All Sites Database
Survey Sites
Get Paid To Sites
Microtasks Sites
Watch Video Sites
Play Games Sites
Data Selling Sites
Paid Review Sites
Writing Sites
User Testing Sites
Print on Demand
(Worldwide) 13+
Coinbase Earn is Coinbase’s rewards platform that offers free cryptocurrency for answering a few quiz questions.
Swagbucks Review & Earning Guide: Legit or Not?
4.7
Swagbucks Review
Swagbucks is one of the leading globally available get paid to sites.
They offer a huge variety of earning opportunities in the form of surveys, app installs, playing games, cashback, watching videos and so much more.
They also have a series of loyalty-related bonuses that add to your earnings.
It can get overwhelming and difficult to figure out where to spend your time. We’ll take a look at whether Swagbucks is worth it, legit, and how to maximize what you earn.
What you need to know
- Earning Type: Offerwalls, Surveys, Play Mobile Games, Watch Videos, Cashback and more.
- Earnings: Up to $100s for mobile gaming offers, $1-$2 per hour for surveys.
- Min. Withdrawal: $1/£1.
- Payout Options: Gift Cards, PayPal, Prepaid Cards.
- Platforms: Website, Android app, iOS app.
- Trust: Legit and safe. One of the biggest names in the industry.
- Country Availability:
(Worldwide) 13+
What is Swagbucks?
Swagbucks is the most widely known “Get Paid To“, or GPT website. It offers many, many ways to earn online which is great from a profit point of view but can get confusing. Among GPT sites Swagbucks is especially overwhelming, but don’t worry, our guide will make everything clear and direct you towards the most profitable tasks.
Swagbucks has been around for quite some time, since 2008 in fact, and still dominates the online GPT earning scene. But is it really all positive or are there better alternatives out there?
Swagbucks is available in essentially every country worldwide. The only restriction is that you must be 13 years of age or older to join. It is part of the Prodege family which includes other earning sites such as InboxPounds, InboxDollars, MyPoints, Ysense, and more.
We’re long-term users of Swagbucks and have personally used the site to earn over the years. Let’s find out all about Swagbucks, including how to maximize our profits in the full review and detailed, deep-dive earning guide.
After evaluating Swagbucks, we’re satisfied that it is a legitimate and safe way to earn money online. Jump down to see the full legitimacy and safety checks. Or read on for the full review and earning guide.
How to Make Money With Swagbucks
How Does Swagbucks Work?
On Swagbucks, you earn SB points from completing various tasks which can then be exchanged for gift cards, prepaid cards, or our personal favorite, PayPal cash. The conversion rate is 100SB = $1/£1/€1.
There are an astonishing amount of ways to earn and within each of those options, more options. There are even deeply hidden, almost secret ways to earn with Swagbucks. It can overwhelm even the most experienced online earner.
We’ll take a look at the following ways you can earn cash on Swagbucks with a deep dive into each, how to earn more money on SB with them and discover if they’re actually worth your time. You can earn money online with Swagbucks in a variety of ways:
- Offerwalls (Mobile games & apps)
- Third party offerwalls
- Surveys
- Cashback + SwagButton
- Swago
- Daily tasks
- Watch Videos
- Swagbucks Live
- Upload Receipts
- Paid to Search
- Play games online
- Daily Swag Codes
But first, of course, you need to actually sign up to Swagbucks, so let’s take a look at that first.
Getting Started & Sign-Up
The first step is to sign up to Swagbucks. Simply sign up via our Swagbucks Sign-Up Link for 300 free Swagbucks. Once you’re registered and logged in you can start earning with Swagbucks immediately. Simply earn 300SB and you will receive an additional 300SB for free as long as you register via our link above.
You have the option of registering with an existing Google or Apple account or you can take the more manual approach of registering with a standard email. We opted for the Google registration but all options are fairly quick to get you started.
While you could just jump in, due to the complex nature of the site we advise that you read our guide & review in full to make sure you spend your time effectively and pull the maximum profit out of the site.
Let’s dive in and look at each earning opportunity on Swagbucks in detail:
1. Mobile Gaming Offers (Offerwalls)
During our time with Swagbucks, we found that typically Swagbucks’ own offerwall is more profitable than the individual partner walls. So check there first but make sure to also check the partner offerwalls too, which we’ll cover in the next section.
