8 Secret Websites To Make Money Online: The Legit List That Pays in 2025

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Finding a legitimate website to earn extra money from shouldn’t be difficult. That’s why we curated this list of eight secret websites to make money and earn passive income.
But don’t gatekeep this list. Go ahead and share it with your friends.
Make money together with your loved ones. There’s no better feeling.
When we say secret, we don’t mean shady hacks or get-rich-quick schemes. These secret websites to make money are simply lesser-known platforms that you can use for side hustles.
Of course, not every money-making site is worth your time. To avoid scams, run this quick 5-point legitimacy check before signing up:
The availability of these secret websites might vary by country. Moreover, some payout options might be unavailable in your region. Always check these factors first before completing tasks.
This list of secret websites to make money from varies in required time commitment and skill level. For easier reference, we created this decision grid for you.
This will help you find ways to earn money without a traditional job:
Goal | Best websites | Why it works for you |
Fastest way to earn quick cash | Prolific, UserTesting, Survey Junkie | These sites offer simple tasks like completing surveys. Reach the minimum payout if you have the free time to work on the tasks quickly. |
Highest hourly upside | Respondent, Rare Patient Voice | These sites connect you to high-paying academic research. If you qualify, you can earn up to $100 per hour. However, projects are selective and have target personas. |
Apps you can run in the background with minimal effort | Honeygain | An app like Honeygain pays you for sharing unused internet bandwidth. You can install the app on your devices and let it run in the background. It’s a simple way on how to earn money with a laptop or smartphone. |
Selective or professional work | Wynter, Data Annotation | If you have the right expertise for the job, these websites pay more than other platforms. These require professional experience and particular skills, though. |
Read more below to dive deeper into each of these money-making websites.
If you don’t have the free time but you want to earn some extra cash, these apps are the best for you.
A bandwidth-sharing site pays you for sharing unused internet bandwidth. One of these platforms is Honeygain, an app that you can install and run simultaneously on multiple devices.
You just need a steady internet connection to keep things running. These apps use your internet data for testing websites and networks, including ad testing and optimizations. They only use unused bandwidth, so it won’t affect your internet performance.
Get a percentage of your money back when you shop through cashback apps like Rakuten. These platforms earn a commission for every purchase, and they will share a portion with you. This way, you save some money while shopping online.
Can’t wait for a month or two to get a payout? These quick-win secret websites to make money can help you.
Research panels like Respondent offer services for companies doing detailed studies. To achieve this objective, they need people to take surveys and provide feedback. However, each study requires target personas with specific traits and backgrounds.
Participate in academic research to earn income by the hour. Academic survey platforms like Prolific will refer you to schools and universities. These studies are often about human behavior and social psychology.
Turn your favorite hobby into an opportunity to earn easy money. PlaytestCloud pays users for playing games and testing for bugs and errors. You’re like a market tester, but for beta versions of new, unreleased games.
Earn extra cash playing games. It’s really a fun way on how to make money from home. Video creators and gaming streamers can easily complete simple tasks like game-testing.
If you have a few hours of spare time, you can earn your own rates on professional marketplaces and apps.
One of the secret websites to make money from is Wynter. This platform pays you for reviewing marketing materials of a traditional or online business. However, you need to have professional credentials. You must have an expert background in advertisement-related niches like marketing, HR, or finance.
Platforms like Remotasks pay you for labeling and categorizing data. You might be tasked to transcribe audio files, label images, and evaluate chatbot responses. You complete online tasks like these to help improve the quality of AI tools.
It’s not exactly how you earn passive income, but you can do tasks at your own pace.
Tester networks like UserTesting help you land gigs testing products for different companies. You might get paid for testing the interface of an online store or a mobile app. You can pick your tasks, so this is perfect if you need a side hustle with flexible hours.
These secret websites to make money from might differ in payment methods and timelines. Some require a minimum payout threshold, while others offer scheduled payments.
Here’s how websites pay you for completing required tasks:
To avoid confusion, create a primary wallet for all platforms. This way, you can easily track your earnings across every channel.
Delivery jobs, pet-sitting gigs, and platforms to sell online courses are some of the trending side hustles today. However, there’s still an overlooked list of secret websites to make money for free.
But it doesn’t mean that you’ll just get money for free. It just means that you don’t need upfront investment or upfront fees to land these gigs. That, and these factors as well:
Some websites, like Google Opinion Rewards, offer payments when you complete surveys and user interviews. Others, like Honeygain, let you earn money online just by running an app in the background.
To achieve a steady income, you can diversify across different websites. Just make sure to review each site’s legitimacy through our 5-step checklist above.
Websites like User Interviews (UI), Respondent, and PlaytestCloud pay users for testing products, watching videos, and taking surveys. You can also earn money online through passive income apps like Honeygain, where you just share unused internet or WiFi bandwidth. It’s an example of secret websites to make money without investment.
Quick-win websites like Prolific and PlaytestCloud offer payouts one to three days after you complete a task. You can also earn money online on Honeygain’s data-sharing app, but you must reach the $20 minimum payout threshold. Payout timelines might vary per app that you use.
Yes, there are passive income apps like Honeygain that let you earn money without effort on your part. You just install the app on your device and run it in the background. Honeygain is an example of lesser-known websites that provide passive income streams.
Usability test platforms like Respondent and PlaytestCloud require a headset with a microphone, and a desktop or laptop. You need a stable internet connection and a modern browser, like Chrome or Firefox. For game testing, you might need a computer with at least 8GB of RAM and a graphics card.