Want to learn how to make money online fast and free? Here are 29 legit ways for you to make money online.
As long as you have an internet connection, you can legitimately earn money online from anywhere in the world. In this article, we’re sharing all of our best ideas to help you do just that.
Instead of using the internet to browse Facebook, stalk your ex on Instagram, or discover what type of bread you are via a Buzzfeed quiz, you can do something more productive with your time!
Whether you’re a stay at home mom, a college student, or merely working part-time, you can leverage even the smallest window of opportunity to earn money online.
Low effort and low commitment. The ideas in this section are all about making money online fast without too much work!

1. Participate in Market Research (Up to $100+ Per Month)

Market research companies like to collect data on consumer interests, and spending habits, so brands can learn how to better market their products. They primarily do this research this via online questionnaires, and they’re always on the lookout for new survey participants. And yes, they’ll pay you.
If you’ve ever spent time taking paid online surveys, you know that you can earn money online every month while sitting at home in your PJs. If you’re a first-time survey taker, we recommend starting out with Survey Junkie.
Here’s how Survey Junkie works:
Take Surveys: Build your profile (takes less than 5 mins) and you’ll be matched with surveys.
Earn Rewards: Complete surveys and earn virtual points.
Get Paid: Redeem virtual points for Paypal cash deposits or e-Gift cards.
DollarSprout’s Survey Junkie Review
Other survey sites we like: Swagbucks ($5 signup bonus), Vindale Research ($2 signup bonus), InboxDollars ($5 signup bonus).

2. Sell your books, DVDs, and tech on Decluttr

Decluttr is a free and easy way to sell your unwanted CDs, DVDs, games, Blu-Rays, books, LEGO, and tech. Its app turns your phone into a barcode scanner to make seeing the value of your items even more convenient. Shipping your box of unwanted stuff is free, and you’ll receive your payment quickly, on the next business day

3. Website Designer

If you have a knack for computers and an eye for design, you can easily make $1,000 or more a month by building websites for businesses.
Want proof? We paid a designer over $6,000 to custom design our theme! There is serious money to be made in freelance web design work.

4. Online Surveys For Money With Pinecone Research

Pinecone is one of the best survey panels out there for earning fast cash, and they pay quickly — usually by the next day — for the surveys you complete. The surveys don’t come every week, but it’s a nice little bonus when they do because of how fast they pay. Right now Pinecone is open, but there is no guarantee you’ll get in just depending on what demographic they need right now.
With a growing interest in content marketing, more brands are looking for great writers to create content. The secret to succeeding as a writer is to be an expert in a niche. A lot of writers, try to be generalists writing for a wide range of categories from food to tech. However, having a niche focus as writer allows you to write better content. When you have experience in the niche, you can offer a different perspective to a piece of content. That means you’re not just saying the same thing as every other article online. And that’s what brands really want to pay for. Your thoughts, experiences and inside information into their niche.

5. How to Make Money Fast Writing

Send relevant writing samples. If someone asks for an marketing writing sample, send them marketing writing samples. Don’t send a finance article. Or a fitness one. It’s hard for a hiring manager to know how well you understand the niche’s industry if they can’t see a relevant writing sample. Apply to opportunities suited to your skill set and experience. Also, if your pitch doesn’t have a list of links to writing samples, it’s going to get ignored.
Don’t send resumes. This isn’t a 9 to 5 job. It’s a freelance writing position. Your portfolio should be the focus. Mention your experience in a short blurb in your application before listing off links to your portfolio.
Avoid sending copy and paste applications. For example, if you love ‘writing about fitness and relationships’ but are applying for a writing position at a tech company, why would someone want to hire you? You won’t be considered. Recruiters can easily spot a copy and paste application. After all, they lack the specific details that’ll land you the role. Cater each application you write to the brand you’re applying to.
You can earn money online on sites like these:
  • Problogger
  • Craigslist
  • Blogging Pro
  • Freelance Writing
  • Media Bistro
  • Flex Jobs
  • Be a Freelance Blogger

