Making money online is the dream of many people, especially when they can earn from the comfort of their homes. Paid online Surveys affords you the opportunity to make money from anywhere, as long as you have a smartphone or a laptop and internet connection.

Sadly, not all paid online Surveys are legitimate, and so it becomes very important for you to make a deep research before joining any paid online survey.

To help you focus more on making money, we have done a lot of research into these paid online surveys for you. All you have to do now is to go through this article to see the legitimate paid online Surveys and discover how you can spot the fake ones. The following points will stand out.

• What are Paid Online Surveys?
• Types of Paid Online Surveys
• How do Paid Online Surveys Work
• Are Paid Online Surveys Worth it?
• How to Get Started With Online Surveys
• How Much Can You Earn from Paid Online Surveys
• How to Spot Fake Online Surveys
• Online Surveys That Pays Instantly
• Online Surveys That Pay Cash
• The Top 10 Best Legitimate Paid Online
• Which Paid Survey Sites Are Legitimate in Australia?
• Do Online Survey Sites Really Pay You?
• What Online Survey Pays The Most?
• Best Survey Apps For Money
• Paid Surveys UK

What are Paid Online Surveys?

A paid or is a type of statistical survey where the participants/members are rewarded through an incentive program, generally entry into a sweepstakes program or a small cash reward, for completing one or more surveys.

A paid survey is used to collect quantitative information about the participants’ personal and economic habits set against their particular demographic.

When a research company needs respondents from a demographic they cannot reach they can easily reach out to a worldwide or specialty panel. By offering a cash incentive to respondents in return for feedback these companies are able to quickly fill quotas and collect the information being sought by the client.

Types of Paid Online Surveys

There are lots of different kinds of online surveys for money: advertising effectiveness surveys, brand recognition surveys, product appeal surveys, surveys about services.

You won’t qualify for every survey. This means you could spend a few minutes on one only to get rejected, and you don’t earn anything for that time. Some online survey sites are awful. They are spammy and will bombard you with emails. Furthermore, many ask invasive questions about political preference and income status. Lame!

However, if you focus on the options above, you can increase your earning potential and give yourself a way to make a little extra in your spare time. Plus, if you opt to test products along the way, you can also get some free stuff – fun!

How do Paid Online Surveys Work

The process is very simple, It’s really easy. Simply take online surveys to answer questions about your opinion on a variety of topics. The survey company in charge will reward you when you complete surveys.

You can earn cash or free gift cards for your time or use your rewards towards sweepstakes for even bigger prizes. Cash out with your PayPal account or Visa gift card.

Cash-paying survey companies pay via a number of ways, including PayPal, wire transfer, i.e. direct bank deposit, check, and virtual prepaid Visa card. A check will usually be sent by postal mail.

However, most cash-paying survey sites pay via PayPal. PayPal allows you to receive cash easily and quickly. If you do not have a PayPal account yet, it is free to set up.

A PayPal account allows you to easily and safely receive money electronically faster from the survey companies that payout via PayPal among other methods.

How Will You Get Surveys?

Normally, you will be sent an email notification when a survey matches your interests and becomes available for you to do online from your computer. However, you may also be able to take surveys online by picking them directly from some survey companies online.

All the surveys you will be asked to complete will be on topics of interest to you and done on the Internet. You will be given a specific time frame to do a survey. Day or night, it does not matter when you complete the survey as long as it remains valid.

Are Paid Online Surveys Worth it?

Many experts have argued about the effectiveness of these paid online surveys, some say it’s worth it, while others say it isn’t. But what do the facts say?

Taking online surveys is a compelling offer. You can earn money—either in cash or frequently gift cards or rewards points—and all you have to do is have an opinion.

You can earn that money from the comfort of your own home in sweatpants with a glass of wine, or knock out a few surveys during slow moments at the office, racking up money when you’d usually just be trolling Facebook. It sounds interesting doesn’t it.

These surveys are typically run by marketing or research firms looking for consumer perspectives, and you could be asked questions covering just about everything under the sun.

One of the points raised by those against paid online surveys is that the reality of taking paid surveys differs wildly from the expectation—and you’re set up for failure from the beginning. And, you just don’t make that much money. Here is more.

It Might be Time Consuming to Qualify

To start taking paid online surveys, you need to first register and be qualified. This will require you to answer a lot of questions before you can start making money, and the process will take a lot of your time.

