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The best way that you can supplement your income is to create a passive income stream. Fortunately, there’s a a very easy way to get started by using apps and websites. For that reason, we’ve put together this list of the top 10 passive income programs.
The 8 rewards programs listed below will pay you cash for doing absolutely nothing, and we’ve only listed them if they’re 100% passive.
See one that’s not on the list? Let us know in the comments below. Keep in mind that all of the programs on this list are absolutely FREE.
Table of Contents
1. Shoptracker – $36/Year
- Registration Bonus: $3
- Join Shoptracker
Shopkeeper is one of my favorite rewards apps out there. Just by hooking up your account you’re given a $3 registration bonus that can be cashed out immediately for a $3 Visa Debit Card.
Shoptracker requires you to install their mobile app on your phone and connect your Amazon account to their app. From there, Shoptracker monitors your purchases and the prices you pay for them.
They get a small commission when they sell this information as market research to companies. In exchange, you get a small reward each month the app is installed.
The app must be installed for the entire month for your account to get credited.
Sometimes you’ll be asked to take a short 3-question survey at the end of each month to rate your Amazon shopping experience. Although it’s not usually required, just in case you should check in order to receive your reward. It shouldn’t take more than a minute to complete.
Read our full Shoptracker Review
2. Nielsen Computer & Mobile Panel – $150/Year
- Registration Bonus: None
- Join Nielsen Computer & Mobile Panel
Like Shoptracker, the Nielsen Computer & Mobile Panel also pays you to leave an app installed on your phone. Nielsen collects information on your phone usage and pays you for it.
The information they collect is usually simple information such as what apps are installed on your phone, how often you use it and your internet speed. There’s no way they can check your text messages or record your phone calls.
For each device you have Nielsen installed on, you can earn an extra $50 in passive income per year. However, you can install the app on essentially as many devices as you want!
In theory, this means you can earn unlimited passive income with Nielsen as long as you have enough devices. However, there is a limit per region. For example, Nielsen might only allow 100 installs of their app in one city.
Keep in mind that if you have it installed on your Desktop, you earn drawings into sweepstakes drawings instead. That’s why we recommend going with tablet and mobile devices to earn cash.
For the purposes of this article, we’re going to assume you have the app installed on 3 devices.
Read our full Nielsen Computer & Mobile Panel Review
3. SavvyConnect – $180/Year
- Registration Bonus: None
- Join SavvyConnect
While you don’t get a registration bonus, you can earn a maximum of $180/year in passive income with SavvyConnect. They pay you for installing their app on your device and allowing them to collect information about your phone usage.
Again, all of this is kept anonymous so they can’t track anything back to you. Furthermore, they won’t dig into your phone calls or text messages.
With SavvyConnect, you can earn $5 per month per device with a maximum of 3 devices. This means you earn at a rate of $15 per month, which calculates out to a total of $180 per year.
Refer your friends for even more rewards. Each time your friend completes what’s known as a “project,” you earn a bonus of anywhere of $5 – $15. The amount depends on the project.
If your friends refer any friends, you can anywhere between $2 – $6. This app is especially great if you’re into referring friends. We don’t have a full written review of SavvyConnect at this time.
4. MobileXpression – $20/Year
- Registration Bonus: $5 (after a few weeks)
- Join MobileXpression
MobileXpression is a free mobile app that is currently only available for Android devices. Simply install the app on your phone, and once you claim enough points you can exchange them for cash prizes or gift cards to major retailers.
Within the first few weeks, you’ll be rewarded a $5 Amazon gift card just for participating. Expect only to make roughly $20 per year. While it’s not much, all you have to do is leave the app installed on your phone without ever having to open it.
Read our full MobileXpression Review
5. Datacoup – $100/Year
- Registration Bonus: None
- Join Datacoup
Do you use Twitter, Facebook, or other social media outlets? A website called Datacoup is willing to pay you cash in exchange for your data. This includes linked social media accounts, credit cards, and debit cards.
Assuming you have all of your accounts linked and verified, you could make an extra $100 per year. Once you link your accounts and setup payment options, you never have to login again, as money will automatically be sent to you.
