20 Best Swagbucks Hacks For Fast Points (2024 Guide!)
Swagbucks is one of the most popular rewards websites out there, and it's been around since 2008!
It's also one of the first gpt sites I used to make money online when I was back in college. And like any other gpt site, Swagbucks is a simple way to make a bit of beermoney in your spare time.
However, even though Swagbucks can't replace your day job, it's still important to maximize your efficiency when using any rewards site so you earn as much money as possible.
So, in this post, I'm covering the best Swagbucks hacks you can use to earn more points per hour.
Want to try other easy ways to make money online? Checkout:
- Branded Surveys – Share your opinion to earn free gift cards and PayPal cash!
- Pinecone Research – Answer online surveys and earn $3 for every survey!
The Best Swagbucks Hacks
I've been using Swagbucks on and off for years to make extra cash. And it was one of my main side hustles back in college and my phone farming todays.
Over the years, I've really learned how to maximize rewards on this survey platform. So, if you want to use a Swagbucks hack or two to boost your earnings, this is the post for you!
Just note that when I say “Swagbucks hacks” I'm not talking about ways to cheat Swagbucks or generate fake points. Rather, these tips and tricks can help you earn more Swagbucks faster so you get rewards that much quicker.
1. Use Swagbucks Magic Receipts
My favorite Swagbucks hack is one of Swagbucks' newest features: Swagbucks Magic Receipts.
With Swagbucks Magic Receipts, you earn additional SB for uploading pictures or emailing pictures of your shopping receipts to Swagbucks!
Apps like Fetch Rewards work similarly with it's e-receipt feature, and this is basically a way to get free money for your daily shopping.
My favorite part about Swagbucks' receipt feature is that you can earn points for a wide variety of products, including cleaning products, cosmetics, groceries, and household goods.
And, some of the offers are pretty lucrative; this Magic Receipts offer I found for OxiClean pays you $8 if you buy two bottles!
The bottom line is this is the best way to earn more Swagbucks if you're the main shopper for your household. All you have to do is look for offers, shop, and scan barcodes or shopping receipts to earn free cash.
And, as mentioned, you can try other receipt-scanning apps as well to maximize how much money you make per receipt.
Fetch Rewards is the best receipt-based reward app, but you can also upload receipts with Receipt Hog, ReceiptPal, and CoinOut to make more money.
2. Shop Online With Swagbucks
As mentioned, Swagbucks lets you earn cash back when you shop online, so this is a great hack to get more Swagbucks.
Some of Swagbucks' main shopping categories include:
- Accessories
- Baby & kids
- Beauty
- Books
- Electronics
- Entertainment
- Finance
- Food
- Games
- Home decor
- Pets
- Toys
- Travel
Overall, Swagbucks has a robust shopping portal, and you can find plenty of cash-back offers ranging from 1% to 10% cash back or more!
There are also offers that pay out a flat rate of Swagbucks, but the bottom line is it's easy to get some cash back for shopping.
My only advice is to compare the cash-back rates you see on Swagbucks with larger sites like Rakuten. I do all of my online shopping through Rakuten, and Rakuten is also paying new users $30 when they sign up and spend at least $30.
However, I still check offers on Swagbucks and other shopping sites to see if there's a better deal elsewhere.
3. Try Swagbucks Alternatives
While this Swagbucks hack might seem counterintuitive, it's sometimes wise to use other paid survey sites and reward apps to make more money per hour.
No rewards website has unlimited offers that are worth it. So, after you spend an hour or two on a platform, it's probably best to move on.
In short, if you're serious about making money with sites like Swagbucks, you need to have a few alternatives in your toolkit.
Some of the best Swagbucks alternatives include:
- Pinecone Research – Earn $3 per survey and cash out instantly with PayPal cash or gift cards!
- Survey Junkie – A leading survey site that lets you cash for cash or gift cards once you earn $5.
