Analyzing 9 years of HN side projects that reached $500/month
After analyzing 9 years of HN side project posts, I found some counter-intuitive patterns about what makes projects profitable. Three things that stood out: 1. B2B dominates: 73% of $500+/month projects target businesses, not consumers 2. Speed matters more than polish: Average 47 days from launch to first sale. Most started charging with 3-5 core features. 3. Pricing cluster: 87% price between $20-49. Low enough for impulse purchase, high enough to be sustainable. I compiled this into a dataset of nearly 700 projects with tech stack, pricing, and timeline data. Built it because I was…
In plain words
This product is a dataset and analysis report of nearly 700 profitable side projects from Hacker News spanning nine years. It reveals patterns in what makes projects reach $500 monthly revenue, including that business-focused tools dominate, speed to monetization averages 47 days, and most successful projects price between $20-49. The dataset includes tech stacks, pricing strategies, and timelines. It's for entrepreneurs and makers planning their own projects who want data-driven insights rather than anecdotal success stories. The raw data is available in CSV format alongside an HTML report.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
In the maker’s words, at launch
After analyzing 9 years of HN side project posts, I found some counter-intuitive patterns about what makes projects profitable. Three things that stood out: 1. B2B dominates: 73% of $500+/month projects target businesses, not consumers 2. Speed matters more than polish: Average 47 days from launch to first sale. Most started charging with 3-5 core features. 3. Pricing cluster: 87% price between $20-49. Low enough for impulse purchase, high enough to be sustainable. I compiled this into a dataset of nearly 700 projects with tech stack, pricing, and timeline data. Built it because I was planning my own side project and wanted to see patterns, not just success stories. Available at [https://haileyzhou.gumroad.com/l/pknktt] ($49) as html report and raw .csv data. Data source note: All from public HN posts 2017-2025. I did the cleaning, categorization, and cross-referencing. Happy to discuss methodology or findings. Curious what patterns others see or if this matches your experience?
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