With gig apps, there is something for everyone. You own your time and can pursue other interests as well as work around family obligations.
The gig apps based (or online) platforms have three players – those in need of goods or services, those with the ability and willingness to sell such goods or services, as well as those ensuring that these two classes of people interact. All players exercise some degree of freedom.
The gig economy has been around ever since. But the pandemic certainly caused a significant boom in the gig market because of the safety concerns regarding making physical contact.
A study carried out by Gallup indicated that about 36% of the total US workforce are gig workers. When you do the math, you have a whopping sum of about 57 million Americans occupying this bracket. Even more impressive, the gig economy has also contributed about $1.3 trillion to the economy.
The joy of the gig economy is in flexibility and freedom. Gig workers can work whenever and wherever they want.
What Are Gig Apps?
Gigs aren’t just for your neighborhood bands performing at the nightclub anymore. The economic world has become aplomb as more and more people find value in our daily servicemen and women.
By providing us with a means to not only connect with our favorite brands and services but a veritable cash flow for those who provide the work. And all it takes is a willingness to connect and a push of a button.
Types of Gig Apps
Thanks to technology, you can access the endless possibilities of the gig economy via apps. These apps can be categorized into the following:
Freelancer/Platform-based Gig Apps
These apps are platforms where you can buy or sell services rather than products. These services include writing, web design, graphics design, coding, content creation, etc. If you have a niche or service you can render, then these apps are perfect for you.
The apps serve as the middleman between the buyer of the service and the seller, and they make their profit by taking a cut of the agreed fee. Examples include Fiverr, Upwork, Airbnb, etc.
On-demand Gig Apps
These are gig apps that allow customers to request services they were explicitly designed for – services that cannot be concluded purely online. Uber and DoorDash can be classified as on-demand apps. For instance, Uber is designed to request a ride, while Uber eats is to deliver food to the ordering customers’ doorsteps.
On-demand apps are solely intended for specific purposes rather than diverse specifications like the freelancer platforms.
List of 20 Popular Gig Apps to Sell Your Services in 2021:
Airbnb
With this app, you can rent out the extra rooms in your house for cash. You set your price and handle all the expenses involved in fixing up the accommodation.
Airbnb is a more passive income source. But there’s still the risk of bringing in total strangers into your home.
Amazon Flex
Amazon flex is a platform that offers you the opportunity to deliver goods to customers who purchase goods on Amazon.
The earning capacity is almost unlimited, and it’s based on performance. However, the pay is not immediate like other platforms. With Amazon Flex, you can drive and start making money today.
Dabbl
If you have time to spare, then you might find the Dabbl app very useful. The Dabbl app allows you to watch videos, take short surveys, and complete tasks to earn cashable rewards.
The Dabbl app is easy to use and user-friendly. However, there have been reports of UI bugs that occur from time to time.
Doordash
The Doordash app is one of the few platforms where you get to keep 100% of your service fee to yourself – you also get to keep all the tips, if given any.
This is how it works – once a customer requests the partnering restaurants’ food on the app, the request is sent to dashers who pick up the delivery and deliver it. Note that the dashers bear the total cost of transportation to and from the restaurant.
Dashers can clock in anytime and clock out if they feel like taking a rest. The pay is also good depending on the time and effort you are willing to put in. On the downside, Doordash will favor you only if you operate in areas with a relatively large number of restaurants.
Dumpling
Similar to Instacart, Dumpling is a grocery delivery services platform. However, Dumpling offers its couriers or shoppers more autonomy. They also charged shoppers a 0ne-time fee of $10 for setup and the option of a monthly or on a per delivery basis fee.
As a Dumpling shopper, you get to set your own fees, choose where to shop and build your customer base.
Easy Shift
EasyShift allows you to earn some money by carrying out sundry quality control tasks for local businesses. This could include taking product photos, reviewing promotions, and checking prices.
Although the EasyShift app won’t make you a millionaire anytime soon, you have the flexibility to carry out tasks according to your schedule.
Fiverr
Fiverr is one of the highly-rated gig economy apps around. This App offers individuals a platform to sell writing, graphic designing, web designing, and other skills.
If you have a marketable talent, Fiverr will provide you the platform to profit from it.
There are numerous gigs and opportunities in the Fiverr platform, but the only downside for such apps is that you don’t get to receive all your charged fees – the platform takes a percentage from whatever you earn for a completed gig.
Grubhub
The Grubhub app is very similar to the Uber eats App. It connects dinners to restaurants in their locality. Your job is to fulfill their orders and deliver them to their doorsteps.
