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Apps that earn you money are an easy way to earn some side hustle cash while on the go. Usually they don’t require a lot of effort, and they’re extremely convenient since they can be done from anywhere with an internet connection.
Use all of these apps together and you should be able to easily pull in an extra $500/month. We consider the best earn money apps those that pay at a decent rate with little work involved.
Keep in mind that there’s no exact ranking to this list, and that all of the apps on this list are FREE. Here’s a list of the 20 best earn money apps for Android.
Table of Contents
1. Ibotta
- Registration Bonus: $10 with after redeeming your first offer
- Join Ibotta
Ibotta has been around for some time now, and is now one of the best money making apps out there. Ibotta was originally created to pay you for taking pictures of your grocery receipts and giving you cash back in exchange.
However, they’ve recently expanded to include many more categories. Now you can earn cash back on electronics, meals at restaurants, alcohol and more.
Ibotta also has a cash back portal feature that gives you cash back for shopping online through one of their partner apps.
For example, they currently offer 10% in cash back when you shop through Groupon. Open the app, select “Groupon,” and your Groupon app will open on your phone (or you’ll be asked to download it if you don’t have it already installed).
Simply make your purchase like you normally would, and 10% of your total purchase price will be deposited into your Ibotta account.
You need a minimum of $20 to cash out for either PayPal, Venmo or a gift card of your choice. The best part? You get a $10 bonus with promo code once you claim your first offer.
2. Drop
- Registration Bonus: $1 once you link your credit/debit card
- Join Drop
Drop is a recently-launched app in the money making app world, but don’t let that fool you. They’ve quickly expanded to be one of the best cash back apps out there.
When you link your credit card or debit card to the Drop app and make a purchase using that card, you receive cash back. No coupons, no scanning receipts, and no work.
Keep in mind that you can only select up to a maximum of 5 retailers. Some examples include WalMart, Target, various grocery stores and more.
Each time you make a purchase at one of these linked retailers, you earn a certain amount of points. These points can be exchanged for a gift card of your choice.
Not only that, but they frequently have other high-earning offers. For example, a few weeks ago they were willing to pay you $80 to sign-up for a Capital One Credit Card by using their link (this card also came up with a $400 sign-up bonus).
Earn a $1 bonus when you sign-up using promo code frugal4less and link your first credit/debit card.
3. Shopkick
- Registration Bonus: 250 kicks
- Join Shopkick
Shopkick is one of the best rewards apps out there. Earn cash at their partner retailers by walking into stores, scanning receipts, scanning barcodes, shopping online or referring friends.
Shopkick has been expanding rapidly, so it wouldn’t surprise me if they added more features in the future.
My favorite part about this app is their walk-in store feature. Turn on your bluetooth, and whenever you walk into one of their partner retailers the app will send you a notification.
Verify that you’re in that store and Shopkick will give you points in the form of “kicks.”
My other favorite feature about Shopkick is that they also pay you to scan receipts. When you buy certain products at their partner retailers, you earn cash back directly deposited into your Shopkick account.
You need a minimum of $5 to cash out, and you get 250 kicks for signing-up as a new user.
4. ShopTracker
- Registration Bonus: $3
- Join ShopTracker
Want to earn $3 every month for doing nothing? Link your Amazon account to the ShopTracker app and they give you a $3 Visa gift card at the end of each month.
To get started, all you need to do is answer a few questions about your Amazon shopping experience. From there, install the app to your phone and link your Amazon account.
Once this is done, you’ll be granted your first $3 as a bonus. From there on out, for every month that you leave the app installed you receive an additional $3 Visa gift card. Your first year you’re essentially earning $39 in passive income since no work is required on your part.
ShopTracker is able to pay you because they track information about your Amazon purchases. This usually includes the item, the price it was purchased at, the date of purchase, etc.
Keep in mind that your name is separated from the data, so there’s no way to trace the information back to you.
Read our full ShopTracker Review
5. Nielsen Computer & Mobile Panel
- Registration Bonus: None
- Join Nielsen Computer & Mobile Panel
The Nielsen Computer & Mobile Panel app is very similar to the ShopTracker app mentioned above. Earn cash by installing their app to your phone and leaving it installed.
They promise that you’ll earn $50 each year that you leave the app installed.
The best part? You can install the app on multiple devices, meaning the more times you install the app, the more you get paid.
Although there’s no limit to the amount of devices you can install the app on, there tends to be a regional limit. If many people in your area have signed-up for the app, you may not be able to join.
You can also participate in their desktop software program. For each month you have software installed you’re automatically entered in a monthly sweepstakes to earn thousands of dollars.
Like ShopTracker, all of your information is kept private with this Android money making app. There’s no way to track the data back to you directly.
