If you are looking for a way to earn some extra cash in your spare time, Swagbucks may be one of the most reliable and flexible options for you. There are a total of 18 different ways for users to earn money on the platform.
Having said that, let’s get started with the Swagbucks review.
Swagbucks: What Is It?
Users can earn Swagbucks, abbreviated as SBs, by taking surveys, watching videos, and performing other short tasks.
Depending on the payout option you choose, one SB is roughly worth $0.01. These SBs can be exchanged for PayPal cash or gift cards to popular retailers, such as Amazon, Walmart, and Target. Your earnings can also be donated to charitable organizations such as Unicef and the American Red Cross.
InboxDollars, MyPoints, and ShopAtHome are all affiliated with the media company Prodege, LLC.
In the years since it began in 2010, Swagbucks has accumulated over 20 million users and paid out over $556 million in cash and free gift cards. Among online users, Swagbucks has a well-established reputation. A number of publications have featured them, including Reader’s Digest, Cosmopolitan, and U.S. news publications.
Rewarding Easy Tasks Quickly
It is an online rewards platform that offers users up to 20% cash back for completing surveys, shopping online, purchasing gift cards, watching videos, signing up for free offers, and more. You can redeem your points for gift cards and PayPal cash, with a minimum payout of $1, so you can earn rewards on a daily basis.
Pros:
- Creating an account is free
- Bonus of $10 for new members
- Points can be earned in a variety of ways
- Your account will be credited with most points immediately
- An easy-to-use interface on both the website and mobile app
- Taking no drastic measures to make money quickly and easily
Cons:
- Income is difficult to earn
- There is no precise understanding of how search points work
- You may need to spend money in order to qualify for some of the best cash-back opportunities
- In order to receive the sign-up bonus, you must spend $25 within the first 30 days of opening your account with Swagbucks Shopping
Is Swagbucks Legit?
This company is legitimate and pays real money through Swagbucks, which is a legitimate way of earning money. Over 21,000 reviews have been posted on Trustpilot for the site, which has a 4.3-star rating.
A subsidiary of Swagbucks, Prodege, LLC, currently carries a B+ rating with the BBB, which is the highest rating available. On Prodege’s profile, it is evident that there are about a hundred complaints that have not been resolved as of yet. However, there is no complaint that has not been answered or resolved on the profile of the company despite all this.
How to Earn Swagbucks Rewards in 7 Easy Steps
There are seven ways in which you can earn SBs. According to Swagbucks, they are referred to as:
- Participate in surveys (answering questions)
- Shopping (cashback)
- You can either send them a paper receipt or an electronic receipt (Magic Receipts)
- Sign up for free samples and deals at Discover (sign up for free samples and deals at Discover)
- Take a look at (short videos)
- Search (using the Swagbucks search engine)
- The ability to play games (on computers and mobile devices)
As part of our Swagbucks review, we tried all seven ways to earn points. Here is a quick overview of what we think is worth your time and what you may want to avoid in each of them.
Providing Answers (Completing Swagbucks Surveys)
As one of the most popular ways to make money on the site, Swagbucks surveys are one of the ways to make money on the site.
It is common for major brands to use companies like Swagbucks to get feedback from their customers. If you take part in surveys, Swagbucks will pass along some of the earnings that it receives from them to you as a reward.
In order to participate in Swagbucks, you will need to fill out a demographic profile with information such as your age, your income, and your interests. You will be matched with surveys that are a good fit for you based on the information you provide to Swagbucks.
There is still a chance that you will be disqualified from taking some surveys since you will need to answer pre-qualification questions first. If that happens, you may end up with a little reward or you may not receive any points at all if that happens.
You will be able to find survey options in your account each day when you log in. As long as your profile is accurate and complete, the better your survey matches will be, and this should mean that you will spend less time answering pre-survey questions just to be excluded from the survey entirely.