You’ll generally want to focus on the mobile game offers where you get points for completing up to a certain level. There is no cost to you and you can earn from several hundred to several thousand SB points which translates into potentially hundreds of dollars/pounds/your country equivalent.
These offers are very profitable and probably the best way to make more money with Swagbucks, but can be time-consuming to reach the required level.
Top Tip: Make sure you use offerwall game guides to speed up your progress and earn rewards more quickly.
Expected Earnings: $200 a Month
As you can see above, there are many high-paying gaming offers on the main Swagbucks offerwall. If you target the correct offers then you can potentially make $200+ a month. There are some things to consider though. If you take note of our tips below you can squeeze every bit of cash out of them and reduce how long it takes you.
Earning Tips
To make sure you pull the most value out of Swagbucks mobile gaming offers in as little time as possible, make sure that you follow these simple tips, rules, and strategies:
- Of course, choose the highest paying offers, but make sure the tasks are achievable first. Some will have unachievable goals or goals such as making iAP for more money than you’d make.
- Check out our Offerwall Guides for specific games to speed up your progression.
- Try to have 2, and no more than 3 gaming offers running at the same time. We have found that this is the perfect amount that remains manageable while doubling or trebling your earnings in a month.
- Start the offers on the Swagbucks website on your phone, or via their app to increase the chances that offers are successfully tracked.
- Go for multiple reward offers where possible. This breaks down your milestones and means even if you don’t reach the highest level, you still get paid for those tasks you did complete.
2. Third Party Offerwalls
On top of the already huge range of mobile gaming offers on Swagbucks’ built-in offerwall, they also featured a ton of third-party offerwall providers. The full list is shown below.
Between these offerwalls, there will be overlapping offers, identical offers that pay more or less, and unique offers so make sure you check out those that are relevant to you.
| 3rd Party Offerwall | Offer Types |
|---|---|
AdGate Media | Play games, surveys. |
Adscend Media | Play games, free trials, purchase offers, surveys, watch videos. |
ayeT Studios | Play games, free trials, purchase offers, surveys. |
Fyber | Play games, free trials, purchase offers, surveys. |
Hang My Ads | Play games, free trials, purchase offers, surveys. |
Lootably | Play games, free trials, purchase offers, surveys, watch videos. |
MyChips | Play games. |
RevU | Play games, free trials, purchase offers, surveys. |
Torox | Play games, free trials, purchase offers. |
Wannads | Play games, surveys, free trials, purchase offers. |
We found ayeT Studios, Torox, and Lootably to be the most profitable but this will depend on what country you’re from.
The same earning tips apply as with the built-in offerwall and you can expect to earn a couple of hundred dollars a month if you commit to it.
Expected Earnings
The ways you can earn from the partner offerwalls are more or less the same as the built-in offerwall but ever-so-slightly less profitable. We estimate that you can earn around $100 – $200 a month from the third-party offerwalls.
3. Paid Surveys
We found that Swagbucks paid surveys were the one real let-down on this money-making colossus. Not in a nefarious way, but simply that their surveys tend to not pay out very much for how much time you spend filling them out.
There are some high-paying surveys as you can see below with the SB per minute getting up to 50, which is actually $0.50 a minute.
But as shown, this very quickly dips down to just 2-5SB per minute which is $0.02 – $0.05 per minute… not great. If you’re looking for surveys, we suggest you look at other survey opportunities in our mega-list:
Expected Earnings
As we’ve noted, your expected earnings for Swagbucks surveys sit at between $0.02 and $0.50 per minute. The reality is that for the most part, you’ll be making about $0.03 a minute.
Let’s break that down:
- $0.03 a minute.
- $1.80 an hour.
- $14.40 for 8 hours.
This of course will be skewed by any surveys that you start but do not qualify for, and are screened out, so bear this in mind.
By all means, use surveys to easily keep on top of your daily earning bonus targets but don’t rely on them as a major way to earn on Swagbucks. There are much more profitable options from the perspective of time vs amount earned.
Typically we do not personally bother with surveys on Swagbucks, unless we need a quick way to meet daily goals.
4. Cashback & the SwagButton
Cashback isn’t generally considered a way to make money, but rather a way to save money. Although, depending on how you approach it can be seen as an earner or at least a way to bolster your savings.