Read our full Nielsen Computer And Mobile Panel Review
6. Ebates
- Registration Bonus: $10 (in the form of a free gift card)
- Join Ebates
Ebates has been around now as one of the most popular shopping portals out there. If you’re not familiar with how shopping portals work, you earn cash back simply by shopping through one of their partner retailers.
Ebates has listed over 2,000 affiliate links on their site to over 2,000 different retailers. When you click on one of these links, you’ll be redirected to that retailer’s site to make a purchase, thus giving them a small commission.
Using cookie technology, Ebates automatically tracks your your total purchase price. Instead of keeping this commission all to themselves, you get a portion of it back (if not all of it) in the form of cash back.
Ebates is also the only portal that offers an in-store cash back feature. Link your credit card and make a purchase at certain stores.
Earn a $10 bonus in the form of a gift card of your choosing when you register as a new user. Refer your friends for an additional $10 bonus.
7. Swagbucks
- Registration Bonus: $5 – $10
- Join Swagbucks
Swagbucks is one of the most popular rewards app out there. Earn cash for completing tasks that you already do on a daily basis such as watching videos, playing games, filling out surveys, shopping online, clipping coupons, surfing the web and more.
My favorite thing about Swagbucks is their passive video watching feature. When you decide to watch videos to earn cash, you can let the videos run continuously without the need to hit any type of button to play the following video. You can let the videos play while you sit back and enjoy.
If you’re opposed to watching videos or want to earn cash more quickly, we suggest completing surveys. I usually find that I can earn a quick $5 for about 30 minutes of my time.
Each time you complete a task you earn points in the form of Swagbucks. These Swagbucks can be exchanged for PayPal deposits or for gift cards of your choosing. You need a minimum of $5 to cash out.
Swagbucks also has an excellent referral program giving you 10% of your friends’ earnings for life. Right now they’re currently offering a $5 registration bonus, but we’ve seen this as high as $10.
Read our full Swagbucks Review
8. Acorns
- Registration Bonus: $5
- Join Acorns
Acorns is a robo-advisor investment app that helps you invest in your future $5 at a time. Acorns gives you a quick and easy way to invest in the stock market without any previous investment knowledge.
A group of financial advisors came together to assess the safest and most reliable securities to invest in the stock market. Most of the time you’ll be investing in as much as thousands of stocks at a time.
The reason for this is because financial advisors well agree that the more diversified your portfolio, the less risk-adverse it is, and stocks generally tend to go up over time.
When you first sign-up, you’ll fill-out a short survey to determine your risk level. From there, Acorns will automatically take your cash and invest it in the appropriate securities for you. You only need $5 each time you wish to invest, and there’s no brokerage fees like with other brokerage firms.
My favorite part about Acorns is their spare change feature. Let’s say you spend $5.97 on a product. Link your credit card and Acorns will automatically round your purchase up to the next one dollar ($6 in this case).
The $.03 cent difference will be automatically placed in your Acorns account and used for future investments. Still skeptical? You can get started for free since Acorns gives you a $5 bonus to start investing immediately. Some robo-advisors come with a fee, but Acorns is 100% free.
9. Pinecone Research
- Registration Bonus: None
- Join Pinecone Research
Pinecone Research is one of the best survey apps around. They pay you at a flat rate of $3 per survey, and the average survey takes anywhere between 10-15 minutes to complete.
At this rate, you know you’re earning at a minimum rate of $12 per hour, but most likely closer to around $15.
The only downside? Pinecone Research doesn’t have that many surveys available. Each time a new survey is available, you’ll receive an email invitation to complete the survey.
On average, I would say that I receive about 2-3 survey invitations per month. While it isn’t much, I’m still earning quite a good amount.
Pinecone Research is somewhat strict about their participants since they want only good survey takes who provide consistently accurate answers. For this reason, their participants are somewhat limited.
If you find that Pinecone Research isn’t taking on any new members, try back in a month or two and reapply.
Read our full Pinecone Research Review
10. Fetch Rewards
- Registration Bonus: $1.50 with promo code HH3MN and scan your first receipt
- Join Fetch Rewards
Fetch Rewards is an app that works very similarly to Ibotta. Earn cash for taking pictures of your receipts to one of their partner retailers and receive a certain amount of cash back.
In comparison to other receipt scanning apps out there, Fetch Rewards tends to be one of the highest-paying ones. I usually find that I can earn anywhere between $.50 cents to $4 per offer. Keep in mind that you can claim more than one offer per receipt, but each receipt can only be used once.
Fetch Rewards is a fairly new app that pays you to take photos of your receipts, but they’re quickly making their way to the top due to their abundant offers (and expanding) and great payout.
You need a minimum of $3 in cash back to cash out for a gift card of your choosing or for a Visa gift card.
Receive a $1.50 bonus when you sign-up using promo code HH3MN and scan your first receipt. You can also refer your friends. You get a $1.50 bonus, and so do they – you both win.