A variety of survey options are available with Swagbucks, including:
- Surveys of gold
- Surveys conducted by the Peanut Lab
- The profile you have created for the survey
- Polls are conducted every day on this website
Gold Surveys
Gold Surveys are Swagbucks’ best paying surveys and are the ones that earn you the most points. Based on Swagbucks’ estimate, they could take anywhere between five and forty-five minutes to complete, and based on the payout, they can range in payout from 20 to over 500 SBs.
Peanut Lab Surveys
Peanut Lab Surveys are described by Swagbucks as an opportunity to “Get SB by engaging with brands and advertisers.”
The “no cost” offers require you to give your information to partner companies, sign up for samples, and/or complete a questionnaire before you receive your SBs. These offers include offers to donate to charities, sign up for free samples, and purchase new products and services.
The Profile and Daily Poll for your Survey
There is a daily poll that renews every day at the same time. There is only one question worth one SB, and it is worth one SB. It’s not a lot, but it’s an easy point that takes little effort to get.
In the same place that the Gold Surveys are located, you will find your Survey Profile.
The SBs you receive are based on the number of questions you answer every 10 questions. In spite of the fact that this may not seem like much to you, the questions are short and multiple-choice, so they don’t take too long to complete.
Your account will be credited with the points immediately. The point balance in the upper right corner of your account will be updated as soon as you have completed a poll, gold survey, ten profile questions, etc.
It may take some time for you to complete some of the Gold Surveys. Some may even take more than 30 minutes. Due to the fact that the points are not directly converted to dollars (depending on the reward), it’s hard to calculate your hourly wage. In other words, if you had chosen a reward where 1 SB equaled $0.01, then this survey would have resulted in a total payout of $2.74 per hour.
In addition to being a side hustle, survey sites aren’t the highest-paying side hustles, but that’s about average, if not slightly above average, for other survey sites that we have tested.
The Your Survey Profile questions are in addition to the Gold surveys. For the most part, they consist of simple demographic information. You can earn points as you scroll through, and because they appear quickly, you don’t have to pay attention to them.
There is something a little spammy about the Peanut Lab’s “surveys”. As you might know, you will not be able to complete the offers directly on Swagbucks, since you will have to go to another website in order to complete them. Various offers kept coming up and asking for more information.
In the end, we went through a few rounds for different types of samples and ultimately decided that it wasn’t worth the time and effort. The Peanut Lab surveys require you to complete the entire questionnaire and accept the offer at the end of the survey in order to receive SBs, so you won’t be able to receive SBs for taking the surveys.
Taking part in gold surveys, daily polls, and survey profile questions is definitely worth it.
Taking Peanut Lab Surveys is a waste of time, don’t do it.
Shopping (Earn Cashback)
You shop with Swagbucks like you do with Rakuten (formerly known as Ebates). A small commission is earned when you purchase through Swagbucks’ links. You receive cash back from them as part of that commission.
In the case of 5% cash-back deals on Amazon, for example, when you purchase something through a Swagbucks link, you’ll get five SB for every dollar you spend.
You are given the opportunity to choose from a wide range of retailers that Swagbucks offers, including Amazon, Athleta, Lowe’s, Banana Republic, as well as travel sites like Priceline and Hotels.com.
Besides offering coupons for local deals, the Swagbucks shopping page also offers coupons for local deals provided by Groupon. It’s very easy for you to get to a company’s website when you find a deal that you like. Just click the link that will take you right to the company’s website where you can complete your shopping.
There are times when Swagbucks offers multipliers for specific retailers in their network. In other words, if a store normally offers 1% cashback, but has a 10x deal, then you will receive 10% cashback, or 10 SB for every $1 you spend, if that store normally offers 1% cashback. The multiplier deal does not require any codes to be entered.
The time it takes for your Swagbucks points to show up in your account can vary from 30 days or more depending on the retailer you are shopping with.
There is nothing complicated about Swagbucks Shopping. The deal you see on the surface may not necessarily be the deal you get.
