But you still might not be sure which online survey sites are worth your time.
As Nick Green from Swagbucks explains, “taking paid surveys online is a great way to make money in your spare time…but you have to be patient and find the survey panel that works for you.”
That’s why we’ve taken the time to review every survey site we promote, so you know which ones you can trust, and which ones you should avoid.
Paid online surveys reviewed…
Branded surveys
Facts
Where it’s available: United States, Canada, and the UK
Age requirements: 16+ years old
Average earnings: $0.50 to $5 per survey
Payment method: Branded Pay (direct deposit in the United States), PayPal cash, gift cards, prepaid Visa card, or charitable donations
Minimum to cash out: 1,000 points
Good
4.5 out of 5-star rating on Trustpilot
When you register as a new member, you’ll earn 50 points, then another 50 points will be credited to your account after filling out your profile (a $1 sign up bonus in total).
Once your account is created, you can immediately start taking surveys, which can be worth up to $5 each.
Branded Surveys’s loyalty program, Branded Elite, offers the opportunity for anyone to earn bonus points on a weekly basis.
Bad
Website design isn’t as straightforward as other survey sites
Points redeemable for gift cards or for cash through PayPal
Get 5 points for signing up
Earn swagbucks by answering surveys and polls, watching videos, playing games, searching the web with the SB search engine and with cashback shopping
At 450 SB you can get a £3 Amazon Voucher, £5 Amazon voucher = 720 SB or 800 SB for £5 in cash (top prize of £100 cash will cost you 16,000 SB – £100 Amazon Voucher = 14,400 SB and £100 at M&S = 13,600 SB)
Polls earn you 1 SB
1 minute Surveys earn you 4 SB
15 minute surveys earn you 70 SB
20 minute surveys earn you 80 SB
Earn 10 SB for signing up to promotional emails
Good
+ Lots of surveys to take
+ Earn SB by just answering quick questions about your preferences/lifestyle
+ Prize redemption straight forward and option of getting points converted into cash and not just gift cards
+ Loads of well known brands and shopping sites to earn cashback with such as eBay, Iceland, Dunelm and Notonthehighstreet.com
+ Didn’t receive any emails (these can be turned on for extra Swagbucks)
Bad
– Sections of the site encourage you to place gambling bets in exchange for high payout swagbucks but you ultimately spend more money placing the bet than you would get for your bucks.
– Most of the offers in the “Offers” section cost you money or require you to subscribe to something, most free offers are only worth 1-2 SB each
Complete trivia games on shows you watched the night before to earn points and prize draw entries
You get 100 points per right answer
Includes questions about adverts during the breaks
Each day you play one trivia game you are entered into a £5,000 prize draw
Each day you play a second game you will be entered into a £1,000 prize draw
Points can be used for a variety of things including entries into £5,000 & £1,000 prize draws, to pay for Pay For My Stuff prize draws, auctions or exchanged for gift certificates
Minimum bid for auctions is 75,000 points
There are around 26 items you can bid on at one time, around 11 products and 15 gift cards
Auction items going from anywhere between 76,001 points for a Kraft infuser teapot to 5,439,000 points for a kindle fire tablet
Gift certificates cost between 75,000, 100,000 and 125,000 points with very limited availability
Pay For My Stuff prize draws give you the change to win £25 towards every day costs such as car repayments, TV bills, and groceries and cost 5,000 points to enter any one
Good
+ Quick easy sign-up that just asked for name, gender, age
+ Much more fun than other survey sites in our opinion. It’s a truly original concept.
Aimed at students and those who have graduated within the past 5 years
Ages 16 – 30 only
Simple, clean, easy to navigate website with block colours and clear navigation panel
You are emailed surveys you’re selected for
Rewards are earned though completing surveys emailed to you (£1 for completion of a 10 minute survey and £2 for longer surveys) or writing an article that is selected to be displayed on the website (£50 per article chosen)
They also hold competitions and prize draws throughout the year
Your earnings can be redeemed in the form of either bonusbond vouchers that cover hundreds of high street stores or shopping vouchers to spend on amazon.co.uk
Downloaded and installed software monitors and collects data on your internet usage
You are entered into a prize draw each month for keeping the software on your computer
There are £30,000 worth of prizes to be won
Only occasionally are you sent surveys to complete
Good
+ You’re entered into the prize draw just for downloading and keeping the software, so it doesn’t require much effort
+ Easy to remove if you don’t want it anymore
Bad
– Lengthy sign up with a lot of questions for personal details (d.o.b., location, occupation etc.) to information about your household (occupants, their jobs, computers used etc.)
