About a quarter of U.S. adults reported having a side hustle in 2025, according to Bankrate. We surveyed 1,007 Americans with an active side hustle, a business they run for extra money outside their main job, to see how AI is changing the way they build it.
Two findings jumped out. AI is pulling people off the sidelines who might not have started at all, and those who use AI report earning more than those who don’t. But there’s still limitations to consider, which the data doesn’t hide.
Key takeaways
- The average side hustler goes from idea to a live website in 1 to 3 months, and more than 1 in 3 (37%) get there within a month.
- More than 1 in 2 side hustlers (55%) earn their first dollar within 30 days of launching.
- 1 in 5 side hustlers (20%) say they wouldn’t have started their business without AI tools.
- The average side hustler says AI saves them about nine hours a week, which adds up to nearly 12 workweeks a year.
- Writing copy and product descriptions is the top job side hustlers hand to AI (44%).
- Nearly 1 in 2 side hustlers (49%) rate general AI assistants the most effective AI tool for getting a side hustle off the ground.
- Side hustlers who use AI earn about $555 a month on average, versus about $333 for those who don’t use AI.
How AI is helping side hustlers launch
For most of the people we surveyed, the hardest part was never the work itself. It was the blank page or not knowing where to begin.
One in 5 side hustlers (20%) told us that they wouldn’t have started their business without AI tools. Add the ones who weren’t sure they would’ve gone through with starting without AI, and the share climbs to 1 in 3 (33%).
Digital product sellers leaned on AI the most (48%) to get going, followed by freelancers (40%), while local service providers needed it the least (17%) to get started.
Why people struggle to start a side hustle
When we asked side hustlers to name the single biggest barrier that used to stop them from starting, the top answer was not knowing where to begin (36%), well ahead of cost (18%) and time (17%). That uncertainty was the top barrier for every group we looked at, from part-timers and resellers (both 44%) to every generation, from Gen Z to baby boomers. Money mattered more to the youngest, though: 21% of Gen Z named cost as their biggest hurdle, nearly double the 12% of baby boomers who said the same.
Time to launch and earnings
AI didn’t turn launching into an overnight affair, but it did tend to beat expectations. People who used AI were more likely than those who didn’t to say getting started went faster than they’d thought (38% vs. 30%). Those building toward a primary income (44%) were more likely to say the launch beat expectations, next to 38% of income supplementers and 27% of hobbyists.
The timeline backs it up. Most side hustlers had a live website up within 1 to 3 months, and more than 1 in 3 (37%) did it inside a month, a figure that rose to 42% of resellers and, surprisingly, 47% of baby boomers, ahead of Gen Z (39%), millennials (35%), and Gen X (37%).
Then comes the moment that actually counts: the first dollar. More than 1 in 2 side hustlers (55%) earned their first dollar within 30 days of launching. Resellers got there fastest (64%), with freelancers close behind (59%), which makes sense given both can start selling the day they set up shop.
The tasks side hustlers hand to AI
So what exactly are side hustlers using AI for? Mostly writing, whether that’s website copy, product descriptions, or social posts. But that’s not the whole picture.
Copy and product descriptions topped the individual list at 44%, with social content close behind at 37%. Resellers (56%) and online store owners (50%) leaned on AI copywriting the most, while content creators used it the least (34%). When we asked which type of tool actually worked best, nearly half (49%) named general AI assistants over any specialized design app or website builder. The unemployed leaned on them hardest (69%), with the self-employed close behind (58%).
The payoff people felt most was time. Among the 810 side hustlers who use AI, the average person said it saves them about nine hours a week, which adds up to nearly 12 standard workweeks over a year. Those building toward a full-time income saved around 11 hours a week, and digital product sellers about 12.
Has AI replaced workers?
For most people, AI hasn’t replaced a person so much as replaced the slow way of doing things. Many (61%) said that before AI, they would have done the work themselves, just far more slowly, a pattern that held steady across every generation. Only 1 in 10 (10%) said they’d have paid a freelancer or agency for work they now hand to AI. And for 35%, AI replaced nobody at all, because there was never going to be a hire in the first place. Where it did step into a role, it was most often the graphic designer’s (14%), followed by a marketing agency (12%). The through line is execution, not strategy. AI handles the busywork while the side hustler still makes the calls.
