If you’re like me, then you’re likely glued to your phone throughout the day.
You’re probably surfing the web, going on social media, or playing games… but these activities or apps aren’t paying you.
Instead, sign up for these apps that pay real money and get hip to the highest paying apps of 2025 — effortlessly.
We promise you can get $50 instantly (at least) through these apps that pay you real money.
Most people think that these types of apps aren’t legit… or that they don’t pay out. But contrary to popular belief, these apps are legit and can get you a little extra cash in your wallet.
20 Apps That Pay You Real Money
There are legit apps out there that pay you real money! Here are our top apps that pay you through PayPal.
1. Freecash
Freecash is a quick and flexible way to earn extra money by completing tasks, surveys, and offers. With some top users earning up to $250 a day, it’s perfect for turning your free time into cash. New users can start earning immediately and cash out as little as $5 via PayPal, crypto, or gift cards. Fast, easy, and rewarding—Freecash is a smart choice to boost your income.
- The app has paid out over $50 million to more than 30 million users
- Multiple cash-out options, including PayPal and crypto
- Highly rated on TrustPilot and Google Play
2. Fundrise
Fundrise is a real, much better and desirable alternative to stock market investment. With Fundrise, you deal in the private real estate market that allows you to invest just like the super successful institutions.
You don’t have to be a millionaire to invest in these types of properties. You can now invest in large-scale real estate for as little as $10 with Fundrise.
Through their real estate investment products, investors earned an average of 8.7 – 12.4% on their money last year, all without painting a wall or dealing with unruly tenants.
If you invested just $100 a month in Fundrise and earned an average 9% annual return, your investment could grow to $197,000 in 30 years thanks to compound growth. That’s nearly four times the amount you put in.
There is a reason why they currently have over 2M+ users, this app really pays you! If you’re interested, I recommend you sign up for more information from Fundrise by clicking here.
- Earn passive income with real estate investing starting at just $10
- Easy-to-use app for seamless access to crowd-funded real estate deals
- Perfect for those who want their money to work for them
3. Survey Junkie
Once you’re in you can take surveys and get paid at Survey Junkie. It’s possible to make $30-50 a week completing surveys on your laptop or mobile device.
All you need to do is instantly qualify, then view exclusive offers in exchange for your opinions and get access to paid surveys, clinical trial opportunities, and other work offers.
Survey Junkie’s interface is super smooth and intuitive (unlike the majority of survey company websites that look like they were built in 1997), and members are paid in cash via Paypal.
Oh, and Survey Junkie also has over 44,488 reviews with a 4.2/5 rating on TrustPilot — the highest of any online survey company. This is one is the more reputable survey companies out there and I use it often.
You can sign up for free here.
- Share your opinion to help brands deliver better products and services
- Fast payouts, legit, and our favorite survey site
- Has paid out more than $25 million to its members
4. Current
Current is a mobile banking app that lets you manage your money, save, and spend—all with no hidden fees or monthly charges. One of its best features is the ability to access up to $750 before payday when you set up direct deposit.
Current is currently offering a $50 sign up bonus when you open an account and use the code WELCOME50 when signing up. To get the bonus, just set up a direct deposit of $200 or more within 45 days, and the $50 will be deposited into your account within 10 days.
It’s free to open an account, and with features like early paycheck access and no overdraft fees, it’s one of the most flexible banking apps out there.
- Banking, but better
- Get up to $750 early—no waiting for payday
- Claim your $50 bonus with code WELCOME50 (just set up $200+ direct deposit)
5. Swagbucks
Swagbucks is one the best rewards sites to make some extra money and most of the tasks are incredibly simple to complete.
Swagbucks lets you earn money in so many ways like watching videos, taking surveys, earning cash back or playing games for real money.
But many users of the /r/beermoney submit love racking up SB (Swagbucks) by watching videos in their spare time by using a phone farm.
It’s easy to rack up points though, members can earn a special currency called Swagbucks for completing offers, answering surveys, and logging online activity. You can redeem the currency for gift cards or cash rewards once you’ve accumulated enough.
This is one of the best apps that pays you through PayPal. You can cash out your SB as gift cards to hundreds of merchants or get your cash by PayPal. Many Redditors claim this to be one of the best rewards sites out there.
Interested? Get a $10 sign up bonus here.
- Paid out over $627 million to users since 2008
- Earn with surveys, cash back, testing apps, watching videos, and playing games
- $10 bonus when you spend at least $25 in the Swagbucks shop
6. Nielsen App
Nielsen offers an app and desktop service that allows you to register and earn rewards just for browsing the Internet. Yes, it’s a legitimate opportunity, but you should be mindful of what that means.
Once you’ve installed the application, the company will collect information about your usage habits, activities, and the websites you visit. You don’t have to do anything else, and the service works automatically in the background.