6. Google Adsense

If you’ve visited any website, you’ve seen Google ads. These ads are everywhere, and for good reason. Not only are they easy to set up on any basic website, but they can be lucrative once your website starts bringing in a steady amount of traffic.
One of the cool things about Google AdSense is that it’s so easy to get set up. If you have a blog or website, you can sign up for a free Google AdSense Account. From there, Google will give you a unique code that you will paste onto your website. Google takes it from there, tracking your page views, traffic, and earnings on your behalf. There is no upkeep or maintenance to get this thing going, which makes it a no-brainer if you have a website already.
If you need to make money now, translation work is a fairly underserved niche. You’ll need to be fluent in at least two languages to do this successfully. So if you’re bilingual or majored in a popular language in school, this may be a great money making idea for you to try out.

7. How to Make Money Fast Translating

Show proof of your ability to translate. If you have a language degree or experience translating texts, you can show samples of your portfolio. Most companies will require a translation test. Keep in mind that you need to be fluent in the languages you’re applying to be a translator for. So you can’t use translation tools.
After you finish your first assignment, ask if they have any other projects for you to do, if they can provide a recommendation on LinkedIn or if they can refer you to someone else needing more work. Over time you could be making a full-time salary with your translation work. It’s a great way to earn money online by putting your language skills to work.

8. Earn Money Online with Freelance Translation Sites:

  • Upwork
  • People Per Hour
  • SDL
  • Gengo
  • Pro Translating
  • Translators Base

9. Start a Blog

Do you feel like you have a message to the world, but you don’t have a platform to deliver it? Maybe it’s time for you to start a blog.
DollarSprout started out just as two college buddies who liked to talk about money. A couple years later, and now we have a growing team of entrepreneurial money-nerds on board to help spread our message. What started as an online side hustle has turned into a full-blown business!
Here are some ways that bloggers make money online:
Selling advertising space on their blog
Promoting affiliate products and earning commissions
Selling their own products and courses
and more!

10. This App Pays You To Search The Web

You search the web, right? Using the InboxDollars search engine, you can earn cash rewards for a variety of tasks, including online searches.
Earn one cent for each of your first five qualified searches and another cent for every two after that. You can earn up to 15 cents per day through the InboxDollars search engine.
Sign up for InboxDollars and you’ll get $5 free.

11. Consulting

Another way to make money online is via consulting. If you’re an expert in any field, you could potentially find people willing to pay you to counsel them on their personal or business goals. You might think you’re not important enough to consult for big companies, but you could be surprised at the types of expertise people will pay for.

12. Qmee Pays Instantly

This is a browser extension you can install that will occasionally show you sponsored advertisements on your sidebar when you search. Each advertisement is worth a few cents or more. If you visit the ad shown, you receive the dollar amount shown in your Qmee virtual “piggy bank”. You can cash this out at anytime, there is no minimum. Also, the money shows up in your Paypal account pretty much instantly after you ask for it. I put this site on this list because even though it’s not a big earner, you can get paid quickly.
If you own a car, you can make some spare cash as an Uber driver or delivery person. If you don’t own a car, you can still be a delivery person using your bicycle. Uber drivers looking to make even more money off their car can turn their car into an advertisement using Free Car Media. Your car will be wrapped with a removable vinyl decal. There have also been cases of Uber drivers selling products in their car. As a driver, you’ll often times start talking about what you and your passenger do for a living.
Want to know how to make money fast driving Uber? If you own your own side business, you can showcase your products to your passengers if they’re interested. Not all will be though. However, if one expresses interest in your products, you can have products for sale under the driver’s seat for a passenger to sift through. If customers don’t have the cash, you can ask them to pay for the cost of it with Uber’s tip function.

13. Get Paid to Test Websites

Website testers give their opinions on websites, including the design, quality, and ease of use of a site. This allows companies to make changes to their websites in order to provide a better experience for their users (and hopefully increase sales).
Of course, they are willing to pay for your feedback which makes this one of the easiest ways to make money from home!
  • UserTesting: $10 for every 10-15 minute test completed. No webcam needed.
  • WhatUsersDo: $8+ for 15-20 minute tests. You’ll need a microphone.
  • UserTest: $10.50 per study. Get started in as little as 5 minutes.

