One can make money just by sharing files! In fact, many entrepreneurs have built considerable income streams this way and, you also can make money with file sharing.
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Affiliate Disclosure
This post may contain affiliate links and I may earn a small commission when you click on the links at no additional costs to you.
“How can I earn money by uploading files?” you might ask. This side hustle is pretty much straight forward, and anyone can do it!
There are file-sharing sites, often also called pay-per-download sites, that pay you every time someone downloads your uploaded file! Here is how it works.
Let´s say you have some digital file that other would like too. It could be an audio file, video file, e-book, or any other digital file. So, you want to share this file with others for free, but you also want to make a little bit of money for your troubles.
You upload your file or files to one of such file sharing sites. These sites give you a link that is pointed to your files. Afterward, you share this link in forums, social media, or your blog post.
Whenever someone opens that link, he or she will be landed on the download page. So, this is a win-win situation. People get your digital file for free, and you get some commission for it.
Read also: Best URL Shorteners For Making Money Online
What is pay per download sites?
Pay-Per-Download, or PPD sites, are file-sharing sites that enable a form of content monetization wherein you create or bundle the content and provide it through a service that monetizes the download stream. Usually, this means a wait page with advertising, offers the user must click through before free download starts.
So, file sharing sites that use Pay Per Download business model get revenue from advertisers. Part of this revenue is shared with users who uploaded the content.
In other words, file sharing websites that pay for downloads are called Pay-Per-Download sites.
How to make money from uploading files?
In most cases, this side hustle requires no initial investment, which means there is absolutely no risk involved. There are few common steps to follow, no matter which pay-per-download site you choose:
The first step. This one is pretty obvious. You’ll have to register an account on file-sharing sites that offer pay-per-download. Usually, you will have to provide personal information such as email, name, and crypto wallet or PayPal address for withdraws.
The second step. You have to create a valuable digital file that others would be willing to download. Almost every file-sharing website comply with DMCA. This means your files may be taken down, or your account might be terminated if you violate the copyright rules. Therefore you should only upload files that you own, or you have permission to share.
The third step. You have to upload your files to a chosen file-sharing website. After uploading, you will get a unique download link for each upload.
The forth and the final step are to promote those links in social media, web forums, WhatsApp groups, Telegram Channels, etc., so other people will download your files.
You will earn money for each download made. The more people download your file, the more money you’ll get.
What makes digital files especially appealing is that they can be created once and shared for money repeatedly to different customers without restocking inventory.
What are the best files to share?
Any digital file that might be valuable for others is suitable for sharing on pay-per-download sites. Think of this as a digital product. In fact, many entrepreneurs use a pay-per-download model to test the concept. If the shared file gets good feedback, you can level up and sell it as a digital product.
Digital product sales are a great income stream that requires little effort to maintain. I already wrote about this in my article Easy way How to Sell Digital Products Without Website.
Let me give you a few examples of what you can upload and share for downloading:
• Game Cheat Codes & Guides.
• Coupon & Promo Codes (retailmenot.com, etc.).
• Beta Codes for Software/Games, etc.
• Free Services like Doc to PDF, Video to MP3, etc.
• Food Recipes & Cooking Guides.
• Tutorials, Guides, eBooks for any Legal Topic.
• Themes, Images, and Resources for Webmasters.
• Premium features of your site, app, or game.
• Access to tools like a chat system, marketplace, etc.
• Passwords to locked areas.
• Instructional videos (e.g., guitar lessons)
• Royalty free sound packs
• Software downloads
• Any movies, music, graphics, eBooks, etc. can also be used as long as you own the rights to the copyrighted file or are the creator.
If nothing else comes to your mind, you can learn how to make spry art pictures and then offer your artwork photos.
Check this limited offer! Start learning Spray Paint Art and enjoy the magic
Where can I upload files and earn money by sharing them?
Most File Sharing sites earn money through Advertisements & User Accounts (By providing High-Speed download features for premium members). But only a few of them have adopted the pay-per-download model.
Pay-per-download sites have a mixed reputation online. Some are considered relatively harmless, while others are thought of as dubious; this is usually due to how hard they try to put the user in abusive situation before allowing the download.
Some Pay-per-download sites fill themselves with ads that look like download buttons and sometimes serve malware. Others ruthlessly combat adblockers and don’t allow downloads if they can’t get their pennies.
Needless to say, you should seek to use only the harmless Pay-per-download sites. I suppose you don’t want to associate your content with malicious links and don’t want to infect your users with malicious software.
So here is a carefully curated list of the best file-sharing services that pay commission to those who upload the files.
