InboxDollars vs Swagbucks

Swagbucks vs InboxDollars: Which Survey App Is The Best To Make Money?

InboxDollars vs Swagbucks
Illustration: The Money Manual
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We’ve all received surveys in our inbox after buying online. Getting feedback from customers is important to a business because that information can be used to improve the purchasing and user experience for customers.

The hard part is incentivizing customers to take the time to give feedback. How do you get customer feedback without annoying them into hitting the delete button?

Two apps think that they have it figured out by offering people money in exchange for the time it takes to fill out surveys. Let’s take a look at InboxDollars vs Swagbucks to see how they work and which offers the best way to make money. Maybe you’ll want to download today and start playing to earn.

Table of Contents

At A Glance

Swagbucks

Swagbucks Real Reviews

InboxDollars

InboxDollars Real Reviews

How They Compare

Pros And Cons

Bottom Line

FAQs

InboxDollars vs. Swagbucks At A Glance

InboxDollars vs Swagbucks at a glance
Illustration: The Money Manual

What Is Swagbucks?

Swagbucks is an app that lets you earn points (called Swag Bucks or “SB”) that can be redeemed for gift cards or cash. SB are earned for completing various activities such as taking surveys, watching videos, playing games, and browsing the web.

Swagbucks was developed by Prodege, LLC. Prodege also developed InboxDollars, the other app reviewed in this article.

How Does Swagbucks Work?

You can sign up for Swagbucks by either filling out a form at Swagbucks.com or by downloading the Swagbucks app off of the Google or Apple app store. You receive a $10 sign-up bonus for completing the registration process. 

Once you have authenticated to the website or app for the first time, Swagbucks asks you to complete a quick profile quiz. Swagbucks can tailor the surveys you receive to your habits and preferences based on your answers.

Swagbucks will then ask you to verify your account with either an email or text. You receive a 5 SB as a bonus for completing this task as well.

The value of an SB varies depending on what prize you are redeeming. But on average, an SB is worth about a penny.

Now you are ready to start earning Swagbucks. There are several ways to do this:

  1. Completing surveys. Surveys are recommended based on your profile
  2. Watching videos. Viewing short video clips
  3. Shopping with specific brands. Swagbucks partners with stores like The Gap, Walmart, Home Depot, eBay, and Sam’s Club. You can shop through the app, the website, or by using the Swagbucks browser extension that links to your Swagbucks account. Brands will tell you how many Swagbucks you can earn for each dollar spent
  4. Playing games. Games must be played through the Swagbucks app
  5. Browsing the web. Swagbucks has a search engine built into the interface. It allows you to do web searches for Swagbucks-paying shopping experiences

Your SB balance, indicated by an “SB” in the upper right corner of the web interface or in your profile under your username on the app, updates every time you complete an activity.

To cash out your SB, you go to the Settings section and select “Redeem SB”. Review and select the reward option you want from the list available.

There are three categories of rewards:

  1. Cash to PayPal. This requires a verified PayPal account
  2. Retailer gift cards
  3. Prepaid Visa Gift cards

Swagbucks will verify your identity with a security question, and then you just need to wait for your reward to process. It typically takes about 2 business days to process a reward but can take longer.

Is Swagbucks Legit?

Swagbucks does deliver on what it promises. It has paid over $589,000 in cash and gift cards since 2008, the year in which the app was founded. Its reviews are overwhelmingly positive on each platform it operates on.

What Do Real Users Think About Swagbucks

Swagbucks has been reviewed more than 60,000 times on the Apple App Store and more than 82,000 times on the Google Play Store. The app has a rating of 4.4 stars out of 5 and 4.2 stars out of 5 respectively.

Users who rate the app positively cite the amounts of money they made and the ability of customer service to resolve issues.

5-star Swagbucks review has used it for years and has made thousands of dollars.
5-star Swagbucks review says it's great for what it is. It's not a scam.

Users who have had negative experiences cite being disqualified for surveys after investing a lot of time. They also cite issues with authentication. As always, be sure not to quit your day job as this is a for fun, and supplementary type of app that pays cash only.

2-star Swagbucks review says it's not worth it. It pays but takes too much time.
1-star Swagbucks review says they kept getting an invalid email error when signing up.

What Is InboxDollars?

InboxDollars links you with survey providers who want you to complete paid surveys. This allows marketers to collect data on products you have engaged with.

Brands pay InboxDollars to collect feedback from people who give their opinions about goods and services. The information helps brands develop their next wave of marketing campaigns.

InboxDollars can be used either from its website or through Google Play Store or the Apple App Store.

How Does InboxDollars Work?

To get started with InboxDollars, first create an account and fill out a 30 question profile survey. This can be done either on the app or on the website. This will identify surveys you may qualify for. You earn a $5.00 sign-up bonus.

You’ll see available surveys in the Survey Notification Dashboard. This displays the surveys you qualify for based on the survey answers you provided.

The dashboard shows how much a survey offers, how long it will take to complete, and the topic. The survey’s name will also appear if you are using the website.

The surveys vary. Sometimes a few minutes is all it takes to complete surveys that pay $2.50. Other surveys can take a half-hour and pay only $0.25. Individual brands decide the length of a survey and how much it will pay.

You can also earn Scratch and Win tickets. Think of these as lottery tickets. The more activities you complete, the greater the prize can be if your ticket wins. This is very similar to how Lucktastic functions.

