9 Best Crypto Faucets Websites in 2023
crypto basics
Just about anyone you ask in 2023 has heard about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, but this wasn’t always the case. Back in the day, if you weren’t a cypherpunk or connected to the right sort of online communities, the only way to get Bitcoin was if you stumbled across the Bitcoin faucet.
You’ve probably heard about Bitcoin and crypto faucets, but what are they and what’s their origin story? Why would anyone give away valuable cryptocurrency for free?
If you want answers to all of these questions and more, you’ve come to the right place. This article will tell you all about crypto faucets as well as some of the top faucets still in operation in 2023.
What Are Crypto Faucets?
In mid-2010, few people knew what Bitcoin was, and a man named Gavin Andresen decided to give it away for free via a crypto faucet.
There were no exchanges or peer-to-peer marketplaces back then, and the only way to acquire Bitcoin was to mine it yourself or get a Bitcointalk forum user to sell you some over the counter.
When the mysterious Bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto departed the project, they declared Andresen the lead developer of the reference implementation for the bitcoin software client. This made Andresen the face of Bitcoin at the time, and he went on to found the Bitcoin Foundation.
In 2010, though, Andresen realized the importance of distributing the nascent currency as widely as possible. This would allow users to really understand the concept and importance of the network by actually using it.
Andresen loaded his crypto faucet with 1,100 BTC of his own, and early whales and miners also donated BTC to it. A total of over 19,000 Bitcoins were given away through this crypto faucet before it shut down for good in 2011.
All users had to do was complete a captcha. For doing so, they received a then meager, but now shocking, 5 BTC.
How Do Crypto Faucets Work?
Gavin Andresen’s tactic of spreading both the coin and the knowledge that comes with it via a crypto faucet paid dividends, and it became the first of many. Now, crypto faucets have broadened in scope, although they retain the definition of rewarding a user with crypto upon completing a small task.
Some projects still use crypto faucets like Andresen did to raise awareness and spread tokens around a little bit. Others have become commercial endeavors, requiring users to play games, watch videos or even ads, and even spend money in various ways, such as shopping online.
Still, these faucets require an action—even if it's as small as pasting your wallet address into a field and clicking ‘claim’—before they’ll pay you. Several cryptocurrencies can be used by these faucets, but you can expect most to serve out popular coins such as Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin, and Dogecoin.
Most BTC faucets will also advertise payouts in Satoshis, or Sats, rather than BTC. 5 Satoshis looks a lot nicer than 0.00000005 BTC, after all. Note that you may be unable to claim such a small amount because of network fees. That, in turn, becomes a great excuse for a platform to ask you to register for an account with them and only claim once you’ve accumulated enough.
How to Use Crypto Faucets
All you need to get started with a crypto faucet is a crypto wallet. Which wallet you use will depend on what cryptocurrencies you want to start hunting for. If you want to go after every faucet you can find, you may be best served with a multichain wallet like Trust Wallet.
Once you have your wallet set up, remember to take special care of your recovery seed. You need to store this key phrase safely, or else you may not be able to access your wallet when you need to change devices.
If you’re doing it right and are looking into new projects that are taking the Bitcoin route when it comes to crypto faucets, you may need to pay extra attention to your wallet. For example, for an Ethereum-based token or a new blockchain, a wallet like Metamask may be a good choice since it can be configured to work with new networks and tokens quite easily.
With your wallet set up, you’re good to go. Now it’s up to the individual faucets you’re looking at to see if you need some cryptocurrency already in it. Good faucets won’t require you to do anything and will send you tokens at their own cost, but others may require you to pay for gas.
Remember, though, that if something’s totally free, you are the product. Web 3.0 will change this, but many crypto faucets are still very much Web 2.0, and it’s up to you to protect yourself. Throwaway email addresses and passwords that differ from your regular ones are good starting points.
Some crypto faucets are gambling platforms masquerading as faucets, and others require KYC and identity verification. It’s up to you to do your due diligence on these platforms and decide what level of risk you’re willing to tolerate.
9 Top Crypto Faucets
Let's look at a few crypto faucet apps and crypto faucet sites where you can earn a little cryptocurrency or “stack sats.” You probably shouldn’t expect to earn a daily wage from these or even expect big wins, but if you’re lucky, one may pan out in a few years, much like Gavin Andresen’s did.
#1. Cointply
According to the website, Cointiply is trusted by over 3 million users and claims to have paid over $12 million. It’s got a rating of ‘Excellent’ on Trustpilot and pays out cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Litecoin, Dogecoin, and DASH.