You can spend almost 10 minutes just trying to qualify for a survey, and then [get] declined. It takes way too long to determine if you’re eligible to take the survey, just to make $5.

You Will Not Get Paid Immediately

Most survey companies (if not all) will not pay you Immediately you finish with a survey. You might need to meet a certain payout threshold before getting paid for your work. Sometimes, this might take weeks or even months.

The challenge here is that if you need quick money to settle an urgent problem, you might end up waiting for weeks before the money arrives, which might be too late.

Takes too Much Time to Make Money

Taking a survey is not really that simple, in fact, if a survey claimed it would take 25 minutes, it will be safer to allow an hour.

The only way to make this work is to be a serious survey junkie who can dedicate hours to the work, which defeats the purpose of a side hustle entirely. What’s worse is the idea that you can’t adequately plan your time—a survey might take twice as long as it says or five times as long. That kind of unpredictability means this isn’t a side hustle you can rely on.

If you’re spending 20 minutes to make $3 on a survey, do the math. That’s $9 an hour—maybe—if you qualify for the $3 survey every time

The points above will help you decide whether a paid online survey can be profitable for you.

How to Get Started With Online Surveys

Getting started with a paid online survey is very easy, although the registration process might require you to spend some time on their platform. Here is a list of what you should do.

• Create a new email address where you will be receiving new survey entries from the company.
• With your email address, register with any company of your choice. We will talk about some of them later.
• Open a PayPal account where you will receive your payments since most companies prefer to pay through this means.
• Once you are registered and approved successfully, check your inbox regularly for new survey entries. If you miss these entries, it might limit the number of surveys you will be sent in future.
• When you finally get a new survey alert to participate in, try to finish it as soon as possible. This will increase your credibility and offer you the chance to get more Surveys.
• And the last and most important step is to get paid. After you set up your payment method and meet the required threshold, be assured of your payment.

How Much Can You Earn from Paid Online Surveys

You’re not going to make a fortune taking surveys online, but you can make some extra money for fun, for paying off debt, or for investing. Monetary survey rewards vary from less than $1 to more than $20, though they’re usually on the lower end of that range, $1 to $5. If you can take several a day, you can earn quite a bit of money in a month.

Other companies don’t give you cash. But they may help you save money by offering you free products, often full-size products, that you need to test for the survey. Obviously, this can be a great way to get free household products, personal care products, diapers, and other things you use regularly.

Still other companies will enter you into sweepstakes drawing when you take a survey. The more surveys you take, the more chances you have to win. These can be a little frustrating since you don’t necessarily get a reward right away. But they can pay off with some great prizes, including gift cards, products and cash.

How much you can make depends on which companies you sign up with, how many surveys you take, and which demographic you fit. If you’re in an often-surveyed demographic, you may get more opportunities to make money, thus upping your survey earning potential.

Some companies, like Swagbucks, also offer prizes, points or cash for referring others to the service, so this is another aspect of survey-taking to check out.

The key is that you can use surveys to make money when you would otherwise not be doing anything. You’re certainly not required to take any surveys that land in your inbox, but you can do so if you find 10 or 15 minutes where you would otherwise be checking Facebook or Tweeting.

How To Maximize Your Earnings?

If you want to maximize your earnings, it is recommended that you join as many legitimate survey companies as possible. If you wish to take more surveys, then make sure to fill out your demographic profile completely.

How much you will earn depends on how many surveys you take. With a complete demographic profile, you will become more qualified for a wider variety of surveys.  

Also, to get more surveys and maximize your income, sign up with as many reputable survey companies as possible. If you complete surveys often your earnings potential will be more.

How to Spot Fake Online Surveys

For participants, it’s important to realize that paid online surveys have become a haven for Internet scam artists.

Participants in online surveys should be aware that there are many unscrupulous middlemen out there who purport to sell proprietary lists of online survey companies that will help you “Earn $3000 a month!” while “Working from home!” Many of these middlemen charge a registration fee for accessing their lists, which are in fact freely available through simple a Google search.

Another danger of signing up with a paid online survey Web site is that the site may turn around and sell your contact information to spammers. Even if you trust an online survey site’s privacy policy, it’s always smart to register with a separate e-mail account from free Webmail sites like Yahoo! or Hotmail.

