If you’re wondering if you can really make money with paid surveys, keep reading. I’ll be discussing which survey sites are trustworthy and tips for making the most of these online opportunities.
There are many legitimate market research companies that will reward you for your opinion with cash, gift cards, free products, and sweepstake entries. While you’re not going to get rich from participating in paid surveys, it is a fun way to share your thoughts on products and services, and you’ll receive a little compensation for your time.
17 Ways to Make Extra Money From Home With Paid Surveys
1. Swagbucks
Swagbucks is an online platform where you can earn points called SB, which you can redeem for gift cards, coupons, and real cash via PayPal. With Swagbucks, you earn points by playing games, answering survey questions, taking daily polls, online shopping, and surfing the web using their search bar. If you refer your friends to the site, you’ll earn even more points.
Points can be used to purchase gift cards from retailers like Amazon, Target, Starbucks, Visa, and Walmart. With Swagbucks, you can redeem as few as 300 points for a $3 gift card or payment. New users get a $10 signup bonus when they complete a qualified action.
A couple of things that I like about Swagbucks are they have a low payout threshold, and there are a wide variety of ways to earn money.
- B rating with the Better Business Bureau
- Accepts users from the United States, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Ireland, and the UK
- Sign up here
2. User Interviews
User Interviews is a market research site that connects companies with focus group participants, survey takers, and website testers. You can create an account by filling out their online application. Once you’re logged in, browse projects, and answer a few simple questions to see if you qualify for the project. If you’re eligible, you’ll be notified via email. Projects can be done in-person (one-on-one) or remotely. A recent travel app study paid $125 for 60 minutes. Payments are made via PayPal and Amazon gift cards.
- B+ rating with the Better Business Bureau
- Accepts users from the United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Germany, France, and the UK
- Sign up here
3. Survey Junkie
Survey Junkie offers attitudinal research studies like focus groups, product testing, and paid surveys. They also have behavioral research studies which collects your internet browsing data.
When you register for a free account, you’ll immediately receive 25 bonus points for creating the account and 50 points for answering 16 basic questions. Each survey lists the number of points you’ll earn and the approximate time it will take to complete. One hundred points equals $1 and can be redeemed for gift cards or PayPal cash. Your account must reach a 500 point threshold before you can redeem your prize.
- B rating with the Better Business Bureau
- Accepts users from the United States, Canada, and Australia
- Sign up here
4. InboxDollars
At InboxDollars, you can earn cash for taking surveys, reading emails, playing games, redeeming coupons, searching the web, and shopping online. There are 11 different ways to make money with InboxDollars, you can check out this post for full details. With InboxDollars, your account needs to reach a $15 threshold before you can request payment. Payments are made via PayPal or gift card.
5. Respondent
Respondent conducts focus groups, paid surveys, and website testing gigs. This platform is open to the general public but focuses on professionals like marketers, software developers, business owners, software users, and executives. A recent study for teachers paid $115 for a 70-minute session.
I’ve used Respondent before and it’s legit, but the platform can be very glitchy. It took me multiple times to verify my email address.
Another thing people complain about with Respondent is that they don’t qualify for surveys, and this is because the majority of their surveys focus on professionals, not the general public. Respondent gets a 1.9-star rating on Trustpilot, but the majority of the poor reviews are people complaining that they haven’t qualified for a study.
If you check out my review, you’ll see many positive testimonials from readers. Payments are made via PayPal.
6. Mindswarms
Mindswarms is a market research group that pays individuals for conducting surveys in video format. With this platform, you’ll need to fill out some preliminary questions and record a short profile video. Because surveys are in video format, they need to verify video quality and your communicative clarity. Once this is done, you’ll wait for survey opportunities. Video surveys usually have ten questions and pay up to $50 per survey.
- Has a 2.8-star rating on Trustpilot
- Accepts users from 79 countries (must be English speaking)
- Sign up here
7. MyPoints
MyPoints is owned by Prodege, which is the same company that owns Swagbucks and InboxDollars. With this platform, you can earn points for taking surveys, playing games, uploading receipts, and shopping online. You can even refer your friends to the platform to earn additional points. You’ll need to earn around 2,500 points to purchase a $15 gift card. With MyPoints, new users earn a $5 bonus (800 points) once you verify your email address.
8. Opinion Outpost
Each month, Opinion Outpost pays $390,000 to survey users! Do you want to be one of them?! The process is simple. Create an account (it only takes a couple of minutes), answer some basic survey questions, and earn points for each survey you take. Points can be redeemed for gift cards from Amazon or cash via PayPal or Virtual Visa gift card. Be sure to check out our full review here.
9. TellWut
TellWut is a survey site where you can earn points for sharing your opinion. Internal surveys award 5-15 points per survey, external surveys award 25-2,000 points per survey, and you earn 25 points for referring your friends. You’ll also get 100 points for creating your account and 150 points for providing some personal information. Points can be redeemed for gift cards from major retailers.
10. Toluna Influencers
Toluna Influencers is a survey and product testing site where you can earn points for participation. Most surveys take between 15–20 minutes, and members receive anywhere from 15–50,000 points per survey. You’ll also receive 500 points for creating an account and you can refer friends, create content, and play games to earn even more. You can redeem points for gift cards from major retailers or cash via PayPal.
