14 Best Jobs to Work Online and Get Paid Instantly

The Holy Grail of making extra money is being able to work online and get paid instantly. Who doesn’t want flexibility and fast cash!?

But here’s the thing about articles like this — most of them are just lists of survey sites. And yes, you can work online and get paid instantly with surveys, but you’re only making a dollar or two per hour. 

We can do that better than that.

This list does have survey sites, including our two top picks: Branded Surveys and Survey Junkie, but you're also going to get some of the best side hustles that pay quickly — at least weekly.

If you want to work online and get paid instantly, we're going to make it easy and separate this list into two sections:

• Get paid in 72 hours or less
• Work online and get paid every week

Don't you love choices?

Here's How to Work Online and Get Paid Instantly

Get Paid in 72 Hours or Less

These first options are easy ways to make extremely fast cash. They may not be the most lucrative options, but they're ideal if you're looking to make a few extra bucks with minimal work.

1. Branded Surveys

What we love about Branded Surveys is that it has one of the fastest payment processing times — just 1-2 business days! Plus, the minimum cash-out amount is only $5, which means you can pretty much work online and get paid instantly.

Branded Surveys is like the rest of the survey sites on this list in that you're not making serious cash, but it's very easy work. You're getting paid to answer short surveys about different products and services, and Branded Surveys launched a brand new app in 2023.

You're paid in points that convert to PayPal cash, gift cards, or bank transfer, and the average survey pays $1 to $3. In theory, you could take two surveys and cash out immediately. Learn more in our full Branded Surveys Review.

2. Survey Junkie

Survey Junkie is one of the most well-known and reputable survey sites online. It's 100% free to sign up for and use, and you can start getting paid to take surveys in about 5 minutes or less.

You earn points for each survey you complete, and 100 points = $1 on Survey Junkie. You can request a payout once you've earned 500 points. Survey Junkie used to require that users reach 1,000 points, but lowering the cash-out threshold to 500 points means you can practically get paid every day you take surveys.

The points you earn on Survey Junkie can be cashed out for PayPal cash, bank transfer, or gift card to major U.S. retailers. Learn more in our full Survey Junkie Review.

3. Opinion Outpost

Like all of the survey sites on this list, you are helping companies with valuable market research. The survey companies match you with surveys, and the majority of them take only a few minutes to answer. 

Through Opinion Outpost, you’ll take surveys for electronics, medicine, sports, politics, advertisements, appliances, food, and more. It’s mindless work, but take the time to answer honestly.

You earn points for each survey you complete, and each point is worth $0.10 with a minimum cash out of $10. Opinion Outpost also enters you into a prize drawing for every survey you finish. Learn more in our full Opinion Outpost Review.

4. Ibotta

Ibotta is an incredibly popular cash back site where you earn cash by shopping online and in stores for things like groceries, clothes, home goods, travel, and more. Ibotta has already paid out over $500,000,000 to users!

What you’ll love about Ibotta is that it pays cash, not points.

Here’s how you can work online and get paid instantly with Ibotta:

• Earn in-store by adding offers to your Ibotta account and uploading a photo of your receipt. You are paid in cash within 24 hours.
• Link loyalty accounts at participating retailers so you don’t have to photograph your receipts.
• Shop through the Ibotta app to make cash when you make an eligible purchase.

Ibotta works with over 300 different retailers, and they recommend checking the app as often as possible because they regularly add new offers. Learn more in our full Ibotta Review.

5. Upside

Even though we're talking about how to work online and get paid instantly, you have to leave the house at some point. So why not make easy money when you get gas?

The Upside app (formerly GetUpside) gives you up to $0.25 back per gallon of gas, and money hits your Upside account as soon as you submit your receipt. You'll need to have $10 in your account to cash out, and Upside gives you referral codes to share with friends so you can make even more money.

Upside is available to use at over 45,000 locations nationwide, including Phillips 66, BP, Circle K, Valero, Conoco, and more. Learn more in our full Upside Review.

6. Swagbucks

Did you know that you can get paid to watch movies? Nope, this isn't a scam, Swagbucks is a 100% legit side that will literally pay you to watch movies, play games, take surveys, shop online, and more.

Now, you're not going to strike it rich watching movies and playing games online. But, this is easy money if you're looking for a way to work online and get paid instantly.

Swagbucks pays in points that convert to PayPal cash or gift cards, and you only need to earn $5 in points to cash out — this is an extremely low cash-out threshold! Learn more in our full Swagbucks Review.

7. Amazon MTurk

Amazon Mechanical Turk, or MTurk, isn’t a survey site. You’re getting paid to do short tasks online that have to be done by a human. Some of the tasks you might get paid for are:

• Identifying objects in a photo or video
• Performing data re-duplication 
• Transcribing audio recordings
• Researching data details

The way you work on Amazon MTurk is by setting up a free account, browsing through a list of online tasks called HITs (Human Intelligence Tasks), and submitting your work.

Once your work is approved, you can immediately transfer your earnings to a U.S. bank account or receive them in your Amazon account in the form of a gift card.  Check out our list of Best Side Hustle Apps for more information.

