Decades ago, Western Union drew in customers with its crooning “Everybody Needs Some Money Sometimes” ad. Times might have changed, but people’s occasional need for a little extra money hasn’t—maybe you need to pay back a friend, or you don’t have enough for a movie ticket, but for whatever reason, you need to score a free $20 instantly.

Well, I’ve put together 10 ways to make 20 dollars fast—or in some cases, almost instantly. (Sorry, Western Union, you didn’t make the list.) Some of these methods involve getting paid for doing something you already wanted to do (or should do), like shopping online or opening an investment account. In other cases, you can even get paid for playing games and having fun.

Of course, since you’re looking to earn that money quickly, let’s move right along to the list!

Editor’s Note: All sign-up bonus offers are as of Aug. 22, 2025.

How to Get $20 (Or Even More) Fast

twenty dollars pants pocket — DepositPhotos

Below is my look at 10 different ways you can easily score $10—or in most cases, even more—pretty quickly, and sometimes even instantly.

Investment Account Sign-Up Bonuses

First up: Sign-up bonuses for starting an investment account. This is a very common way for online stock brokers to attract fresh customers—most brokers offer some sort of giveaway or bonus, though they often change over time.

Below are a few of our favorite brokerage sign-up bonuses.

Related: Best Stock Apps for Teens

1. Robinhood ($5-$200 Toward Fractional Stock)

Available: Sign up here
Platforms: Web, mobile app (Apple iOS, Android)
Promotion: $5-$200 to be spent on fractional shares

Robinhood is a pioneer of commission-free trading, jumping into the investing public’s consciousness in 2013 when they rolled out commission-free trading. They remain a standout option for cost-minded investors thanks to their continued $0 commissions on stocks, ETFs, and options, as well as for its fractional trading, which allows people to invest with as little as $1.

Robinhood’s other noteworthy investing features include IRAs and Roth IRAs (with matching funds no less), advanced charts, options strategy builders, 24/7 commission-free cryptocurrency trading, extended-hours trading, and stock lending.

→ How to get your free money to put toward stock at Robinhood

While several other media outlets refer to Robinhood’s offer as “free stock,” that’s a little oversimplified. The bonus is a randomly selected cash amount of between $5 and $200 that can be put toward fractional shares of certain U.S. stocks. Here’s how to get your bonus:

Use our link to start the account opening process.
Link your bank account.
Fund your account with at least $10.

(Note: You must wait three trading days to sell your gift stock. Once you’ve sold your stock, you can use the money to buy other stocks right away. But if you want to withdraw the funds for cash, you have to wait at least 30 days.)

2. Webull ($100 Bonus, 2% Match)

Available: Sign up here
Platforms: Desktop app (Windows, Mac, Linux), web, mobile app (Apple iOS, Android)
Promotion: $100 bonus and 2% match on initial deposit ($2,000 minimum deposit)

Webull is a wallet-friendly brokerage account that offers no-commission stocks, ETFs, and options, $0 contract fees on many options, and requires no deposit minimums.

It also offers fractional-share investing, which allows investors to start buying for as little as $1. In other words: Beginners working with small dollar amounts can still easily diversify their portfolio across numerous investments. Newer investors can also learn trading skills through the courses in Webull’s education center, and even practice their skills via Webull’s paper trading service.

Webull is available across just about every platform, allowing you to research, trade, and track your stocks on your smartphone, tablet, or desktop. Other features include charting tools, customizable screeners, free real-time stock quotes and stock alerts, preset lists, voice commands, and more. It also offers extended trading hours (pre- and after-market trading) and 24/7 online help.

You can also subscribe to the paid Webull Premium tier, which provides a higher APY on uninvested cash, IRA rollover and transfer matches, higher IRA contribution matches, better margin rates, and more.

On top of all that, Webull frequently runs promotions that typically involve earning free stock.