If that’s worth it to you, you can earn $60 passively throughout a year’s time.
- Sign up your computers, smartphones and tablets to earn up to $60 in reward points for gift cards
- Exclusive invitations for survey and research opportunities
- Legit passive income opportunity
7. InboxDollars
InboxDollars is one of the top apps that pay you for taking surveys and more. Do you ever spend a few minutes on your lunch break or at home watching videos online?
This money-making app is right up your alley. It’s available on mobile and desktop and requires you to watch “fun” videos and then take surveys about them.
If you invest just five to 10 minutes per day, you can earn up to $50 extra per month.
That’s not bad, especially if you stick with it, because you can continue to earn more. You’ll get a $5 bonus just for signing up, which is quick and free.
- Get paid up to $225 a month while watching viral videos
- Been around for 20 years
- Paid its members more than $59 million since 2000
7. Acorns
Acorns is one of the best investing apps that doesn’t have account minimum balances or minimum investments.
The app works by rounding your linked card purchases to the nearest dollar and investing the rest into stocks.
You set your risk tolerance the innovative app does the rest — and it’s easy to set up and they are up-front about their fees.
If you are a college student or under 24 years old, it’s free, or you pay $3 a month to use it. If you want to try it out, you can get started with a $20 bonus to cover the first few months.
Sign up to try it risk-free with a $20 sign up bonus.
- Effortless investing: Acorns rounds up your spare change and invests it automatically—no extra work required
- Big potential growth: Investing $100 a month could grow to over $180,000 in 30 years with a 9% return
- Free money: Sign up, fund your account with $5, and set up recurring investments to get a $20 bonus
8. Kashkick
Looking to snag an extra $10 without the hassle of complicated rewards systems? Give Kashkick a shot. Whether you’re answering surveys, watching videos, or trying out new apps, everything you earn is shown in real dollars—no confusing points to convert. Plus, with a low $10 withdrawal threshold, you can cash out to PayPal as soon as you hit the mark. It’s straightforward, quick, and a perfect way to turn spare time into real cash.
- Complete fun tasks like surveys, videos, and games
- No confusing points—earn in real cash and quick cash outs via PayPal
- Last month it paid out $1.3+ million to members
9. Upromise
Receive a $30 bonus when you sign up and link a 529 savings account with Upromise. This free service to help families save for college allows you to earn cashback for dining out, shopping, and using your Upromise MasterCard.
Plus, if you don’t have a 529 plan you can link, you’ll still get a $5.29 bonus just for signing up. Upromise is a great way to earn a bonus and save for the future.
- Upromise is a free service that helps families save for college by offering cash back rewards for everyday activities
- You can earn rewards by shopping, dining, paying, and more
- Rewards are automatically deposited into a linked account, such as a 529, checking, or savings account
10. Blackout Bingo
Blackout Bingo is a mobile game that pays real money. To start, download the app and create an account. Play against others in real-time by joining games with varying entry fees.
When you win, you get real money credited to your account, which you can withdraw using a payment method of your choice. To increase your winnings, look out for promotions and bonuses offered by the app.
- Compete in fast-paced bingo games where your talent determines the outcome, not luck
- Win real money and cash out safely through PayPal or Apple Pay
- With 4.5-star ratings and thousands of positive reviews, Blackout Bingo is a fan favorite for gaming and earning
11. Bingo Cash
Get ready to enjoy thrilling bingo games with real money rewards with Bingo Cash! To start playing in cash games, you’ll need to make a small deposit of $5.
Once you’re in, the competition is on, and the fastest and most strategic players will have the chance to win real money prizes.
While becoming an overnight millionaire might be a stretch, you can definitely make a significant amount by earning up to $83 per game or even more.
And that’s not all; by joining cash tournaments after depositing money, you can boost your earnings with additional cash rewards. These tournaments also come with guaranteed prizes, providing a great chance to win big.
When it’s time to cash out your winnings, the app has a convenient option to use PayPal, making it easy to access your hard-earned profits hassle-free.
- Play for free and see how your skills stack up—real cash prizes are waiting
- No hassle, real payouts: Cash out securely through PayPal and enjoy extra cash in your pocket
- Proven legit: Thousands of players rate Bingo Cash 4.7 stars—why not give it a shot?
12. Solitaire Cash
Want a high-earner game? Make up to $83/game playing solitaire with Solitaire Cash.
We all know that most individuals like to play games for money. But there are already several gaming titles that offer cash prizes that are surprisingly popular.
A free game (Solitaire Cash) allows you to play head-to-head skill-based Solitaire for real money. The winner can win up to $83 per win.
It’s free to download, and they’ve given out a whopping $1.5+ million dollars in prizes so far.
Download it for free and see if you have what it takes to make real money.
