If you're not thinking about how to make money with AI in 2026, you're already behind. This isn't hype. Real people are building real businesses, pulling in real revenue, using AI tools that didn't exist 18 months ago. The barrier to entry has never been lower. The opportunity has never been bigger.
Whether you're a developer, a creative, a marketer, or just someone with hustle and a laptop, there's a path here for you. We put together 75+ AI business ideas, organized by category, with real earning potential and difficulty levels. No fluff. No "just learn to code" advice. Just a practical playbook for making money with AI tools in 2026.
Let's get into it.
Build & Sell AI Tools
This is the highest-upside category. You're building a product once and selling it many times. If you can code (or use no-code AI builders), this is your lane.
1. AI-Powered SaaS App
Build a focused software tool that solves one problem really well using AI. Think AI resume builders, AI meeting summarizers, AI invoice generators. Pick a niche, ship fast, iterate.
Earning potential: $1K-$50K+/month | Difficulty: Medium-High
2. AI Browser Extension
Chrome extensions are back in a big way. Build one that uses AI to summarize pages, rewrite emails, extract data, or automate workflows. Distribution is built in through the Chrome Web Store.
Earning potential: $500-$20K/month | Difficulty: Medium
3. AI API Service
Wrap a useful AI capability into an API that developers can plug into their own apps. Translation, content moderation, image tagging, sentiment analysis. Sell per request or monthly.
Earning potential: $1K-$30K/month | Difficulty: High
4. AI Chatbot Builder
Create a platform or template that lets businesses deploy custom AI chatbots for customer support, lead gen, or internal knowledge bases. Every company wants one.
Earning potential: $2K-$40K/month | Difficulty: Medium-High
5. AI Workflow Automation Tool
Build a tool that connects AI to existing business processes. Think Zapier meets GPT. Automate email responses, data entry, report generation, social posting.
Earning potential: $1K-$25K/month | Difficulty: Medium
6. AI Code Assistant
Build a specialized coding tool for a specific framework, language, or use case. General copilots exist, but niche ones (WordPress, Shopify, specific APIs) have room to win.
Earning potential: $2K-$30K/month | Difficulty: High
7. AI Writing Tool (Niche)
Don't build another generic AI writer. Build one for lawyers, doctors, real estate agents, or academics. Niche writing tools with domain-specific training crush generic ones.
Earning potential: $1K-$20K/month | Difficulty: Medium
8. AI Image/Video Generation Tool
Wrap open-source models (Stable Diffusion, etc.) into a user-friendly product with a specific angle. Product photos, social media content, avatar generation, virtual staging.
Earning potential: $2K-$50K/month | Difficulty: Medium-High
9. AI Data Extraction Tool
Build a scraper/parser that uses AI to pull structured data from unstructured sources. Think PDFs, invoices, contracts, web pages. Businesses pay good money for this.
Earning potential: $1K-$15K/month | Difficulty: Medium
10. AI Scheduling/Productivity App
Use AI to intelligently manage calendars, prioritize tasks, or optimize team workflows. The productivity space is massive and people happily pay for tools that save them time.
Earning potential: $500-$15K/month | Difficulty: Medium
Pro tip: When you're ready to sell your AI tool globally, you need a Merchant of Record to handle payments, taxes, and compliance across countries. CREEM handles all of that so you can focus on building, not paperwork.
Sell AI-Powered Services
You don't need to build a product to make money with AI. Use AI tools to deliver services faster, better, and cheaper than anyone else.
11. AI-Powered Copywriting Agency
Use AI to draft, then human-edit to perfection. You can produce 10x the output of a traditional agency at a fraction of the cost. Clients care about results, not your process.
Earning potential: $3K-$30K/month | Difficulty: Low-Medium
12. AI Video Editing Service
Tools like Runway, Descript, and CapCut's AI features let you edit videos in minutes. Offer fast-turnaround video editing for YouTubers, brands, and agencies.
Earning potential: $2K-$15K/month | Difficulty: Low-Medium
13. AI-Powered SEO Service
Use AI to do keyword research, content briefs, meta descriptions, internal linking suggestions, and content optimization. Combine multiple AI tools into a high-value SEO service.
Earning potential: $3K-$25K/month | Difficulty: Medium
14. AI Graphic Design Service
Use Midjourney, DALL-E, and Canva AI to produce brand assets, social graphics, and marketing materials. Speed is your advantage. Deliver in hours what used to take days.
