Top 10 best apps with instant referral bonus offers

These days, many companies run referral programs. So, if you have signed up with the business or service yourself, you can refer friends and family to it and be rewarded a referral bonus.

This bonus could be cash, a discount, or credits. Many referral schemes similarly reward the new customer being referred.

A brand offering a referral program might alternatively call it one of the following:

• Loyalty program
• Advocate program
• Rewards program
• Customer reward program
• Invite-a-friend 
• Refer-a-friend (RAF)

Whatever you do call referral programs, they have probably never been easier to use.

They don’t have to entail filling out onerous forms. Instead, referring people to a company can require little more than tapping a smartphone screen a few times.

There are many mobile apps with instant referral bonus offers. As a creator or influencer, you could make money by recommending such apps to your followers. It’s just a matter of feeding them referral codes and links.

Referral marketing vs. affiliate marketing

By registering with a business running a referral program, you can get a unique referral link.

When you share this link with other people and they use it to buy something from the business, you get a referral bonus.

Naturally, then, if you want your followers to click this link, the content you build around it needs to be good. Creating this content is a form of referral marketing.

What you’ve just read might remind you a lot of affiliate marketing. With this, too, you would be inserting links from brands into your own creative content and encouraging its consumers to click on those links.

In both instances, you can earn something when people use the links to buy things.

For example, with the Amazon affiliate program, you can get paid up to 10% in associate commissions from other people’s purchases of products on Amazon.

However, while affiliate marketing pays cash, referral bonuses can offer cash as a reward, but may also offer up rewards in the form of gift cards, in-app coins, discounts, or other rewards.

As a result, referral marketing is easier to initially get to grips with. Referral programs have fewer policies and rules attached to them than affiliate schemes.

Top 10 best apps with instant referral bonus offers

You don't have to be a creator of any kind to get these referral bonuses - you can simply share your links with friends and family. However, we have put some extra info under 'who this is best for', should you have an audience you want to tap into.

Here’s a close look at the best of those apps and how to get your hands on that referral bonus. 

1. Chase Mobile

Do you hold a payment card issued by the financial services behemoth Chase?

If so, you might be able to tap (literally, using the Chase Mobile app) into one of the bank’s Refer-a-Friend promotions.

You are eligible for a referral bonus if you have any of these types of Chase personal checking account: 

• Chase Total Checking
• Chase College Checking
• Chase Premier Plus Checking
• Chase Sapphire Checking 
• Chase Private Client Checking
• Chase Secure Banking

When a friend opens a qualifying Chase checking account on your invitation, you will get a $50 cash bonus.

🏆 Who is Chase best for?

There are many gurus out there famous for teaching essential principles of money management. These include Dave Ramsey (host of The Dave Ramsey Show) and TikTokker Tori Dunlap, who have even written personal finance books.

You can follow in the footsteps of these experts by advising people on such matters as which banking apps they ought to consider using.

Why not drop a Chase referral bonus link when reviewing the bank’s mobile app on a blog or in a YouTube video?

📲 How to get the referral bonus 

If you don’t already have an eligible Chase personal checking account, you can open one via the app.

After loading this app, tap Open an account. On the next screen, tap Checking to be sent to the Chase website with further instructions.

The referral bonus offer won’t actually be available to you until about 30 days after you open this checking account.

However, once this time has elapsed, log into the app and scroll to locate your Chase card.

Tap it, then scroll down and tap Refer friends. Now you’ll have a personalized URL to share.

✅ Pros

• You can refer multiple people to Chase and collect an additional $50 cash bonus each time.
• You could amass these bonuses surprisingly quickly by promoting credit cards from the popular Chase Freedom brand.

❌ Cons

• Eligibility for the referral bonus does not extend to Chase itself or any of its affiliates.
• Even if you are eligible for the offer, you are only entitled to a maximum of 10 $50 bonuses (so, $500 altogether) per calendar year.

2. GetResponse

GetResponse is a multifaceted platform enabling users to automate marketing activities, send promotional emails, and build webpages.

By referring someone to GetResponse, you can net both yourself and the new customer $30 in credits. These credits, in turn, can rein in your future financial outlay on GetResponse plans.

🏆 Who is GetResponse best for?

Do you regularly blog about business matters? If so, many of its readers could well be entrepreneurs who would appreciate reading reviews of corporate software solutions.

These can include email marketing platforms like Mailchimp and MailerLite. So, one good idea would be to try out GetResponse (a 30-day free trial is available) to review it. If you like the platform, you could proceed to give your readers a referral link for it.

