5 Sites That Pay You to Do Almost Nothing | Earn Money Online
So you’ve started your online business but you’re still waiting to start seeing some results.
What can you do to earn money online in the meantime?
I get it. After a hard day of working on your blog or website, sometimes you want to do something else.
So why not earn some quick cash while taking a break?
Today, I want to share with you a few sites that you can use to earn money online in your spare time.
1. Swagbucks
Swagbucks is a website that has a few ways to make money online; they also have a mobile app that can help you earn money on your smartphone. The app and website both run under one account, which means that once you sign up you’ll use that sign in information for all of the apps.
Here is a quick breakdown of what each app has to offer:
Swagbucks Answer: Get FREE gift cards for answering surveys and influencing brands. Survey award amounts vary. I would suggest sticking to the shorter surveys (under 20 minutes) so that you don’t end of spending a lot of time on screening questions or end up getting screened out later in the survey which is common on survey sites.
Swagbucks Shop: Similar to other cashback sites, Swagbucks pays you a percentage in cash back for shopping at certain online stores. Install the Swagbutton to get an alert when you visit a site that is in Swagbucks Shop.
Swagbucks Discover: Swagbucks pays you in SB to signup on different online websites and services. They also pay you in SB when you make a purchase at some online stores. Refresh this section often to see new offers that are available.
Swag TV: Watch videos in your browser and earn SB for every few videos watched. The browser version isn’t passive because you’ll have to click NEXT every video.
SwagButton: The SwagButton alerts you if the site you are visiting offers cash back. Earn cash back through thousands of participating retailers with the simple click of a button. Get 50 SB just for installing it.
Swagbucks Search: Swagbucks offers its own search engine and can earn SB for every search. Just install the Swagbucks browser extension in Chrome and use it every time you search instead of your browsers search feature. The number of SB you’ll earn per search is variable. You’ll be awarded for your searches on occasion, similar to Qmee.
Out of all of the apps listed here, I recommend using the mobile app to watch videos. I recommend that you start with that one if you want passive income but use a spare phone to do it as I explained here. You can also refer new members to earn 300 SB ($3) + 10% of their lifetime SB earnings.
Swagbucks Minimum Cashout: $5 via Gift Cards (500 Points), $5 via PayPal (700 Points)
Swagbucks Cashout Options: Gift Cards, PayPal
Swagbucks Available Countries: United States, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Germany Spain, France, Portugal and India
2. PrizeRebel
PrizeRebel is a website where you get rewarded for filing out surveys, watching videos, sign up for trials, and completing tasks. PrizeRebel has their own rewards system using “points,” which you can earn and redeem for gift cards or cash. As of right now, 100 points is equal to $1.
I like PrizeRebel because you can earn money on autopilot simply by leaving the Video Loyalty video site running 24/7. You can find it under Earn > Video Wall > Video Loyalty. Just choose the option from the list that pays you points for every 4 videos watched.
PrizeRebel also gives away Promo Codes on a regular basis that you can put towards your balance to help you cash out faster. Just install the PrizeRebel extension to get the codes sent to you automatically via the extension or follow PrizeRebel on Twitter or Facebook. They send them out a lot. I probably get about 10 of them per month.
Refer new members and you will earn a 20% bonus based on their earnings.
PrizeRebel Minimum Cashout: Cheapest gift card is $2, $5 minimum for cash via PayPal or Dwolla
PrizeRebel Cashout Options: PayPal, Dwolla, Gift Cards
PrizeRebel Available Countries: United States, Australia, Canada, United Kingdom
3. Earnably
Earnably allows you to earn money by taking online surveys, completing offers, watching videos, and completing tasks. The best part about this site is that you can earn money by leaving the Hideout.tv site running 24/7.
You can find this site under the Earn > Videos > Hideout.tv section. It will earn you points on autopilot (125 points = $1). Choose the option from the list that pays you points for every 3 videos watched.
Earnably also occasionally issues promo codes. Promo codes are unique phrases that you can enter below to earn instant, free points. They offer three types of promo codes – Bonus codes, Rebate codes and Point codes. Bonus codes will add a specific percentage on top of every offer you complete.
Rebate codes give you a percentage of your spend on rewards back when we pay out, and Point codes add points to your balance – completely free! Promo codes don’t stack, but if you use more than one they’ll automatically queue up. You can find promo codes on Earnably‘s Facebook and Twitter pages, email newsletters and many other secret places all over the internet.
Finally, refer new members and get paid 10% of their earnings for life.