To get started with Cointiply, you need to register for an account. You can then earn rewards by playing games, watching videos, shopping online, or signing up for various services.
You can also earn between $1 and $5 for participating in online surveys. Importantly, Cointiply also claims to credit users even if they are disqualified from the survey.
According to Cointiply, the average user earns up to $30 monthly on the platform. They mention that top users earn hundreds a month by completing surveys, but geography matters—users in the USA will be eligible for and earn more from surveys than users in less lucrative markets.
The minimum withdrawal for Cointiply on all cryptocurrencies is $3, and it has an official Android app. iOS users can still use this crypto faucet website via their browser.
#2. Bitcoinker
Bitcoinker is a little closer to the classic Gavin Andresen Bitcoin faucet, allowing users to enter their Bitcoin address, solve a captcha, and click ‘claim.’
This crypto faucet site pays up to 100,000 Satoshis every 5 minutes, and users can claim 120 times per 24 hours. It’s also possible to sign up for referrals and upscale rewards by becoming a frequent user of the crypto faucet.
What’s the catch? You can’t use a VPS, VPN, or Proxy to connect to Bitcoinker, and payouts are made every 1st day of the month for addresses above 20,000 Satoshis. You’ll also need to visit the site to check out their rules and privacy policy to make sure you’ve got all the bases covered.
#3. CoinPayu
Bitcoinker looks pretty old-school, but Coinpayu is extremely slick. You can earn plenty of different cryptocurrencies with this site, and all you have to do is sign up, watch ads, and complete offers.
Coinpayu is an advertising intermediary, with advertisers paying the platform to show ads to users. These users must click on those ads to get paid, giving advertisers all that sweet web traffic.
So, as the user, you’re the product, but you get paid a little crypto for the privilege. Interestingly, Coinpayu also runs a staking service, allowing holders of coins belonging to proof of stake blockchains to earn a passive income.
#4. BTC Clicks
BTC clicks is another advertising intermediary that makes no secret of the fact that it allows advertisers to target you and other “REAL bitcoin users.” You can’t tab out of the ad or open another window, and this is a guarantee that the platform makes to advertisers, the site’s real customers.
You, as a user, can earn up to 0.00009 mBTC per click and up to 0.00007 mBTC per affiliate or referral click. Given that the site’s minimum payout is 0.1 mBTC, you need to manage a lot of clicks before even seeing a single Sat.
The site also has a premium membership option, which costs 0.324 mBTC every three months and doubles your earnings. Again, though, the ROI on these options combined with the terms of the site means that advertisers really do get some serious mileage out of your eyes, ears, and bandwidth.
#5. Allcoins.pw
Mindlessly clicking links and watching ads all day to earn a few Satoshis isn’t fun, so Allcoins.pw eliminates the clicking part. Its flagship ‘autofaucet’ feature lets you automate tasks like clicking links to claim free crypto.
This feature certainly takes some of the tedium out of the process, although you can still go through all of the traditional methods such as surveys, ads, and games. Allcoins.pw also offers payouts in over 14 currencies, so you can choose what crypto you’d like to accumulate.
#6. Fire Faucet
Fire Faucet supports a range of coins as well, including Bitcoin, Cardano, BNB, Ethereum, and several other top cryptocurrencies. You can do the usual stuff on Fire Faucet, like earning via filling out surveys, watching ads and videos, and so on.
However, Fire Faucet’s unique selling point is that users can earn EXP. This incentivizes the use of the platform via additional rewards for users who gain the most EXP on a daily basis. If you think you’ve got the time to beat Fire Faucet’s other users to the prize, this may be the crypto faucet for you.
#7. Coinfaucet.io
Coinfaucet.io is a Ripple faucet that pays users every hour for playing a relatively simple game. Payments are made every time the user’s withdrawal minimum is reached, and the site also includes free promotions and a rewarding referral program. If you’re a fan of XRP, this faucet may be worth checking out.
#8. Freebitco.in
Freebitco.in appears to be quite popular and claims to have well over 51 million registered users. You must sign up with an email address, and the site leans more toward crypto faucet gambling than anything else.
It advertises the ability to win up to $200 in free BTC, games, lotteries, and jackpots, along with the customary Lamborghini available via golden tickets. It also advertises a Bitcoin savings account with daily interest, but this may give investors pause.
Many crypto exchanges have been coming under fire for their yield-bearing crypto accounts, especially in the US. Furthermore, several custodial platforms seducing customers with the yield on BTC have collapsed. If you store your Bitcoin with a custodian, the adage “not your keys, not your coins” definitely applies.