📲 How to get the referral bonus

You must be on one of GetResponse’s paid plans if you want to participate in the platform’s referral program.

Create a GetResponse account and follow the instructions in the activation email you are subsequently sent. 

Once your account is all setup, log into the mobile app.

You should now land on the Dashboard, where you will be able to see the Profile icon in the bottom right corner.

Tap this icon, scroll right down to the bottom, and then tap Upgrade. Pick out a paid plan from the options you are offered. Once you’ve purchased a plan, several hours might pass before GetResponse activates it.

Once your plan has been upgraded, GetResponse will notify you by email. This is your cue to switch to GetResponse’s web app at app.getresponse.com.

Log yourself into that and then tap the Profile icon in the top right corner to bring up this menu…

Tap Refer a friend and you’ll be sent to a new screen displaying a referral link. Copy this by tapping the Copy link button next to it.

✅ Pros

• If you refer three friends who become paying customers of GetResponse, you will also get a free voucher for a Digital Marketing Certification course.
• It’s easy to apply your credits to your next GetResponse bill at any time, well before this payment is actually due.

❌ Cons

• Though you can refer as many people as you like, the referral program only lets you bring in up to $480 worth of credits annually.
• Similarly, you can only get one free online certification course voucher, no matter how many further referrals you successfully make.

3. Pawns.app: Cash & Survey App

Pawns is a platform that lets you earn rewards - like cash and gift cards from gaming, filling in surveys, and even sharing your internet bandwidth.

You can further add to your earnings by inviting people to join Pawns themselves via referral links or codes you hand out. There’s a $3 bonus to be gained from each successful referral.

What’s more, every time the referred customer withdraws money on the platform, you’ll get 10% of those earnings.

🏆 Who is Pawns best for?

It’s not hard to sell the benefits of Pawns. There are so many little games, quests, and challenges built into it, plenty of people are bound to find money-making opportunities there they genuinely enjoy.

You can hammer home all of this when publicizing Pawns, such as on a lifestyle blog or in top digital nomad communities.

Many of the in-app tasks can be squeezed into busy schedules, such as when users are commuting on the train.

📲 How to get the referral bonus

While logged into the Pawns app, head to the Community tab. Displayed straight away is a referral code you can tap to copy to your clipboard.

You’ll also see three other options for making referrals: Referral Link, QR Code, and Social Media Post.

Tap one of these options to see how it works. No prizes for guessing what you see after tapping Referral Link!

A QR code can be printed on a poster or saved to your device as a digital image for you to post online. 

Tapping Social Media Post will give you a choice of templates to use when promoting Pawns on popular social networking sites.

✅ Pros

• There are many fun ways to make Pawns referrals, such as with social media posts and unique videos.
• For as long as the referred user keeps cashing out on Pawns, you can continue taking a 10% cut of their earnings.
• This further enhances the appeal of Pawns as a long-term source of passive income.

❌ Cons

• Users get out of Pawns what they put into it, but many of the tasks could be too boring or onerous for some.
• There’s no iPad version of the Pawns app.

4. Uber - Driver: Drive & Deliver

“Are we going to uber to the theater?”

It’s telling that, these days, Uber isn’t just a brand name - it’s also colloquially a verb synonymous with ride-hailing. 

Even when someone wants to order food online, they probably load the Uber Eats app on their smartphone. That’s the power of the Uber name.

As you can likely imagine, then, there are tidy sums to be made from transporting people or chow for Uber.

Of particular importance either way is Uber’s Driver app, which also lets users make money inviting other people to become Uber drivers or deliverers.

🏆 Who is Uber - Driver: Drive & Deliver best for?

The Uber website explains the specific prerequisites for handling Uber rides or deliveries.

Uber’s Driver app is an indispensable tool for the company’s gig workers, enabling them to unearth opportunities, respond to requests, and track their earnings.

On your encouragement, many motoring enthusiasts you know personally could be open to the possibility of driving for Uber. So if you run a blog or social platform dedicated to side hustles and making money, you can promote this gig online.

📲 How to get the referral bonus

Download Uber’s Driver app (not the main Uber or Uber Eats app used for booking rides or food deliveries).

Load the app and tap Continue before following the on-screen instructions for signing up with Uber.

Once your Uber account is all set up within the app, go to the Earnings section before tapping Invite and earn and then Learn more.