Read our full Fetch Rewards Review
11. InboxDollars
- Registration Bonus: $5
- Join InboxDollars
InboxDollars is very similar to the Swagbucks app mentioned above. Earn cash completing tasks that you normally do on a daily basis. This includes surfing the web, watching videos, taking surveys and more.
The easiest way you’re going to earn with InboxDollars is by watching videos. Unfortunately, they don’t offer a passive option. This means that you’re going to have to click a “next” button in order to watch the next video.
Another great way to earn with InboxDollars is to take surveys. Expect to earn around $10 per hour, but this is only if you stick to the higher-paying surveys. There’s a mix of low-paying and high-paying ones, but we suggest sticking to the ones that pay well to make it worth your while.
InboxDollars also has an excellent referral program, giving you 10% of all of your friends’ earnings for life.
The minimum cash out is for $25, which may seem a bit high. However, I usually find that I can reach this amount rather quickly, especially since they give you a $5 bonus just for signing-up as a new member.
12. PointClub
- Registration Bonus: $5
- Join PointClub
PointClub is another one of my favorite survey apps out there for Android due to the fact that they offer a high payout rate. I find that I can usually earn anywhere between $10 – $15 per hour.
PointClub has a rewards system that gives you more for logging-in to your account on a daily basis. Each time you log-in for 5 days consecutively, you’re given a 10% bonus on all of your points earned. This can be done up to a maximum bonus of 100%, thus doubling your earnings.
However, forget to log-in for a day and that bonus resets to 0%. At this rate I can still usually earn at about $7 – $8 per hour, but with the added bonus I can usually get up to around $15 per hour.
The great thing about PointClub is that they even give you a $5 bonus for signing-up as a new user. Unfortunately, you need a minimum of $25 to cash out for a gift card of your choosing. Yet I usually don’t find it a problem to reach this amount since the payout rates are quite high.
Read our full PointClub Review
13. SavvyConnect
- Registration Bonus: None
- Join SavvyConnect
SavvyConnect is part of the parent company SurveySavvy, a site that pays you for taking surveys online. Like the Nielsen Computer & Mobile Panel, you get paid to leave this money making app installed on your Android phone.
SavvyConnect works by collecting your data such as what apps you have installed, how often you unlock your phone, etc. From there, it sells this information to companies in the hopes of helping them improve their products and services.
SavvyConnect protects your information by keeping your name separated form the data that you provide. In other words, there’s no way to link the information that they gather back to you.
For each device that you have the app installed on, you can earn a maximum of $5 per month. There’s a limit to 3 devices, meaning you can earn up to $15/month or $180 per year. Not bad for doing nothing.
A great way to earn even more with SavvyConnect is by inviting your friends. For each friend that you refer, you earn anywhere between $5 and $15 when they complete their first “project.” And for any friends that they refer, you can earn between $2 – $6.
We highly recommend SavvyConnect due to the fact that when you become a member, you’ll be given exclusive access to the higher-paying surveys on the SurveySavvy site. These surveys tend to pay quite well.
14. Adme
- Registration Bonus: $1 with promo code bNALpS6gKV
- Join Adme
Adme is a lockscreen app that pays you to unlock your phone screen. Keep in mind that most lockscreen apps are only available for Android since iOS doesn’t typically support them.
Each time you unlock your phone, an ad will appear. Whether you engage with the ad or not, you still have the potential to earn with Adme.
It’s difficult to determine exactly how much Adme pays, and they don’t always pay each time you unlock your screen. For this reason, we suggest unlocking your screen like you normally would.
We estimate that you can earn about $10 – $15 in extra cash per month. However, if you’re a person that rarely uses their phone, this amount can be quite less.
Compared to the other apps that pay you to lock your screen, this is one of the higher paying ones out there. Earn a $1 bonus when you sign-up using promo code bNALpS6gKV. You need a minimum of $10 to cash out to your PayPal account.
Refer your friends for additional cash. Each time they sign-up using your promo code, you both get a $1 bonus.
15. TopCashBack
- Registration Bonus: $10
- Join TopCashback
TopCashback is another shopping portal that works exactly like the Ebates app mentioned above. They partner with thousands of retailers across the web and place all of their links onto one page.
When you click on one of these links, you’re automatically redirected to that retailer’s page. From there, each purchase you make will give you cash back depending on the retailer and the total purchase price.
The main difference between TopCashback and Ebates is their cash back rates. On average, I find that TopCashback tends to offer some of the highest cash back rates out there when it comes to shopping portals. Sometimes even double the amount.
However, there are always some exceptions. You’ll just have to compare between the two each time you want to shop at a particular store. Keep in mind that cash back rates for portals frequently change.
