Brave Rewards Review: Legit or Scam? (An Inside Look)

Brave Rewards Rating


Brave Rewards can be an ok way to earn a bit extra, if you set your expectations properly and you have ample knowledge about cryptocurrency. But you should not expect to earn a lot.

Brave Browser claims you can earn rewards simply by browsing. So, if you are looking for easy ways to earn online, you might think this sounds very appealing.

But is Brave Rewards legit and really an easy way to earn, or is it a waste of time? This is very important to know, so let me address this concern right away.

Yes, Brave Rewards is legit, as you really can get rewarded when you opt-in to the earning opportunity offers. Now, the question is, is it worth it or not?

This Brave Rewards review will answer that and help you determine if it is really worth your time or not. It will give you an inside look so you’ll know exactly what to expect before you sign up. It will also show you some important considerations most others do not tell you about.

That way, you can make an informed decision on whether you should join or not.

What is Brave Rewards, and what does it offer?

Brave Rewards is a feature of a browser called Brave. It’s not a site where you can just sign up and start earning rewards. To earn, you have to install the browser first.

Just to make it clear, this review is not focused on how good a browser Brave might be to help you stay safe online. It is focused on the earning opportunities it offers, as earning online is what I am specialized in.

Now, to fully understand how Brave Rewards works, we have to take a closer look at the earning opportunity. This will also give you an idea of its earning potential.

I have, therefore, made a video that will explain and show exactly how it works and how to earn from Brave Rewards. You can also read all the details below the video:

YouTube video

The earning opportunity – Viewing ads

The way Brave Rewards works is pretty similar to what a site called Gener8 does. The main difference is that with Gener8, you have to use a browser extension, whereas, with Brave Rewards, you use a browser.

enabling ads on brave rewards
To start earning rewards, you have to enable the ads.

The first thing you need to do is install Brave on your computer. Once it is installed, you have to go to the Brave Rewards section and enable their Ads (refer to the photo above). When their ads are enabled, you have to choose the frequency of ads being displayed per hour.

I chose to display the maximum number (5 ads) during my testing. This is the best way to maximize your earnings from Brave Rewards. So, just to be clear, this number will dictate the number of ads you will see per hour you will get rewarded with.

However, I just want to make it clear that there is no guarantee you will get that many ads per hour – and in my experience, it will mostly not be that many. But that will depend on the country you live in but more about this later.

Once that is set, then all you have to do is use the browser regularly. You don’t have to do anything special. You just go about your normal routine. You are earning rewards passively.

Earning rewards is the easy part. The more complicated part of Brave Rewards is what you can do with the rewards you’ve earned. And I will discuss that in the next section.

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How do you get paid?

As mentioned above, this is the more complicated part of Brave Rewards. You see, with Brave Rewards, you won’t be earning cash or even points. Instead, you will be paid a certain cryptocurrency called BAT (Basic Attention Token).

It used to mean that you needed a cryptocurrency wallet to cash out your BAT. Brave recommends you use Uphold, a cryptocurrency trading platform. You need to have a minimum of 25 BAT to create an Uphold account, though.

But of course, you can also use any cryptocurrency wallet as long as it supports BAT. Popular platforms like Binance and Coinbase also offer this token, and I would prefer using these as I have more experience with them, and they are some of the most well-known and trusted platforms.

However, Brave has also introduced other ways to get paid since I first tested it. Now, you can also use the BAT you earn to enter sweepstakes or get gift cards.

As for the payment process, Brave Rewards processes payments monthly (during the 5th day of the month). For example, in May, you earned 11 BAT. On June 5, Brave will send 11 BAT to your Brave wallet (which is just your account balance).

To cash out, you have to transfer your BAT from your BAT Wallet to any other cryptocurrency wallet you have. Then, to convert it to fiat currency, you’ll have to use your crypto wallet’s currency exchange platform.

It’s a bit complicated if you are new to cryptocurrency. So, before you decide to use Brave, I would suggest you read up on cryptocurrency and how to convert it to fiat currency (actual money) first.

contributions on brave rewards
You can set Brave Rewards to automatically contribute to creators every month.

Now, if you thought that was complicated, there’s one more thing that you need to know about their rewards system.