Earnably Minimum Cashout: $1
Earnably Cashout Options: PayPal, Amazon, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, BitcoinCash
Earnably Available Locations: United States, Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, and Europe
4. Qmee
Qmee pays you to search the web and complete surveys. Sign up and then install the Qmee Firefox or Chrome extension when prompted after you log into your account. Then go to the page below to find Google and Bing searches that instantly pay cash to your Qmee account just for searching:
https://www.reddit.com/r/QMEE/
After collecting some cash from the searches, you can cashout. To boost your earnings, check back daily for new surveys and new searches that pay you. Refer new members and get paid up to $1 per referral.
Qmee Minimum Cashout: No minimum
Qmee Cashout Options: PayPal, Gift Cards
Qmee Available Countries: United States, Australia, Canada, United Kingdom
5. Prolific
Prolific is an online site offering paid survey offers. This site is slightly different from other survey sites because these are academic studies that are being conducted by researchers from universities around the world.
The best part of this site is that it will never send you surveys that you aren’t qualified for. If a survey is available to you, you can complete the entire survey and get paid!
It’s also one of the highest-paying survey sites on the web. On average, you can earn around £1-2 on average per survey. Surveys generally take anywhere from 5-15 minutes to complete.
After you sign up and complete the About You section of the site, just bookmark the Studies page so that you can check it periodically throughout the day. There are new surveys issued throughout the day so check back frequently for updates.
Prolific Research Sign Up Bonus: none
Prolific Research Minimum Cashout: £5
Prolific Research Cashout Options: PayPal
Bonus Tips
There are a few things you need to know in order to help you earn faster from these sites. Here are my best tips:
- Make sure that you turn off your AdBlock so that you don’t block getting credited for your work. Sometimes this type of software can interfere with the tracking links.
- Check back several times per day for new surveys. Qmee seems to replenish their surveys most frequently so they’ll be new surveys for you through the day.
- When you use the video apps, make sure that you don’t put the videos on mute. While you can lower the volume if you’re doing other things on your computer at the same time, pressing mute will keep you from being credited.
- Check back periodically to make sure that the video app is still running. You’ll also need to clear your browser cache so that the loading of videos back to back doesn’t slow down your computer or phone. This is why you should always choose to get paid per the lowest number of videos watch so that you don’t lose points if the app fails and you have to reload the video page.
- If you want to complete the trial offers on any of these sites, use a prepaid card. That way you don’t risk ending up with unwanted charges on your account because you forgot to cancel the trial.
Is This Really Worth It?
If you’re wondering why you would want to even bother with any of this, just think about it like this: You can earn absolutely nothing online today or you can earn a few dollars every day.
Over the course of a year, this could mean hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars that you wouldn’t have had otherwise. These days, every penny that you can earn makes a difference. Don’t let other people tell you that you’re wasting your time.
Here is some ways I’ve used this money:
- I took $5 that I earned from a survey site and used it to buy a landing page template.
- I used $3 from another survey site to cover shipping fees for some computer hardware I purchased on eBay.
- I took $5 that I earned from user testing to pay a freelancer to upload new posts to my blog.
When to do this and how to make it work:
- Take a survey while you’re watching TV.
- Keep sites like Swagbucks and the video offers on PrizeRebel and Earnably running 24/7 on your mobile phone or desktop computer for passive income.
- Refer your friends and show them how to set it up so that you get referral earnings on these sites.
Which other sites do you use to earn some spare change?
Share your tips in the comments below!
I’ve tried out a lot of these different websites that pay you and I’d definitely agree with recommending Qmee, I can easily make $10 a week by doing their surveys every day. They pay really well, about 50c (AUD) for me which is a lot better than the payments I’ve seen listed by other survey websites. I think that Prize Rebel is also pretty good but I haven’t really put much time into it yet so I haven’t been able to make anything decent off of it.
Qmee really interests me because it seems like a really cool idea and a really easy way for me to make some extra cash. The problem for me though, is that I’ve had a lot of experience with these type of sites where you can earn “money easily by doing almost nothing”. Can you really make a decent amount and how long would it take to make around $5?
How much you can earn with Qmee depends on whether or not you also want to take surveys. If you don’t want to do any work at all, then just stick with the Qmee extension for search. As far as the surveys, I’ve found that I’ve been able to qualify for about 80% of the surveys I’ve attempted. I’ve earned $5 before doing surveys while watching TV for about 2 hours. You can get paid instantly with PayPal. The funds show up in just a few minutes.
I think every dollar you earn counts. Even if it’s just a couple of dollars. I can’t deny this is a good way to get some income on the side as a little pocket money.
I have never used any of these types of sites, but I must say it’s intriguing. I mean, getting money for doing nothing sounds like a dream, right?
What I’m wondering though about filling out surveys and such, is whether or not you get a lot of spam in your mailbox afterwards from these sites?
