12 Ways To Make Money With Your Idle Computer

One of my favorite ways of making passive income online is with a computer while my fingers keep busy on its keyboard. It’s pretty much interesting how one can even make money with an idle computer which shows how fast the internet is advancing. 

So if you’ve ever wondered how you could do that, then now is the time to rake in some side $$$ just leaving your computer on with the list I’ll be sharing with you. They present a good income opportunity and I do earn money from those that I personally use. Among these lists, I’ve further categorized them into:

• selling/sharing your unused internet bandwidth
• selling/sharing your computing power

Either of these requires leaving your computer on when not in use which is more of renting it to a third party in exchange for money. What you have to note is that all the methods require you to install software unto your computer, activate it by creating an account and then leaving it as it runs on the background while you do whatever you want to do without any interference.

Quick Navigation

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Selling/sharing Your Unused Internet Bandwidth

• Fluidstack
• Packity
• Honeygain
• PacketStream
• GetPaidTo
• Intabank
• Lethean
• Privatix Network

Selling/sharing Your Computing Power

• LoadTeam
• Earn Money Wizard
• Mineprize
• My Cashware

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Selling/Sharing Your Unused Internet Bandwidth

Fluidstack 

• Founded on October 9, 2018
• Minimum withdrawal of $5
• Payment is made through Paypal
• Operates on Windows and Linux computer which runs on Ubuntu
• Available everywhere

Fluidstack is my first-ever cloud service provider that I joined to rent out my idle computer in exchange for money. My experience on the platform took me on the internet to search for similar platforms that I’ve gathered to share with you. 

Over the past years, they’ve evolved from a bandwidth sharing platform to GPU renting services. The platform aggregates GPU machines of individuals all over the world into a distributed GPU cloud system. This helps them to provide computational power to customers who use it for machine learning, video rendering, transcoding and cloud gaming.  

To be a GPU machine provider, you have to list your machine on their waiting list for review. When accepted, you’ll be provided instructions to set up your machine and the rest is for them to handle. Fluidstack guarantees you to earn up to $310/month if you rent your GPU machine to them. Payments are made monthly. 

Machines with multi-GPU have higher chances of earning more. They’ve gained the trust of most providers due to their good payment history and earning potential. However, you can’t use your machine if you’re hosting Fluidstack. You have to give them one week notice should you decide to leave the program. 

A typical example of GPU machine for a rental is 2080 Ti GPU / i7 CPU / 32 GB RAM / 25 Mbps / 240GB SSD / 1TB HDD.  Fluidstack pays according to your GPU type and other requirements. You can check out the list of GPUs to see if yours is there.

Pros

• It’s free to join from anywhere in the world
• Helps you to convert your underutilized GPU for money
• Founded by three Oxford University graduates (Gary Wu, Reaal Khalil, and James Cox) whom you can connect on LinkedIn.
• Good payment history
• You earn passive income without breaking a finger
• Low minimum threshold of withdrawal

Cons

• You can’t quit your job over it
• You can’t use your GPU machine while hosting for Fluidstack.

< Visit Fluidstack for more info here! >

Packity

• Founded on February 22, 2018
• Minimum threshold of withdrawal is $10
• Payment is made through Paypal
• Operates on Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android
• Available everywhere

Another bandwidth sharing platform I tested out of curiosity after I tried Fluidstack. Unlike Fluidstack which pays according to your upload speed, you earn with Packity based on the amount of bandwidth you share into their network. 

All that you need to do is installing the app on your device with the appropriate operating system and leave it to work on the background. The app is easy to install with not many settings to do on your side. I did that in less than 30 minutes and got no security alert from my computer too but I didn’t use it for long. 

According to their website, they use only 15% of your bandwidth to serve their clients who use them for the purpose of brand protection, fighting back against ad fraud and performing search engine optimization. 

