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 not, we’ve discovered four of the most productive apps to make money with your phone in 2024.
Money-making apps can be a smart choice for you if you need to make some extra money anywhere using just your phone. This extra money can help you budget because it makes it easier to increase your salary.
There are several types of money-making apps; Some types come with ones that aim to earn cash, those that offer you surveys to take for cash, those that allow you to play games for cash, and those that offer you other money-making tactics. The most productive money-making app will probably depend on what you like to do.
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 in 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 some other form. To learn about other ways to make money with an app, you may need to use one of our most productive investing 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 from over 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 at. When you make your purchase, the cash back offered 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 in 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 need 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. At the store, you will need to use this credit card to get the offer. Other apps may have a simpler procedure for in-store purchases.
Minimum amount required to exchange money: $5
Discharge: Google Play Store | Apple Store
You might like Ibotta if you do a lot of shopping at the store. This cashback app stands out because it is partnered with more than 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. Typically, you see cashback earnings within 24 hours.
You’ll want to earn at least $20 before you can withdraw your winnings. Other money-making apps may allow you to make withdrawals of $5.
Minimum money exchange amount: $20
Discharge: Google Play Store | Apple Store
Survey Junkie has become our most sensible choice in survey apps because it has almost a lot of 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 peak 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 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. Based 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 you realize you don’t qualify for a specific survey.
Minimum amount required to exchange money: $5
Discharge: Google Play Store | Apple Store
Swagbucks can be a wonderful option if you’re looking for an app that offers diverse money-making tactics. Swagbucks is a flexible money-making app where you earn broadcasts (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 equals $5.
The amount of SB earned for other responsibilities can vary greatly. The price can range from 2 SB to 250,000 SB. Typically, higher pricing responsibilities require much more effort or are more difficult to qualify for. Also, please note that gift cards may take up to 10 business days to process and be sent to your email address.
Minimum amount required to exchange money: $5
Discharge: Google Play Store | Apple Store
When you’re looking for a money-making app, you should check if the app itself is easy to use. If you constantly suffer with the app to make money, it’s unlikely that you’ll continue to use it regularly. Apps that are complicated Using can also prevent you from using the money you earn, if it’s not clear how to market it. Check if the app you’re using is a lucrative app that’s easy for beginners to use before committing.
Most apps don’t allow you to withdraw the money you’ve won unless you’ve won a certain amount. The lower the threshold, the less difficult it is to use the money you earn. A payment threshold of $5 is low and easy to achieve. ; A $100 payment threshold is not.
Money making apps with multiple features on how to make money can be beneficial if you don’t know how to use the app. Some apps may only allow you to earn money by buying groceries at an express location, while others will allow you to earn cash at various outlets while also allowing you to take surveys or play games for cash. Think about what you will use the app for and whether the earning features it offers are actually beneficial to you when opting for an app.
If a money-making app doesn’t reliably pay your money, it won’t be useful to you. Think about how you need to get your cash when opting for an app: depending on the app, you might earn emissions that you can then get. Redeem for gift cards or prepaid debit cards, or you may even have cash deposited directly into your account, this is uncommon. Check the app’s online page and terms of use to see how temporarily the cash will arrive and verify the user. Check to see if other people are having trouble withdrawing cash from the flight from the app.
Think about what you’ll probably be able to follow by opting for a lucrative app. If you need to get money back from your purchases but don’t need to get a cashback credit card, you may be interested in cashback apps. focused on the return of money. And if you’re a student, you may need to check which are the most productive apps to generate money for school students.
Think about what the app needs to offer before you commit. If it’s a cashback app, check which brands it works for to make sure you’ll be able to use the offers. If you will be offering surveys or games, check the duration of the surveys and the number of surveys they will offer you according to the day. You’ll also need to check if it’s one of the highest-paying apps or if it’s not making you a lot of money. And check the security policies of the app you’re interested in to make sure they’re guilty of your data.
Most apps impose a limit on how you can withdraw the money you earn, whether it’s in the form of a payout threshold, a payout schedule, or both. Check your application needs and how you will pay the cash; Some apps allow you to earn gift cards, others offer you a prepaid debit card, and some deposit cash directly into your account.
Money-making apps can be a simple way to make a little extra money. Since they’re usually free, they typically don’t require you to spend money to save unless you’re a cashback app. And since they’re on your phone, you can earn cash wherever you are.
Keep in mind that when you use an app to make money, you are necessarily promoting your data. If you don’t accept as true that a money-making app contains your data, you may need some other way to make money, such as with a refund debit card from your bank. Also, keep in mind that you possibly don’t make a lot of money from any of those apps, so they are not your main source of income.
We have 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 earned 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 the fraudulent Array, BBB asks you to file a report with the Federal Trade Commission.
We consulted with money planning experts to point you through those possible options and provide 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 of the 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 buyer. 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 rebates on your purchases are all the same.
Sophia Acevedo, Certified Personal Finance Educator, Editor-in-Chief of Banking, 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 make sure you manage your expectations. The amount of coins you’ll earn in an app depends on how much 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. ”
Sofía 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 applications to make money?
Business Insider’s editorial criteria help us compare our products clearly and fairly. We understand that the “best” is subjective. Therefore, 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 over 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 also haven’t included them, 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 in the Apple and Google Play stores. We analyzed the registration procedure and 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 in the Apple and Google Play stores. Check out our bank account methodologies page to see how we generally compare banking products.
Jump To