Here are some tips for avoiding paid survey scams and middlemen:

• Don’t sign up with any Web site that requires a fee for accessing paid online surveys.
• Look for privacy statements and disclaimers; read them carefully.
• The harder a Web site defends itself as “not a scam,” the more likely it’s a scam.
• Search for posts about the company on sites like Scam.com and RipOffReport.com.
• Trust your gut; if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

The biggest danger of paid online survey sites is simply spending a lot of time on an activity that pays very little in return. It’s smart to think of paid online surveys as a hobby that could earn you a little extra pocket money, but don’t expect it to replace your day job.

Online Surveys That Pays Instantly

PrizeRebel

When looking for online surveys that pay cash instantly, 24 hours may not technically class PrizeRebel as one of the survey sites that pay instantly, but boy does it come close!  In fact next to Opinion Outpost, it’s one of the fastest paying sites in this “get paid instantly via PayPal surveys” guide.

Similar to Swagbucks, there are multiple ways to earn points with PrizeRebel apart from completing surveys.  Other opportunities include watching videos, making internet searches and referring others. If you’re super active on the site you can work your way through their loyalty system allowing you to earn even more points for the same tasks.

The minimum to cash out is $5, which equates to 500 points.  Whilst the standard processing time is 24 hours, some users have even reported they get paid cash for surveys via PayPal instantly.

I also love the tracking system which allows you to see real progress. It’s an easy way to see how far you’ve come and whether the site is working for you.

If you’re wanting to get paid instantly online, I’d highly recommend checking out PrizeRebel.

SuperPay.me

If you want cash instantly online for free, then SuperPay.me is a great one to sign up to.  With SuperPay.me you can get paid in as little as 4 hours!  Plus you can cash out as little as $1 so you can get cash after just one survey.

As well as surveys, with SuperPay.me there is a range of ways you can make money.  You can watch videos, sign up to different websites, click ads and download different apps.  Also like most other survey sites, they also have a quarterly cash contest where there are prizes worth $1000, cashback when shopping online and getting bonuses when you invite friends.

You’ll even get cash just for signing up – although it’s just $0.20 – you’ll only need another $0.80 to cash out.  Just keep in mind though that the first time you cash out, they may need to verify your account which can take a week or so – but after that these guys are one of those sites that offer surveys that pay cash through PayPal instantly – so well worth the initial inconvenience.

As well as getting cash payments into your PayPal account, you can also get paid in gift cards for stores like Amazon, Starbucks, Macy’s and more.  This might even work out better for you as you will be charged a 2% fee for PayPal payments.

SurveyRewardz

Yet another great site for those after instant PayPal money with paid surveys, SurveyRewardz is another good choice.  With the ability to cash out as little as $1 and money appearing in your PayPal account in as little as 5 to 7 days, you’ll be able to reap the benefits quickly.

Keep in mind that there doesn’t seem as many survey opportunities as some of the other sites in this list, so it may take you a little longer to earn some decent money, but being able to cash out whenever you like is a bonus.

Opinion Outpost

If you’re wondering which surveys to get paid through PayPal instantly – they don’t get much more instant than Opinion Outpost.  With payments being made within 15 minutes, and 48 hours at most, this is the quickest instant PayPal payout site in this guide.

With Opinion Outpost, there are a range of opportunities to earn points.  The site offers surveys, prize draws and an online community which allows you to feel like you’re part of something bigger than simply a survey company!

You’ll need 100 points to cash out via PayPal which equates to $10, so you could easily be getting your first cash payment after a week or so if you complete each survey you receive.

The best part about this site is that there’s very little delay in receiving payment, so if you want to do surveys that pay instantly to PayPal this is the site to do it. By most people’s standards, this site offers instant PayPal payout surveys and so is great if you’re after online surveys that pay cash fast.

Surveys that pay PayPal instantly do fill up fast, so it’s important to get in quick!

Online Surveys That Pay Cash

Different survey platforms offer multiple ways of payment, from cash to gift cards or even coupons. But most participants prefer getting their payment in cash, which is why we are mentioning 10 surveys that can pay you cash.

Global Test Market

This is a global survey panel open to members worldwide. I have heard many great reviews about this company. Members earn points for taking online surveys that are redeemable for cash, Amazon gift cards, and free merchandise. Open worldwide, ages 14+.