Earning potential: $1K-$10K/month | Difficulty: Low-Medium
15. AI Web Development Service
Use AI coding assistants to build websites and web apps dramatically faster. Offer fixed-price packages for landing pages, MVPs, and small business sites.
Earning potential: $3K-$20K/month | Difficulty: Medium
16. AI Social Media Management
Use AI to generate content calendars, write posts, create graphics, and even analyze engagement. Manage 10-20 clients with the workload that used to take a full team.
Earning potential: $2K-$15K/month | Difficulty: Low-Medium
17. AI Email Marketing Service
Set up AI-powered email sequences, write copy, segment audiences, and optimize send times. Every business needs email marketing and most are terrible at it.
Earning potential: $1K-$10K/month | Difficulty: Low-Medium
18. AI Resume & LinkedIn Optimization
Help job seekers polish their resumes and LinkedIn profiles using AI. Charge per project or offer monthly packages. High demand, low competition in local markets.
Earning potential: $1K-$8K/month | Difficulty: Low
19. AI Podcast Production
Use AI for transcription, show notes, audiogram creation, clip selection, and even voice enhancement. Offer a full-service podcast production package.
Earning potential: $2K-$12K/month | Difficulty: Medium
20. AI Translation & Localization
Use AI translation tools with human review to offer fast, affordable localization for apps, websites, and marketing materials. The global market is huge.
Earning potential: $2K-$15K/month | Difficulty: Medium
21. AI-Powered Research Service
Offer deep research services for investors, executives, academics, or lawyers. AI lets you synthesize massive amounts of information quickly. Package it beautifully.
Earning potential: $3K-$20K/month | Difficulty: Medium
22. AI Presentation Design
Use AI to create stunning pitch decks, sales presentations, and internal reports. Tools like Gamma, Beautiful.ai, and custom GPT workflows make this fast and profitable.
Earning potential: $1K-$10K/month | Difficulty: Low-Medium
Create & Sell AI Content
Digital products have crazy margins. Create once, sell forever. AI makes the creation process 10x faster.
23. AI Prompt Packs
Curate and sell collections of tested, high-quality prompts for specific use cases. Marketers, writers, developers, and designers all want prompts that actually work.
Earning potential: $200-$5K/month | Difficulty: Low
24. AI-Powered Online Course
Create a course teaching people how to use AI tools for their profession. Accountants, marketers, teachers, real estate agents. Niche down hard.
Earning potential: $1K-$30K/month | Difficulty: Medium
25. AI Templates & Workflows
Sell pre-built AI workflows for tools like Make.com, n8n, or Zapier. Or sell ChatGPT custom instruction templates. People pay to skip the learning curve.
Earning potential: $500-$10K/month | Difficulty: Low-Medium
26. AI-Generated Ebooks
Use AI to help research and draft ebooks on specific topics. Add your expertise, edit thoroughly, and sell on Gumroad, Amazon, or your own site.
Earning potential: $200-$5K/month | Difficulty: Low
27. AI Notion/Airtable Templates
Build sophisticated Notion or Airtable templates that integrate AI features. Project management, CRM, content calendars, personal dashboards. Template marketplaces are booming.
Earning potential: $500-$8K/month | Difficulty: Low-Medium
28. AI Stock Assets (Images, Music, Video)
Generate high-quality stock images, music tracks, or video clips using AI and sell them on marketplaces or your own store. Volume is key here.
Earning potential: $200-$5K/month | Difficulty: Low-Medium
29. AI Cheat Sheets & Quick Guides
Create beautifully designed reference guides for popular AI tools. "The Ultimate ChatGPT Cheat Sheet," "Midjourney Prompt Bible." Low effort, high perceived value.
Earning potential: $200-$3K/month | Difficulty: Low
30. Custom GPTs / AI Agents for Sale
Build and sell custom GPTs or AI agents that solve specific problems. Interview prep, meal planning, business analysis, writing feedback. List them on marketplaces.
Earning potential: $300-$8K/month | Difficulty: Medium
31. AI-Powered Newsletter Templates
Sell plug-and-play newsletter templates that include AI-generated content frameworks. Help creators launch newsletters faster with built-in AI workflows.
Earning potential: $200-$3K/month | Difficulty: Low
32. AI Swipe File Collections
Curate collections of AI-generated ad copy, email sequences, landing pages, and social posts. Marketers love swipe files and will pay for good ones.
Earning potential: $200-$4K/month | Difficulty: Low
Selling digital products globally? You'll want to handle payments and tax compliance without headaches. CREEM acts as your Merchant of Record, so you get paid from customers worldwide while staying compliant automatically.
