How to Make Money With Swagbucks?

What is Swagbucks?

Swagbucks is a popular rewards and loyalty program that allows you to earn points, known as Swagbucks (SB), by participating in various activities. These include answering surveys, signing up for both free and paid offers, playing games, and completing other tasks. Once you've accumulated enough points, you can redeem them for gift cards or cash through PayPal. Launched in 2008, Swagbucks offers users 100 SB for every $1 USD.

How to Earn Swagbucks

1. Sign Up: Get a 300 SB ($3) welcome bonus just for signing up.
2. Shop Online: Earn SB by shopping at over 7,000 participating stores, and get cash back on your purchases.
3. Scan Receipts for Cash Back: Snap pictures of your grocery or supermarket receipts to earn SB, which can be redeemed for cash or gift cards.
4. Earn by Playing Games: Swagbucks offers various games that can earn you SB points based on specific criteria. While many games are free, some may require in-game purchases to qualify for rewards.
5. Install the Swagbucks Browser Extension: Earn rewards simply by installing the extension, which updates you with coupons, promo codes, and cashback offers on participating commerce sites.
6. Take Surveys for Money: Get paid for taking surveys on a wide range of topics, including shopping habits, personal finance, food preferences, and more. However, surveys are typically not the most efficient way to earn points, so they may not be worth prioritizing.
7. Redeem Swag Codes: Find Swag Codes on Swagbucks' social media pages or browser extension notifications to earn bonus points.
8. Complete Partner Offers: Take advantage of offers from Swagbucks’ partners to earn SB.

What’s the Best Way to Make Money on Swagbucks?

From my experience, completing offers and earning cashback from shopping or uploading receipts are the best ways to earn money through Swagbucks. These activities are relatively simple and time-efficient compared to other options.

My top favorite offers are bank bonuses and online investment offers. These often require little to no initial capital and provide significant returns.

For example, some bank offers ask you to open an account and deposit $25 to receive 5,000 SB ($50 value). Others may require you to spend $25 with a debit card to earn SB. These offers are essentially "free money" because the initial deposit is still yours to keep.

Investment offers work similarly. You might be asked to invest $5, and then Swagbucks gives you 5,000 SB, so you end up making $55 with minimal cost.

Surveys: Are They Worth It?

In my opinion, surveys are a poor investment of your time if you're aiming to make decent money. You might earn something like 50 SB for 15 minutes of work, or 150 SB for 25–30 minutes of effort. That’s a very low payout for the time spent.

I would recommend skipping surveys unless you find one with a high reward (e.g., 5,000–10,000 SB). Survey sites rarely pay well unless you're working with professional research or consulting firms.

Games: Fun but Time-Consuming

While games on Swagbucks are fun, they are not the most effective way to earn points if you're looking to maximize your earnings. Some games are free, while others require in-game purchases to boost your progress. Many games also require you to reach specific levels or goals to qualify for rewards.

If you enjoy gaming and don’t mind spending time reaching those goals, you might enjoy this method. But if you're more focused on earning money, I’d advise against it—especially if you’re prone to getting hooked on games.

Conclusion

Swagbucks is a legitimate platform and can serve as a solid side hustle if you dedicate some time each day to completing offers. While you won’t get rich, it’s a reasonable way to make extra cash. For example, I’ve earned around 80,000 SB ($800) by completing one or two offers daily.

Note that many offers take 32–45 days to process, with some extending up to 90–120 days, so there’s a waiting period to receive your points. However, smaller offers can be processed more quickly.

Swagbucks does pay out, and I've successfully cashed out several times. If you have any questions about how it works, feel free to reach out!