11 Best Money-Making Apps in 2024

Ideal for: Shoppers who have a little spare time to answer surveys or watch short videos.

Swagbucks is a loyalty and customer rewards program that allows its members to earn points for completing surveys, watching videos and shopping online.

These points can be redeemed in the form of gift cards to your favorite stores or as cashback via PayPal.

Gift cards are available for over 100 retailers, including Amazon, Target, Walmart and Starbucks.

Cost: Signing up to Swagbucks is free. You only need a Facebook account or a valid email address.

How you earn money: Gain rewards by answering surveys and polls, watching videos, playing online games, browsing (using Swagbucks' Yahoo! powered search engine), or shopping online (through back cash rebates). Rewards are earned in the form of Swagbucks (SB) points.

Advantages:

• Shopping at a list of over 1,500 retailers can earn you SB points
• Members also gain access to deals and coupons
• Watching 20 minutes of video earns two SB points
• The Swagbucks daily poll enables you to earn one easy SB point every day
• You can redeem as little as $3 worth of points, so you don't need to wait long to gain your rewards

How much you can earn: 100 SB points is equal to $1 in rewards. The website states that most members earn between $50 and $200 a month by using the app. There are no risks. Save losing your time to earning SB points.

Ideal for: Shoppers who want to gain no-effort cashback on purchases they intend to make simply by linking their cards.

Dosh is a cashback app that allows you to gain points when you spend using linked cards. You can earn when you shop, travel or dine with any of Dosh's partnering companies.

These include Pizza Hut, ASOS, Walmart, Dunkin, Sephora, Disney +, Philosophy, GNC, Backcountry, Proactive and many more.

Cost: The account is free to set up; however, Dosh takes a cut on your transactions.

How you earn money: When you spend with partnering brands, you earn dollars as cashback. As you make purchases in shops or restaurants, money is accrued in your Dosh wallet.

Advantages:

• Dosh has over 1,000 partners, so you can earn cashback on a wide range of purchases
• Gain $5 of credit for linking your first card
• The app does not store your card information
• The 'Earn from Fuel' scheme lets you earn cashback every time to fill up your car with partnering providers
• $5 is up for grabs as referral credit

How much you can earn: The amount of money you earn with Dosh depends upon how much you spend. Stores tend to offer 2 to 5% cashback on purchases, though some may offer a rate as high as 10%.

Hotels have even better cashback rates, so if you use Dosh for travel purchases, you could gain up to 40% cashback.

Once your wallet reaches a value of $25, you can transfer your funds to your bank, PayPal or Venmo account.

Ideal for: People who are new to investing and want a simple money management platform that also encompasses credit and spending.

M1 Finance is a finance app that helps you invest, borrow and spend. It comprises three platforms:

M1 Invest lets you build a custom portfolio of stocks and funds or select from 80 expert portfolios. It also allows you to invest in fractional shares. You can set up automated trades to your own investment schedule.

M1 Borrow provides a flexible line of credit at a low rate. It is convenient and fast, with no application and no payment schedule (borrowing can be completed in three clicks). With a margin account, you can borrow up to 35% of the value of your portfolio at a rate as low as 2%.

M1 Spend means you can control your finances seamlessly, transferring money between the Invest and Borrow platforms, as needed. You can make purchases with an M1 Visa debit card, and M1 Plus account holders can benefit from cashback and a high APY.

Cost: The basic M1 platform is free, but one year of access to M1 Plus costs $125.

How you earn money: Get returns on your money by using M1 to improve your money management and invest your extra funds.

Advantages:

• Get 2% loans through M1 Borrow
• M1 offers a 1% APY checking account, with no minimum balance required
• It provides smart money transfers to optimize your money
• You can add custodial accounts for your children
• Earn 1% cashback on debit card purchases

How much you can earn: The amount you earn using M1 Finance will depend upon the size of your existing portfolio but investing wisely is a great way to optimize your funds and ensure they are accruing compound interest.

Ideal for: Individuals who are new to investing, as the app is user-friendly and has additional resources and support.

Acorns is a subscription app that allows you to invest your spare funds in stocks, bonds, exchange-traded funds and asset classes. It accepts investments from as low as $1.

Cost: Acorns offers three subscription plans: Lite (for $1 a month), Personal (for $3 a month) and Family (for $5 a month). The cheapest plan provides an investment account alone. The personal plan includes an investment, retirement, and checking account. The family plan provides the above, plus an investment account for your children.

How you earn money: Earn money by investing your change (or larger amounts) and creating a diverse investment portfolio.

Advantages:

• The platform has articles and videos to increase your knowledge of investing
• Acorns has bank-level security, two-factor authentication and 256-bit encryption
• You can use the app to set up a retirement plan
• You have access to qualified advisors via the Acorn support team

Disadvantages:

• As with any form of market investing, it is possible to lose money over the short term

How much you can earn:

The amount you can earn using Acorns depends upon the amount you are investing in and the services you choose to make use of. Investing is what you make it, but Acorns increases accessibility and provides an easy introduction.

Ideal for: Those who regularly shop online. Earny takes the hassle out of the price comparison and refund process.

