Best Apps That Pay You to Lose Weight [2024]

Losing weight and staying healthy is a chore, but with the right motivation and tool of a weight loss app, it is possible to reach your goals. I love the idea of pairing healthy habit building with an opportunity to earn cash rewards. You won’t think twice about that brownie when money is on the line.

We’ve rounded up the top weight loss apps that pay you to get fit.

I like being active, and the weight loss apps that I recommend to stay motivated are HealthyWage, DietBet, and WayBetter. These apps allow you to bet on your ability to lose weight by adopting healthy habits. The potential to earn cash rewards can be a powerful motivator, especially when you consider the support and accountability these platforms provide.

I also like Evidation and Sweatcoin since they don't require you to pay an upfront fee or bet money. Instead, these two apps simply reward you for your healthy habits.

Let’s explore how these apps and more work and also cover additional ways to make extra money while you maintain a healthy lifestyle.

How we evaluate products

In evaluating weight loss apps that offer monetary rewards, we focused on specific criteria that align with individual preferences and goals. Our methodology is based on personalization, financial incentives, community engagement, ease of use, and cost-effectiveness.

• Personalization: We realize that not everyone wants to lose weight as their primary health goal, so we prioritized apps that had both weight loss challenges alongside other healthy habit challenges. We ranked HealthyWage high for having a Step Challenge alongside its weight loss challenge, since most people will benefit from walking/moving more in their day and it is easy to track with the right device.
• Financial incentives: Since our guide rounded up the best weight loss apps that pay, we gave higher consideration to the apps where you could make more money than you put in. Other apps, like stickK rated lower because you will never earn more money than you put in.
• Community engagement: We compared the apps community involvement and the ability to effortlessly connect with your friends and family members. This is why apps like DietBet and Competish ranked higher than Evidation.
• Ease of use: We know how hard it is to stick with health goals, so all of the apps we chose are easy to use and link directly to a health tracking device.
• Cost-effectiveness: We prioritized DietBet over apps like Competish because we appreciated that you will not lose your investment as long as you complete your goal.

Best apps that pay to lose weight

There are many different apps that pay you to lose weight, which can help you learn how to make money on the side. These apps include:

• HealthyWage
• DietBet
• WayBetter
• Competish
• Evidation

Compare the best weight-loss apps that pay cash rewards

App	Best for	Activity type	Time commitment
HealthyWage	Personalized weight loss goals	Individual, within a group, or as a part of a team	One to 18 months
DietBet	No lose guarantee	Individual	Four weeks to six months
WayBetter	Healthy habit building	Individual	One week
Competish	Competing against friends and family	Within a group	Four to 12 weeks
Evidation	No sign up fees	Individual	Varies by survey or research

HealthyWage

HealthyWage motivates you to lose weight by allowing you to place a bet on your weight-loss goals. Enter your current and target weight into the prize calculator and specify the amount of money you want to bet every month to achieve your goals. The calculator will show you the amount of cash you may win after answering questions about your past dieting behavior.

If weight loss isn’t your goal, the Step Challenges are a good alternative. Anyone who achieves the challenge's step goal can receive a portion of the prize money.

HealthyWage can be a good option if you're willing to put your money on the line and bet on succeeding in your weight-loss goals. If you want to lose weight with friends or coworkers, you can make your own group challenges. The support that you get from other contestants can also help you stay motivated.

Read our HealthyWage review.

DietBet

DietBet allows you to join existing weight-loss challenges or start your own. The platform has two programs:

• Kickstarter program: For those who want to lose 4% of their weight in four weeks.
• Transformer program: For those who want to lose 10% of their weight in six months.

I love DietBet because you don’t have to be the top weight loss loser, you just need to hit your target goal to receive a portion of the pooled funds, minus DietBet's fees.

Your payout depends on how many people in your challenge reach their weight-loss target since each person wins a share of the pooled prize money. The good news is that DietBet’s no-lose guarantee ensures that if you win, you will at least get back the money you contributed, even when there are many winners in your challenge.

WayBetter

WayBetter positions itself as more than a weight-loss app by offering ways to help you adopt healthy habits. The app accomplishes this by offering various challenges related to nutrition and exercise goals. Examples include walking for 30 minutes or more four times a week or reducing alcohol consumption.

You can use the app for free and only pay an $11.99 fee plus a bet amount for each challenge you join. Alternatively, you can pay a $69 membership fee to get a customized weight-loss plan along with access to the WayBetter challenges. Keep in mind that you’d still need to bet money on the prize-based challenges you join.

Competish

If you want to go head-to-head with family and friends, Competish is the weight-loss challenge platform for you. You can set the challenge's duration and the entry fee amount, with a minimum of $25 to enter.

Competish tracks your weight-loss progress with daily weigh-ins and provides access to a group chat so you can communicate with your fellow competitors. Competing against people you know can be more motivating, but some might be turned off by the fact you have to find and form your own group.