There are some deals, like Banana Republic, that offer a set amount of cashback regardless of the purchase you make. It is the best way to earn points with Swagbucks Shopping that you add the SwagButton extension to your browser and shop as you normally do when using Swagbucks Shopping. Whenever Swagbucks offers a reward for a site you’re shopping on, you’ll receive a notification telling you to “activate” the deal in order to earn rewards.
In many ways, it is very similar to apps such as Honey, Rakuten, Capital One Shopping, and others that offer cash back. You may install them and use them in any moment during your shopping, as they’re all simple and easy to use.
We think it’s definitely worth installing the SwagButton (and other cashback shopping extensions) in order to make sure that when you shop online, you’re always getting the best deal on the products you’re buying.
Magic Receipts (E-Receipts Or Paper Receipts)
Magic Receipts works similarly to Ibotta and similar apps for grocery shopping.
The next time you find something you like, you just add it to your Swagbucks list and purchase it from a participating store like Walmart, Target, or Kroger when you have earned enough Swagbucks. After you have uploaded the receipt, you will receive SBs for every dollar you spent.
A different number of SBs is awarded to each item based on its value. In some cases, you may only have to spend two SBs (for onions, apples, etc.) while in others, you may have to spend as much as 3,000 SBs (for tequila, cleaning supplies, etc.). It is also important to note that some items are brand-specific or can only be purchased in-store.
Please read the “fine print” section on each offer to find out all the details. A minimum purchase amount is often required to earn points on many deals.
Your receipt can be submitted once you have finished shopping in Swagbucks. You will be asked where you shopped and which items you bought through Swagbucks. Your receipt will be scanned and credited by Swagbucks once you upload it.
To be able to take advantage of these offers, you have to pay close attention to which stores allow them.
It is easy to upload a receipt. If you use the Swagbucks app, you can also do it from there.
Most people should give Magic Receipts a try. If you normally shop at one store and do not want to run all over town looking for deals, click on the store you normally shop at to see what deals are available there.
Discover (Receive Free Samples and Special Offers)
By signing up for product trials, donating to charities, downloading mobile apps, and more, you can earn Swagbucks Discover rewards.
It is important to note that the offers in this section are similar to those that are similar to the Peanut Lab surveys.
There is even a link to Peanut Lab under the section titled “Offers from Our Trusted Partners” which can be found at the bottom of the page
Basically, they are all offers from companies that are Swagbucks partners. There are some that require a deposit or payment, while there are others that simply require an account registration.
There is a longer wait time for many of these offers. In contrast to surveys and cashback offers, the Discover offers can take up to a month to appear in your account.
Obviously, not all offers are that valuable, but you can sort and filter to find the ones that are most appropriate for your circumstances. You may be best off browsing the free offers section if you wish to earn points without spending any money.
You will want to check out the featured deals and sign-ups listings if you are interested in discovering new brands and earning the highest rewards.
Look at the “Top 3 Things to Know” section and click the offers you’re interested in. The website usually informs you when you will receive your points, if you have to pay for anything, and other helpful details to help you decide whether it is worth it.
There are some offers on this page that you might find interesting depending on the person you are buying it for. A great example of this is the offer for $13.99 per month for Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN.
Watch (Short Video Clips)
Choosing from a wide variety of video categories, such as entertainment, food, fashion, health, and travel, will enable you to earn Swagbucks when you watch videos on Swagbucks Watch. SBs are usually assigned to each category.
Clicking the category will open a new tab in your browser when you click on it. In most cases, playlists consist of three videos. However, you do not have to watch the whole video before moving on to the next in the series.
A timer is set for the duration of each video, which ranges from 30 to 60 seconds. On your browser tab, you will be able to see it running. After the timer is up, you can move on to the next video by clicking on the next button.
The timer will pause if you click back to the tab with the timer after clicking away from it. If you click on any other tab, it’ll continue to go, which means you can earn Swagbucks points while working on something else at the same time while watching videos with Swagbucks.