Costaction.com
Commissions: up to $20 per 1000 downloads.
Restrictions: Copyrighted material
Landing page example: Click here to see how the file download landing page looks.
CostAction is an affiliate program for File sharing services turbobit.net and hitfile.net! For webmasters and online entrepreneurs, they provide a great alternative to monetize their traffic.
In my opinion, this is one of the best options for pay-per-download file sharing hustle. This platform offers a convenient and practical pay-per-download service with the leading tech tools.
CostAction makes an effort to attract major advertisers. Therefore their pay-out commissions are higher than the industry’s average.
Their download page is clean, modern-looking, without popup ads and unwanted banners.
Costaction has several commission plans based on the chosen affiliate program. Similar to other pay-per-download sites, payment for downloads is based on file size and country.
Countries are grouped in 4 separate tiers.
| A | United States, Germany, Britain, Denmark, Ireland, Switzerland |
| B | Latvia, Estonia, Norway, Sweden, Israel, Poland, France, Belgium, Azerbaijan, Australia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Qatar, Singapore, Turkey, Canada |
| C | Lithuania, Finland, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Czech Republic, Kyrgyz Republic, Austria, Slovakia, Armenia, Bulgaria, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Greece, Bahrain, Italy, Cyprus, New Zealand, Japan, Moldova, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Libya, Oman, Morocco, Tunisia, Syria, Algeria, Yemen |
| D | Other Countries |
Commission size depends on tier and file size:
| File Size | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| 0.5-5MB | $3.00 | $2.00 | $1.00 | $0.00 |
| 5-10MB | $4.00 | $3.00 | $2.00 | $0.50 |
| 10-50MB | $6.00 | $4.00 | $3.00 | $1.00 |
| 50-100MB | $8.00 | $6.00 | $4.00 | $1.50 |
| 100-250MB | $10.00 | $8.00 | $6.00 | $2.00 |
| 250-1500MB | $15.00 | $13.00 | $7.00 | $3.00 |
| 1500MB-unlimited | $20.00 | $16.00 | $10.00 | $5.00 |
Payouts are available through the PayPal, Payza, Yandex Money and Qiwi (every week) and the WebMoney (once per 3-4 days) payment systems.
Filefactory.com
Commissions: up to $40 per 1000 downloads.
Restrictions: Any adult content and any copyrighted material are not allowed. For detailed info, read Acceptable Use Policy.
Landing page example: Click here to see how the file download landing page looks.
FileFactory LLC is one of the oldest file-sharing hosting providers. The company was launched back in 2005, and it is based in Hong Kong.
The platform provides its clients with unlimited free file hosting. All its files can be downloaded or streamed an unlimited number of times, and premium members have no bandwidth or download limits.
Compared to many other pay-per-download sites, FileFactory’s download pages are clean and user friendly.
The platform features:
- Unlimited storages,
- Unlimited Download and Upload speeds,
- No waiting for downloads.
FileFactory commissions are quite complex.
FileFactory commission are quite complex. First, all countries are grouped in 4 separate tiers.
| A | USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia |
| B | France, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Japan, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, New Zealand, Greece, Denmark, Austria, Russia, Finland, Norway |
| C | Turkey, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Poland, Malaysia, Ireland, South Africa, Portugal, Israel, Czech Republic, Singapore, Cyprus, Mauritius, Hong Kong |
| D | Rest of the World |
Commission size depends on tier and file size:
| File Size | A | B | C | D |
| 10MB – 299MB | $5.00 | $3.00 | $1.00 | $0.50 |
| 300MB – 499MB | $10.00 | $6.00 | $1.00 | $0.50 |
| 500MB – 999MB | $20.00 | $7.00 | $2.00 | $0.50 |
| OVER 1GB | $40.00 | $10.00 | $3.00 | $1.00 |
Your balance needs to exceed at least $100.00 before requesting a payment. Payments are made via Amazon Gift Card or Bitcoins.
AdWorkMedia
Commissions: up to $20.
Restrictions: For detailed info, read terms and conditions.
Landing page example: Click here to see how the file download landing page looks.
AdWorkMedia is not File sharing platform, unlike other sites in this list. Therefore, it is the best option if you already have a small website or Blog.
AdWorkMedia provides a full suite of monetization tools for your traffic! Their flexible money-making tools such as our Content Lockers, Product Lockers, Offer Walls, & Global Traffic Monetizer platform allow you to monetize every aspect of your site while improving the user’s experience.
For example, to use their file locker feature, you must create content worth downloading and then provide it for “free” behind a pay-per-download wall. Users will have to perform some free action to download the file, and you earn some money when they do.
