I’ve always loved finding new ways to create passive income streams. And this has been true ever since my phone farming days back in college.
That’s why today, I’m covering a new passive income hustle I’ve been testing: selling internet data for money.
This post is covering how this side hustle works. It’s also covering some of the top companies you can use to earn money by sharing internet bandwidth with your devices. Let’s dive in!
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How To Sell Internet Data And Earn Money
If you’re ready to earn money by selling internet bandwidth, the following companies are all viable options you can test out:
Table of Contents
1. Honeygain
Out of all the ways to sell internet data for money, Honeygain is by far the most popular.
This passive income app lets you sell unused internet through your phone, computer, or laptop. And it’s available around the world on Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android devices.
As you share your unused internet with the app, Honeygain pays you credits. You then cash out via PayPal once you earn at least $20 or you can choose the cryptocurrency JumpTokens to cash out immediately.
How much you earn with apps like Honeygain depends on a few factors like where you live, how many devices you run, and your internet speed. However, if you have decent bandwidth speeds and live in North America or Europe, you might find this is a pretty effective money-making app.
Overall, Honeygain is the most popular way to sell your internet connection. And the fact it pays you with cash or crypto and not just gift cards is a selling point.
Sign up for Honeygain and use the code ‘thisonlineworld5’ for a free $5 upon sign up!
2. Pawns
Pawns, formerly known as IPRoyal, is another great option you can consider.
This company lets you share bandwidth to earn money, and it’s by far the best-paying and easiest to use company in this space.
For starters, you get a $1 sign up bonus when you sign up as an Pawns. From there, you get paid $0.20 per gigabyte of data that you share as a proxy node.
You only need $5 to cash out as well, which is much lower than most companies that let you sell internet bandwidth. Pawns lets you redeem your earnings for free PayPal money, Bitcoin, and various gift cards.
Between the sign up bonus and higher payout-per-gigabyte, you can definitely earn some nice passive income every month with Pawns.
How much you earn for your unused internet depends on your location and how long you keep the application running. But Pawns is available on desktop and for Android devices.
Earn money by sharing bandwidth with Pawns!
3. Nielsen Panel
Nielsen is a massive market research company that’s been in business for decades. And it’s also a company I’ve been making money with since my phone farming days several years ago.
This platform is a popular way to get paid for your data. All you have to do is download Nielsen’s app for your computer or smartphone to begin.
From there, you earn points as you share data with Nielsen about how you browse the web. And on its mobile panel, you earn $60 per year worth of points that you redeem for free gift cards and merchandise. The computer panel pays you with sweepstake entries into massive cash prizes as well.
This is an incredibly easy way to snag some free cash, just by sharing your data. And Nielsen anonymizes all data to keep its users safe.
4. Repocket
Repocket is a newer player in the internet bandwidth space, and it has a new Android app that’s in Beta that lets you earn money by selling internet data.
According to its website, customers use your internet bandwidth to “monitor prices, search Google, monitor stock pricing, competitor research and similar activities.”
You can cash out for PayPal money once you earn $20. And new users get a $5 bonus to start, which means you can reach your first cash out even faster.
Repocket shows an example on its website of how much you can earn per month, and two devices sharing 2GB of data per day earns $24 in a month. However, earnings aren’t guaranteed, and your location, device type, ISP, and how much data you share all influence how much you make.
Repocket does have plans to expand to Windows, iOS, and Mac in the future, so there are exciting updates around the corner as well.
5. EarnApp
Like Honeygain and Pawns, EarnApp is another passive income side hustle you can use to earn with your internet.
Once you download its software, EarnApp pays you for sharing data with people from around the world. You can then cash out with PayPal money or free gift cards at only $2.50.
How much you earn per gigabyte of data depends on where you live. In the United States, EarnApp pays $0.36 per GB of data you share and says most people make about $10 to $20 a month in passive income.
Sure, you won’t make $5,000 a month with this application. But it’s another simple and effective way to sell internet data for money. And the platform also has some great referral bonuses you can take advantage of by inviting your friends to join.
6. PacketStream
PacketStream allows users to become nodes in their network from anywhere in the world, provided you have a residential IP address.
