It’s actually pretty easy to earn free gift cards in Canada. The slowest way is to complete a ton of online surveys. The fastest way? Redeem credit card points for gift cards.
Free money isn’t a myth – although you do need to know the smart way to begin.
If you are a Canadian and you’re looking for free gift cards, cash back websites, or cash back credit cards, we’ve got you covered with a complete guide to putting more free money in your pocket.
Complete surveys and other small online tasks
By completing short tasks and surveys, you can earn small amounts of money and earn free gift cards online. For example, DailyRewards (called InboxRewards in the U.S.) offers Amazon, Starbucks, and Nintendo eShop gift cards, varying in value from $30 to $100.
Amount: $0.01 to $5 per task, or $15 to $50 per day
How it works:
- Create a profile on each platform
- Submit for tasks
- Wait to be selected
- Complete the task (watch the video, play the game, answer questions)
- Cash out when you hit the payout threshold
Amazon Mechanical Turk is a popular microtask program where you can complete small tasks online for small pay, like identifying the subject of a photo for $0.05. The highest paying tasks on MTurk are known as HIT (Human Intelligence Tasks), up to $5 per answer.
Payouts are quite low for these programs, according to Reddit users.
Note that "your rewards are held until you have been active on Amazon Mechanical Turk for at least 10 days," according to MTurk’s FAQ. Plus, you may not be eligible for a payout until you hit a certain amount of earnings like $1 or $10.
Here are more survey and task-based platforms where Canadians can earn free gift cards and cash:
- Amazon Mechanical Turk ($0.01 to $5 per task)
- DailyRewards ($0.50 to $3 per task)
- Swagbucks ($0.25 to $5 per survey)
- MyPoints (1 point = $0.006)
- Mistplay ($0.35 to $2 per hour)(not on iOS)
- Rewardy (1000 points = $1)(can redeem for cryptocurrency)
- Freecash (1000 points = $1)(can redeem for cryptocurrency)
- Ipsos iSay (1 point = $0.01)
- Survey Junkie (100 points = $1)
- Branded Surveys (1 point = $0.01)
- Prime Opinion ($0.25 to $7 per survey)
- Five Surveys ($5 for 5 surveys)
- HeyCash (1000 points = $10
- PrizeRebel (100 points = $1)
Be aware that most of the highest-paid tasks have stricter qualifying requirements, and many of these companies are U.S.-based, so their point systems are based on the U.S. dollar.
Some platforms have "Refer a Friend" deals that can bump up your earnings significantly. You must be 18 or older for most platforms.
Take part in user research groups
You typically receive free gift cards or cash for participating in paid user research groups.
Amount: $1 to $100 per study
Shorter surveys only pay you $1 to $10. However, longer studies with video calls, interviews, and usability testing may pay closer to $50 or $100.
Expect to earn higher payouts from participating in user research groups than from completing simple tasks like short surveys, playing games, or watching videos.
How it works:
- Create a profile on each platform
- Apply for studies
- Complete any study you’re invited to perform
- Receive your payment by mail, email, or PayPal
There are many of these platforms, including:
- UserInterviews
- Product Report Card
- Respondent
- Sago (previously known as Schlesinger)
Some platforms specialize in product testing whereas others are focused on other topics. Some are more crowded than others, and some are better about payment.
Be aware that it can take up to 3 or 4 weeks to receive your payment. Some people have waited two months to be paid by a group like Sago – but these folks report that they always get paid in the end.
Get rewards from shopping, like Rakuten
While you spend money shopping, you could also be earning rewards and cash back – sometimes in the form of a free gift card. This is a smart way to save money on groceries, even if you’re already shopping at the cheapest grocery stores.
Amount: 1% to 20% cash back
You’ll earn the most cash back when making an expensive purchase.
Some apps are better for saving money while online shopping, like Honey and Rakuten. Others help you earn cash back after shopping online or in person, like Checkout51.
Install these shopping and grocery apps alongside your social media, and save a ton.
How it works for discounts before you buy:
- Install the mobile app or plug-in
- Search for deals on the products you want
- Activate the deal and complete your purchase
- Receive your cash back, or wait until you’ve earned enough to cash out
How it works for cash back after shopping:
- Install the mobile app
- Scan products or scan your receipt to earn rewards
- Rack up the points or cash
- Withdraw your money when you’ve earned enough to cash out
Some apps, like Rakuten, can be a big buggy for Canadian users, so beware.
