you’re able to maintain the website.

How to start: Browse website marketplaces like BizBuySell and Flippa to get an idea of availability and pricing. Also, consider how you will negotiate a sale price when you find a website you’d like to buy.

17. YouTube channel

It’s not too late to start a YouTube channel. A whopping 2.7 billion people around the world use YouTube every month. That’s a lot of eyeballs to capture for passive income. The catch? It’s a lot of upfront work for little to no return at first.

Yet, if you’re a long-term thinker and don’t mind frontloading your efforts, the income potential of a successful YouTube channel is high. Affiliate sales, sponsorships, branded integrations, and ad income can all add up passively as you accumulate content, clicks, and views and grow your audience. You can even easily spin off into starting a podcast and earn more money through sponsorships.

How to start: As you create your first videos, read up on how to optimize your content to make money with YouTube.

18. REIT investments

What if you don’t have money to buy entire apartment buildings? You can you still earn rental income.

With a minimum investment of $500, you can use a real estate investment trust (REIT) platform to invest in a variety of real estate assets—and earn more passive income as the assets appreciate. A REIT is a company that owns and manages profitable real estate. It’s a great way for smaller investors to pool their money for investments they wouldn’t be able to afford by themselves.

As a long-term investment, real estate investment trusts are one of the best income ideas to look into if you have startup capital. Besides upfront capital, getting started also takes some in-depth research. This isn’t an investment you want to walk into blindly.

How to start: Choose a popular REIT like Fundrise.

19. Digital designs

Design marketplaces like 99designs, ThemeForest, or Creative Market are great places to generate a passive income stream by selling digital designs online. Whether you use a website builder to build website themes, logos, branding resources, templates, illustrations, or even fonts, these platforms offer a built-in market that is already looking for design resources.

If you wanted to start selling designs on Creative Market, you’d first need to apply and wait for approval. From there, you get your own storefront, where you can start selling your branded designs.

How to start: If you’re not a graphic design pro, try starting with an intuitive design tool like Canva.

20. Startup investments

Investing in small and medium-sized businesses has become more accessible thanks to online platforms. With a low initial investment, you can fund startups without needing to actively manage your investments.

Potential returns range widely based on a business’s performance and broader market conditions. It’s important to remember that all investments carry risks, including the possibility of losing your initial investment.

Before putting your money into a business or other type of investment, ask yourself these questions about the products and people you’re planning to fund.

How to start: Funding platforms like StartEngine, Crowdcube, and Fundable have vetting processes to evaluate businesses before they become available for investment. Conduct your own research of vetted funding proposals to make a well-informed decision.

21. Unused space rentals

Have a basement or garage you aren’t using? Rent it out as storage space!

The storage industry is projected to grow to as much as $64 billion by 2026. In other words, this income idea isn’t going away anytime soon. You can store a variety of items, including cars, boats, RVs, or even business inventory.

Using storage rental platforms is also a great way to avoid liability issues, as they provide safe payment options, contracts, and storage provider and client information.

How to start: Create a local classified ad or use a storage rental platform like Neighbor, Peerspace, or StoreAtMyHouse.

22. Job boards

Creating a job board platform or marketplace for a niche industry is a great way to earn passive income as an online entrepreneur. These websites are used by employers to promote job vacancies to job searchers.

Job seekers can look for new job opportunities online or in-person. You can charge employers to post on your job board and offer premium features like sponsored jobs or unlimited access to your candidate database.

Even if you don’t want to design a job board from scratch, you can buy a job board theme and start generating passive income right away. Now, building the website is the easy part. Creating awareness of your job board is where the bulk of the work is.

Once you get the flywheel going and your job board becomes established with returning customers, you can count on a large part of your income to be passive.

How to start: Check out sites like ProBlogger, Dribble, or Construction Jobs for inspiration.

23. Mobile apps

The fact that any novice can create a basic to advanced mobile app with today’s no-code tools is beautiful. Platforms like Appy Pie, Adalo, or Bubble make it possible.

To start, you’ll have to decide whether you want to create a website or mobile app. Besides the concept of the app (what niche it will serve and what problem it will solve), there’s also monetization to think about.

You can generate passive income with a mobile app using:

• Subscriptions
• Ads
• Pay to download
• A marketplace model

How to start: If you aren’t sure what problem your app should address, here’s a list of research tools to help you get started.

24. Royalties

Inventors aren’t a thing of the past. You can make passive income through your unique inventions. Though this isn’t a passive income route that’s talked about often, it’s a real one.

Getting started is probably one of the hardest parts of the inventor’s journey. You want to make sure you have a worthy invention that’s useful and solves a problem.

If you want to outright sell your invention, sites like Invention City can help you get started. Depending on the deal you strike, you can passively earn a percentage or payouts from the income generated through your idea once it’s on the market.

How to start: Start by checking out the US patent website to make sure your idea hasn’t already been created.

25. Audiobook narration

Audiobooks have to be read and recorded by someone. Why can’t that someone be you? Once you break into the industry, it’s possible to create passive income in the form of royalties—which is how most audiobook narrators get paid.

To successfully make income from audiobooks, there are a few things you need to master first. These include learning:

• How to audition
• Proper narration technique
• What niche you’ll work in
• Some editing skills

Learn more about what you need to become a narrator for audiobook platforms like Audible. 

How to start: Audiobook platforms make it easy to get started and land your first few gigs. Check out sites like ACX to learn what you need to make it in the industry.

