Looking for a comprehensive Swagbucks review? Want to make money on Swagbucks? I’ve put together a very comprehensive guide on how Swagbucks works, how to earn free gift cards, and my top tips for earning more with Swagbucks.
Looking for more ways to earn free gift cards? You can earn free gift cards from Shopkick and Fetch Rewards. And here are 15 More Ways to Earn Extra Money.
What Is Swagbucks?
Swagbucks is a site that rewards you for completing tasks and doing certain actions online. When you complete a task, you’ll earn points called SBs that you can cash in for free gift cards.
You can earn free Amazon gift cards, Starbucks gift cards, Visa gift cards, Walmart gift cards, and dozens more! You can even earn gift cards for free hotel, travel, and airline sites.
How Do You Earn Free Gift Cards with Swagbucks?
Swagbucks offers many different ways to earn points toward free gift cards. Some of the more popular ways to earn are doing online searches, signing up for offers, printing coupons, completing special offers, and taking polls.
Does Swagbucks Really Work?
When I first heard about Swagbucks, I was a little leery because it sounded too good to be true. But I went ahead and tried it — and after earning multiple gift cards every month for the past eight years, I’m here to tell you in this Swagbucks review that it’s not too good to be true. Swagbucks works!
And I’m not alone. I know dozens of friends who’ve also had great success with Swagbucks — earning at least a gift card or two every month and sometimes much more than that.
Here’s a Swagbucks review from one of my readers:
I have earned $325 in Amazon Gift Cards from Swagbucks. Last year, I bought all of my husband’s Christmas gifts, and a few gifts for the Grandparents. This year we have used it mostly for “extras” that I didn’t want to pay for, but really wanted to have (aka: my blow money). I normally earn $5-10 a month in gift cards — and I don’t have any referrals under me. I simply search on my laptop and my Android. -Andi
See more testimonials from my readers on how much they are earning with Swagbucks here.
How Do You Get Started Earning With Swagbucks?
To get started with Swagbucks, sign up for a free Swagbucks account. It’s simple and easy to sign up and you can start earning points right away!
I encourage you to set an earnings goal each day and try to login and hit that, if possible. If you can even just put in 5 to 15 minutes each day, it can really start to add up! I loved what Megan posted in her Swagbucks review on my Facebook Page that she does:
I have found that watching (usually with the sound off) about 30 seconds on 10 videos on Swagbucks TV is a fast way to earn bucks… in addition to doing the daily poll, NOSO, and using the toolbar. In about 10 minutes of your day, 15 Swagbucks is pretty doable. We have a tight budget, so the 10-15 minutes a day is worth it for us. I have several little kids so can’t commit much time or energy to it, but every little bit helps and has worked for our family. -Megan
How Much Can You Earn with Swagbucks?
You can easily earn $5 to $20 per month in Amazon gift cards without spending a lot of time.
However, if you want to earn more in a shorter time period, I highly recommend checking out Swagbucks TV — especially if you spend a lot of time working on the internet every day. You can increase your earnings significantly by watching Swagbucks TV each day while you’re working online — or through their smartphone apps.
In addition, if you have friends you know who would love to try out Swagbucks, be sure to pass along your referral link so that they can earn free gift cards, too.
I’ve earned over $75 this year through Swagbucks and I honestly don’t even spend three minutes a day earning points. Not too shabby! -Theresa
Do You Have To Refer People To Make Money?
Swagbucks has a great referral program: you’ll earn matching points for the first 1,000 points anyone you refer earns. Obviously, this is a fantastic way to increase your earnings — and one way that has helped me earn quite a few more Swagbucks over the years.
If you try Swagbucks and it works well for you, be sure to share your referral link with your friends or write a post about it on your blog. Don’t keep a good thing to yourself.
That said, you can still earn a decent amount with Swagbucks even if you have no referrals at all.
How Do You Redeem Your Swagbucks?
Once you’ve earned enough Swagbucks to cash in for a gift card, you just log into your account and request your gift card. You’ll have to confirm your request and then your gift card will show up in your account within a few weeks.
There are dozens of different gift cards to choose from but I’d recommend going for the $5 Amazon gift cards for 450 Swagbucks each. This is the best deal and you can use an unlimited number of Amazon gift cards per order on Amazon.
Is Swagbucks Really Worth Your Time?
When my husband was in law school and every penny had to be carefully spent, I would have LOVED to have something like Swagbucks.
I was desperate for any way to make $0.50 — even if it took me 10 to 20 minutes (or longer!) to do so. At that time in my life, it was good if I were making $2-3 per hour. Swagbucks would have been a DREAM come true to have as an option!
I never forget those days and I know many people here are in that kind of spot in their life, so I want to provide them with solutions that might work for those who don’t have a lot of immediate options or for whom an extra $15 or $25 per month could make such a difference!
For people who aren’t in that type of season of life and don’t have a spot in their day when you can multi-task and earn SBs while doing something you’d already be doing (working on the computer, cooking, cleaning, etc.), there are probably better ways to be spending your time.
However, I bet everyone has a few spots in your day when you could easily earn at least a few SBs. And it’s fun to watch them add up!