#9. Gods Unchained
Not strictly a faucet, but it certainly deserves mention since playing a proper game and earning crypto is a lot more fun than filling out surveys and watching ads. ImmutableX’s Gods Unchained is Web 3.0’s answer to Magic: The Gathering and Hearthstone and features a rich, in-depth TCG with its own lore and a huge player base.
It earns its place on this list because you can earn GODS tokens by simply playing the game and racking up a certain number of wins per day. ‘Weekend Ranked’ events ramp up the competition across the weekend, giving you a chance to win NFT cards that you can add to your deck or sell for GODS, IMX, or ETH.
Gods Unchained is also known for its airdrops and may be one of the best ways to earn crypto on this list. It’s not alone, however, and there are many other games, such as Axie Infinity, that give you a way to earn crypto simply by playing.
Web 3.0 games like these don’t sell your data or monetize your attention. Instead, they reward you for playing, and all in-game items you win are verifiably yours, thanks to NFT technology.
Risks of Crypto Faucets
As the saying goes, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. This is especially true with crypto, and even Gavin Andresen’s first crypto faucet had the very firm objective of spreading adoption. Most of the major cryptocurrencies don’t really need the exposure or awareness anymore, so the number of risk vectors is a lot higher these days:
- Scams. Blockchain immutability is a wonderful thing, but one of the advantages of the traditional banking system is that you can ring your bank up and get transactions canceled or reversed if you fall victim to a scam. That’s not possible with crypto, so scams are prevalent—and there’s nothing stopping an enterprising scammer from deploying a purported faucet that attempts to infect you with a virus or steal your funds. Always do your due diligence.
- Low rewards. Not every crypto faucet allows you to simply solve a captcha and click a button. Some put very involved and even tedious tasks in front of you and then reward you with a minimal amount of crypto. That said, people complained about 5 BTC being a low reward in 2010, so it’s all a matter of perspective.
- Privacy. It’s easy to register with websites willy-nilly, but do you really want your name, email address, passwords, and other data in so many centralized databases? Data breaches seem to be a dime a dozen nowadays, and it should be you, not some tech firm, who choose whether or not to monetize your data.
- Legality. Some websites are wolves in sheep’s skin because they’re either advertising intermediaries or even gambling sites branding themselves as crypto faucets. Sure, playing a game to earn crypto is fun, but make sure that crypto faucet gambling is legal in your jurisdiction before getting started. Even if it is legal, there’s a good lesson to be learned from early Bitcoiners frittering their coins away on Satoshidice in the early days.
- You’re the product. Just like with privacy, make sure you’re only giving a crypto faucet site what you’re comfortable with. The best faucets don’t ask you for anything more than a wallet address, and that’s what the spirit of crypto truly is. Once you start having to hand over your IP, location, name, email, and more, you’re in danger of being sold.
Key Takeaways
Crypto faucets are a famous part of blockchain history thanks to Gavin Andresen’s faucet, which gave 5 BTC to early users who simply had to solve a captcha and provide their Bitcoin address.
Many of those early crypto faucet users couldn’t have dreamed of what would happen to Bitcoin and the blockchain industry as a whole, and it is this hope that keeps crypto faucets alive. Users have a lot of choices when it comes to crypto faucets, with the constant being that they have to complete tasks to claim a small crypto reward.
The rewards often aren’t commensurate with the time and effort needed to complete the tasks. There are also plenty of risks to navigate, such as scams and the surrender of personal details and privacy.
Still, the hope that these small amounts of crypto being rewarded may one day be worth a fortune can make all the effort worth it in the eyes of many users.
Crypto Faucets FAQ
Is a crypto faucet worth it?
That depends. It’s extremely unlikely to get more than a few bucks worth of crypto from a faucet, but the hope is that this crypto will appreciate in the long run. The first faucet rewarded 5 BTC after all.
Which crypto faucet is the best?
If you don’t have much time, the faucets where you can complete a captcha and claim crypto are definitely the best. On the other hand, if you have time to kill and perhaps live in an area with low living costs, you might find the more involved platforms manageable.
Are crypto faucets legitimate?
Some are. It’s up to you to do your due diligence on the different faucets and platforms. If in doubt, social media venues like Reddit are good for throwing the question out and seeing what people say. The subreddit r/cryptocurrency has millions of members, so there’s probably someone out there who knows something about the faucet you’re interested in.