14. Become an extreme couponer – Money Making Ideas

When money is tight, using coupons can help save you a few bucks. However, with Coupon Chief it can also help you make money online. They offer a Pays to Share program where you’ll receive 2% of sales from the coupons you share on their platform. You’ll need to add coupons that haven’t already been shared. In return, you’ll make a 2% commission. The company has already paid out over $1.4 million in commissions.

15. Become a Twitch streamer – How to Make Money Fast

Twitch streaming is becoming increasingly popular. While it started out as a gaming platform, it’s quickly evolving to include other types of content. To make money fast on Twitch, you’ll need to grow your following. If you’re unemployed, spending your entire day streaming on Twitch can help you build a sizeable audience fast. You’ll need to find a popular game or channel that isn’t overly competitive so that people can easily find your content. In order to make money online from streaming, you’ll need to have a consistent style to your channel: is it going to be funny, educational or entertaining? Engaging on the chat feature on Twitch is another way to grow your following. You’ll want to communicate in popular chats. However, you’ll also want to engage with those chatting on your streams as well.

16. How to Make Money Fast Twitch Streaming

There are five ways to monetize your Twitch channel: selling products, brand sponsorships, fan donations, subscriptions and Twitch ads. As a Twitch streamer, you’ll want to focus on tapping into all five monetization methods to ensure the highest financial gains. You could potentially make more on Twitch than YouTube making it the one of the best money making ideas for video creators.

17. Slice the Pie Pays Twice a Week

Slice the Pie is a site I use quite frequently. All you do is listen to music and rate/review it. You’ll get paid anywhere from six to seven cents up to sometimes seventeen cents per song you review just depending on if they have any promos going on. It only takes a few minutes to review a song. They pay out on Tuesdays and Fridays and you must have a minimum of $10 to withdraw your earnings, but this is very possible to do twice per week.
Whether you’re a professional photographer or just love snapping great pictures, you can monetize your photography a number of ways. You can make money fast by posting your photography services in local Facebook groups for your community.

18. Sell Domains – Money Making Ideas

If you regularly buy domain names but fail to use them, you can always try to sell them for a profit. Selling domains is ultra competitive though. If you own a one word .com domain you’ll have a better chance of selling. Words that have high search volume sell well too. Also, domains that are on trend at that moment have a better chance of selling. For example, a year ago fidget spinner domains were an easier sell than they are now. You can sell your domains on Go Daddy’s Domain Auction. Look through the domains with the highest bids to see what type of domains sell well. It’ll help you know whether or not the domains you have are worth selling and how much money you can make selling them.

19. Sell your clothes online – How to Make Money Fast

Most people have more clothes in their closet than they ever wear. You likely have items you haven’t worn in the past year that you never have any intention of wearing ever again. Whether you sell your clothes, handbags, or shoes there are quite a few websites that allow you to sell your used fashion items. Poshmark, Refashioner, TheRealReal, ThredUp and Tradesy are a few of the online sites where you can sell your used apparel. You could make money online by selling on several different platforms. If you’re looking to sell items in person, you can use Facebook buy and sell groups in your community to find people online and sell the items in person. I’ve personally sold in these groups before and know they work.

20. Sell your photography – Money Making Ideas

If you’re looking for more photography clients, you can use a site like Scoopshot. However, if you’re looking to monetize your phone photography you can use Foap. Learn more product photography tips to help you start making money with photography.

21. Get a free $5 from Stash to make your first investment here

Stash lets you start investing with as little as $5. Stash recommends a set of investments for you based on a profile you fill out when you sign up, as well as factors like low fees, managed risk, and historical performance. It’s free for the first month, then only $1 a month moving forward.

22. Start a Drop Shipping Website

The drop shipping business model is taking the internet by storm right now, and for good reason. It’s a legitimate way to make money online, and requires very little startup cost.
What is drop shipping?
In the words of Shopify,
Dropshipping is a retail fulfillment method where a store doesn’t keep the products it sells in stock. Instead, when a store sells a product, it purchases the item from a third party and has it shipped directly to the customer. As a result, the merchant never sees or handles the product.
If blogging isn’t your thing but you still want to start an online business, starting an e-commerce site might be your best bet.
As with any new business, there is a lot to learn. Shopify offers free workshops all the time that are designed to teach you all the basics.

