9 Apps That Pay You Real Money in 2022
1. Ibotta
I use Ibotta to get cash back on groceries. All I have to do is buy items in the app like milk or eggs and then take a picture of my receipt in the app. With our family of three, we earn about $20 a month with this app, which comes out to about $240 per year. Obviously if you have a large family and buy a lot of groceries you can expect to earn more.
2. GetUpside
GetUpside is a cash back app that pays you for getting gas as well as for shopping at local grocery stores. You simply link your credit or debit card to GetUpside, let GetUpside know where you’re going to shop, and then cash back is deposited into your account. It’s actually one of the easier and user-friendly cash back apps on the market today. Be sure to use our GetUpside Promo Code WFM8U to get an extra 20? per gallon bonus on your first fill-up.
3. Rakuten
Rakuten gives you cash back on online shopping. Obviously the more online shopping you do, the more cash back you’ll earn, but if you spend $3,000 a year shopping online (sounds like a lot but only comes out to $250 a month) and get an average of 10% back per shopping trip through Rakuten (the actual cash back percentage varies by store) that would be an extra $300 per year back in your pocket.
4. Swagbucks
I personally don’t use Swagbucks on a regular basis, but I have made some money with it over the years. However, there are people on Reddit claiming to to make $216 – $420 a month with this app (which would theoretically translate to thousands of dollars a year). That said, I’m fairly certain that individuals like this are extreme outliers and $10 per month or $120 per year is a more reasonable expectation.
5. Mistplay
If you enjoy playing games on your phone, Mistplay might be the app for you. How it works is you go through the Mistplay app — at no charge to you — to download mobile games from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store. As you spend time playing the games, you earn points that you can redeem for gift cards at Amazon, VISA, PlayStation, Xbox, Apple, Starbucks, and more.
6. Shopkick
Shopkick (use my promo code LOGAN to get a $5 bonus) rewards you with gift cards for shopping in-store at places like Target and Walmart. I don’t make much with this app, but I tend to earn a $5 gift card every month or so, which comes out to about $60 per year .
7. Dosh
Dosh gives you automatic cash back on purchases at select retailers that you make on a credit card that you have linked to the Dosh app. Once you have at least $25 in your Dosh account, you can transfer your cash back to your bank, PayPal account, Venmo account, or charity.
8. Fetch Rewards
Fetch Rewards is another moneydoneright/fetch-rewards-reviewgrocery cash back app. It functions similarly to Ibotta, though I’ve found that I generally earn less in it — about $10 a month or $120 per year . However, if you’re going to be saving your receipt anyway, might as well get rewarded twice.
9. Respondent
In my research, Respondent appears to be one of the few legitimate survey and research study sites out there. I have personally spoken with somebody who has made decent money with Respondent, and I routinely see reports on Reddit of people earning over $300 a month with it.
Author:
Logan is a practicing CPA, Certified Student Loan Professional, and founder of Money Done Right, which he launched in 2017. After spending nearly a decade in the corporate world helping big businesses save money, he launched his blog with the goal of helping everyday Americans earn, save, and invest more money. Learn more about Logan.