You earn based on the amount of bandwidth you contribute to their network and the demand in your geological areas. The basic earning rate is $0.1/GB bandwidth contributed to their network for devices with 60-100% availability. For example, if you share a bandwidth of 10GB daily into their network then you’re likely to earn $30 in a month. 

Users whose availability is less than 60% earns $0.05/GB. For countries like the UK and US where demand is mostly high, Packity rewards you surge bonus which can increase your earning rate to $0.8/GB. 

Pros

• It’s free to join from anywhere in the world
• Uses your computer only when it’s idle
• You earn passive income without breaking a bone
• Uses only 15% of your unused bandwidth
• You can increase earnings with multiple connections for one account provided your IP addresses are different
• Surge bonus increases earning rate

Cons

• You can’t quit your job over it
• Your computer has to stay on for at least 12 hours, 24/7 
• It’s likely to have safety issues although I haven’t encountered one yet.
• Founders of the platform not disclosed
• Relatively higher minimum withdrawal threshold
• You may not make a dime

< Visit Packity for more info here! >

Honeygain

• Founded on April 4, 2019
• Minimum threshold of withdrawal is $20
• Payment is made through Paypal
• Operates on Windows, MacOS, and Android
• Available everywhere

Honeygain is relatively a newer bandwidth sharing platform that serves as an intermediary between bandwidth providers and buyers. It’s one of the few that I intentionally tested to reach the minimum threshold of withdrawal. Comparatively, my earnings were at a higher rate than Packity during my test drive. 

Like the usual bandwidth sharing platform, you join their node by installing their app on your device. A few minutes upon installation on my laptop, it was set online and I could see a graphical display of how much bandwidth I was contributing to their network. That was the reason why I stayed with them to reach the minimum withdrawal point. 

You earn $0.1 for every GB of data that you contribute to their network. According to them, they expect to use 2GB/day from your internet but you can contribute as high as 15GB every day depending on the speed of your internet. 

You can connect a maximum of 3 devices per IP address but it doesn’t make any much difference in your earnings since it’s a single network. However, you’re not limited to any number of connections per account provided you have several networks. For example, if you have 10 different networks, then you can have as high as 30 connections for maximum earning. 

Pros

• It’s free to join from anywhere in the world
• Runs on the background as long as your device is on
• You earn passive income without breaking a sweat
• Nice way to make money out of your unused data
• You can increase earnings with multiple connections for one account provided your IP addresses are different

Cons

• You can’t quit your job over it
• Your computer has to stay on for at least 12 hours, 24/7 
• It’s likely to have safety issues although I haven’t encountered one yet.
• Founders of the platform not disclosed
• Relatively higher minimum withdrawal threshold
• You may quit using it before reaching the minimum threshold of withdrawal. 

< Visit Honeygain for more info here! >

PacketStream

• Founded on December 31, 2018
• Minimum withdrawal of $5
• Payment is made through Paypal
• Operates on Windows and MacOS
• Available everywhere

Packetstream is a residential proxy network that allows you to share your unused internet bandwidth with someone else in exchange for money. You make money by joining their network as a Packeter that is someone who makes available his or her underutilized bandwidth to be used by their customers. 

Customers buy the bandwidth from Packetstrem’s network to access content from the internet and in return pays you the Packeter a commission for participating in their network. It’s a nice way of making money from your unused money by lending your internet access to someone. 

Packetstream pays you depending on the amount of bandwidth you contribute to their network. You make $0.1/GB bandwidth shared and they currently support IP types of the following;

• Residential
• Mobile
• Cafe
• School
• Portable hotspot 

You get started by installing the packetstream app from their website after you’ve signed up and you start earning credit provided there’s demand. Like most of the bandwidth sharing platforms, having multiple connections on a single network wouldn’t make a significant change in your earnings. 