The one thing that TopCashback doesn’t have that Ebates does have is their in-store cash back feature.
You get a $10 bonus as a new user, but you need a minimum of $10 in earned cash back to cash out. Cash out to PayPal or for gift cards. When you select to cash out for a gift card, you typically get a 3% – 5% bonus depending on the gift card you cash out for.
16. Qmee
- Registration Bonus: None
- Join Qmee
Qmee is an Android app that pays you to surf the web. The great thing about this app is that it includes more than one search engine: Google, Amazon, Yahoo, Bing and more.
Qmee works by analyzing your search term and linking it with their partners. If there’s a correlation, a small pop-up will appear in your web browser. This pop-up contains ads and a dollar-amount next to the ad.
This amount is how much you will get paid to click on the ad. That’s right – you know how much you’ll get paid before you actually make the click.
On average, I find that ads will pop-up once or twice a day given the amount of time I browse the internet. Each ad typically pays anywhere between $.05 to $.07 cents on average.
While the amount isn’t much, it only takes a second to click the ad, and you’re essentially earning for something you already do on a daily basis.
Qmee also now has surveys that you can take for extra cash. I don’t find that I can earn that much through surveys, but it’s a nice option to have.
17. Dosh
- Registration Bonus: $5
- Join Dosh
Dosh is an app that was created in order to make it simple for you to earn cash for your everyday purchases. Here’s a quick breakdown of how to earn with the app:
- Linking your credit or debit card. When you make a purchase at one of their partner retailer’s after linking your credit/debit card, you automatically earn cash back in your Dosh account. There’s no coupons and no receipts required.
- Online shopping. Dosh also serves as an online shopping portal. Click on one of their partner retailers in the app and you’ll be redirected to that retailer’s page. From there, make a purchase like you normally would and receive a certain percentage back in cash back.
- Refer friends. Each time you refer a friend, you receive a $5 bonus when your friend makes their first purchase through Dosh.
I tend to find that the linked credit card offers are somewhat limited. However, it’s a nice option to have since no work is done on your part. It can also be stacked in addition to Drop to increase your amount of cash back.
18. VIPKID
- Registration Bonus: None
- Join VIPKID
VIPKID is great for those who actually want to earn a living through a mobile app. Get paid to teach students from China when you sign-up as an English teacher.
Here are some of the current requirements:
- Need to be a Native English Speaker
- Must have 1+ year or a minimum of 500 hours of teaching experience
- Undergraduate degree
- Will earn $18 – $22 per hour
- Earn up to $2,000 per month
- Lesson plans and course materials are all provided
While the payout of VIPKID is incredibly high at $18 – $22 per hour, this is because they only want high-quality teachers. This means that you need to have a lot of teaching experience beforehand.
Furthermore, you need to go through an interview process and give a teaching demonstration. VIPKID is probably the most difficult app to get approved for on the list of the Android money making apps, but it’s definitely the most rewarding in terms of payout.
Don’t have any teaching experience? You can get started with these other apps that also pay you to teach English online.
19. EarningStation
- Registration Bonus: $10
- Join EarningStation
EarningStation is another rewards site that pays you for activities that you already complete on a daily basis. This includes watching videos, playing games, shopping online and more.
EarningStation doesn’t typically pay as high as its counterparts Swagbucks and InboxDollars, but they still have some good offers. We highly recommend either taking the surveys or watching videos for some of the easiest ways to earn money.
The great thing about EarningStation is that they give a $10 bonus when you sign-up for one of their partner sites.
Furthermore, they have one of the best referral programs on this list. You get 10% of your friends’ earning for life, but you also receive an additional $5 when your friends earn their first $5.
You only need a minimum of $1 to cash out to either PayPal or for Amazon gift cards.
20. NiceQuest
- Registration Bonus: 40 shells
- Join NiceQuest
NiceQuest is one of my favorite survey apps since they offer such a great payout rate. Not only that, but when you first register you’re given a 40 shell bonus, and you only need 45 shells to cash out for a $5 gift card.
You’re given 6 shells when you take your first survey, so you’ll have a total of 46 shells within your first few minutes of joining and can already cash out.
There are plenty of prizes and gift card options to choose from for cashing out, but as of yet they have not implemented a PayPal option.
The great thing about NiceQuest is that compared to a lot of other survey apps, their payout rate tends to be on the high side. If you want, you can also choose to use your shells to participate in prize drawings. Prizes includes physical prizes such as a Mac computer.
Final Thoughts
Keep in mind that the apps on this list are in no particular order or have any relevant ranking. However, the ones near the top of the list tend to be our favorites.
If you see an app that’s not on this list and should be, let us know in the comments below. We hope you enjoyed this list of the 20 best earn money apps for Android. Using all of these together, you should be able to pull in $600/month or more.
Thanks for reading and happy frugaling!
