29 Passive Income Ideas for 2025

29 Passive Income Ideas To Make
Money in 2025
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
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 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.
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, and then selling them on a per-order basis.
3. Digital products
Digital products are assets, tools, and pieces of media that consumers can’t physically touch.
These include downloadable or streamable files like ebooks, templates and PDFs.
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.
5. Blogging
Starting a blog can be a challenging venture, but blogging businesses have shown stability as a
passive income model over multiple decades.
Earn a 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.

Related article
How To Create a Website in 9 Steps
Customers are shopping more online. That means it’s time to invest in your online presence and
build your business website. Here’s how to build one.
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.
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.
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.

9. Social media influencer
To become a social media influencer—someone who can affect 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.
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.
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.
S&P 500 index.
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.
13. Car rentals
Your home is not the only thing you can rent 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.
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.

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.
16. Buy an existing website
Websites on almost 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.
17. YouTube channel
It’s not too late to start a YouTube channel. A whopping 2.7 billion people worldwide 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.
18. REIT investments
What if you don’t have money to buy entire apartment buildings? You can 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.
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.
20. Startup investments
Investing in small and medium-sized businesses has become more accessible through online
platforms. With a low initial investment, you can fund startups without needing to actively
manage your investments.
21. Unused space rentals
Have a basement or garage you aren’t using? Rent it out as storage space!