Datacoup will not have access to any of your personal information such as messages or credit card numbers associated with your accounts.
6. Ebesucher – $65/Year
- Registration Bonus: None
- Join Ebesucher
It doesn’t get any easier with Ebesucher, an online web platform that pays you to leave a browser window open. Assuming that it’s running 24/7 365 days a year, you can make an extra $65 dollars.
While it’s not much, this is ideal to run on computers that you’re no longer running, or you can leave it open in another tab on your web browser.
The best part is that you can have multiple devices. In fact, Ebesucher recommends this and wants you to earn more cash. Recommend your friends to do the same thing and you’ll earn an additional 8% of whatever they earn.
Read our full Ebesucher Review
7. Mobile Performance Meter – $20/Year
- Registration Bonus: None
- Join Mobile Performance Meter
The Mobile Performance Meter App is another free app that gives you cash just for monitoring phone usage. Like the one above, simply install it on your phone and leave it running in the background to earn money.
The type of data that this app collects includes battery life, duration of phone calls, speed of network, and amount of text messages sent. None of your personal information such as sent and received text messages will be given out.
This is one of the better-paying apps that can net you roughly $6 per month.
Read our full Mobile Performance Meter Review
8. Smart Panel – $110/Year
- Registration Bonus: $5
- Join Smart Panel
Smart Panel is a mobile app that collects information about your phone usage, website visits, talk time and more. In exchange for your data, you get paid an extra $110 per year or $230 for every two years.
Smart Panel likes to reward consistent users. The longer you leave the app installed, the more bonuses you’ll receive along the way.
The great thing about Smart Panel is that they reward you right off the bat with a $5 sign-up bonus. Users report that there’s no slow down on your device, and it only takes up between 2 – 5 MB of space on your phone.
The app can be installed on Apple, Android and Windows devices.
Read our full Smart Panel Review
9. Media Insiders Panel – $72/Year
- Registration Bonus: None
- Join Media Insiders Panel
The Media Insiders App is one of my favorite, passive mobile apps. You can install on up to 3 phones earning you a total of roughly $6 per month. This ends up being an extra $72 per year in passive income.
You can install their VPN software to increase your earnings by a few extra dollars each month, but I don’t recommend this if you’re running money-making apps like Swagbucks. This is because certain apps will ban you for using a VPN.
Unfortunately, you can only have one account per household, so don’t expect to load up on accounts and earn more.
Read our full Media Insiders Panel Review
10. Cross Media Panel
- Registration Bonus: $6
- Join Cross Media Panel
Do you use Google Chrome as your primary internet browser? If you don’t you might want to start. Now you can team up with Google by installing the Cross Media Panel plugin (formerly known as Google Screenwise Trends) to your toolbar.
Google keeps track of your data and pays you for it. Prizes are given out in the form of gift cards, and you can use it both on your PC, tablet and your mobile device. By using all 3 you can expect to earn an extra $15 dollars per month.
Just make sure that you’re logged into your Google account each time you use the browser to receive your earnings.
What Are Some Other Great Passive Income Programs?
Here are a couple of more passive income programs. They don’t make our top 10 list, but are still a great addition to the team.
11. Gomez Peer Zone
- Registration Bonus: None
- Join Gomez Peer Zone
Gomez Peer Zone is a type of software that you install to your computer and leave it running in the background that earns you a passive income stream. The software won’t slow down your computer and won’t be a burden to any other tasks that you are completing.
If you have a spare computer, this would be perfect to run it on. The amount you earn solely depends on which country you’re running it from, but if you’re located in the US, expect to earn $131/year if you leave it running 24/7.
You can view their payout rate by country in alphabetical order here. You can also earn some extra cash by referring your friends.
Read our full Gomez Peer Zone Review
Final Thoughts
Each one of these programs may not give you a lot of money alone, but all 8 of them together will grant you quite a bit of extra money per year. Maximize your earnings potential by using referral programs when you can and convince your friends to do the same thing.
I personally love passive income methods because you don’t have to do a thing. The only work that’s usually required is to sign-up, install some type of software, and cash out when you receive enough points.
Is there a passive rewards program that you see on this list yet isn’t listed? Let us know in the comments below!