Additionally, AdWorkMedia offers an advanced content locker that can be used to monetize desktop and mobile traffic. The content locker might be useful if you have your website. It will hide selected content behind a publicity wall. Again, users will have to perform some kind of action to see it, and you earn some money when they do. Their content locker can automatically detect mobile devices; it adapts to the screen size and displays the best converting offers based on the user’s location.
Although it is not displayed openly in public, AdWorkMedia offers good commissions. They pay around $0.20 to $20 per download.
AdWorkMedia has the following payout Methods: PayPal, Payoneer, Wire Transfer, Western Union, Payza, ACH, Quick Cash.
The minimum payout is $35. The payout schedule depends on the selected method.
Dailyuploads.net
Commissions: $16 per 1000 downloads from 1st tier countries.
Restrictions: Any adult content and any copyrighted material are not allowed.
Landing page example: Click here to see how the file download landing page looks.
Dailyuploads.net is a free online file hosting and file sharing service founded in 2015 that has adopted a pay-per-download business model.
With commissions up to $16 per 1000 downloads, Dailyuploads.net is one of the highest paying Pay-per-Download platforms.
However, the platform has quite a lot of negative feedback online because their download landing page is stuffed with publicity and popups. This does not affect uploader’s user experience, but all process is quite frustrating for those who want to download files.
There is even couple of YouTube video made with instructions how to download files from Dailyuploads.net.
The platform features:
- Unlimited storages,
- Unlimited Download and Upload speeds (Upto 100 MB/s),
- No waiting for downloads.
You’ll be paid for every file downloaded on your account. Commissions are split into four tiers. Each tier contains different countries:
| 1. | USA, UK | $16 per 1000 downloads |
| 2. | France, Spain, Australia, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, Netherlands | $4 per 1000 downloads |
| 3. | Japan, Poland, Russia, Romania, Hungary, Greece, United Arab Emirates, Bulgaria, Singapore, Korea, New Zealand, Kuwait | $2 per 1000 downloads |
| 4. | Rest of the World | $1 per 1000 downloads. |
Once your rewards are over $25.00, you can request a payment. Payments are made on the 5th of every month via PayPal or WebMoney.
Sendmyway
Commissions: up to $10 per 1000 downloads.
Restrictions: Pornography, nudity, sexual images and any kind offensive material, and, of course, copyrighted material.
Landing page example: –
Sendmyway was founded in 2010. Since then, the company keeps things simple and accessible. The company positions itself as easy online file storage for social networking, artists & musicians, and business.
The platform provides its premium clients with unlimited free file hosting. The free option has a 200 Kbps download speed limit and 20 GB storage limit. Simultaneous two downloads are allowed. Simultaneously two downloads are permitted.
The download landing page of this pay-per-download platform is stuffed with ads. However, unlike some shadier file sharing sites, Sendmyway does not seek to confuse the users.
Sendmyway commission structure is similar to Filefactory, although it is significantly lower. So, here also all countries are grouped in 4 separate tiers.
| A | Canada, United Kingdom, USA |
| B | France, Australia, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Italy, Norway, Ireland, Switzerland, Denmark, Spain, Portugal, Finland |
| C | Austria, Russia, Poland, New Zealand, Belgium, Romania, Japan, South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay |
| D | Rest of the World |
Commission size depends on tier and file size:
| File Size | A | B | C | D |
| 5MB – 100MB | $3.00 | $2.00 | $1.00 | $0.50 |
| 100MB – 500MB | $5.00 | $3.00 | $2.00 | $1.0 |
| 500MB + | $10.00 | $5.00 | $3.50 | $2.00 |
Your balance must reach at least $20.00 dollars to request a payout. Payments are made via PayPal.
Up-load.io
Commissions: up to $13 per 1000 downloads.
Restrictions: Adult content, any violent content, and any copyrighted material is not allowed. For more information, check their terms and conditions page.
Landing page example: Click here to see how the file download landing page looks.
Up-load.io offers you a great way to have a passive income by just uploading your files to this platform and share it!
The platform provides its clients with 50 GB of free file storage space and unlimited upload and download speeds.
Up-load.io has a simply ad-free download page and does not show any annoying ads or popups while your users download your files. It is a smooth experience. Free users have a 15-sec delay before the download starts.
For premium users, the platform features:
- Maximum Download Speed,
- Unlimited Upload File Size,
- Keep Files Forever,
- Direct download (can be activated from My Account),
- No Waiting & No Captcha,
- Unlimited Storage.
