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26 Sites That Pay You To Write (Updated 2026 List)

Author: Rafal Reyzer
By: Rafal Reyzer
Updated: Nov 2nd, 2026

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If you want to get paid to write, please check the following list of sites that pay for high-quality content.

All you need to do is check their requirements, send an immaculate pitch email, and get busy writing. If you find it valuable, please consider sharing it with others. Are you ready to put your writing skills to the test? Let’s go!

Pay rates and submission policies change without notice, so confirm on each site’s own page before you pitch. Last verified: November 2, 2026.

Top 26 Sites That Pay You To Write:

1. Budget Travel

Overview and submission guidelines:

This site serves content on inspiring destinations, food, budgeting while on the road, and stories from travelers. To pitch a story or join its freelance writer pool, fill out the form on its “Pitch a Story” page. Don’t confuse this with its guest post program, whose guidelines say posts are provided without any compensation.

2. Wow Women on Writing

  • Niche: small business, female entrepreneurs, freelancing, training
  • Pay/Post: $50 – $150
  • “Write for us” page

Overview and submission guidelines:

WOW! Women on Writing is a site for women writers. Before submitting your work, make sure your content is unique. Focus on providing practical, actionable advice to a female audience. That’s the key. Articles run from 1,500 to 3,500 words. Pay is arranged with the editor: most articles pay $50 or $75, and in-depth pieces with many sources pay $100 or $150.

3. Transitions Abroad

  • Niche: travel, the life of an ex-pat, working abroad, volunteering abroad
  • Pay/Post: $75 – $150
  • “Write for us” page

Overview and submission guidelines:

This site is all about compelling and distinctive stories of people who are brave enough to travel abroad to study, work, or volunteer. Editors want articles about work, living, language learning, cultural immersion, and study abroad. Their writers’ guidelines page is enormous, so you’ll want to look at it to learn the details. Articles should be 750 to 2000 words long. Plus, they have occasional writing contests for which you can earn up to $500. Payment comes on acceptance, by PayPal, and averages $100. So if you have experience working abroad, you might give this site a try.

4. Link-Able

Overview and submission guidelines:

This is an interesting platform that pays freelance writers to build backlinks. To get started, apply on the Link-able site and list the sites where you can reliably place links, along with your rate for each. You place the link, submit it for review, and receive payment once it is approved. Low-quality sites and common self-publishing platforms don’t count, so you need real access to good publications.

5. Backpacker

Overview and submission guidelines:

Backpacker specializes in backpacking, hiking, and camping. It runs trip guides, gear reviews, skills, profiles, news, and essays. Its About page asks you to send pitches, not complete manuscripts, to the editors’ email address listed there. Read recent stories first so your idea fits what they publish.

6. Longreads

Overview and submission guidelines:

This site wants personal, well-told stories and researched essays. Most of its published features run between 2,000 and 6,000 words, though that is a guideline and not a rule. It pays $500 for a personal essay, rates for reported and critical essays start at $500, and a reading list pays $350. Payment terms are Net-60. Read the submission guidelines before you pitch, as they explain what each section wants. They also say that work written or edited with generative AI won’t be accepted. There are great examples of published essays to study as well.

7. Smashing Magazine

  • Niche: software development, web development, coding languages
  • Pay/Post: Honorarium (amount not published)
  • “Write for us” page

Overview and submission guidelines:

If you’re a web designer or a software developer with a flair for writing, this is the right opportunity for you. To get your work accepted, you need to share a story about lessons you’ve learned from a project you were working on. You don’t have to be an expert, however, a beginner’s perspective is often appreciated too. Smashing Magazine publishes tutorials, opinion pieces, ultimate guides, and case studies. It pays an honorarium promptly on publication, along with full credit.

8. Doctor of Credit

Overview and submission guidelines:

This is a personal finance site with articles on optimizing your credit score and saving for a comfortable retirement. They pay a flat fee of $50 for every article that gets published on the site. They prefer if you submit a fully written piece that’s already formatted to go on WordPress. If you send them a list of ideas, you probably won’t hear from them. If your article is successful, you might become a regular contributor and get access to the WordPress back end to publish articles directly. But you will probably need a bit of experience in finance to get approved.

9. Informed Comment

Overview and submission guidelines:

If you know what’s currently going on in the world of politics and global social issues, this will be a perfect site for you. Informed Comment is especially interested in information about the Middle East, human rights, climate change, South Asian politics, and US foreign policy. They seek original opinion pieces that are 800 to 1000 words long. When you submit your work, you need to provide a short bio and a few links to your previous publications. Once your work gets accepted, you will receive a payment of $100 via PayPal.