→ How to get Webull’s cash and match bonuses

Currently, Webull is offering new users a litany of bonuses connected to making an initial deposit. Here’s how to collect a $100 cash bonus and 2% deposit match:

Use our link to sign up with Webull.
Deposit at least $2,000.

Note: The match is capped at $20,000, which would be awarded if you made a $1 million deposit.

3. Moomoo (Up to $1,000 in NVDA Stock)

Available: Sign up here
Platforms: Desktop app (Windows, Mac), web, mobile app (Apple iOS, Android)
Promotion: Up to $1,000 in free NVDA stock with qualifying deposit

Moomoo is a cost-friendly trading platform that offers no-commission stocks, ETFs, and options, and no contract fees on equity options.

While Moomoo is great for advanced traders, offering powerful tools to empower your trading insights and strategies, its differentiated approach (simple interfaces and high ease of use) make it a match for some intermediate and beginner investors, too. The desktop platform is highly customizable, while the mobile app is straightforward, allowing you to search for stocks and trade with minimal hassle.

But again: Moomoo has more than enough under the hood for advanced traders to get the job done. Its charting system, for instance, includes 62 technical analysis indicators and 22 drawing tools. You can set up alerts based on changes in price, bids, turnover ratio, and more. Free Level 2 market data helps you get a greater understanding of a stock’s value, determine how liquid a stock truly really is, and better time your trades. You can even enjoy 24/7 financial news handpicked by Moomoo’s editorial team.

→ How to get your free shares on Moomoo

Moomoo is currently offering new users a deposit bonus of up to $1,000 in free NVDA shares. Here’s how to collect it:

Use our link to open a new brokerage account with Moomoo.
Make a deposit within the promotional period. Amount of stock is determined by deposit size; $100 or greater gets $20 in stock; $2,000 or greater gets $50 in stock, $10,000 or greater gets $300 in stock, and $50,000 or greater gets $1,000 in stock.

4. SoFi Invest® ($5-$1,000 in Bonus Stock)

Available: Sign up here
Platforms: Desktop, web, mobile app (iOS, Android)
Promotion: $5-$1,000 in bonus stock

SoFi is a multi-faceted financial company that offers everything from credit cards and insurance to student loans and mortgages … and they also allow you to trade and invest through its SoFi Invest app.

With SoFi Invest, you can invest as actively or as passively as you’d like. The Active SoFi Invest Brokerage Account has no required minimum balance, charges no commissions on stock, ETF, and options trades, and its options trading has no contract fees, either. Want to put your portfolio on autopilot? SoFi’s robo-advisory services will create a portfolio for you for an annual 0.25% assets under management fee (that can be designed to address one or several goals) and auto-rebalance it for you as necessary over time.

The interface is still very much geared toward younger, less experienced investors—everything is focused on simplicity and ease of use, rather than an expanse of sophisticated tools. SoFi also offers budget-friendly features such as fractional shares, which allow you to invest for as little as $5. And SoFi even provides a social element, such as bringing SoFi members together at exclusive events.

And one thing that sets SoFi apart is your ability to handle many financial tasks within the very same app. SoFi’s app allows you to tackle anything from banking and investing to student loans, insurance, and mortgages. Better still, you can subscribe to SoFi Plus to unlock an additional $1,000 per year in extra value across all of SoFi’s financial arms.

→ How to earn bonus stock from SoFi Invest

SoFi Invest allows you to win a randomly selected dollar amount worth of bonus stock: $5, $10, $25, $100, or $1,000. To qualify:

Use our link to open a new brokerage account with SoFi.
Fund your account with $50 or more within 30 days of the account opening.

Your bonus should post to your account in 10 business days.

5. Upromise ($5.29 Sign-Up Bonus, $25 Linking Bonus)

Available: Sign up here
Platforms: Web, mobile app (Apple iOS, Android)
Promotion: Get a total of $30.29 ($5.29 for signing up, and $25 for linking a 529 plan)

Upromise makes it easier to save for your child’s future higher education expenses, and has helped families save more than $1 billion for college to date.