Up-load.io has a similar commission structure as many other reliable pay-per-download platforms. First, all countries are grouped in 4 separate tiers.
| A | United States, Canada, Switzerland |
| B | United Kingdom, Australia, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Hong Kong |
| C | Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Russian Federation, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, China |
| D | Rest of the World |
Commission size depends on tier and file size:
| File Size | A | B | C | D |
| 0-500 MB | $7.00 | $5.00 | $4.00 | $2.00 |
| 500-1000 MB | $7.00 | $5.00 | $4.00 | $2.00 |
| 1000-2000 MB | $9.00 | $6.00 | $5.00 | $2.00 |
| 2000+ MB | $13.00 | $8.00 | $7.00 | $3.00 |
Minimum payout is $3 (increased depending on payout method). Payments are made via PayPal, Payoneer, Payeer, WebMoney and Bitcoin.
Indishare.org
Commissions: up to $10 per 10 000 downloads.
Restrictions: restrictions are for pornography, nudity, sexual images, and any kind of offensive material, and, of course, copyrighted material. For more information, check the FAQ page.
Landing page example: Click here to see how the file download landing page looks.
Indishare.org is another pay-per-download file-sharing site. The name refers to the Indian origin of this company.
The platform’s downloading and uploading tools are sophisticated; users can upload, store, and share files such as flash files, audio, videos, and images, among others.
According to the company, Indishare serves over 100 million users every month. Since 2014 the site has over 50k registered users.
Unfortunately, there is nothing nice about this file sharing service download page. It is overwhelmingly packed with ads and popups. Therefore, it has a shady vibe.
Indishare.org also has a country and performance-based commission model. All countries are grouped in 4 separate tiers.
| 1 | United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand |
| 2 | Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden |
| 3 | Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Singapore, Japan, Poland, India, Turkey, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, India |
| 4 | Rest of the World |
Commission per 10.000 downloads amount depends on tier and file size:
| File Size | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| 10000-20000 MB | $4.00 | $2.00 | $2.00 | $1.00 |
| 20000-* MB | $6.00 | $4.00 | $2.00 | $2.00 |
| More | $10.00 | $5.00 | $3.00 | $2.00 |
The minimum payout amount is $10 USD. Payouts must be requested and are processed within 1 month. Payments are made via PayPal, Bank transfer, Neteller, Paytm.
Uploadship.com
Commissions $10 per 1000 downloads.
Restrictions: All users must be of at least the age of 13. Adult content, any violent content, and unethical content, as well as copyright material, is not allowed. For more information, check the terms and conditions page.
Landing page example: Click here to see how the file download landing page looks.
UploadShip is a file hosting platform that adapted the pay-per-download business model. It features high, fast quality servers and a relatively clean download page (only ads, no pop-ads).
The platform provides its clients with unlimited free file storage space and One-Click File Upload method.
The platform features:
- Unlimited Storage
- Powerful Servers
- Super Fast Uploading
Here is a short video about UploadShip.
This file-sharing platform has a straightforward commission structure – fixed $10 for every 1000 downloads.
Mega4up.com
Commissions: up to $20 per 1000 downloads.
Restrictions: Pornography, nudity, sexual images, and any kind of offensive images or videos are prohibited. Copyrighted material is also strictly prohibited. For detailed info, read terms of service.
Landing page example: Click here to see how the file download landing page looks.
Mega4Up makes file sharing simple and easy! Show off your talents by uploading your music, videos, and images, other file types.
The platform aims to provide all internet users, without a necessity to register, to upload big and share big files. According to the company, currently, they have 65,000 registered clients.
Available storage size depends on the membership, but all files can be downloaded or streamed an unlimited number of times.
Mega4Up has a relatively clean download page without unwanted popups and publicity banners disguised as download buttons.
Mega4Up commission structures are common to the pay-per-download file share industry.
Countries are grouped in 4 separate tiers.
| 1 | United States, Canada, Australia |
| 2 | Germany, France, United Kingdom |
| 3 | Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates |
| 4 | Other Countries |
Commission size depends on tier and file size:
| File Size | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| 0 MB to 100 MB | $7.00 | $4.00 | $3.00 | $2.00 |
| 100 MB to 1000 MB | $8.00 | $5.00 | $4.00 | $2.00 |
| 1000+ MB | $20.00 | $6.00 | $5.00 | $3.00 |
Minimum payout amount is $1.00. Withdraw options are quite impressive: PayPal, PayEER, PaySera, advCash, Perfect Money, Payoneer, WebMoney, Skrill, Western Union, Bitcoin or several Gift cards.
Dollarupload.com
Commissions: up to $20 per download.