Here are the best cash-back and shopping reward apps to get free gift cards in Canada:
- Checkout51 ($0 to $30 per item, cash out at $20)
- Honey (17.92% average discount)
- Rakuten (up to 30% cash back)
- Raise (5% to 20% cash back)
- TopCashback (1.5% to 30% cash back)
- Receipt Hog ($0.05 to $5 per receipt)
- Rewarded Play (11,000 points = $1)(not on iOS)
- Capital One Shopping (2% to 5% cash back)(web browser option)
As a pro tip, try combining loyalty and rewards programs with shopping reward apps for maximum savings.
Note: While popular in the U.S., Ibotta is not currently available in Canada.
Earn credit card points and redeem for gift cards
Many credit cards allow you to earn points and then redeem them for free gift cards.
Before you pick a credit card, you need to know the cost per point (CPP).
A card could give you 1 point per $1 – or 3 points per $1. Categories matter, too. For instance, some cards earn more points for groceries (like the American Express Cobalt) whereas others are better for travel or cash back.
We did find that many credit cards will give you a higher CPP when you redeem points for Amazon gift cards.
Here are some credit cards that can help you earn gift cards:
- MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard: Use MBNA Reward points for free gift cards from Amazon, Starbucks, Cineplex, Canadian Tire, and more (Average CPP: 0.91).
- RBC ION Visa: Use Avion Reward points for gift cards from Amazon, Apple, Home Depot, and more (Average CPP: 0.72 cents).
- Scotiabank Gold American Express: Use Scene+ points for free gift cards from Sobeys, Foot Locker, and Roots (Average CPP: 0.74).
- American Express Cobalt Card: Use points for free gift cards from Air Canada, Roots, Esso, and more. Can also redeem for travel by transferring to an airline partner like Aeroplan, paying for Amazon purchases (Average CPP: 0.77).
- National Bank World Elite Mastercard: Use A La Carte Rewards for free gift cards from Amazon, Starbucks, and more (Average CPP: 0.77).
- BMO Ascend World Elite Mastercard: Use points for free gift cards from Costco, Starbucks, Gap, and more (Average CPP: 0.56).
- CIBC Aventura Visa: Use CIBC Reward points for free gift cards from Costco, Best Buy, and more (Average CPP: 0.71).
Here are credit cards that can give you cash back:
- Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card: Up to 2% cash back, no annual fee, $100 welcome bonus.
- RBC Cash Back Mastercard: Up to 2% cash back, no annual fee, discounts on fuel at Petro-Canada.
Note: Some cards offer bonus cash welcome bonuses when you sign up and meet their conditions. You can check out the moneyGenius offers page for current GeniusCash availability, too.
Other ways to earn money fast
To earn money fast, you need to know about GeniusCash. This is a rewards app from moneyGenius that can help you level up your rewards on everyday spending.
The new GeniusCash app gives you custom financial recommendations tailored to your unique spending habits – and you’ll find exclusive offers and extra rewards to redeem in the form of real cash and gift cards.
Here are a few more ways to earn money fast:
- Open a new bank account and snag a cash welcome offer.
- Be a part-time mystery shopper ($15 to $50 per assignment)
- Flip items on Facebook Marketplace (20% to 50% profit)
- Switch your search engine to Bing with Microsoft Rewards (5 points per search)
- Try MobileXpression and earn money for passively sharing your phone data
- Become a freelancer on Fiverr or Upwork ($5 or more per gig)
- Become a mobile notary ($75 to $200 per gig)
Still stuck? Consider one of these 20 side hustles that nearly anyone can do, like tutoring and transcription.
FAQ
How much can you earn with online surveys?
This really depends on how much time you can allocate per day. The average online survey participant will earn between $1 and $10 per survey. Longer research studies can pay as much as several hundred dollars each.
Is Swagbucks legit?
Swagbucks started in 2008 and provides ways for users to shop, play games, get free samples, and more to earn money. You can cash out via PayPal, prepaid Visa cards, or choose from a very long list of gift cards.
Does Rakuten give cash back on gift cards?
According to Rakuten, you'll earn cash back when you purchase select gift cards, but the cash back rates vary. Be aware that you won’t earn cash back when you only partially pay for something with gift cards.
Do you really get money from Rakuten?
Yes, you receive real money from Rakuten. You can choose to have your money deposited into your PayPal account or receive it as a cheque. Either way, you can change your cash out preference any time.