- Win real cash playing solitaire – no gimmicks
- Start with just $5 for cash tournaments
- Play against others matched to your skill level
- Free practice rounds to build your strategy
13. Mistplay
We all heard the old saying “time is money” right? Instead of playing games on your phone like everyone else and feeling bad for wasting your time — now you can get paid for it.
Getting paid for playing games sounds like a dream. But if you download the free MISTPLAY app, and then download games from it and play, you earn money.
As you level up you can earn more money for cash rewards or gift cards. If you’re interested, I recommend you download the app from the Google Play store for free by clicking here.
14. Robinhood
Robinhood is a free investing app for your phone.
I really mean free all around – free to join and they don’t charge any fees to buy or sell the stock. You can get a share of stock like Apple, Ford, or Sprint for free when you join through this link.
To get a free share of stock (worth up to $225) all you would need to do is download the Robinhood app through this link and be a new user. It’s 100% free and legit.
The value of the free share may be anywhere between $2.50 and $225 and fluctuates based on market movements. You’ve got nothing to lose. I told you this was easy! Sign up through here.
- Investing app that offers commission-free trades on stocks, ETFs, options, and cryptocurrency
- No minimum account balance required
- Over 23.4 million funded accounts and 10.9 million monthly active users
15. Rocket Money
Rocket Money is a real, much better and desirable alternative to all the other money saving apps on the market. With Rocket Money, they have saved over $15M for its users on their bills (think cable or cell phone bills) and canceling forgotten subscriptions.
Have a cable bill that has been increasing over the years? You can now simply download a free app, and they will negotiate it down for you.
Rocket Money will help you take control of your money, users have saved over $15M to date, and all without being a financial expert or dealing with staying on top of your bills, which can be a full-time job.
There is a reason why they currently have over 50,000+ users, this app really gets you back free money.
If you’re interested, I recommend you sign up for more information from Rocket Money.
- Helps lower your internet, phone, and cable bills automatically
- Trusted by over 5 million users to cut monthly expenses
- Contacts providers to find discounts and hidden savings
- Saves users an average of $300 per year
- Charges no upfront fees — you only pay if they save you money (40% of the savings)
- Tracks and cancels unused subscriptions effortlessly
16. Fetch Rewards
Fetch Rewards is a mobile rewards app that pays you for shopping (from any grocery store).
They work directly with popular brands to bring you savings on thousands of products every day, no matter where you get your groceries. Just scan your receipts and make money fast.
This is a great way to make money, the easy way, and can add up to a large wad of cash with time.
Once you scan your first receipt, you’ll get 3,000 points which you can claim for a $3.00 Visa Gift Card.
Click here to sign up for free!
- Snap photos of your receipts to earn points on every purchase
- Redeem points for gift cards to top stores like Amazon
- Use promo code C1JAV to get a $2 bonus when you sign up (after scanning any receipt)
17. eToro
If you really want to make big money, then you should learn about options. You can use either Robinhood to trade options or my personal favorite is eToro.
eToro is a mobile application for trading options that spares you the mumbo jumbo, and lets you start making bets for or against top companies and ETFs (it’s totally free – no FEES!).
Options trading is much better than buying stocks because you stand to gain so much more money. I follow WallStreetBets on Reddit and just today somebody made $25,000 on a Tesla options bet.
If you don’t know about options but want to learn, eToro is a great way to do it. Even if you only have $10 to your name you can still earn over $100 with just one option trade.
Sign up for eToro and deposit $10.00 or more to get started so you can start scoring legit big amounts of cash.
18. MyPoints
Have you heard of MyPoints? It’s a side hustle application that pays you to shop online. I love it because it lets you earn cash for the shopping you would do anyway.
You can also earn money through multiple other methods. You can choose to watch some videos, play games, read emails, and fill out the online surveys in return for some points that you can later redeem for gift cards. It also offers points for shopping online.
MyPoints is affiliated with over 75 known merchants, and you can get a gift card of your choice.
And right now, you can earn a $10 Amazon gift card with your first purchase at any retailer through MyPoints.
- Legit rewards platform to earn points for shopping online, printing coupons, answering surveys, watching videos, & playing games
- Good beer money site if you do a lot of online shopping
- Get a $5 welcome bonus for confirming your email
19. Rover
This one is for all the animal-lovers out there! Dog-walking has 3 lucrative benefits – You get to spend time with your four-legged friends and you yourself get some exercise. You can find dog-walking gigs on Rover.
They are one of the nation’s largest networks of pet sitters and dog walkers. Users can easily search for the services they need, connect with a sitter or dog walker, and even book and pay securely without the need for cash, checks, or tips.
What can be easier or more fun than walking sweet pets that you don't have to take home at the end of the day? Start dog walking with Rover today!