I think I’ll give the websites you listed a go. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? 😉
I’ve never gotten any spam after filling out surveys. In fact most survey sites actually recommend that you don’t share your email address if it is requested by the company conducting the survey. I’m also almost never asked for an email address unless the company conducting the survey wants to ask me to participate in follow-up survey later for extra cash.
If you’re worried about spam, you can always create a separate email address that you use just for survey sites. Then set up a forwarding rule to send survey notifications to your main email address so that you don’t miss out on any new surveys.
I think you can’t make a good income from these sites. It’s good just for college or school students or people that have a lot of free time.
None of these sites are designed to replace a full time income. As I wrote in the post, these sites are for earning in your spare time. Also, the amount of income you earn will depend on the amount of effort you put in. Someone who takes time to build up their referrals on these sites is going to make a lot more than someone who simply logs in to take a survey every now and then.
I find this kind of site very helpful as a student, these are very accessible. I’ve tried Vindale Research and earned $2 just by signing up however you need to earn a certain amount before you can proceed to payout. As of now I still have $2 in my account. They’ve sent me emails about new surveys I can take every now and then, however, I got screened out in every survey.
It was just frustrating trying every survey available, spending your time answering the pre-qualification questions and then end up being screened out but in the end, you still have to wait and try another survey if you really want to earn. I suggest referring this to your friends so that you could earn more. Survey sites are worth spending your time because it pays really good money, you just have to pass their qualifications.
Hi Shai, sorry to hear that you’re getting screened out in Vindale. Perhaps it is your country or your occupation? I know that most survey sites are heavily geared toward U.S. survey takers. In addition, they don’t seem to like people who work in marketing or advertising backgrounds. If you’re outside of the U.S. you can also try PayMeDollar. That site works for people outside of the U.S. and it has other ways to earn besides surveys. The minimum payout is low at just $1 and you get 25% of your referrals’ earnings.
With such a high cashout minimum, I’d definitely recommend that you try a different site instead. The options on my list above are much better.
I really like your posts except i was just wondering whether one of these days you can actually do a post specifically for those outside the USA.
One thing I find in my discussions with my friends is that there is a general feeling in some countries other than the USA, that one can’t really make money online due to limitations of geography.
Thanks for the feedback. That is a good idea and I will definitely consider writing one of these posts. In the meantime, I recommend that you check out https://www.reddit.com/r/beermoneyuk/
That might have some ideas to help you make some money in the UK.
I’ve used a few of these apps before and have made money, the problem is that most of what’s written online excludes Canadians. So we’re frequently left sorting through broken and buggy apps. Nonetheless I’ll be going through this list for my fellow Canucks.
Hi there! Yes, I’ve heard that the options for Canadians are fairly limited which is unfortunate. However, I do have a few recommendations for you!
KeepRewarding, LedgerWeb, Swagbucks, PrizeRebel, EarnHoney, TreasureTrooper, and Usertesting are some of the sites that I’ve read that supposedly work for Canadians. Check these out and report back!
Really helpful post and comments, I am going to check a few of these out. Hopefully I can find one that works for me. I have tried a couple in the past but found I was spending more time trying to qualify for surveys than actually completing any surveys.
Thanks for your feedback. I completely understand. The way I’ve dealt with this problem is to simply switch survey portals. On most sites, I’ve had the most success with completing surveys from the survey portals YourSurveys and TapResearch. These are available on the offer walls of most of the survey sites I’ve listed in my article. So far I’ve gotten declined the most on Peanut Labs. Hope this helps!
Thank you for this informative post. I will definitely give some of them a chance. I know I won’t be able to keep my apps running 24/7 as I work exclusively from my phone and have only limited data. The surveys and word searches sound enticing and I can sign up for those instead.
Again, thank you for the post and keep up the good work.
I haven’t ever heard of any of these sites, so this is a great, informative article with tons of good information on how to make money online. I’m definitely going to check some of these out and love how you laid it all out in the article. Also, who wouldn’t want a little extra money!? I mean… cmon!’ Thank you for sharing!
I am really looking forward to trying out these methods and would like to thank you for this opportunity. I will be back to learn more. Thanks again!
Very useful tips. I just want to know if there was a worldwide app like Qmee.
I’m not sure if there is. Most apps like this one are only for specific countries. If you find something, please share it here!
I have registered on some of these sites but haven’t made any money from them. This is because of my location. Almost all surveys lockout African countries and this is after spending the time to fill out a pre-survey form. What can I do?
Hi Cinda, it is true that survey sites are mostly targeted to users in Western countries. If you want to make money online, I would suggest you focus on task sites instead. Services like Picoworkers accept workers from most African countries. I’ve personally seen workers from Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, and others on this site. Hope this helps!
Never seen these sites before. I suppose they may come in handy if you are trying to earn a few bucks to put towards other methods. Every little helps when you are just getting started.