If there was a way to get free gift cards, I am sure everyone would love to get their hands on them.
It might sound very scammy, but there are easy and authentic ways to get free gift cards. From shopping for groceries to watching your favorite videos to playing games, many of the activities you already do can get you free gift cards.
Easy Ways to Get Free Gift Cards for Extra Money
Give Your Opinion and Score Free Gift Cards
What can be more fun than giving your opinion about brands and services in return for free gift cards? Sharing your opinion about their products with brands helps them improve the products for consumers. In return for your feedback, you get cash or gift cards.
#1. Swagbucks
With Swagbucks, you get to do a lot of things along with surveys. You can watch videos, play games, shop online, search the web, and the best part is all of these activities pay you in cash or gift cards. According to the website, you can expect to earn around 40 to 200 SBs per survey (1SB = $1). It also offers product testing opportunities occasionally.
Once you have a minimum of $3, you can cash out via PayPal or get gift cards from top retailers like Amazon, iTunes, Target, Walmart, etc. To know more, you can read our review on Swagbucks here.
Tips to earn more:
- Take surveys regularly, do daily polls, use the Swagbucks search engine to do your searches, and check for daily deals and promo codes.
#2. Branded Surveys
Branded Surveys is fast becoming a reader favorite, and you can score a free 50 points just for signing up. It has tiers where you can earn more points when you reach in high tier levels like the Silver and Gold tiers. The surveys can give anywhere from 10 to 300 points.
It also offers daily polls, local deals with businesses, and third-party product trials.
The minimum cash-out of 500 points makes it easy to get free gift cards or PayPal cash. You can read our review on Branded Surveys here to learn more.
Tips to earn more:
- Do more surveys to go up in tiers and take advantage of other shopping offers.
#3. Survey Junkie
It’s a breeze taking surveys and earning points with Survey Junkie. It only offers surveys, sometimes high-paying ones, and the payouts are quick. You can get points even if you are disqualified. This survey site is pretty straightforward and makes it easy for the users to earn extra money.
The minimum payout is $5, and you can redeem your points for cash or e-gift cards from major retailers like Target, Amazon, Walmart, etc. To learn more, read our review on Survey Junkie here.
Tips to earn more:
- Take the surveys as soon as you get the invitation via email. Answering all your demographic questions can get you more surveys.
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#4. MyPoints
If you are keen on doing fun stuff like watching videos or playing games, then sign up for MyPoints. Just like Swagbucks, this survey panel offers a lot of ways to earn free gift cards. You can shop online, play games, read emails, etc. The number of points you get depends on the length of the surveys.
MyPoints gives you a bonus $10 gift card when you sign up and shop at the participating retailers. The minimum cash-out points are 480, and you can redeem your points for cash via PayPal, gift cards, or even airline miles. You can read our review on MyPoints here to learn more.
Tips to earn more:
- Use all the ways to earn as much as possible and look out for surveys in your email. You can possibly earn more by watching videos and searching the web.
Get Cashback for Your Shopping
Isn’t it great to get money back on your purchases? It’s another way of earning extra money even while you spend. There are so many websites that pay you to shop, and you even get free gift cards!
#5. Ibotta
Ibotta has over 1,500 retailers, and you can earn cashback for purchases on groceries, pet food, travel, home improvement, fashion, etc. You can shop in store or online to get your cashback. All you have to do is go into the app, choose the items you need, and shop for them online or in store. Once your shopping is done, upload the receipts and get your money. You can cash out or get gift cards once you reach $20 in your account. You can sign up right away and get a $10 bonus.
Tips to earn more:
- Using the app consistently for your daily needs can make the money quickly add up. Ibotta also lets you connect to loyalty accounts of retailers (when you use the loyalty card). This makes the process of getting paid easier instead of scanning the receipts.