Restrictions: Pornography, nudity, sexual images and any kind offensive material, and, of course, copyrighted material.
Landing page example: Click here to see how the file download landing page looks.
DollarUpload is the file-sharing service that gives users the ability to make money from every download by locking their files and links using our sophisticated pay per download network.
The platform has been in the pay per download industry for over eight years. They provide multiple ways of monetizing content, such as offer walls, file lockers, link lockers, mobile app walls, and pay per download products.
DollarUpload has a vast inventory of CPA offers available supporting all countries and devices. According to their webpage, currently, the service has 159,135 publishers, and 30,000+ daily unlocks.
Watch this short introduction video.
The platform features:
• PPD + Bitcoin/Cryptocurrency Locker
• Offer Optimizer
• Detailed Reporting
• Quick Support
The download landing page of this platform is clean. However, visitors are required to complete a simple survey or offer in order to download your file. It may push some users away.
You can earn on average $1 for each user who completes a survey or offer. Pay-per-download site rates can vary anywhere from $0.20 to $20+ depending on what county your users are coming from and what device they are using.
Users must request your cash out before the 3rd of the month in order to receive it on the 15th. Verified users typically will receive payments within 72 hours.
Minimums required to receive payments are PayPal: $50, Bitcoin: $50, DollarUpload DebitCard (payoneer): $50, Amazon Gift Card: $50, Global Bank Transfer(payoneer) : $50, Direct Deposit (ACH): $100, International Wire transfer: $500.
Wire transfers under $1,000 are subject to a $15 processing fee.
Dropgalaxy.com
Commissions: up to $10 per 1000 downloads.
Restrictions: Images/Photos are not allowed; also any adult content is not permitted and will result in termination of your account. For more, check their Terms of service page.
Landing page example: Click here to see how the file download landing page looks.
It seems that Dropgalaxy is more popular among the users from India. They claim to have 29056 registered users and 413328 files hosted.
The download page of this platform offers a relatively straightforward user interface. There are a couple of popup ads and 30 sec. waiting time for free tier downloaders.
Dropgalaxy commission structure is the same as it is for the majority of pay-per-download file-sharing platforms. Commissions for 1000 downloads depends on country and file size.
Countries are grouped in 4 separate tiers.
| 1 | United States, Canada, United Kingdom |
| 2 | Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, France |
| 3 | Japan, Spain, Australia, Russian Federation, Czech Republic, Finland, Poland, Greece, Saudi Arabia, Hungary, Mexico, Ireland, New Zealand, United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Norway |
| 4 | Other Countries |
Commission size depends on tier and file size:
| File Size | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| 0.5-2 MB | $2.00 | $0.50 | $0.50 | $0.50 |
| 2-1000 MB | $7.00 | $3.00 | $1.00 | $1.00 |
| 1000+ MB | $10.00 | $5.00 | $2.00 | $1.00 |
Minimum payout is 10$. Payouts are done between 25th to 30th of each month. Payments are made via PayPal, Payeer, WebMoney, Bitcoin, IndianBank, Paytm, GooglePay, UPI.
Uploadroot.com
Commissions: up to $16 per 1000 downloads.
Restrictions: Adult content and copywrited files will result in the termination of your account. For more, check their Terms of service page.
Landing page example: Click here to see how the file download landing page looks.
Uploadroot is the last platform on this long list. This is another Indian company that offers a pay-per-download business model.
The company is active since2019. It offers 98GB of storage space and unlimited downloads for all users.
Unfortunately, the download page of this platform is confusing. Users are redirected to several third party sites before download starts. This makes it a really frustrating experience for anyone who is trying to download.
Uploadroot commission structure is simple. Commissions for 1000 downloads depends on country and file size.
Countries are grouped in 4 separate tiers.
| A | United States, Iceland |
| B | Canada, Germany |
| C | India |
| D | Other Countries |
Commission size depends on tier and file size:
| File Size | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| 100 MB – 1 GB | $16.00 | $8.00 | $6.00 | $3.00 |
| 1 MB – 100 MB | $14.00 | $6.00 | $4.00 | $2.50 |
Minimum payout is 10$ (increased depending on payout method). Payments are made once a month via Paypal ($10 min), Paytm – India($10 min) or bank transfer.
Conclusion
There you have it! File sharing could be your next passive income stream. Even if pay-per-download is not what you would call a lucrative business model, it might be your supplementary income on the side of other, more traditional monetization methods.
File sharing does not require a lot of time and effort to set it up, and once everything is up and running, the only thing you have to do is collect your profit. Even if it is only a couple hundred bucks a month, it is still sweet.
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