17 Best Money Making Apps For 2024 (2024)

What apps give you real money? Check out this list of the best money making apps for your smartphone. These are great for either Android or iPhone users to make $100 a day or more online.

These apps can help boost your income and give your budget a little more breathing room. This list covers a few different ways you can make money:

Apps to help you earn cash back when shopping.
Apps to help you save money on groceries, eating out, and other everyday purchases.
Personal finance apps to help you start investing and earn passive income.
Apps where you get paid to perform simple tasks, such as game apps or taking surveys.

Before I started using these apps, I though it was too could to be true. Do money making apps really work? Unfortunately there’s a lot of scams that claim you can make quick money.

That’s why I did a lot of research and tested different apps to weed out the duds and share only the best legit apps to make money in 2022. Depending on how many apps you use, this can be a fun way to make $100 a day online.

Take a look below and see if any of these apps are a good fit for you.

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23 things you can sell to make money right now
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16 real ways to make an extra $500 a month

Table of Contents

1. Rakuten

Rakuten is a free app that makes it easy for you to earn cash back when shopping online. To get started, you just need to create a free account, click on the store you want to shop at online, then shop as you normally would. Then within 2-3 days, you’ll see cash back in your Rakuten account!

How does Rakuten give you cash back — What’s the catch?

There’s no catch! Stores pay Rakuten a commission for sending its members to their websites. Then when you make a purchase, Rakuten shares the commission with you! It’s really that simple.

There’s no cost to become a member or shop through the Rakuten website portal. It’s free to sign up and you have the potential to earn up to 20% cash back when shopping online. This is one of my favorite money making apps because you don’t have to worry about using rebates, coupons or points.

Below are some real purchases I made through Rakuten to earn cash back. While each amount may seem small, it can quickly add up!! As you can see this money making app actually works.

How do I get paid from Rakuten?

Cash back payments are sent to its members every three months. Rakuten will send your Big Fat Check by PayPal or check. Below is a screenshot of a Big Fat Check I recently received from Rakuten!

Welcome Bonus for New Rakuten Members!

For a limited time, Rakuten will give you a free $10 welcome bonus when you sign up. You will receive your Welcome Bonus after you spend $25 or more within 90 days of becoming a member by shopping:

At any store on the Rakuten website that offers cash back
At any store on the Rakuten mobile app that offers cash back
At participating Rakuten in-store cash back merchants

Rakuten will send you an email to notify you when you have qualified to receive your Welcome Bonus! For USA shoppers, you can click here to sign up for Rakuten.

For Canadian shoppers, you canclick hereto sign up for Rakuten(free $5 welcome bonus).

Read Next: 21 hobbies that make money

2. Ibotta

Ibotta is a free app where you can earn cash back on everyday purchases such as groceries, apparel, travel, and online shopping. To get started, you just need to create a free account, find and add offers available at your favorite retailers, then earn cash back as soon as your order is confirmed.

How does Ibotta make you money?

Ibotta gets paid by their partner brands for any offer you redeem through the app. Then Ibotta splits the commission with you in the form of cash back. This is one of the best money making apps.

It’s free to sign up for Ibotta and when you join today, you could earn up to $20 in welcome bonuses! If you’re not a member yet, you can join Ibotta here.

How does Ibotta work?

1. Click here to join Ibotta for free.
2. Open the app and browse through rebates. When you see an item that you want to buy at one of Ibotta’s partner stores, just tap to unlock it.
3. Shop at the store. You can redeem offers by uploading your receipt to the Ibotta app.
4. Get paid. Once your Ibotta cash back balance reaches $20, you can withdraw your earnings via PayPal, your bank account or for free gift cards.

3. Swagbucks

Swagbucks is a free app that makes it easy to earn FREE gift cards for things you already do online, such as surfing the web, watching entertaining videos, answering surveys, and more! To get started, you just need to create a free account, earn Swagbucks Points (SB), then redeem your points for free gifts cards.

How do I earn Swagbucks Points?

It’s easy to earn points that can be redeemed for free gift cards or cash back from PayPal. Here are the different ways you can earn points:

4. Acorns

Acorns is a free app that can help grow your money. If you’re new to investing, this is one of the best money making apps for beginners who want to start investing without much effort or those who struggle to save money.

How Acorns makes you money

Acorns is best known for their micro-investing platform that allows you to set up automated investments into a portfolio through round-ups.

This means each time you make a purchase with your debit or credit card, Acorns rounds up to the nearest dollar and invests the spare change. Your spare change can quickly add up over time and every nickel and dime counts towards your future!

You can learn more and sign up for Acorns here

5. Survey Junkie

Survey Junkie is the largest and most popular survey site that pays you cash for your opinion. It’s available in both the USA and Canada.

How to make money with Survey Junkie: To get started, you can create your free account here. It only takes a few minutes to complete, then you can answer surveys to earn virtual points. Redeem your points instantly for free gift cards or cash via PayPal.

