Drop App Review: How It Works & How Much You Can Earn

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Drop Rewards is a free app that gives you points for shopping at partnered merchants, taking surveys, and playing a limited number of games. I earned 9,194 points over two weeks of testing, which is worth about $9.19. 

During my testing period, I tracked the amount of time I spent on each task, as well as the ultimate payout, in order to calculate average earnings per hour. In the end, Drop paid me 0.8% cash-back on eligible purchases, $0.76 per hour to take surveys, and $0.38 per hour for playing games.

This Drop review covers everything you need to know if you’re thinking about downloading the app, including how to earn the maximum possible points, whether you can actually earn cash-back passively through linked card offers, and which alternatives you may want to consider.

Drop App Key Facts

Here are some of the most important things to keep in mind when you’re thinking about signing up for Drop.

• There are five ways to earn points: passive cash-back, online shopping, games, surveys and referrals.
• You can redeem your points for gift cards, crypto, contest entries or “collectibles,” which are in-app (virtual) items that unlock additional app features. (More on these virtual items below.)
• The approximate value of a drop point is $0.001 (1/10 of a cent). However, the value of points varies depending on what you redeem them for. Overall, Drop’s rewards rates are very low compared to competing platforms.
• The minimum required to cash-out for a gift card is $25. There are a handful of rewards options with a lower minimum, and there are no cash transfer/deposit options.
• Drop has the most extensive list of passive (card-linked) cash-back offers available on any platform, but these offers rotate weekly and require activation. Fortunately, you can activate all card-linked offers with a single click (rather than one-by-one).
• Some passive cash-back offers have quotas and fill up if you don’t active them quickly enough. The most common of these is Drop’s Amazon offer.
• Drop works with more card types than competing platforms, but Capital One cards cannot be linked.
• Drop will deduct 2,500 points per month if your account goes inactive, which is defined as going six months without opening the app.

Drop App Earning Potential 

Drop uses a points system rather than a percentage-based cash-back system, and this can make it difficult to understand how much each offer actually pays. However, understanding the conversion rate is important, because the numbers Drop uses are somewhat arbitrary and can make it seem like you’re earning more money than you actually are.

How Much Are Drop App Points Worth?

As a general rule, Drop Rewards points are worth just 1/10 of one cent ($0.001), although they may be worth more or less depending on what you redeem them for. 

In other words, an offer that pays 100 points is worth 10 cents. An offer that pays 1,000 points is worth $1. We view this as unnecessarily confusing, because most other points-based platforms (including Swagbucks) use simple math where 1 point equals 1 cent.

Here’s a log of the pay rates for points I earned over a two-week testing period:

• Card-linked offers (passive cash-back): I earned an average of 7 points per $1 spent, equaling 0.7% cash-back. 
• In-app shopping portal (online purchases): I earned an average of 1.3 points per $1 spent, equaling 2.8% cash-back.
• Games: I earned points at a rate of $0.006 per minute, equaling $0.38 per hour.
• Surveys: I earned points at a rate of $0.01 per minute, equaling $0.76 per hour.

$0.76 per hour is the lowest rate among the paid survey sites we’ve tested, as shown in the table below (the links for each survey site will take you to our in-depth review of the platform): 

Reward Options

While the $0.001 point value is helpful for deciding whether or not an offer is worthwhile, it’s important to note that points have different values depending on what you redeem them for. The minimum cash-out amount also varies depending on your choice.

For example, the 9,194 points I earned were well short of the $25 minimum for a gift card, but I did meet the minimum for other offers. 