Pros

• Anyone can join as long as you have the bandwidth to share
• Uses your computer only when it’s idle
• You earn passive income without breaking a sweat
• You can increase earnings with multiple networks
• You can connect with the co-founder on LinkedIn

Cons

• You can’t quit your job over it
• Earning rate is very low
• Users have complained of security issues with Packetstream
• Cashout fee of 3% is charged on your earnings
• You may not make a dime

< Visit Packetstream for more info here! >

GetPaidTo

• Founded on January 19, 2000
• Minimum threshold withdrawal is $1 and above
• Payment options: Paypal, bank transfer, skrill, cryptocurrencies, and gift cards
• Operates on Windows and Linux (Ubuntu) 
• Available everywhere

This website provides you more than renting your bandwidth into their cloud platform. I like it because of the vast options of earning opportunities they provide. Apart from renting your bandwidth and CPU to serve web content and computation performance, you can also get paid to watch videos, play games, participate in offers and surveys. 

For bandwidth renting, you can earn as much as $40 per month depending on your upload speed. In addition to the OS requirement, you should have 2 GBs of RAM, 10 GBs of free storage space and an upload speed of more than 1 Mbps. 

GetPaidTo provides a means to check your upload speed which is important to know how much you can earn before connecting to their node. The earning per upload speed is calculated as:

• 1-10Mbps – $2 /month
• 10-100Mbps – $8/month
• 100Mbps+ – $4/40Mbps/month up to $40. So for example, 260Mbps would be $20 per month

They’re very similar to Fluidstack but a bit different from the other bandwidth selling platforms. According to them, your bandwidth is not sold but rather aggregated into a cloud of a network of thousands of devices that are used as a whole to provide cloud services. 

Currently, their cloud services include CDN, proxies for web-scraping, video transcoding and high-performance computation for research teams. In order to get paid, your computer must be available for at least 50% and they don’t support any phones or tablets with android/iOS. They don’t have it in their future plans either.   

 Pros

• Free to join
• Offers several earning opportunities (Earn with your idle computer or participate in other earning options)
• Offers several payment methods

Cons

• Do not support phones or tablets and MacOS computers
• Money earned is not passive (can’t really quit your job over it)

< Visit GetPaidTo for more Info! >

Intabank (GBX)

• Founded on January 21, 2011
• Minimum threshold withdrawal not stated
• Payment method not provided
• OS info not provided
• Available everywhere

Intabank, also referred to as global bandwidth exchange is a bandwidth management organization that utilizes an international network of data centers to provide a platform where bandwidth providers sell their unused data for their customers. As a management platform, it provides two packages for bandwidth buyers which includes;

1. Burst bandwidth speed (Mbps)
2. Transfer exchange window (GB)

The platform currently provides beta testing of the application in joining as a bandwidth seller. Intabank provides not much information on how sellers earn money in sharing your unused internet and you only join by sending their sales team an email. 

Like most bandwidth sharing platform, what you earn is basically dependent on the demand and speed of your network. 

Pros

• Freeway to join to make money with idle computer
• You can have as many computers as you want for one account

Cons

• Details of payment and requirement are not provided on the website
• Your computer is likely to suffer overheating and unresponsiveness
• Money earned is not passive (can’t really quit your job over it)

< Visit Intabank for more Info here! >

Lethean (LTHN)

• Founded on April 17, 2018
• Minimum threshold withdrawal is $5
• Payment method: cryptocurrency
• Operates on Windows, MacOS and Linux Wallets and browser extensions
• Available everywhere

Lethean is a VPN service platform with a blockchain technology co-founded by Valiant to provide a marketplace for individuals who have under-utilized internet bandwidth to share in exchange for money. Users of these bandwidths who want to preserve their privacy or access the internet from different geolocation then pay to use them. 

VPN providers who sell their unused bandwidth to Lethean network act as exit nodes through which users traffic are channeled. To become a VPN provider, you have to install their exit node technology according to the appropriate wallet. They also provide VPN plugins for clients who don’t want to have a full VPN client running on their computer. 

