Side Hustles

Side Hustles: What You Actually Keep

Most side hustle lists stop at what an app pays. What matters is what you keep after the platform's cut, your car and taxes. This page compares 17 platforms on the parts they publish themselves, and links to calculators for the rest.

Facts checked October 18, 2026

The Short Answer

Few apps publish earnings. Of the platforms below, only Amazon Flex ("most delivery partners earn $18-$25 per hour"), Shipt (a $16 an hour floor on its time estimate) and Lyft (a 2023 median of $30.68 per engaged hour before expenses) state a figure. The rest say pay depends on market and time.
Driving costs money. AAA puts the 2026 operating cost of a new car (fuel, maintenance, tires) at 29 cents a mile before insurance and depreciation; the IRS business mileage rate is 72.5 cents for January to June 2026 and 76 cents from July 1.
Taxes: 15.3% self-employment tax on 92.35% of your net earnings once they reach $400, plus income tax. Tips from rideshare and app delivery can qualify for the new deduction for tips (2025 to 2028).
Some places set a pay floor for rideshare and delivery workers: New York City, Seattle, Washington State, California, Minnesota and Massachusetts.

How long it takes to keep $1,000 is worked out in our $1,000 guide. Run your own numbers in the gig earnings calculator (hourly pay after car costs and tax) or the 1099 tax calculator.

Compare side hustle platforms

Rideshare

Platform	What you keep	What it says about pay	Payout	You need
Uber	Variable: Uber keeps the difference between what the rider pays and your earnings; 100% of tips	Not published; upfront fares or base + time and distance, by city	Weekly (usually Thursday); Instant Pay up to 6 times a day for a fee	Car and phone
Lyft	Lyft fee capped at 30% of rider payments (before external fees); 100% of tips	Median $30.68 per engaged hour gross, $23.46 after expenses, second half of 2023 (Lyft)	Weekly (Tuesday); Express Pay $1.75; free instant pay to Lyft Direct	Car and phone

Delivery

Platform	What you keep	What it says about pay	Payout	You need
DoorDash	Base pay of $2 to $10+ per offer, or an hourly rate for active time; 100% of tips	Not published as an hourly figure; over 9 million Dashers earned over $20 billion in 2025 (10-K)	Weekly; Fast Pay $1.99; free instant pay with DoorDash Crimson	Vehicle and phone
Uber Eats	Upfront fare (base pay + upfront tip); 100% of tips	Not published; minimum guarantee only in some markets	Weekly (usually Thursday); Instant Pay up to 6 times a day for a fee	Vehicle and phone
Grubhub	Base pay by mileage, time and market; 100% of tips	Not published; a minimum rate applies only on scheduled blocks	Weekly (Thursday); Instant Cash Out $0.50 (free with Chase), up to $500 a day	Vehicle and phone
Amazon Flex	Block pay set before you accept; 100% of tips	"Most delivery partners earn $18-$25 per hour"; at least $15 to $19 per scheduled hour (Amazon)	On days you choose; 50-cent instant cashout, free to the Flex debit card	Car and phone
Spark Driver (Walmart)	Per-trip pay by distance, order size and extras; 100% of tips	Not published	Instant (free with OnePay) or weekly	Car and phone

Grocery shopping

Platform	What you keep	What it says about pay	Payout	You need
Instacart	Batch pay + promotions; 100% of tips; tips zeroed out without a reported issue covered up to $10	Not published outside local pay laws (California, New York City)	Weekly; instant cashout $0.50	Car and phone
Shipt	Offer pay + bonuses; 100% of tips	Offer pay at least $16 an hour of Shipt's estimated time; "more than $27 in select markets" (Shipt)	Weekly (Friday); Instant Payout $0.49, up to 3 a day	Car and phone

Tasks and pets

Platform	What you keep	What it says about pay	Payout	You need
TaskRabbit	100% of the rate you set plus tips; clients pay the platform fees	Not published; you set your hourly rate	Direct deposit, usually 2 to 4 business days	Skills and tools for your tasks; $25 registration in some cities
Rover	80% of each booking (20% fee); repeat-client pilot in three metros cuts the fee to 15% or 10%	Not published; you set your rates	2 days after the service, then bank transfer	Time and space for pet care

Freelance

Platform	What you keep	What it says about pay	Payout	You need
Upwork	85% to 100%: a 0% to 15% fee per contract, fixed when the contract starts	Not published; you set your rate	Free to a U.S. bank with a U.S. tax address; $50 wire	A marketable skill and a profile; Connects to bid ($0.15 each)
Fiverr	80% of each order	Not published; you set your prices	After a 14-day clearance (7 for Top Rated); withdrawal $0 to $3 by method	A marketable skill and gig listings

