11 Legitimate Ways to Get Paid for Searching the Web

Can you really get paid to search the web? Yes! There are a number of legit websites that will pay you real money to surf the internet like you normally do. You’re not going to make a ton of money, but it’s an easy option when you have a little extra time.

Learning how to get paid for searching the web is great for college students, stay-at-home parents, side hustlers, and anyone else who wants to make a little extra money. All you need to get started is an internet connection and a computer or smartphone.

We’re going to breakdown all of the best options, but here is a quick summary of my top picks:

1. Swagbucks

Swagbucks is one of my favorite online rewards platforms because you can make extra money in a bunch of different ways, including getting paid to search the web. You can also make money taking surveys online, earning cashback for shopping online, playing games, and more.

Signing up with Swagbucks takes less than five minutes, and you can get paid to download and use the Swagbucks Search Extension. You earn points for searching the web, and the average earnings are 10-20 points for every 10-20 searches. Those points, or SB, convert to cash at a rate of 100 SB = $1.

Swagbucks Quick Summary:

• How much can you earn: Earn $0.01 to $0.20 per search
• Requirements: Must be at least 13 years old
• Payment methods: In points that convert to PayPal cash or gift cards
• Minimum cashout: $1 for gift cards, $5 for PayPal
• Sign-up bonus: $10
• Get started

2. InboxDollars

InboxDollars is a market research company that pays users to watch videos, take online surveys, and search the web through its InboxDollars Search. Every time you complete four web searches, you see a Scratch & Win bar at the top of your screen fill up. Once it’s full, you can unlock scratch cards, which are like lottery tickets.

The scratch cards on InboxDollars can be worth $10 to $100, but most of the time they pay less than $0.25. This isn’t the most lucrative way to make extra money, but it’s an option.

InboxDollars Quick Summary:

• How much can you earn: Earn less than $0.25 to $100 with scratch cards, and surveys pay $0.50 to $5
• Requirements: Must be at least 18 years old
• Payment methods: PayPal, check, Visa prepaid card, or gift cards
• Minimum cashout: $15
• Sign-up bonus: $5
• Get started

3. Nielsen Computer & Mobile Panel

Nielsen is a global marketing platform that helps companies gain insight into what consumers are thinking. This is why they pay you to search online through their desktop and mobile panels.

You’ll need to fill out a short registration form that gives Nielsen more information about you, your household, and the devices you use. Then you download the Nielsen app or browser extension. This is an incredibly passive way to make extra money searching the web because once you’ve downloaded the software, there’s no additional work involved.

Nielsen Computer & Mobile Panel Quick Summary:

• How much can you earn: Up to $50 a year
• Requirements: Must be at least 18 years old
• Payment methods: Points that are redeemable for PayPal cash or gift cards
• Minimum cashout: 800 points to earn a $5 gift card
• Sign-up bonus: $0

4. Microsoft Rewards

The Microsoft Rewards program is a free program that pays Microsoft users for doing things like searching the web, taking quizzes, and more. If you’ve been researching how to get paid for searching the web, you may have heard of Bing Rewards — it’s the same company, but with a new name.

You can make even more money if you use the Microsoft Edge Browser on your phone to search with Bing. This is how you move from a Level 1 to Level 2 user, which means you can earn 4x points a day. You will need to create a free Microsoft account to get started.

Microsoft Rewards Quick Summary:

• How much can you earn: 5 points per search (Level 1 members can earn up to 5 points per day or 150 points per month, and Level 2 users can earn up to 20 points per day or 600 points per month)
• Requirements: Must be at least 13 years old and have a Microsoft account
• Payment methods: Points are redeemable for gift cards, sweepstakes entities, and donations to nonprofits
• Minimum cashout: Varies by redemption method

5. MobileXpression

MobileXpression is a data collection app that runs on both Android and Apple phones. Once you download it, it runs quietly in the background, making it pretty passive. The app isn’t collecting any sensitive or personal information. It only looks for information about how you use your phone.

New users automatically earn a $5 Amazon gift card in the first week, and you can earn about $5 a month in points after that. Your points are redeemable for Amazon gift cards, charitable donations, or you can use them to enter sweepstakes.

MobileXpression Quick Summary:

• How much can you earn: New users automatically earn $5 in the first week, and you can earn approximately $5 a month after that
• Requirements: Must be at least 18 years old
• Payment methods: Points are redeemable for gift cards, sweepstakes entities, and donations to nonprofits

6. Savvy Connect

Savvy Connect says it uses “safe, cutting-edge technology to collect data as you surf the web.” The idea is that they’re paying you for information about search, shopping, and entertainment trends. This app also pays you for taking online surveys, and its survey site has been operational since 1999.

Once you download the Savvy Connect app, it runs in the background and you get paid for searching the web from your smartphone, tablet, and/or PC. It takes around 2 minutes to sign up and get started, and you’re paid once you accumulate $1 in incentives.

Savvy Connect Quick Summary:

• How much can you earn: Most people earn approximately $5/month for each device that the app is installed on.
• Requirements: At least 13 years old
• Payment methods: Check
• Minimum cashout: $1

7. Appen

Appen is a task-based platform where you get paid as an independent contractor to work on projects that can last a couple of days to several weeks. There are search engine evaluator jobs where you get paid to search the web, critique, and rate search results.