Where the payoff shows up, and where it stops
Saving time and saving on the freelancer bill is one thing. What all of it adds up to is another, and it’s the question every side hustler eventually reaches: Does any of this actually make money?
Side hustlers who use AI reported earning about $555 per month, compared with about $333 for those who don’t use AI. In median terms, that’s $500 versus $250, a clean doubling. The catch is that people who reach for new tools early tend to be the more serious, more full-time crowd to begin with, so read this as a strong correlation, not a promise that AI on its own fills the till.
Differences in side hustler earnings by demographic
The earnings story really comes down to how seriously people take the work. Hobbyists averaged about $286 a month. People using the hustle to supplement a paycheck did far better, around $700, and those building toward a full-time income landed near $589. Heavier AI use tracked with higher numbers, too, with regular users averaging in the low $600s per month.
Age and stability told the same story. Earnings climbed steadily with age, from about $428 per month for Gen Z to $635 per month for baby boomers. And the people with a steady base under them earned the most. Full-time employees running a hustle on the side averaged about $593 a month, well ahead of part-timers ($373) and the unemployed ($271).
What side hustlers still struggle with
What AI couldn’t fix may say the most. The hardest thing to hand off, side hustlers told us, wasn’t technical at all. It was staying motivated (28%), and that struggle grew with age, from 22% of Gen Z up through millennials and Gen X (both 29%) to 37% of baby boomers. Finding and keeping customers came next (20%), highest among the unemployed (28%) and content creators (26%).
And a quieter worry ran underneath it all. Nearly 1 in 2 (45%) said they fear AI makes it easier for a competitor to copy what they do, a concern felt most by digital product sellers (52%) and content creators (50%).
What this means if you’re just starting out
If there’s one thing to take from all this, it’s that AI has knocked down a lot of the excuses people used to lean on for not starting a side hustle. Hand it a rough concept, and it’ll draft your business plan, name the brand, or map out a social campaign, so you’re not frozen in front of a blank screen. What it won’t do is care whether your hustle actually works.
That part is still yours. Staying with it through a dead month, reading what your customers really want, turning a one-time buyer into a regular who tells their friends, those come down to strategy and grit, and no model has either. AI runs the busywork. You still run the business.
Which is the whole point of having the right tools in your corner. When the busywork of getting a site live and keeping it running is handled for you, from the domain to the design to the day-to-day upkeep, you get to put your energy where it counts, into building something people come back to. That’s the part worth protecting.
Methodology
This Network Solutions survey was conducted online in August 2026 by Fractl on behalf of Network Solutions. It questioned 1,007 American adults with an active side hustle, defined as a business or gig they run for extra income outside their main job, to explore how AI tools are changing the way people start and run one. All participants were adults aged 18 or older, and the margin of error is approximately ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.
The average age of respondents was 38. Of those surveyed, 50% were women, 49% were men, and 1% self-described or preferred not to say. By generation, 25% were Gen Z, 49% were millennials, 20% were Gen X, and 5% were baby boomers. Percentages not totaling 100% are due to rounding.
At times in this report, respondents were grouped by the role their side hustle income plays, as follows:
- Income supplementers: treat it as extra money on top of their main income
- People building toward a primary income: intend to make it their full-time living
- Hobbyists: run it as a passion project
AI users are the 810 respondents (81%) who said they use AI tools for at least some of their work, and non-users are the 197 (19%) who reported not using AI at all. Earnings are self-reported monthly figures, shown as trimmed averages that exclude statistical outliers, and reflect AI use in general rather than any specific product. Comparisons between AI users and non-users show association, not causation, since the two groups differ in other ways, including how full-time they are. All findings are self-reported and are not a guarantee of results.
About Network Solutions
For over 40 years, Network Solutions has helped businesses claim their space online, and we’re still evolving right alongside the internet we grew up with. From domains and hosting to website building and security, we bring everything you need to grow into one place, now supercharged with AI tools built to help you move from idea to action faster. We believe you have what it takes to break through, and we’re here to help make it happen.
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