Pros

• Backed by a team which you can reach on their social handles
• Provides a safe way for one to browse without disclosing any privacy
• Sell your unused internet bandwidth for money

Cons

• Offers only one payment method
• Money earned is not passive (can’t really quit your job over it)

< Visit Lethean for more Info! >

Privatix Network

• Founded on August 10, 2017
• No minimum threshold of withdrawal
• Payment method: cryptocurrency (Prix Token)
• Operates on Windows 10 or higher, MacOS 10.13 or higher and Ubuntu 16.04 or higher
• Available everywhere

Privatix Network is an internet bandwidth marketplace with a decentralized environment that allows users to buy and sell bandwidth services (VPN / proxy) using a third-party application or directly. Unlike other bandwidth selling platforms, Privatix Network allows bandwidth sellers referred to as Agents to determine how much they want to sell their bandwidth. 

As an agent, you can publish your bandwidth offering on their 100% decentralized environment without any 3rd party involvement. Clients who are interested in your offer reach out to you and you grant them access upon meeting your requirements. 

Privatix provides a guide on the parameters to consider when creating an offer on their platform which makes it easier to target an audience you intend to sell your bandwidth to. There are two primary markets provided on the platform namely: 

• PRIX/MB – Bandwidth marketplace on Blockchain 
• PRIX/USD – the external market for PRIX token

Each of these markets is thoroughly explained with a guide to help you set your offers. Although Agents have total control over how much they want to sell their bandwidth and on what conditions, it’s appropriate to follow the advice provided if you want to earn more. 

Clients pay you for each small service consumed which is aided by their Core Software which operates with PRIX based Ethereum. Privatix also provides a Telegram platform that you can join to also market your offers. 

Pros

• You decide how much to sell your bandwidth
• Free to join to sell your unused bandwidth
• No minimum withdrawal threshold requirement

Cons

• Don’t work on phones or tablets
• Money earned is not passive (can’t really quit your job over it)

< Visit Privatix Network for more Info! >

Selling/Sharing Your Computing Power

LoadTeam

• Founded on March 24, 2014
• Minimum withdrawal of $1
• Payment is made through Paypal
• Operates on Windows only
• Available everywhere except for countries where Paypal is not accepted

Apart from sharing your internet bandwidth in exchange for money, you can also rent your computer’s computing power for cash even when you’re using it. LoadTeam comes with a windows app which you run quietly in the background of your computer to complete jobs. 

LoadTeam specifically uses your computer to mine coins which requires a computer processor and memory to carry out those computations in their mining. Just as in the bandwidth sharing platforms you earn by sharing your unused data, the amount of money you make here is dependent on the computing power of your computer. 

According to LoadTeam, they use 20% and 40% of your computer’s power when in use and not in use respectively. However, you can adjust how hard your computer works in order to increase earnings. Using a large percentage of your computing power can cause temporary unresponsiveness. 

Making money with LoadTeam sounds as easy as pie since your idle computer will be doing the job while you enjoy its fruits. Your computer should have at least the following requirement in order to make money: 

• Windows 7 or later
• 2GB RAM
• 100MB free disk space

With these minimum requirements, LoadTeam rewards you $0.000302 per job completed and so the faster your computer, the more money you can make. Find out how much you can make with their calculator here. 

Pros

• You can make money with your idle computer
• Can use multiple computers with one account to earn more money
• Very low withdrawal threshold (You can withdraw anytime when you reach $1)
• A bonus of $0.2 for sign up (only with this link <here>)

Cons

• Earning rate may not be worth your computer power, memory, internet and electricity
• Your computer is likely to suffer overheating and unresponsiveness
• Works only on Windows
• The money you earn is not passive

< Get $0.2 bonus from LoadTeam here! >

Earn Money Wizard

• Founded on December 9, 2016
• Minimum threshold withdrawal is $5
• Pay you through Paypal and Bitcoin
• Operates on Windows Vista, 7 and upwards (Yet to support MacOS)
• Available everywhere

Earn Money Wizard is a mining platform with a technology that harnesses your computer’s hashing power to carry out complex mathematical calculations and in return pays you for every task completed. All that you do is install their application on your computer to be a contributor to their strong grid supercomputer power.  

