20 Legit Ways to Make Extra Money With Paid Surveys

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 sites where you can offer your opinion in exchange for money, gift cards, 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.

20 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 and coupons. With Swagbucks, you earn points by watching videos, playing games, answering survey questions, shopping online, even surfing the web using their search bar. If you refer your friends to the site, and you’ll earn even more points.

Your points can be redeemed for gift cards from retailers like Amazon, Target, Starbucks, PayPal, and Walmart. With Swagbucks, you can redeem as few as 300 points for a $3 gift card. New users get a $5 sign-up bonus, and Swagbucks has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau.

Be sure to read our full review: Can You Really Make Money With Swagbucks?

2. User Interviews

User Interviews is a market survey 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.

3. Survey Junkie

Survey Junkie offers attitudinal research studies like focus groups, product testing, and paid surveys and behavioral research studies which collect your browsing data. When you register for a free account, you’ll immediately receive 25 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 500 points before you can redeem your prize. Survey Junkie gets a B rating from the Better Business Bureau.

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 nine different ways to make money with InboxDollars — you can check out this post for full details. Membership is free, and new users receive a $5 bonus for signing up! Your account needs to reach a $30 threshold before you can request payment. Payments are made via PayPal, check, or gift card. InboxDollars has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau.

5. Respondent

Respondent conducts focus groups, paid surveys, and website testing gigs. This platform is open to participants around the world but does focus 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 totally legit, but the platform can be glitchy. It took me multiple times to verify my email address. If this site sounds appealing, you can check out my full review here.

6. Mindswarms

Mindswarms is a research group that pays individuals for conducting surveys via 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.

7. MindField Online

Mindfield Online is an online survey site where you can earn cash for taking surveys. Just sign up for an account, fill out your membership profile (you’ll get more surveys by doing so), complete surveys, and once your account has reached a $5 threshold, you can request payment via check. MindField not only has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau, but they’re also a member of CASRO, which requires members to adhere to a strict code of ethics and standards for survey research.

8. Opinion Outpost

Each month in the US, 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 major retailers, or cash via PayPal or Virtual Visa Prepaid Card. Reviews on Opinion Outpost are favorable on their Facebook page, as well as on Trust Pilot where they have a solid 4.4 out of 5-stars rating. Be sure to check out our full review here.

9. Nielsen Computer and Mobile Panel

You’ve probably heard of Nielsen, paying people to allow them to track what they watch on TV. Well, they also pay people to follow their internet behavior. To get started, sign up and register your devices. With this opportunity, you’ll earn sweepstake entries and rewards. The best thing about this side earner is it’s totally passive.

10. 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. TellWut has a 4.6-star rating out of 5-stars on Trust Pilot.

11. 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. Toluna receives 3.6 stars out of 5-stars on Trust Pilot.

12. Valued Opinions

On Valued Opinions, you’ll earn a $5 credit for each survey that you complete. They also have opportunities for product testing and reviewing advertising campaigns. Your credits can be redeemed for gift cards to major retailers or cash via Virtual Visa Prepaid Card. To join, you will need a Facebook account. Valued Opinions has been around since 2004 and they have a 4 out of 5-star rating on Trust Pilot.

13. Viewpoint Forum

Viewpoint Forum is an online survey site where you can earn forum points for each survey you complete. Most surveys award 125-225 forum points and take about 10-15 minutes to complete. Once you’ve accumulated 750 forum points, you can redeem them for a $20 gift card. Viewpoint Forum has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau.

14. MySoapBox

MySoapBox is part of the Interview Service of America (ISA), which has been collecting data since 1982. With this survey platform, you register for an account, respond to surveys, and you’ll earn points for each survey you take. When you accumulate 25,000 points, you can trade them in for gift cards to places like Amazon, Starbucks, Home Depot, Walmart, and more. MySoapBox has a 3.2-star rating out of 5 stars on Trust Pilot.

15. Branded Surveys

Since its inception in 2012, Branded Surveys had paid out over 17 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 1,000 points, you can request a payout via PayPal, bPay or use your points to purchase gift cards. Branded Surveys gets 4.4-stars out of 5 stars on Trust Pilot.

16. Pinecone Research

Pinecone Research is a survey site owned by The Nielsen Company. To get started, fill out your profile, and they’ll notify you with surveys that fit your demographics. Most surveys take 15-20 minutes and payout in points, which can be redeemed for cash, prizes, or sweepstake entries. Pinecone Research also has opportunities for product reviews.

17. Springboard America

Springboard America conducts market research for household brands, government agencies, non-profit organizations, and the media. For offering your feedback to companies, you’ll earn points and sweepstake entries. Points can be traded in for gift cards from PayPal, iTunes, Amazon, and VISA, but you’ll have to meet the $50 threshold before you can request payment. You must be a US resident and at least 18 years of age to participate. According to their website, Springboard America paid members $24,000 in February of 2021 — not bad!

18. Google Opinion Rewards

Google Opinion Rewards is a smartphone application 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, and it receives a 4.7-star rating in the Apple app store.

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!

19. GUAGE Research

If you’re looking for paid focus groups and online surveys, a friend of mine, recommended the GUAGE 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 it myself, and over the past six weeks, I’ve been invited to five different surveys, which each paid out $1, and only took a few minutes to complete. Your account must reach the $5 threshold before you can request payment via PayPal or gift card. You can answer survey questions via text, audio recording, or video recording on the app — which you’ll earn better rewards for audio and video responses. GUAGE Research is available for Android and iPhone operating systems if you’re interested in checking it out.

20. Vindale Research

Vindale Research is a short task site where you can make money by taking surveys, referring friends to the platform, reading emails, and watching videos online. According to their website, surveys pay between $0.25-$50.00 per survey depending on the length and how many panelists are eligible. They accept users from the US, Great Britain, and Australia, and payments are made via PayPal. New users will also earn a $1 bonus just for signing up! Vindale gets 3.6-stars out of 5 stars on Trust Pilot.

Tips For Making Money 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 cash 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 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 surveys 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.

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! Just be aware that invitations to paid surveys are sporadic, so you’ll want to sign up with multiple survey sites. 

Use Your Time Wisely

When you’re looking at your options for 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 not provide you with a full-time income.

Final Thought: Watch Out For Survey Scams

Lastly, look out for scam survey sites. You should never have to pay a fee, provide a credit card number, or bank account 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.

Do you take online surveys? Which paid survey sites do you recommend? Drop us a note; we’d love to hear from you.

Originally published October 4, 2013. Content updated in April 16, 2021.