When you sign up for Brave Rewards, you have the option to contribute part of your earnings to verified Brave creators.

These creators are those people who opted into Brave’s program. These creators are website owners, YouTubers, game streamers, and more who will receive compensation from Brave. As shown in the photo above, you can set up your Brave Rewards to contribute automatically to these creators every month.

When you have that enabled, you can set the date when Brave will deduct BAT from your BAT wallet. Aside from that, you can also send a tip to verified Brave creators.

sending a tip with brave
You can also send tips to certain creators to show your support.

For example, when you visit the website of a verified Brave creator, you will see a checkmark on the triangle logo displayed beside Brave’s address bar. Simply click it, and you will see something similar to the photo shown above. Then, enter the amount of BAT you want to send to the owner of the website as tips.

Both these options aren’t mandatory. It will still be up to you whether you choose to support these creators or not. It’s just another option of what you can do with the rewards you’ve earned from Brave Rewards.

As you can see, the payment system of Brave Rewards is a bit more complicated than most other online rewards sites out there. If you prefer sites that offer a simpler method of payment, I would recommend you check out the top sites that pay via PayPal instead.

How much money can you make?

Brave Rewards won’t make you rich. Let’s just get that out of the way. You won’t earn a lot from it.

Also, they don’t explain how many BATs you will receive for every ad viewed using their browser. But you will be able to constantly see how many BATs you’ve earned for the month.

During its first year of launch, there were reports that users were able to earn around $50 to $70 for the whole year of using the Brave browser. That’s not a bad amount, in my opinion, considering you don’t have to do anything special to earn. You just have to use the browser.

That amount has improved as of the writing of this review because the value of 1 BAT has also increased, which means you will earn more. But as it is with the value of crypto, it can go up and down.

Now, the amount you can earn from Brave Rewards will mostly rely on how often you use the browser and for how long.

If you use the browser for, let’s say, more than 8 hours a day, you stand to earn significantly more compared to a user who will only use it for 2 hours a day. So, if you want to maximize your earnings from Brave Rewards, you have to use their browser as much as possible.

However, as mentioned earlier, how much you can earn will vary from country to country, and there is no guarantee there will always be ads in your country. And if there are no ads, you will not earn.

It all depends on how many advertisers are currently running ads via Brave Browser. To give you an example, I tested the Brave Browser for a month before publishing this review, and I was never able to get 5 ads per hour even though I had chosen this.

In fact, on many days, I only received a couple of ads the most. My earnings after one month of testing were only around $0.04.

However, I did not use it all the time, but I did use it every day. This is not the same as it is not possible for you to earn more as it depends on your country. But you need to do it with the right expectations and not expect a lot of money from this.

Therefore, overall, I would say it has a very low earning potential. Also, you’ll have to wait a month to receive your earnings, which can be a long wait, in my opinion. But if you don’t mind the wait and you don’t mind earning cryptocurrency, this can be a decent opportunity.

However, in my opinion, it is quite a big limitation that you have to use a certain browser to earn. Personally, I prefer using Google Chrome, and I do not want to change.

So you just need to be aware that you have to use their dedicated browser, which you might not want to as it does not give the same experience as, for example, Chrome, in my opinion.

Important disadvantage to consider!

I mentioned at the beginning of this review that you would also learn some important things to consider about Brave that most people do not tell you about.

According to Brave Browser itself, it rips out all the ads & trackers from every web page you visit. Then it gives you the choice to see Brave Private Ads.

I understand this can seem appealing, and I am also concerned about my privacy online in some cases.

However, what you also have to think about is that using browsers like this can actually hurt your access to free content online in the long run.

As I see it, ads are kind of a way we pay for free content. Without ads, we would not have all the great websites, YouTube content, and also TV and radio shows. All that we would have to pay for or not have access to if it were not for ads.

Yes, ads can be annoying, and some companies are taking advantage of them and misusing our data. But, in my opinion, ads are not all bad.

Because would you rather pay or not have access to all the great content you can find online at all?

That can potentially become the consequence of using browsers like this. Content creators earn from ads, and by using a browser that rips out ads from their websites or blocks them from their videos, you are basically taking the earning potential away from your favorite creators.