Drop allows you to redeem points for the following:

• Gift cards. The minimum is $25, with options available in increments of $30, $50 and $100. During our test period there were 33 options to choose from.
• Crypto. Once you earn 5,000 points, you can invest those points in Bitcoin (BTC) or Ethereum (ETH). Once invested, you can track your gains and losses in the app. However, you do not actually own the crypto and you can’t move it to another platform. Your only option for selling your crypto is to convert it back to Drop points, which can then be redeemed for gift cards, contest entries or collectibles. 
• Contests. In theory, you can use your points to enter contents (which are sweepstakes). However, during my testing period, there were no active contests.
• Collectibles. You can use your points to unlock various games, to earn bonus points for shopping at certain types of retailers, or to gain access to various events. During my test period there were three options available, with costs of between 1,000 and 5,500 points. 

Let’s dig into the “collectibles” category a bit more, using the “Super Shopper” option as an example. 

If you purchase this digital asset for 5,500 points, you’ll earn bonus points for shopping throughout the month: 

Whether collectibles make sense really depends on your goals (and the offer). Paying a one-time fee for the opportunity to earn more each month may make sense for someone who is using Drop religiously. For example, if you earned the maximum possible number of bonus points every month, this collectible would be profitable after four months.

Ways to Earn Points on Drop

Let’s dig in deeper on the four main ways to earn Drop points.

Card-Linked Offers (Passive Cash-Back)

Users who are willing to link a credit or debit card to the app can participate in “Premium” offers. These offers are from a variety of merchants that rotate and are updated every Wednesday. When you use your linked card to pay at these merchants, you’ll automatically earn cash-back.

The benefit of Premium offers is that you don’t need to activate each merchant’s deal before shopping. However, you do need to activate premium offers in the app each week to be eligible to earn points.

The offers presented during our test ranged from 1 to 200 points per $1 spent. This equates to a range of 0.1% to 20% cash-back, with an average of 43 points per $1 spent or 4.3% cash-back. 

Note that the majority of the offers were the same during the first and second week of our testing period.

I linked my main credit card and used it exclusively during testing. Because two of my “go to” merchants were Drop retailers, I made $342.05 worth of qualifying purchases during the period. One of my shopping trips surprisingly awarded me with more points than expected. However, I will still only earn $2.47, for an underwhelming 0.7% cash-back on my combined purchase amount. 

Here is an overview of my shopping and related earnings.  

Note that three of my transactions were Amazon transactions. While Drop Rewards is one of the few cash-back apps that works with Amazon, this offer has a maximum number of weekly participants. If you wait too long to activate the offer, you won’t be able to earn cash-back on these purchases.

Related: Here’s a list of the best ways to save money on Amazon (including a list of the handful of cash-back apps that work on the site).

Cash Back Shopping Portal (Online Purchases)

Similar to Rakuten, Swagbucks and other cash-back sites, Drop offers points in exchange for shopping with various retailers through its in-app cash-back shopping portal. 

In addition to standard offers (which pay a flat X% per dollar), Drop has a few bonus categories:

• Boosted offers. These are temporary point increases at select merchants. Take these offers with a grain of salt; cash-back rates change all the time, which means there’s no standard rate to “increase” them from.
• Stacked deals. These are offers for which Drop has identified a coupon code, which can be used to save extra money on your purchase.
• 25,000 Points & More. Partnered merchants willing to offer at least 25,000 points for you to shop with them are highlighted here. 

Drop had over 100 offers available during my test period, which is relatively low compared to other cash-back sites. 

I attempted to shop with two of them and earned $0.59. 

Here’s an overview: 

Surprisingly, my eBay transaction earned me nearly two times as many points as expected for a cash-back percentage of 2.8%. Unfortunately, my second attempt wasn’t as successful. When attempting to shop at Safeway through the app, there was a glitch and I was unable to create a login. The issue seemed to be with Safeway, not Drop, but I still didn’t get any points for my purchase.

Games

There are two different game types available in the app: Drop games and partner games. 

Drop Games

The Drop games I played were glitch-free and ad-free, but the choices were limited. Those that were available had a short play time and restrictions around the number of plays. 

The first game, Hoops, takes less than one minute to play. I found it pretty entertaining, but I was limited to two plays per day so the overall earning potential isn’t substantial. 

