Money-making apps allow you to earn a small amount of cash in exchange for purchases, survey responses, or games. If you’re interested in making a little extra money with apps, whether it’s for savings or other purposes, you’ve discovered 4 appealing ones. Applications to consider.
Here are our most sensible picks for money-making apps:
If you’re looking for more tools to help you reach your financial goals, you can also check out our guides on the best budgeting apps.
Money-making apps can offer cashback when you make everyday purchases or allow you to earn money by taking surveys or completing tasks. Money-making apps are available on the Apple and Google Play stores.
The most productive money-making apps are those that make it easy to make money and generate cash. The most productive app for you will depend on how you need to make money, whether it’s through cashbacks, surveys, games, or something else. To learn about other ways to make money with an app, you may need to use one of our most productive investment apps.
Here are the money-making apps decided by Business Insider editors in 2024.
Rakuten is a wonderful option if you need to get money back from your online purchases. Rakuten is a rewards app that allows you to get money back at more than 3500 stores.
Here’s how it works: You’ll be taken to Rakuten’s online page or app and the store you need to shop from. When you make your purchase, the cash back on offer will be automatically added to your account.
Rakuten is easy to use and intuitively designed. If you have any questions about the app, there’s also a help center that answers questions.
You will receive coins by check or into your PayPal account every 3 months. If you want to generate coins more often, you might prefer one of our other, more sensible options.
Rakuten also allows you to shop in a store, but you’ll have to follow a few steps. First, choose the “In Store” tab when you open the app. Then, once you’ve discovered an offer for example, you want to choose “Link Offer” and include your credit card information. In-store, you’ll need to use this credit card to get the deal. Other apps may have a simpler procedure for in-store purchases.
Minimum amount required to exchange money: $5
Download: Google Play Store | Apple Store
You might like Ibotta if you do a lot of in-store shopping. This cashback app stands out because it’s partnered with over 1,500 popular brands and allows you to save at retail outlets in a variety of ways. You can link your loyalty account to the app, send receipts (Ibotta will scan them for eligible purchases), or purchase gift cards through the app. Usually, you see cashback earnings within 24 hours.
You’ll want to win at least $20 before you can withdraw your winnings. Other lucrative apps would possibly allow you to make withdrawals at $5.
Minimum amount to exchange money: $20
Download: Google Play Store | Apple Store
Survey Junkie has become our most sensible choice in survey apps because it has almost many surveys available and the procedure for redeeming questions is much easier and less difficult than other apps.
All you want to do is earn a minimum of 500 issues (the equivalent of $5) and you can redeem them using PayPal or online gift cards. In maximum cases, rewards can be redeemed instantly. For example, if you get a gift card online, the code will be sent to your email address for you to use on the same day.
You may not be eligible for all available surveys. Typically, you’ll have to answer a series of questions about your eligibility. Depending on the data you provide, you will be redirected to the survey or notified that you are not eligible. (You’ll get some numbers for your time. )
When conducting surveys, be patient. You may be asked the same question repeatedly, or you may be able to answer a few before realizing you don’t qualify for a specific survey.
Minimum amount required to exchange money: $5
Download: Google Play Store | Apple Store
Swagbucks can be a wonderful option if you’re looking for an app that offers various money-making tactics. Swagbucks is a flexible money-making app where you earn emissions (called SBs) by taking surveys, gambling, scanning your receipts for eligible monetary rewards, and completing other activities.
You will need to exchange SB for gift cards or transfer cash through a PayPal account. Generally, 500 SB is equal to $5.
The amount of SB earned for other responsibilities can vary greatly. The price can vary from 2 SB to 250,000 SB. Typically, higher-priced responsibilities require much more effort or are more difficult to qualify. Also, please note that gift cards can take up to 10 business days to process and be sent to your email address.
Minimum amount required to exchange money: $5
Download: Google Play Store | Apple Store
These income-generating apps weren’t selected from our most sensible picks, but you can still try one if you’re looking for more options.
We rely on tests from the Better Business Bureau to assess how well corporations deal with visitor issues and manage transparency.
Rakuten, Ibotta, Survey Junkie, and Prodege, LLC (the company that operates Swagbucks) earned a B grade because all four won a maximum volume of visiting court cases on the BBB website.
According to BBBArray, scammers falsely used the so-called Survey Junkie to impersonate the company in 2022. Survey Junkie is not a mystery shopper program nor does it have a name called “sjunkie. co. “If you see the mystery shopper scam or fraudulent array, BBB asks you to file a report with the Federal Trade Commission.
We consulted with money planning experts to point you to those possible options and provide their recommendations on how to find the payment app that best suits your needs.
Here’s what they had to say about the most productive money-making apps (some text may be modified for clarity).
Are money-making apps?
Mykail James, MBA, Certified Financial Literacy Trainer, BoujieBudgets. com:
“I think cashback apps are great, especially if you’re already a shopper. When it comes to finding more modest tactics to get a few extra bucks, apply the existing behavior you already have. If you’re the one doing it, all the apps that offer discounts and cashback on your purchases.
Sophia Acevedo, Certified Personal Finance Educator, Banking Editor-in-Chief, Business Insider:
“Money-making apps can be wonderful if you need to earn a little more coins a month by answering quizzes, scanning your receipts for coin rewards, or doing some other activity. But be sure to manage your expectations. The amount of coins you will earn in an app depends on the effort you put into the activity.
What should others pay attention to when it comes to a money-making app?
Mykail James, MBA, CFEI:
“Understand why those apps are paid for: your feedback and your data. Most of them are market research corporations that pay to get their data. ”
Sofia Acevedo, CEPF:
“When looking for money-making apps, read visitor reviews to get a better idea of how it works and how simple it is to use the platform. You can also thoroughly review the app’s privacy policy to be more informed about the data collected and used. ”
Methodology: How do we find the most productive apps to make money?
Business Insider’s editorial criteria help us compare our products clearly and fairly. We understand that the “best” is subjective. That’s why, in addition to highlighting the apparent benefits of a monetary product, we also describe its limitations.
For our favorite money-making apps, we’ve compiled a list of more than a dozen popular money-making mobile apps. We haven’t included labor-saving apps like TaskRabbit or Uber, such as your availability to sign up for some of those apps. It may depend on where you live (registrations may be suspended in some regions). We haven’t included them either, as your experience with those apps may vary depending on your skills.
Most of our most sensible picks have garnered at least 20,000 reviews on the Apple and Google Play stores. We analyzed the registration procedure and the user experience with each app for two weeks. We also looked at whether each app completed everything it advertised and how regular users rated the product on the Apple and Google Play stores. Check out our bank account methodologies page to see how we generally compare banking products.
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