13 Best Night Side Hustles to Make Money At Home and In Person

I’ve been known to be something of a night owl at times. That evening time energy isn’t always put to the best use (I also love the pub), but occasionally, I’ll put the work in and look to earn a bit of extra money on the side in the small hours. 

I’ve found a fair few options too, depending on whether I fancy leaving the house and braving the great outdoors or curling up on the sofa with a hot water bottle and a laptop, essentially getting paid to nap.

Freelance Writing - At Home - $15-150 per hour

I’ve done a fair bit of freelance writing in my time. Rates of pay can vary significantly, from $10-15 an hour for beginners all the way up to around $150 or more for specialised writers with specific knowledge about a subject. I’ve always found it a great option for night time work, as all you need is a switched-on brain and a computer that runs Google Docs or Microsoft Word.

I’ve personally worked across this whole spectrum, and you might be surprised at how quickly you can boost your earnings when you get some experience and a portfolio of work behind you. Don’t expect to make a killing at the start, but if you’re awake and have ideas in your head at night, you could do worse than finding some work through Textbroker, Fiverr, or Upwork.

To make it to the next level, though, I’d suggest finding companies and websites that you’d specifically like to write for. For example, I wanted to write about video games, so I pitched article ideas to publications I enjoyed, tailoring them to the relevant audiences of each outlet. This helped me to get much further in freelance writing in the long run.

Remote Customer Service - At Home - $12-25 per hour

This is a great night time side hustle for people happy to speak on the phone at night. If you have housemates or family trying to sleep, it might not be for you, unless you want to find yourself with even more troubleshooting work to do in your personal life.

The roles are fairly simple. You’ll need to be okay dealing with frustrated customers and have a lot of patience, as it can be really difficult to not snap at someone seemingly wilfully misunderstanding what you’re saying. If you can do this, though, remote customer service could be the perfect night side hustle for you.

These kinds of roles offer regular hours, perfect if you know which nights you’ll be available on a consistent basis. For Canada and US-based individuals, Working Solutions is a great place to start, whilst Liveops is a more global option.

Babysitting - In Person - $15-35 per hour

The night time side hustle we’ve all probably done at some point, babysitting can be a dream or a nightmare depending on how good you are at dealing with kids. For a night owl, though, it’s perfect. Once the kids have been put to bed, the rest of the time is yours to just chill (or get to work on some other night time side hustles you have going on).

It can be inconsistent work, but once you’ve worked with a few families in your local area and proven your ability to reliably look after their kids while they go out on the town or something, you’ll become a go-to pick for future work. You’ll even get some word-of-mouth success too, if you’re lucky.

Of course, you can head to sites like care.com or Sittercity, but the most reliable work will come from those local networks you nurture and grow.

Transcribing - At Home - $10-40 per hour

If you have fast typing hands and a good ear, you could do a lot worse than transcribing the night away. It’s a great side hustle for introverts, as it just involves listening and typing, and you can put some headphones on and do it nice and quietly if night time noise is a concern.

Head over to the likes of TranscribeMe or GoTranscript and sign up - there’s a lot of jobs available for people at differing levels of experience, so you’re bound to find something for you. One thing to keep in mind is that with the rise of AI in various fields, the risk emerges that demand for human transcription could decrease in the future.

Rideshare Driving - In Person - $20-35 per hour

If you want to use the night more effectively than I do, why not drive me home after I’ve had a few pints? I promise I’ll behave, my Uber passenger rating is solid enough. There will always be demand for cab drivers late at night, so if you’re a confident driver and don’t mind dealing with inebriated passengers, there’s good money to be made here. 

As you wouldn’t necessarily be an official employee of Uber, Lyft, or whichever company you’re working through, you would need to look after your own car. Still, by being smart with your shift timings and taking advantage of price surges, you can more than earn that back.

Delivery Driving - In Person - $18-30 per hour

Dealing with passengers not your thing? Well, there’s no calmer passenger than a pizza. Or a curry. Or a big box of doughnuts.

Delivering food can earn a decent amount as a side hustle, and is a lot more accessible than driving people around, as you can use your bicycle, moped, or car for your work. It won’t be quite as night-owl as other side hustles on this list, as many restaurants close their doors as midnight approaches, but if you’re looking for work late in the evening, this could be a perfect option.