Swagbucks 

Swagbucks has been one of the best sites that pay you for taking surveys, watching movies, playing games, & more. Each task pays in points that can be redeemed for cash and gift cards for your favorite stores. In addition, you can earn rewards for searching for things on the web. Open to residents 13 years of age or older in the USA, UK, Canada, Germany, France, India, Australia, and Ireland

Paid Viewpoint

Paid Viewpoint has become one of the most trusted survey panels among many. Members will earn money for taking short, simple surveys. You will even earn money for the screener survey, which is rare among most companies. The trick to earning more is increasing your trait score. Once it reaches over 7,000, you are able to earn more per survey. Members are paid cash via Paypal.

Cash Crate

Cash Crate offers a variety of ways to make money, and surveys are one of them. Signing up is quick, simple, and free. Once you sign up, you must receive an email invite in order to participate in surveys. Most surveys pay around $1-$5 each. This site pays in cash via check once you have accumulated at least $20.

• Eligibility: Everyone from the age 13+. Must be knowledgeable of the English language.

iPoll 

iPoll give members a chance to give their feedback about various products or services. This is another great survey site that gives you a chance to tell a little about yourself and matches you with the best survey opportunities. Best of all, you receive $5 just for signing up so what do you really have to lose. Completely free to participate.

Eligibility: Open to 32 countries, 13+

Survey Savvy

This company is one of my personal favorites. I have received two checks for taking only surveys – see payment proof. Survey Savvy has been around since 1999. They are owned and operated by Luth Research, based out of California. Each survey pays a different amount based on the length of the survey. They only pay cash via check with only a$1 minimum balance.

Eligibility: Open worldwide, ages

Opinion Outpost

Opinion Outpost is one of the best survey sites among all. All members earn points that can be redeemed for cash (check/Paypal) and gift cards. In addition, you will be entered into a monthly drawing for a chance to win a prize drawing. You will have a better chance to win by completing a large number of surveys. Open to residents in the US and UK

Pinecone Research

This company is by far the best survey panel out today. Members are rewarded for taking online surveys, testing products, participating in focus groups and more. Pinecone Research typically pays around $3.00 per survey. Pays cash via check. Open to US, CA, UK, and Germany

Survey Junkie

This company looks for people who can share their honest feedback and get paid for it. Survey Junkie is one of the few survey panels that pay directly with CASH, so no points are needed to redeem your funds.

Toluna

Toluna is a trusted survey panel that pays members to take online surveys and test products. Typically members earn around 3,000-6,000 points per survey. For your time, you are rewarded with cash, free merchandise, Amazon gift vouchers, and more.

The Top 10 Best Legitimate Paid Online

Before going ahead to take these paid online surveys, keep the following points in mind.

• Surveys are only extra income options, and they cannot replace your income.
• Always do your research and sign up for as many legitimate online survey panels as possible to increase your earnings.
• Give honest opinions to keep getting more surveys.
• Always multitask when you are doing surveys; doing them alone may not be worth your time.

MyPoints

This one is another reader favorite, and it has an amazing bonus of $10 free when you shop online through MyPoints with qualifying purchases. And you can get a quick $5 when you finish five surveys. This survey panel has many things you can do other than just take surveys like reading emails, watching videos, shopping online, searching the web, finding deals, printing coupons, playing games, etc.

With so many ways to earn money, this survey panel is quickly becoming the most popular choice for many survey takers.

You can redeem your points in cash through PayPal or get gift cards. The flexibility to do the surveys on the go with the MyPoints app is the biggest plus for this survey site.

Sign up for MyPoints and grab your bonus $10 here.

Survey Junkie

This survey panel has quickly come up as a winner when it comes to getting high-paying surveys. Though you get surveys mostly up to $3, there are chances of getting good-paying surveys of around $70. As with other survey panels, the number of surveys you get depends on your demographics.

With a low minimum cashout of $10 and payments through PayPal (it also gives out gift cards), this is another great choice of survey panel if you want quick cash.

LifePoints

LifePoints is one of the largest influencer communities worldwide and awarded $28 million to its members in the last year alone.

Compared to other sites, qualifying for paid surveys on LifePoints is a bit easier. This is a key factor when signing up for survey sites.

Most of their surveys can be completed in 10 minutes or less. This can lead to slightly less in payout per survey; however, the ROI of your time is comparable and you won’t have to worry about being tied to any one survey for 30 minutes or longer!

