Is Swagbucks Legit or a Scam?

By David Weinrot | April 2, 2020

Updated: February 22, 2022 by Stacy Garrels

For over a decade, consumers have turned to Swagbucks as a trusted way to make money online. Ever wondered about Swagbucks and whether or not they can really be legit? Read more here in this Swagbucks review.

We’re talking Swagbucks review on iTunes, Google Play, Better Business Bureau, and TrustPilot. And real reviews from actual members. Also see what reputable news sites and financial outlets like Forbes, Wall Street Journal, and Mashable are saying.

What is Swagbucks?

Swagbucks is a free online rewards membership program. It offers everyday consumers ways to make money online – from their laptop, desktop, smartphone, tablet, or other internet device.

A Swagbucks member can earn gift cards and PayPal cash for completing different online activities. Take online surveys, shop online, redeem Swag codes, play games, search the web, and more.

Members simply sign-up with an email address and password. And, after members verify their account, they can start earning points in the Swagbucks rewards currency called SB. Once members have as few as 110 SB, they can redeem the points for free gift cards. They can also go for PayPal payments, a check in the mail, or donate all (or a portion) of their earnings to a charity. You can make the donation directly from the Swagbucks portal.

Is Swagbucks Legit?

It’s easy to have suspicions about or question the legitimacy of a website like Swagbucks that’s given away over $700 million to its members. It turns out, however, that Swagbucks is 100% legit with hundreds of thousands of happy users. Every day tens of thousands of Swagbucks members get free gift cards and Paypal cash from Swagbucks.

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What’s the evidence that Swagbucks is legit?

For starters, Swagbucks’ parent company Prodege has an A rating with the Better Business Bureau. Swagbucks also has over 25,000 reviews on Trustpilot with an overall rating of 4.3 starts (out of 5).

There are also countless write-ups across the web attesting to Swagbucks’ legitimacy. A simple search for Swagbucks Reviews on Google will turn up numerous results from several different review sites, all of which report that Swagbucks is definitely not a scam.

Swagbucks User Review Scores

Swagbucks has top user review scores, by users, on a number of review sites.

“Excellent” review on Trustpilot: 4.3 of 5.0 stars from 25,700+ reviews
Google Play: 4.2 of 5.0 stars from 82,800+ reviews for the app
iTunes: 4.4 of 5.0 stars from 60,400+ reviews for the app
Sitejabber: 4.3 of 5.0 stars from 9,000+ reviews

Swagbucks in the News and Media

Swagbucks has got lots of great coverage in the press. Swagbucks has been featured as one of the apps or ways to make money in these news outlets:

Business Insider: “It’s an easy way to make money online”
Scary Mommy: “Best Apps to Save You Money”
US News & World Report: “How to Earn Gift Cards with Swagbucks and Swag Codes”
CNET: “Earn rewards for searching the web”
Salt Lake Tribune: “Ways to make up to $500 in extra money this month”
Better Homes and Gardens: “Make Extra Money From Your Phone Anywhere”
Forbes: “5 Ways to Make More Money Without Lifting A Finger”
New York Times: “4 Free Apps That Can Earn You Extra Cash”
Los Angeles Times: “Side-gig options abound for college students”
Money Talks News: “How You Can Score Gift Cards for Free”
Wall Street Journal: “Ways to Jump-Start Your Emergency Savings”
Yahoo Finance: “How To Make Money Without a 9-to-5 Job”
Chicago Tribune: “This couple paid off $5,000 in debt on one income in one month”
Woman’s Day: “Surveys You Can Take to Make Money”
MarketWatch: “This mother took her family on a $2,200 vacation to Disney World – for free”
Good Morning America: “Shop smart with these top tools”
Mashable: “Legit ways to make money without leaving your house”
Refinery29: “Cell Phone Side Hustle – Extra Ways to Make Money”
Thrillist: “10 Totally Legit Ways to Make Real Money Online”
Buzzfeed: “Totally Legit Ways to Make Money in Your Spare Time”

How do Swagbucks Members Make Money Using the Service?