Earny works as a personal assistant, notifying members of money-saving opportunities.

It enables users to track products so they can buy items at the lowest prices, get refunds for late deliveries, and to earn cashback through referring friends or making purchases online.

It also finds better prices for items you have purchased and claims back the difference on your behalf.

Cost: An Earny account is free, but Earny takes 25% of the money you make through refunds and referrals.

How you earn money: Save money by shopping when prices are optimal, reporting price adjustments to receive refunds, logging delayed Amazon parcels, and referring Earny to your friends. Earny deals with the claims and notifies you when money has been refunded to your account.

Advantages:

• Earny is good for finding Hotel deals, as it has over 5,000 partners
• You can easily add Amazon items to your watchlist, so you secure the best deals
• Gain cash back through referrals
• Earny has two-factor authentication and data masking for your security

How much you can earn: With Earny, you can automatically earn up to 20% cashback when shopping online.

Ideal for: Keen shoppers who want to earn rewards from their purchases.

Rakuten is a rewards app that enables you to earn points as you shop with over 2,500 partnering brands.

Points can be redeemed against Rakuten purchases on Kobo, TV, or Viber (its book, TV or communication platforms, respectively) translated into gift cards or paid out through PayPal.

Cost: A Rakuten account is free. You get a $10 credit when you join.

How you earn money: Select a partner shop via the Rakuten app. You'll be redirected to the website, where you shop as normal. When your purchase is confirmed, your points will be automatically added to your Rakuten account.

Advantages:

• You can also collect points via Rakuten TV or Rakuten Kobo
• Rakuten has a browser extension that you can download to ensure you never miss out on points
• Members enjoy bonus perks such as exclusive discounts, giveaways, and early releases

Disadvantages:

• You'll only receive payouts every quarter
• Payouts cannot be received by bank transfer, only via cheque or PayPal

How much you can earn: You'll receive 10 points for every $1 you spend on Rakuten purchases. The rate may differ for partnering brands.

Ideal for: Keen walkers and fitness fanatics who rack up a large number of steps. Smash your step targets and make money for your labor.

Sweatcoin allows you to make money from the steps you take. Exercise is converted into 'sweatcoins,' which can be used to purchase goods, services and experiences through any of Sweatcoin's partners.

Cost: Sweatcoin is free to use.

How you earn money: The Sweatcoin app, once active on your phone, tracks the number of steps you take daily. Steps earn you sweatcoins (digital currency). These sweatcoins can be cashed in when making purchases from over 300 brands.

Advantages:

• The app encourages you to exercise more and reach your daily step goals
• No financial commitment and no risk
• Redeem sweatcoins against products you love, whether that's sports equipment, exercise classes or a vacation

Disadvantages:

• Items tend to cost around 20,000 sweatcoins. It takes a long time to build up credit using the app, so you'll likely need to wait a while for your reward

How much you can earn: You earn 0.95 Sweatcoins for every 1,000 steps. Unfortunately, rewards collected using Sweatcoin cannot be redeemed as cash.

Ideal for: Gamers who want to earn some money doing what they enjoy. Mistplay is set up well for those who want to use their credit to invest in new games, as it offers a solid range of gaming gift cards.

Mistplay is a loyalty app that enables you to earn money by playing games on your phone. Retailers such as Amazon, Xbox, Nintendo, GameStop, PlayStation, Google Play and iTunes have partnered with Mistplay to provide gift cards in exchange for Mistplay units.

Cost: Misplay can be downloaded for free from the Google Play store. You get 15 free units when you sign up.

How you earn money: Through the platform – play games to specific milestones to earn units. These units can then be put towards gift cards or translated into Steam credit.

Extra units can be earned by making in-app purchases.

You achieve Mistplay' status' by spending the minimum amount every month.

Advantages:

• Discover your personalized game library
• Automatically earn 100 bonus units when you reach 200 points
• Unlock badges to gain more units
• Mistplay's in-app social experience lets you play with friends
• Enter weekly contests for prizes

How much you can earn: Every 1,500 units earned on Mistplay represents $5. The amount you can earn will depend upon the time you have to devote to playing the games to add to your unit total.

Ideal for: Making a little extra cash via a method that requires minimal thought.

Slidejoy is a great app for passive earning. The app rewards you for displaying ads on the lock screen of your phone. It pays out in the form of gift cards for retailers such as Amazon, Walmart and Google Play.

Cost: Slidejoy is free to download. Sign up with your email or Facebook account.

How you earn money: Set up your Slidejoy account and select your preferences. Your lock screen will be replaced with Slidejoy's, featuring adverts. As you swipe to interact with or dismiss ads, you'll earn Slidejoy carats.

Advantages:

• Earn carats by simply unlocking your phone
• Slidejoy Pop, a website feed, rewards you with one carat for every link you engage with
• There is a low $2 payout threshold
• There is an option to donate your earnings to charity

Disadvantages:

• There is no longer a PayPal option for your payouts
• Only available on Android
• Daily earnings are low

How much you can earn: 1,000 carats equal $1. The carats you earn by swiping are credited to your account the next day. You won't make a lot of money; however, you may be able to earn enough for a gift card every few months.