The first is the traditional way: getting out of bed in the morning and going to work for it. But the second way, using the best passive income streams, is a lot more fun because it means you get to earn money while you're sleeping, reading a book, in the middle of a lake on your kayak, or anywhere.

Once you've got them set up, the best passive income ideas require little to no active effort from you. Most of these require a bit of startup capital, so your first step will be building up some savings. After that, get ready for your money to start making you money.

How to create passive income opportunities with no money is a bit trickier and narrows your options. However, there are still a variety of ways to make passive income and increase your cash flow.

Top 30 best passive income streams
Without further ado, let's dive into 30 of the best passive income streams! (Be sure to also check out our list of great passive income books! Also learn the key differences between active and passive income).

1. Invest
Investing is one of the most common ways to make passive income. Over the long term, the stock market has consistently generated steady returns, even if it has ups and downs in the short term.

Dividend stocks
There are a couple of ways to earn money from stocks. You could buy high-dividend stocks for regular cash payouts based on company earnings. Or, hold onto ordinary low-dividend stocks and let them grow in value until you're ready to sell at a profit.

Investing in stocks is one way to avoid having to make an active income by simply growing your money, and expanding your portfolio.

It's also possible to buy shares of REITs (real estate investment trusts) and earn a share of income from the real estate projects they hold.

Either way, you can get started as an investor with as little as $100!
Blogging for passive income
Annuities
An annuity can give you the opportunity to make passive income. You can purchase an annuity from an insurance company. It's an investment that you pay into now in exchange for funds later.

Annuities are not the simplest form of passive income, though, and you should do further research. To find out more about annuities, visit this article from annuity.org.
Other investing opportunities
There are also mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, and index funds that you can continually invest in, in order to get a large profit later. You can begin with any of these using Robo-advisors or an investment advisor.

2. Crowdfund real estate
As mentioned above, REITs are a simple way to earn a share of income from real estate, but with those, you don't get to choose specific properties to invest in. If that sounds interesting to you, the next level up is contributing to crowdfunded real estate.

Through programs like Fundrise and RealtyMogul, you can buy a stake in specific real estate projects from the comfort of your couch and earn a share of the income from them.

However, most platforms require a minimum investment of at least $1,000 and sometimes more.

3. Own rental properties
Rental properties are one of the best passive income streams. But if you're not up for the job of screening tenants and being a landlord, you can turn this into a passive income strategy by hiring property managers. Of course, property managers are an added expense, but it takes a lot of work off your hands.

Owning rental properties is not without risk. For instance, the property could stay vacant for too long or repairs might cost you a lot of money. Even so, with caution and due diligence, owning real estate can be very lucrative.
Learn more about how to get started with real estate as an investment.

4. Buy bonds and/or CDs
Bonds and CDs (certificates of deposit) are two of the very low-risk best passive income streams. The tradeoff for this safety is usually fairly low returns and having your money committed for a certain amount of time.

There is usually a penalty if you need to withdraw early, so make sure you don't need the cash soon.
With bonds, how much they pay mostly depends on how stable the bond issuer is. U.S. savings bonds are guaranteed by the government and are very safe. Corporate bonds depend on a variety of factors to determine their risk factor and interest rate.

5. Publish eBooks
When it comes to how to create passive income with no money, you'll have to invest effort upfront instead. The best passive income streams like this and the next few only become passive over time.

Self-publishing books on Kindle is one popular way to monetize fiction or nonfiction writing. Actually, writing the book will require the most time and effort, but it's also one of the best passive income sources. You'll probably also want to research some marketing strategies to get your title out there.
After that, you get to sit back and make sales! Even if you only charge a couple of dollars, it can add up as people continue buying copies for years into the future.

6. Build a niche affiliate website
A great source of passive income is to build a website. The upfront work of this method includes finding a niche to write about, creating an attractive website, researching keywords that will drive traffic to you, and joining affiliate programs. Once it's set up, you'll earn ongoing income from any affiliate sales your content generates.

You might want to make occasional updates to keep the site active and update keywords. When it comes to websites like these, think small and specialized. Review websites for a specific type of product can be successful and easy to monetize.

7. Create apps or software to sell
If you already have tech skills, think of a program that would improve people's lives or be fun to use. Even simple apps can be successful.

For instance, look at the story of Flappy Bird: an extremely simple yet addictive game that went viral and at one point was earning its creator $50,000 a day from ad revenue.

The Flappy Bird story is an exception rather than a rule, but it demonstrates that you don't have to build the fanciest, most complicated apps to earn a profit.

Once your app is available for sale, there's little ongoing work besides making any necessary updates. There are lots of resources where you can learn how to build an app to make money

8. Sell stock photos
One of the easiest and best passive income streams to start is selling stock photos. Although this isn't a passive income idea that will usually make you rich, it is relatively easy.

Once you've done the work of taking photos and listing them on a stock photography site like Shutterstock, your photos can bring you a little cash on the side for years to come.

These days, most smartphone cameras are capable of producing high-quality images. So you don't necessarily even need to upgrade your equipment (unless you're already a hobbyist photographer and have a DSLR on hand!).

Think about the types of photos companies might want to use for websites, articles, etc. The subject matter might not always be the most exciting, but getting paid is exciting, right?

9. Own a vending machine or ATM
This is one of the more unusual ideas that not as many people realize is possible. You find vending machines and ATMs everywhere but might not stop to consider who owns them! And it's a great passive income resource.

When you buy or rent an ATM, you can place it in a location you own or negotiate to share profits with someone who has property in a more lucrative location.

You make a profit from ATM fees charged each time someone uses the machine. You're responsible for keeping the machine stocked with cash, but you can turn this into a passive income source by outsourcing this work to a trusted third party.

A vending machine business is similar. You'll want to place it somewhere with a decent amount of foot traffic, and you can outsource the restocking of snacks or drinks inside the machine. Inventory costs can be very low when you're buying in bulk, so it's a chance for a decent profit margin.

10. Flip domain names
Domain names are like the real estate of the internet: everyone wants a good one, but there's a limited supply. Most people want a .com domain that's memorable and relatively short, so it's easy for people to type.

If you're a creative type with a little business acumen, a good passive income hustle could be buying domain names you think could be profitable and in demand and listing them for sale.

You can often do this relatively cheaply, but it's not without risk since you could find yourself paying for a domain name that just won't sell.