#6. Rakuten
Rakuten (previously Ebates) is the most trusted and popular choice when it comes to cashback apps. It has paid out over $1 billion to its users until now. That’s one of the reasons to join this cashback app. There are many ways to earn cashback with Rakuten: you can shop in store, online, use its credit card (with no annual fee), and even refer friends. All these plus you get $10 when you sign up and purchase goods worth $25 in the first 90 days of signing up.
Once your cashback balance reaches $5, you can get paid via PayPal or check, which in turn you can use for gift cards. To learn more, you can read our review on Rakuten here.
#7. Receipt Hog
Receipt Hog is another cashback app that lets you earn free gift cards or cash. Once you sign up, do your shopping, and upload the receipts. It’s as simple as that. You are paid in “coins” for your receipts, which you can redeem for cash or Amazon gift cards.
Receipt Hog also gives you a chance to earn more by doing surveys.
Tips to earn more:
- Use the survey option to earn more with Receipt Hog along with scanning your receipts.
#8. Fetch Rewards
Fetch Rewards is another smart app that offers a lot of ways to save on your grocery shopping. Once you sign up and give your details, you are ready to scan your shopping. The biggest plus with Fetch Rewards is it works with most of the brands, and you can even upload your e-receipts to earn cashback. When compared to other cashback apps, Fetch is good because it gives you a chance to redeem when you reach $3.
Tips to earn more:
- As it partners with most of the grocery stores, you get more points when you use the app for most of your weekly shopping.
Shop Online
If you shop online often, then this is the easiest way to earn some extra money while you are already doing something you would be doing anyway. There are many ways you can get paid for shopping online. Below are some of the best ones.
#9. Capital One Shopping
Capital One Shopping is one of the easiest ways to earn/save money on your shopping. It’s a free browser extension that helps you find better deals, coupon codes, price comparisons on products, and even shopping credits. All you have to do is download the Capital One Shopping browser extension and enter your details. You can redeem your shopping credits for gift cards from retailers like Walmart, Lowe’s, Kohl’s, etc.
This app is a huge help in finding deals and saving money if you are someone who shops online a lot.
Tips to earn more:
- You can always add products that you want to monitor the price of your Watchlist and the app will notify you if the price drops or if there is a better deal anywhere.
#10. Drop
Drop is another app that rewards you for shopping online. Drop works a little differently than other shopping apps in that it links to your credit/debit card and gives you points when you shop at its partner stores. Signing up is as easy as downloading the app, giving all your details, and linking your cards. As you go about your everyday shopping, you accrue points (1,000 = $1.00). You can also redeem your points for gift cards from your favorite brands.
Tips to earn more:
- Drop pays you an instant 5,000 points when you refer a friend, which means you get a free $5.
Join Focus Groups
Focus groups are great for people who have some free time and want to give feedback about brands and services. Unlike surveys, focus groups require more time and pay better.
#11. User Interviews
One of the most legit and popular focus groups that I highly recommend is User Interviews. It has a variety of opportunities on different subjects. You can choose to do online, over the phone, or in-person studies depending on your flexibility. If you are interested, just sign up and provide information about your age, marital status, education, and household income. These details help the companies to choose the best user for their studies.
The only drawback of User Interviews that I hope will improve in the future is that it only pays in Amazon gift cards. To learn more, you can read our review on User Interviews here.
Tips to earn more:
- I have done some studies on this site, and it gives you more opportunities if you have a completed profile.
#12. American Consumer Opinion
ACOP has been around for more than 20 years and is one of the most legit survey panels. It has over seven million users worldwide and has paid out over $30 million to date. Apart from regular surveys, American Consumer Opinion also offers focus groups and product testing opportunities occasionally. You can get paid via PayPal or enter into sweepstakes.
Tips to earn more:
Providing the right demographic information and being honest will give you a better chance of getting more surveys.
Play Games Online
Did you know that playing games can be rewarding as well? Though it is only extra cash, it is a good side income. Whether you want to be a professional gamer or just play games in your break time, playing games can help you earn free gift cards.
