Apps that pay a sign-up bonus, and the strings attached

A sign-up bonus usually has a string: Swagbucks' $10 takes a $25 purchase, InboxDollars' $5 may take signing up for advertisers' offers, and Freecash's $10 comes after your first offer. Cash App's $10 needs you to send $5. We read each app's own terms on October 23, 2026.

We build PaysFair, an earning app that competes with the apps below, so check their numbers yourself. PaysFair is for people 16 and over.

Which apps pay a sign-up bonus, and what does it take?

These are the bonuses each app offered on its own pages, read October 23, 2026.

Swagbucks. Its $10 welcome bonus activates only after you spend at least $25 on a single purchase in an eligible category of a store in its shop. Purchases at Amazon, eBay and The Home Depot don't count. The purchase typically credits within 32 days, and the bonus comes a couple of days after that.

InboxDollars. Its App Store listing promises a $5 welcome bonus. Its help center says you may have to tick co-registration boxes for advertisers' offers to qualify for a sign-up bonus, and what you enter there may be shared with those advertisers. Your first cash-out then needs $15 in your account.

Freecash. Freecash says your first offer unlocks a $10 welcome bonus, and its first cash-out then needs $5 to $20, depending on your region, plus an ID check with a selfie.

Scrambly. Scrambly starts you with a 500-coin welcome bonus and lets you withdraw from $1. Its terms call coins an internal unit with no cash value outside the app, and its home page says a one-time identity check comes before your first reward.

Cash App. Its referral terms pay a new US customer $10 for entering a referral code, linking a new debit card or bank account, and sending $5 to someone else within 14 days. The bonus is paid within 30 days after that, and there's one per person. Our Cash App guide covers its other offers.

Earning apps like ours. PaysFair's home page doesn't mention a sign-up bonus. PaysFair pays out as a gift card by email, from a $1.00 smallest cash-out, and your first cash-out is checked by hand. Tasks done over a VPN or proxy don't count.

Do banks pay sign-up bonuses?

Many do, and the law makes them print the strings. Under the CFPB's Regulation DD, a bank ad that states a bonus must give the time requirement, the minimum balance needed and when the bonus will be paid. Read those three lines before you open anything.

A bonus can also cost you at tax time: the IRS says even a noncash gift for opening an account may be reported to you as interest on Form 1099-INT. Our free money guide covers bank bonuses and money already owed to you.

Which "free $10 instantly" offers are scams?

Each of these warnings comes from Cash App's or the FTC's own pages.

Cash App says scammers often send back real money on a small first test, like $20 for your $10, before asking for more. Its rule for any giveaway is simple: if it asks you to pay anything, it isn't real. The FTC's rule for work is just as short: "Never pay anyone to get paid, or to get a job."

What do other guides on this leave out?

We read six pages that rank for sign-up bonuses on October 23, 2026, and five more wouldn't load for us. Two of them are earning apps' own blogs, and none names the FTC or mentions cash flips. Only one uses the word scam. None says that InboxDollars may require advertisers' offers for its bonus. Only two mention ID checks, and three give a minimum cash-out. One gives Freecash's bonus as $5, while Freecash's own page offered $10 when we read it. Another says Cash App pays its bonus instantly, while Cash App's terms say within 30 days.