If you sell your internet bandwidth through PacketStream, you earn $0.10/GB as the software runs in the background of your computer.
PacketStream charges buyers $1.00/GB, and part of the problem is that free platforms like TOR essentially allow users to browse the web anonymously as well. From what I gather, this means PacketStream is a bit weak on the buy side currently, so your earnings will probably be slow and steady.
PacketStream states that their main clients are businesses who need to test web applications/ads without running into IP bans or detection (which is pretty common with VPNs).
You can run PacketStream on Windows, Linux, and Mac, and payouts are done via PayPal once you reach $5.
7. Privatix
Privatix is another method to sell your internet bandwidth for money, although this platform comes with a crypto flavor!
With Privatix, “any user can sell his spare or idle Internet broadband to the Network and get paid for it instantly with crypto. The payments come from buyers, who purchase the bandwidth via third-party applications or directly.”
Privatix software can be run on PCs, Mac, or Linux, and the software is free. Most of the buyers in Privatix’s network are VPN providers and CDNs from what I gather, and Privatix is attempting to make a secure Ethereum token-based network where this bandwidth can be exchanged.
Privatix issues users PRIX tokens for participating in their blockchain. Although its software is still developing and how much you can earn seems to vary quite greatly from what I’ve read.
8. Mysterium Network
The Mysterium Network provides another option to sell your bandwidth for cryptocurrency, and the concept is incredibly similar to Privatix.
Mysterium functions as a ‘decentralized VPN service,’ with a focus on user privacy/anonymity and end-to-end encryption.
The Mysterium Network is currently running a node pilot project that is available on Windows, Mac, and Raspberry Pi, which is pretty neat if you ask me.
Once you are part of the network, you can rent out your bandwidth for Ethereum. As with Privatix, how much you earn really depends on your upload speed and a variety of other factors (I believe your location might play into it as VPN traffic probably prefers U.S. IPs for many tasks over other countries).
Extra Reading – How To Make $50 A Day – The Best Methods.
9. LoadTeam
LoadTeam is another option you can use, and the platform is similar to companies like Pawns and Honeygain. All you do is share your internet bandwidth and let your device complete “tasks” to begin earning.
You can use the LoadTeam calculator to estimate how much you could earn on a monthly basis.
Your account balance will update periodically as your computer completes tasks, and you can tweak how hard your computer works in the background on this application. Users can cashout via PayPal upon reaching $1 with LoadTeam.
Extra Reading – How To Earn Money On Autopilot.
What Is Bandwidth & Why Do People Sell It?
According to TechTerms.com, internet bandwidth “describes the maximum data transfer rate of a network or Internet connection. It measures how much data can be sent over a specific connection in a given amount of time. For example, a gigabit Ethernet connection has a bandwidth of 1,000 Mbps, (125 megabytes per second).”
As it turns out, most online activities barely come close to maxing out your bandwidth for most residential internet plans.
Unless you’re downloading some hefty files or running many intensive applications at once, you probably have a lot of unused bandwidth at any given time…and this isn’t even considering the hours you spend asleep or out of the house.
So, a handful of companies have made it possible to sell your unused bandwidth to them (since you have a lot of it) in exchange for cash or cryptocurrency. These companies then rent out your bandwidth and allow other users or companies to use it (through your IP address).
Usually, these companies operate as or sell their services to VPNs, which allow users to access the internet through a different IP address/country than where they reside.
How Much Can You Make Selling Internet Data?
If you live in an area where your IP address and bandwidth is in demand like the United States or parts of Europe, you might be able to make $5 to $50 per month by selling your internet bandwidth.
However, for many regions of the world, this isn’t a very viable side hustle idea. This is because without enough demand, you’re only earning pennies for your bandwidth. I live near Toronto, and many apps and websites I tested barely paid at all or flat out didn’t work.
If you want to generate passive income, I think you’re better off trying hustles like renting things out for profit or investing your money instead.
For example, Fundrise lets you invest in income-generating real estate, and you only need $10 to get started.
