Swagbucks Review 2023: A Legit Way to Earn Extra Money?

Swagbucks rewards you for things you are already doing, such as answering surveys, shopping online, or searching the web.

While Swagbucks won’t make you rich by any means, it’s a free and easy way to make some extra cash in your everyday life.

When browsing the net for ways of making money online, you have probably come across many paid online survey sites.

So in this article, I am going to give you my deep dive Swagbucks review after personally spending countless hours on the website to put it through the paces. 

I’ll answer all your questions, such as is Swagbucks legit? Is Swagbucks worth your time? How much you can make?

Let’s dive in! 

Is Swagbucks Worth My Time?

For us, using Swagbucks is just an easy part of any day- we earn extra money as we go and earn rewards for fun, and it helps us use our boredom as a money-making opportunity!

So in my mind, yes, taking surveys and playing games to make a few bucks is definitely worth my time.

But this is still a relative question, depending on how much spare time you have, and if there are other things available for you to do/work on that could get you a higher return on investment.

You shouldn’t be ignoring your work to play games, you’ll definitely make more money from your job.

But most of us have time throughout the day that we have a few spare minutes and could do some small things that don’t require a lot of concentration, which will add up over time.

There are some things that you can do to earn money on Swagbucks that won’t mean you doing any additional work to what you would usually do, which we will share with you in this article.

Is Swagbucks Legit Or A Scam?

Yes, Swagbucks is a legitimate and safe way to make a little extra cash in your spare time.

The Better Business Bureau gives Swagbucks’ parent company, Prodege LLC, a B rating.

Trustpilot scores them at a 4.2 out of 5 with over 35,000 customer reviews- 82% of those reviews being either “Great” or “Excellent”.

I’ve used Swagbucks for years, and it’s an easy way to earn rewards throughout your day. It’s easy to use Swagbucks to get a few bucks here and there in PayPal cash.

It’s good to be wary, as you don’t want to be sucked into a scam and end up giving away your personal information or, worse, losing any money.

Luckily for you, we try out everything and let you know what is legit and what isn’t, and whether it’s worth spending your time on or not.

Swagbucks is a free way to earn extra cash or a gift card while playing games or earn money back when you shop online without much effort on your part.

Swagbucks has paid out over $266 billion in cash and gift cards to their members since they started, so it goes without saying, you are able to get money from this site.

How Swagbucks Works

Swagbucks is primarily known as a survey site, but there are other tasks that you can complete there to earn Swagbucks rewards, known as SB points.

Each task that you do will earn you a different amount of SBs- and there are plenty of fun ways to earn SB points!

So how does Swagbucks pay cash if you earn points instead of dollar bills?

Once you reach a certain amount, you can exchange it for either cash or a free gift card at popular retailers like Amazon.

You could earn a PayPal gift card and use it at even more retailers.

There are some Swagbucks hacks that you will find sprinkled throughout this post to help you earn more SBs, including Swagbucks codes!

Sign up to use Swagbucks today and earn your FREE $10 sign up bonus! 

Signing Up With Swagbucks

You can create a Swagbucks account for free (never pay to join a site!) by clicking the button below. 

New users get an instant sign-up bonus for joining- and you can check other apps that offer sign-up bonuses here!

You’ll be asked some basic information about yourself, so you answer surveys based on your demographics.

Next, you can add the Swagbucks browser extension, which will provide you with savings and coupon codes while you shop online.

Then your Swagbucks account should be set and you can start making money right away.

Earn Easy Money Online With Swagbucks

There are loads of ways to earn extra money with a Swagbucks account, which is great because you can then pick and choose the things that you prefer to do.

Swagbucks shows you the cashback that you can get on various sites, the best paid surveys, popular ways of earning on the site, and a whole bunch of other ways to get SBs from doing different tasks.

There are coupons, promo codes, cash back, survey questions, online shopping deals, and more! We also have a list of Swagbucks hacks to help you earn even more. 

Take Surveys

Swagbucks surveys are probably not going to make you a millionaire any time soon, but you could earn easy SB points- and they’re one of the best survey sites you can use!