There are no qualification exams to start working for Appen, but some projects require that you pass one. You’ll be able to browse job listings to see eligibility requirements before taking on any projects.

As far as what search engine evaluators do, you do more than simply get paid to search the web. Projects may require:

• Search media evaluation
• Social media evaluation
• Translation services
• Survey and data collection (these are shorter projects that last anywhere from 15 minutes to 3 hours)
• Linguistics specialties (like text to speech, computational, phonetics, pronunciation, annotation, etc.)
• Lexicon annotation
• Speech evaluation
• Image annotation and/or transcription
• Video annotation
• Sensor data annotation

Appen Quick Summary:

• How much can you earn: $4-$14/hour
• Requirements: At least 18 years old
• Payment methods: PayPal or Payoneer
• Minimum cashout: n/a

8. InstaGC

InstaGC is a marketing research platform that pays users gift cards for searching the web, completing surveys, watching videos, and shopping online. This site only pays in gift cards, and you can choose from 320+ gift cards.

One of the biggest advantages of InstaGC is that you only need $1 in your account to redeem any gift cards, and the downside is that it only pays in gift cards.

InstaGC Quick Summary:

• How much can you earn: InstaGC claims some users earn $5-$20/day
• Requirements: At least 13 years old with parental consent
• Payment methods: Gift cards
• Minimum cashout: $1

More VERY easy ways to make money online

Besides learning how to get paid to search the web, you might be interested in a few more ideas. The following are apps that pay you for shopping online, playing games, and more. They’re all 100% legit and free.

9. Honeygain

The Honeygain app is the first-ever app that allows users to make money online by sharing their internet connection. Honeygain creates a gateway for other companies to use for search queries, like keyword analysis and online research. Don’t worry, it’s not sketchy stuff!

Your overall earnings are based on the amount of traffic you’re able to share, and the amount of traffic you share depends on the number of devices you’ve registered with Honeygain and how much data you have. For example, you can earn around $19/month if you have 3 devices registered and are sharing 6GB of daily traffic.

Honeygain Quick Summary:

• How much can you earn: $1 for every 10GB of traffic that goes through your network
• Requirements: At least 18 years old
• Payment methods: PayPal, Bitcoin, and JumpTask
• Minimum cashout: $20
• Sign-up bonus: $5

10. Mistplay

Mistplay is a game-testing platform for Android users. You get paid to test new games for developers and give feedback that helps identify any glitches.

​Players earn points based on the region they’re located in, the amount of time they spend playing, and the level they’re at. Mistplay pays in units that you can redeem for gift cards to places like Amazon, Best Buy, or Visa prepaid cards. Choosing to redeem your points for gift cards gives you the most bang for your buck because your units are worth less when you redeem them for Visa prepaid cards.

Mistplay Quick Summary:

• How much can you earn: $3-$30/month
• Requirements: At least 13 years old
• Payment methods: Gift cards
• Minimum cashout: $0.50

11. Rakuten

Rakuten, formerly eBates, pays you cash back for shopping online through the Raktuen app. It’s a super straightforward and easy way to get paid for something you’re already doing.

After you sign up for a free Rakuten account, you can browse offers and click on any you want to claim. Offers are things like earning 2% back when you shop at Macy’s or 5% back at GameStop. Rakuten sends you to their partner site when you click on the offer, and then you shop like you normally would. The app tracks your earnings, and you’re paid every quarter.

Rakuten Quick Summary:

• How much can you earn: From 0.50% to 15% cashback when you shop online
• Requirements: At least 18 years old
• Payment methods: Check or PayPal
• Minimum cashout: Rakuten sends our quarterly payments

How to Maximize Your Earnings

Because most of the ways you can get paid to search the web are fairly low-paying overall, here are some tips to maximize your earning potential:

Tip #1: Make money with your daily searches

Use the platforms listed above as if it’s your default browser. For example, if you’re looking for a chocolate chip cookie recipe or want to research buying a new car, use the Swagbucks Search Extension or InboxDollars Search. These platforms want you to use their browser extensions like they’re Google.

Tip #2: Sign up for multiple sites

There’s no reason you can’t try out multiple platforms to find out which is the best one for you. Every site will have a different user experience, and make a list of your options and try each of them out.

Tip #3: Optimize your time

Getting paid to search the web isn’t a lucrative way to make extra money, so think about how you’re using your time on each of these platforms. These are ideal options if you’re on your daily commute, waiting in the doctor’s office, watching TV at the end of the day, in the carpool lane after school, etc.

The Final Word on How To Get Paid to Search the Web

While you can make money surfing the internet, this is a really low-paying option overall. We’re talking pennies per hour in some cases.

But if you still feel like this is a worthwhile way to make extra money, my top picks are:

• Swagbucks: Get paid $0.01 to $0.20 per search. You can also make money shopping online, taking online surveys, and watch online videos
• InboxDollars: Search the web to earn scratch offs where you can win $0.25 to $100. InboxDollars also pays $0.50 to $5 taking online surveys.
• Honeygain: Share your internet connection and get paid $1 for every 10 GB of traffic that goes through your network.