Survey Junkie has over 10 million members helping connect your voice to big brands and making a difference in the world. This can be a great way to make extra money while watching Netflix. It only takes around 5-15 minutes to answer each survey. This is one of my favorite money making apps!

Survey Junkie is not a scam. This is a legit survey site that pays you cash for your opinion. It currently has a TrustScore of 4.5/5 on Trustpilot, which makes it one of the top-rated survey sites in the world.

6. My Points

My Points is a free app where you can earn free gift cards by taking polls and answering surveys. This is one of the more popular survey sites that can help you make extra money with little effort. Each survey has a different payout, with some offering as much as $50. Most will pay less and also take less time to complete.

How to make money with My Points: To get started, you can sign up for free account here. You can earn points by shopping online, taking surveys, watching videos, playing games, and more. Then redeem your points for free gift cards, travel miles or cash via PayPal.

There are many survey sites available, but most are not legit or worth your time. I recommend My Points because it’s one of the highest-rated survey sites that pays you cash. My Points currently has a TrustScore of 4.4/5 on Trustpilot.

Join My Points today and receive a $10 welcome bonus

7. Branded Surveys

Branded Surveys is a popular site that pays you cash for your opinion. It’s free to join and this can be a great way to make money in your spare time.

How to make money from survey sites: All legitimate survey sites are free to join. Branded Surveys is similar to Survey Junkie. When you sign up, you’ll be prompted to answer a few basic questions about yourself so they can match your profile to a variety of surveys. You’ll collect points for each survey you complete, which can be redeemed for free gift cards or cash via PayPal.

The key to making the most money with surveys is to sign up for several top-rated survey sites. Then you’ll get to choose the highest-paying surveys to save time and earn more cash! Branded Surveys currently has a TrustScore of 4.3/5 on Trustpilot, making this one of the best money making apps that pays cash online.

Some of the rewards you can earn from Branded Surveys include e-gift cards to popular retailers such as DoorDash, Uber, Old Navy, Starbucks, Amazon, Wayfair, and more!

8. Inbox Dollars

Inbox Dollars is a free way to make extra money online by simply taking surveys, watching videos or shopping. As a member, you’ll get paid to voice your opinion on new products or services. You just need an email address to create your free account, then you can start answering paid surveys.

For Canadians, you can check out Daily Rewards. This is the Candian version of Inbox Dollars.

How to make money with Inbox Dollars: There are many easy ways to make money with Inbox Dollars. Completing surveys is the most popular way to make cash with them. Other ways to make money with Inbox Dollars include cash back shopping, reading emails, watching online videos, taking polls, and playing games.

Inbox Dollars is a legit survey site and they have paid out over $60 million in cash, PayPal, and gift card rewards to its members. It currently has a TrustScore of 4.3/5 on Trustpilot, so you know this money making app is not a scam.

9. DoorDash

DoorDash is a food order delivery service. Through the app, customers can place an order at dozens of local restaurants for an agreed upon delivery fee and tip. The app sends orders to local “Dashers”.

How to make money with DoorDash: As a Dasher, you’ll get paid to deliver orders to customers. Once you accept an order through the app, you’ll go to the restaurant, pick up the order, and deliver it to the customer. All directions for the delivery are inside the DoorDash app.

All you need is a mode of transportation and a smartphone to start making money with DoorDash. It only takes a few minutes to sign up as a Dasher. After signing up, it’ll take 1-2 weeks to get your account fully activated. This is one of the most popular money making apps for food delivery.

You’ll earn $2-$10+ per order and have the potential to make money during special DoorDash promotions. This includes making deliveries during peak hours, doing challenges and driving. You also get to keep 100% of your tips, which can boost your income even more.

10. Drop

Drop is a free app where you can earn rewards points from shopping through the app. To get started, you can create a free account, link your debit or credit cards to the Drop App, then shop at your favorite retailers.

How to make money with Drop: Each time you make a purchase with one of your linked cards, you’ll earn points. This means you can get rewards on your everyday purchases such as grocery shopping, taking an Uber, grabbing a snack, and more. This is one the easiest money making apps to use.

Every 1,000 points is worth $1. You can redeem your points for gift cards to your favorite retailers, such as Amazon, Starbucks, Walmart, and other popular stores. Your Drop points will add up quickly which can make this a great way to make extra money.

Get the Drop app today!

11. Dosh

Doshis a free app that gets you automatic cash back at over 10,000 places when you shop, dine or book hotels. You don’t have to worry about scanning coupons or receipts, which makes it easy to make extra money with Dosh.

How to make money with Dosh: There are many ways to earn money with Dosh. Here’s a few popular ways:

✓ Vacation – Book your hotel with Dosh with over 600,000 hotels around the world and get cash back for your stay.
✓ Everyday purchases – Shop at big-box retailers or your favorite grocery story to earn cash back from Dosh every day of the week.
✓ Sports & Fitness – Many people are getting into fitness this year. Shop through Dosh to get cash back on all your fitness-related purchases.
✓ Dining out – With over 10,000 local favorites on Dosh, this is one of the best apps to earn cash back when eating out.