What's the easiest way to get free gift cards?
The easiest way to get free gift cards is by shopping with a cash back website that offers gift cards as a redemption option. That way, every time you shop online, you're earning money towards a free gift card.
What's the best way to get free cash back?
There are plenty of ways to earn free cash back, like doing surveys, joining research groups, shopping with cash back sites, and much more. Plus, the new GeniusCash app is a rewards app that lets you bank real cash.
How to get free gift cards for Amazon?
You can get free Amazon gift cards in a variety of ways, including completing surveys, participating in research groups, shopping online, and redeeming your credit card rewards. In most cases, you'll redeem points earned for gift cards.
Are survey sites legit?
Most popular survey sites are legit and they pay users for completing surveys. You may not earn much per survey, and you won't qualify for all surveys as they're offered to those with specific consumer profiles. But they are legit.
Leave a comment
Comments
Did you contact RateSupermarket support about your application?
It's possible there was a problem with the click tracking and they're having a hard time tracing back your application to their website. Did they give you any details at all when you called as to what the trouble was?
It looks like they JUST took it offline so it must have just ended. It's unusual for a promo to end mid-month but it does happen sometimes. That looks to be the case here. I've removed it from the list, thanks.
Unfortunately that offer ended this month. As for best travel rewards - check out my rankings here:
https://moneygenius.ca/blog/best-travel-credit-cards
Wow - that's a really speedy turnaround. Faster than I remember it being the last time I did one of these gift card deals. Good to hear!
Thanks for sharing the warning. I hear you that it isn't a perfect program. I have heard some complaint threads about offers not working as they should all the time. It does sound hit and miss. Most of the time when I do something, the points seem to be awarded as they should be but occasionally something doesn't show up. I'm not a heavy user though.
If they truly are shutting people's accounts down for no reason though, that's terrible. They probably have a lot of people trying to cheat the system though because if you figure out ways to game the system they are essentially forced to give out free money.
Yes, TD might honour you the deal if you asked them about it directly. However, they definitely aren't offering it to all customers right on their own website.
The Rogers MasterCard isn't bad if you use a Rogers service to waive the annual fee and then redeem your points as cash back (I heard this is possible even though they don't advertise it on the card's site). It doesn't have any good features other than the high cash back rate and the good currency exchange rate though.
The BMO Air Miles World Elite is a decent card for sure.
However, none of the cards you've mentioned have any big gift card or cash back offers going on with them right now, which is what this particular article is all about.
It's true that applying for a credit card (or any credit for that matter) will usually immediately lower your score by a little bit. However, your score will quickly bounce back in a matter of months as long as you continue to use your credit responsibly and not have way too much of it (hundreds of thousands of dollars). I personally follow the rule of thumb of about 2 new credit card applications a year just to be safe but there are people who do more than 10 a year without too much trouble.
If you want to see how it impacts your score, you can buy the credit monitoring or just pay to check your score every so often from one of the credit bureaus. It's usually a small price to pay when compared to the amount of freebies and rewards you are getting from the credit cards.
It appears you have an error in your advertisement. The TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite Card 20000 points is worth $100 and not $200. Therefore this card offers $200 in Travel rewards and not $400. see TD website or even ratesupermarket website to confirm this. regards, Faruk
Hi Faruk,
It appears you are correct on this. I had received notice that the TD Visa Infinite was receiving a change so you could now redeem your points for travel with any travel provider but at a reduced rate. Somehow I confused that reduced rate with being the regular rate and I thought that redeeming through Expedia was double that rate. It turns out I was incorrect on that, which is a very big oversight and for that I apologize.
To anyone who has already applied for the TD First Class Visa Infinite using the above link expecting to receive $400 in rewards, please contact me so I can apologize personally and try to make it up to you.
I have now corrected the details of the offer so it is correct at $200 worth of travel at Expedia for the Infinite card and $100 worth of travel for the Platinum card.
I'm not sure what could be causing this John. I just tested the application process myself right now using the Chrome web browser and I was able to get through to the application form just fine. If you are experiencing this problem on the TD application form itself, then you should contact TD support if you still want to go through with it. If you are experiencing it on the RateSupermarket page, you can contact their support as follows:
Our representatives are available to assist you Monday through Friday 8am- 8pm EST and Saturday 830am-4pm EST. Call us at: 1-866-462-4779.
The first thing I would suggest trying before contacting support is doing the application on a different web browser or computer to see if that works.