Proceed to tap Send invites before selecting Facebook or X icons.

✅ Pros

• Using Uber’s Driver app, you can send invites to your entire network on social media in seconds.
• You can get a new referral bonus every time an invitee completes a driving or delivery gig with Uber.
• The size of the bonus you receive depends on the city where the invitee completes the gig. So, you can potentially increase the size of the rewards you receive by referring people dotted across the country where you personally drive or deliver.

❌ Cons

• The invitee is required to undertake a specific number of trips (rides or deliveries) and fulfil other conditions before you receive your reward. Hence, this referral bonus is not as ‘instant’ as others highlighted in this article.
• The conditions attached to Uber referral bonus offers differ on a city-by-city basis. They also depend on where the referred customer drives or delivers with Uber. So, you could understandably find some rules of Uber’s referral scheme somewhat confusing.
• You are banned from making Uber referral links or codes available to the general public. They are to be used strictly for personal and non-commercial purposes.

5. DoorDash - Dasher

For food deliveries, one compelling alternative to Uber Eats is DoorDash.

With the latter, deliverers are affectionately dubbed ‘Dashers’ - who, while on their journeys, keep their smartphones (with the DoorDash - Dasher app installed) at close hand.

It’s important to distinguish this Dasher app from the DoorDash - Food Delivery app, which customers use to request deliveries.

Key to the appeal of DoorDash is how much it pays, with real-world earnings in the region of $15 to $25 on average. As a Dasher, you could get lucrative opportunities to bring in referral bonuses, too.

🏆 Who is DoorDash best for?

As Dashers report making hourly pay in the region of $15 to $30 (sans expenses), DoorDash can make a good side hustle. However, it’s important to note that DoorDash prohibits you posting its referral links on websites and platforms accessible to the general public.

So, putting your unique DoorDash referral link on, say, your blog or YouTube channel is out of the question. Instead, you should make DoorDash referrals only to people you know personally.

📲 How to get the referral bonus

If you’re unsure how (or whether) to become a Dasher, consult Whop’s DoorDash review, which includes a walkthrough of the signup process. 

You would undertake this on the DoorDash website but later log into your account via the Dasher app. Here’s what you will see when you first load it: 

Tap Let’s dash to see the option to log in with a phone number (and verification code sent to you by text).

Alternatively, tap Log in with email and password to see how you can do exactly that.

Regardless of which login method you use, switch to the Account tab or tap the Promos button on the Dash tab. 

When a referral bonus is available locally, you will see a Refer a friend to dash! banner at the top of the screen. Y

ou will also be presented with a link you can tap to copy.

✅ Pros

• Both you and the individual being referred can get a referral bonus. You can tap the Refer a friend to dash! banner to see the bonus amount you’d each receive.
• As DoorDash referral offers are refreshed weekly, you can lock in an especially good deal if you pounce on it.

❌ Cons

• Dashers must satisfy various criteria (including passing quality checks and completing 30 deliveries) before they are eligible to send referrals.
• Each referral you offer can only be accepted by someone who has never previously created a Dasher account.
• Also, before you receive the referral bonus, this person must complete a specified number of deliveries within a specified timeframe.

6. Sweatcoin

Imagine earning rewards just for walking. Amazingly, you don’t have to settle for merely imagining it.

Install the Sweatcoin app, grant it permission to count your steps (via your smartphone’s pedometer) and earn ‘sweatcoin’.

Within the app, this virtual currency can be spent on such goodies as products, subscriptions, and vouchers.

🏆 Who is Sweatcoin best for?

Bringing more people onto the Sweatcoin platform through your own unique invite link is one of many ways to make money as a fitness influencer.

It can also work out (excuse the pun) well if you sell fitness programs online or are active (yes, another pun) in online fitness communities.

📲 How to get the referral bonus

Sign up on the Sweatcoin app. You’ll eventually land on a dashboard screen looking something like this: 

Scroll down this dashboard to uncover an orange box (near the bottom left corner) indicating what you can earn from referring a friend to Sweatcoin.

Tap this orange box to be given various options for inviting a friend. You can email or message them or just copy a referral link to post on social media.  

Inviting 20 new, unique users to Sweatcoin will unlock access to its influencer program. On social media, you can post a unique invite link and build engrossing content around it. 

By growing your invites, you can earn cash and special rewards to fetch from the Sweatcoin app’s Influencer Hub.

