Best Cash Reward Apps

Benzinga readers love Freecash as the best cash reward app

Is learning how to make money online one of your goals for 2024? If so, you aren’t alone. And thanks to online marketplaces like Upwork and Fiverr, finding freelance work or a side gig has never been easier. But not everyone has a schedule that’s conducive to a side hustle. If you have a family and work full-time, you might not have the bandwidth for another job, even if it's only a few hours a week. But what if you could earn extra cash in your downtime? With cash reward apps, you can perform simple online tasks and get paid for your time.

Best Cash Reward Apps

• Best for Variety of Payment Options: Freecash
• Best for Initial Sign-up Bonus: Inboxdollars
• Best for Different Ways to Earn: Swagbucks
• Best for Resources and Information: Beermoney
• Best for Quick and Simple Tasks: Survey Junkie

5 Best Cash Reward Apps

If you want to learn how to make money fast online, you probably aren’t looking for rebates, coupons or discounts — you want a platform that will put cold hard cash in your (digital or physical) wallet. These cash reward apps will do just that, distributing payment to users for taking surveys, watching videos, playing demo games or testing new apps.

Here are Benzinga’s five favorite cash reward apps to make money online.

1. Best for Variety of Payment Options: Freecash

Freecash is one of Benzinga’s top cash reward apps because it offers a little bit of everything for those learning how to make money online. Cash can be earned from taking surveys, playing games and signing up for products and services. There are also sweepstakes users can enter to win more prizes.

Freecash allows payment in PayPal or gift cards and digital currency like Bitcoin and Ethereum (an option most other apps lack). One downside is the lack of an iOS app, so iPhone users must use a web browser.

2. Best for Different Ways to Earn: Inboxdollars

Inboxdollars is one of the older cash reward apps, having paid out more than $80 million in rewards since 2000. Users get a free $5 just for signing up and have a few different ways to earn. The surveys take 3 to 25 minutes and pay between $0.50 to $5. Demo games offer payouts for play (plus online casino discounts). Subscriptions are email lists where users get paid to read, and online shopping rewards can be earned from businesses like Chewy, Target and Home Depot. 

3. Best for Initial Signup Bonus: Swagbucks

Swagbucks has a signup bonus that will bring new members right near the minimum payout threshold, so you’re ahead of the game immediately. Swagbucks has surveys, game demos and shopping discounts from popular stores. You can also receive larger payouts for more time-consuming tasks, although these marks are tough to hit. For example, the Monopoly Go game demo pays $218 for the top prize, but you must complete over 100 levels within 30 days to receive the award. Additionally, rewards aren’t cash but points that must be redeemed for prizes.

4. Best for Information and Resources: Beermoney

Beermoney is more of a cash reward aggregator, posting all sorts of discounts, free trials and cash-back offers across its website. You’ll find reputable brands like Acorns, Nielsen and FundRise on the platform, but the value Beermoney brings is through its community. With a vast library of articles and a vibrant message board community, Beermoney is an excellent place to find fast-money ideas.

5. Best for Quick and Simple Tasks: Survey Junkie

One of the best ways to earn money in your downtime is through surveys, and that’s all Survey Junkie does. Users can sign up and submit up to three surveys daily to receive cash rewards or gift cards. Payment can be obtained through PayPal or a bank account, and the app has a personal finance blog for spending and saving tips. However, doing only surveys can be tedious, and active users report that 90 surveys per month net them about $40, which may not seem worth it to all users.

What Are Cash Reward Apps? 

Cash reward apps are also known as Get-Paid-To (GPT) apps because users perform simple online tasks to receive small monetary payouts. But unlike side gig marketplaces like Upwork and Fiverr, where clients link up with creators, these apps are more like credit card reward systems where using a specific product or service results in a bonus.

A cash reward app can supplement income, but if you’re looking to make surveys, shopping and gaming a full-time job, you might need a day longer than 24 hours. Payouts are usually small (sometimes less than a dollar), and while the more tedious tasks offer big bonuses, many easy ones pay insignificant amounts. Users expecting to fund their retirement accounts will quickly get discouraged over their bankroll accumulation.

How to Choose a Cash Reward App

Before joining any cash reward app program, here are some critical questions.

What rewards are offered?

Does the app provide actual cash payouts or discounts at specific merchants? You’ll prefer apps with more lucrative cash offers to make money online. But if you simply want to save money, choose an app that features your preferred brands.

Where can you spend or redeem your rewards?

If you want shopping discounts and rebates, browse the reward offerings and pick your favorites. You’ll need to consider how you want to receive any cash payments. For example, if you want to be paid out in Bitcoin, you’ll probably prefer Freecash. If you wish to use PayPal, you have a more comprehensive range of choices.

Do the rewards expire?

Ensure you understand any rewards program's terms and conditions before performing any tasks. If you’re saving for a vacation or new appliance, you might plan on letting your rewards accumulate for a year or more — make sure they don’t expire in that timeframe. 

Is it easy to earn rewards and are the opportunities robust and frequent?

What’s your timeframe and preferred degree of difficulty on these tasks? If you like playing games and watching videos, you can search each app for the most lucrative options. If you just want to fill out surveys during your commute or lunch break, select the app with the opportunities matching those timeframes.

Is the app interface easy to use and understand?

Use an app with an intuitive design that’s easy to navigate. This is a judgment call — what’s intuitive for you may be confusing to another user. Pick an app where you can quickly locate the best opportunities. Additionally, make sure the directions and reward structure are clear. If you can’t figure out how much a task will pay, avoid it and move on.

Find Better Cash Reward Apps Today

Cash reward apps are a great place to start if you want to make money online fast in 2024. You won’t get rich filling out surveys or watching videos, but you can put a little extra cash in your pocket while also receiving great deals and benefits from your favorite brands. For example, earning $50 monthly from cash reward apps is an extra $600 yearly. Put $600 in a retirement account earning 6%, and you’ll have nearly $9,000 in a decade. It may seem insignificant now, but good habits build over time and starting small can reap significant dividends.

Frequently Asked Questions