As long as you own a driver’s license, the sky’s the limit to how much you can earn delivering food to hungry customers.
Drivers registered on this App get to keep all the tips they get, but drivers get to bear the cost of their own expenses like other ride-sharing apps.
HyreCar
The HyreCar app allows you to make money driving for Lyft, Uber, and even food/grocery delivery apps like Doordash and Instacart without owning a vehicle – you work with cars hired out by others on the platform.
You can also earn on the HyreCar App as a car owner (an extra car you may not be using) by hiring it out for a fee.
Inbox Dollars
If you are a game maverick, then this app is for you. Inbox dollars make you money for playing games, reading promotional materials, and answering survey questions.
The app provides you with lots of options to make money, and it also allows you to choose whether to earn in cash payment or gift card. However, some of the survey questions are lengthy and take a lot of time to complete.
Instacart
The InstaCart app is a grocery delivery app that connects personal shoppers with customers. Orders are received from the grocery shoppers, and all you have to do is deliver the customers’ orders to their doorsteps. And just like most delivery apps, you make more money during busy hours.
This platform is very user-friendly, and you get to keep all the tips and money earned. The only downside is that you get to pay for any fee incurred during delivery.
Lyft
Lyft, just like Uber, is an on-demand ride-sharing App. This app provides drivers with a flexible work arrangement with relatively good earnings. Drivers get to keep 80% of the fee for each ride.
Lyft recently announced that they’re offering rental cars to rent to their drivers right from their app. Just reserve the car and you’re good to go.
Postmates
The Postmates app is a delivery app that grants you access to deliver groceries and other goods to customers for a fee. The amount you earn will be determined by the effort you put in. You can gain significant mileage by working during hours people are more likely to place orders.
This app is regarded as one of the best gig apps due to the timely payments and good bonuses, but there have been several complaints of inadequate support. There have also been complaints about the unreliability of the GPS, which can be inconvenient for the delivery person.
Checkout Postmates
Rover
All animal lovers will find this app very rewarding. The Rover app grants you access to gigs where you make money by walking or pet-sitting for pet owners who are extremely busy with their daily routine.
You will be required to go through a background check before completing your signup form.
The Rover app allows you to earn money from doing something you love – exercising and keeping a pet company.
Shipt
Shipt app simply allows customers to request their shopping needs; then, these requests are transferred to you for further action. This includes shopping for the ordered items, paying and delivering them to ordering clients.
Getting gig jobs on this platform is relatively easy as there are always people willing to outsource the hassles of shopping for groceries.
Shipt allows you to work at your convenience, and the pay is not bad. However, there have been some reports of glitches on the app, though quite normal can be quite frustrating.
Swagbucks
Swagbucks app is a platform that pays you cash and gift cards for shopping online or doing small tasks. These are simple, everyday tasks that you typically do, like watching videos, taking surveys, playing online games, and donating to charity.
Swagbucks is a straightforward way to make some beer-fund money. You’ll earn SBs or Swagbucks points for your labors, which you can convert to cash or gift cards. You can also convert your points straight to your PayPal account as cash.
Survey Junkie
With over ten million members, the survey junkie app is one of the popular survey platforms you can find around. The app helps companies collect research from their army of survey takers, which the companies use in improving their products.
You earn reward points that can later translate to cash by taking as many surveys as you are qualified for.
The survey junkie app is easy to use. The downside is that users complain of their accounts being closed at random.
TaskRabbit
Contractors through this App source for workers to work for them. On jobs such as house cleaning and other household tasks as well as deliveries. TaskRabbit helps you contact and discuss with clients how to carry out or get the job done. Payment is per work done.
Aside from meeting the domestic needs of people, there has been a general outcry to upgrade the App.
Uber
Uber has become synonymous with on-demand ride-sharing services and currently boasts the highest number of riders. It provides fast and convenient travel as well as delivery services within cities.
There have been complaints of low pay from drivers on distant trips, but overall, Uber seems to be the favorites among ride-sharing drivers.
Uber Eats
The UberEats app acts as the middleman between the hungry client and a restaurant. Your role will involve getting paid to make the deliveries whenever a customer places an order through the App.
Driving with Uber eats can be an excellent side hustle, and they have some of the best GPS capabilities, which is a plus for drivers. However, drivers complain about ill-treatment from some customers.
Gig Apps And Making Money
Gig apps are a shortcut between customers and their favorite brands. Even better, they provide the average individual a vast pool of opportunities to make some money – either full-time or on the side. The only universal qualification is your willingness to work and, of course, ownership of a smartphone – which isn’t so hard these days.