✅ Pros

• If you have already established an enviable reputation as a fitness guru, many of your fans could excitedly join Sweatcoin on your recommendation.
• Unsure how to go about creating content? Sweatcoin has a creative library you can dip into for inspiration.

❌ Cons

• User reviews online complain that the Sweatcoin app has faded in appeal in recent years.
• There are also reports of the app disconcertingly draining smartphone batteries.

7. BeFrugal

BeFrugal is a website (and app) where users can earn impressive cashback with thousands of retailers. These include the big names of Walmart, Macy’s, and Home Depot.

Are you on BeFrugal? If so, you can invite others to join, too, by publishing your unique Refer-a-Friend link.

When someone does register on the platform in this way (and meets other particular conditions), a $10 bonus will result for both you and them.

🏆 Who is BeFrugal best for?

The app is bound to appeal to customers looking to make savings on everyday purchases as well as vacations and live entertainment.

📲 How to get the referral bonus

When logged into the app, tap the fourth icon along on the bottom navigation bar. You will see a menu with the option Refer a Friend & Get $10.

Tap this option to see an invite link you can copy (and share online).

There are also buttons that let you share through other means, like text and email.

✅ Pros

• BeFrugal has a massive target market, as the app can be used to purchase from more than 5,000 outlets. 
• The app is highly rated but also relatively overlooked, meaning that many of your followers could benefit immensely from you bringing it to their attention.

❌ Cons

• The person being referred won’t get their $10 signup bonus until they have earned at least $10 in cashback on the platform.
• Furthermore, they must earn this cashback within 365 days of creating their BeFrugal account. Only then will you get your $10 referral bonus, too.

8. Fiverr - Freelance Services

If you manage a team of creative professionals, there might be occasions when they are getting work more quickly than they can complete it.

However, that’s a small price to pay for a thriving business, as you can simply task a few freelancers with tackling the overflow work. 

One of the best-known places to find freelancers online is Fiverr. The many different services you can source here include content writing, SEO (search engine optimization), graphic design, programming, and consulting. 

Of course, turning to freelancers does add a little more to your company’s financial expenditure. On the plus side, you can somewhat alleviate this burden by referring friends to Fiverr.

🏆 Who is Fiverr best for?

Under the terms and conditions of Fiverr’s referral program, you agree to refer only personal friends. You are not allowed to publish your Fiverr referral link in a public online setting. 

However, you might know a fair few other business owners who, like you, have almost become too successful!

By sending them Fiverr referrals, you can help them to keep their companies on top of their workloads. In return, these entrepreneurs could opt to strengthen their existing bonds with your company.

📲 How to get the referral bonus

On your smartphone, install the Fiverr - Freelance Services app (not the Fiverr Workplace app).

Tap Find a Service to bring up the Fiverr signup screen.

After fully signing up and indicating how you want to use Fiverr, you will eventually reach a dashboard screen akin to this: 

Scroll down to reveal the Invite Friends link. Now tap this to see how to refer any of your contacts to Fiverr.

A friend who does sign up through your referral will get a 10% discount on the first order they make with Fiverr.

Meanwhile, you will be repaid with Fiverr Credits worth 10% of your referred friend’s purchase.

✅ Pros

• You can make Fiverr referrals via email or social media.
• When you receive Fiverr Credits, you can redeem them on orders you make yourself with Fiverr.

❌ Cons 

• The Fiverr Credits you can earn with Fiverr’s referral program are limited to a maximum of $100 per referral and $500 in total.
• You can’t wait too long to spend your Fiverr Credits, as they are valid for 3 months once issued.

9. HotelTonight

There’s a lot to sort out when preparing for a vacation. So, surprising though it might sound, booking a hotel can too often be left ‘til the last minute.

HotelTonight is ready to accommodate (in both senses of that word) nomadic types rushed off their feet.

You can give new HotelTonight customers a coupon worth either $25 or $50. In exchange, you will receive a HotelTonight coupon of the same value.

🏆 Who is HotelTonight best for?

This is obviously a good one for travel influencers to highlight. However, it could also be of interest to businesspeople who routinely jet off to attend overseas conferences and the like. 

📲 How to get the referral bonus 

If you haven’t yet got a HotelTonight account, you can create one within the app.

As you can see below, the app has a consistent navigation panel where you can select the fifth icon along to bring up signup options.

Once you’re all signed up and logged in, tap the fourth icon on the navigation bar and then SHARE CODE. On the next screen, tap Copy Link. 

