How to Make 5 Dollars Fast in 2024 (2024)

Sometimes you just need $5 but don’t have it; we’ve all been there. Fortunately, there are tons of ways to make 5 dollars fast. It doesn’t take much work or time to learn how to make 5 dollars fast. So, combine your efforts with these simple tasks to make money and reach your goals, no matter how big or small.

Some of the tasks I provide below will earn you 5 dollars instantly. You do the job and walk away with 5 dollars. Other jobs, however, may take a little longer to reach $5 and cash out.

15 Easy Ways to Make 5 Dollars Fast

Here are the easiest and fastest ways to make $5+ right now:

1. Survey Sites
2. Play Games
3. Cash Back Apps
4. Bank Sign-up Bonuses
5. Watch Videos
6. Rakuten Insight
7. Nielson Panel App
8. Join a Focus Group
9. Sell Unused Gift Cards
10. Make Deliveries
11. Freelance Tasks
12. Pet Sitting or Dog Walking
13. Test Websites
14. Sell Unwanted Items
15. Recycle

1. Make a Quick $5 When You Register for Survey Sites

Survey sites can help you earn money online fast. All you need to do is offer your opinion. It’s easy, and it helps shape up-and-coming products and services. If you’re looking for ways to make 5 dollars fast, sign up for the following survey sites and make quick money.

Many of these sites even offer a sign-up bonus where you can get 5 dollars or even more just for signing up.

• InboxDollars – It doesn’t take long to get five dollars with InboxDollars. They’ll pay you a $5 sign-up bonus, plus any money you make answering surveys. InboxDollars pays cash, not points, so it’s easy to immediately see how much you’ve earned. They have a $30 cashout threshold, so it may take a little while to see your rewards.
• Survey Junkie – This is one of the best survey sites available today. Survey Junkie has high-paying surveys and pays via your PayPal account or gift cards to the most popular stores.

2. Play Games for Money or Gift Cards

If you’re looking for a way to earn free 5 dollars, consider playing games online. It sounds impossible, but you can make money playing your favorite games, like solitaire, bingo, and many other popular online games to win real money.

You can earn money playing games as well as free gift cards. You don’t have to be great at the games, but you do have to spend time playing them. The more time you spend playing games, the more money you make.

Here are the most popular sites and apps that pay you for playing games:

• Blackout Bingo – Bingo isn’t just a game of chance with Blackout Bingo. It’s a game of concentration and speed, and you can win cash rewards just for playing.
• Solitaire Cube – If you’re a solitaire king, play the game for money and make 5 dollars or more with your skills. You can enter tournaments, and competitions, playing against people with the same skillset, all for cash prizes.
• Mistplay – This Android-only app pays you to download and play new games. It’s a free app to download and use, and the games are free. Mistplay offers a fun way to make 5 dollars fast.

3. Get $5 with Cash Back Apps

Cashback apps are an excellent method to learn how to make 5 dollars fast. Cash back apps pay you when you shop online. In addition, you earn a percentage of your purchase back. So even if you buy laundry detergent, cleaning supplies, and paper towels for the house, you can make money back. But, of course, most apps pay cash back for any purchase, including clothing, travel, household goods, etc.

Here are some of my favorite cash back apps:

• Upside (formerly GetUpside) – Getting gas today isn’t a fun chore, but it’s a lot easier when you earn cash for filling up your gas tank. Download the Upside app, and you’ll earn 5 dollars fast. All you have to do is activate the offer at the gas station you’ll visit and either check in when you’re there or upload your receipt to get paid.
• Ibotta – This started as an app that paid cash back at grocery stores, but now you can shop online and earn some money too. Ibotta pays up to 30% back at your favorite stores, so it’s not an app to miss.
• Dosh – Link your credit or debit card to the Dosh app, and each time you shop at a qualified store, you’ll automatically earn money in your bank account.
• Tada – Earn money back on your grocery purchases with this app and get a nice $20 sign-up bonus. You can make money shopping online or in-store for all your household needs, which is a fun way to make 5 dollars fast.
• Shopkick – Earn money by shopping through the Shopkick app and doing certain tasks. For example, if you shop in-store, you might earn ‘kicks’ for walking into big box retailers. Just check the app to see what tasks are available in your area so you can make more money.