If you use the ticket as soon as you get it, the prize can be no higher than $10.00. If you choose to wait, it could be a $100.00 maximum prize. Not all Scratch and Wins are winners, and prizes can be well below the maximum.

InboxDollars incentivizes users to complete activities with a Daily List. The list acts as a quota that offers extra cash for completing a series of online surveys or tasks shown on an itemized list. A string of completed lists (known as a “streak”) can qualify for rewards beyond the daily rewards.

InboxDollars has no “in-app currency.” You are notified of rewards in actual cash amounts which is one of the major differences between Swagbucks and InboxDollars.

There are eight different ways to earn rewards using InboxDollars:

  1. Completing surveys. These are recommended based on your profile.
  2. Watching videos. This requires ad blockers being turned off.
  3. Shopping with specific brands. InboxDollars partners with BestBuy, Kohl’s, Macy’s, and many others. You can shop through the app or by using the BillyButton. This is a browser extension that links to your InboxDollars account.
  4. Playing games. This requires playing the game through the InboxDollars app.
  5. Using coupons. You are rewarded for both redeeming and printing coupons.
  6. Browsing the web. InboxDollars has its own built-in search engine. This does award cash, but does contribute toward Scratch and Win tickets.
  7. Uploading receipts. There are two ways to upload receipts with InboxDollars.
    Magic Receipts: You choose from a list of deals on InboxDollars and add them to your cart. When buying items from a participating store, take a picture of your receipt and upload it to your account for an immediate cash reward.
    Any Receipts: This lets you upload any receipt from more than 1,100 retailers. The receipt needs to be less than 14 days old. You receive $0.02 for each receipt submitted.
  8. Signing up for offers. Offers are some of the highest paying rewards, but they sometimes require the use of third-party apps. Some offers have purchase requirements, but you can sort and filter for offers that are no purchase necessary.

Is InboxDollars Legit Or A Scam?

InboxDollars is considered a legitimate survey and rewards site. People all over the Internet have reviewed it positively. It was developed by Prodege, a global market research firm.

What Real Users Think About InboxDollars.

There are more than 108,000 reviews of InboxDollars on Google Play Store and more than 148,000 reviews on Apple App Store. It has a 3.9 stars out of 5 rating on Google Play and a 4.5 stars out of 5 on Apple.

People who like the app are talked about the amount of payouts and just how responsive customer service was.

5-star InboxDollars review says it's the best surveys and cashback for purchases and receipts with easy cash out.
5-star InboxDollars review says it's a great app with great offers, surveys and games that truly payout.

Users who have had negative experiences say that it takes too long to reach the minimum amount to cash out. Also, users can be disqualified from earning cash in a survey based on their answers.

1-star InboxDollars review says they had multiple bad experiences with the app.
1-star InboxDollars app says it takes time to fill out a survey to find out you don't qualify.

How Swagbucks And InboxDollars Compare

Swagbucks and InboxDollars are alike in many ways. They both allow you to earn money and gift cards in return for completing a variety of activities.

However, they have some differences. While both offer Amazon gift cards, they do not partner with the same brands, so some of the retailer gift cards are different as well as some of the shopping options that can earn you money.


Also, InboxDollars does not use an in-app currency that requires conversion to dollars.  It just shows you how much you earn in dollars. Swagbucks uses an in-app currency. 1 Swagbuck is equivalent to about a penny.

InboxDollars Pros And Cons

Pros

  • Available on multiple platforms
  • You can see how much you’re earning with no conversions
  • Eight different ways of earning money

Cons

  • You can be disqualified from a survey based on your answers
  • Sometimes purchases are required for offers

Swagbucks Pros And Cons

Pros

  • Simple sign-up process
  • Generous sign-up bonus
  • High volume of surveys
  • Low cashout threshold

Cons

  • Low conversion rate. It takes 100 Swagbucks to earn 1 dollar.
  • Some activities pay only 2 Swagbucks, or $.02, for completing the activity.

Bottom Line: Which Is The Better Survey App, InboxDollars or Swagbucks?

Swagbucks is a good choice for users who are not interested in earning high dollar amounts. While you can do that if you wish, Swagbucks offers you the opportunity to cash out with amounts as small as $3.

If your goal is to make the most money you can, then InboxDollars might be worth your time. It’s best to use surveys, coupons, receipts, and some offers to maximize your earnings. But if you’re just looking to kill time and make a little money doing it, then playing the games on your phone and earning Scratch and Win tickets is the way to go.

Try it yourself and see which works best to make money and download Swagbucks or InboxDollars today.

FAQs

What can I earn with Swagbucks?

You can earn gift cards from brands like The Gap, Home Depot, and Sam’s Club.  You can also cash out to PayPal or receive pre-paid VISA gift cards.

Where can I get Swagbucks?

Where is Swagbucks on social media?

What can I earn with InboxDollars?

With InboxDollars, you can earn Amazon gift cards as well as gift cards from many popular retail brands. You can also earn money which is deposited directly to your PayPal account once redeemed.

How long does it take to process my payment request?

For InboxDollars, gift cards can take 3 to 5 business days to process. PayPal payments can take up to 10 days or longer to process.

For PayPal payments, InboxDollars has strict verification rules. Your email address and the email address associated with PayPal have to be identical, as does your name and mailing address. You also must have a verified bank account.

For Swagbucks, redemptions are processed typically within 2 business days, although some have taken longer.

Where is InboxDollars on social media?