Selling

Platform	What you keep	What it says about pay	Payout	You need
Etsy	After $0.20 per listing, 6.5% transaction fee and 3% + $0.25 processing (U.S.); Offsite Ads 12% to 15% on those sales	Not applicable: you set prices	-	Handmade, vintage or craft supplies to sell
eBay	After a 13.6% final value fee on most categories (2.35% above $7,500) and $0.30 or $0.40 per order	Not applicable: you set prices	-	Items to sell

Creator

Platform	What you keep	What it says about pay	Payout	You need
YouTube	55% of net ad revenue on long-form videos; 45% of the Shorts creator pool allocation	Not published; depends on views and ad rates	-	1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours (or 10 million Shorts views) for ad revenue

Renting

Platform	What you keep	What it says about pay	Payout	You need
Airbnb	Most hosts pay a 15.5% single fee (split fee: 3% host, 14.1% to 16.5% guest, being phased out)	Not applicable: you set prices	-	A space you can legally rent out

From each platform's own pay, fee and help pages and SEC 10-K filings, checked October 18, 2026. Quoted pay figures are the platform's own claims. A dash means we did not find the payout terms on the platform's pages.

Pay guides by platform

How much Uber pays: pay rules, costs and what is left per hour
How much Lyft pays: pay rules, costs and what is left per hour
How much DoorDash pays: pay rules, costs and what is left per hour
How much Uber Eats pays: pay rules, costs and what is left per hour
How much Grubhub pays: pay rules, costs and what is left per hour
How much Amazon Flex pays: pay rules, costs and what is left per hour
How much Spark Driver (Walmart) pays: pay rules, costs and what is left per hour
How much Instacart pays: pay rules, costs and what is left per hour
How much Shipt pays: pay rules, costs and what is left per hour
eBay fees and Etsy fees: calculators for what each marketplace takes from a sale
Upwork vs Fiverr fees: what freelancers keep on each
DoorDash vs Uber Eats pay: how the two pay, and how to compare offers in your market

Legal pay floors for drivers and couriers

New York City, rideshare (TLC): $1.283 a mile plus $0.681 a minute from March 1, 2026.
New York City, app delivery (DCWP): $22.13 an hour before tips from April 1, 2026; grocery apps covered since January 26, 2026.
Seattle, app-based workers (PayUp): $0.47 a minute plus $0.80 a mile, or $5.34 per offer if higher (2026).
Washington State, rideshare: $0.70 a minute plus $1.63 a mile ($6.12 minimum) for trips starting in Seattle; $0.40 plus $1.38 ($3.55 minimum) elsewhere (2026).
California, Prop 22: 120% of the applicable minimum wage for engaged time ($20.28 an hour at the $16.90 state minimum, more where a local minimum is higher), plus a per-mile amount set each year; tips are on top.
Minnesota, rideshare: $1.28 a mile plus $0.31 a minute, $5.00 per ride minimum.
Massachusetts, Uber and Lyft (Attorney General settlement): $34.48 per engaged hour from January 15, 2026.

Taxes on side hustle income

All of it is taxable, with or without a form. You report it on Schedule C and pay self-employment tax on Schedule SE.
Self-employment tax: 15.3% (12.4% Social Security, 2.9% Medicare) on 92.35% of net earnings, owed once net earnings reach $400; you deduct half of it.
Forms you may get: a 1099-NEC when a client pays you $2,000 or more (for payments after 2025, up from $600), and a 1099-K from payment apps above $20,000 and 200 transactions.
Car costs: deduct the standard mileage rate (72.5 cents January to June 2026, 76 cents from July 1) or actual costs; parking and tolls on top of either.
Tips: rideshare drivers and app delivery workers are on the IRS list for the deduction for qualified tips, up to $25,000 a year for 2025 through 2028, limited to the net income of that business for the self-employed.

Our DoorDash taxes guide walks through the 1099, deductions and quarterly payments for delivery drivers; the self-employment tax guide and estimated tax payments guide cover quarterly payments.

Who does side hustles

In the Federal Reserve's 2024 survey of household finances, 20% of adults did some gig work in the prior month, including 13% who sold things and 4% who did tasks through an app or website such as rideshare or delivery. Most did it part time: 70% worked under 5 hours a week. For 21% of gig workers it was their main job. Among self-employed people in the 2025 survey, 58% said their income varied month to month. Our budgeting guide for irregular income deals with that.

What we leave out

No multi-level marketing, survey or "play games for money" apps, matched betting, crypto trading or anything that charges an upfront fee to start earning. These cost many people more than they pay. Our guide to work-from-home and job scams shows the red flags. Cashback apps save money rather than earn it; they are compared in our cashback apps guide.

How we compare

Every fee, payout rule and pay figure comes from the platform's own pages, its SEC filings or the law and regulators, read on October 18, 2026; our research files keep a quote for each. We did not work these gigs ourselves and do not estimate earnings the platforms don't publish. Fees and pay rules change often; we re-check them regularly. Nothing here is financial or tax advice.