How to Earn More Swagbucks
Looking for the best tips to earn more Swagbucks? I compiled 10 of my best tips for earning more Swagbucks below:
1. Print Coupons
Did you know you can earn SB’s for printing coupons? You’ll earn $0.01 per coupon printed (up to 50 SB’s per day). Allow 48 hours for these to be credited to your account.
To find the coupons, look under Discover and then Grocery Coupons. It also says that you’ll also earn 25 SB’s for every coupon redeemed in store, but it takes up to 12 weeks for these to show up in your account.
2. Play Games
There are a few games that are free to play and you can easily earn 10 SB every day for doing so.
Look under Play on the sidebar and then choose Swagasaurus Run (scroll past the games that aren’t free to find it). You get 2 SB for every two games you play (each game takes about 30-60 seconds to play), up to 10 SB total per day.
My kids love to help earn SB by playing these games!
3. Answer Questions
You can earn 2 SBs for every 10 multiple choice questions that you answer! I don’t know that there is a limit on this (anyone know?). I’ve done it more than once and not been limited.
To find this offer, just click on Answer and then look over on the far right side.
4. Complete the To Do List Every Day
When you log into Swagbucks, look on the lefthand sidebar for your daily To Do list. You can click on each of the items on the list and it will take you directly to where you need to go to complete the task.
Most of these can be done in seconds and you’ll be awarded a bonus if you complete all of the tasks on your list each day.
Sarah says: “I absolutely love Swagbucks. The Amazon gift cards I earn from it pays for nearly all of the Christmas gifts we purchase as well as other household purchases throughout the year. I think everyone should give it a try.”
5. Check Your Swagbucks Inbox
Click on the little mailbox icon in the upper right corner and check your Swagbucks inbox. Usually, there are a least a few offers in there to earn easy Swagbucks — such as to watch a video and earn 1 SBs or to click on an article and earn 3 to 5 SBs.
I typically just click on anything email that is a 1-5 SB offer and then click through on it. You don’t want to take much time on these, but if you can earn a few SBs in less than 30 seconds or a minute, it might be worth it!
6. Play Videos in the Background While You Work
If you have a job that you can play videos in the background on your phone or computer, don’t miss this! You can also play them on your phone or computer while you’re working on other tasks at home or when you’re out and about.
Best of all, there is no limit to how many videos you can watch. You earn points when you’ve watched an entire playlist.
Tips For Earning More with Swagbucks Videos:
I would recommend making it a habit to start playing the videos at set times during the day when you don’t need your phone, but can have it near to you. I just turn off the sound and have the phone nearby me when I’m working on blog projects. You’ll want to check in on it periodically as sometimes it will stop playing or you’ll need to engage with the content or restart the videos to continue watching.
Here are two tips from my readers’ Swagbucks reviews:
Christina says: “I LOVE Swagbucks! Worst month, I make about $40. Best month, $120. Pays for all of our toiletries and then some. I run nCrave videos on my desktop, and run videos on my phone and tablet. Not much else.”
Karen says: “Make sure you have the most up to date version of the app. If you don’t, it won’t let you earn points. I exclusively use the apps when I’m not using my phone or run them on another mobile device and it’s rare for me to not earn 50 SB a day from them.”
Do note that many of the videos are for movie trailers or other things that might not necessarily be family friendly. Also, keep in mind that playing videos will drain your phone battery, so it’s great to do this when you can have your phone plugged in.
7. Run the nCrave Videos in the Background
This is another easy way to earn Swagbucks that requires very little effort! Just click on the nCrave section (this is listed under Watch on the homepage) and have these playing in the background while you are using your computer.
These will continue to play and earn points for you as long as you have the window open and periodically check in on the content and engage with it. Usually it will pop-up with a notice when you need to go engage with the content again for it to keep playing.
8. Book Your Travel Through Swagbucks
Do you purchase airline tickets or book hotels online? If so, you’ll want to check to see if you can purchase them through Swagbucks!
They offer great cash back offers for many travel sites. And typically, when you book travel, it’s going to be at least a few hundred dollars — which means that your cash back can add up very quickly!
To book your travel, just go to the Shop section on the lefthand sidebar and then click on Travel. Click through on whatever travel site you are planning to purchase your tickets or book your hotel through.
Since it takes a little while for Swagbucks to verify things, allow a week for your purchase to show up as pending in your account.
9. Refer Your Friends
Have any friends who might be interested in earning free gift cards with Swagbucks? If you encourage them to sign up with your referral code, you’ll earn 10% of their earnings — for life! So as long as they are earning Swagbucks, you’re earning Swagbucks!
Plus, they oftentimes run bonus offers where you can get an additional SBs bonus when they first sign up and earn SBs.
Karen submitted this tip and she said, “There is a Facebook group called Swagbucks Swaggernauts that is awesome! Be sure and read the pinned post at the top-it is full of tips and hints. Members also post new deals that worked and things to look for.”
I hope this Swagbucks review was helpful! What other tips or advice do you have for earning more Swagbucks? Tell us in the comments so we can help each other out! And I’d love to hear your own personal experiences and Swagbucks review if you have one to share.