Swagbucks approaches cashback in two ways, on-site and via a Google Chrome browser extension. The extension is much more practical but both are legit ways to earn back on your purchases.
Cashback via the Swagbucks Site
Much like dedicated cashback sites Topcashback and Quidco, Swagbucks also has on-site cashback offers. The idea here is that you click through to the retailer from the Swagbucks site, make your purchase as normal and a percentage of what you spend is added back into your Swagbucks account as SB. This can then of course be withdrawn as cash or gift cards.
Typically these are low amounts at 1% or 2% of your purchase back but can go as high as 15%. If you were going to make these purchases anyway (which is the only time cashback makes sense by the way), then you’re netting some of the cash you’ve spent straight back into your bank account.
Cashback via the Swagbucks Site
If you’re anything like us, when you make a purchase you forget to check out cashback sites and miss out on that money back. Well, Swagbucks solves this problem with the SwagButton, a Chrome browser extension.
The first thing you need to do is to install the SwagButton in your browser. The SwagButton is an absolute game-changer for cashback.
Normally you have to endlessly browse around on a GPT site, check if cashback is available, click through multiple pages, and finally reach your target site. Not with the SwagButton – in fact, all you need to do once installed is just shop as usual and it will pop up and let you activate the cashback offer in-page without you ever leaving the shopping website.
Circling back to the idea that cashback can be seen as an earning or at least a saving opportunity – once the cashback pays out on Swagbucks and you withdraw to PayPal, transfer that money to your savings. In this way, you’ve earned money from making the purchase rather than just saving money on the purchase. It all depends on how you look at it but regardless the SwagButton is an essential extension to have installed.
The SwagButton is an essential extension to ensure you make cashback on as much of your purchases as possible with no effort involved.
Expected Earnings
It’s a bit of a stretch to call cashback earnings, but you could find yourself getting 1% – 5% of what you spend online and that’s nothing to be sniffed at.
Cashback Tips
Cashback is a growing area of money-making, or more realistically money-saving online. Make sure you follow these tips to make the most out of it:
- Shop around. Swagbucks isn’t the only cashback site. Check out our mega list of cashback sites and see if you can get a better rate for a particular retailer.
- Only make the purchase if you were going to already. This may seem incredibly honest, but you’d be surprised how many people make cashback purchases just to get the percentage back. Remember you’re spending money here and it only benefits you if you were already going to make the purchase!
5. Swago
What is Swago?
Swago is a monthly/twice monthly event that allows you to earn even more money with Swagbucks. It’s simply a bingo grid with each square being a task. Mostly these are clicking through to websites, activating cashback, or doing a search. You need to manually join Swago when a new board is released, so don’t forget before you start your monthly money-making on Swagbucks.
You earn extra SB by completing a line or various patterns on the grid. You only get one chance to submit your grid so make sure it’s as full as possible and that you choose the highest-earning pattern.
The extra earnings aren’t huge, but if you get a full board, that’s an extra $0.50 for doing absolutely nothing extra at all. Well worth a click!
6. Daily Tasks, Bonuses etc.
The Swagbucks Daily To-Do List, Daily Goals, and Day Streak are 3 sources of free money sitting on the table and can help boost your Swagbucks earnings. They are effectively free money bonuses.
From the Swagbucks homepage, you can find them in the top right corner next to your notifications. Once clicked you will see what you need to do to gain the rewards from these 3 interlinked daily bonuses:
The daily poll, search, and deal of the day are effectively single clicks and 2-second tasks.
Attempting and completing a survey should be no issue as you will already be completing these surveys if you’ve followed our guide so far.
Daily Discover is the sticking point for a lot of people, but if you check out the different categories and sort by the LOWEST points, you can find some single-click tasks that can scratch this one off your list too.
Simply by completing the daily to-do list, you will automatically continue your day streak (as long as you don’t miss a day) and due to the surveys, you will likely also hit both of your daily goals.
Not a bad haul, and some nice easy-to-grab daily free Swagbucks!
7. Watch Videos
You might be wondering what happened to Swagbucks Watch. It was unfortunately discontinued in the UK in 2020, followed by the USA in 2022. It’s a shame as this was a nice way to earn some extra SB and keep your daily streak going.
But don’t despair, you can still earn money on Swagbucks by watching videos!
