Swagbucks Earning Guide

How to Start Earning on Swagbucks

If you're brand new to Swagbucks, first, before signing up, make sure you meet the requirements:

Next, go here to create your account. We recommend using a fresh survey-specific email address if you want to keep your primary email uncluttered.

Related: Survey Safety Guide

Once you've got an account and you're signed in, you're ready to start earning!

17 Ways to Make Money on Swagbucks + Tips

As soon as you log into Swagbucks, you're met with a lot of different things. This can be overwhelming at first, so let's break down each earning opportunity one-by-one:

1. Daily To-Do List

The Swagbucks to-do list is a list of tasks that you should try to complete every day. If you finish at least 4 of the tasks on your list, you'll earn bonus SB. If you finish 6, you'll get an even bigger bonus.

If you do this every day for an entire month, you should be able to earn a minimum of 200 SB per month. That's why it's a good idea to, at the least, just focus on this each day.

Here's a preview of what your to do list might look like:

Tip: Make sure to click the task on your to-do list so that you get credited for it!

2. Daily Goal and Streak Rewards

Your daily goal is the next big thing you'll want to focus on completing every day if you want to earn the most SB possible. Each time you complete your daily goal you'll be awarded bonus SB.

Here's a preview of what your daily goal might look like:

There are also winning streaks for hitting your daily goal multiple days in a row:

• 7 days in a row: 25 SB Bonus.
• 14 days in a row: 100 SB Bonus.
• 21 days in a row: 200 SB Bonus.
• 31 days in a row: 300 SB Bonus.

3. Daily Poll

The daily poll is an easy way to earn 1 SB every day. Simply click through to the daily poll from your to-do list, and answer the question to earn your SB.

I had one recently about surprise parties:

(I'm really not sure how I feel about surprise parties.) As you can see I earned 1 SB for answering. Not a lot, but it was quick and easy.

4. Surveys

The Swagbucks surveys are a good way to earn SB, but there's one catch:

You won't qualify for every survey.

Some surveys will disqualify you part of the way through and you won't get paid the full amount. This is frustrating, to say the least.

To avoid disqualifications, make sure to fill out surveys honestly and accurately. Don't just rush through them clicking random answers.

Also, even more importantly:

Make sure you fill out your survey profile. You should see it on the right of the screen next to the available surveys, it looks like this:

Filling it out will help Swagbucks recommend relevant surveys for you, and you'll also get 2 SB for every 10 questions you answer.

Tip: If you want to earn Swagbucks fast, pay attention to how long each gold survey takes to complete. You don't want to take a 40-minute survey that only pays 10 SB.

5. Promotional Offers and Tasks

The discover tab on Swagbucks is a gold mine if you're willing to sign up for some trial offers or services. As you can see from the image above, you can earn up to 5000 SB with some of the offers.

There are also offers on the discover tab that will give you Swagbucks for doing things like playing mobile games and visiting websites, which is pretty cool.

Tip: Look for services you can actually use and check Swagbucks BEFORE signing up for services online. The Swagbutton is handy for this too as it will alert you when a promo is available on the site you're browsing.

6. Swagbucks Search

Yep, you can actually get paid to use Swagbucks as your search engine.

Each search you make with the Swagbucks search engine has a chance to earn 1-1,000 SB.

It's completely random how many SB you'll get, and it won't work if you just spam the engine with random searches, but hey, it's better than a slot machine. At least it's free to use!

Tip: The best way to earn with Swagbucks search is to set it as your default search engine. Once you sign up for Swagbucks, you just need to download the Swagbucks search extension.

7. Promo Games and Browser Games

If you're like me, when you hear that you can earn money by playing games you get PUMPED. However, it's not exactly what it sounds like.

The majority of the games you'll get paid to play on Swagbucks require you to spend money in order to earn any Swagbucks.

Other games (usually apps) will require you reach certain milestones/levels in a specific amount of time. These can actually payout really well but they can be tough. If you take any of them on, look for a guide online beforehand.

Finally, Swagbucks has its own selection of free browser games (like 2048 and Mahjong) that you can earn 6 SB from playing. The key to these is to just play them over and over until you earn. Your score doesn't really matter as far as I can tell.

8. Swag Codes

Swag codes are codes that Swagbucks hides around their website and social media profiles. If you find a Swag code and enter it in on your account, you'll earn some free SB.

Tip: Download the Swagbucks browser extension and you'll receive a notification (pictured above) whenever there's a new Swag code.

9. Receipt Scanning

Swagbucks will pay you a small amount of SB to upload any receipt. You can also select specific products (food, household goods, etc.) that Swagbucks has on offer and scan a receipt containing those products to earn even more.

