If you’re curious about whether you can actually make money with paid surveys, keep reading. I’ll talk about which survey sites you can trust and share some tips to help you get the most out of these online opportunities.
There are plenty of reliable market research companies that will pay you for your opinion with cash, gift cards, free products, or sweepstake entries. While you won’t make a lot of money from taking paid surveys, it’s a fun way to share your thoughts on products and services, and you’ll get a small reward for your time.
1. InboxDollars
With InboxDollars, you can make money by taking surveys, reading emails, playing games, using coupons, searching online, and shopping. There are 11 different ways to earn cash with InboxDollars. To get paid, your account must have at least $15. You can choose to receive your payment through PayPal or a gift card.
Only accepts users from the United States
2. Respondent
Respondent offers focus groups, paid surveys, and website testing. Anyone can join, but the platform mainly targets professionals such as marketers, software developers, business owners, software users, and executives. For example, a recent study found that teachers paid $115 for a 70-minute session.
I’ve used Respondent before, and it’s real, but the platform can be quite buggy. I had to try several times to get my email address verified.
People often complain about Respondent because they don’t qualify for many surveys. This happens because most of their surveys are aimed at professionals rather than the general public. On Trustpilot, Respondent has a low rating of 1.9 stars, and many of the negative reviews are from people who haven’t been able to join a study.
Allows users from all over the world
3. Mindswarms
Mindswarms is a company that pays people to complete video surveys. To get started, you’ll answer a few basic questions and record a short video introduction of yourself. They check the quality of your video and how clearly you communicate. After that, you’ll wait for survey opportunities to come up. Each video survey has about ten questions and can pay up to $50.
Available to users from 79 English-speaking countries.
It has a 2.8-star rating on Trustpilot.
4. MyPoints
MyPoints is run by Prodege, the same company behind Swagbucks and InboxDollars. On MyPoints, you can earn points by doing surveys, playing games, uploading receipts, and shopping online. You can also get extra points by referring friends. To get a $15 gift card, you’ll need about 2,500 points. When you first sign up, you’ll get a $5 bonus (800 points) just for verifying your email address.
Available for users in the US and Canada
It has a 4.4-star rating on Trustpilot
5. Opinion Outpost
Every month, Opinion Outpost pays $390,000 to people who complete surveys! Want to join in? It’s easy. Just sign up (which takes just a few minutes), answer a few simple questions, and earn points for each survey you complete. You can exchange your points for Amazon gift cards, cash via PayPal, or a Virtual Visa gift card. Check out our full review here.
Available for users in the United States, UK, Italy, Germany, and Spain.
It has a 4.2-star rating on Trustpilot.
6. TellWut
TellWut is a survey website where you earn points by giving your opinions. For surveys from TellWut, you get 5-15 points each. For surveys from other companies, you can earn between 25 and 2,000 points. You’ll also get 25 points for referring friends. When you sign up, you get 100 points, and by providing some personal information, you earn an extra 150 points. You can exchange your points for gift cards from popular stores.
Available for users in the United States and Canada
It has a 4.6-star rating on Trustpilot.
7. Toluna Influencers
Toluna Influencers is a site where you can earn points by taking surveys and testing products. Each survey usually takes 15-20 minutes, and you can earn between 15 and 50,000 points per survey. You’ll get 500 points just for signing up, and you can earn more points by referring friends, creating content, or playing games. You can exchange your points for gift cards from popular stores or cash through PayPal.
Allows users from the United States
Rated 4 stars on Trustpilot
8. Rakuten Insight Panel
Rakuten is well-known for its cashback shopping deals and also runs a market research service called Rakuten Insight Panel. To use it, you’ll need to create an account and fill out some basic profile questions. After that, you can start taking surveys online and earn rewards.
Every time you complete a survey, you earn points that you can use to get gift cards for PayPal or Amazon. You can also get extra points if you refer others to the platform. For every 500 points, you get $5 in rewards. The Rakuten Insight Panel is open to US residents aged 16 and older.
Only available in the United States
It has a 3.1-star rating in the Apple App Store.