AI Freelancing & Consulting
The fastest path to cash. Use your AI knowledge to help businesses directly.
33. AI Implementation Consultant
Help businesses integrate AI tools into their existing workflows. Most companies know they need AI but have no idea where to start. That's your opening.
Earning potential: $5K-$30K/month | Difficulty: Medium-High
34. AI Strategy Advisor
Charge for strategic advice on which AI tools and approaches will move the needle for specific businesses. Think fractional CTO but for AI specifically.
Earning potential: $5K-$25K/month | Difficulty: High
35. Prompt Engineering Freelancer
Companies and creators need people who can write effective prompts for their specific use cases. It's a real skill and businesses are hiring for it.
Earning potential: $2K-$12K/month | Difficulty: Low-Medium
36. AI Automation Specialist
Set up AI-powered automations for businesses using tools like Make, n8n, Zapier, or custom code. Think email routing, lead scoring, data processing, report generation.
Earning potential: $3K-$20K/month | Difficulty: Medium
37. AI Training & Workshops
Run workshops teaching teams how to use AI effectively. Corporate training budgets are massive and every company wants their people upskilled on AI.
Earning potential: $2K-$20K/month | Difficulty: Medium
38. AI-Powered Virtual Assistant
Offer VA services supercharged with AI. Handle email, scheduling, research, content drafting, and admin tasks at superhuman speed. Charge premium rates.
Earning potential: $2K-$10K/month | Difficulty: Low
39. AI Chatbot Setup Service
Install, configure, and customize AI chatbots for businesses. Many companies want a chatbot on their site but don't want to DIY it. Charge setup fees plus monthly maintenance.
Earning potential: $2K-$15K/month | Difficulty: Medium
40. AI Content Audit Service
Audit businesses' existing content and show them how AI can improve, repurpose, or scale it. Deliver an actionable report with quick wins and long-term strategy.
Earning potential: $1K-$8K/month | Difficulty: Medium
41. AI Voice & Audio Freelancer
Help businesses create AI voiceovers, podcast intros, IVR systems, and audio content. Voice AI has gotten incredible and businesses need people who know how to use it.
Earning potential: $1K-$8K/month | Difficulty: Medium
42. Fine-Tuning Specialist
Help companies fine-tune open-source AI models on their specific data. This requires technical skill but the demand is enormous and growing.
Earning potential: $5K-$30K/month | Difficulty: High
AI Affiliate Marketing
Promote AI tools and earn commissions. Many AI companies offer generous affiliate programs because their LTV is high.
43. AI Tool Review Blog
Build a blog reviewing and comparing AI tools. Write honest, detailed reviews. Monetize through affiliate links. The "best AI tools for X" searches are massive.
Earning potential: $500-$15K/month | Difficulty: Medium
44. AI Tool Comparison Videos
Create YouTube videos comparing popular AI tools head-to-head. "ChatGPT vs Claude vs Gemini for coding" gets millions of views. Affiliate links in descriptions.
Earning potential: $1K-$20K/month | Difficulty: Medium
45. AI Tool Roundup Newsletters
Curate weekly newsletters featuring the best new AI tools, updates, and deals. Grow a subscriber list and monetize through affiliate partnerships.
Earning potential: $500-$10K/month | Difficulty: Low-Medium
46. AI Tutorial Content with Affiliate Links
Create detailed tutorials showing people how to accomplish specific tasks with AI tools. Blog posts, YouTube videos, or Twitter threads. Link to the tools you recommend.
Earning potential: $500-$8K/month | Difficulty: Low-Medium
47. AI Deal & Lifetime Deal Curation
Track and share AI tool deals, lifetime deals, and discounts. AppSumo-style curation on your own platform. Earn commissions on every purchase.
Earning potential: $500-$10K/month | Difficulty: Low-Medium
48. AI Niche Affiliate Sites
Build micro-sites targeting very specific AI niches: "best AI tools for real estate agents," "AI for dentists," "AI for teachers." Less competition, highly targeted traffic.
Earning potential: $300-$8K/month | Difficulty: Medium
Build AI Audiences
Attention is currency. Build an audience around AI and monetize through multiple streams.
49. AI-Focused YouTube Channel
Create content about AI tools, tutorials, news, and trends. YouTube's algorithm loves AI content right now. Monetize through ads, sponsorships, and affiliate deals.
Earning potential: $1K-$50K/month | Difficulty: Medium-High
50. AI Newsletter
Start a newsletter covering AI news, tool recommendations, tutorials, and insights. Newsletters are underrated money machines through sponsorships and premium tiers.
