21 Best Paid Survey Sites

This article was written by Abby Hayes in Career and Work. Add a comment.

It’s possible to make good money from home taking online surveys. To help, we’ve assembled 21 of the best paid survey sites.

Have you been looking for an easy, low-lift way to make money online? Paid survey sites are a popular option. There are literally hundreds of these sites around, though not all of them are legitimate. Before we dive into the best paid survey sites, let’s talk about how and why these sites work and how to make the most of them.

Why Surveys are Paid

Companies, government organizations, and nonprofit are all interested in consumers’ needs and opinions. But they know getting those answers takes time on your part. So they pay market research companies to pay consumers for their opinions.

Sometimes the market research companies dole out these rewards in the form of cash. Other times, you get points that you can use to purchase prizes or gift cards. It’s a little like some credit card rewards programs, actually.

Typical surveys don’t pay much–just a few bucks per survey. But many only take a few minutes. I don’t know about you, but getting paid $5 for 15 minutes of not-very-difficult work–or $20 an hour–isn’t a bad deal in my book.

Making the Most of Paid Surveys

Filling out paid surveys will never be a full-time income. But it could be a tidy little side gig income that you can do in your free time. But before you can make decent money with this strategy, you need to know how. Here are our top tips:

Don’t pay to join survey sites. There are plenty of legitimate survey sites out there. And those sites or apps will not ask you to pay for the privilege of taking surveys. So don’t pay to join, and don’t pay a third party to give you a list of sites. Just use our list below to get started.
Sign up for a bunch of sites. This is key! Each survey site might run thousands of surveys per day. But they’ll only offer you a handful. That’s because companies are targeting certain demographics. If you don’t fit the target demographic, you won’t be able to take the survey. So sign up for at least five or ten survey sites to get offered more surveys per month.
Don’t give out sensitive personal information. If a survey site asks for your Social Security number, skip it. Many will ask for your address, email address, and phone number. But if they’re asking for more personal information, that’s not a good sign.
Use PayPal for quicker payment. Many of these sites let you cash in your rewards points for cash. The quickest and safest way to get that cash is with PayPal. So if you don’t already have one, sign up for a PayPal account.
Fill out all the profile surveys. These sites will all start by asking you for a lot of demographic information. Fill it out as completely as possible. You may also get preliminary surveys from some companies asking for further demographic information. These can be boring. But the more you fill out, the more likely you are to qualify for future survey offers.
Check your email often, and take all the surveys you can. Taking surveys quickly is important. Surveys have a specific quota, and you can’t get paid to take the survey after that quota is met. So set up email alerts so that you can take the surveys sooner rather than later.
Find gaps in your schedule for taking surveys. Paid surveys aren’t a good replacement for other income options, so don’t fill them out on company time or when you could be making money otherwise. But do find times that are otherwise down time for filling out surveys. This might include riding the elevator to your office, waiting in your kid’s school pick-up line, or while you’re watching your evening television shows.

The Best Paid Survey Sites

Now that you know how to make the most of these survey sites, here are a bunch you should check out. These sites cater to varying types of companies and surveys. Sign up for several, and then you can eventually weed out the ones that don’t pay off for you.

Swagbucks doesn’t just do surveys. It also lets you earn by watching videos and more. You earn Swagbucks points, which you can then use to enter sweepstakes or purchase gift cards. It’s one of the kings of the paid survey space because it makes earning extra money really easy.
Inbox Dollars is another site with a survey component, but one that doesn’t just focus on surveys. One great things about InboxDollars is you can actually get your payments in cash.
MyPoints lets you earn points with this site and app by watching videos, shopping online, and taking surveys. Then, use your points to get rewards like gift cards.
MindSwarms is unique in that it requires you to take a video of yourself to start and to answer survey questions. This verifies that you really are in the demographic you claim to be part of. But the extra time is worth it, since you can earn $50 for answering seven-question surveys!
eMiles is a little different because it offers reward points in the form of airline miles. Again, it gives you various options for earning, including shopping, signing up for free services, watching ads, and taking surveys.
Opinion Outpost gives you rewards for each survey you answer, but also enters you into a $10,000 sweepstakes for each survey you complete.
SurveySavvy focuses on online surveys. But you can also earn more rewards from referrals. When you refer others who take surveys, you’ll get points for their survey completion. You can also use Savvy Connect to get points for allowing the service to track your web browsing.
Springboard America does consumer and also political research, so you might get some interesting surveys from this one. But you can also get thank you points or entries into contests to win cash and other rewards.
Point Club offers a $5 sign up bonus, and offers points for surveys. It gives you more points for surveys with a very specific audience and surveys that are longer. You can cash in points for cash.
Valued Opinions lets you take surveys for which you qualify, and then cash in points for gift cards. They offer gift cards to many great retailers, as well as some airline programs.
Harris Poll is one of the older polling sites around. The site gives you points for most surveys, which you can cash in for a variety of rewards. You can also enter a sweepstakes after each survey you complete.
Ipsos i-Say has a unique loyalty program that lets you earn additional points on top of those you earn for completing surveys. You’ll get bonus points for the number of surveys you take during the year. You could earn up to 600 bonus points!
VIP Voice lets you earn rewards, which you can then use to enter sweepstakes or bid on auctions.
Parent Speak is a unique survey site just for parents. It lets you earn rewards by participating in surveys, discussions, and polls. You can also get rewards for keeping diaries for research purposes, as well as other projects.
OneOpinion offers quick payment, which is nice. It also may give you access to trying new products in exchange for your opinion on them.
Pinecone Research lets you earn points, which you can cash in for gift cards, merchandise, and more.
KidzEyes is a survey site just for kids ages six through 12. Kids can take one or two surveys per month. They get rewards for taking the surveys, and they can cash in those rewards for money.
TeensEyes is similar to KidzEyes and is run by the same market research company. It’s for kids ages 13 to 18. Again, they can take one or two surveys per month in order to earn points, which they can use to get cash.
Nielsen Digital Voice is run by one of the oldest market research companies in the U.S. You’ll get entered into the company’s sweepstakes just for installing and running their app. And you can earn additional cash rewards for participating in surveys.
Global Test Market offers an average of $5 per survey, which is relatively high for this market. Their surveys usually take about 15 minutes.
Toluna gives you the opportunity to now only get prizes or cash, but also to win test products in exchange for your survey opinion. The site also includes a unique community forum aspect that can be interesting.