Swagbucks

Swagbucks is a fun rewards program allowing you to earn points by shopping online, searching the web, watching videos, etc.

Additionally, you can use Swagbucks to take surveys for money! It’s really simple.

Once you sign up to become a free Swagbucks member, you can start taking surveys to share opinions. You will earn Swagbucks (SB) points. Swagbucks will reward you with cash back or free gift cards.

SwagBucks offers tens of thousands of paid survey opportunities each day.

Income Boost: Receive a $5 welcome bonus.

InboxDollars

With a quick sign up process and simple format, InboxDollars also works on a cash-based system. They have a lot of surveys for money to choose from, but many of them aren’t going to net you a lot.

However, if you do a few short surveys regularly throughout the day, you can earn quite a bit in less time than you’d think.

You can also earn money by completing other tasks like playing games online, searching the web and downloading coupons.

Income Boost: InboxDollars offers a $5 welcome bonus

Vindale Research

Unlike many other paid survey websites, Vindale Research doesn’t use points. Instead, they display the compensation in cash, making it easy to see exactly what you can earn.

The paid surveys can make you anywhere between $0.50 and $50, depending on the length (or time requirement), topic, and demographic criteria.

Vindale also has other earning opportunities besides surveys, giving you a little variety too.

Income boost: Vindale offers a $1 welcome bonus

Branded Surveys

Branded Surveys is a platform that pays you for completing online surveys and other tasks.

They have a user-friendly site that is simple to navigate and their signup process is quick. You’ll receive 50 points just for signing up, and then they have several “get to know you” type of surveys that only take a couple of minutes to complete but earn you another 10-50 points each.

Branded also has badges that work like a loyalty program.

There are three levels: Bronze, Silver, and Gold. You move up levels by collecting credits. The credits are collected after completing surveys and other tasks. Higher levels unlock more earning opportunities.

One downside to Branded Surveys is, as some of their competitor sites, some surveys take you off their platform to complete. The other sites can be slower or harder to use than Branded’s site, which can be annoying.

Pinecone Research

Pinecone Research is one of the most coveted paid online survey sites around.

Every survey pays a minimum of $3, and they usually only take about 15 minutes to complete. Plus, you may get a chance to test products (which you get to keep), which can be fun. The trick is that Pinecone Research can be hard to get into because they restrict access to only certain demographics (which change, based on who they’re targeting at the time).

Additionally, each survey is invite-only too, so you typically get just a few a month. Fortunately, you’re guaranteed to qualify for the surveys you take. They’ll send you pre-qualification questions each month. After filling those out, you’ll only be sent surveys you qualify for. So, unlike the other sites, there’s no worry about wasting time on a survey only to find out you’ve been disqualified.

As one of the highest ROI survey sites, I definitely recommend applying to the platform if you fall into one or more of the following demographics:

• 18-24
• Male
• Hispanic
• High school or Less
• Asian

Valued Opinions

One of the larger market research groups, Valued Opinions offers points that can be converted to gift cards as compensation. While you might not see a lot of surveys, your odds of qualifying for the ones you do see are relatively high. The platform uses your profile information to help match you to opportunities, so you only see relevant paid surveys on your dashboard.

In most cases, you earn between $1 and $5 for each paid online survey, and they take around 10 to 30 minutes to complete.

Ipsos I-Say Panel

One of the largest online survey sites, I-Say by Ipsos lets you earn points that you can redeem, typically for Amazon gift cards, cash (via Paypal) or merchandise. Plus, all members are entered into prize draws, which is a nice bonus.

Comparatively speaking, the reward threshold is pretty low, so you can actually get gift cards pretty fast. However, the surveys themselves don’t offer the highest compensation rates, so keep that in mind before signing up.

One cool thing about Ipsos is that they offer loyalty points as you hit survey milestones. For example, after completing 5 surveys, you get 25 points. At 100 surveys, you get 300 points.

Which Paid Survey Sites Are Legitimate in Australia?

There are loads of sites offering legitimate paid surveys in Australia. There are companies that need consumers’ opinions and they’re willing to conduct paid market research to get it. Doing an online survey for money gives you a chance to be part of this and to earn some extra cash on the side.