Earning potential: $500-$30K/month | Difficulty: Medium
51. AI-Focused Twitter/X Account
Build an audience sharing AI tips, tool discoveries, and insights. Monetize through sponsored posts, affiliates, and driving traffic to your products.
Earning potential: $500-$10K/month | Difficulty: Low-Medium
52. AI Community (Paid)
Create a paid community (Discord, Skool, Circle) where members get access to AI tutorials, prompt libraries, and expert Q&A. Recurring revenue at its finest.
Earning potential: $1K-$20K/month | Difficulty: Medium
53. AI Podcast
Launch a podcast interviewing AI builders, reviewing tools, and discussing trends. Monetize through sponsorships, affiliate deals, and premium content.
Earning potential: $500-$15K/month | Difficulty: Medium
54. AI TikTok/Reels Creator
Short-form video about AI tools and tips performs incredibly well. Show quick demos, before/afters, and "AI tools you didn't know existed" content.
Earning potential: $500-$10K/month | Difficulty: Low-Medium
55. AI LinkedIn Creator
Position yourself as an AI thought leader on LinkedIn. Share insights, case studies, and tool recommendations. Convert followers into consulting clients or course buyers.
Earning potential: $1K-$15K/month | Difficulty: Low-Medium
56. AI Subreddit/Forum Moderator & Influencer
Become a trusted voice in AI subreddits and forums. Build credibility, then subtly direct traffic to your products, services, or affiliate offers.
Earning potential: $200-$5K/month | Difficulty: Low
AI-Powered E-commerce
Use AI to build, run, or enhance e-commerce businesses.
57. AI-Designed Print-on-Demand
Use AI image generators to create unique designs for t-shirts, mugs, phone cases, and posters. Upload to Printful, Redbubble, or your own Shopify store. Zero inventory.
Earning potential: $500-$10K/month | Difficulty: Low
58. AI Product Photography Service
Use AI to generate or enhance product photos for e-commerce brands. Virtual staging, background removal, lifestyle shots. Cheaper and faster than traditional photography.
Earning potential: $1K-$10K/month | Difficulty: Low-Medium
59. AI-Powered Dropshipping
Use AI for product research, listing optimization, customer service automation, and ad copy. AI handles the grunt work so you can focus on scaling.
Earning potential: $1K-$20K/month | Difficulty: Medium
60. AI Personalized Products
Sell products with AI-generated personalization: custom portraits, personalized children's books, custom pet art, unique patterns based on customer input.
Earning potential: $1K-$15K/month | Difficulty: Medium
61. AI-Optimized Amazon/Etsy Store
Use AI to optimize your product listings, keywords, pricing, and ad campaigns on major marketplaces. Data-driven selling beats gut feeling every time.
Earning potential: $1K-$20K/month | Difficulty: Medium
62. AI Fashion/Design Brand
Use AI to design clothing, accessories, or home decor. Generate patterns, colorways, and entire collections. Produce on demand and sell direct-to-consumer.
Earning potential: $500-$15K/month | Difficulty: Medium
63. AI Gift Recommendation Service
Build a site or app that uses AI to suggest personalized gifts based on recipient details. Monetize through affiliate links to retailers.
Earning potential: $300-$5K/month | Difficulty: Low-Medium
64. AI-Enhanced Vintage/Thrift Reselling
Use AI to identify valuable items, price them correctly, write compelling listings, and even enhance photos. Leverage AI to find diamonds in the rough.
Earning potential: $500-$5K/month | Difficulty: Low
AI Data & Analytics Services
Data is the new oil, and AI is the refinery. Businesses are drowning in data and starving for insights.
65. AI Business Intelligence Dashboards
Build custom dashboards that use AI to surface insights from business data. Connect to existing tools, visualize trends, and provide automated recommendations.
Earning potential: $3K-$20K/month | Difficulty: High
66. AI Market Research Service
Use AI to analyze market trends, competitor activity, customer sentiment, and industry data. Package findings into actionable reports for businesses.
Earning potential: $2K-$15K/month | Difficulty: Medium-High
67. AI Customer Feedback Analysis
Help businesses analyze their reviews, survey responses, support tickets, and social mentions using AI. Deliver sentiment analysis and actionable insights.
Earning potential: $1K-$10K/month | Difficulty: Medium
68. AI Financial Analysis Tool
Build or offer AI-powered financial analysis for small businesses, investors, or traders. Expense categorization, forecasting, anomaly detection, portfolio analysis.
