Get Paid to Read Emails: The ONLY Legit Ways (2023)

Everybody loves easy ways to make money. 

And what could be easier than to earn money reading emails?

The problem is, many times these opportunities are too good to be true. 

Don’t get me wrong, there are legit ways to get paid to read emails. 

But unfortunately, the vast majority of paid to read email sites are scams. 

After taking the time to investigate them all individually, I’ve discovered:

☑️ Two sites that actually pay you to read emails.
☑️ A long list of sites that are scams (even though other blogs recommend them)
☑️ A WAY better way to earn with email

Let’s dive into each, one-by-one. 

Can you really get paid to read emails?

Yes, you can. 

Why would companies pay you to do something as easy as reading emails?

Advertising. 

That’s right. These companies pay you to open their emails in the attempt to make you a customer. 

They’re hoping that if you open one of their emails, you’ll see something you like and buy it (or share it with your friends).

Sometimes you’re asked to take a survey to verify that you read the email, and there are usually “exclusive” offers in them as well (to make you a customer). 

That means as long as you aren’t too much of a shopaholic, this could be an easy way to make some extra cash.

The ONLY TWO pay to read email sites worth your time

1. Swagbucks

Swagbucks is a popular online rewards platform that allows you to read email and get paid.

They have what they call “Click and Earn” emails, which are the emails you get paid to read. 

Just keep in mind that these emails are sent to your Swagbucks inbox (so, not your primary email address), meaning you need to log in to Swagbucks to see them.

In addition to reading emails, you can also earn points by watching video advertisements, taking surveys, and shopping at certain stores.

Swagbucks sends out payments via PayPal or gift cards once you hit at least $5 (500 SB), though often gift cards go on “sale” for as low as $3 (or 300 SB). 

There are many gift cards to choose from, including Amazon, American Express, Starbucks, Olive Garden, and loads more.

You also get $5 just for signing up.

2. Inbox Dollars

Inbox Dollars is exactly what it says it is — money you can make from your inbox. 

It’s a platform similar to Swagbucks, where you can get paid to read emails for free. It is also run by the same company (Prodege). 

Similar to Swagbucks’ Click and Earn emails, Inbox Dollars has a PaidEmails program. 

The main difference is that these paid emails are sent to your personal email account, instead of your Swagbucks account. 

To ramp up your points, you can also play games, answer surveys, and watch videos.

There is a $5 signup bonus for Inbox Dollars as well.

Paid to read email websites to avoid

There are a ton of paid email sites out there, and not all of them are winners. 

Aside from Swagbucks and Inbox Dollars, other sites that allow you to read email and get paid can be pretty scammy. 

And even if they aren’t technically scams, they’re pretty darn close. 

For example, they might require you to read hundreds or thousands of emails before you can even withdraw your money.

There are also scammy sites that want your personal information, or worse, install malware on your device. 

To stay safe and avoid wasting time, steer clear of the following sites. 

🚫 My Points 🚫

My Points is another site from Prodege.

They claim to have a feature called BonusMail where you get paid to read emails, but reviewers say that most of your earnings come from making purchases through the emails (rather than just opening them). 

So this is definitely still a site you can check out, but keep in mind that it’s most likely a waste of your time.

🚫 Cash4Offers 🚫

Cash4Offers isn’t a scam, but for how high their minimum payout rate is, they might as well be. 

With Cash4Offers, you have to make $35 before you can withdraw any of the money. 

They pay you between $0.01-0.001 per email and send you 1-2 emails per day. At that payout threshold, it’ll be ages before you see your money.

🚫 EmailCashPro 🚫

EmailCashPro is also as close to a scam as a legit site can get. 

They pay you $0.01 or less per email you read, and you only get up to 3 emails per day. 

Their minimum payout amount is $11, which is better than Cash4Offers’ $35, but it’s still not worth your time.

🚫 Fusion Cash 🚫

Fusion Cash is another legit site where the minimum payout amount is too high. You have to make $25 before you can withdraw anything. 

The site does not state how much they pay per email, but 64% of reviews on TrustPilot are one star, claiming that the site is fraudulent. 

Many people complain that their accounts get blocked before reaching the minimum threshold, or their points expire in 180 days from not hitting the $25 fast enough. 

I’d listen to the reviews on this one and avoid it at all costs.

🚫 Inbox2Cash 🚫

Inbox2Cash is pretty sketchy if its reviews are anything to go by. 

For one, my web browser won’t even open the website due to the site “using an unsupported protocol.” That’s a huge red flag.

Some reviewers say that the company has a reasonable minimum threshold of $5 to cash out, but the company stops sending emails right before they hit that minimum amount. 

Seems extremely fishy to me.

🚫 Unique Rewards 🚫

Unique Rewards is on the “sites to avoid” list due to awful customer reviews, including ones where the company has not paid their cashout when they hit the minimum threshold. 

You can check out some of those reviews on SiteJabber here. Steer clear of this one.

Other ways to make money reading emails

Working for a company that will pay you to read emails is not the only way to earn from an inbox. 

In fact, there is a WAY better way to do it.

Become a virtual assistant

A virtual assistant (VA) is pretty much what it sounds like — an assistant that is 100% remote. 

A virtual assistant’s workload can quite literally be anything. Answering phone calls, website design, accounting — -and you guessed it — reading (and organizing) emails. 

Now, this might not be your only duty as a virtual assistant. 

You might have to reply to emails and do other administrative work as well. 

But some businesses get so many emails, they just need someone to read them and filter out the important ones.

This free VA training is a great way to get started as a virtual assistant (it’s geared towards women, so if you’re a man, here are some other good free and paid virtual assistant courses to check out). 

Paid email sites that others recommend (that DON’T pay to read emails)

There are a lot of articles online recommending “get paid to read emails” sites, but several of the recommended sites don’t actually pay you to read emails. 

To save you time chasing rabbit holes, here’s a list of other sites that don’t work.

🚫 Cash Crate

🚫 Daily Rewards (this is another site by Prodege, but it no longer exists)

🚫 Send Earnings (also a site that no longer exists)

🚫 Vindale Research (registration has closed as of November 1, 2021)

How to safely earn money by reading emails

Before you sign up for or invest any of your time into a site to make money reading emails, there are a few things to look out for. 

Firstly, check out BBB or TrustPilot reviews on the site you’re looking at. 

Make sure most reviews are positive, and give the bad ones a read before you trust a site. 

You can also check out a paid to read email review article for the site you’re considering.

Also, avoid sites that: 

🚩 Ask for your bank account information.

🚩 Require your sensitive personal information, such as your driver’s license number or social security number. (Age, gender, and other identifying information may be required to determine if you qualify for surveys, but all of that data is anonymized.)

🚩 Promise you free products that sound like amazing deals. (You can’t earn things like free vacations or TVs doing legitimate surveys online.)

🚩 Any survey that promises a very high signup bonus. Legit sites offer no more than $2-10.

🚩 Promise that you can quit your day job and make a steady income from reading emails. This is a side hustle to earn a bit of extra cash when you’re bored. No legit site will pay you a full-time wage to simply open emails.

There are tons of other super simple ways to earn online. For more ideas, check out:
▶ How to get paid to talk to lonely people
▶ How to get paid to chat online
▶ How to get paid to read books aloud