How we make this list: we compare pricing pages, product documentation and public user reviews. Ratings come from G2, Capterra or Trustpilot, with the date we checked them.
Key takeaways
- The honest headline first: these apps pay very little per hour, typically well under a few dollars and often under one, so treat them as entertainment with a rebate, never as income.
- Mistplay is the games focused original on Android, Freecash pays the keenest rates for game offers and cashes out at low minimums, and Swagbucks wraps games inside a wider rewards platform.
- Earnings come from advertisers paying for installs and engagement, which is why the best rates go to new games, early levels and players in the US.
- Cashout minimums, gift card denominations and expiry rules decide whether small earnings ever become real cards, so read those before grinding a single level.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|
 Mistplay | Playing games for points on Android | Free | Yes |
 Freecash | The highest paying game offers and fast cashout | Free | Yes |
 Swagbucks | Games plus surveys and shopping rewards | Free | Yes |
 KashKick | Clear dollar amounts instead of points | Free | Yes |
 InboxDollars | A long running rewards site with games | Free | Yes |
 Rewarded Play | Simple game rewards on Android | Free | Yes |
 AppKarma | Points for trying and playing apps | Free | Yes |
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The best apps to earn gift cards playing games
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
What we like- Mistplay is purpose built for this exact activity: install it, pick games from its catalogue, and earn units as you play and level up, exchangeable for gift cards from major retailers once you reach the redemption amounts. It has operated since 2017, which in this category is a long record of actually paying out, and its catalogue is curated enough that discovery is easy. Because it rewards time in game rather than only installs, it suits players who genuinely enjoy the games on offer
- The card arrives as a side effect of evenings you would have spent playing something anyway.
Watch out for- Mistplay is Android only, a hard limit for iPhone households. Earnings per hour are modest even by this category's standards once the early levels pass, and unit earning rates vary by game and country in ways the app does not publish as a simple table. Some users report slowdowns in credit for specific titles. The gift card shop is the destination
- There is no cash withdrawal, so if you want money rather than cards, Freecash or KashKick fit better.
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
What we like- Freecash built its reputation on paying more per offer than the older platforms: game tasks that pay stated dollar amounts for reaching levels or milestones, with some multi step game offers reaching tens of dollars for committed players, and cashout from as low as five dollars to gift cards, PayPal style cash routes and crypto. Its offer walls update constantly with new games, tracking is generally reliable, and processing of withdrawals is fast by category standards. For the player who treats this as an optimisation hobby, chasing the best paying fresh offers, Freecash is the current centre of that world.
Watch out for- The best rates carry the hardest conditions: reaching a high level in a strategy game within a set number of days can mean playing a game you dislike for many hours, and the earned per hour figure on those offers is often worse than a simple title on Mistplay once your time is priced honestly. Offer tracking occasionally fails and support disputes take time. Availability and rates are heavily weighted to the US and a few other markets. The site also carries survey and offer clutter well beyond games.
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
What we like- Swagbucks is the biggest general rewards platform in this list: games are one earning route among surveys, shopping cashback, receipts and videos, all feeding one points balance, SB, worth a cent each, redeemable for gift cards from a dollar or three dollars depending on the card, with PayPal cash also offered. Its game offers include well paid install and level tasks, and the platform's age and size make it one of the safer pairs of hands here. For a household that will also answer surveys and route online shopping through it, the combined drip fills a card faster than games alone anywhere.
Watch out for- Pure game earnings on Swagbucks are unremarkable, similar cents per hour to the field, and the site's sheer number of earning gimmicks buries the good offers. Points can take days to credit on game offers, and screening out of surveys after answering questions is a much complained about pattern in that section. Gift card processing can take up to ten business days for some redemptions. The breadth is the benefit and the clutter at once.
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
What we like- KashKick shows earnings in actual dollars rather than points, which removes the mental arithmetic every other platform here makes you do: a game offer says what reaching a level pays, surveys say what they pay, and the balance is money, cashable to PayPal at a ten dollar minimum. Its game offers include the same multi step level tasks as Freecash, sometimes at competitive rates, and the smaller platform's offer list is mercifully short and readable. For users who bounced off points systems, the clarity is the product.
Watch out for- Ten dollars is a higher floor than Freecash's cashout, and with realistic hourly earnings it takes a while to reach. The offer catalogue is smaller, so fresh game offers appear less often. KashKick is US focused, and tracking failures on game offers happen here as everywhere, with the usual screenshot and support ticket remedy. The platform is smaller and younger than Swagbucks or InboxDollars, which cuts both ways: cleaner, and with a shorter payout track record to inspect.
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
What we like- InboxDollars, run by the company behind Swagbucks, has paid members since 2000 and shows balances in dollars: games, surveys, offers and paid email feed one account, with game offers and a scratch card style mechanic adding small amounts between tasks. Gift cards and PayPal cash start at modest minimums for the first cashout in many cases. Its longevity is the pitch: in a category full of apps that vanish, a quarter century of operation counts for something, and its game section carries the standard offer wall titles.
Watch out for- The first cashout minimum and processing times have historically been slower and higher than users expect, improving after the first redemption
- Read the current terms before grinding toward them. Game earnings alone are slow, in line with the category's cents per hour reality. The site pushes many low value activities whose hourly return is close to zero, and paid email pays literal cents. Users outside the US have the sister site problem: InboxDollars is US only, with international users directed elsewhere.