The great thing about doing surveys for cash is that you won’t receive a gift card but cash so that you can spend your survey Australia money however you like.

You can complete paid online surveys at home or on the go as many sites have apps to earn money online.

Whilst it’s easy to get paid to do surveys Australia, it’s also easy to give up. When it comes to surveys you do for cash, it might take some time to receive the best online surveys Australia offers. Don’t give up!

The more you can present yourself as a valuable source of data, the more opportunities you’ll be given. Be honest, consistent and reliable and you will earn money doing surveys.

Below are some of the legitimate online survey sites.

• Toluna.  A huge international community with surveys that pay via PayPal.
• MyOpinions.  Attach your PayPal account for easy cash transfers.
• OpinionWorld.  You can withdraw cash via PayPal after earning $5 from online surveys.
• MyView. Many paid survey offers and plenty of gift cards on offer.
• Swagbucks.  Pays via PayPal with loads of ways to earn points, and one of the best-paid survey apps Australia offers.
• Octopus Group.  Pays cash straight to your bank account. Earn up to $8 per survey.
• Rewardia.  Rewardia gives you money for surveys paid straight to your bank account once you reach $50.
• LiveTribe. A smaller community gaining momentum and offering surveys that pay cash.
• MOBROG. A regular survey that pay via PayPal, paying $1-$5 on average.
• Survey Junkie. Get points from Aussie surveys with Survey Junkie Australia even when you don’t qualify.
• YouGov.  High profile surveys that pay well and only take 10 minutes on average.
• What Do You Think? Another site that pays cash for surveys Australia. Makes getting paid to do surveys easy.

Do Online Survey Sites Really Pay You?

Companies, brands, and organizations worldwide are always seeking the opinions of people just like you to help shape new products they develop and how they market them. They count on survey companies for market research to tap a global test market and provide them with reliable information.

If you spend time online and enjoy giving your opinion, paid surveys are a great side hustle to earn a little extra cash while helping these companies.

Legitimate online survey sites, like Swagbucks, InboxDollars, and MyPoints, really do pay. Online survey companies need survey takers, consumers like you, to complete questionnaires and give their honest feedback to market research companies. Your opinions help companies and brands create better, new products and services.

In exchange for completing paid surveys, you can earn rewards. The best survey sites will offer a variety of ways to cash out your rewards. Standard payout options include free gift cards for Google Play, Amazon, Walmart, or Starbucks, a prepaid Visa credit card, or a PayPal deposit to your PayPal account.

What Online Survey Pays The Most?

Filling out surveys for cash can be worth your time if you sign up for the right survey sites and implement a few helpful tips. All you need is an internet connection and a computer or mobile device to get started.

1. Branded Surveys

Online community with frequent global market research surveys.

Who are they? Previously known as Mintvine, Branded Surveys are popular with survey enthusiasts due to providing a high volume of paid surveys.

Rewards: Money or gift cards.

Amount per survey: 50 – 500 points (100 points = $1 or £0.77).

Min. reward threshold: $10 (£8).

Our review: One of our personal favourites. Great new website, easy to use, well reviewed on Trustpilot and fast paying. You can also earn ongoing points for referring friends, where you get a percentage of everything they earn.

2. Toluna

One of the biggest survey panels with daily online surveys, paid as cash or vouchers.

Who are they? A trusted opinion website working on behalf of leading companies. They want to know what you think about certain products, services and issues. In return, you get rewarded!

Rewards: PayPal payments, Amazon and high-street vouchers.

Amount per survey: 1,200 – 50,000 points (80,000 points gets you a £15 voucher).

Min. reward threshold: 27,000 for vouchers (or just 500 if you want to enter prize draws).

Our review: It’s very easy to take multiple surveys every day on the site or via the app. Each survey takes around 15 minutes to complete, so it’ll take around 4 hours overall to earn a £15 voucher (£3.75 an hour).

Toluna have also recently introduced a games section where you can play and earn!

3. Swagbucks

A huge variety of ways to earn rewards. Exclusive signup bonus!

Who are they? Swagbucks are one of the largest and most reliable paid survey sites. They’ve so far paid over $600,000,000 in rewards to members around the world. They offer rewards for playing games, taking offers, searching the web, making online purchases and watching videos!

Rewards: Money, vouchers and prize draws.

Amount per survey: 30 – 150 SB points (100 SB = $1 or £0.77).