As an intermediary between buyers and computer power providers, its innovative algorithm is able to coordinate assignment and validation of task to reward providers after completion. The application uses data for downloading and uploading valid work which according to EmWizard is equivalent to data usage for 1 minute surfing the internet for a day. 

You earn as high as the specs of your computer. A notebook in good standing can make $20 every month. However, computer with ATI RX VEGA 64 and NVIDIA GTX 1080/2080 has earning potentials of ($50 and $70)/month respectively just by running the app on your idle computer. 

When your earnings reach $5 or above, it’s processed into either your Paypal or Bitcoin account which is done every week, usually on Saturday at 23:00 UTC. Also, payment of balances greater than $1 is processed once every 4 weeks. A computer with good graphics is likely to receive payments throughout the whole month. 

Pros

• A good way to earn money with your idle computer for free
• Multiple computers for one account is allowable
• Offers several payment methods

Cons

• Works only on Windows OS at the moment
• Your computer is likely to suffer overheating and unresponsiveness
• Money earned is not passive (can’t really quit your job over it)

< Visit Earn Money Wizard for more Info here! >

Mineprize

• Founded on October 20, 2017
• Minimum withdrawal of $100
• Payment is made through Paypal, wire transfer/western union and crypto wallet (BTC & ETH)
• Operates on Windows and MacOS
• Available everywhere

Mineprize is a computing network with a distributed architecture consisting of a large number of computers connected to solve a complex problem. Every computer connected to the server of this network is assigned a job, completes the job and sends it back to the server in exchange for points. 

Like LoadTeam you’re sharing your computing power with their network to complete part of their complex problem computation in exchange for money. Mineprize runs on your browser when you log in to your account. The higher the specs of your processor the more tasks you can complete in a shorter time and the more points you accrue. 

In using Mineprize, it’s advisable to use one tab per computer as multiple tabs are likely to cause you overheating and computer non-responsiveness. After completion of each task, you’re credited points which are exchangeable for Minprize rewards or cash. 

You’re rewarded 1,000,000 points upon signup which is equivalent to $10 which implies that you need to make 10,000,000 points before you can make your first withdrawal. You can as well exchange it for an equivalent reward which you can read on mineprize.com. 

Pros

• Free to join the platform to make money with your idle computer
• Multiple computers for one account is allowable
• Offers several payment methods
• You get a bonus of $10 for sign-up

Cons

• Earning rate may not be worth your computer power, memory, internet and electricity
• Your computer is likely to suffer overheating and unresponsiveness
• Minimum withdrawal threshold is very high
• Money earned is not passive

< Get $10 bonus from Mineprize here! >

My CashWare

• Founded on March 19, 2014
• Minimum threshold withdrawal is $5
• Pay you through Paypal
• Operates on Windows only (Yet to support MacOS)
• Available everywhere

My CashWare has relatively been existence for long on the internet as a virtual currency mining platform. They create virtual currencies, in other words, referred to as mining by setting up a mining machine to even determine which currencies are worth mining. 

In carrying out these complex tasks, My Cashware offers you the chance to earn extra cash with your computing power by installing their application on your computer. There’s no elaborate method of how my cashware operates on their website but all that you’re required to do is install their software while they do the weight lifting to reward you extra cash with using your idle computer. 

According to them, you can earn a living and even have more with their offer which per my experience I doubt. However, you could make something but not in the way they put it. 

Pros

• Freeway to join to make money with idle computer
• You can have as many computers as you want for one account
• Offers several payment methods

Cons

• Works only on Windows OS at the moment
• Your computer is likely to suffer overheating and unresponsiveness
• Money earned is not passive (can’t really quit your job over it)

< Visit My CashWare for more Info here! >

List of Make Money Online With Your Idle Computer Websites (A Summary)

Just to give you a better overview of the available options. I’ve summarized the above opportunities in a tabular form. 