How to Earn by Watching Videos on Swagbucks
To earn by watching videos on Swagbucks you need to make use of the Lootably offerwall that links LootTV video-watching earnings directly to your Swagbucks account. It can be difficult to understand the process bu this is how it works:
- Go to Swagbucks.
- Click on Discover.
- Scroll to find “Offers from our trusted partners”.
- Click on the Lootably offerwall.
- Click the videos tab.
- Here you will see links to Loot.TV (See the full LootTV guide and review).
- Sign-Up or sign into Loot TV.
- You will see a notice that your Swagbucks account is linked.
- Start watching videos with your ad blocker turned off (otherwise you won’t earn).
- Click to redeem gems, select your Swagbucks linked account and it will be transferred over to your Swagbucks account.
Phew, quite a lot to deal with there but once it’s set up you can just passively stream videos in the background and reap the rewards on Swagbucks!
We simply leave Loot TV running on a spare screen as we’re earning elsewhere. A really nice set up.
8. Swagbucks Live
Swagbucks Live is a live trivia quiz available as an app for iOS and Android.
The way it works is that you (and thousands of others) are presented with a trivia question. You have 10 seconds to answer the question and if you’re not fast enough or get it wrong, you’re out of the running.
But, if you do manage to answer all questions correctly you will win Swagbucks which of course can be exchanged for cash.
The rules of Swagbucks Live are simple but it’s harder than it seems to snatch that grand prize.
9. Upload Receipts (Magic Receipts)
Swagbucks has entered the receipt cashback business by launching Magic Receipts.
The idea is simple buy the item listed in-store or online, get a receipt, take a photo of it, and upload it in exchange for points.
It’s worth noting though that you can only earn on the specific products they list. You have to ensure that your receipt is for the right size, flavor, brand, from the correct store, etc. to get paid.
Double or Treble How Much You Earn From Receipts
Once you’ve earned cash from that receipt, you can actually use that same receipt to earn again… and again. This isn’t on Swagbucks itself, but by using two different apps from a couple of brand giants:
Amazon Shopper panel pays you to upload literally any receipt, and Google Opinion Rewards lets you upload receipts for shops that it believes you have visited recently.
A fantastic way to squeeze every last penny of earning out of those receipts.
10. Get Paid to Search With Swagbucks
You can also earn money by simply searching on the Swagbucks main site. Every few searches you will see a “Search win” pop up which will reward you with a small amount of Swagbucks. And that’s all there is to it.
But, from time to time, the get paid to search opportunity becomes even more profitable:
How to Find Collector's Bills
From time to time Swagbucks will have “Collectors Bills” that you can randomly stumble upon when performing a search in their search bar.
But how do you get collectors’ bills on Swagbucks? Well, there is no secret to it, it’s completely random. Just search on Swagbucks and at random points you will get a Collector’s Bill which will earn you a set amount of Swagbucks. It doesn’t matter what you search for or when.
Collector’s bills typically earn between 5 and 25SB. And you get even more Swagbucks (50-60SB) for finding the full set. Very easy money but it can take some time to grab them all.
11. Play Games Online
You may think we’ve covered games already in the offerwall section, but there is a way to earn by playing games in your web browser with Swagbucks too.
The games are hidden away but here’s how to get to them:
Head to the Swagbucks Games section and scroll aaall the way down to the bottom. Hidden down there you will see five games that you can play for a few Swagbucks each:
It’s not a huge amount but it’s great for keeping your day streak going or adding towards your daily goal.
12. Swag Codes
Now onto Swag Codes. There are essentially bonus codes that will earn you a few Swagbucks each day just by entering the code in the box on your profile page.
The easiest way to grab your free daily code is to go to Swag Codes Spolier and click on the link that relates to your region/country.
This code changes every day and differs not only per country but for each individual. Once you click through from the Swag Code Spoiler site, you’ll see your own unique code which will look like this:
Copy that code and then visit your profile on Swagbucks. Paste that code in the Swag Code box and hit enter. You will earn 2 or 3 SBs a day with this method.
It should come as no surprise that Swagbucks is 100% legit and safe. It’s not a scam and is a good way to earn some extra cash online. Swagbucks is a real and safe way to earn online. The fact that Swagbucks has been around for so long (since 2008) is a testament to its legitimacy.
