18 easy (and quick) ways to make money online in the UK

Strapped for cash or want to make some easy money?

There are loads of ways to make extra cash from the comfort of your sofa. Some take literally a few minutes, while others will mean learning some new skills.

The good news is, you can earn up to £1,000 per tax year from a self-employed side hustle, without having to pay extra income tax. If you do earn more, you’ll need to register for self assessment and potentially pay tax on any profits over your personal allowance.

Here are 18 quick and easy ways to make some extra cash online. 

Fun ideas that take a few minutes

1. Watch ads or play online games

Avid TV watcher or gamer? You’re in luck!

If you want to watch ads, you can earn a few pence 80p for watching a five-minute ad on Swagbucks, but when combined with other tasks on the site this can add up.

You can also earn money playing games online via Swagbucks, Toluna and InboxPounds.

2. Listen to music 

You can earn money by listening to music and offering valuable feedback, which will help artists and record labels make decisions through sites such as Slicethepie. 

Most reviews will earn you only pennies but you’ll get more for detailed reviews and referring friends.

More ways to earn cash from your sofa

3. Fill out online surveys 

If you have opinions and don’t mind sharing them, filling out online surveys is an easy way to make money!

You’ll only get offered a small amount of money for each survey.

However, if you keep at it, you may earn hundreds of pounds via the likes of Branded Surveys, Swagbucks, isay and Toluna.

4. Enter competitions 

You can become a ‘comper’ – someone who regularly enters competitions to win money or prizes.

There are lots of handy tips, including from MoneySavingExpert. The website’s forum has a considerable comper community, to help boost your chances of winning big.

5. Earn cashback 

Not feeling lucky? You can earn cashback when you buy from hundreds of retailers via Quidco and TopCashback – or you can earn a little extra using a cashback credit card.

Getting cashback online usually takes a while, while cashback credit cards typically have high interest rates so make sure you pay off your bill in full every month. 

For further rewards, link your cards to AirTime, which pays you an extra bonus when you shop with certain brands.

You can apply this to your phone bill with many mobile providers, or withdraw it as cash for a fee if your provider isn’t supported.

6. Get paid to search the web 

Yes, really – you can get paid for searching online via Google, Bing, Yahoo, Amazon and eBay by using the Qmee browser add-on.

While each Qmee result typically pays as little as 15p, you can cash out at any time and do online surveys to boost your rewards.

7. Complete easy tasks 

You can get paid for completing easy tasks, including surveys and competitions, but Cashback.co.uk requires you to complete 15 tasks before you make any money.

Alternatively, you can do easy micro-tasks such as data entry and writing via Clickworker. 

8. Earn money from your receipts 

Have a lot of receipts lying around? You can turn them into cash or rewards when you upload them to Shoppix.

You simply shop in-store or online, upload your paper or digital receipt, earn rewards and redeem them for cash or gift codes.

9. Review websites and apps 

You can get paid for sharing your views on products and experiences through UserTesting and TestingTime.

With UserTesting, you need to apply to join and answer questions to be matched with testing opportunities including surveys and live calls, while TestingTime will invite you to different studies and you can pick a day and time to suit.

Ideas that take a few hours

10. Sell your stuff online 

Whether you’re planning to declutter your wardrobe and sell clothes through Vinted, sell DVDs via Music Magpie, or flog your items on eBay or Amazon, you can make a decent profit.

Do check the charges though - Amazon charges 75p per item sold to smaller sellers, while charges vary on eBay and Vinted adds all costs to the price paid by the seller.

You can also recycle old phones by selling them to the likes of SellMyMobile or CeX. You’ll need to provide a valid ID document to sell with CeX as it requires a (free) membership.

Before you sell phones, make sure your data is completely wiped!

11. Take part in online focus groups

Marketing companies often run online focus groups where companies test out new ideas.

You can typically earn at least £40 for a 90 minute to 2 hour group discussion and often more if the project involves extra tasks.

You will be told in advance when payment will be made but it will most likely be in cash at the group itself or up to £10 for surveys taking up to an hour.

12. Become a mystery shopper

Companies use mystery shoppers to evaluate online customer service and report on the delivery process. For example you order products online or chat with their social media channels.

You accept an assignment via an app or website and get paid a small fee, typically £5 to £25 in addition to reimbursing your expenses.

13. Monetise your website 

If you have your own website, there are many ways to make money easily.

You can use affiliate links, so you get paid whenever someone buys a product through your link, introduce ads, publish sponsored posts or product reviews, or even make money through your newsletter – the possibilities are endless!

14. Sell your photos 

Are you a shutterbug? You can sell your photos to sites such as Alamy, Shutterstock and Getty Images.

It’s a good idea to find out how much you’ll get paid for your photos, as some sites only offer a percentage of the sales price.

15. Create YouTube videos 

You can make money by creating your own videos about whatever you’re passionate about through the YouTube Partner Programme.

This offers a variety of different ways to earn cash, including getting a percentage of the subscription revenue from viewers, or a percentage of the revenue from advertisements watched by viewers of your content.

If you want regular income

16. Go freelance or find gigs online  

Want to try being a freelancer?

You can do freelance work whenever it suits you via Fiverr or if you’re handy around the house through TaskRabbit or AirTasker– and even go freelance full-time if it suits your lifestyle.

17. Rent or a spare room or rent out your parking space

If you have a spare room you could consider listing it on Airbnb. This is ideal for solo travellers who want to save money compared to expensive hotels, especially if you live in a city.

Under the government’s rent a room scheme, you can earn up to £7,500 tax-free by letting out a furnished room in your home. If your earnings are under this amount, you won’t even need to fill in a tax return.

Another perhaps easier alternative is to rent out a parking space. You can make thousands a year, according to JustPark, with the first £1,000 tax-free.

The amount you can make depends on how popular your area is with commuters or if it’s near in-demand entertainment venues.

18. Train AI models

You could earn £20-£30 an hour doing online tasks to help improve artificial intelligence language models.

You might be asked to listen to audio and give feedback on whether it sounds like natural speech, or review chatbot answers for accuracy and clarity. Take a look at DataAnnotation or CrowdGen.