The second Drop game I tried was Snake. After three plays the game locked. In order for me to play again I need to either shop five times or complete five surveys.

Finally, the third Drop game was a Spin game that users can play on Tuesdays for a chance to win free Drop points (I won 100 points or 10 cents).

These limitations and time requirements are designed to encourage you to complete surveys or to shop in exchange for more play time and/or to keep you coming back to the app regularly. If you’re looking for faster point accumulation, the partner games (discussed below) are a better option. You may also want to check out our list of game apps that pay via PayPal.

Partner Games

During my test period, Drop offered points for 54 partner games. To earn rewards, I clicked each game link inside the Drop app, then (after reading the offer details) I downloaded the games and completed (or tried to complete) the tasks required to earn the promised number of points. Usually, these tasks involve reaching a certain level or racking up a specified number of in-game points. 

I downloaded and played three relatively simple games to earn points. The number of points was a direct reflection of how long the in-game tasks should take. For example, I was able to earn my 510 points for Solitaire in about 5 minutes, and should have earned my 1,500 points for Block Puzzle in 8 minutes (as of press time I was still waiting for the points to post). 

However, I spent 6 hours and 9 minutes getting to level 33 in Bingo Blitz and I still haven’t earned anything because I need to make it to level 50 to earn 11,500 points. (And no, I’m not proud of spending over 6 hours playing online bingo.)

Note that my progress in the game significantly decreased over time, so I doubt I will be able to reach the specified level goal (level 50) without spending money to purchase in-game currency.

One final important note is that each game I downloaded required me to allow the app to track my activity in order for me to earn points. 

Here are the details of the games I tried and how much I earned from each.

Assuming my 1,500 Block Puzzle points post, my hourly rate will end up at $0.30 per hour. This figure will increase in the (unlikely) event I make it to level 50 in Bingo Blitz.

Surveys

Because I had thought of Drop primarily as a cash-back shopping app, I didn’t know what to expect when it came to surveys. 

However, the survey section was well-designed and easy to use.

The survey section is broken into several parts:

• Featured: these generally low-point-value surveys have short durations.
• Fastest: a collection of the shortest surveys. During my test, these were all 25 minutes or less (with most taking under 10 minutes to complete).
• Most Points: get more bang for your buck with these surveys. I found that these surveys were generally 5 to 25 minutes in length and paid between 298 and 2,380 points.
• Partner Surveys. Drop’s partner, Tap Research, offers surveys that pay up to 7,480 points.

Here’s a recap of my Drop App survey earnings:

I tried both Drop surveys and partner surveys and, while my earning rate of $0.76 per hour was pretty sad, all points posted within five minutes of survey completion.

Drop App FAQ

Drop App Review: Final Verdict

Drop Rewards functions well and offers a glitch-free experience. I enjoyed the Drop games during testing and have even opened the app a few times afterwards just to play Hoops. However, the pay rate for games and surveys is too low to be the primary driver for me to use the app. 

I liked that there was an opportunity for (somewhat) passive earnings, which earned Drop a place our list of the best cash-back apps. However, the majority of offers available are standard cash-back offers, which require in-app shopping.

At the same time, Drop does offer the best selection of card-linked, passive cash-back of any app available today, but these offers rotate weekly and require reactivation every Wednesday.

Still, using a cash-back platform is one of the best ways to get free money. And if you’re willing to jump that hoop of activating offers — and you regularly shop at partnered merchants with card-linked programs — Drop could be a good option. With an average rate of over 4% for these offers, there is opportunity for substantial savings.

But when it comes to all other tasks and offer types, Drop’s pay rates are well below average.

Vanessa Zeigler

Vanessa Zeigler is a freelance writer and editor focused on personal finance and time management. She has an MBA from Duke University and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP). She writes about frugal-living techniques, side hustles, product testing, selling on Etsy and eBay, and using money-making apps. Connect with her on LinkedIn, Upwork and Etsy.