After you create a Upromise account, you link it to either your 529 plan, student loan account, or a checking or savings account. You can also apply for a no-monthly-fee Upromise Mastercard that earns you cash rewards when you shop, eat at restaurants, and more, and the service will automatically deposit both your cash rewards and any monthly contributions into your 529 plan or linked bank account. You’ll also earn more in cash-back rewards with the Upromise Mastercard than you will with any other linked debit or credit card.

Also, every month, Upromise gives five families a $529 college scholarship. Every dollar of earned rewards gets you an entry.

→ How to get your free money on Upromise

As soon as you use our link to sign up with Upromise and verify your email, you’ll be awarded $5.29. To receive an additional $25, you must:

Link a 529 plan account within 30 days.
Keep the account active through the first cash-back rewards redemption cycle.
Make sure your cash-back rewards account balance meets the minimum transfer amount to be able to transfer rewards into the linked account.

6. Wealthfront ($50 Deposit Bonus)

Available: Sign up here
Platforms: Desktop, web, mobile app (iOS, Android)
Promotion: $50 deposit bonus

Wealthfront is a popular robo-advisor that offers numerous account types, including individual, joint, and trust taxable brokerage accounts, Traditional, Roth, SEP, and Rollover IRAs and 529 plans.

While some of its robo-advisor competitors have a relatively high minimum balance requirement of a few thousand dollars or much more, Wealthfront requires a fairly small initial deposit of $500 to open an account. (Again, that’s high for an investment account, but low for a robo-advisory product.) So if you don’t have a huge sum invested already to move into the account or to rollover from an existing account like a 401(k) or other IRA, this account might be a good choice.

Wealthfront offers some valuable perks with its accounts, including automatic tax-loss harvesting, automatic rebalancing, automatic trading, and the option to customize your expert-built portfolio. This top robo-advisor also offers access to a 529 plan (or the ability to link an external one to your account) to help with saving for educational expenses. This is an uncommon feature for most standalone robo-advisors outside of a traditional brokerage, so it’s well worth noting.

If you’re considering putting this on your shortlist, just note that Wealthfront does charge a 0.25% annual management fee across the board. It’s not free, but it’s more affordable than many robo-advisors.

→ How to get your $50 deposit bonus on Wealthfront

If you use our link to open a new taxable brokerage account with Wealthfront, fund it with $500 or more within 30 days of account opening, and leave the funds there for at least seven days, you’ll receive a $50 deposit bonus in your account.

Survey Sites

Make money just for sharing your thoughts through paid survey sites. It’s not exactly the most lucrative side hustle, but it is a way to earn money with virtually zero effort. And in some cases, you can get a jump on your cash goals with a sign-up bonus.

7. Swagbucks ($10 Bonus)

Available: Sign up here
Platforms: Web, mobile app (iOS, Android)
Promotion: $10 sign-up bonus

Making money online through Swagbucks is simple. Swagbucks lets users earn Swagbucks points (SBs) by completing simple tasks—that includes taking surveys, yes, but also shopping online, playing video games, or even just doing web searches.

Users can redeem SBs for gift cards from popular retailers, such as Apple, Amazon, and Target; the website awards more than 7,000 gift cards every day. However, if you just want cash, you can redeem points that way, too, and receive the money in a PayPal account.

You can typically earn a free bonus for signing up for Swagbucks via our link. You can also earn additional money by referring friends to the app.

→ How to get your $10 bonus on Swagbucks

New users receive a $10 bonus for signing up and spending with Swagbucks. Here’s how:

Use our link to sign up with Swagbucks.
Spend at least $25 at a store featured in Swagbucks.com/Shop within 30 days of registration. (You must receive a minimum of 25 SB for the purchase.)

You’ll receive a 1,000 SB bonus (equivalent to $10), which should post to your account in 10 business days.

8. Survey Junkie (Paid Surveys)

Available: Sign up here
Platforms: Web, mobile app (iOS, Android)

Survey Junkie is a paid-survey service that’s trusted by millions of users to earn money. The platform matches users with surveys that are most relevant to them. You complete surveys on your own time and earn points for doing so.