8. Mindswarms

Mindswarms is an online market research platform that pays you to record one-minute long video responses to short surveys. All of this happens through the Mindswarms apps, and you earn $10-$50 per survey.

You’ll need to fill out a short application before you are approved for a survey, and Mindswarms will only send you applications if they match your basic information (like age, gender, and region). Surveys are on a first-come, first-served basis, so they recommend applying for as many studies as possible to increase your opportunities to work online and get paid instantly.

Speaking of getting paid, Mindswarms sends out your payment via PayPal within 24 hours of taking the survey. 

Work Online and Get Paid Every Week

If you want to make even more extra money and are willing to wait just a little bit longer, this section is for you. You can earn $1,000/month or more with at least one of these ideas!

9. Bookkeeping

Freelance bookkeepers help business owners record and manage daily financial transactions. This can include paying bills, managing payroll, and collecting payments. Bookkeeping is not the same thing as accounting, and that difference is why you can start bookkeeping online without a degree or certification.

Bookkeepers need to be familiar with popular financial software like Quickbooks and know how to read and create balance sheets. Pay is around $15-$20/hour, and you can work online and get paid daily or weekly.

10. Proofreading

Proofreaders correct punctuation, grammar, and spelling errors in written content, and they can be a massive help to professionals who don't feel confident in their own proofreading skills. Proofreading is a very flexible online job if you're detail-oriented and good at spotting errors.

You can work online and get paid daily, weekly, or with whatever arrangement you have with your clients. Pay ranges from $15 to $40/hour depending on your experience.

11. Freelance Writer

Freelance writers are responsible for writing the majority of the content you see online these days, such as web copy, advertising copy, blog posts, and more. What's great about this gig is that you don't necessarily need a background in writing or a degree in journalism or English. It takes solid communication skills and a natural ability to write well.

The way you work online for clients is that they give you an assignment and you get paid as soon as you complete the work. Some clients offer long-term freelance contracts and will even pay upfront for a portion of the work.

Freelance writers can realistically expect to $1,000 or more a month. It can take a little time to build up your client base, but you can begin finding clients on freelance platforms like Fiverr or Upwork and start today.

12. Digital Marketing

Digital marketing for small businesses is when you create, run, test, and manage ad campaigns on Facebook. It’s digital marketing on the world’s largest social media platform. It's our favorite way to make money online… next to blogging, of course.

The reason we love it so much is because in just a few hours a week, you can make an extra $1,000-$1,500/month per client. 

Now, we never thought we would put this side hustle in a list of ways to work online and get paid instantly, but let us tell you a story…

A few months ago, someone in our exclusive M$M Facebook Group was asking about the Facebook Side Hustle Course (this course teaches you how to run Facebook and Instagram ads). They wanted to hear from other students before joining. Comments rolled in from happy students, and then the wildest thing happened — someone in the group hired the original commenter to run ads for their business.

Before this person even took the course, they had a paying customer waiting for them!

These ARE NOT typical results, so don’t think this is a get-rich-quick scheme. But if you are interested in earning an extra $1,000-$1,500/month or more, it’s worth learning more about.

13. Sell Digital Printables on Etsy

This is a really cool way to work online and get paid instantly, because it can be a fairly passive way to get paid, and is an awesome option for creative people.

Digital printables are files you create and sell on Etsy for items like planner pages, wall art, invitations, party decorations, and so on. It takes some graphic design skills, but many people use Canva, which is a very user-friendly graphic design software.

Because these are digital files, you can sell them indefinitely with very minimal work. You still need to drive traffic to your Etsy shop, but there's no need to manufacture, store, or ship physical products. New Etsy sellers (when your shop is less than 90 days old) get paid 3 business days after they make a sale, and after those 90 days, you get next-day payments.

Learn what kinds of products sell best throughout the year with this free Seasonal Products ebook. It outlines printable ideas for each month of the year and how you can capitalize on them.

14. Virtual Assistant

Virtual assistants (or VAs) work online and get paid to help business owners with behind-the-scenes work that doesn't have to be completed by the business owners. These include tasks like:

• Email inbox management
• Social media management
• Publishing blog posts
• Assembling reports
• Bookkeeping
• Scheduling appointments

VAs are vital to running a business — we couldn't run this business without our VAs! You can work online and get paid daily or weekly depending on the arrangement you have with your client. The average virtual assistant makes $500/month per client, and you can work for multiple clients at a time.

This is some of the best online work if you have experience in executive assistance, HR, customer service, or project management.

The Final Word on How to Work Online and Get Paid Instantly

Technology has made it so much easier for you to work when and where you want and get paid as quickly as possible. There are over a dozen ideas on this list, but my top picks are:

• Taking online surveys: While you're not going to get rich taking online surveys, it's easy and you can start today! We recommend starting with Branded Surveys and Survey Junkie.
• Proofreading: You can make $500 to $2,000/month proofreading everything from blog posts, emails, ebooks, articles, social copy, sales pages, resumes, and so much more. Learn how to get started in the FREE, hour-long Well-Paid Proofreader seminar.