There are a number of ways that members legitimately make money online using Swagbucks.

Take Surveys for Money

Members who complete Swagbucks surveys will SB. Market research companies work with Swagbucks to collect members’ opinions through online surveys, about products and services. Members complete market research via paid surveys, either on the Swagbucks app or the Swagbucks website.

Answering surveys is probably the most popular way to make money online through Swagbucks. Which is why Swagbucks is known as one of the best survey sites out there. It doesn’t require users to spend any money to make money, and there are thousands of surveys offered every day on a wide range of topics.

And, because it’s such a popular way for members to get free gift cards, Swagbucks has a special Swagbucks survey app called Swagbucks Answer. The Swagbucks Answer app has a 4.4 star rating with over 71,000 reviews in the Google Play Store and a 4.3 rating in the Apple App Store with over 30,000 reviews.

This means you can answer surveys and earn cash anywhere you’ve got Internet connection. Answer surveys on your work PC, laptop, tablet, or on your phone at a coffee shop or while watching TV on the couch.

Get Paid to Scan Receipt

Swagbucks pays its members to scan receipts from places like grocery, convenience and drug stores. To make money by scanning your receipt, simply download the Swagbucks app and snap a picture of it from within the app.

Get Paid to Try Products

Yes, you can get paid for online shopping.

Swagbucks members can get cash back from literally thousands of stores like Walmart, Best Buy, Home Depot, Target, Hotels.com, Old Navy and countless others.

To get cash back, Swagbucks members simply click through from Swagbucks to whatever store they want to shop at.

Or, Swagbucks members use the popular (and highly rated) Swagbutton, which is an awesome browser extension that alerts members whenever they are shopping online.

The Swagbutton also shows valid coupons that help members save even more money when they shop online.

Get Cash Back When you Shop Online

Swagbucks likes having its members spend time on its website so much so that it pays them to play games.

Well mostly. Game companies and app developers want more players. So they reach out to Swagbucks. When Swagbucks sends them new players, they pay Swagbucks and Swagbucks will share a portion of the cash reward with you. That’s how you can literally earn cash for playing games.

Some games may require an in-app purchase to get the reward, but that is not very common. In game purchase are usually offered though – to enhance gameplay and make it easier to progress.

Make Money Playing Games

Swagbucks likes having its members spend time on its website so much so that it pays them to play games.

Some games may require an in-app purchase to get the reward, but that is not very common. In game purchase are usually offered though – to enhance gameplay and make it easier to progress.

How to Earn Money Online Playing Games on Swagbucks

So we went over the why you can make some extra cash (or gift cards) for playing games. Here’s the how.

Look over the game options in Swagbucks (on the Discover page).
Select the game that you want to play. There are over 100 options on any given day, including Gin Rummy, Grand Mafia, World Series of Mafia, Bingo Blitz, or Slotomania.
Read the offer details in “Learn More”. It will tell you what you need to do to earn the cash reward. Usually it’s something like install the app and play 1 round, or reach level 25 within 7 days.
Play the game and have fun! Make sure to follow all the steps outlined so you can earn cash.

Your reward will get credited to your SB account. For some games, the extra cash gets added within 3 days of reaching a certain level or completing all needed steps. For other games, you may need to wait 7 to 10 days or more. Each game is different.

And there are other fun games you can play too to earn even more extra cash.

Live Trivia on Swagbucks

The most popular Swagbucks game is called Swagbucks Live. It’s a live-stream trivia game show that airs Monday – Thursday at 8PM Eastern/5PM PT. Swagbucks offers up to $1,000 in prize money for each game played. Each game attracts over 20,000 players all competing for a piece of the grand prize. The Swagbucks Live app has almost 12,000 reviews in the Apple App store with an overall rating of 4.8 stars (out of 5). And, there are over 6,000 Swagbucks reviews in the Google Play Store with an overall rating of 4.6 stars (out of 5)

Get Paid to Search the Web

Swagbucks will pay you to search the web. No, Swagbucks doesn’t have its own search engine. You can search the web on Swagbucks using the Yahoo! powered search engine.