Surveys are made by market research companies who want your opinions and feedback on products and services.

You will be asked some easy questions to answer, and this will earn you anywhere from 1 to 1,000 SBs.

The amount that you could earn from them will be displayed before you click on them, with the longer surveys generally earning you more.

Paid surveys that are available to you on the Swagbucks app depend on the information that you gave when you signed up.

If you want to make more money by taking surveys, I put together a list of the best survey sites to earn extra money each month.

Coupons & Earn Cash Back

Have you heard about cash back before? It’s the best way to earn money on purchases you’re already making!

If you are on a cashback site, and when searching the web while shopping, you’ll earn cash back on the purchases you make.

It’s essentially a way of getting money for free, for doing something that you were going to do anyway!

Make sure that you start off on the Swagbucks website, then select the retailer that you wish to buy from.

This will send you through to the retailer site, where you will complete the transaction as normal.

Your click-through will be tracked and you can get cash back on this purchase.

To get free coupons (food and grocery) on Swagbucks, you will need to click on your desired coupons, which will put them into your grocery coupon cart.

You can then print them out and use them at your usual store as you would normally.

If you use their Chrome Extension called Swag Button, you can be alerted if there are any coupon codes on the site that you are on and also if the site you are on offers cash back too.

Swagbucks Search Engine

Swagbucks members can earn points while using it as a search engine!

What do I mean by that? You can earn points using Swagbucks just by looking things up online like normal with your default search engine.

I do like Google, but I’ve switched over to the Swagbucks search engine to get points faster when I look things up.

You can set the Swagbucks search engine as your default search engine, just like you would Google or Bing,

When you use Swagbucks to search for whatever you want to know, you earn points that go towards money in your pocket!

Discover Deals & Free Trials

Rather than just earn Swagbucks points that you can turn into cash, you can simply rack up your savings using Swagbucks.

It’s worth heading over to the Deals section of the website to see what there is, as there is always so much on offer!

You can also get points for signing up for free trials and trying out new services.

For example, on there right now, as I am writing this, you can earn 75 SB for signing up to receive a free money-making eBook or earn 300 SB for signing up to a credit score site.

Play Games

Are you addicted to playing games on your phone?

You can play games on Swagbucks to earn SB points when you make an in-game purchase. 

It doesn’t matter if you win or lose in the game – you will earn SBs based on your in-game purchases.

You could make money playing games like:

Angry Birds Champions
Wheel of Fortune
Dynomite
Bejeweled Blitz
Solitaire TriPeaks

You can earn 4 SB per $1 on these games, and there are plenty more games for you to check out!

Refer Your Friends

This is a great way of getting Swagbucks points because if you are enjoying using the site and want to let your friends know about it, you can earn SBs for doing so.

If you refer your friends to Swagbucks, you will both get 300 SBs once they have reached their first 300 SB.

Not only that, you earn 200 SB when they’re shopping online and earn 25 SB themselves- you’ll actually get 10% of their earnings for life!

You can refer friends with a unique referral link that is provided for you on the site, or you can enter their email addresses, or post on social media.

Birthday Points

On your birthday, you can get a bonus of 50 SB (which is valid for 30 days) when you cash out a voucher. 

These are called a ‘Rebate SwagUp’ which is like a bonus or power-up that Swagbucks will award you.

You can also get SwagUps from participating in Team Challenges, as prizes from the Spin and Win Wheel, and you can also receive them randomly from the Swagbucks team.

Swag Codes

Swag codes are like a secret code that is given out, which will earn you extra SBs.

Each code is worth a different amount, but they will all only be valid for a short space of time – so it’s worth keeping your eye out for them!

If you’ve downloaded the Extension, you will be notified when a Swag Code is available.

It won’t tell you that specifically, but it will tell you something like “Check Facebook!” – meaning that there is a code on their page.

To redeem Swag Codes- head to the top of the page and click on the Swag Safe icon (thelock icon), which will bring up the Swag Code box.

You can then enter the code that you’ve found there to redeem.