From a safety and security standpoint, Swagbucks uses HTTPS (SSL), meaning that all of your interactions on the site are encrypted and secured.
We’ve personally used Swagbucks for many years now and have had no issues being credited or paid what we’ve earned. See below for our Swagbucks payment proof/payout proof.
Swagbucks Payment Proof
As you can see, we have successfully withdrawn cash from Swagbucks. Below are our two latest (at the time of writing) payouts from their Rewards Store directly into our PayPal account:
We’ve received 50 or more payouts from Swagbucks over the years and they have always been received without issues.
Swagbucks 3rd Party Reviews & Ratings
Trustpilot
It’s all well and good taking our word for it, but let’s take a look at the overall view of Swagbucks online. Trustpilot collates user reviews from around the world and has rated Swagbucks 4.2 stars out of 5 which is a “Great” rating:
When we dive into the individual reviews, we can see that the sentiment is mostly positive. Negative reviews tend to be around Swagbuck’s survey offerings, which as we’ve outlined above is probably the one weak area of the site.
We have not found anything here that is a cause for concern.
Additional Sources
These additional sources of reviews, ratings, and legitimacy checks for Swagbucks all combine to form a generally positive view on their legitimacy and safety overall:
- Google Play Store: (Swagbucks App) 4.2 stars and 100,000+ downloads.
- Apple iOS App Store: (Swagbucks App) 4.4 stars.
- Better Business Bureau (BBB): 3.16 stars, 3,403 complaints resolved in the past 12 months, and accredited a B rating. This rating is from the parent company Prodege, which owns Swagbucks.
- Reddit: Swagbucks is among the most talked about sites in the beermoney subreddits. Additionally, there is a dedicated Swagbucks subreddit that is heavily used to discuss offers.
- Identity: Prodege, and by proxy Swagbucks has a business entry on Wikipedia. Only vetted and notable businesses can be approved to retain a business page. It also lists the current CEO, Charles Davis. This adds further proof of legitimacy.
- Domain age: The Swagbucks.com domain name has a history of many years. The Internet Archive’s oldest archived version of the site is from 2009 and prior to that was redirected to a subdomain on the Prodege website. These are good signals with respect to age and stability.
How to Get Paid by Swagbucks?
As you complete offers and earn in other ways described above on Swagbucks, you will earn SB. This SB has a monetary value where 1,000SB = $10/£10 or your local country equivalent. So that means that 1SB is $0.01/£0.01. If you want to quickly see how much your Swagbucks are worth check out our USA Swagbucks to $ converter and our UK Swagbucks to £ converter.
Often, once you complete offers on Swagbucks, they will enter a temporary pending state in your activity:
After the time period listed, the SB will be added to your total earnings. From here you are able to select how you’d like to withdraw your cash.
Minimum Withdrawal & Payout Options
There are a large amount of withdrawal options available on Swagbucks. The usual PayPal cash and Amazon gift cards are available for all/most countries. There is also a selection of global and country-specific gift cards available.
The minimum withdrawal amount on Swagbucks ranges from £1/$1 – £5/$5 depending on which payout option you select. Check out the overview in the table below.
| Withdrawal Option | Minimum Withdrawal | Notes |
|---|---|---|
PayPal | $5/£5 minimum (500SB) | |
Prepaid Cards | $5/£5 minimum (500SB) | |
Gift Cards | $1 - $5/£1 - £5 minimum (100-500SB) | Gift card options vary per country. For example in the USA you'll see Walmart, Amazon, Target, etc. and in the UK you'll see Tesco, Amazon etc. |
Payout Speed
The payout speed for gift cards from Swagbucks varies. It can be relatively instant, right up to several days. For PayPal and Prepaid cards, you can expect to wait a few days, usually 2-3 days. We’ve always received ours within 5 days.
Payout speed is somewhat lacking as there are other sites that pay to PayPal instantly or within 1 business day. But overall, you get your hands on your cash within 5 days typically.
Do SB Expire?
There seems to be quite some misinformation about this online with claims that your SB will expire if you leave them unused for 2 years. We’ve scoured Swagbuck’s terms & conditions and FAQs but have found no proof to back this up.
What we have found however is that Swagbucks reserves the right to close your account after 1 year of inactivity (not earning or withdrawing any SB). It is unclear if at this point you would also forfeit your unwithdrawn SB. Play it safe and make sure you’re earning at least once in a year – it shouldn’t take more than a few seconds with our tips above!
