32 Best Apps That Can Make You Money Fast in 2021

You already do everything from banking to handling your bills via smartphone. So why not use your phone to earn money, too?

The apps to make money listed below generally won’t make you rich any time soon. But many can give you ways to earn just a bit of extra cash. Check them out if you want to earn a little money on the side, often for little to no actual work.

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Top Money Making Apps

Yes, there are 32 money-earning apps on this list, but not all of them will be a good fit. Here’s a list of or top 10 that most people will be able to benefit from:

Best for filling out surveys: SwagBucks
Best for savings (and making money): Capital One Shopping
Best for investing: Robinhood
Best for price drops: Earny
Best for selling used items: Mercari
Best for grocery shopping: Ibotta
Best for mystery shopping: Field Agent
Best for health-conscious folks: Sweat Counter
Best for small gigs: Money Machine

32 of the Best Money Earning Apps for 2021

1. Capital One Shopping

Disclosure – Capital One Shopping compensates us when you get the Capital One Shopping extension using the links provided.

One of the best savings (and making money) apps is Capital One Shopping. It’s a shopping app that can help you make money in two ways: finding better deals and giving you rewards.

The first is by helping you save money on the products you buy every day. A penny saved is a penny earned, so saving money on a purchase you were going to make anyway is just as good as making money.

Capital One Shopping has a database of websites that sell a product and the price it sells it at. Once you install the app on your browser, Capital One Shopping can automatically comparison shop for the product you’re interested in. You can also use the phone app to scan barcodes of products in stores and find local retailers selling the same thing for a better price.

The other way Capital One Shopping can make you money is by giving you rewards when you shop. You can add deals from local merchants and online vendors to your account. When you shop at one of those stores, you’ll get reward points you can redeem for gift cards to popular websites. Read our full Capital One Shopping review.

2. Robinhood Free Share of Stock (Up to $200)

Robinhood is an investing app offering you the opportunity to buy stocks with a $0 trading cost. The beauty of the app is you can invest in partial shares of stock; so if you only have $20 to invest, you can still own part of Google!

The bonus of Robinhood is when you sign-up (which is free), you’ll be awarded a free share of stock. This share of stock can range in value anywhere between $2.50 and $200 (the value of the stock is likely on the low end but you’ve got a shot for a good one!). Read more about it in our full Robinhood Review.

Advertiser Disclosure – This advertisement contains information and materials provided by Robinhood Financial LLC and its affiliates (“Robinhood”) and Doughroller, a third party not affiliated with Robinhood. All investments involve risk and the past performance of a security, or financial product does not guarantee future results or returns. Securities offered through Robinhood Financial LLC and Robinhood Securities LLC, which are members of FINRA and SIPC. Doughroller is not a member of FINRA or SIPC.”

3. Swagbucks $5 Bonus

We’ve written before about Swagbucks as a way to earn side money. You can make this even easier now by using Swagbucks as an app instead of just on your computer. As with many of the other apps featured here, this one will give you notifications when you’re eligible to take surveys or complete other paid tasks. Read the full review here.

4. MyPoints $10 Bonus

MyPoints is a popular rewards site established in 1996 that offers users the ability to accumulate virtual points in different ways to exchange them for prizes or cash. You can later redeem your points for Amazon gift cards or 75+ other retail and restaurant partners. Read the full MyPoints review here.

5. Worthy Bonds

Worthy Bonds earns a fixed rate of return of 5% and the cost of the bond is only $10. Buy as many bonds as you’d like and watch as you accrue interest weekly. Bonds have a 36-month term but can be cashed out at any time, without penalty. Check out Worthy Bonds or read the full Worthy Bonds Review here.

6. Public

Public is a social investing app making it possible to build your financial literacy with your friends. Public offers fractional shares of thousands of public companies and ETFs, allowing you to build a portfolio no matter your budget.

Since Public is a social experience, they offer many ways for members to earn free “slices” of stock (valued up to $10) for referring their friends. Like other apps, each Public member gets a unique share link. Public also makes it possible to share your trades outside the app (even to Instagram stories!), and when you do and friends join and are approved, you can earn free stock. You can also earn free stock by inviting friends to chat groups. Once they join and are approved, you’ll earn free stock for that, too. The more friends you bring in, the more slices you earn. Read our review of Public here.

7. Acorns $10 Bonus

Acorns is a terrific investing and savings app offering $10 after signing up. Acorns can help you in tracking your daily finances, saving for the future and planning an investment strategy that fits your risk profile. Read our full review of Acorns here.

8. Earny

If you use credit cards or retailer apps, chances are some of the items you buy are subject to price protection policies. This means if the price drops within a certain amount of time of your purchase, you get a refund. Earny hooks up with your credit cards to automatically search for price drops and subsequent refunds. The app takes 25% of the refunds it gets you. But it’s still free money. Read our full Earny review .