Min. reward threshold: 1 SB.

Our review: We love Swagbucks, and we hear positive reviews from our readers about them too. We’ve found that taking surveys and polls every day provides the highest payout for your time.

Surveys take around 10 minutes to complete, meaning you can earn around £5 an hour ($6.50). Swagbucks also offers users the ability to take surveys from multiple providers and give consolation points when you don’t qualify for a survey.

4. LifePoints

Surveys on LifePoints will allow you to make £3-5 per hour.

Who are they? Two very popular survey sites, MySurvey and GlobalTestMarket, have merged to form LifePoints.

Rewards: PayPal payments, Amazon and high-street vouchers.

Amount per survey: ~£1.

Min. reward threshold: 550 points (£5).

Our review: Another one worth signing up for. We got lots of surveys sent from these guys, and they tend to match your profile and interests as a consumer.

The average survey takes about 15 minutes to complete and gives you 100 points. So you could earn around £3-£5/hour.

5. OnePoll

Exclusive £5 signup bonus.

Who are they? Best known for short, quick surveys about every topic. OnePoll provide surveys to the press and major brands.

Rewards: Cash or PayPal payments.

Amount per survey: 10p – £1.

Min. reward threshold: £40.

Our review: OnePoll were one of the first survey sites in the UK, and they’ve always got quick and fun surveys to answer. Look out for the surveys about celebs.

Surveys take around 3 minutes so at 20p a survey (average) it’ll take around 10 hours to earn £40.

You need to check your account daily for surveys and some users report getting stuck just under the £40 threshold. If this happens you can refer a friend for £4 and then withdraw your earnings.

Best Survey Apps For Money

Survey apps are so great. You can download as many as you want and receive notifications as soon as a new survey is released, so as soon as you have time, you can complete surveys on the go. This option is ideal for whenever you have spare moments like waiting in a line or for the bus to arrive.

Choose a few that stand out to you as being interesting and try them out.

1. Survey Junkie

One of the biggest and most popular survey apps out there is Survey Junkie. They claim that you can become an ‘influencer’ by answering their questions, which are focused on consumers’ opinions about brands and products.

You can’t redeem your points for cash straight away – there’s a minimum threshold of $10 – but it shouldn’t take you too long to reach that point. Each point is equal to a cent, and most surveys give 10-200 points; that means you can earn up to $2 per survey. You can earn even more points by referring your friends and family.

A great thing about Survey Junkie is that you earn points for every survey you complete – even if you don’t actually meet the criteria they were looking for. Many surveys will refuse to give you any reward if you don’t qualify – much to the frustration of survey users.

2. InboxDollars

Another site that gives you a bonus just for signing up is InboxDollars. It also happens to be one of the biggest surveys apps out there – they’ve currently paid out over $56 million to their users.

Most surveys pay between $0.50 and $5.00 depending on their length, although there are a few that pay $10 or more.

Although the focus is surveys, you can earn money from completing other activities too, like watching videos or playing games. You can even use the app to print off coupons or get cashback.

Once you have enough points, you can receive your payment through either Visa or gift cards.

3. Swagbucks

Another huge name when it comes to survey apps is Swagbucks. It mostly operates as a website and browser plug-in, but there’s also an app you can use.

There are always lots of surveys available, but you may fill in the first few questions only to be told you’re not eligible and won’t earn anything – this can be slightly frustrating, but you’ll adjust to the process over time.

You can earn ‘Swagbucks’ through a wide range of other activities, too. It could be something as simple as signing up for a newsletter or fulfilling an offer, but more common ways include playing games or watching videos.

There’s a $5 sign-up bonus as long as you earn enough points within your first few months on the site, and it’s possible to start cashing out as soon as you reach $3. You can earn a percentage of what anyone you refer earns, too. So far, Swagbucks has paid out over $241 million, so why not take your share?

4. LifePoints

Claiming to reward people for simply living their life is the survey app LifePoints. This might not be strictly true unless your typical daily routine involves product testing and polls; nevertheless, it’s a great way to make some money for doing very little.

You can participate in their activities either through the app or your desktop, and it’s open to people from all countries.

You’ll get given ten points for free when you sign up; this isn’t as much as many other sites, but it’s better than nothing.

