Online hustles

Side hustle hourly rate ranker.

Compare clipping, short-form video, reselling, UGC, freelance, gig work, event promoting, print on demand and microtasks on the one number that includes your time: net dollars per hour after fees, expenses, tax and unpaid ramp-up. Every rate is yours to type.

Net per hour = (gross x (1 - fee) - expenses - tax) / (hours per week x 52 / 12). A hustle that grosses $1,000 on 40 hours a week and one that grosses $600 on 10 hours are very different jobs. The ranker shows that gap using your assumptions, not ours.

Your numbers

One row per hustle. Leave a row empty to skip it.

The numbers already in the table are placeholders to show how the maths works. They are not typical earnings, benchmarks or rates for any platform. Replace every one with your own figures, or press Clear all numbers and start blank.

Hustle	Gross per month ($)	Hours per week	Platform fee (%)	Direct expenses per month ($)	Unpaid ramp-up (weeks)	Startup cost ($)	Tax rate on profit (%)	Chance it works for you (%)

Result

The card shows only the numbers on this page, labelled as a model with your own assumptions. It is built in your browser and nothing is uploaded.

Worked example

Take a made-up hustle with $1,000 gross a month, a 10% platform fee, $100 of direct expenses and a 25% tax rate on profit, worked 10 hours a week. Fees take $100, leaving $900. After $100 of expenses, profit is $800. Tax at 25% is $200, so net is $600 a month. Ten hours a week is 43.33 hours a month, so net is about $13.85 an hour. Add a $500 startup cost and 8 unpaid weeks of ramp-up and the first year looks different: you earn for 44 weeks, spend $500 once, and divide by all 520 hours you worked, including the unpaid ones.

These figures are an illustration of the arithmetic. They are not an income claim for any real hustle.

Variables, defined

Gross per month: what the platform or customers pay before anything is taken out.
Platform fee: the percentage taken from gross (marketplace, campaign platform, payment processor). Look it up on the platform's own fee page.
Direct expenses: costs that exist only because you do this: shipping, supplies, software, fuel, ad spend.
Unpaid ramp-up weeks: weeks you work before the first dollar arrives (building an audience, waiting for approval, sourcing stock).
Startup cost: one-off spend to begin.
Tax rate on profit: one blended rate you choose. In the US, self-employment tax alone is 15.3% of 92.35% of net earnings, about 14.13% of net profit, before any income tax (IRS topic 554).
Chance it works for you: your own estimate that the hustle pays as entered. Many hustles pay far less than hoped or nothing, which is why this field exists.

Methodology

For each row: fees = gross x fee; profit = gross - fees - expenses; tax = max(0, profit) x tax rate (a loss earns no tax credit here); net per month = profit - tax; net per hour = net per month / (hours per week x 52 / 12); payback in weeks = startup cost / (net per month / 4.333) plus the ramp-up weeks, or "never" when net is zero or negative; first-year net per hour = (net per month x (52 - ramp-up weeks) / 4.333 - startup) / (hours per week x 52); risk-adjusted per hour = net per hour x chance it works. Rows rank highest to lowest on net per hour, with a second rank on risk-adjusted pay. Hours must be above zero; an empty row is skipped. A single tax rate cannot reproduce a real return, and the tool ignores the Social Security wage base, deductions, credits and state tax.

What this does not cover

What any hustle will actually pay you. Every figure is a placeholder or something you typed.
Time spent finding work, unpaid admin, or burnout.
Variable months, seasonality, chargebacks, rejected work or account bans.
Income tax brackets, state or provincial tax, GST/HST or sales tax, or licences.
Whether a given opportunity is legitimate. See the scam red flags checklist.

For a single job that is already paid, use the real hourly wage calculator or the freelance effective hourly rate calculator; this ranker is for comparing several hustles side by side.

Results vary. This page is arithmetic on assumptions you enter. It does not know what any platform, buyer or audience will pay you, it is not a forecast, and it is not an offer or a promise of income. Tax content is general information, not tax advice; check the IRS or CRA source or ask a qualified preparer.

Everything runs in your browser. Nothing you type is sent or stored.

Sources

Retrieved 2026-10. Platform fees, payout rules and tax rules change; confirm each on its own page.

FAQ

What is the best side hustle by hourly pay?

There is no single answer that holds for everyone. Pay per hour depends on your skills, location, hours, fees and how long the ramp-up takes. This ranker orders the hustles by the numbers you enter so you can see which one wins on your own assumptions.

How do I calculate the hourly rate of a side hustle?

Subtract platform fees, direct expenses and tax from gross income to get net, then divide by the hours you spent. Include unpaid ramp-up and admin time or the rate will look better than it is.

Why include a chance that it works?

Some hustles pay reliably and some pay nothing for most people who try them. Multiplying net per hour by your own estimated chance of success gives a rough risk-adjusted rank. It is arithmetic on your guess, not a measured probability.

Are the numbers in the table real earnings?

No. They are round placeholders so the page shows a result. Clear them and enter your own.

Does this include self-employment tax?

Only if you put it in your tax rate. In the US it is 15.3% on 92.35% of net earnings, about 14.1% of net profit, plus income tax.