Website	Requirements	Payment Method	Coverage
Fluidstack	24/7 availability  8GB+ RAM per GPU. An **IPv4** address with a router that can port-forward.  A minimum of i5 5/6th generation CPU or equivalent.  At least 10Mbps guaranteed bandwidth per machine  Machines need to be plugged into an HDMI monitor 16x PCIe slot or an 8x for multi-GPU hosts   Minimum 500GB of free SSD storage per GPU	PayPal	Global
Packity	Accepts Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android	Paypal	Global
Honeygain	Accepts Windows, MacOS and Android	Paypal	Global
PacketStream	Accepts Windows and MacOS	Paypal	Global
GetPaidTo	Operates on Windows, MacOS and Android	Paypal, bank transfer, skrill, crypto currencies and gift cards	Global
Intabank	Limited information provided	Not disclosed	Global
Lethean	Operates on Windows, MacOS and Linux Wallets and browser extensions	Cryptocurrency	Global
Privatix Network	Operates on Windows 10 or higher, MacOS 10.13 or higher and Ubuntu 16.04 or higher	Cryptocurrency (Prix Token)	Global
LoadTeam	Operates on Windows only	Paypal	Only for Paypal using countries
Earn Money Wizard	Operates on Windows Vista, 7 and upwards (Yet to support MacOS)	Paypal and Bitcoin	Global
Mineprize	Operates on Windows and MacOS	Paypal, wire transfer/western union and crypto wallet (BTC & ETH)	Global
My Cashware	Operates on Windows only (Yet to support MacOS)	Paypal	Global

Conclusion – My Favourite Picks

While you can’t quit your job over the above methods even with unlimited unused bandwidths or computing resources, you can make a pretty good side income if you sign up for a number of them. They all seem to provide a nice way to put your idle computer to work to bring some money to the table. 

However, some of them wouldn’t be worth enslaving your computer for. Aside from causing overheating in some cases, you might end up not making a dime. From my personal test with some of them, Fluidstack and Honeygain are my go-to place because of their good payment reports. A newly trusted one is IPRoyal Pawns. Sign up here for a $1 bonus. 

Besides, their good name on their internet I’ve personally received 3 payments from Fluidstack and Honeygain. The good thing is payments came on time.

Following Fluidstack, Honeygain and IPRoyal Pawns is LoadTeam. I like LoadTeam because of its instant payment system. I was impressed by how the money hit my account like a supersonic wave. Besides, LoadTeams’ withdrawal threshold is $1 which you can reach in no time.

Another option that you can consider is GetPaidTo. It’s a partner site of Honeygain which has several other ways to earn on the platform in addition to the bandwidth sharing. I like Honeygain because it’s very easy to install compared with Fluidstack, although their minimum payout is high relative to IPRoyal Pawns. 

While Fluidstack, Honeygain and IPRoyal Pawns have the potential to make you over $100 per month, considering GetPaidTo and LoadTeam can be your sidelines provided you have more resources to use. They’re nice ways to make side income but there is more……

An Evergreen Alternative That Makes Me Real Passive Income  

As multiple streams of income explorer, I’ve tried several make money online platforms. There are unlimited ways to make money with the internet but there are scammers too that you don’t have to be ignorant of. 

Among the lots that I’ve tried with different success levels, this program did all the weight lifting for me to discover my #1 recommendation method of making money online. It has helped me to make passive income on a part-time basis even with my tight schedule as a researcher. 

Are you curious enough to learn more? Click on the link below to get access to my ultimate guide to making money online. The best part: It’s FREE and no PRIOR knowledge or experience is needed. 

Oh heck, I almost forgot…feel free to share your story in the comment box below if you have any experience with any of the above platforms.

If you know of any similar platform which is not here, please do share it in the comment and I’ll check it out. Thanks

Sharing will help a fellow to make the right decision and if you have any questions too, drop them there and I’ll be glad to connect with you.