5. National Consumer Panel (Nielson)

The National Consumer Panel is a venture led by two different consumer insights researchers, Nielson and IRI. Once you register with them, you can earn simply by letting the company monitor your daily internet habits on various devices, as well as by answering questions.

$10,000 is given away to users each month, so there’s plenty to go around – there’s also a sweepstake to help you earn even more. Unfortunately, there’s no option to earn cash – all rewards are in the form of ‘gifts.’

You can also use the app for cashback by scanning barcodes of items you’ve bought as long as you give information about the shop you purchased it from and how much the item costs. There are also ‘special studies’ that provide the opportunity to earn more.

Paid Surveys UK

It’s possible to earn £100s a year, without any special skill or talent. It’s all about filling in online surveys for cash and attending face-to-face focus groups.

How to take part

There are two ways to take part:

• Online surveys for cash. All you have to do is sign up, wait for survey alerts to land in your inbox, then zip through the questions. Survey sites then add the cash or other rewards to your account. Polls are often fun – you get to vent about everything from video games to your sex life.
• Focus groups. Traditional market research focus groups pay much more per session, but you’re limited to a few a year. All it involves is giving opinions on the chosen subject (often online via Zoom these days), and you can walk away with anything from £50 to £150.

This isn’t about joining every single survey site you find on Google. It’s about focusing on those with decent payouts, low payment thresholds and a reliable volume of surveys.

1. i-Say

A must-join, i-Say (previously Ipsos) is probably the best-paying survey site. Its surveys are plentiful, and many folks rack up £10 or more of Amazon vouchers every month.

You earn points for taking surveys – between 5 and 250 points for each – which can then be redeemed for vouchers. It varies by retailer, but you need 490 points to get a £5 Amazon voucher, and most members average four surveys a month.

Forumites report i-Say is refreshingly upfront about payment and survey length before you start. It pays in retail vouchers, including John Lewis and “Compliments vouchers”, which can be used at a number of high street shops such as Argos and Boots. Once you cash in, vouchers take two to three weeks to arrive.

2. Swagbucks

With a cult following in the MSE Forum, Swagbucks pays you points (SB) to answer daily polls. You can also mix it up by getting paid to watch videos, search via its page instead of Google and even play free online games. Points can be spent on rewards in its Rewards Store – for example, 700 points equals a £5 Amazon voucher.

You’d normally get only a few points for registering, but newbies and existing members who sign up or visit via this MSE Blagged Swagbucks link get bonus points worth £20 in Amazon eGift cards if they earn 1,300 SB (worth £10) within 30 days of registering.

Swagbucks only lets you earn points once a day on certain types of poll – answer a second poll and you won’t get paid. So always read terms and conditions carefully. 

3. PopulusLive

PopulusLive specialises in business, culture and politics research. It’s popular with forumites as it pays pretty well at around £1 for every five minutes you spend on there.

On the downside, some say you don’t get invites to surveys as often as with other sites (and quotas fill up sharpish so you have to be quick).

You get varying numbers of points for each survey, with a conversion value of £1 per point. The payout threshold is quite high at £50, so it’ll probably be a while before you’re cashing in.

4. Google Opinion Rewards

The free Google Opinion Rewards app for Android and iPhone is an easy way to earn credit for purchasing apps, games, books, music and movies on the Google Play store.

The beauty of this is its speed – surveys take seconds (ex-MSE Nick was once paid 36p for answering two questions), and can be done anywhere you’re online. Earnings are relatively small but can quickly add up, with forumites reporting they’ve raked in as much as £48.

5. Curious Cat

Great for doing surveys on the go, Curious Cat is a nifty free surveys app. You’ll need to download it via the Google Play or Itunes store.

MoneySavers describe its surveys as “short and fun”. Plus you only need to earn a super-low £1 before it pays out.

On the downside, a few forumites complain about often getting screened out after answering several questions. That said, it can be a nice little earner, as forumite digging dude found

6. Crowdology

Another popular site, Crowdology pays hard cash via PayPal. The payment threshold’s a low £4, and many folks rack this up every month.

Unlike some other sites, it doesn’t operate a points-based system – it just gives you straight cash for completing surveys.

Conclusion

Taking paid surveys on the internet can be a great way to earn extra money from home. You will not earn a lot of money with online surveys, but if you join the right companies that pay consistently for taking paid surveys online, and take as many paid surveys as possible, you can earn a good side income.