Example: Swagbucks might be offering 15 SB if you scan a receipt with eggs on it. To earn, you just need to add the Eggs to your Swagbucks list, go buy some eggs, and then scan your receipt into the platform. You can scan it with your mobile phone or upload a photo of it via your computer.

10. Cashback Offers

These types of earnings are super simple. Swagbucks has partnered with dozens of stores and travel booking agencies to offer cashback. All you have to do is find the store you want to shop at, open it from Swagbucks, and then make your purchase(s) as normal. After your purchase is verified, you'll receive the cashback in SB.

11. Swagstakes

Swagstakes are paid raffles you can enter for the chance of winning more SB in return. Most of these raffles have a limited number of entries, so you can actually have a decent chance of winning.

Example: You can spend 2 SB to enter a raffle that gives the chance of winning 100 SB.

12. Swago

Swago is the Swagbucks version of bingo, and there are some big prizes to be won for playing.

When you take a look at your Swago board, you'll notice each box has a different action written on it. For example, one box might say “Finish a gold survey.”

If you complete an action on your board, the box will change color and you'll get a small reward.

You'll also notice there are patterns on the right side of your Swago board. Here's a preview of some of them:

Your main goal is to match one of these patterns and submit your board, but you can only do this once. You need to be careful and make sure you submit the best pattern you can get, as each pattern gives different rewards.

As you fill up your Swago board you'll notice that you're also earning spins. You can use these spins on the Swagbucks Spin & Win.

Note: Swago is a limited time event that pops up on the platform. Keep an eye out for it.

13. Swagbucks Spin & Win

The Swagbucks Spin & Win is a fun little wheel you can spin to earn random rewards. I've won things like entries into giveaways, Swagbucks, and survey bonuses.

It's honestly pretty fun to use the Spin & Win even though I still have yet to win a big prize from it.

Tip: Make sure to use up all of your spins before they expire! You can see how long you have left at the top right of the wheel.

Note: The Spin & Win wheel is a limited time event that pops up on the platform. Keep an eye out for it.

14. SwagUps

SwagUps are power-ups that give you a special bonus for a limited time. You can receive SwagUps through the spin & win wheel, team challenges, and you can also just get them randomly.

According to Swagbucks, there are two main types of SwagUps:

SB Award SwagUps

These will allow you to earn more Swagbucks when you do certain tasks. Some examples of this kind of SwagUp:

1. Earn double the SB for completing surveys
2. Earn a flat amount of SB for completing a survey
3. Earn double the SB for shopping online

Rebate SwagUps

These types of SwagUps are like an IOU for Swagbucks. For example, you might get one that is worth 500SB towards your next gift card redemption. That means you could redeem a $5 Amazon gift card for free.

Remember to use your SwagUps before they expire!

15. Swagbucks Live (Previously SwagIQ)

Swagbucks Live (previously Swag IQ) is a trivia game show app created by Swagbucks.

The way to win is to answer all the trivia questions correctly. If you do that, you get to split the pot of Swagbucks with the rest of the winners.

You can also earn Swagbucks for answering certain questions. For example, in the photo above the question awards 1 SB if answered correctly.

I like Swagbucks live because it's a fun way to earn Swagbucks and you also learn some random stuff while you're at it. 

PS: If you sign up with my referral code – DeeyHouli – I'd really appreciate it!

16. SwagButton

The SwagButton is a pretty handy tool for increasing your Swagbucks earnings.

Here's what it can do:

1. As you browse the web, it will notify you if there's a cashback offer available. I use the Ebates cash back extension along with the Swagbucks button as sometimes Swagbucks offers a better deal.
2. You'll get notified whenever a Swag code is posted. Free Swagbucks.
3. It will find you coupon codes when you're shopping online.
4. You can also use the Swagbucks button to watch videos and earn Swagbucks.

After you sign up, install the SwagButton to earn 50SB.

17. Referrals

This is where some good money can be made. By referring someone to Swagbucks, you can earn a 300-500SB bonus if they earn a certain amount within 30 days, and you'll also get 10% of their earnings for life.

That means if one of your referrals earns 1,000 Swagbucks, you'll get 100 just because you referred them.

Note: You'll need a lot of active referrals to really reap the rewards of the Swagbucks referral program. Try starting a blog or a Youtube channel to build an audience, and then refer them!

18. Watching Videos

Note: This earning opportunity seems to be no longer available on Swagbucks.

Swagbucks videos are an easy way to relax and earn some Swagbucks. As a bonus, some of the content on the Swagbucks videos section is actually pretty entertaining.

Tip: If you're binge-watching Netflix, let Swagbucks videos run in the background for easy, hands-off earnings.