9. Branded Surveys
Since it started in 2012, Branded Surveys has paid out more than $44 million to people who take surveys. When you sign up for Branded Surveys, you get 100 points. You earn 5 points each day by answering a quick poll and different amounts for completing surveys. You also get 50 points for each friend you invite to join. When you reach 500 points, you can cash out through PayPal, bPay, or use your points to get gift cards.
Available in the US, Canada, and the UK
It has a 4.1-star rating on Trustpilot.
10. Pinecone Research Panel
Pinecone Research Panel is a survey website run by The Nielsen Company. On this site, you can give your opinions on new product ideas. When you complete a survey, you earn points that can be exchanged for cash or prizes.
Available in the US, Canada, Germany, France, and the UK
It has a 3.4-star rating on Sitejabber.
11. National Consumer Panel (NCP)
National Consumer Panel collects data on the items you buy by asking for the barcodes. When you share your shopping information with them, you earn points. You can redeem these points for gift cards, merchandise, and enter sweepstakes. You can also earn more points by taking surveys and joining special studies.
Only available in the United States
12. Google Opinion Rewards
Google Opinion Rewards is an app you can use on your smartphone to give your thoughts on different topics, products, and services. When you finish a survey, you get rewards like Google Play credits or cash through PayPal. It works on both iPhones and Android phones.
I have an app on my phone that gives me short surveys with 1-3 questions. Each survey pays between $0.10 and $0.20. You can cash out your rewards when you reach $2. While it’s not a huge amount of money, it’s really easy to use, and those small payments from different companies can add up fast!
Available in both English and German
It has a 4.7-star rating on the Apple App Store.
13. GAUGE Research
If you’re interested in paid focus groups and online surveys, check out the GAUGE Research app. A friend of mine recommended it, and she gets invited to a few surveys each month, making $20 to $60.
I downloaded the app and took around 20 surveys last year. Each survey paid $10 and only took a few minutes to complete. You can answer surveys by typing, using audio, or recording video (audio and video surveys pay more). You need to earn at least $10 in your account before you can get paid through PayPal. Since surveys can pay between $10 and $500, reaching this amount is easy. The GAUGE Research app is available for both Android and iPhone.
Only available in the United States
It has a 3.7-star rating in the Apple App Store.
14. Swagbucks
Swagbucks is a website where you can earn points, called SB, which you can redeem for gift cards, discounts, or cash through PayPal. You can collect these points by playing games, answering surveys, doing daily polls, shopping online, or using their search engine. also you can earn extra points by inviting friends to join.
You can use points to buy gift cards from places like Amazon, Target, Starbucks, Visa, and Walmart. With Swagbucks, you can get a $3 gift card or payment with just 300 points. New users also get a $10 bonus when they complete a qualifying task.
What I like about Swagbucks is that you can cash out with a small amount, and there are many different ways to earn money.
Available for users in the United States, Canada, Australia, Ireland, France, Germany, and the UK.
Rated B by the Better Business Bureau
15. User Interviews
User Interviews is a site that helps companies find people for focus groups, surveys, and website tests. To get started, just fill out their online application to create an account. After logging in, you can look through available projects and answer a few easy questions to see if you qualify. If you do, you’ll get an email notification. You can take part in projects either in person or online. For example, a recent study on a travel app paid $125 for an hour of your time. Payments are made through PayPal or Amazon gift cards.
Available for users in the United States, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, South Africa, and the UK
16. Survey Junkie
Survey Junkie provides a variety of research studies, including focus groups, product tests, and paid surveys. They also track your internet browsing habits for research purposes.
When you sign up for a free account, you’ll get 25 bonus points just for creating the account and 50 more points for answering 16 simple questions. Each survey shows how many points you’ll earn and how long it will take. For every 100 points, you get $1, which can be exchanged for gift cards or PayPal cash. You need to collect at least 500 points before you can redeem your rewards.
Available for users in the United States, Australia, and Canada.
Warning Signs: Be Careful of Survey Scams
Watch out for scam survey sites. You shouldn’t have to pay any fees or give personal details like your credit card number, bank account info, social security number, or driver’s license number to take surveys. If you’re using a smartphone app for surveys, check the reviews before installing it. If anything feels wrong, it probably is—trust your instincts.