It’s important not to mistake these activities for something you can do passively and absentmindedly.
In spite of the fact that you can click off to another tab and work on other things, the timer tab still needs to be loaded every minute or so in order to start the next video.
Having to deal with that can be an inconvenience if you are trying to focus on something else at the same time.
Furthermore, each playlist containing a few videos is only worth a few SBs, and each playlist containing a few videos is only worth one or two SBs. When it comes to earning points, watching videos is one of the easiest ways to do so, and it is also an excellent way to discover new content, catch up on news you may have missed, or learn something new. You may also choose to stick with Gold surveys and profile questions if you do not like them.
Search (By Using the Swagbucks Search Engine)
By using the Swagbucks Search feature of this tool, you will be rewarded for searching the web. Swagbucks Search Chrome extension allows you to make the site your default search engine by searching directly from your Swagbucks account.
There is a random system for awarding points on the platform. During the 10-20 searches we conducted using the Swagbucks search engine (powered by Yahoo) we did not earn any points for the 10-20 searches that we conducted. In any case, here are a few things we’ve learned from Reddit users who have earned money with Swagbucks Search:
- Whenever you get a “Search win”, Swagbucks will notify you and tell you how many points you’ve earned as a result.
- In order to verify that you are not a robot, you will have to complete a Captcha.
- A winning search can earn you from 5 to 25 SBs.
“Hacking” Swagbucks Search for points is not worth your time. The points you earn from surveys or shopping can be considered as a nice bonus to go along with your survey points.
It is highly recommended that you set Swagbucks as your default search engine in order to maximize your points with Search. (See how Swagbucks does it here.)
Play (Computer and Mobile Games)
With Swagbucks, you can earn money through three different methods:
- Purchases can be made in-app
- In a specified period of time, reach a minimum level
- Win randomly when you play online
Along with Bejeweled, Solitaire, Bingo, Angry Birds Champions, and Slots, Swagbucks offers a number of other popular games. As you spend money on in-app purchases within these games, you will earn points for each dollar you spend.
There is not much to explain in this section. The first thing you need to do when you find a game that you are interested in is to make sure you read the requirements so you know what you need to do to receive the points you are looking for.
Swagbucks’ transparency regarding how to earn points with their offers. Click on each offer’s card to read the terms and conditions, including if you have to pay for your SBs or reach a certain level in order to earn them.
It would be nice if there were more free options available on the internet.
Additionally, it is not clear when the free games will pay out when they are played. There is a lot of mobile games available that require you to reach a certain level within a certain period of time in order to be able to get any rewards. In this Club Vegas game, for example, the reward will be 5,000 points, which is about $50 in points in total. In terms of payouts, that’s quite a bit, but you need to reach level 100 within 14 days in order to receive the reward.
It can be fun to earn Swagbucks by discovering and playing new games on your phone if you have the time. Some may find it worthwhile, but others may not.
Swagbucks: How Much Can You Earn?
It wouldn’t be possible for you to earn a full-time income with Swagbucks. That’s clear from the company.
Remember that SBs don’t always have a value of $0.01 each, so keep that in mind. In general, the higher the reward that you cash out for, the more SBs that you will receive. As an example, a $1 Amazon gift card costs 140 SBs, whereas a $5 Amazon gift card costs 500 SBs. This is an example of how the SBs can be used.
You could earn $10 to $30 per month in Swagbucks if you regularly use the site and take advantage of the highest-earning offers, such as cashback shopping, gold surveys, and Discover deals. If you use referrals, bonus points, and Swagbucks’ mobile apps, you could earn even more.
Refer a friend and earn points
Swagbucks gives you a unique referral code when you sign up for their program. In the event that you enjoy using the site so much that you would like to share your code with friends or family members who may find it useful as well.
As soon as your referral signs up and starts using the site, you’ll get 300 SBs when your referral earns 300 points or more within their first 30 days after they join the site. In addition, for as long as their account remains active, you will be able to earn 10% of their lifetime earnings.