When you compare these sorts of investing ideas and rental businesses versus selling bandwidth, I think it’s clear what options are superior. Plus, you can still earn passive income online if that’s what you prefer.
Learn more about investing with Fundrise!
Extra Reading – How To Make $3,000 Fast.
Final Thoughts
I’m going to conclude this whole article with an important statement: selling your internet data is a very weird, digital side hustle.
Overall, selling Bandwidth is not something you should do without thought. Depending on where you live and what ISP you use, you might have more stringent laws surrounding what your IP address is used for.
Personally, this would be the sort of passive income stream I would 100% use when I was back in college and living in a building with hundreds of people on the same network. But I don’t think I’ll run it on my home network.
You won’t get rich by selling your internet bandwidth either. But if you’re comfortable with the process and you do your due diligence, you can probably make some quick money and reliable passive income if you have fast upload speed.
A new passive income idea, or a recipe for disaster? Who even knows! But I hope you can earn some free money and rewards if you give this idea a try.
Looking for even more money-making ideas? Checkout:
Disclaimer: This is an endorsement in partnership with Fundrise. We earn a commission from partner links. All opinions are my own.
Tom is a full-time blogger and freelance writer with a passion for side hustling, passive income, and the gig economy. His work has appeared on dozens of personal finance websites like Money Crashers, The College Investor, Investor Junkie, and more. This Online World is all about providing people with honest ways to make and save more money by using technology. To learn more about Tom, read his About Page!
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wrinyy34 says
I’ve tried only Honeygain and have no complains so far. Despite that, I will try all the other products mentioned above. Hope it will bring me some easy incomes soon
Tom Blake says
Hi Wrinyy, I’m glad to hear that app is working out for you! Hopefully the others ones do as well! ๐
Dawn says
You understand, I hope, that youโre letting people use your isp for all kinds of illegal activities and that itโs your door the fbi will come knocking on?
Tom Blake says
I definitely agree that renting your bandwidth for money can be sketchy! I know providers like FluidStack state they block all sorts of websites and merely act as a CDN service (and not a VPN), but I agree there are risks. I added a disclaimer to this post, and it isn’t personally my cup of tea, but if I lived in residence on a shared network again or was flat broke I’d probably dabble in it. Thanks for reading and the excellent point!
saykot says
you mainly writing those topics which mainly releted with rich countries but countries like poor are not get much benefit by some of your post
Tom Blake says
Hi Saykot, I am sorry to hear that these posts are not as helpful! Unfortunately I write about these things because I understand them more since I live in Canada. What are some of the main money making opportunities where you are from? I will try my best to write about global opportunities in the future.
Alj says
nice post you have here. simple, useful and honest. Thank you
steve dickens says
I tried honeygain. In a month it said I reached the 20 dollar payout limit. I tried to collect it. They make you go to another site to fill out your address, phone and paypal addy. Then they make you wait for a pin number to be sent to your phone. Then you verify it. And then I waited several days and still did not get payed. They hog your bandwidth as google will start making you verify you are human to use, which I never had to do before using honeygain. Your webpages load slow or not at all sometimes they hog so much bandwidth. And it takes them days to reply to the messages you send to them on their main website. By the way I still have not been paid and all I can say is something is not right about honeygain. My internet speed is 100 download and 11 upload and I had it running on 2 desktops, one laptop and a phone. But since they are not paying me and taking forever to respond to my emails from their main webpage I stopped using them.
Tom Blake says
Hi Steve, thank you so much for the valuable feedback. I’ve seen both positive and negative reviews for HoneyGain but this one sounds truly worrying. I think anyone considering renting out their bandwidth should consider this; I’m going to update the post accordingly with your feedback. Thank you so much!
stephen dickens says
I wrote more about it in a forum here, you have to go to the last pages to see it at page 32, “https://www.beermoneyforum.com/threads/honeygain-reviews-scam-or-legit.41642/page-32” no quotes mind you, as I was looking forward to getting that 20 bucks payout. And when it finally said I reached the 20 dollar mark, and after all the hoops they made me go through and still did not pay me, it upsets me.