Evidation

Evidation is a free fitness app that enables you to participate in healthy activities and receive rewards with very little time commitment. Instead of competing against others, you will link your smartwatch or fitness tracker to Evidation and earn points for various activities such as walking, weighing in, completing health-based surveys, or checking your blood pressure.

Every 10,000 points you earn can be redeemed for $10. Evidation also partners with different brands that provide exclusive discounts and rewards for the platform’s users.

While Evidation promotes healthy habits, it doesn't offer direct rewards for weight loss. If your primary goal is losing weight, you may prefer a different program.

Tips for choosing a weight-loss challenge app

Weight-loss challenge apps can be a great way to motivate yourself while potentially earning some money. To choose the right app for you, consider these factors:

• Your preference between competing against others and betting on yourself
• The amount of money you want to invest or put on the line
• The theme of your goals, such as adopting healthy habits, accomplishing weight-loss goals, or more
• The length of time you want to commit for

You should also make sure to review the weight verification process of the app you choose. Several apps use a form of video or photo weigh-in to confirm your progress.

4 more ways to make money and earn rewards for healthy habits

1. Earn money while lightly exercising with InboxDollars

InboxDollars is a rewards platform that pays you for completing short tasks like watching videos, taking surveys, and playing games. You can easily multitask and earn a bit of extra money while getting some light exercise in, like walking on a treadmill or pedaling a stationary bike.

You can sign up for InboxDollars for free. Then, you can start earning money for the tasks you complete. The earnings may be small per task, but they can add up over time, especially if you make it a habit while exercising.

2. Receive free samples from PINCHme

PINCHme doesn't pay cash directly, but it allows you to receive free samples of health, beauty, household, and other consumer products in exchange for your opinion. Getting these free samples can be a great way to test out new products that support your healthy lifestyle without having to actually purchase them first.

To get started, sign up for a PINCHme account and share details about your household and product interests. PINCHme will then show you samples based on that profile. Apply for the samples you’d like to try and provide your opinion about them once you test them.

3. Save money or earn rewards with Capital One Shopping

Capital One Shopping is a free browser extension and mobile app that can help you save money when shopping online for fitness gear, activewear, health foods, and more. Simply download Capital One Shopping, and it will apply any coupon codes that are available to your cart at checkout across thousands of online retailers.

You can also earn Capital One Shopping rewards for shopping at many online retailers. You can redeem these rewards for gift cards. The extension also compares prices at other popular stores while you shop to find any better deals, including factoring in details like taxes and shipping fees.

4. Earn rewards on fitness-related costs with a cash back credit card

Using a cash back credit card for gym memberships, fitness equipment purchases, and other health-related expenses is an easy way to get more benefits back from those costs.

Some cash back credit cards offer bonus rewards for certain purchases. For example, the Discover it^® Cash Back has a $0 annual fee and helps you earn 5% cash back on everyday purchases at different places you shop each quarter like grocery stores, restaurants, gas stations, and more, up to the quarterly maximum when you activate. Plus, earn unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases.

Explore more options in our list of the best cash back credit cards.

FAQs

Weight loss apps that didn’t make the list

Any app that helps you get healthier is a win in our book. The following apps are still useful for achieving weight loss and fitness goals, but if you are hoping for an app that will reward you well, these fall short.

Sweatcoin

I appreciate that Sweatcoin has no sign up fees or the requirement to place a bet to use. However, I didn’t add it to our list of best weight loss apps that pay you because it takes longer than the other apps to earn enough sweatcoins for a reward.

Additionally, Sweatcoin does not offer specific prizes or rewards for weight loss. Instead, its goal is to encourage you to be more active. If you want to bet on achieving a weight-loss goal or earn rewards for reducing your weight, a different app would be a better fit for you.

That said, Sweatcoin can still motivate you to be more active by participating in races or community challenges. Read our full Sweatcoin review.

stickK

stickK is different from other weight-loss apps because you don't win money if you succeed. Instead, you motivate yourself by putting money on the line, and you can keep this money in your pocket by reaching your goal. While I think that is extremely motivating, I didn’t add it to the list because you won’t be earning extra cash from this weight loss app — just preventing yourself from losing your initial investment.

If you're willing to put your money on the line to ensure you follow through with your commitments and are looking for a support system or accountability partner to help you stay on track at no cost to you, stickK could be a good option for you.

Bottom line

Weight-loss apps aim to motivate you to make healthy choices and stick to your weight goals. One unique feature of some weight-loss apps is the option to put money on the line to help encourage you to stick to your plans.

These betting apps may help you by using a financial penalty for not meeting your goal. This may motivate you to stay on track with your weight and health goals.

If you're looking for an extra boost of motivation, consider using one or more of these weight loss apps. You can also check out our list of the best side hustles or learn about more ways to make extra money.