4. Open a Free Bank Account With a Sign-up Bonus

Sometimes all you have to do to earn free cash is to open a bank account. If you want to save money, open a savings account at a new bank and earn the bonus, they offer for opening a new account.

I like to periodically switch up my bank accounts to take advantage of the free money they pay. Here are some of the top banks that pay a bonus:

• Chase Bank – You can earn a $200 bonus when you open a new bank account at Chase Bank and connect your paycheck, which far exceeds your $5 goal.
• Upgrade – Open an Upgrade checking and you can earn a $200 bonus from just using the debit card to make purchases!

5. Watch Videos for Cash

If playing games for money sounded strange, watching videos for money may sound even crazier. However, again, it’s possible to make money by watching videos. Companies offer this option because it’s cheap advertising for them.

If you watch videos and like what you see, you might sign up for the offer or buy something, and the company’s marketing efforts worked.

Many sites pay you for watching videos, including:

• Swagbucks – Watching videos is another way to add up your earnings on Swagbucks. Each activity earns you ‘SBs,’ which you can turn into cash prizes.
• InboxDollars – Along with paid surveys, InboxDollars offers to pay you to watch videos, making reaching the $30 threshold easier.
• MyPoints – This is one of the highest paying survey sites, but they offer the opportunity to make money when you watch their videos and accept offers.

Each of these sites pays cash or free gift cards just to help them out by watching their sponsored ads.

6. Register With Rakuten Insight

Rakuten Insight pays points when you answer surveys. It’s one of the highest-paying survey sites that pays you to share your opinion. You can convert your points to PayPal cash or Amazon gift cards.

• Rakuten – Join Rakuten, and you can make $30 to sign up after spending $25 on the app. It’s not hard to find a store to earn cash rewards with Rakuten because they partner with 3,500+ stores.

7. Download the Nielsen Panel App

If you don’t mind sharing your data usage, download the Nielsen Panel app. It works only on your smartphone, but with the app installed, you share the data used on your phone. The Nielsen Company uses the information to shape consumer products and services.

You can earn up to $50 in points per year, plus be entered to win monthly and annual sweepstakes for even more money.

8. Join a Focus Group and Make 5 Dollars Fast

You can make money in focus groups if you have time to share your opinion in person or via Zoom online. This is a great way to solve your problem when you wonder how to make 5 dollars fast, especially when you do the focus groups in person. They pay you on the spot, and it’s often cash.

The best part about focus groups is you can make more than $5. Most pay $100 or more for a couple of hours of your time. Of course, you must qualify for the focus group and be available when it’s held, but if you are, it’s a great way to make money.

In focus groups, you share your opinion about products or services. Sometimes you’ll try new products in their presence, and other times you share your opinion about products or services you’ve used. To qualify, you must pass a screener, which is a list of questions to make sure they are asking the right demographic for their opinion.

9. Sell Unused or Unwanted Gift Cards

Did you receive gift cards to stores you won’t use? If they’re just lying around collecting dust, sell them on Raise. You list the card yourself on the site and set the price. When it sells, you earn the cash and can cash out in any increment.

10. Make Deliveries and Earn $5 Fast

When you need to learn how to make 5 dollars fast, delivering food can be great. You can deliver groceries or restaurant food. Each of the gig apps pays a flat fee, plus you earn 100% of the tips earned from customers.

You set your own schedule, working when you can. You can create a schedule or log into the app when you’re available and need ways to make 5 dollars.