#13. Mistplay
Earning money is easy and fun with Mistplay. You simply have to sign up and start playing games. You have to provide detailed reviews about the games once you are done playing. You get points, which can be redeemed for gift cards with major brands or in-app credits. The only drawback with Mistplay is that it’s only available for Android users.
#14. Lucktastic
Lucktastic is a legit app that pays you to play games and scratch tickets. All you have to do is download the app and start playing. You get paid in points or tokens that can be redeemed for gift cards. Lucktastic also offers other ways to earn money like watching videos, completing small tasks, entering sweepstakes, etc.
Tips to earn more:
Lucktastic pays you even just to open the app. Just log in every day and watch your points pile up.
Share Your Data
Market research companies work with brands and collect your data to help these brands understand consumer behavior so they can make better products and services. In return, you as a user get paid for your feedback. Sharing your data is something that you should be doing only with legit companies and below is one of them.
#15. Nielsen Computer & Mobile Panel
Nielsen is one of the most trusted market research companies that offers you gift cards in return for information about your web browsing. To get started, sign up and give information about your age, marital status, family income, etc. Select how many devices you want to install the app on and download the app.
This is truly passive income (though you won’t be making much) because the app runs in the background. If you are worried about the kind of data the app collects, it’s about the websites you visit, the time spent on them, and other online activities.
Watch Videos
Watching videos is probably the easiest thing to do, and many of us do that every day. Why not earn some extra money from it? Many websites let you watch videos and even pay you for that. Apart from just watching videos, they offer you other ways to earn money like reading emails, completing tasks, shopping online, etc.
#16. PrizeRebel
PrizeRebel is a GPT site that rewards you for many activities including watching videos. Though you will get fewer points for doing things other than surveys, if you enjoy watching videos, that’s another way to pool up points. Just sign up with all your information and do the surveys or watch videos. The minimum payout is $2, which is fairly low when compared to other sites.
#17. InboxDollars
If you are someone who likes to do side gigs, you must know about InboxDollars. It’s one of the oldest survey sites around and offers many ways to earn money like completing offers, taking surveys, shopping with partner brands, watching videos, etc. InboxDollars has paid out over $80 million in rewards till now, and it gives you a bonus just for signing up.
Once you sign up, start watching videos to earn extra cash. As you keep watching more videos, you can also earn scratch-off cards. You can read our review here on InboxDollars to learn more.
Tips to earn more:
- With InboxDollars, there is no limit to how many videos you can watch, so keep the videos running in the background and earn more.
Participate in Microtasks
Microtasks are gigs like writing, transcription, data entry, online research, etc. Microtasks are the kind of gigs you can do on the side because they don’t take up much of your time. They are perfect side hustles if you are after extra income or free gift cards.
Recommended reading:
#18. MTurk
Amazon Mechanical Turk is the most trusted microtask marketplace that pays you to do short gigs. You have to complete “HITs,” which are small gigs, in a set amount of time and get paid for them. Once the HITs are approved, you get paid in cash or Amazon gift cards. If you are consistent with completing high-quality work and delivering the gigs on time, you can get a Mechanical Task Masters qualification.
Just keep in mind that it’s worth your time if you take up the gigs that are high paying on MTurk. To learn more, you can read this post on how to make money with Amazon Mechanical Turk.
Tips to earn more:
Completing the tasks on time with good accuracy can earn you the Task Masters qualification, which in turn gets you high-paying gigs.
Bonus Way to Earn Free Gift Cards
Honey is a great way to earn free gift cards. It’s actually a smart way to save money and get free gift cards for your online shopping. Apart from getting cashback on your shopping, Honey also finds coupon codes and saves you more money. The cashback that you get is called “Honey Gold,” which can be redeemed for gift cards from popular brands. You need at least 800 Gold points to redeem for a $10 gift card.
All you need to do is install the web browser extension and get started.
Use Your Free Time to Earn Gift Cards
Free gift cards are a great way to earn some extra money in your free time doing things you already do. No, they definitely don’t replace your monthly paycheck, but they give you a nice income boost for holiday spending.