How to Make Money Online: Top 5 Ideal Options for Students and Beginners

  • Alex SpencerBy Alex Spencer
  • June 29, 2025
  • 4 Mins Read
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In this arti­cle, we’ll dive into the top five plat­forms tai­lor-made for new­com­ers, from sim­ple micro­tasks to more in-depth sur­veys and research gigs. You’ll dis­cov­er how to sign up in min­utes, which skills you tru­ly don’t need—and, most impor­tant­ly, how much you can real­is­ti­cal­ly earn while fit­ting work around your stud­ies or pri­ma­ry job.

For stu­dents, these plat­forms are a great way to cov­er text­book and liv­ing expens­es while hon­ing atten­tion to detail, per­sis­tence, and data-han­dling skills. And for any­one on the look­out for flex­i­ble extra income, micro­task­ing offers an acces­si­ble, reli­able path to steady cash with­out pulling focus from your main com­mit­ments. Up next: a clos­er look at Ama­zon Mechan­i­cal Turk, Click­work­er, Microwork­ers, Appen, and Prolific—exploring their key fea­tures, task types, and strate­gies for boost­ing your earn­ings.

In today’s dig­i­tal world, find­ing your first source of online income can feel daunting—especially if you’re just step­ping into the realm of self-employ­ment. Still, with a wealth of crowd­sourc­ing and micro­task­ing plat­forms at your fin­ger­tips, even absolute beginners—whether high school­ers, col­lege stu­dents, new par­ents, or any­one hunt­ing for a side hustle—can start earn­ing today.

Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) Review: Is It Worth Your Time in 2025?

Ama­zon Mechan­i­cal Turk (MTurk) is a crowd­sourc­ing plat­form by Ama­zon where you com­plete micro­tasks (HITs) like data tag­ging, sur­veys, and tran­scrip­tion for small pay­ments. It’s easy to join—just sign up, ver­i­fy your iden­ti­ty, and start work­ing. Pay­outs go to your bank or Ama­zon Pay­ments once you hit $1.

Pros:
– Work any­time, any­where
– No expe­ri­ence need­ed
– Wide task vari­ety

Cons:
– Low pay ($1–6/hour for most)
– High com­pe­ti­tion
– Tasks can be reject­ed

Tip: Use forums like r/mturk to find high-pay­ing HITs and scripts. Great for side cash, not for a full-time income.

We wrote a full review ear­li­er if you want more detail.

click­work­er is one of the largest glob­al providers of crowd­sourced data with over 6 mil­lion free­lancers across Europe, Amer­i­ca, and Asia.

Clickworker

Click­work­er is a micro­task plat­form where you earn mon­ey doing online gigs like writ­ing, data tag­ging, sur­veys, and trans­la­tions. After a short entry test, you get access to tasks. Pay­outs start at €5 and go via Pay­Pal or bank trans­fer.

Pros:
– Work when­ev­er you want
– Great for both begin­ners and skilled work­ers
– Clear rat­ing sys­tem

Cons:
– Low pay for sim­ple tasks (€0.01–€0.10)
– Com­pet­i­tive task pool
– Income depends on task avail­abil­i­ty

Per­fect for side income if you’re con­sis­tent and detail-ori­ent­ed. We wrote a full review ear­li­er with more tips

UHRS

UHRS (Uni­ver­sal Human Rel­e­vance Sys­tem) is Microsoft’s micro­task plat­form used by con­trac­tors like Appen, Click­work­er, and Lion­bridge to label and eval­u­ate data for AI train­ing. You can’t join directly—you must qual­i­fy through a part­ner plat­form first.

Pros:
– Real tasks from top tech com­pa­nies
– Trans­par­ent per-task pay
– Clear path to high­er-pay­ing work

Cons:
– Access only through third-par­ty ven­dors
– Strict qual­i­ty checks
– Low start­ing pay ($2–$4/hr for begin­ners)

Great for detail-ori­ent­ed free­lancers will­ing to learn. We’ve writ­ten a full review earlier—check it out if you’re curi­ous about max­i­miz­ing your UHRS income.

Appen

Appen is a glob­al crowd­sourc­ing com­pa­ny that hires free­lancers to col­lect and label data for AI and machine learn­ing. To get start­ed, cre­ate a pro­file, list your lan­guages and skills, and pass qual­i­fi­ca­tion tests.

Pros:
– Con­sis­tent projects from major tech clients
– Wide vari­ety of tasks
– Trans­par­ent hourly or task-based pay

Cons:
– Long onboard­ing process
– Strict qual­i­ty stan­dards
– Low start­ing pay ($2–$5/hr), but can increase over time

Good for free­lancers inter­est­ed in AI train­ing tasks. We pub­lished a full review ear­li­er with more in-depth info—worth a look if you’re seri­ous about join­ing Appen.

MicroWorkers

Microwork­ers is a glob­al micro­task plat­form launched in 2009. It con­nects free­lancers with sim­ple online gigs like app test­ing, sur­veys, social media engage­ment, trans­la­tions, and data val­i­da­tion. Sign up, ver­i­fy your email, and start working—payouts are avail­able via Pay­Pal, Skrill, Pay­oneer, or bank trans­fer once you reach $9.

Pros:
– Easy to start, no spe­cial skills required
– Flex­i­ble sched­ule and task vari­ety
– Inter­na­tion­al avail­abil­i­ty

Cons:
– Low pay ($0.05–$0.50/task)
– Min­i­mum pay­out thresh­old
– Incon­sis­tent task qual­i­ty

A decent side hus­tle if you’re selec­tive and fast. We’ve writ­ten a full review ear­li­er for those want­i­ng a deep­er dive.

Whether you’re look­ing to earn a few extra bucks in your spare time or build expe­ri­ence in the world of crowd­sourced dig­i­tal work, plat­forms like Ama­zon Mechan­i­cal Turk, Click­work­er, UHRS, Appen, and Microwork­ers each offer unique pros and cons.

If you pre­fer quick, no-bar­ri­er entry and max­i­mum flex­i­bil­i­ty, Click­work­er or Microwork­ers may be the best fit. Want access to high-pro­file AI train­ing gigs? UHRS and Appen offer that, though with a steep­er learn­ing curve. MTurk sits some­where in the mid­dle, with a mas­sive task pool but stiff com­pe­ti­tion and low start­ing pay.

Try a few, com­pare your experience—and dou­ble down on the one that works best for your sched­ule and skills.