23. Earn Money Online by Surfing the Web

Get paid to surf the webInboxDollars is another market research company that pays you to use their search engine instead of some of the more prominent ones like Google and Bing. The idea here is that they will learn more about people search habits and uncover patterns that may be valuable to companies trying to better understand consumers.
InboxDollars isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme, but if you’re wondering how to make money online for free, you may as well make a few extra bucks for searching the web like you normally would.
Here’s how InboxDollars works:
  • $5 Signup Bonus for new users.
  • You get $0.15 for every 4 qualified searches you complete.
  • Get $0.05 each time you complete 4 or more searches in a week.


24. Transcribe Me Pays Daily

This is a site where you can sign up to transcribe audio files. They pay new transcribers $20 an audio hour (remember this is quite a bit longer than a regular hour). You can get in with no prior transcription experience, you just have to take a short test which I believe you can retake if you fail it the first time. You only need $1 to cash out, hitting the withdrawal button for payment any time as long as you have $1 earned. It might be one of the best ways to make money fast today if you can pass the skills test.

25. Virtual Assistant (VA)

Writing and proofreading aren’t for everyone. Some people prefer more administrative or data-oriented tasks, which is exactly the role of a virtual assistant.
Businesses use virtual assistants for things like booking travel, answering emails, social media management, email management, and more.
As a virtual assistant, you can choose which services to offer clients and at what rates. The more value you can provide, the more you can charge.

26. Earn Fast Cash Online With Ibotta

Ibotta is an app that pays you back for things you buy at the grocery store. The reason I’m listing it here is because when you cash out, the money goes instantly (or almost instantly) to Paypal. I’ve never had to wait longer than five minutes to get my money from Ibotta! You can also earn from referrals there, too. However, you must have at least $20 in your account to cash out. Still, cashing out every week isn’t unrealistic with consistent use.

27. Take Advantage of Cash Back Signup Bonuses

Get $15 from Ebates and DOSH if you need money todayWant $15 for a few minutes of your time? Of course you do! Lucky for you, there are sites like Ebates and DOSH that are offering cash incentives for people like you to join their sites.
What’s the catch? None, really. Cash back apps act as affiliates for many online merchants, which means that whenever you make a purchase through one of the apps, they get a small commission — but then, they give you a portion of that commission as “cash back”. For example, if I buy a pair of Nike shoes through the Ebates app (or website) and spend $75, Ebates may get a $10 commission but then they’ll pass $7 back to me. It’s basically a way to get sale prices on stuff that isn’t on sale!
Ebates: $10 signup bonus after making $25 of qualifying purchases within 90 days.
DOSH: $5 bonus issued instantly after you link a credit or debit card to the app. (Note: Sometimes they bump the signup bonus to $10)
Since they’re free, we recommend signing up for both. Whenever you are online shopping, just compare deals between the apps to find the best one.

28. Earn Money as an Airbnb Host

earn passive income with airbnbIf you want to get your feet wet in the renting business, Airbnb is a great website to get started. If you own your home or your landlord permits it, you can earn money online by sharing your home with others.
Here’s how it works:
  • Create your free listing: Describe your space, how many guests you can accommodate, and add photos and details.
  • Pick your price: What you charge is always up to you.
  • Get paid: You can be paid via PayPal, direct deposit, or wire, among other ways.
  • DollarSprout’s Complete Guide to Profitable Airbnb Hosting

29. Earn Money by Watching Videos on Your Phone

Watch videos on your phone with Swagbucks is one of the easiest ways to earn money on the internet. I mentioned Swagbucks earlier as a reputable survey site, but it turns out that’s not the only thing they’ll pay you for.
You can also earn money online with Swagbucks by watching short videos in whatever category you choose, like entertainment, news, or fitness.
  • $5 Signup Bonus for new users.
  • Select videos to watch on your computer, tablet, or mobile phone.
  • Hundreds of great videos from leading content sites.