You can now publicly post the link by pasting it in the relevant text editor. The coupon will be worth $25 unless you’ve spent at least $1,000 with this HotelTonight account, in which case, it will be $50.

✅ Pros

• You can start offering $25 coupons as soon as you’ve joined HotelTonight. No minimum spend is required.
• HotelTonight lets you see how many people have received your referral code, entered it, and booked a hotel stay with it. This data can help you discern whether you are on the right track with how you are promoting the code.

❌ Cons 

• Each person who responds to your invitation must spend a minimum amount on a qualifying booking before you are given your referral bonus.
• This ‘minimum amount’ does not include taxes and fees.

10. Tesla

Owners of Tesla electric vehicles (EVs) like the Model S, 3, X, and Y can take advantage of the automaker’s referral program.

Here’s how it (basically) works: if you own a qualifying Tesla product linked to your Tesla Account, you can make referrals via the Tesla app.

The word ‘basically’ deserves emphasis there, as this referral program has been through a lot of changes in the recent past. The gist of the scheme, however, is that both senders and recipients of the referrals get big discounts on purchase prices of eligible Tesla products.

🏆 Who is Tesla best for?

Concerns about climate change have made people more eco-conscious in their choices of what to buy. Today, 62% of consumers report “always or often” seeking to purchase products on the strength of their sustainability credentials.

You could yourself sell eco-friendly products or create your own online space encouraging green behavior.

📲 How to get the referral bonus

If you don’t already have a Tesla Account, you can create one (even before buying any Tesla products).

So, load the app, tap Create Account, and follow the subsequent instructions. 

Logged into the app with your Tesla Account? Tap the menu icon in the top right corner.

Now select Refer and Earn, tap Refer Now, and select a friend to refer.

✅ Pros

• From just one Tesla Account, you can refer multiple people and so quickly amass referral bonuses. 
• You can feel good by doing your bit for the environment while also helping your followers to land great-value deals on green purchases.

❌ Cons

• You can make only up to 10 order referrals per calendar year.
• It’s only possible to earn bonuses from referring people who have never previously bought a qualifying Tesla product.

What’s the best way share referral bonuses?

There’s a lot of satisfaction to be gained from successfully getting referrals.

You don’t necessarily need a mammoth number of followers, either - as this metric is not guaranteed to positively correlate with your engagement rate.

As revealed by research into influencer marketing, here’s how different tiers of influencer compare in their average engagement rates: 

So, even if you lack a massive number of followers, those you do have could be surprisingly inclined to take up your referral bonus offers.

In practice, your success with referral marketing is likely to depend heavily on which referral apps you recommend - and their relevance to your established audience.

Look at how the travel Instagrammer @travelina_adventures shared a HotelTonight code alongside a scene bringing to mind the soothing effect of vacationing…

It also helps that HotelTonight has a great reputation.

This is evidenced by user reviews of the app as well as enthusiastic replies to the @travelina_adventures post.

When you promote a referral code or link for a service likely to intrigue your followers, you don’t have to turn ‘salesy’ with your language. Be more subtle with it. That way, it will come across as though you are simply making a heartfelt recommendation. 

Still, even if your referral marketing does spur a flurry of clicks, what will you get for them?

It’s unlikely to be cash.

It’s more likely to be credits and discounts you would only be able to redeem with the referral app itself. Would this be flexible enough for your needs?

In contrast, with affiliate marketing, the rewards are cash you would be able to spend on whatever you want.

For this reason, you might be interested in the Whop Affiliates program, which enables you to refer consumers to select whops.

Here’s a quick rundown of how it works. After registering on the Whop platform, you can add whops to your Affiliates dashboard.

When you want to promote a particular whop, find it on this dashboard and tap Copy Affiliate Link.

Next, paste the link into your content. When a consumer uses this link to buy from the whop, you will be paid a commission.

Over time, you can accumulate more and more revenue from affiliate links. It’s one of many passive income ideas worth considering.

Make more money by referring to Whop

Referral marketing can certainly make you money, but not nearly enough by itself to provide you with a comfortable living over the long term.

To make real money (and not tokens or vouchers), try affiliate marketing with Whop. With Whop you make between 10% and 30% when you refer a customer to a particular whop. Or, if you refer a creator to sign up and create a whop, you can make 30% of Whop's revenue on this whop, for life.

It's super easy to get started - in some cases even easier than referral marketing, as there are no prerequisites to sharing the links.

All you have to do it grab your links, share them on your socials (or blogs, newsletters, or all of the above!) and start making money.