9. Shopkick

Use the Shopkick app in your favorite retail stores, including Target and Walmart. While you’re there, you can complete challenges like walking down different aisles or completing a scavenger hunt for certain items. You can also earn points by submitting your receipt after you shop. You can redeem Shopkick points for free gift cards to Amazon, Target, and more.

Shopkick has an exclusive promotion for our users worth $5 of kicks when downloading the app. Use promocode: DOUGHROLLER

For more information read our Shopkick review.

*Currently Shopkick only works in the US and Canada.

10. Rakuten

This cash back app lets you search for rewards, coupons and promo codes. If you’re a frequent mobile shopper. Installing Rakuten can help you save. The app also gives you push notifications about new deals and sales.

11. Google Opinion Rewards

Here’s yet another survey app that lets you get surveys about once a week. With this app, you get rewards you can use in the Google App store. The surveys are generally pretty short and can include things like rating different ads.

12. Money Machine

This app is similar to others that focus on surveys but also lets you earn money by watching videos and completing other small online tasks. It will notify you when you can complete different types of offers. You can then transfer the rewards to your PayPal account as cash.

13. iPoll

This app gives you alerts when you qualify to take a paid survey. You can set up your profile ahead of time, and then get notifications for surveys for which you qualify. You can also do product reviews, be a secret shopper, or test ads. You’ll get rewards, which you can redeem at iPoll’s online store.

14. Sweatcoin

This app basically turns your step counter into cash. It tracks your activity and then rewards you with sweat coin. You can’t turn the digital currency into cash. But you can spend it in the in-app store on goods and services, or you can donate them to charity as cash. It’s an easy way to earn cash just by walking around.

15. Foap

If you’re constantly snapping photos on your smartphone, Foap could help you make money. You can sell your photos to brands and individuals around the world. You can sell photos you already have in an online portfolio. Or you can go on specific missions to sell photos to brands like Bank of America or Pepsi. Foap lets you cash out your earnings through PayPal.

16. Mercari

Turn your spring cleaning into cash with Mercari. This app-based shop lets you sell everything from toys to clothes. Your listings are free. You just pay a 10% fee when your sale is complete. This is also a great place to buy used merchandise online.

17. Mobee

Want to become a secret shopper? Mobee lets you do it easily. Download the app and then use the map to pick a business on it. You can complete missions at a variety of retailers and restaurants. You’ll get points for each mission, which you can redeem for gift cards or swag.

18. Offer Up

Here’s another way to sell unwanted stuff with ease. Just download the app, and then sell pretty much anything. This app is made for local sales of larger items like furniture, but you can also find baby and kid stuff, clothes, electronics, and more.

19. Task Rabbit

If you’re interested in earning money by completing basic tasks and running errands locally, check out Task Rabbit. You can earn money for completing these things for your neighbors, and then you can cash out your money. It could be a good side gig.

20. Ibotta

Use Ibotta when you go shopping to save with cash back rebates or earn points for buying your favorite brands. You can also earn by linking your store loyalty cards to the app or sending your receipts to the app after you shop. You can cash in your cash back through PayPal, Venmo, or in the form of gift cards.

21. Bookscouter

This book lets you find retail pricing for used books and textbooks. Just use your phone’s camera to snap a picture of the book’s ISBN, and you’ll see what it’s worth online. You can even use the app to create a shipping label for the books you send to Bookscouter. This is a great app if you want to declutter some books, cash in on your used college textbooks, or shop for potentially valuable used books at garage sales and thrift stores.

22. Snapwire

Here’s another app that lets you make money off of your smartphone photos. This gamified photo selling app gives you points and lets you level up as you provide businesses with photos. You can use the app to create a portfolio and to share photos with whoever you want. You can also get notifications about requests you might be able to fulfill.

23. Decluttr

This app lets you sell specific types of items that you might have lying around the house. It focuses on CDs, DVDs, and games. You can use the app to snap a picture of the item and get an instant offer for the price. You can ship the items to Decluttr for free and get your money by direct deposit the next day.

24. Checkout 51

This is both a couponing and a cash back app. It lets you search for and save coupons before you go grocery shopping. Then you can use the app to earn cash back when you purchase your favorite brands.

25. Lyft

As with Uber, Lyft drivers have to apply. And Lyft’s criteria are a bit more stringent. But, still, you can install this app to give rides as you go about your own day, which can be an easy way to earn a bit of money on the side.

26. Gigwalk

This app is generally geared towards those who want to make a few bucks, but you could also become a full-time Gigwalker. You can use the app’s built-in map feature to find gigs near you. Gigs can include things like putting together furniture, walking the dog, or just running basic…