The 11 Best Money Making Apps

There are tons of reward apps and websites that promise you cash or gift cards. The ones I’m sharing are what I’ve found to be most worth my time. In 2019 I made over $200 using this list. These are the 11 best money making apps and websites.

So how can these apps just give you stuff?

Generally they have you take a survey, refer you to online retailers or have you upload receipts. Surveys provide market and advertising data for retailers. For receipts, you’re letting companies see your spending habits. Realize with any of these ways of earning money, you are giving them information whether that seems apparent or not. The way I see it, nothing online is private anyway so I may as well make some money.

These money making apps/websites are in no particular order. For each one I’ve made the link my referral link (if the site offers one) and I will get a reward through that referral. Lastly, for each one, the monetary value is the amount I made from that site/app in 2019.

The Best Money Making Websites

1. MyPoints, $12.72

I’ve been a MyPoints member for over 10 years.

The primary way I earn is via emails. Once you join, they send 4-6 a day. Many of them have a 5 point reward for opening a link to a retailer. Purchases from that retailer get you more points.

On their site there’s also surveys, videos you can watch, and tons of retailers to click through and purchase from to get points back on. You can start cashing out rewards at 250 points ($1), but you have more choices for $10 and $25 gift cards.

I by no means earned a ton with MyPoints, but I also spent very little time on it. I only took few minutes every couple days to click through the emails.

2. Swagbucks, $53.51

Swagbucks was my highest earner last year. The vast majority of the money I earned was in the first few months of last year. Swagbucks has videos you can watch, that would keep running (and keep earning). While they still have those videos, they now make you verify you aren’t a robot after every couple. That prevents you from running them overnight and earning a lot.

Similar to Mypoints, because they’re owned by the same company, you can do surveys, watch videos, and get rebates from using them to click through to online retailers and purchasing.

While I don’t anticipate earning as much through Swagbucks this year because of the videos, there were several times last year I forgot to use them to click through to a retailer when I was shopping online. That will be my primary use of Swagbucks from here on out it looks like.

Just like MyPoints, you can redeem gift cards starting at $1, but will have more options at $10 and $25. Every month you can get one $25 gift card for the equivalent of $22 worth of Swagbucks. They also will put gift cards ‘on sale’ occasionally.

3. Microsoft Rewards, $13.92

Spend 2-3 minutes doing the daily set (clicking on their buttons/taking quick quizzes) and searching on Bing to max out your daily earnings. I usually click on the “trending on Bing” stories that scroll across the top to get an idea of the days headlines. You can search on your computer and on the Bing app as they count separately. If you do that every day, you’ll easily earn a $5 gift card a month.

Clearly I didn’t do this even close to daily in 2019. Microsoft rewards only has a couple of gift card options mostly $5 or $10, but they usually have Starbucks, Target & Walmart.

4. Survey Junkie, $26.17

Survey Junkie is all about taking surveys. About 5 days a week they will send you an email link to a 1 minute survey that’s worth $0.10. Honestly that’s where the vast majority of the money I earned came from.

I rarely take a regular survey for them, but they’re there if you want to spend more time to earn more. Once you reach $10 you can cash out via PayPal or Amazon gift card.

The Best Money Making Apps

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5. Receipt Hog, $14.59

I keep a folder of apps on my phone for rewards and this one is one of the originals in there. On Receipt Hog you upload receipts to earn coins. Grocery stores, pet stores, clothing receipts, and gas stations will all get you some coins. You can also get a bonus for uploading receipts every week.

You can redeem those coins from PayPal, Visa cards, or Amazon gift cards starting at $5. But if you let you coins build, you get a better rate for your coins and redeem higher denominations.

6. Ibotta, $23.00

Another favorite grocery app that I’ve had for a few years. Ibotta gives you rebates for products you purchase. Every week there’s $0.10 for any item on your receipt. Some weeks there’s rebates that match what I buy, and some weeks there aren’t. Recently, I got $0.50 back on a Luna Bar that I could use 5 times. That meant 5 $1 Luna Bars that were basically half off!

Ibotta also offers cash back through online shopping similar to MyPoints or Swagbucks that I haven’t used. Once you reach $20 you can cash out with PayPal or choose from gift cards.

7. Fetch Rewards, $13.96

This is the last grocery receipt app on my list. Fetch gives you 25 points for much any eligible receipt you upload. If there are name brands on the receipt that Fetch partners with, you get more points.

Gift card redemption starts at 3,000 points ($3) but higher denominations have more selection.

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MORE ON SAVING MONEY: 8 Tips to Save Money on Groceries | Richmond Date Ideas Under $10

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8. Shopkick, $2.98

I didn’t earn much from Shopkick in 2019. But to be honest, it’s because I forgot about it. Most of what I did earn, was in a month. I’m going to hang onto it for another year and see if I can do better.

With Shopkick you open the app in listed stores to earn ‘walk in kicks’. There are also items you can scan the bar codes of. Other items will have kicks attached with purchasing them (you have to upload your receipt).

You can start redeeming once you have $2 worth of kicks, but as is the reward app trend, there are more gift card options for a $5 or $10 redemption. They have a smaller gift card collection, but Starbucks, Amazon, Walmart, and Target are there.

9. Surveys On the Go, $16.10

Very similar to Survey Junkie, this app is all about taking surveys. Surveys On the Go does a good job of sending you surveys you have a shot of qualifying for.

Often the surveys they send you are location based and ask you about your experiences in a store. These surveys pay the best amount of money for your time that I’ve seen. The downside is that they aren’t always available.

Once you reach $10 you can redeem for Amazon, Visa, Starbucks or Paypal. You get more bang for your buck if you choose Amazon or Visa though.

10. Achievement, $14.27

I’ve spent the least amount of time messing with this app. Achievement links to your fitness device and gives you points for steps, sleep, tracking calories, etc. While points don’t accrue all that quickly, you literally do nothing but set it up.

Points can be redeemed via PayPal once you reach $10 worth of points.

11. Dabbl, $10.22

This app has you watch short ads, vote on which version of a product you prefer, and/or answer quick facts about brands. These experiences take 30 seconds to a minute. Dabbl sends you a couple of these every few days.

There are also surveys (I’ve not found them worth my time) or ads you can watch. I pretty much stick to the specific experiences Dabbl sends.

You can redeem you points starting at $5 for gift cards. Again, not a big selection of gift cards, but Walmart, Target, Starbucks, and Amazon are available.

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Do you have any favorite money making apps or websites? I’d love to hear if you join any of these!