Use the Swagbucks search engine and get quality search results, but you’ll earn money for each web search that you make. There’s even an option to make the Swagbucks search engine your default search engine.

Many Swagbucks members will use Google and the Swagbucks search engine. You get a variety of search results and it’s yet another way to earn more money online. Among the different online tasks that Swagbucks will pay you for, searching the web is just about the easiest.

How Much Money Has Swagbucks Paid Out?

Perhaps the most meaningful testament to whether Swagbucks is legit or a scam is how much it’s paid out to its members. Swagbucks has paid out over $400. Many have made between $5 and $10. But, there are some incredible examples of members who made thousands of dollars of using Swagbucks. Check-out the profile of some of the members who have made big bucks using Swagbucks!

Tim aka Chesapeakejet has earned almost $2,000
Chelsea aka CAHern614 has earned over $3,000
Diane aka DMRidley51 has earned almost $3,500
Suzanne aka CasaDega has earned over $5,000
Jona aka JoanDe has earned over $12,000!

Swagbucks is absolutely legitimate. It has paid out over $650,000,000 to members. There are countless members who have earned as much as $12,000 using Swagbucks. Swagbucks is even a safe way for teens to make a little pocket money.

Its parent company has an A rating with the BBB. It has been in business since 2008. The parent company also has a professional and highly experienced management team. According to the Wikipedia entry about Swagbucks, its CEO was the former CEO of Fandango and Shopzilla; and, he was an executive at Disney Online.

How Do You Get Paid on Swagbucks?

Complete different online activities on Swagbucks, like taking surveys, online shopping (cash back rebates), playing games, or redeeming Swag codes.

When you complete these activities, you’ll earn points called SB. It’s 100 SB to $1 USD.

Redeem Your SB Points

It’s easy to redeem points or SB.

Tap or click on your profile.
Select “Redeem your SB”.
You’ll be directed to a page that shows all the different gift cards and reward options.
Select the reward option you want.

That’s it. You’ll be taken through a couple of easy prompts, like confirming your reward option you’ve selected or verifying the email address on your Swagbucks account. (Electronic gift cards are emailed to members.)

Cash Out With $1 in Earnings

Once you’re reached $1 in earnings, you can cash out with a free Amazon gift card.

If you would like a different reward option, you can cash out with $3 to $5 for many other available gift card options.

Swagbucks Reward Options

You’ve got lots of options to earn money on Swagbucks, and plenty of options to cash out that money too.

PayPal cash: Have your earnings deposited as PayPal cash into your PayPal account.
Charitable donations: Donate all or a portion of your SB earnings to a charity like Unicef, Red Cross, or Doctors Without Borders. You don’t have to give away all the extra money you’ve earned. You can donate as little as 5SB or $0.05 to charities.
Gift cards: Redeem your Swagbucks earnings for a gift card to Amazon, Target, Starbucks, Walmart, Best Buy, or hundreds of other popular retailers.
Check: We can send you an actual print check in the mail. Many members love this option. They just prefer checks, or they like how it disciplines them into saving their extra money instead of spending it online.

As an added bonus with gift cards, each month you can redeem one gift card for 12% off. The gift card limit is usually set at $25. But this means every month you can buy one gift card for Amazon at 12% off. Or at Target or Walmart. It’s like getting even more extra money for free.

How Do You Earn SB Points?

Earn SB points for the different ways we’ve outlined above. But here’s a quick summary again on how you can earn SB points. (It’s 100 SB to $1.00.)

Taking online surveys
Inviting friends and family (Swagbucks Referral Program)
Trying free samples and new services (free trials, freebies in the mail, etc.)
Trying new apps
Playing games
Shopping online (cash back rebates)
Searching the web
Scanning receipts
Playing live trivia
Redeeming Swag codes

Accumulate Swagbucks points or SB and redeem them for free gift cards and PayPal cash.