10. Elite Personal Finance

Overview and submission guidelines:

This site, with articles about personal finance, reportedly spends over $100,000 per year on content creation. If you want to get your $300, send them an email with the title of your article and they’ll get back to you within a couple of days. The great thing about this content platform is that you can become a recurring contributor and provide in-depth articles regularly. Your article needs to be between 1000 and 3000 words, 100% original, and you need to send it as a .doc attachment.

11. A List Apart

  • Niche: design, software development, digital accessibility, business
  • Pay/Post: Not specified
  • “Write for us” page

Overview and submission guidelines:

The main idea behind this site is to redefine web design. By bringing a fresh perspective, you can get your work published and read by thousands of your peers. Your article needs to be between 600 and 2500 words, but 1500 words are the average. You may use a casual tone and share a story about trends in the web industry. Or, you may write a rigorously structured piece if you decide to write an in-depth tutorial. To get started, email your submission: a rough draft, a partial draft, or a short pitch with an outline. Its guidelines don’t state a rate, so ask about pay before you write.

12. Smithsonian

  • Niche: history, arts, culture, travel, photography, science, etc.
  • Pay/Post: Not specified
  • “Write for us” page

Overview and submission guidelines:

Smithsonian is one of the oldest, most respected magazines out there. They publish beautifully formatted content, mostly about history and science. Its online form is aimed at established freelance writers, and the editors can’t guarantee a response to all inquiries. However, if you have a fascinating idea for a story, you may reach out to the editorial board through an online form. You’ll need to provide links to your previous writing and pitch your idea.

13. Foreign Policy

Overview and submission guidelines:

You should become a contributor to this site if you have a lot of knowledge about global issues and world politics. To have a chance of getting published here, read the magazine, avoid talking about obvious issues, and do your best to come up with a unique story. Its signature piece is the Argument, an expert’s point of view on a current event, and it also takes Analysis pieces and reported Dispatches. Sum up your proposal in a paragraph, and keep any attached draft under 1,800 words unless more is necessary.

14. DigitalOcean

  • Niche: software development, web development, technical writing
  • Pay/Post: $400 per new tutorial; typically $100 for an update
  • “Write for us” page

Overview and submission guidelines:

DigitalOcean’s Write for DOnations program pays authors for technical tutorials on software development and system administration. New tutorials pay $400 on publication and updates to existing ones typically pay $100. For each new article it accepts, DigitalOcean also donates $25 to a charity you choose. Apply through the program page.

15. FreelanceMom

Overview and submission guidelines:

As the name suggests, this site offers content for female entrepreneurs and small business owners. You need to offer current practical and actionable advice on marketing, money, personal development, business, productivity, social media, or working at home. The editors are always looking for fresh approaches to commonly discussed business ideas and want you to include a quick action plan at the end. Your article needs to have between 900 and 1500 words. It might be a personal story about how you succeeded in business, a research article, or an education-related article. For your efforts, you will get between $75 and $100 via PayPal. If your article finds itself among the most shared in the month, you will get a bonus of $150.

16. The Diplomat

  • Niche: news related to Asia-Pacific
  • Pay/Post: Agreed with the editor; generally only for original feature articles
  • “Write for us” page

Overview and submission guidelines:

This is a serious news magazine with content about Asia-Pacific. The editorial staff here welcomes unsolicited articles to publish on their blog. They always prefer a piece with original reporting and analysis, but they will also consider commentary. If you want to write for the blog section, your post needs to be between 400 and 800 words. If you’re going to write a feature article, it has to be around 1200 words. You need to send it over as a Word document, along with the sources you’ve used. It generally pays guest authors only for original feature articles, so say clearly in your pitch that you are seeking payment, and agree on it with the editor before publication. It doesn’t accept articles generated by AI tools.

17. B. Michelle Pippin

Overview and submission guidelines:

This is a blog with content geared toward female entrepreneurs. They’re looking for business experts with first-hand experience with the topics they are talking about. Your article needs to be at least 1000 words long, and if it gets published, you’ll get paid between $50 and $150 through PayPal. You’ll receive your payment on the 1st of the following month after your article goes live (if it gets published in March, you’ll get paid on 1 April). To get started, you simply need to fill out an online form.