Dosh is secure and easy to use, making it one of the best money making apps. Simply download the app and link your cards. You can also check to see if your favorite way to pay offers a cash back experience through Dosh.

Then shop as you normally would by swiping your card at your favorite retailers. Dosh will deposit the cash back to your wallet automatically so you can make money instantly.

Once your cash back balances reaches $25, you can transfer the money to your bank, PayPal, Venmo or donate your cash back to charity.

12. Instacart Shopper

Instacart is an app that connects you to customers who need groceries. This website lets customers shop from local grocery stores online, then sends an Instacart Shopper to fulfill and deliver the order the same day.

How to make money with Instacart: As an Instacart Shopper, you’ll get paid to go to the grocery store and shop for others. There are no set hours or days, which means you can shop as much or as little as you want, anytime you want. This is one of the best money making apps for local grocery deliveries.

To get started, you need to create an account at shoppers.instacart.com. Then download the app to your smartphone to get your background check started. Once your background check has been cleared and you’re approved to shop, you can find orders on the app, shop and deliver those items to your customers.

There are two types of Instacart Shoppers. You can decide which role you’ll provide:

Full-Service Shopper – These shoppers will get paid by batch they complete. The amount you earn per batch of orders depends on the number of items, type of items, driving distance, and effort involved in shopping and delivering. You get to keep 100% of customer tips and will get opportunities to make money through promotions Instacart runs. Full-service shoppers have the flexibility to work whenever they want.

In-Store Shopper – These are Instacart employees who earn an hourly wage. As an in-store shopper, you’ll be scheduled for shifts based on personal availability, up to 29 hours per week.

13. Thumbtack

Thumbtack is an online service platform that connects people who need help with jobs like cleaning homes, minor home repairs, landscaping, painting, and other jobs.

The website works like a middleman where people can post the work they need help with and a local professional can use the site to find paying jobs. There are many different categories on the Thumbtack website, so it can be a great way to make money depending on your skillset.

Some of the popular categories on Thumbtack include: Movers, electricians, handyman services, plumbers, TV wall mount installation, personal trainers, freelance web designers, and house cleaning services.

How much money can you make from Thumbtack? Depending on your skillset and availability, you can earn anywhere from $5-$200 per job. Some pros earn over $2,000 per week. This is one of the best money making apps for pros.

Many people like using platforms such as Thumbtack to make extra money because of the flexible schedule. Here are some of the reasons why you might want to consider finding work on Thumbtack:

• Be your own boss – You can work how, when and where you want. With different categories to choose from, you are certain to find something that fits your skills and schedule.
• Set your own rates – You can set your base price or hide your price if you need to talk to the customer first to suggest an estimate.
• Grow your business – You can connect with clients in your area and find new ways to market yourself and your services.

You can learn more about Thumbtack here

14. Make money on Pinterest

If you enjoy using Pinterest, you can get paid to share pins on the platform. Online business owners and bloggers are looking to hire Pinterest virtual assistants and Pinterest Managers to help them grow their reach.

According Kristin, the mastermind behindBecome a Pinterest VA, an absolute beginner can earn around$25-$35 per hour.

Some Pinterest VAs can earn up to$100 per hour. The amount of money you make will depend on your experience, skills, education, and so on.

If you think this might be a good opportunity for you, check out Kristin’s free workshop.

Read Next:

How to become a Pinterest virtual assistant
How to make money on Pinterest for beginners
How to become a Pinterest Manager

15. Pet sit with Rover

Rover is an online marketplace that connects you to customers who need pet services, such as pet sitting, dog walking, and dog boarding.

This is one of the best money making apps to earn up to $1,000 per month playing with pets. You can control your rates and schedule. Simply use the site to manage the details of your dog walking business. Rover will take care of the payments through their app, which makes it easy to focus on meeting new clients.

If this sounds like fun side hustle opportunity for you, you can apply to become a dog walker here.

16. Sell fashion on Fashionphile

Fashionphile is an fashion resell site where consumer’s can buy and sell women’s luxury designer handbags, jewelry, and accessories. If you’re looking to declutter or make space for new items, this is one of the best money making apps to sell your designer goods.

Steps to sell on Fashionphile:

The most popular way to sell items on Fashionphile is to submit an item for quote. Here’s the steps you’ll need to follow:

1. Fill out a quick online form with Fashionphile. You’ll need to submit a few simple photos and select your items’ designer, category and item name, along with a brief description of the condition.
2. Fashionphile will send you a quote within 2-3 business days. Then you can accept your quote.
3. Send your items to Fashionphile. They’ll provide you with a complimentary shipping label or a free UPS Pick-Up.
4. Get paid usually 2-4 business days after items have been authenticated.

You can learn more about selling with Fashionphile here