If everyone did that, content creators would not be able to keep producing great free content, as there goes a lot of time, money, and effort into creating quality content – I know, as I both run this website and my YouTube channel.

This is just something to think about, and if you want to support your favorite creators, maybe consider turning off a browser like this when visiting their websites and videos.

Can you use it on mobile?

The good thing about the Brave browser is you can use it on a mobile device. Just download the app and install it on your device. It is compatible with both Android and iOS devices.

brave app
The Brave browser is compatible with both Android and iOS devices.

However, as of the writing of this review, you can’t share accounts across multiple devices. Every device (laptop, desktop, or mobile device) will count as a separate account. So, you can’t consolidate all your earnings into one single account.

That’s a big downside of Brave Rewards, in my opinion.

As for the browser, I found it ok. And they say it uses the same engine as Google Chrome (Chromium), which means you can use the same browser extension you used on Google Chrome. When you download extensions on Brave, it will take you to the Google Chrome extension store.

So, if you are a Google Chrome user (or even Microsoft Edge), you will have an easy time transitioning into the Brave browser. This will make it a lot easier for you to take advantage of Brave Rewards.

Who can join Brave Rewards?

Brave Rewards is available globally. Signing up is also very easy. Technically speaking, there is no sign-up process involved.

brave rewards registration
To sign up, you have to enable Brave Rewards once the Brave browser is installed.

All you need to do is install the browser. Then, as shown in the photo above, you just have to opt-in to their Brave Rewards program. Just click the “Start Using Brave Rewards” button to enable the feature.

Then, configure the Brave Rewards settings (auto-contribute), and you are all set. You can now start earning rewards. It’s as simple as that.

Can you get support?

As I’ve mentioned earlier, earning rewards from Brave Rewards is very simple. The more complicated stuff is what to do with your rewards. If you don’t have any prior knowledge of cryptocurrency, you will have a hard time understanding how it works.

So, there’s a huge chance you’ll have plenty of questions. You can try to check out their FAQ page first for questions about Brave Rewards, but I doubt it will be of any help since it only discusses basic topics.

But Brave does have a forum you can check out for unresolved issues or inquiries. That’s how you can receive support from their support team. So, I suggest you sign up as a member of that forum in case you need assistance.

I have been in contact with their support team through the forum, as they are quite helpful and usually reply quickly, which is definitely a big plus.

Final Verdict

Brave Rewards is a legit opportunity where you can earn passively by simply using the Brave browser. It certainly has a couple of interesting features to offer, but it also has some disadvantages you need to be aware of.

Let me end this review with a summary of its pros and cons to give you an overview of what Brave Rewards has to offer. Then, you can decide if you should avail of this opportunity or not.

pros

Pros:

  • Offers a passive way of earning
  • Transitioning to the Brave browser is surprisingly easy
cons

Cons:

  • Limited earning opportunities
  • Limited payment methods offered
  • You are forced to use a specific browser to earn
  • Long-term, it can hurt your access to free content by blocking ads from creators' websites and videos

In my opinion, Brave Rewards can be an ok way to earn extra cash, provided you set your expectations properly. It’s not something that will allow you can earn a decent amount quickly, but the good thing is that you can earn passively.

That’s really what I like about Brave Rewards. You don’t have to do anything special to earn. You just have to be very patient because it only pays once a month, and the rewards are very low.

Personally, I do not want to start using a new browser as I like the ones I am already using. But if you do not mind this, if you don’t mind the waiting time, and you are comfortable earning cryptocurrency instead of cash, then this can be an ok option.

Just also think about what I explained earlier – you can potentially end up hurting your favorite creators by using browsers like this, and this is the biggest issue with Brave Rewards, in my opinion.

Overall, I honestly do not think it lives up to all the hype I have seen about it online – it seems a lot of the hype is just made by creators who are getting paid to promote it but have not tested it as a way to earn themselves, in my opinion.

Overall, if you prefer to earn cash (or even gift cards) and still earn passively, I would recommend you check out the best passive income apps instead. The sites on this list all have good earning potential, and you won’t have to wait that long to withdraw your earnings.

If you have any comments, questions, or experiences with Brave Rewards, I would love to hear from you in a comment below.