18. Wanderful

Overview and submission guidelines:

If you’re a perpetual traveler who knows places around the world, this site is going to be perfect for you. The focus here is on long-form content related to the most beautiful places you can visit (especially as a female traveler). The topics you can write about are destinations and itineraries, travel tips, global issues, and famous female travelers. It pays $250 per published article, on publication. Your post has to be between 1,000 and 3,000 words long.

19. International Living

  • Niche: Expat issues, international travel, retirement, real estate, healthcare
  • Pay/Post: Not specified (paid on publication)
  • “Write for us” page

Overview and submission guidelines:

International Living is full of exciting stories about finding passion when traveling abroad, and the best places to retire as an ex-pat. Some topics covered are “how to  rent a flat in Lisbon,” or “how to get a Colombian visa.” It pays on publication and buys all rights, and it pays separately for one-time use of your photographs. Once you familiarize yourself with the specific guidelines, send your article idea to the email address from the “write for us” page.

20. Income Diary

  • Niche: making money, online business, building websites, search engine optimization
  • Pay/Post: $150 – $300 budget per article
  • “Write for us” page

Overview and submission guidelines:

This is a fantastic site that provides useful content for online business owners. If you know something about creating websites, driving traffic, or making money online, write for them. All the content will be published under your name, and the article will be sent to tens of thousands of people via email. Remember that to get published here, you’ll need some serious content marketing chops. They post specific article requests on the page, each with its own budget, so you contact them with a quote and examples of your previous writing.

21. Plesk

Overview and submission guidelines:

Here’s yet another site with tutorials and case studies related to the software world. If you can write about WordPress, website security, JavaScript, hosting, or other such things, feel free to apply. You submit an abstract through an online form, and Plesk offers $150 to $300 for every contribution it accepts and publishes.

22. Global Comment

Overview and submission guidelines:

This is a site created by a community of writers like you and me. It has articles about anything from social media to the economy and entertainment. They seem to be open to ideas of all kinds as long as they are unique and exciting. You need to come up with something original and introduce yourself in the submission email. This is a perfect site, especially for writers for whom English is a second language. The expected length of your article is between 800 and 1000 words.

23. Envato Tuts+

  • Niche: design, coding, business, illustration, web design, online applications, WordPress
  • Pay/Post: A competitive rate (amount not published)
  • “Write for us” page

Overview and submission guidelines:

Envato Tuts+ is a site with online courses and tutorials on digital skills such as code, design, illustration, photography, and web design. If you know one of these topics well, you can apply to become an instructor and get paid to teach a course or write tutorials.

24. The Anxiety Foundation

Overview and submission guidelines:

Are you an expert when it comes to practical psychology? Submit your article, share your experience with others, and get paid along the way. Your content needs to be entirely original and written in proper English. The minimum word length is 550 words. Provide at least a couple of references to research data to back up your claims. Besides the $50, you can also ask for a link back to your blog from within the article you write.

25. Dame

  • Niche: women’s issues, feminism, social commentary
  • Pay/Post: $350 – $750 for reported stories
  • “Write for us” page

Overview and submission guidelines:

This is a site with incisive opinion pieces on important social issues we face in the world today. It’s an independent online magazine that provides context around politics, culture, policy, and gender. It pays $350 to $750 for reported stories, depending on length and the level of reporting. It doesn’t accept fully written stories, so use the Pitch Form on its site to send your story idea.

26. BookBrowse

Overview and submission guidelines:

This is a dream opportunity for any freelance writer and book lover who wants to write for a proper literary journal. If you were here, I’m sure you would write book reviews even without getting paid for it. A review needs to be around 500 words long. Plus, you need to provide links to a few of your other reviews. Its reviewers tend to write about one review a month, and receive a byline and a modest payment.

In conclusion

As you can see, your freelance writing earning potential is limitless. I hope that checking submission pages from the sites above gave you some inspiration to start your freelance writing business, send some pitches, and earn good money as a writer. Remember that freelance writing is a numbers game, but please don’t neglect your pitch email, as it will determine the outcome of your efforts more than anything. Above all, write articles from your heart, pay attention to details and you’ll be on your way to launching your freelance writing career. Next up, you may want to explore a list of the top freelance writing job boards, magazines, and websites that publish personal essays, and flash fiction publishers that pay writers.

Questions or corrections? Spotted a publisher that has closed or changed its guidelines? Send me a message.

Rafal Reyzer

Rafal Reyzer

I'm Rafal Reyzer. I put together free lists of publishers, literary agents and magazines for writers, sorted by genre and region, so you spend less time searching and more time writing. More about me.