- Branded Surveys – One of my favorite survey sites that pays you with free Amazon gift cards and PayPal money.
- Kashkick – A newer rewards site that lets you make money with surveys and by downloading apps.
- Rewarded Play – An Android gaming app like Mistplay that lets you play new mobile games for free gift cards.
- InboxDollars – Another site from Swagbucks' parent company that also has a variety of ways to earn.
I also made a YouTube video on some of my favorite paid survey sites if you want even more ideas to get started.
None of these Swagbucks alternatives are going to make you hundreds of dollars per month. However, it helps to have more options so you can always pick the platform that's paying the most at a given time.
4. Use Swagbuck's Sign Up Bonus
One of the easiest hacks for Swagbucks is to take advantage of its sign up bonus if you're a new member.
Right now, Swagbucks is giving new members 500 free SB, which is worth $5, for signing up. All you have to do is create an account and earn 2,500 SB within 60 days of membership.
This is a pretty decent sign up bonus, and it's easy to complete if you answer a few surveys or complete some sponsored offers.
Your SB also credits to your account in one day once you qualify, so you're not waiting around to get paid.
There are plenty of other apps that pay you money with sign up bonuses. But a $5 sign up bonus from Swagbucks is one of the higher ones in the industry.
You can also read my post on the best $25 sign up bonuses for even more ideas to get free cash.
5. Play Trivia For Bonus SB
There are lots of trivia apps that pay, but Swagbucks Live from Swagbucks is one of the best.
With Swagbucks Live, you compete in a live trivia game show run by a Swagbucks host. If you get a question wrong during the show, you're eliminated. But if you make it to the end, you split a prize pool of free Swagbucks with all the other winners!
This can easily result in $50 to $100+ in free Swagbucks depending on how many people are left standing at the end of a game. Plus, you can also randomly earn small amounts of extra Swagbucks if you make it through a few rounds.
Overall, this is one of the best ways to earn more Swagbucks, and it's also pretty fun to test out your trivia knowledge!
Extra Reading – How To Make $30 Dollars Fast.
6. Try Swagbucks Dining Deals
One nifty cheat for Swagbucks a lot of people don't know about is its Dining Deals section.
With Swagbucks Dining Deals, you earn bonus SB for shopping with a linked credit or debit card at thousands of restaurants. And, you get a 500 SB bonus when you use Dining Deals for the first time to sweeten the deal.
Linking your card is done right through your account. And a lot of Dining Deals pay 1% to 5% in cash back, so you're earning some pretty decent rewards.
I also like that Dining Deals are available for many local chains and restaurants, not just massive fast food places.
7. Complete Your Daily Swagbucks Bonus & Goal
Another simple Swagbucks trick to earn more points is to complete your daily bonus and goal.
Your daily bonus comes from completing a to-do list of tasks, which includes:
- Answering the daily poll
- Adding an in-store deal
- Searching the web
- Deal of the day
- Watching a video
- Using the daily discover tab
- Attempting a gold survey
- Completing a gold survey
This checklist lets you earn up to 7 bonus Swagbucks.
Now, you can also complete your daily goal, which has two different tiers and also pays you bonus Swagbucks for earning a certain amount of points in a day.
The best part about reaching your daily goal is that it starts a streak. If you complete a 7-day streak, you get another free 25 SB.
Overall, the daily goal and to-do list are the best way for serious Swagbucks grinders to make more money with the platform.
If you only answer the occasional survey on Swagbucks, don't worry about this section too much. But if you spend a lot of time on the platform, this is one of the best Swagbucks hacks to try.
8. Avoid Low-Paying Surveys
In my opinion, a lot of paid survey sites aren't worth it because your hourly rate is just too low if you grind out surveys.
Swagbucks can suffer this problem too, and even though it was one of my college side hustles, it wasn't always what I used and my recent experience with the platform has been so-so.
Anyway, my advice is to always look at how many points a survey is paying and the time estimate so you can do a bit of quick math.