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
What we like- Rewarded Play keeps the model minimal: a daily list of Android games, points for installing and playing, bonus points for daily engagement, and gift cards for major retailers once you reach the redemption threshold, commonly discussed around five dollars in value. It suits the casual end of this guide: open it, play something from the list for a while, and watch a small balance grow without learning an offer wall's rules. The app has operated for years under its parent Influence Mobile, and its simplicity makes it a reasonable first try for someone curious about the category.
Watch out for- Android only, like Mistplay. Points earning slows noticeably after the first days on a title, again pushing rotation. The cashout threshold means a casual player may take weeks to see a card, and rates per hour sit at the category's low end because the offers are time based rather than milestone based. Game choice is narrower than the offer wall platforms. It is honest, simple and small, in every sense.
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
What we like- AppKarma pays points for installing apps and games and for hitting engagement targets inside them, with daily rewards for returning, and redemption to gift cards and PayPal at published thresholds. It has operated since the mid 2010s, giving it a longer life than most of the app store's earn by playing crowd, and its Karma Plays model, keeping an app and playing regularly, fits players who settle on a couple of games rather than rotating daily. The interface is simple and the requirements per offer are stated before you install.
Watch out for- Earnings are firmly at the modest end, and some offers require reaching levels that take real hours for a dollar or two of points. Tracking disputes are a known pattern in reviews, as with every offer wall. Availability favours the US and a few other countries, and iOS earning options in this style are limited across the whole category. AppKarma does its job without frills
- Nobody should expect it to be more than pocket money for playtime you were giving away free.
How we chose
We compared reward platforms where playing games is a genuine earning route in October 2026, requiring three things: a track record of paying out over years rather than months, gift cards from major retailers among the rewards, and no cost to join, since a fee to earn is the signature of the scams in this space. Shopkick is excluded on principle: it shut down in March 2026. Earnings claims are described as ranges players realistically report rather than the platforms' best case screenshots, and every entry states its platform limits, because half this list is Android only. This guide treats all seven as entertainment that happens to pay a little, and any reader treating them as a job should run the hourly maths in the section below first.
How to earn without wasting your time
Price your hours honestly once, and the category becomes harmless fun. Pick one evening, play a fresh offer, and divide what you earned by the time it took; most players land between a few cents and two dollars an hour. If that number, for games you enjoyed, feels like a fair tip on your hobby, continue with a light system: keep two platforms at most, take new game offers when they appear because early tasks pay best, cash out the moment you reach a threshold rather than banking points in an app that could change its terms, and never let points sit past an expiry date.
Three habits to refuse. Never pay for an offer: the moment a game task requires an in app purchase to complete profitably, the maths is rigged against you. Never install anything asking for unusual phone permissions or payment details; legitimate offers need neither. And never chase a milestone you are no longer enjoying because you have sunk hours into it; those hours are gone either way, and the remaining ones are the ones you still own. Gift cards earned this way are best mentally filed as a discount on fun you already had.
Frequently asked questions
How much can you actually earn playing games on these apps?
Realistically, a few dollars a week for a casual player and perhaps twenty to fifty dollars a month for a determined one rotating fresh offers on Freecash or Swagbucks, at an effective rate usually between a few cents and about two dollars an hour. Occasional large offers pay more for hard milestones, but priced per hour they rarely beat the simple ones. Anyone showing screenshots of hundreds earned is showing months of grinding or the top one percent of offers. Set expectations at gift card money, because that is what this is.
Are these apps legit or scams?
The seven in this list are legitimate businesses that pay advertisers' money to players and have years of payouts behind them. The scams in this space share tells: charging a fee or deposit, promising wages rather than pocket money, asking for bank logins or unusual permissions, or having no history at all. Even with legit apps, expect friction: an offer that fails to track, a card that takes days to arrive. Legitimate here means the money is real, not that the experience is flawless or the pay is fair.
Why do the best offers pay for reaching high levels?
Because the game developer is buying committed players, and a player who reaches level twenty is worth far more to them, in future spending and retention value, than a thousand installs that delete the game in a day. The milestone structure transfers the risk to you: the developer pays the platform for results, the platform pays you for results, and the hours between are yours to donate if the level proves slower than expected. Price the whole path before starting, not just the final figure.
Do points and balances expire?
On several platforms, yes: points can expire after periods of inactivity, and balances can be lost if an account is closed for breaking terms, such as using a VPN to reach another country's offers, which most platforms prohibit. Rules differ per app and change over time, so read the current terms and, more practically, cash out at every threshold. A five dollar card in your email is yours; five dollars of points in an app is a promise. Promises from apps are worth less.
Is this income taxable?
In the US, yes in principle: rewards and earnings are taxable income, and platforms issue tax forms to users who earn above reporting thresholds, historically 600 dollars in a year. Most casual players will earn far below that, but the obligation to report income does not start at the threshold; the threshold is only where the platform must send you paperwork. Keep simple records of what you cash out. This is general information, not tax advice, and a reader earning real money here should ask a tax professional rather than an app guide.
Sources we checked (0)
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
Shihab Mia · Founder, Rankite
Shihab has 5+ years in B2B and SaaS SEO. He writes Rankite's software buying guides from pricing pages, documentation and public user reviews. More about Shihab.