I worked as a Deliveroo bike rider a few years ago and easily made around $100 a night on some shifts. Never underestimate the power of people not wanting to leave the house and get food themselves!

Getting Paid to Play Games - At Home - $5-25 per hour

Night time is often gaming time for me, and many others. So why not get paid to play and discover your new favourite game at the same time? With the likes of Freecash, you can easily jump into the latest games and receive payouts for downloading, playing, and progressing.

With Freecash, you can sign up in five minutes and earn money through the night by gaming! It’s also a great option to go alongside your other work, like when you’re waiting for a delivery pickup or entertaining a kid during babysitting.

Selling Handmade Goods - At Home - $10-100 per hour

Sometimes when I can’t sleep, I get up, go to the kitchen, and make some jam. Maybe you’re not a jam maker. Maybe you’re a knitter, or a jewelry maker, or a painter. Regardless, if you spend the night time hours making something, you can always make it into a side hustle.

You can really start making a name for yourself with your unique skillset. A great starting point is Etsy, as you can set up a storefront quickly and easily. In addition, though, you should spend a bit of time taking some nice photographs of your craft and posting them on Instagram or other social media sites to help advertise them.

If you can stand it, or have time during the day, another great booster to this kind of work is going out and selling your products at local markets, helping you build an audience in real life as well as online.

Video Editing - At Home - $25-75 per hour

There’s all kinds of work going in video editing. From people trying to make it big with their podcasts and companies making TikToks with striking hooks to highly-produced trailers with flashy visuals, video editing is becoming more and more important. It’s deadline-based too, so you can open your laptop in the middle of the night and get the work done as and when it suits you.

If you still need to work on the skillset required to become a video editor but don’t want to give your life savings to Adobe, Davinci Resolve is a great free alternative to Adobe Premiere.

Once you’ve got a bit of confidence in your ability, start by heading to Upwork or Twine and building out your profile. After a while, you can begin increasing the value of your service by reaching out to specific clients and marketing yourself on Instagram and LinkedIn with a portfolio of the work you’ve done.

Night Stocking - In Person - $15-25 per hour

For those looking for more consistent work at night, night stocking could be the way to go. While many sleep through the night, the world keeps on moving. Those next-day deliveries need people around the clock.

It’s not easy work, and is physically demanding, which could be a pro or a con depending on your preferences. Regardless, it’s reliable, and if you seek out local businesses, courier companies, or supermarkets, you can take advantage of your energy and earn extra through the night.

Working as a Cleaner - In Person - $15-30 per hour

Similar to stocking, cleaning is one of those tasks many people just forget about. Offices, restaurants, and public spaces are all cleaned up and made spotless overnight by professionals, and you could be a part of it.

It’s solitary work, so perfect for putting on an audiobook and getting on with, but maybe less nice if, like me, you have to constantly be talking to someone at all times. I found plenty of overnight cleaning jobs in my neighbourhood on Indeed, but you can contact local businesses or use Taskrabbit for less consistent work.

Completing Online Surveys - At Home - $5-15 per hour

Maybe you’re more up for a cosy night in. Similar to getting paid to game, you can complete online surveys through Freecash. It’s some of the easiest work you can do, and provided you qualify for the surveys, you can complete as many or as few as you wish.

The payout rates for completing online surveys can be a bit lower than other night time side hustles, but the level of effort is also much lower. It’s also important to be aware that you won’t always be accepted for a specific survey - some companies seek specific demographics of people for their research.

Data Annotation - At Home - $10-25 per hour

If surveys aren’t quite keeping your brain active enough, data annotation and training AI models could be the ideal alternative, although it’s still a fairly easy endeavour. Basically, you need to do things like categorise text by sentiment, label specific objects in photos (like a CAPTCHA), identify actions on video, and other basic classification tasks.

It isn’t the biggest earner, but it’ll be a reliable way to while away those night time hours and earn a bit of cash while doing it. Crowdgen and Remotasks are decent starting points for data annotation work, and you can increase the amount you earn as you gain experience within these platforms.