26. Vending machines

Ever wonder who takes care of all those vending machines that are always stocked? The owner of those machines is earning (semi) passive income from your snack and soda cravings.

Starting a passive source of income through vending machines requires an upfront investment of time and money. You’ll need to secure areas where you can install your machines, rent or buy the machines themselves, and organize stock replenishment.

How to start: Marketplaces like Craigslist, eBay, and BizBuySell can help you gauge the upfront investment you’ll need to buy your first set of machines (as well as how many you can afford to start).

27. Spreadsheet templates

Some of us are natural-born spreadsheet masters. If that’s you, it’s possible to put your spreadsheet skills to work to earn passive income.

Whether you create spreadsheets with Excel or Google Sheets, there’s a market that will pay for you to create spreadsheets for all kinds of purposes: budgeting, profit projections, habit tracking, or even P&L spreadsheets that business owners don’t want to create from scratch.

How to start: Connect the Digital Downloads app to a Shopify store to give customers a place to buy and download your spreadsheet templates.

28. High-yield savings accounts

A high-yield savings account generates passive income by offering a higher interest rate than traditional savings accounts. By depositing money into this account, you earn interest over time without any additional effort. Some high-yield savings accounts and certificates of deposits (CIDs) offer more than 4% annual percentage yield (APY).

This interest is essentially “free money” that accumulates as your savings grow. Although the returns may be lower than other investments, high-yield savings accounts offer a safe, low-risk option for beginners to start earning income and building wealth.

How to start: Check out the current interest rates for savings accounts with banks in your location. Look for special offers available to first-time customers.

29. Parking space rentals

Renting out unused parking spaces can generate passive income, requiring minimal effort. By listing your available spot on a parking-sharing platform or through local ads, you can monetize the empty space.

Renters seeking convenient parking will pay a fee, creating a steady stream of revenue with low maintenance, while you enjoy the financial benefits.

How to start: Check out Spacer and other parking space marketplaces. Or, write an ad for general marketplaces such as Craigslist.

How to choose a passive income idea

Finding a passive income stream that fits your lifestyle will give you the best chance of success. Use these criteria to judge how much time, money, and effort you want to invest—and how much you can expect to earn in return.

• Assess your skills: Take an objective look at your skills and interests. For example, if you’re good with cameras and photography, selling stock photos online could be an ideal way to monetize existing efforts.
• Assess your resources: The more assets you have to invest, the more “passive” your income streams can be. Making passive income with no money means initially relying on your skills and time to generate capital.
• Evaluate your financial goals: Define what you want to achieve financially. Are you looking to just cover a small hobby expense, or are you trying to replace your full-time income? Your goals will greatly influence which passive income streams you pursue.
• Consider time commitments: Some passive income ideas require a considerable amount of time to set up, such as starting a YouTube channel. Others, such as high-yield savings accounts, can be started in minutes.
• Start small: Don’t overwhelm yourself by starting too many passive income streams at once. Begin with a single idea, then consider exploring additional streams once you’ve had some initial success.
• Monitor and adjust: Once your passive income streams are up and running, monitor their performance. Use data insights to tweak and improve your streams or consider diverting your efforts to more lucrative options.

Passive income ideas to start without money

Ideal for beginners, these passive income ideas leverage your existing skills and free time to generate income without upfront costs:

• Dropshipping: Sell products online without handling inventory or shipping.
• Print-on-demand: Sell custom products that are printed when ordered.
• Digital products: Sell downloadable items such as ebooks, music, or software.
• Digital designs: Sell graphic designs, website themes, or templates.
• Online courses: Develop educational courses.
• Blogging: Generate income through ads, affiliate marketing, and sponsored posts.
• Affiliate marketing: Earn commissions by promoting products on your website or social media.
• Stock photos: Sell photographs to stock photo websites.
• Social media influencer: Monetize your social media profiles by partnering with brands.
• Job board developer: Create a niche job board and charge employers to post listings.
• Mobile app developer: Develop and monetize mobile apps using ad revenue or in-app purchases.
• Royalties: Earn ongoing payments from licensing your intellectual property.
• Audiobook narration: Provide voice-over services for audiobooks.
• Spreadsheet templates: Design and sell customizable spreadsheet templates.

Get more tips on how to start a business without money.

Passive income ideas to start with money

Other passive income ideas need an initial investment to get started, but may offer higher returns. These options are great for those ready to use their capital to build passive income streams:

• Rental properties: Purchase real estate to rent out for monthly income.
• Stock market investments: Invest in stocks, bonds, or mutual funds for potential dividends and capital gains.
• Spare room rentals: Rent out extra space in your home.
• Car rentals: Offer your vehicle for rent.
• Peer-to-peer lending: Lend money to individuals or small businesses to earn interest.
• Website sales: Buy and sell existing websites.
• YouTube channel: Create video content that generates ad revenue.
• REIT investments: Purchase shares in real estate investment trusts to earn dividends.
• Startup investments: Fund startups alongside other investors.
• Unused space rentals: Rent out unused portions of your property.
• Vending machines: Purchase and stock vending machines.
• High-yield savings accounts: Deposit funds into high-yield accounts to earn interest.
• Parking space rentals: Own and rent out parking spaces in high-demand areas.

Find the right passive income idea for you

There is only so much time in a day, and finding ways to make a lot of money more efficiently can give you flexibility in your personal finance to hit the next level. That level might be taking a nice vacation or buying that awesome pair of shoes, but whatever it is, adding passive income streams with different underlying economics can give you the freedom to explore it.

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