It is possible, for example, for you to receive 100 SBs credited to your account if your coworker registers using your referral link and earns 1,000 SBs in a single day using your referral link. It is one of the easiest and most passive ways to collect SBs since it is so simple.
There is also a 100-point bonus being offered by Swagbucks right now when someone you refer adds the SwagButton to his or her laptop or desktop computer.
Get bonus points for achieving daily goals and streaks throughout the day
Based on the earnings history you have in the past, Swagbucks allows you to set a custom daily earning goal for yourself.
As soon as you reach your daily goal, you will receive a bonus SB for that day. In addition, you may also earn bonus points if you check items off your daily to-do list and build up your earning streaks as well.
As long as you meet your daily goal for seven days in a row, you’ll earn 25 SBs extra.
It may take a few days for you to see bonus points in your account. There will be a notification sent to you when Swagbucks awards bonuses on the 5th of each month, so that you can make use of them as soon as they are available.
Swagbucks mobile apps
Swagbucks offers seven different mobile apps. Each one allows you to complete different types of tasks for SBs:
- Swagbucks Mobile (iOS and Android): You can shop, answer surveys, and watch videos with Swagbucks Mobile
- Swagbucks Live (iOS and Android): App for watching game shows
- You can watch videos with Swagbucks Watch (Android only)
- Surveys can be taken with Swagbucks Answer (iOS and Android)
- You can watch movie clips and trailers using MovieCli.ps (Android only)
- You will be able to watch videos about your favorite sports with Sportly (Android only)
- Watch videos on the go with EntertaiNow (Android only)
Swagbucks Mobile seems to be the most popular and most comprehensive. In the Google Play Store, it has received a rating of 4.0 stars and in the Apple Store, it has received a rating of 4.4 stars with over 40,000 reviews.
Swagbucks Alternatives
There are several rewards sites of this type, in addition to Swagbucks. You may be interested in checking out these other sites if you enjoy using Swagbucks.
A similar service to Swagbucks, InboxDollars offers cash back for completing surveys, watching advertisements, and participating in contests. In the same manner as Swagbucks, you must qualify to take surveys before you can participate.
This site specializes in branded surveys, as opposed to Swagbucks. However, by completing multiple consecutive surveys, you can increase your earnings through their Branded Elite program. Increasing your earnings will give you a chance to win more points. After you earn 500 points, you can redeem your earnings for gift cards at your favorite retailers or direct deposit.
In addition to Survey Junkie, there is another site that pays users for taking surveys. It is similar to Swagbucks, in that users can download an app, use a web browser, receive email notifications about survey opportunities, and register for email notifications.
In contrast to Swagbucks, users can’t earn money by doing surveys, doing focus groups, and testing products like they can with Swagbucks. In addition to not having any shopping portals or search engines, the users will have to redeem their rewards in $5 increments if they want to redeem them.
Using an app such as Ibotta, you can redeem cash-back offers at grocery stores, pharmacies, and other retailers in exchange for points that you will earn. There will be times when you have to watch an advertisement or complete a short survey in order to redeem an offer.
Summary Of the Swagbucks Review
The challenge when it comes to reviewing Swagbucks is that it’s hard to do it justice. Points can be earned in so many different ways that the possibilities are almost endless.
In my experience, surveys, Magic Receipts, and online shopping are the best ways to earn with Swagbucks. Bonus points can be earned through search.
In order to get the most out of Swagbucks, you should think about how you can incorporate it into your daily life. The SwagButton is an easy way to earn rewards if you shop online often.
Take advantage of Swagbucks by downloading the app and answering survey questions while you watch Netflix or scroll through Facebook while you are watching Netflix.
The Swagbucks program isn’t about getting rich fast. The Swagbucks program can be a great tool for you if you are interested in earning cash back for the things you do already. You should consider other work-from-home jobs if you are looking for a high-earning side hustle.