stephen dickens says
“UPDATE” I felt the right thing to do is to finish this story about honeygain. And its still a bit confusing to say the least about all this but here goes. I finally got an email from honeygain last night, the very same night I emailed them like half an hour before that. Getting the email that fast given what I said earlier in other comments might seem odd but here is why. I took a chance by sending another email as a last attempt to get my money. I said to them I cashed out, did the required registering at Tipalti and that it said I would be payed in 2 days. I said but you have not payed me and seem to be ignoring my emails, as I sent several mentioning this. I said it seems like I will have to spread it everywhere online how honeygain does not payout for services rendered like they said they would. And thats when I got the return email half an hour or so later amazingly, go figure right. I still find this all a bit shabby given if they say there going to pay in 2 days then they should as it was the 23 of this month I cashed out and its now the 26 when I finally got payed. And I should not have to threaten them saying I would spread the truth of all this just to get my money. But perhaps its all was just a misunderstanding who really knows. At least they did pay, but the payment came from someone in Nebraska and it was an unverified address that sent it. Seems a business would not use an unverified email to pay others with. Unless its just to remain more secretive perhaps. As I was almost certain this company honeygain was overseas. Anyway thats the story I felt should also be told to conclude all this. Will I try honeygain again, perhaps but if they give me the run around a second time just to get payed I will surely never use them again. Misunderstandings do happen I know this, but it all still seems odd to me. Good business is when you do what you say your going to do, and pay when you say you will. Otherwise its bad business. They may simply need to tell people that it may be longer then 2 days before they get payed and then that would stop a lot of confusion perhaps.
stephen dickens says
By the way the person who payed me was not a company, just a persons name with an nebraska address that was unverified, it did not say from honeygain, and it did not say from Tipalti. But Im assuming it was from honeygain as the email they sent me said they would pay me later that day.
Tom Blake says
Hi Stephen, thank you again for your incredibly valuable follow up to this post. It is unfortunate you had to pressure them into paying, but I am glad they finally did. It is not uncommon for these sorts of apps to pay you from a weird PayPal either; I know CashMagnet, a popular passive income app, sent me the strangest PayPal payments when I was using it.
It definitely seems like they aren’t running the most upstanding business, or perhaps they are severely lacking in the customer service department. Even if it was an honest mistake, it would have been nice for them to explain more or to give you a bit of a bonus or something. I hope Honeygain pays you for your internet if you keep on using the app!
stephen dickens says
On top of this, I still to run their program now and then but never make more then 3 cents a day now. I could speculate as to why this is, but will leave it to the imagination, but I guess it all follows up with the story.
Peter says
Thanks bro๐ and to imagine how high hopes I had on that….. Let me try this others as I uninstall honeygain…
Phil Norm says
fluidstack.io:
They terminate windows version at the end of Feb 2020, That mean only those who are run that in linux can be paid unfortunate!
According what Tom blake wrote on honeygain,
Yes honeygain, allows multiple connected devices but only one can have software installed and running!
LoadTeam:
That software has virus.
How about:
packity.com ?
Tom Blake says
Hi Phil,
Thanks for the crucial update regarding Fluidstack. I’m going to update this post shortly with new information, as well as some information on Packity.com
Regarding LoadTeam, did you antivirus detect something? If so, this is quite serious and should be noted/investigated. Thanks so much for your comment!
phil Norm says
Hi Tom, much appreciate for listening and looking forward towards update.
In term with loadTeam virus detected and hopefully isn’t serious:
Trojan:Win32/Spursint.F!cl
I also hear from honeygain as I questioned their “network overused” look below:
You are able to use up to 3 devices per one IP address, but the traffic will be low if you keep them on a single network (WiFi for example). The best way to maximize your reward is to have multiple devices on separate networks.
My comment on the above:
Separate networks means several internet connection.
I guess honeygain is a bad choice.
Peter says
And I thought I was alone having problems with LoadTeam
Peter says
Thank you so much whowever the author is! I was depending much on honeygain but youve opened my eyes๐๐
Let me try the others
Tom Blake says
Thanks for reading Peter! ๐ I hope one of these other platforms lets you sell bandwidth for extra cash!