– It might sound like nitpicking but the site is boring, with greys and browns, no images and no logo
– It’s not always clear what you have to do
– It’ll monitor your internet usage, so if you’re the kind of person who likes your browsing to be private then this probably isn’t for you!
digital panel which monitors your internet usage for the purposes of obtaining data for market research
Collects data on the pages you visit on the internet, the number of times you visit them and, when on your smartphone, it also records location
By installing GfK’s Internet Monitor software on your PC/Laptop and the app on your smartphone and browsing the internet for a minimum of 30 days you receive a £10 e-voucher for each device. You will also receive a further £5 loyalty incentive every 3 months if you continue to browse the internet for at least one day a month for these three months
They say they only use data for market research purposes, and the data they collect will never be used to advertise directly to you
At the beginning of each month they will email you a questionnaire that will take only 5 – 10 minutes as well as also sometimes sending follow up questionnaires too
From time to time panel members are invited to take part in a one off study for an additional incentive. An example of this is a recent 10 minute questionnaire which asked about a particular retailer, for which panelists received £2 for completion
Prizes include entries into several different prize draws which offer vouchers worth £2, £10, £20, £50 or £100
Completing the monthly questionnaire sent to you earns you an entry into these draws
Good
+ Good cash incentives and prizes
Bad
– Long sign up questionnaire includes household type/income, energy providers and feelings about technology
– Layout and ease of navigation shockingly bad!
– We had technical issues where, after completing the registration process, we were redirected to a broken page. We then had a problem signing back in because the confirmation of our email address wasn’t registering
Reward depends on length of surveys: under 5 minutes = sweepstakes entry, 5 minutes = £0.30-£0.60, 20 minutes = £1-£2
Redemption threshold is £14.86
Rewards include New Look eGift card, PizzaExpress voucher, iTunes gift code, Rixty Online Entertainment Card or the option to donate to a charity such as Keep a Child Alive, Hope for Haiti, Habitat for Humanity and PETA
You can complete profile questions to receive better focused surveys (but there are loads of questions!)
Good
+ Sign up process not too long (about average)
+ Good long list of surveys
+ Attractive easy to navigate website layout
+ We completed a two minute survey about James Bond, which is a bit more interesting than constantly answering questions about energy providers
Bad
– We tried 15 surveys and were screened out of all but one!
– Even after completing at least 40 profile questions we were still screened out of all the surveys we tried or told they were full
280 to 980 i-Say points gets you a £2, £4 or £7 donation to “Help Nepal” charity
1,380 i-Say points earn you a £10 leisure voucher (redeemable at Beefeater, Bella Italia, Café Rouge, Pizza Hut, London Eye, Hastings, Marriott, Premier Travel Inn, Chessington Park, Legoland, Madame Tussauds, Sea life, London Pass, Friday’s, and many others), a £10 compliments voucher (redeemable at retail stores such as Argos, WHSmith, Topshop, Accor Hotels, Interflora, TGI Friday’s, and many more) or £10 gift vouchers for either John Lewis, Amazon, iTunes or Zalando
Good
+ Short sign-up with very few questions
+ Profile completion takes only a few minutes and includes lots of lifestyle questions
+ Colourful, easy-to-navigate website with clear information
Bad
– We were rejected as ‘not the right demographic’ after completing our first survey. No other surveys were offered.
Data collection app for PC/mobile, tracks where you go and what you do on the Internet and collects data on what TV shows people watch online, where people shop online, what people search for etc.
Once you have signed-up and installed the app you may also receive additional survey opportunities that can earn you additional rewards
You can sign-up and not install the app but you will receive less survey invites and rewards will take longer to process
Upon completing surveys you are awarded money that is credited to your account within 4-12 weeks
The minimum amount you can cash in with is $1
You receive payments as a cheque in the post
You can take part in unpaid surveys called ‘member portraits’ that help to target paid surveys more likely to be suited to you (and not screen you out)
Good
+ Fairly simple to navigate, quite attractive with good images and bright colours
+ Low cashing in threshold
+ If you’re screened out of a survey you earn entry into a $10 monthly prize draw
Bad
– Receiving a cheque (particularly for a small amount) isn’t always convenient
Such a big fan of online surveys, too! Great tips and informative list of sites to join. Swagbucks and Toluna are my current go-to sites but will surely check out your other recommendations.
KamalTur
3 years ago
Hi, I am working in survey sites for last three months. I am looking for the correct way of doing survey task successfully. I am pleased to read your articles. I have lot of gaps that i can overcome by following your guidences. I am working in dailyonlinesurvey too.
Joanne
4 years ago
Excellent information on these survey sites.
Carol
7 years ago
Don’t even touch Global test market. They just closed my account with an excuse that I had 2 emails (What??) which was ridiculous and kept all the money I had built up , and they have done this to a lot of other people as I found out. They refuse to then talk to you when you ask why. Also IPoll pay in e cheques and unless you buy something for the exact amount, you lose money on what is left, YouGov is good . Valued Opinions make you go through most of a survey and then screen you out… Read more »
Such a big fan of online surveys, too! Great tips and informative list of sites to join. Swagbucks and Toluna are my current go-to sites but will surely check out your other recommendations.
Hi, I am working in survey sites for last three months. I am looking for the correct way of doing survey task successfully. I am pleased to read your articles. I have lot of gaps that i can overcome by following your guidences. I am working in dailyonlinesurvey too.
Excellent information on these survey sites.
Don’t even touch Global test market. They just closed my account with an excuse that I had 2 emails (What??) which was ridiculous and kept all the money I had built up , and they have done this to a lot of other people as I found out. They refuse to then talk to you when you ask why. Also IPoll pay in e cheques and unless you buy something for the exact amount, you lose money on what is left, YouGov is good . Valued Opinions make you go through most of a survey and then screen you out… Read more »
Only one to use is YouGov!