AI Side Projects for Developers That Make Money: Eight Stacks

If you can ship software, you can sell an AI product without becoming a “prompt entrepreneur.” The stacks below are side-project-shaped businesses a developer actually ran: an API in front of models, updates for apps other people vibe-coded, a generator, a converter, a tiny directory. Selling add-ons to people who live in Cursor and Claude Code is a different page: selling tools to AI coders.

Every number is copied from the stack, with its proof label. The median verified AI business here makes about $300 a month (study).

1. One API in front of local and hosted models

Stack: Open-Source LLM API Gateway

LLM Gateway offers one API across OpenAI, Anthropic, open models and self-hosted ones, and charges for hosted usage. The open-source core is how developers find it. $78,764 MRR (Stripe-verified; last sync Sep 2026). Verified. Local plus a cloud model, Hard, 85% automated.

Honest catch: you sit between customer keys and their prompts. Provider prices move, and free gateways compete for the same developers. This is a hosting business, with uptime and abuse, not a weekend script. Check each model’s license before you resell access to it.

2. Live updates for apps other developers ship

Stack: Live Updates for Capacitor Apps (AI-Agent Friendly)

A way to push updates into Capacitor apps, including ones coding agents built. ~$32,964 MRR; $40,896 verified revenue last 30 days (TrustMRR/Stripe, Oct 23, 2026). Verified. Hard, 85% automated.

Honest catch: you are infrastructure. App stores and Capacitor itself can ship the same path. Support tickets arrive when an update bricks a user’s app.

3. A media API other products call

Stack: Multi-Model AI Media Generation API

One API across image and video models. $35,542 MRR (Stripe-verified, TrustMRR, Oct 2026). Verified. Hard, 85% automated.

Honest catch: you pay the model makers on every job. A price change or an outage is your outage. Developers will route around you if a cheaper aggregator shows up.

4. Generate the app they were about to write

Stack: AI React Native / Expo App Generator

A generator that returns a React Native / Expo app. ~$5,370 MRR; $5,893 verified revenue last 30 days (TrustMRR/Stripe, Oct 24, 2026). Verified. Hard, 85% automated.

Honest catch: Cursor, Expo and the model labs keep adding “describe the app” flows. The output still has to compile. You own the broken builds.

5. Screenshot to working code

Stack: Screenshot-to-Code AI Tool

A picture of a screen in, code out. $4,436/mo (operator, TrustMRR-verified, Oct 2026). Verified. Hard, 70% automated.

Honest catch: the stored line says the operator and TrustMRR together. v0, Cursor and similar tools do this job in the editor. Pixel-perfect is the promise people refund.

6. Get paid to finish the prototype

Stack: Convert AI-Built Sites to WordPress

WPConvert turns sites built with Lovable, Cursor, v0 and Replit into WordPress. ~$3,359 MRR; $4,424 verified revenue last 30 days (TrustMRR/Stripe, Oct 23, 2026). Verified. Medium, 50% automated.

Honest catch: fifty percent automated means this is still a service with software around it. Odd sites are the work. If the builders export clean WordPress, the job shrinks.

7. A small directory a developer can keep in public

Stack: Directory of Claude Skills and MCP Servers

A community list of Claude skills, add-ons and agents, paid through featured spots. $337 verified revenue last 30 days, mostly non-recurring (TrustMRR/Stripe, Oct 28, 2026). Verified. Easy, 80% automated.

Honest catch: directories are easy to copy. Traffic from search is the whole business. $337 in a month is a checked side project, not a salary. See how to start an AI directory website for $1.

8. Local-model option: a native client for models on the buyer’s machine

Stack: Native Ollama Client App (One-Time License)

Ollamac Pro is a native Mac app on top of Ollama. The model runs on the buyer’s computer. $0–$1K (verified example: $8,797 all-time). Verified. Local, Hard, 90% automated. Startup cost $99. The stack page also shows $147 in the last 30 days (Oct 22, 2026).

Honest catch: all-time is not monthly. Free clients exist, including Ollama’s own app. One-time pricing means you need a steady flow of new buyers. More of this path is in how to make money with Ollama.

Bottom line

AI side projects for developers that make money, on this site, look like APIs, generators, cleanup, or a local client. The payment-checked range here is $337 in a month up to $78,764 MRR. The top ones sell infrastructure other builders depend on, not another chat window.

Related: selling tools to AI coders, how to make money with Cursor, how to make money with vibe coding, AI tools for product managers, MCP server business ideas, AI side projects for software engineers.

Every stack in this guide, side by side

This guide links 8 stacks. 8 have payment-verified revenue, 1 is rated Easy to build, and every disclosed startup cost is $99. The typical stack is about 85% automated, so plan on doing the rest yourself. "MRR" means monthly recurring revenue, what subscribers pay each month. Revenue figures come from each stack's source and date; tap a name for the full breakdown.

Stack	Revenue (as reported)	Startup cost	Difficulty	Automated
Open-Source LLM API Gateway	$78,764 MRR (Stripe-verified; last sync Sep 2026)	Not disclosed	Hard	85%
Live Updates for Capacitor Apps (AI-Agent Friendly)	~$32,964 MRR; $40,896 verified revenue last 30 days (TrustMRR/Stripe, Oct 23, 2026)	Not disclosed	Hard	85%
Multi-Model AI Media Generation API	$35,542 MRR (Stripe-verified, TrustMRR, Oct 2026)	Not disclosed	Hard	85%
AI React Native / Expo App Generator	~$5,370 MRR; $5,893 verified revenue last 30 days (TrustMRR/Stripe, Oct 24, 2026)	Not disclosed	Hard	85%
Screenshot-to-Code AI Tool	$4,436/mo (operator, TrustMRR-verified, Oct 2026)	Not disclosed	Hard	70%
Convert AI-Built Sites to WordPress	~$3,359 MRR; $4,424 verified revenue last 30 days (TrustMRR/Stripe, Oct 23, 2026)	Not disclosed	Medium	50%
Directory of Claude Skills and MCP Servers	$337 verified revenue last 30 days, mostly non-recurring (TrustMRR/Stripe, Oct 28, 2026)	Not disclosed	Easy	80%
Native Ollama Client App (One-Time License)	$0–$1K (verified example: $8,797 all-time)	$99	Hard	90%