For example, if a survey only pays around 50 to 100 SB but takes 20 minutes, that's less than $3 per hour!
If all your surveys are like this, you're better off using sites like Prolific or Pinecone Research where the payout rates are higher.
9. Watch Videos To Earn Free Swagbucks
If you like earning passive income, another Swagbucks hack to try is to watch videos under the “watch” section.
I actually used this feature a lot back in my phone farming days, and it's basically a way to passively earn Swagbucks for watching videos and ads.
Usually, you earn 1 SB for watching a few short videos and ads, so this isn't incredibly lucrative.
However, if you have an old phone laying around or run Swagbucks Watch in the background of your computer, it can help you cash out faster and add up surprisingly quickly over time.
Extra Reading – How To Get Paid To Watch Ads.
10. Complete Featured Swagbucks Offers
If you want to get a lot of extra Swagbucks as quickly as possible, one tip is to check out the “Featured Offers” section.
Featured Offers are basically offers that pay a lot more bonus SB as cash back.
This is a similar system to the Drop app, which pays you for shopping at your favorite merchants.
The appeal of Featured Offers is that a lot of offers play 7,500 to 25,000 Swagbucks or more, so you can score a quick $10 to $25 in free points.
Now, a lot of the offers involve signing up for new services or even buying something, so keep this in mind.
However, if you spot a product or service you were going to try anyway, you might as well get some free Swagbucks by going through the Featured Offers page.
👉 The Best Free & Easy Swagbucks Game Offers.
11. Be Honest When Answering Surveys
This Swagbucks hack is also a popular Qmee hack and trick for pretty much any other paid survey site you use.
A lot of people don't realize this, but survey sites like Swagbucks actually track your responses and data over time.
So, if you randomly start answering the same survey questions differently because you're rushing through surveys, you might get disqualified or even banned.
Furthermore, many survey sites throw in trick questions like “The answer is six out of your options down below,” so you have to pay attention and answer questions carefully and honestly.
12. Play Games & Earn Points
There are lots of apps that pay you to play games, and Swagbucks actually has a pretty robust section of games you can play for points.
However, the online games aren't great; you usually earn 4 SB for every dollar you spend in game, which is barely anything.
But, Swagbucks lets you play mobile games for cash, and many of the game offers pay 2,500 to 10,000 in bonus Swagbucks!
Usually, you have to reach a certain level or complete an in-game achievement to earn your free Swagbucks.
But, if you're a frequent mobile gamer, this is another way to make more Swagbucks that's also a bit more fun. If you like this idea, you can also check out other gaming reward platforms like Mistplay, Rewarded Play, and Gamehag!
13. Search The Web With Swagbucks
If you want a simple Swagbucks hack to get more free points, you can always search the web with Swagbucks Search. This in-platform search engine can pay you random amounts of free Swagbucks for searching for stuff online.
Basically, instead of using Google or Bing, you can search through Swagbucks for the chance to earn free points.
Typically, successful Swagbucks searches only pay 1 to 10 SB, so it's not a very lucrative feature. But, if you're close to cashing out or don't mind its search engine, this Swagbucks trick is worth using.
MyPoints, one of Swagbucks' sister-websites, also has this feature if you want a few ways to earn.
14. Use A Separate Email Address
Swagbucks doesn't send you a ton of spam emails or survey invites, which is nice.
However, I still suggest signing up for Swagbucks with a new and separate email account so your main inbox doesn't get emails from Swagbucks.
If you use several survey sites, it's nice to have one central email inbox that's for all your survey invites and reward offers.
My post – are online surveys safe and legit? – explains more about how to protect your privacy and stay safe when making money with survey websites.
15. Use The Swagbutton
Another simple hack for Swagbucks is to download the Swagbutton browser extension.
With the Swagbutton, Swagbucks automatically notifies you of:
- Available coupon codes
- Opportunities to earn cash back
- Sites with ongoing sales
This is basically a mix of shopping browser extensions like Rakuten and money-saving shopping platforms like Honey.