Earning potential: $2K-$20K/month | Difficulty: High
69. AI Lead Scoring Service
Help B2B companies score and prioritize their leads using AI. Analyze behavior patterns, firmographic data, and engagement signals. Higher conversion, less wasted time.
Earning potential: $2K-$15K/month | Difficulty: Medium-High
70. AI Pricing Optimization
Help e-commerce and SaaS businesses optimize their pricing using AI-driven analysis. Dynamic pricing, A/B testing, competitor monitoring. Every percentage point matters.
Earning potential: $2K-$15K/month | Difficulty: High
Emerging AI Opportunities
These are the frontier bets. Higher risk, higher reward. The builders who move early on these will own the space.
71. AI Agent Marketplace
Build or sell on marketplaces for AI agents that perform specific tasks. Agents that book travel, manage social accounts, do competitive research, handle outreach. This is the next app store.
Earning potential: $1K-$50K+/month | Difficulty: High
72. Fine-Tuned Model Marketplace
Train and sell access to fine-tuned AI models for specific industries or tasks. Legal document analysis, medical image classification, financial forecasting. Specialized models command premium prices.
Earning potential: $2K-$30K/month | Difficulty: High
73. AI-Powered Recruiting Tool
Build tools that use AI to screen resumes, match candidates, conduct initial interviews, and assess cultural fit. HR tech is a massive market desperate for AI solutions.
Earning potential: $3K-$30K/month | Difficulty: High
74. AI Voice Cloning Service
Offer ethical AI voice cloning for content creators, businesses, and brands. Podcasters want their voice for ads, companies want consistent brand voices, creators want to scale content.
Earning potential: $1K-$15K/month | Difficulty: Medium-High
75. AI-Powered Legal Tech
Build tools that help with contract review, legal research, compliance checking, or document generation. Lawyers are slow to adopt tech but fast to pay for it once they see the value.
Earning potential: $3K-$40K/month | Difficulty: High
76. Synthetic Data Generation
Companies need training data but face privacy and scarcity constraints. Generate realistic synthetic datasets for ML training, testing, and development.
Earning potential: $2K-$20K/month | Difficulty: High
77. AI Education Platform for Kids
Build interactive, AI-powered learning tools for children. Personalized tutoring, adaptive quizzes, creative storytelling. Parents and schools spend heavily on education technology.
Earning potential: $1K-$20K/month | Difficulty: Medium-High
78. AI Health & Wellness Apps
Create apps that use AI for personalized fitness plans, meal recommendations, mental health check-ins, or sleep optimization. Wellness is a trillion-dollar industry.
Earning potential: $1K-$25K/month | Difficulty: Medium-High
79. AI Real Estate Tools
Build AI tools for property valuation, investment analysis, listing optimization, or virtual staging. Real estate professionals spend money on tools that help them close deals.
Earning potential: $2K-$20K/month | Difficulty: Medium-High
80. AI Music Production Tools
Create tools that help musicians compose, arrange, mix, or master using AI. The music industry is embracing AI and independent artists are hungry for affordable tools.
Earning potential: $1K-$15K/month | Difficulty: Medium-High
Your Next Move
You just read 80 ways to make money with AI. The question isn't whether the opportunity is real. It's whether you'll act on it.
Here's the thing most people get wrong: they wait for the "perfect" idea. They research for months, plan for weeks, and never ship. The people making real money with AI right now? They shipped something small, learned from the market, and iterated fast.
Pick one idea from this list. Just one. The one that made you think "I could actually do that." Then start today. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Today.
A few practical tips to get started:
- Start with services before products. Services generate cash immediately. Products take longer but scale better. Use service revenue to fund your product development.
- Niche down aggressively. "AI writing tool" is crowded. "AI writing tool for veterinary clinics" is wide open.
- Focus on distribution. The best product with no audience loses to an average product with great distribution. Build your audience while you build your product.
- Handle the business side properly. If you're selling globally (and you should be), you need payment processing, tax compliance, and invoicing that just works. That's exactly what CREEM does as a Merchant of Record for software and AI creators. Set it up once and focus on what you do best: building.
The AI gold rush is real. The picks and shovels are free (or nearly free). The only thing standing between you and your first AI dollar is action.
Ready to Start Selling?
Building an AI product or service? CREEM is the Merchant of Record built for software creators. We handle global payments, sales tax, VAT, and compliance so you can focus on building. Sign up at creem.io and start selling worldwide today.