0 thoughts on “Brave Rewards Review: Legit or Scam? (An Inside Look)”

  1. Note the main motivation of the brave browser is to get rid of the obnoxious adds on websites. Currently, add blockers and advertisement companies are trying to one up each other with software preventing or forcing adds to be shown. In an ideal world, brave contributions will offer an alternative revenue to websites and content creators, removing the need for them to show you adds. Not sure this is realistic, but hey, we can dream. The brave rewards may be a bad way to make money, but for people like me, how are either too poor or too lazy to buy crypto to use for brave contributions, brave rewards serve as an extremely easy way to automatically support website you visit, even though you block their adds.

    Reply
    • Unfortunately, I do not think it is realistic that people will start donating. As I see it, ads are kind of a way to pay for free content. Without that, we would not have all the great websites, YouTube content, and also Tv and radio shows would have to be paid for or not available if it was not for ads. Yes, they are annoying but would you rather pay or not have access to all that at all? That is how I see it anyways.

      As for ways to earn crypto for free, then there are many free methods that are more effective than Brave, in my experience. You can, for example, check out this list of free ways to earn Bitcoin.

      Reply
  2. Hello,

    I apologize for being so late in commenting, but a lot has changed.

    The good thing is that the Brave Community is open and new ideas and suggestions are always welcome. When you open their home page, you will see new news or notifications that are currently in focus. Brave Rewards has undergone many changes (EG. EToro is supported), but I haven’t tried it yet, partly because the region I live in is still not supported. Some suggest using a VPN as a trick for this problem, but I haven’t tried that either.

    As for Brave adBlocker, it is possible to turn it off partially or completely for all or only some sites, but the problem is that in the latter case those sites load very slowly.

    Apart from Brave and Decentr, another browser that offers something similar is Cocoon, but I don’t know if you’ve written about it.

    With best regards,

    Nikola

    Reply
    • Thanks for sharing your experiences. I will try to get the review updated asap to reflect the changes that have been. However, it does not change my main point of the review, which is that it can hurt content creators to use something like this, and that can also eventually hurt the access you will get to free content.

      Reply
      • Yes, I totally agree with you. Brave Rewards can be a good way to earn some small pocket money, but everything you pointed out still stands despite all the changes. By the way, one of the users on the Brave forum even forwarded this review of yours, suggesting to the Brave authors to take everything is written here.

        As far as I know, the same applies to Decentr or Presearch, while perhaps the biggest problem with Cocoon is that it is impossible to earn outside the US, and using a VPN is not at all recommended, despite the fact that the browser is available worldwide – in terms of that it is the best for travelers. But I hope you will write about that in a separate review.

        So much from me and thank you.

        Reply
  3. I would add that Brave Browser is popular and most used for its innovation and privacy, and Brave Rewards are so to speak just a secondary thing that users don’t have to use anyway if they don’t want to. But it is obvious that programmers and developers are investing heavily in it because they emphasize this way of doing business and viewing private ads, so they will have to work even harder on it. The improvements are commendable, but they are just the beginning.

    Reply
    • I agree that privacy is an issue online and is something to be aware of. But the reality is also that if we completely block ads, we will eventually get less access to free content. Free content, whether it is TV, YouTube, websites, or however you find free content, is only possible because creators can earn from ads. So by blocking all ads, you are also blocking the creators’ way to earn and then they cannot create content anymore, and this is an important point browsers like Brave does not deal with.

      Yes, I know people can donate to creators but the reality is that most people will not. So my big concern about browsers like this is that we eventually will not get access to great free content anymore. Then all content you will get access to will be controlled by huge companies and advertisers and no independent creator will have a chance. Just something to think about.

      Reply
      • Yes, and that is absolutely true. Everything you said about Brave (which is a wery good as the web browser) also applies to other similar browsers like Decentr, the aforementioned Cocoon and maybe BitTube which I don’t know if it still exists because they have already changed several sites none of which are available anymore. Blockchain, P2P, end-to-end… promise a lot, but in practice it is not so easy and simple. Privacy and decentralized platforms are coins with two sides.

        Reply
  4. Brave rewards is a scam. They show that my country cannot be verified despite me having a Gemini account that is fully verified.
    They show you ads, pocket the money and you get nothing. Waste of time.

    Reply

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