Is There a Swagbucks App?
Yes, there is a Swagbucks app for both Android and iOS. In fact, there are 3 Swagbucks apps for Android and iOS! In all honesty, it is a little inconvenient to have the functionality spread across all three, but the main Swagbucks app holds the most benefit for most users.
The main Swagbucks app is great for mobile gaming offers as it will push you straight toward the relevant app store and improve the reliability of offer tracking.
Swagbucks Review Summary: Pros & Cons
Pros
- Massive amount of ways to earn.
- High paying mobile offers.
- Free cash every day.
Cons
- Paid survey offering is poor.
- Can be overwhelming.
What is there to say about Swagbucks? It really the industry giant in the GPT (Get-paid-to) space and for good reason. There truly is an astonishing amount of ways to earn cash on Swagbucks, from mobile offers to surveys, to live trivia, playing games, free cash each day, getting paid to search, and more.
But, this huge amount of options is a double-edged sword and can make it confusing for newcomers. Knowing which ways to earn are worth it, and how to extract cash from them efficiently is key.
The biggest gem in the Swagbucks barrel is their high-paying mobile gaming offers. Some can even rack up to over $300. There is a lot of money to make even just from their built-in offerwall, never mind the several third-party offerwalls that they feature.
There is one downside though and that is their paid survey offers. When compared to dedicated survey sites and even other GPT sites, the rate of pay for their surveys is low. Our personal experience was more disqualification than usual, with low payouts and painfully long surveys.
Overall, it’s very clear that everyone should use Swagbucks to earn online. And that is because there really is something for everyone. So many ways to earn and more offers than you’d ever be able to complete.
Swagbucks is popular for a reason, and as we say we’ve used it for years to earn a considerable amount of cash on the side. That’s why it remains one of our number 1 suggested ways to earn online.
Swagbucks FAQ
There’s always more to ask, so even though we’ve laid out the full Swagbucks review and guide above, we’ve packed some extra information into our FAQ.
How much are Swagbucks worth?
It’s fairly simple, depending on your country 100 Swagbucks are worth either $1,£1, or €1. If you need help converting, check out our Swagbucks US Dollars conversion tool, or our Swagbucks UK pounds conversion tool.
Can Swagbucks make me rich?
No, unfortunately Swagbucks cannot make you rich, but it can help supplement your income. If you focus on mobile gaming offers you can make up to $200 a month.
Does Swagbucks pay real money?
Yes, Swagbucks pays real money. You earn SB which can then be withdrawn directly as PayPal cash, gift cards, or pre-paid cards.
Final Thoughts: Is it Worth it?
Because of how much Swagbucks has to offer it is worth being a member in almost any scenario. The amount of mobile gaming offers, offerwalls, bonuses, and extras means that you can make a nice amount of additional income each month.
Surveys remain their weak point, so spend your time elsewhere if that is your go-to way to earn.
Of course, as with any other online earning opportunity, it should be used in combination with other sites and apps. But it really should be at the core of your online money-making strategy.
We’ve used Swagbucks for years, and while occasionally there are dips in the amount of offers available, it is a good consistent way to get a little extra cash in your pocket.
Mega List of Ways to Earn Online
Check out our huge list of legit, profitable ways to earn online.
Show me the List!
Full review & guide: how to earn money with Amazon Shopper Panel. Earn Amazon gift card credit by uploading your receipts & completing surveys.
How to earn money with Constant Content via writing articles. Full Constant Content review and earning guide to make cash just by writing.
Pureprofile is a very well put together survey site with a nicely presented survey feed. Even if you get disqualified from a survey you still get paid.
Find the best places to sell used board games near you, or online. Learn how much you can sell board games for, where & earn extra cash today.
Swagbucks & InboxPounds offerwall guide for Mergeland-Alice's Adventure. Is it possible to complete and how to reach level 5, 10, 15, 18 & 20.
Swagbucks offerwall guide for Wizard of Oz Slots. Is it possible to complete the offer, how to do it quickly & reach level 101 to earn.
Offerwall guide for Cash Billionaire on Swagbucks/other GPT sites. Is it possible to complete the offer, how to do it quickly & reach level 41, 81 & more.