Four months ago I plugged in an old Mac Mini. Here’s the trend:
Month 1: $25 → Month 2: $37 → Month 3: $84 → Month 4: $108.
Every month a new record. Here are the real Month 4 numbers.
The Actual Earnings
| App | Month 3 | Month 4 | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grass | +26% | ||
| Honeygain | 8,860 credits ($8.86) | 10,917 credits ($10.92) | +23% |
| Storj (paid) | $1.03 | $3.19 | +210% |
| Storj (held) | $3.09 | $5.25 | +70% |
| Pawns.app | $1.93 | $2.74 | +42% |
| EarnFM | $0.88 | $1.20 | +36% |
| Traffmonetizer | $0.61 | $0.91 | +49% |
| PacketStream | $0.30 | $0.46 | +53% |
| Repocket | $0.11 | $0.60 | +445% |
| Total | ~$84 | ~$108 | +29% |
Four months in a row, every single app grew. The compounding is undeniable.
Grass Crossed 300K
Grass remains the engine of the whole operation.
| Metric | Month 2 | Month 3 | Month 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Points this month | 40,390 | ~105,000 | ~132,000 |
| Lifetime total | 70,860 | 175,380 | 307,030 |
| Current epoch | 18 | 19 | 20 (65.98K) |
| Est. USD value | ~$27 | ~$70 | ~$88 |
The lifetime total nearly doubled again — from 175K to 307K. Grass keeps rewarding consistent uptime, and my node has been running clean (more on the server below).
The $GRASS tokens sit on Solana. I’m still holding, not selling. If the token appreciates, every point I’ve banked appreciates with it.
Storj Is Finally Moving
Storj had its best month yet. The paid-out amount tripled to $3.19, and held escrow grew to $5.25.
| Metric | Month 2 | Month 3 | Month 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paid out | $0.42 | $1.03 | $3.19 |
| Held in escrow | $1.26 | $3.09 | $5.25 |
| Current month earning | — | $2.17 | $5.30 |
The node is now ~97% full at 3.19 TB. With the disk nearly full and all 4 satellites vetted, egress traffic (downloads = the highest-paying activity) is climbing. The 9-month hold releases in October 2026 — that’s when the ~$5+/month held balance starts flowing to me in full.
The Steady Climbers
Honeygain crossed $10 for the first time — reliable as ever with the JumpTask 10% bonus.
Pawns.app hit $2.74, continuing its steady march. The bandwidth small-earners — EarnFM ($1.20), Traffmonetizer ($0.91), PacketStream ($0.46), and Repocket ($0.60) — all posted gains.
Repocket’s 445% jump looks dramatic but it’s small numbers ($0.11 to $0.60). Still, every bit of stacking adds up at zero extra cost.
The Server: One Lesson Learned
Four months in, the Mac Mini has been remarkably stable — but month 4 had one teachable moment.
The cooling fan started running at maximum 24/7. After investigating, the culprit was Storj’s used-space filewalker — a disk scan that runs on a near-full node, pegging the CPU and spiking the fan. The hardware was never in danger (CPU temp was a cool 42°C), but the constant fan noise was annoying.
The fix: recreate the Storj container with two flags:
This disables the aggressive startup scan and runs necessary maintenance at low priority. The fan calmed down, earnings continued uninterrupted, and the node passed audits within minutes of restarting.
Full writeup coming in a dedicated guide — it’s a common headache for Storj node operators.
Four-Month Totals
| App | M1 | M2 | M3 | M4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grass | ~$20 | ~$27 | ~$70 | ~$88 | ~$205 |
| Honeygain | $4.30 | $7.08 | $8.86 | $10.92 | $31.16 |
| Storj (paid) | $0.21 | $0.42 | $1.03 | $3.19 | $4.85 |
| Pawns.app | $0.18 | $1.38 | $1.93 | $2.74 | $6.23 |
| EarnFM | $0.17 | $0.62 | $0.88 | $1.20 | $2.87 |
| Traffmonetizer | $0.09 | $0.44 | $0.61 | $0.91 | $2.05 |
| PacketStream | $0.06 | $0.21 | $0.30 | $0.46 | $1.03 |
| Repocket | $0.04 | $0.08 | $0.11 | $0.60 | $0.83 |
| Total | ~$25 | ~$37 | ~$84 | ~$108 | ~$254 |
$254 earned in 4 months — plus $5.25 building in Storj escrow. The monthly curve: $25 → $37 → $84 → $108.
Updated Path to $5,000
| Income source | Current monthly | Projected by Dec 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Grass | $88 | $90-120 (holding tokens) |
| Honeygain | $11 | $12-15 |
| Storj (paid) | $3 | $15-25 (after Oct hold release) |
| Storj (held lump sum) | — | $30-50 (releases Oct 2026) |
| Other apps combined | $6 | $8-12 |
| Referrals | $0 | $50-200 (blog traffic) |
| Realistic monthly | $108 | $150-350 |
| Scenario | 2026 Total |
|---|---|
| Conservative (current rate) | $1,000-1,300 |
| Moderate (Storj release + some referrals) | $2,000-3,000 |
| Optimistic (referrals + token appreciation) | $3,500-5,000 |
Halfway through the year, $5,000 is in reach if referrals kick in. The apps alone trend toward $1,000-1,300. The blog and referrals are the multiplier that closes the gap.
What I Learned in Month 4
- Grass is 80%+ of earnings. If you run one app, run Grass.
- Storj is waking up. The near-full node and October hold release are the next big unlock.
- Know your maintenance quirks. The filewalker fan issue cost me nothing once diagnosed — but it would scare a new operator.
- Consistency beats intensity. Stable uptime is what grows Grass and Storj. Don’t reboot needlessly.
- The slow apps still matter. Six “small” apps added ~$6 this month for zero effort.
Try the Apps Yourself
Every app I run is free to start. Check out the full list with signup bonuses.
Four months, $254, and climbing — all from hardware that was gathering dust.
Month 5 update coming August. Follow along as I chase $5,000.