Daily Goal Bonuses

You can earn money from Daily Goals that will come up on the homepage. For example, on the site now there is a Daily Goal of earning 30 SB to get you a bonus of 3 SB.

Sign up for Swagbucks today and earn your first FREE $10 sign up bonus! 

Swagbucks Reward Options

I’ve mentioned how you can earn points from answering surveys, searching the web, and even from Swagbucks shopping.

Once you’ve earned Swagbucks points, it’s time to get Swagbucks rewards!

You can use your Swagbucks to get gift cards or PayPal cash.

Gift Cards

You can earn points on the Swagbucks app to snag gift cards, and getting a free gift card as a gift is my favorite thing!

It will save me money on something that I either need or want- or I can re-gift a gift card instead of spending my own money, though some people say that may be too frugal.

I just used a couple of gift cards from Swagbucks this past week on groceries and toys for my daughter. All free for me!

You can buy discounted gift cards via Swagbucks for popular retailers that you can either give as gifts or use yourself for getting money off your shopping.

PayPal Cash

When you hit 2500 Swagbucks points, you can exchange it for a $25 right to your PayPal account.

I love this option since so many places will take PayPal, from local artists and shops to friends and family. 

Swagbucks Pros vs. Cons

As with most things that you can do, you have pros and cons to using Swagbucks.

It’s up to you to give it a try and decide for yourself, but these are our thoughts:

Pros

A simple way to earn money online if you have some spare time, such as when you are watching TV or waiting for an appointment
Gift cards can be used at a huge variety of places, like Starbucks, Home Depot, Best Buy, and more – but most importantly, Amazon!
Earn cash directly to your PayPal account- this is a great one because it’s essentially cash money, not just a gift card that you are getting- we all love a bit of money in our accounts!
Lots of different ways that you can earn money, so it’s different every day and you can mix it up, like taking surveys, playing games, or even just regular online shopping cash back
Free trials and Swagbucks shopping deals give you  a chance to try new things at a discount.

Cons

Can take time to earn enough money to cash out, the amount of time varies
How much money you earn depends on the time you put in
No bank account deposits
You may get fewer surveys for products and services depending on your demographic
Could encourage you to spend money rather than make money (such as within the games where you can earn SBs with in-game purchases)

FAQs

Does Swagbucks pay real money?

Yes, you can earn real money from Swagbucks! They don’t deposit money directly into your bank account, but there is real money involved. 

Swagbucks offers you rewards points for playing games, completing surveys, shopping online, and more, and you can use those reward points to trade in for prizes.

One of those prizes is PayPal payouts, where you get direct deposits of money to your PayPal account.

You can also get gift cards for payout, which are just as good as cash and can be used like normal money, of course.

Can I watch videos to make money?

Who doesn’t enjoy watching videos in their free time? This is my all-time favorite, I’m watching TV anyway so why not earn money doing it? 

This is probably one of the easiest ways to earn extra money because you can leave videos running in the background on your phone or laptop whilst you’re doing other stuff.

Swagbucks now longer offer videos to watch as a way to earn money online, but there are other survey apps to make money from videos.

InboxDollars has become my go-to app for watching videos and earning easy money.

Want to see how InboxDollars differs from Swagbucks? Check out my article- Swagbucks Vs. InboxDollars!

Savvy Tip: There are other ways to earn money from watching videos too!

Can Swagbucks be trusted?

We’ve used Swagbucks for years, and it is an app we trust to have fun and make money.

There are over 10 million Swagbucks members, and they wouldn’t have so many people if it was a scam!

Swagbucks is certainly a way you can make money from home, make money on the go, and so much more.

Final Thoughts

It’s always a good idea to earn some passive income on the side or earn some gift cards to use down the road with just a little amount of time.

Although taking paid surveys is not earning passive income it is the easiest way to earn a little money on the side in your free time, with just a little bit of effort.

There appear to be many good reasons to start using Swagbucks. So we are happy to recommend Swagbucks to you and have personally used it, but it’s down to you to have a try and see what you think!

Want some other options for survey sites like Swagbucks? Check out Survey Junkie, MyPoints, and InboxDollars.