Here are my favorite gig apps:

• DoorDash – This is another restaurant delivery service. I like it because they often run promos or challenges. When you work them and meet the guidelines, you earn extra money on top of your regular earnings.
• Instacart – If you don’t despise grocery shopping, get paid to do it for people who don’t have the time or patience to do it themselves. You shop their grocery list and deliver the groceries to their doorstep. Instacart pays you a fee, plus most customers give healthy tips worth at least 5 dollars.
• Uber Eats – If grocery shopping isn’t your thing, deliver restaurant food for Uber Eats. The customer orders their food through the Uber Eats app, and then you accept the order to pick it up and deliver it to them. Provide excellent customer service, and you’ll know how to make $5 quickly all the time.

11. Quick Freelance Tasks for Cash

You can jump online and do freelance tasks when you need extra money. If you’re looking for something that takes only a few minutes, consider a microtask app or other freelance gigs that don’t take much time.

Here are a few of the most popular microtask apps:

• Swagbucks – Use an app like Swagbucks to make quick money. You can watch videos, answer surveys, or play games and make a few dollars.
• InboxDollars – Like Swagbucks, you can earn a free $5 by providing your opinion, opening emails, or watching video ads. You’ll make even more if you accept their offers, but just opening them helps you earn cash.

12. Pet Sitting or Walking

If you love pets, make money walking or pet sitting them. You can charge more than $5 an hour to pet sit or walk a dog or two, giving you the money you need quickly.

You can advertise your services on your social media page or sign up for apps like Rover that match pet owners with pet sitters to make money.

13. Get Paid to Test Websites

Did you know companies pay people to test websites before they release them? They don’t have employees that do this. So instead, they pay freelancers to do it. Most sites pay $10 per test, double the 5 dollars you need, so you’ll have extra cash on hand.

Here are my favorite website testing apps:

• UserTesting – For every 20-minute test, UserTesting pays you $10. It’s one of the ways to make money fast.
• UserCrowd – You’ll make less than $5 for each gig at UserCrowd, but the earnings add up quickly. You just need to share your opinion about a website’s design, and you get paid.
• PlayTestCloud – If you like apps, get paid to test them with PlayTestCloud. They pay an average of $9 per test, but the tasks vary, and so will the payment.
• TestingTime – TestingTime pays users to test many things, including websites. Members receive around two tests a week, making it easy to earn money fast.

14. Sell Unused Items

If unused items are lying around your home, sell them for cash. It’s like getting free cash when you sell your items because you don’t have to work for it; you just have to find a buyer.

Here are my favorite sites and apps to sell items:

• Poshmark – If you have Lululemon, Ralph Lauren, and Free People clothes collecting dust, sell them on Poshmark. Open a closet and list your name-brand clothing and accessories to make extra cash.
• Mercari – This is a marketplace for anything you want to sell. Electronics, video games, clothes, and household goods sell the best on it.
• Sideline Swap – If you have unused sports equipment, sell it on Sideline Swap and make free cash selling your sports equipment.
• OfferUp – OfferUp is a great way to sell items locally. If you have oversized items, you don’t want to ship, sell them on OfferUp and arrange for a mutual meeting place.
• Facebook Marketplace – List your larger items on Facebook Marketplace, and you can arrange for porch pickup or meet the buyer in a mutual location. There aren’t any fees for listing on Facebook.
• thredUP – This is an online thrift shop. You send your clothes in, and they list and sell them, paying you a percentage of the sale while keeping a portion for themselves for their work.

15. Cash In with Recycled Bottles and Cans

If you have a local recycling plant near you or your local grocery store accepts recycled bottles and cans, you can make extra money fast. They pay you immediately for what you bring in, so take advantage of the opportunity and do good for the environment.

Avoid $5 for Free Scams

You should always watch out for scams when trying to get a free $5 instantly. Go with your gut, check the Better Business Bureau, and read reviews. If something seems off or like it’s too good to be true, skip it and find another way to make $5 fast.