20. Your Other Options
If you actually need money now, then you can opt for a personal loan. When you need money in a hurry ZippyLoan is where to go.
You apply for a loan through the Zippy Loan site, if approved they send your loan application to one of many loan providers.
You review the loan details and e-sign if you like what you see. No risk in checking what offers you’ll get. You can borrow between $100 and $15,000 as soon as tomorrow.
Loans service up to 60 months.
ZippyLoan connects borrowers to lenders through their network of lenders. They’ll find you the lowest interest rate and is one of the best no credit check loan. You can visit ZippyLoan here.
- Get access to loans ranging from $100 to $15,000
- Quick approval process
- All credit types accepted
Why Should You Use Apps That Pay Real Money?
When you officially make that leap into adulthood, it comes with a long list of responsibilities — financial ones included. If you are looking for ways to make extra money through apps that pay you through PayPal then you’ll love this list.
It’s nice to have a little cash handy, right?
You could always pawn some of your stuff, true, but no one likes doing that. You could also ask your family for free money, but that’s no good, either. And taking out a payroll advance or personal loan is an even worse strategy.
Why not try out one of these money-making apps instead? That’s right: These are legitimate money-making apps that can net you some extra funds for whatever, whenever you want.
Enjoy Your Earned Paypal Through Apps That Pay
There you have it. If you’ve finished the list, you’ve just made some free money through these apps that pay you real money.
We wish you the best of luck on your money-making journey! Just remember, with most of these services, consistency is key, so be diligent about completing your daily check-in and continue to use the service if you want to earn more lucrative amounts of cash or gift cards.
It’s always better to use these opportunities as additional cash for smaller purchases, rather than to rely on them for a steady income.
FAQs
1. How can I earn money playing games on mobile apps?
With the surge of mobile games on platforms like the Google Play Store and iOS App Store, some apps now allow users to win real cash prizes. For instance, gaming apps like Solitaire Cash, Solitaire Cube, and Blackout Bingo offer a fun way to play popular games while also competing against other players for cash competitions. Most of these game apps require you to pay an entry fee, but if you have a knack for these games, there’s a potential to earn good money.
2. How do these money-making apps transfer my earnings?
Different apps have different methods of payout. Most apps pay directly to a linked bank account or through payment platforms like PayPal. Some apps may offer payment in the form of gift cards to major retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart. A few apps also offer direct deposit, while others might provide a prepaid shipping label for certain tasks, like selling items. It’s crucial to read reviews and understand the payout process of each app before you start investing your time and potentially, your money.
3. Which are some of the best money-making apps related to shopping?
There are quite a few apps designed to help you earn cash rewards from online shopping and even in-store purchases. Ibotta is a popular app that gives you cashback for grocery purchases from partner brands when you upload a picture of your receipt. Rakuten, formerly known as Ebates, rewards you for shopping in-store and online at selected retailers. These apps track your shopping habits and give you a fraction of your spending back, either in the form of actual cash or redeemable points for gift cards.
4. Can I really earn money selling stuff through apps?
Absolutely! Platforms like the Amazon Seller app or eBay allow you to list items, from clothing to electronics, and make money selling them to potential buyers. Another app, Decluttr, specializes in buying used items directly from you. You just scan the book’s barcode or enter details of other items, get an offer, and then ship the item with a free pre-paid shipping label. These platforms provide an excellent way to declutter and make a side hustle income.
5. Are there any apps that pay for market research or taking surveys?
Yes, market research apps are a straightforward way to earn money online. Apps like Nielsen Computer and Mobile Panel pay for unused net traffic from your smartphone. Survey sites such as Opinion Outpost, Swagbucks, and Toluna Influencers reward users for completing surveys and other tasks. These surveys pay users for their opinions and insights, which companies use to refine their products or services. However, while some surveys might offer higher payouts, it’s essential to note that not all surveys will match your profile, so patience is key.
6. Are there any “too good to be true” money-making apps I should be wary of?
While many apps offer genuine opportunities to earn money, there are scams out there. It’s essential to be cautious. Always read reviews from other users, check if the app has any known affiliations with major brands or retailers, and ensure their payment methods, like PayPal or direct bank transfers, are secure. If an app calls for upfront payments without a clear description of services or offers “too good to be true” payouts with minimal effort, it might be best to approach with caution.
A great article with tons of information. Thank you for clarifying and having all this information in one place.
why is survey junkie and adwallet websites never seem to work propperly in the uk?,you can download both apps but as soon as you want to try and make money it comes up with error 404?,any chance anyone can get this sorted so it works in the uk?
Hi Mark, thanks for sharing your thoughts. Yes I’ve seen some Fiverr sellers offer to leave comments on blogs. Sure, they charge more, but obviously their revenue is not guaranteed. Perhaps you can try both?