Each point earned through Survey Junkie is worth 1 cent. Once you have at least $5 worth of Survey Junkie points, you can redeem them for virtual gift cards from popular merchants including Starbucks, Target, and iTunes. You can also get Visa gift cards or even receive cash back via PayPal or bank transfer. While not always the most lucrative way to make money online, the service routinely has new surveys available for you to fill out.

9. Branded Surveys ($1 Bonus)

branded surveys homepage. — Branded Surveys

Available: Sign up here
Platforms: Web, mobile app (iOS, Android)
Promotion: $1 sign-up bonus

Branded Surveys has paid out more than $72 million to its more than 3 million users.

The surveys made available to you will depend on your interests and profile information, as well as what research partners currently need. Each survey earns points; you can cash out once you’ve accumulated at least 500 points. Depending on survey length, users make anywhere from 50¢ to $5 per survey.

You can use your points toward gift cards from more than 100 brands, receive cash in your PayPal or bank account, or even make a charitable donation.

→ How to earn free money with Branded Surveys

Simply sign up for Branded Surveys with our link and you’ll receive 100 points, which is worth $1.

Other Options

Here’s a look at a few other ideas that can generate $20 quickly for you.

10. Scrambly (Play Games, Try Apps, Earn Money)

Available: Sign up here
Platforms: Web

Scrambly rewards you for a number of tasks, including completing online surveys, testing companies’ products, and playing games on their phones.

In exchange for completing tasks, you get coins that can be exchanged for cash back to a PayPal account, Visa gift cards, or gift cards to a small number of vendors, including Amazon, Google Play, and Apple. And if users invite friends, they earn a commission on their friends’ lifetime earnings.

The survey aspect of the site is pretty straightforward—you’ll receive questionnaires similar to what you get with other paid survey sites. But what makes Scrambly stand out is the ability to earn money by trying out products and services from the likes of AARP, Cash App Taxes, and Disney+.

There is no minimum or maximum amount of time you have to spend. You can do this occasionally for just a bit more spending cash or more frequently to rack up rewards faster.

Use our link to sign up with Scrambly.

11. Sell Unwanted Stuff Online

Selling items you don’t want online is a win-win as you simultaneously create more space in your home and make money. Two of the most popular websites for selling items online are Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist.

You can post on these websites for free. You’ll need a Facebook account to start selling on Facebook Marketplace, though.

If you have larger items, such as furniture, you can make 20 dollars fast selling these items. For smaller items, such as clothes, you might want to bundle several items together to make more with each transaction.

Just be prepared to negotiate. When shopping online for used items, people often try to haggle to buy for less than the posted price.

12. IRA Match With Robinhood Retirement

Available: Sign up here
Platforms: Web, mobile app (Apple iOS, Android)
Promotion: 1% match on IRA contributions (3% match with Robinhood Gold)

You might be asking yourself, “Wait, what do you mean an IRA match?”

Individual retirement accounts (IRAs) are a type of retirement account that enjoys certain tax benefits. However, unlike with 401(k)s, which are run through employers and often offer a match, you directly open up an IRA through a broker. So whereas you might very well receive an employer match when you contribute to a 401(k), brokers, generous as they might be, rarely pony up money for your IRA.

Rarely … but it does happen.

Robinhood has evolved from a bare-bones app appealing to mostly beginner investors to a fuller-featured account suitable for a wider range of experience levels. For instance, Robinhood now offers individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and Roth IRAs via Robinhood Retirement.

And Robinhood is back to innovating by becoming the first IRA to offer a match on contributions.