11. Rakuten Insight Panel
Rakuten, known for its cashback shopping platform, also conducts market research through Rakuten Insight Panel. With this paid survey site, you’ll create an account and answer some profile questions; then, you can start taking surveys online.
For each survey that you complete, you’ll earn points that can used to purchase gift cards from PayPal and Amazon. You can also earn bonus points for referrals to the platform. Five hundred points are equivalent to $5 in rewards. Rakuten Insight Panel is available for US residents 16 years and up.
12. Branded Surveys
Since its inception in 2012, Branded Surveys had paid out over 44 million dollars to survey takers! With Branded surveys, you’ll earn 100 points for creating an account, 5 points for answering the daily poll, varying amounts for taking surveys, and 50 points for each friend you refer to the site. Once you’ve accumulated 500 points, you can request a payout via PayPal, bPay, or use your points to purchase gift cards.
13. Pinecone Research Panel
Pinecone Research Panel is a survey site owned by The Nielsen Company. With this platform, you can test emerging concepts for a variety of new products. For each survey that you qualify for, you’ll earn a certain amount of points that can be used for cash and prizes.
14. National Consumer Panel (NCP)
National Consumer Panel conducts market research by collecting the barcodes from items you purchase. For offering your shopping data to them, you’ll earn points that you can use for gift cards, merchandise, and sweepstakes. You can also earn additional points by taking surveys and participating in special studies.
15. Google Opinion Rewards
Google Opinion Rewards is a smartphone app that allows you to share your opinions on a wide variety of topics, products, and services. For each survey you complete, you’ll earn either Google Play credits or cash via PayPal. This app is available for both iPhone and Android devices.
I have this app installed on my phone, and surveys usually consist of 1-3 questions and payout $0.10-$0.20 each. Rewards are available once you reach the $2 threshold. It’s not a lot of money, but it’s so easy and all these small payouts from multiple companies can add up quickly!
16. GAUGE Research
If you’re looking for paid focus groups and online surveys, a friend of mine, recommended the GAUGE Research app. She said that she usually gets invited to participate in a couple of surveys each month, which earns her $20-$60 a month.
I downloaded the app myself, and last year, I took something like 20 surveys. Each paid out $10, which only took me a few minutes each to complete. You can answer surveys in text format, audio, or video (audio and video pay more). Your account must reach the $10 threshold before you can request payment via PayPal, but with surveys paying $10-$500 this is easy to achieve! GAUGE Research is available for Android and iPhone operating systems.
17. Ipsos iSay
Founded in 1975, Ipsos iSay is one of the world’s largest market research companies. With this survey site, you’ll earn points for each survey you take. Points can be redeemed for gift cards, charities, prepaid cards, or cash alternatives.
- Has an A- rating with the Better Business Bureau
- Ipsos iSay is currently recruiting survey takers from the US
- Sign up here
Tips For Making Extra Cash with Paid Surveys
By no means are you going to get rich, taking paid surveys, but they are an easy way to earn a little extra income while you’re watching TV, listening to an audiobook, or waiting for an appointment. I’ve read a couple of accounts where people have used their survey earnings to pay for all their Christmas gifts or a weekend vacation. I use my survey money to cover my Starbucks habit.
Are you ready to jump in? Here are some survey-taking tips to make the most of this side hustle.
Set Up a Separate Email Account
Before you sign-up with a bunch of survey companies, set up a separate email account for your survey-taking activities. You will get a TON of emails from these survey companies, and you won’t want these emails clogging up your personal or work email accounts. I personally use a free Yahoo email account for the survey sites that I use.
Sign Up With Multiple Survey Sites
Paid surveys are sporadic, and you’ll need to qualify for each one, so it’s best to sign up with multiple platforms, so you can increase your chances for opportunities.
Demographics
Many paid surveys have a qualifier questionnaire to ensure that you’re the right target audience to answer the survey questions. After all, you wouldn’t want to answer questions about dog food when you don’t even own a dog. The more boxes you check in terms of things you have and products you use, the more likely you’ll qualify for survey opportunities.
Create a Plan
To be successful with paid surveys, you just need to create a plan and execute it. For instance, if you answer four surveys a day, and each one pays $1.00, and you do this for 30 days, at the end of the month, you’ll have $120! Keeping a spreadsheet or a daily log of your activities can help you keep track of your efforts.
Use Your Time Wisely
When you’re looking at your options for paid surveys, use your time wisely. If a survey takes 60 minutes to complete and only pays $0.10, it’s not worth your time.
Also, never use your work time to take surveys.
Your work hours should be spent on tasks that are going to make you a living wage. This means if you don’t currently have income coming in, your work time should be used for searching, applying, and interviewing for jobs.
Or, if you’re a business owner or freelancer, your work time should be used for getting new clients or marketing your business. Again, surveys are a side earner; they will only provide a little extra money.
Red Flags: Watch Out For Survey Scams
Lastly, look out for scam survey sites. You should never have to pay a fee or provide private information like a credit card number, bank account info, social security number, or driver’s license number when you sign up to take surveys. If you’re using a smartphone app to take surveys, be sure to read the reviews before installing it. If something seems off, it probably is; always trust your gut.
For more ways to make money giving your opinion on things, look into paid focus groups!
Do you take online paid surveys? Which paid survey platforms do you recommend? Drop us a note; we’d love to hear from you.
Originally published October 4, 2013. Content updated November 2023.
