Five kinds of earning

Everything on the Earn page falls into one of five categories. They differ enormously in payout and in how long they take, and picking the wrong one for the time you have is the most common reason people conclude a reward site "does not pay".

Surveys

Market research questionnaires. You answer profiling questions first, and if you match what the researcher needs, you continue to the full survey.

Being screened out is normal and not a fault - the researcher needed a different demographic. It is also the main thing you can reduce: fill in your profile properly on each survey partner, because that is what the matching runs on. Surveys come from partners including BitLabs, CPX Research, TheoremReach and Prime Surveys, and each maintains its own profile, so it is worth doing more than once.

App installs and sign-ups

Install an app, register for a service, reach a small first milestone. These are the quickest wins on the platform and the best place to start, because the requirement is short enough that little can go wrong.

Two rules decide whether they pay: the app must be a genuinely new install on your device, and you have to hit the stated milestone exactly. "Reach level 5" means level 5, not level 4.

Game offers

Reach a specified level or stage in a mobile game. These carry the largest payouts available without spending money, and they are also where most disappointment comes from, because the requirement is long and easy to underestimate.

Read the target before you start and decide honestly whether you will reach it. A level-50 requirement that pays well is worthless if you stop at level 30 - most game offers pay nothing at all for partial progress. Our Monopoly Go and Royal Match guides show what these requirements look like in practice.

Purchase offers

Buy something, subscribe to a trial, or make a first deposit, and receive a payout larger than anything else on the platform.

These are the only offers where you spend your own money, so treat them differently. Work out whether the reward genuinely exceeds the cost, check whether a trial renews automatically, and only ever use one for something you were going to buy anyway. See how to profit from purchase offers before trying one.

SharkTasks

Small jobs posted by advertisers directly on the platform, with a proof requirement and manual or automatic approval. Payouts are modest but predictable, and there is no tracking chain to break - the reward arrives when the task is approved rather than when a partner decides to report it.

Full detail is in the simple tasks guide.

Which to pick

• Ten spare minutes - a survey or a SharkTask.
• A new account finding its feet - app installs, because they credit fast and confirm the system works.
• Willing to commit over weeks - one game offer, chosen carefully.
• About to buy something anyway - check whether a purchase offer covers it.

Whatever you choose, the mechanics of getting credited are identical: click through from the Earn page with ad blocking and VPN off, and screenshot the completion. See why an offer did not track, and how to start earning for the full walkthrough.