You also get a free 25 SB bonus for downloading the Swagbutton, so that's an easy $0.25 bonus. The Swagbutton also works with thousands of popular retailers, so it's actually a decent browser extension if you shop online frequently.
16. Refer Your Friends
A lot of reward websites have pretty lackluster referral bonuses or no referral program at all. However, one of the best Swagbucks hacks is to refer your friends or anyone you know who would enjoy using the site.
This is because the Swagbucks referral program pays you 300 bonus SB and 10% of your referral's lifetime earnings!
The person you refer to Swagbucks also gets 300 free SB, although the catch is they need to earn at least 300 SB within their first 30 days of joining.
Earning $3 worth of Swagbucks isn't very difficult, and the 10% lifetime bonus you get can add up very quickly.
Extra Reading – How To Make 50 Dollars Per Day – 10+ Best Methods.
17. Enter Swagstakes
If you only have a few SBs in your account, one Swagbucks hack you can try involves entering Swagstakes.
Swagstakes are gift card and cash giveaways that you can enter for very small amounts of Swagbucks. For example, you can enter into a $250 giveaway for just 2 SB, or a $5 Walmart gift card for only 5 SB.
To date, Swagstakes have given over $3 million to winners since inception. And if you're feeling lucky and want to spend a few SB, this is an excellent trick to know.
18. Use Swagbucks Prescriptions
A new Swagbucks feature you can use to earn even more rewards is its prescription coupon finder.
This new tool is powered by GoodRx and helps you compare prices for different prescriptions. It also lets you print out or save Swagbucks coupons to save at the counter.
You also earn 100 SB for every prescription you fill with a Swagbucks prescription coupon. This is worth $1, but between the free SB and coupon savings, it can really add up!
19. Set An Income Goal
When using reward sites, setting a daily and weekly earning target is another good hack to help you stay on track.
In my experience, making a quick $5 a day with Swagbucks is pretty realistic if you answer a few surveys and complete an offer or two. Think about what's realistic for you and what your income goal is so you can dedicate enough time to it (or find a higher-paying online side hustle if you need to.)
20. Prioritize Gold Surveys
One final Swagbucks hack you can try is to prioritize answering Gold Surveys. These are like regular Swagbucks surveys, except they have higher payouts and are therefore more worthwhile in many cases.
For example, a lot of basic surveys only pay $0.25 to $0.75 or so on Swagbucks. But some Gold Surveys can pay a couple of dollars.
Plus, you have to complete a Gold Survey to complete your daily checklist, so this is a good habit to get into for maximizing your points.
Extra Reading – The Best $50 Sign Up Bonuses.
A Note On Using Swagbucks Hacks & Gaming The System
One quick disclaimer to wrap up this post about the best Swagbucks hacks you can use.
When I talk about Swagbucks hacks, I'm talking about tips and tricks you can use to earn more SB per hour so you get rewards faster.
I'm not talking about gaming the system or tricking Swagbucks into giving you points you don't deserve since this breaks terms of service and will likely result in a ban.
If you search for Swagbucks point hacks and find things like generators or free codes, these are scams so please avoid them!
Extra Reading – How To Earn Money On Autopilot.
Final Thoughts
Whether you like or dislike it, there's no denying that Swagbucks is one of the most popular rewards sites out there.
I used to use Swagbucks a lot in college. These days, I've moved on to other side hustles like blogging and making money on YouTube, so I don't use survey sites very often.
However, if you're using this website, you need to use some popular Swagbucks hacks to earn as much money as possible.
Survey sites like Swagbucks can help you earn free rewards, treat yourself, and make a bit of easy money on the side.
But, if you find your hourly rate just isn't high enough, you should try other sites or various gig apps that can pay much more.
Best of luck with your Swagbucks earnings!
Want to try even more ways to make extra money? Checkout:
