When thinking about ways to make money online, I think it’s easy to look at successful entrepreneurs making thousands of dollars every month and to feel like we have to do the same thing.
However, making a full-time income online isn’t a prerequisite for success. Sometimes, even a bit of extra money on the side can make a massive difference.
In college, I used hustles like phone farming and started this blog to make money, and if you’re ever in a tight spot for cash, every little bit counts.
So, if you’re looking for a fast and effective way to make some additional income to make ends meet, this list of the best micro jobs is for you.
Just note: I don’t recommend using these jobs if you are looking to make money online for an extended period of time. These are lower paying gigs and short tasks designed to be completed quickly, not to sustain yourself for months on end.
Let’s get to it!
The Best Microtask Websites
Before we jump into the best microtask websites, I want to make one thing clear.
These websites are great for earning some extra pocket money for things like buying groceries, paying off your bills, or investing some money on the side.
However, it’s unlikely that microtask websites can replace your day job anytime soon.
Clickworker
When it comes to finding micro jobs, Clickworker is one of the most popular platforms around.
Users can sign up to work on Clickworker for free and set their own schedule after completing a short assessment to qualify for jobs. Getting high scores and producing quality work will increase the number of jobs you can take on.
Popular jobs on Clickworker include data categorization, proofreading, completing surveys, app testing, and other short tasks that only take a few minutes.
Projects can pay between a few cents to two-digit amounts, and project fees are based on the difficulty of work, processing time, and a few other factors. Payments are made weekly through PayPal or several other payment options.
Out of all microtask platforms, websites like Clickworker are one of the most popular and sort of set a standard for what you should look for!
Amazon MTurk
Amazon Mechanical Turk, or MTurk, is another way to earn some extra money whenever you’re in front of your computer and have some spare time.
Jobs on MTurk are similar to Clickworker. The MTurk marketplace is full of tasks including identifying objects in videos, data deduplication, transcription work, and search engine evaluation.
MTurk jobs are known as ‘hits,’ which stands for ‘Human Intelligence Tasks,’ and the premise behind Amazon MTurk is to have workers help solve problems that AI isn’t capable of figuring out.
Using systems like MTurk HIT catcher is a great way to increase how much money you make with sites like MTurk, although some people treat this micro job a lot more seriously than simple money.
According to this this Reddit thread, some Amazon MTurk workers have made more than $50,000 from the platform. While this isn’t typical, it does show there’s plenty of opportunity if you put in the time.
U.S. citizens can earn cash or Amazon gift cards for their work on MTurk, while non U.S. citizens can only earn gift cards.
Branded Surveys
Another popular microtask site you can use to make some quick money is Branded Surveys. It’s a leading survey site with millions of members, and signing up is completely free.
Once you create your profile, Branded Surveys pays you for answering short surveys.
Most surveys pay $0.50 to a few dollars, and you can cash out through PayPal or for free gift cards once you earn at least $5.
What I like about Branded Surveys is that it also has a program called Branded Elite. This pays you with bonus cash every month if you complete enough surveys, making it higher-paying for consistent members.
The low cash-out minimum is also a selling point, and this micro task site is available in the United States, Canada, UK, and Australia.
Start earning with Branded Surveys!
Microworkers
Microworkers is a micro task website that currently has more than 1.4 million workers who have completed more than 42 million tasks.
Popular jobs on Microworkers include categorization, completing surveys, data mining/entry, and ads monitoring on social media platforms like Facebook.
As with Clickworkers, you will be assigned a star rating as you complete tasks, and higher ratings will allow you to access a wider array of jobs.
Microworker pays out through Dwolla, PayPal, and Transpay, but you must earn at least $9 before cashing out. Payments are sent twice a week.
I’ve mentioned Appen before on This Online World, and it’s by far one of the most popular money platforms around.
Appen jobs are pretty similar to other crowdsource-based platforms. However, on Appen, you apply to a specific category of work, which includes rating jobs, language based jobs, or micro tasks.
Appen is legit, and has plenty of strong reviews on websites like Indeed. The pay range is also above traditional micro work, and some Appen jobs pay as high as $14/hour. However, Appen is considered money for most people because it can be hard to fill a 40 hour week with this platform.
Payments are made via PayPal
Lionbridge is a competitor of Appen and offers the same sort of micro task marketplace for people to make extra money.
If you want to try search engine evaluation, website testing, quality rating, or translation/transcription and have had difficulty getting into Appen, Lionbridge is a solid alternative.
Just note, it is technically against TOS to work for Appen and Lionbridge simultaneously. You can sort of get away with it, but it seems fairly random in terms of who is allowed to skirt the rules.
Pay rates range from $8-$14 per hour depending on the job you’re working on, but hours are also volatile as with Appen.
Remotasks
Remotasks is a newer entrant to the work of crowdsourced micro jobs, and they also pay less on average than companies like Appen or Lionbridge.
However, if you can’t make it into other platforms but want to make some extra money, Remotasks might help hold you over until you can find better work.
Popular jobs on Remotasks include image annotation, data collection, identifying spam, moderating content, and transcription.
Payments are made via PayPal, but you will probably earn under $10/hour on this platform so keep that in mind.
If you’re looking websites like Remotasks, your best bet is probably Clickworker, Appen, or Amazon MTurk.
Zeerk
Zeerk brands themselves as a micro job and freelance portal where you can offer or browse gigs ranging from $3 to $200.
In other words, Zeerk is an alternative to Fiverr that focuses on micro tasks. This is the platform where people buy likes, followers, upvotes, social media accounts, and other semi-questionable online transactions.
If you’ve ever tried to make money on Fiverr with these sorts of offerings but find the marketplace is saturated, Zeerk might be less competitive.
ySense
ySense is a weird mixture between a survey site and a micro job platform, and there’s truly a little bit of something for everyone on this site.
On ySense, users can make money through surveys, download offers, watching videos, or by completing jobs like the ones posted on Figure Eight.
ySense was formerly known as Clixsense, another popular GPT website, and the platform is under the parent company Prodege, who operate some of the most reputable reward sites in the industry.
Users can cash out with dozens of gift card options or through PayPal, and the lowest rewards are $3. ySense is also available in dozens of countries.