Get Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Free Every Month

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is an all-you-can-play video game subscription service. The subscription typically costs $16.99 a month after a small price increase at the end of 2023. For that price, you get access to well over 500 games to play on an Xbox system and well over 400 games that can be played for free on all of your devices with Xbox Cloud Gaming (even if you don’t own an Xbox console!). The Xbox Game Pass library is nearly universally praised for its selection of AAA, AA and high-quality indie titles. It is already an incredible deal at $16.99 a month.

However, there are ways to get access to this incredible subscription for an even cheaper rate – playing totally by the rules (i.e. without abusing new user promotions etc.). One such way is to purchase Xbox Game Pass Ultimate gift cards at places like Costco that give you a 10% (or even higher) discount.

We’ve got an even better suggestion, however – use Microsoft Rewards points! Below is our guide on how to use the Microsoft Rewards program to get Xbox Game Pass Ultimate free every month. Our instructions have been updated for all the changes that recently have taken place in 2024.

The Microsoft Rewards Program

Microsoft has a rewards program that allows you to earn points in a very large number of ways. These points can be exchanged for gift cards (like Xbox Game Pass gift cards) and real world purchases. This is similar in spirit to Google’s “Opinion Rewards” program, but Microsoft’s program is much more expansive and much easier to earn points for.

A Microsoft reward point is typically worth about 10% of a penny for most redemption options. However one of the best redemption options is using 12,000 points for a month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. That values each point at 14.2% of a cent. There is also a three month option that goes for 35,000 points – a slight discount.

You can actually get an even better deal, though, if you choose the “Auto Redeem” option (shown in the capture above). That allows you to get a month of Game Pass Ultimate for 10,500. That is a value of 0.162 cents per point. The other benefit of the auto-redeem option is that it saves you time. You don’t need to manually redeem your points for your selection every single month. You’ll just get an email with the reward when you’ve reached the required number.

So, how do you earn these Microsoft points? Well, to sign up for the Microsoft Rewards program, all you need is a Microsoft account (which you presumably already have if you are an Xbox user). Once signed into your Microsoft account, you can visit your rewards dashboard. There are tons of different ways to earn points that typically take a couple adjustments to your routine and a few minutes of your time each day (which you can do while waiting in a line or other downtime during you day).

Earning Microsoft Reward Points

The below recommendations and point counts assume you have obtained tier 2 status in the Microsoft Rewards program (see the figure below) and already have an active Xbox Game Pass Ultimate account. To obtain tier 2 status, you simply need to obtain 500 reward points in the current or previous month. Achieving tier-2 greatly increases the rate at which you will earn future points.

Searches With Bing

• Points Per Day: 250
• Time Required Per Day: ~0 mins

If you are like us, you probably already do tens of searches a day just throughout your natural activity. You are probably using Google. But, if you are willing to give Bing a try, Microsoft will reward you with up to 270 points a day (5 points a search for up to 150 points on desktop, 100 points on mobile and an extra 20 points if you use the Microsoft Edge browser for at least 4 of the searches).

We, like most people, do find Google’s search results to be a little more reliable than Bing’s. But, more often than not, Bing results do get us where we want to go. So, we use a strategy of using Bing as our first search point and then move on to Google if necessary. In this way, we really aren’t using any more time per day than normal.

You can see your points going up every time you search in Bing right at the top of your browser. Check out the screenshot below.

Bing Quick Daily Predefined Activities

• Points Per Day: ~100
• Time Required Per Day: ~5 mins

In addition to searches, Microsoft Rewards offers a “daily set” of quick activities you can perform to earn 30 or more points per day and a bonus 45 points after a 3 day streak (if you keep your streak going you can earn similar bonuses after additional streak milestones). This bonus adds up to another 15 points a day on average.

However, in addition to the “daily set,” the Microsoft/Bing rewards page in your browser offers a series of other short activities each day like reviewing notable history of the day, playing a short trivia game or researching a topic. There are typically about 50-100 points available each day via such activities.

Use the Xbox Android or iOS App

• Points Per Day: 15-20
• Time Required Per Day: 1 min

That’s right! Simply opening the Xbox mobile app each day gives you an average of 15 points every 24 hours (in daily streaks of 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 -> 5, 10, …).

Use these links to get the app for Android and iOS.

The mobile app screen capture above also shows you a number of other ways to earn Microsoft Reward points simply by playing!

The “Tap here to play” option takes you into a game of “Jewel” – a Bejeweled like gem-swiping mobile game that is built right into the mobile app. Finish a single level of Jewel a day to earn an additional 5 points.

Play Xbox on PC or Console

• Points Per Day: 0-90
• Time Required Per Day: ~5 min

As you can see from the screenshot of the rewards area of the mobile app above, you can also earn points simply by playing an Xbox game on PC or console. It’s 20 points per day on PC and 10 points per day on console. But! If you play 5 days a week on console (you just have to open a game), you get a 250 point bonus – plus an extra 25 if you are a Game Pass Ultimate subscriber.

Earn with Daily, Weekly, Monthly Quests by Playing Game Pass Itself

• Points Per Day: 50-100
• Time Required Per Day: ~0 min

Xbox Game Pass itself provides Daily, Weekly and Monthly “Quests” that can net you additional reward points. This is one of the best and easiest ways to earn reward points! This can be found under the new “Rewards” section of your Xbox profile. Even if you don’t pay attention to these opportunities and aren’t even trying, you can typically earn some significant points a day by simply playing Game Pass titles with your Xbox account.

The current set of Game Pass Quests available to tackle are as follows:

Daily:

• 3 Points: Play Game Pass – Play any game in Game Pass
• 5 Points: Earn an Achievement in a Game Pass – Earn any achievement in any Game Pass game

Weekly:

• 20 Points: Complete 3 Daily Quests – Pretty self explanatory
• 20 Points: Earn Your Way – Play Three Different Game Pass Games or Earn Three Achievements

Monthly:

• 500 Points: Question Dedication – Complete 18 Daily Quests and Complete 6 Weekly Quests
• 1000 Points: Question Completionist – Complete 36 Daily Quests and Complete 8 Weekly Quests

You can monitor your Xbox quests both on Mobile:

and via the brand new interface on the Xbox console itself:

Note that you can find the current list of Daily, Monthly and Weekly Game Pass Quests that you are working towards in both the Xbox mobile app as well as on the Xbox yourself – simply navigate to your profile by pressing the A button on your gamer-icon at the top left of the Xbox home screen.

Total Amount You can Earn

• Points Per Day: ~415-560
• Time Required Per Day: 5-10 minutes

If you follow this guide, you’ll be making around 500 Microsoft Reward points per day on average – though, keep in mind that some big amounts, like the monthly GamePass Quests pay near the end of the month. Multiplying these points per day by 30 days per month and you are at 12,500-16,500 points a month. That should easily be enough to afford a free month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (10,500 points)!

While your own time is certainly more valuable than $0.50 for 5-10 minutes, we note that these activities can typically be done during down-times – like when you are waiting in a checkout line, waiting to pickup your kids or waiting for the oven to preheat, for example. Or, they are things you already do throughout your day – search in your browser and play Xbox.

Finally, we should mention that as an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscriber, you will earn 20 points per dollar spent on purchases in the Microsoft store, including any game purchases outside of your subscription. That’s about 2% – 3% back.

Conclusion

So, there you have it. By casually participating in the Microsoft Rewards program (requiring your attention for just a few minutes a day at your convenience), you can earn a free month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate each and every month!

Do you have additional tips for earning even more Microsoft Rewards? Let us know in the comments.