Swagbucks Browser Extension

Swagbucks offers a free browser extension you can add to your Chrome browser. (Translation: there’s a little tile or icon you can add near the top of your search bar when you use the Internet.)

The Swagbucks browser extension is called the SwagButton. It works with the Chrome browser. The Chrome browser is the browser that Google’s created to help users search the web – it’s the one with red, green, yellow, and blue icon.

Install the SwagButton and you can earn an SB reward. And it will help you automatically earn SB when you’re online.

Cash Back Alerts: When you’re on a merchant page (i.e. Best Buy) that offers Swagbucks cash back, the SwagButton will automatically alert you. It will tell you how much cash back that site pays out, and asks you if you want Swagbucks to give you that discount. (Obviously you do.) In just one click, you’re making sure you can earn cash back on your visit.
Coupon Alerts: You’ll also get coupon code and promo code alerts from the SwagButton. Say you’re shopping Kohls.com. The SwagButton will alert you to all available coupon codes for Kohl’s. And with one click, the SwagButton will automatically test all the coupon codes and apply the best one that will give you the best discount for the items in your cart.

Automatically Earn Points

In addition to the SwagButton, there are other ways to automatically earn points on Swagbucks.

Swagbucks Referral Program – Refer friends and get an upfront bonus of up to $3 and 10% of their earnings for life. (As long as you both remain active members.) This means you can earn money while you’re sleeping.
Make Swagbucks your default search engine. You’re already searching the web anyway, earn reward for it.

How is Swagbucks Different from Other Reward Sites?

Being able to cash out with just $1 in earnings, Live Trivia, and the huge variety of ways to earn rewards online makes Swagbucks different from other competitors. When it comes to the other guys, Swagbucks beats them hands down.

Easiest to Get Your Money: While many other rewards and survey sites require a $20 to $50 minimum, on Swagbucks you can cash out with $1 in earnings.
Best Surveys: Swagbucks has the best surveys. With its parent company Prodege and other Prodege brands, Swagbucks has over 2 decades of experience in the online surveys space. Market research partners (big brands and agencies) trust it and give us the most surveys.
Most Ways to Earn: Swagbucks isn’t just surveys like other companies like Survey Junkie. Members can earn for searching the web, playing free games, cash back shopping online, and much more. Swagbucks offers more ways to make money than any other loyalty rewards site or app.
Most Reward Options: Swagbucks gives you the most options when it comes to cashing out your earnings. Choose from gift cards to your favorite retailers, PayPal, prepaid Visa cards, or even a paper check you can deposit yourself into your bank account.
Best Reviews: Swagbucks has top review in Google Play, iTunes, TrustPilot, and other consumer review sites.
Best Reputation: Swagbucks has a top reputation for being on the level. Large, reputable news outlets regularly feature Swagbucks as legitimate way to earn money online and recommend their readers join Swagbucks.

How Can I Use Swagbucks to Save Money?

Members use Swagbucks to earn (and save) their earning throughout the year, and then withdraw their earnings for special occasions like Christmas or holiday shopping, trips to Disney, a car repair, or other big ticket item.

They grow their funds in their Swagbucks account, using it as a rainy day fund. This makes Swagbucks an easy way to save money. And when you cash out your funds, it’s not completely automatic. It will take at least a day or two, for example, before you get those funds in your PayPal account. This makes it easier to be disciplined with saving your money in your Swagbucks account.

Is Swagbucks Worth Your Time?

If you’ve got a few minutes of spare time here and there, and you’re interested in earning some extra money on the side, you’ll definitely find Swagbucks worth your time.

Get extra spending money for the things you’re already doing, like searching the web, shopping online, playing games, or answering trivia. And you can earn even more when you check out all the other online tasks that pay.

With over $650 million paid out in gift cards, PayPal, Visa cards, and other rewards, you’ll want to get your piece of the pie too.