You’ll also find tons of great reviews on platforms like Trustpilot. The problem is most of them were written years ago. If you look at the more recent ones, the evaluations aren’t that good. This review is all about evaluating Swagbucks for what it’s worth in 2024.
The Fading Value of Swagbucks
Swagbucks is one of the oldest online customer rewards programs on the internet. Established in 2008, it offers participants the opportunity to earn points, called SB (short for Swag Bucks). They can be exchanged for gift cards,Β PayPal cash, or, in some cases, discounts at partner stores.
It’s a classic ‘Get-Paid-To’ platform based on a points system to confuse users about how much the activities are worth. Swagbucks claims that 100 SB points have been equal to $1 for years and haven’t lowered in price. That part is true, but what they aren’t saying is that you need to put in considerably more work to reach 100 SB.
For example, a couple of years ago, you could find surveys for 100 SB points, but now you’d be lucky to find some for 30 or 40. So, even if the conversion rate hasn’t changed, SB points are certainly less valuable now than they were before.
Payout Problems
The payout threshold differs wildly depending on the payout method you choose. PayPal payout is obviously the most preferable to users, so it has the highest threshold of $25 (equivalent to 2500 SB points). That’s ridiculously high, considering that most tasks pay you up to 100 SB.
Payout times are also not instant. For some reason, it takes them ten business days to process PayPal payments. Many competitors are already paying instantly for their participants.
The situation with gift cards is a bit better since you get them almost instantly, and the threshold starts from $3. Of course, there’s a catch – some gift cards cost more SB points than others.
Amazon cards, for example, cost more points than the same-value cards from Target or Starbucks. Such a system negates their claim that 100 SB is worth $1. There are cases where this value stands, but it’s usually for gift cards that no one wants.
Activities on Swagbucks
There are plenty of activities you can earn money with on Swagbucks.
- Paid surveys
- Referral program
- Cashback platform
- Watching videos
- Playing games
- Swagstakes (basically, a lottery)
- Searching the web
They are scattered on different apps, like Swagbucks Mobile, Swagbucks Watch, and Swagbucks Answer. There used to be a time when everything was accessible from one Swagbucks platform. So, why so many apps instead of one?
The reason is to make cashing out even more difficult for users. If all the activities were on one platform, it would be much easier for users to collect the needed amount. Now that Swagbucks has created multiple apps for each activity, you can’t combine the points you make from different activities.
Even worse is that each activity has limits on how much you can spend on them. For example, I would very much like to do eight or even ten paid surveys per day, but Swagbucks just don’t offer them to me.
The same applies to all other activities. It’s especially frustrating with games, as you often have to reach milestones to get a reward. With limited time, this is much more difficult to do.
The only activities that are not limited in the time you can spend doing them are cashback and referrals. However, their cashback program is severely limited in terms of options for spending money. For example, Uber Eats is the only food delivery company you can spend money on.
Top 3 Swagbucks Alternatives
If you are disappointed in the Swagbucks platform, as I have, you’ll likely want to find some alternative ways to earn beer money. EachΒ Swagbucks alternativeΒ is better at some of the ways to earn money on Swagbucks. So, no matter which aspect of Swagbucks you like the most, there are better competitors.
Pawns.app – Better at Paid Surveys
Unlike Swagbucks, the Pawns.app doesn’t have any deliberately confusing points system and converts everything straight to US dollars. Most surveys there take around half an hour and are valued at about $1 dollar.
Depending on your region, you can realistically get at least four per week, which will enable a payout of $5 every couple of weeks. There are also some additional tasks, such as a referral program and a profitable bandwidth-sharing function. Everything is in one app, as it is supposed to be.
Rakuten Rewards – Better at Cashback
Rakuten is one of the best-known cashback providers in the US. It has successfully functioned even before the advent of internet cashback. It has a more modest cashback rate compared to Swagbucks, but the choice of shops to choose from makes it worth it.
There’s also a browser extension and the ability to add your payment card for instant cashback. If your country is supported, choose Rakuten, and don’t worry about alternatives.
Givvy – Better at Play/Watch Earning
Givvy suffers from many of the same issues as Swagbucks – points system, multiple apps, and high thresholds. However, if you want to earn something from watching videos and playing games, it’s the best option.
The entertainment is actually fun, and you get to earn at least some extra cash from it. It’s not perfect, but it’s worth a look at the Earn-to-Play concept.
Final Verdict
It’s impossible to deny that Swagbucks is a legitimate platform for earning some extra cash. Unfortunately, the good days of Swagbucks have already passed, and now the owners are simply cashing in on what’s left of the good name. You can still make some money, but your time is spent more profitably with the competitors.