→ How to get your free money in an IRA on Robinhood

If you open up an IRA with Robinhood Retirement, Robinhood will match 1% of any IRA transfers, 401(k) rollovers, and annual contributions to your account—and 3% if you pay for the Robinhood Gold service ($5 per month)—typically almost immediately after you make your contribution. Better still: Any matches made on annual contributions don’t count toward your contribution limit. So for instance, if you’re under age 30 in 2025, and contribute the maximum allowable $7,000 …

If you have a Robinhood Retirement account, Robinhood would match 1%, giving you an additional $65 in IRA funds.
If you have a Robinhood Retirement account and subscribe to Robinhood Gold, Robinhood would match 3%, giving you an additional $195 in IRA funds. (That’s $130 more than the normal account, more than paying for the $60 per year you’d spend on Robinhood Gold.)

(Friendly message from your Young and the Invested tax expert: The reason the IRA match doesn’t count toward your annual IRA contribution limit is because Robinhood treats it as interest income in your IRA.)

Robinhood’s IRA itself doesn’t offer as many investment options as other brokerages’ IRAs (for instance, you can’t get mutual funds through Robinhood), but if all you need is stocks and exchange-traded funds, it will get the job done. Also, you can choose your investments yourself, but Robinhood’s Portfolio Builder can also provide you with a custom recommended portfolio made up of five to eight ETFs.

Get your free IRA money by signing up for a Robinhood retirement account with our link today.

How to Make 20 Dollars Fast: FAQs

What are some free money-making ideas to make $20 fast?

You have many ways at your disposal if you need to make 20 dollars fast.

Sometimes, you can earn extra money through a one-time deal, such as sign-up bonuses. Other ways to earn money quickly are repeatable. You might win real cash prizes for playing games, get paid every time you watch videos, or receive cash-back rewards while shopping for essentials.

How can you make some extra cash from your phone?

Nearly all of the ways you can earn cash that I’ve listed in this article can be done from a smartphone. You can easily earn money playing cash games, taking surveys, signing up for services, and more—all from your phone.

Most people have their phones on them all the time, and I’ll assume you do too. If so, you can make money while riding on the bus, standing in a long line, sitting … ahem, in the washroom … or any other time you have a few extra minutes.

Just remember: Sometimes the reward isn’t cash. Some services pay you with free gift cards or a special credit instead.

Is your opinion really worth money?

Yes, survey sites offer cash rewards to people who take their online surveys. The amount of extra money you can earn will vary by survey. More general paid surveys tend to pay less, whereas the tougher it is to find qualified people to survey, the more money it will pay.

For example, most people could qualify for online surveys about their favorite chip brands. Significantly fewer people could qualify for a survey that only wants to hear from females between the ages of 30-35 with alopecia.

A few popular survey sites to consider are Survey Junkie, Swagbucks, and Branded Surveys (all explained in more detail in earlier sections).

Do you have to pay taxes on the extra cash you earn online?

When you earn money online, that is considered taxable income. Many ways you make money online, such as online surveys or selling items, are considered part of the gig workforce. You’re required to report any gig economy money earned—and thus pay taxes on them.

If you’re selling items to make money, whether you’re taxed depends on whether you made a profit. If you sold at a loss, the IRS considers this a “nondeductible loss.” Good news: You don’t pay taxes on the earning. The bad news? You can’t deduct the loss.

Usually, credit cards don’t report your rewards, and you don’t need to pay taxes on them. If you receive cash-back rewards, points, or airline miles, you won’t owe taxes because the IRS considers these to be rebates or discounts instead of income. The same holds for welcome bonuses when you open a new card or conduct a certain number of transactions to receive extra cash.

Are there fun ways to get $20 fast online?

Yes. While many people work challenging online jobs, there are also fun ways to win real-world rewards online. You can earn real cash prizes by playing games, taking surveys, and more. You can even watch videos to earn extra cash or free gift cards.

Related:

Disclaimers

Moomoo

Moomoo’s parent company is Nasdaq-listed Futu Holdings Ltd (FUTU). Their subsidiaries are licensed and regulated in the United States, Singapore, Australia and Hong Kong.

How to Make $20 Fast [12 Legit Ways to Get Free $ Instantly]

Reviewed by

Hannah Kowalczyk-Harper