Can You Really Make Money With Paid Online Surveys?

Looking for paid online surveys for money? Yes, you can get paid to take surveys – I have! Here's how you can find paid surveys and make extra money.

Not too long ago, one of the top ways I made extra money to pay off my student loan debt was by doing paid online surveys.

No, I didn't get rich from them, but I was able to earn some side cash by taking online surveys in my spare time.

The way I made it work for me is that I signed up for as many online survey sites as I could. Due to that, I was able to complete at least a few surveys each week.

There were many times when I would receive an easy $100 check in the mail from completing surveys in a one-month period. The work is really easy. It can all be done from home, on your own schedule and timeline, so it's a win-win!

Below are some of my tips for side hustling with paid online surveys.

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First, why do companies offer paid online surveys?

Companies use surveys all the time to learn what their current and potential customers think of their products, services, and company. With the surveys you take, companies get valuable opinions on how to improve their products, and that's what they are paying you for.

The companies I’ve listed in this article are market research and consulting companies who put together the surveys for companies.

Sign up for as many paid online surveys as you can.

To increase your chances of making money, I recommend signing up for as many online survey companies as you can.

I say this because individual survey companies may only send a few surveys your way each month, so the more you sign up for, the more money you may be able to make.

By joining as many sites as you can, you'll receive the most opportunities. It's really that simple!

The survey companies I recommend signing up for include:

1. American Consumer Opinion
2. Survey Junkie
3. Swagbucks
4. InboxDollars
5. Opinion Outpost
6. OneOpinion
7. VIP Voice
8. Pinecone Research
9. Prize Rebel
10. Product Report Card
11. Survey Club

You can learn more about taking paid online surveys with each company below.

1. American Consumer Opinion

American Consumer Opinion is a free online survey company I highly recommend. They pay you for each survey you complete.

You can usually earn anywhere from $1 to $50 per survey taken through American Consumer Opinion. It all depends on the length of the survey.

American Consumer Opinion also gives you the opportunity to test products for free (yay, free stuff!).

They have paid out over $30,146,855 to survey takers and have had over 20 million surveys taken.

You can sign up for American Consumer Opinion here.

2. Survey Junkie

Survey Junkie is a top survey company. You simply build a profile with them and they match you to paid online surveys that fit your demographic information. They pay either cash through PayPal or with gift cards to Amazon, Target, and more.

Survey Junkie accepts members from the United States, Canada, and Australia.

You can take surveys for cash by signing up for Survey Junkie here.

3. Swagbucks

Swagbucks is something I don’t use as much as I used to, but I still occasionally use them to earn Amazon gift cards with very little work. They have surveys you can take and there are countless other ways to earn points with Swagbucks. You redeem those points for gift cards or cash through PayPal.

You can sign up for Swagbucks here, and you’ll receive a free $5 bonus just for signing up through my link.

4. Inbox Dollars

InboxDollars is an online rewards website I highly recommend. You can earn cash by taking surveys, playing games, watching videos, shopping online, searching the web, redeeming grocery coupons, and more.

Most of the paid online surveys on Inbox Dollars pay from $0.50 to $5.00 and take 3 to 25 minutes to complete. If you match certain profile requirements, you can make up to $10, $20, or more per survey.

Also, by signing up through my link, you will receive a free $5.00! Sign up for InboxDollars here.

5. Opinion Outpost

Opinion Outpost is another paid online survey company that pays cash via PayPal or with gift cards to places such as Amazon.

Most of their surveys take around 10 minutes.

You can sign up for Opinion Outpost here.

6. OneOpinion

OneOpinion is an easy company to sign up for. It's free and takes less than one minute to sign up. You can get paid for their online surveys through cash or gift cards.

Currently, people living in the U.S., United Kingdom, Canada, Spain, Germany, Italy, France, the Netherlands, and Australia are able to sign up for OneOpinion.

You can sign up for OneOpinion here.

7. VIP Voice

VIP Voice conducts over 12 million surveys each year and is one of the leading companies for online surveys.

You may take surveys related to clothing, cars, beauty, food, toys, sports, and so on.

You can sign up for VIP Voice here.

8. Pinecone Research

When I was regularly taking surveys, Pinecone Research is the company I used the most. From my personal experience, I believe they are one of the best online survey sites. And, I honestly know they are a legitimate company to use. They pay you for each survey you complete, and they also occasionally send free products to review!

You can sign up for Pinecone Research here.

9. Prize Rebel

Prize Rebel is super easy to use and you can sign up in just 10 seconds. You are paid through cash and gift cards to places such as Amazon, Walmart, Visa, and more.

They have paid out more than $18,000,000 in cash and rewards since 2007.

You can sign up for Prize Rebel here.

10. Product Report Card

It takes just a few minutes to sign up with Product Report Card, and you can start receiving paid online surveys within 24 hours of signing up. They pay cash, with Amazon gift cards, and you may even receive free products.

You can sign up for Product Report Card here.

11. Survey Club

Survey Club has been around since 2005, and they match you with available studies and surveys in your area. After you've completed a survey, you're paid via cash or Amazon gift card.

You can sign up for Survey Club here.

How do I get paid to take online surveys? Do I need any special equipment to take online surveys?

All you need is internet and some sort of device such as a laptop, computer, or tablet. There isn’t any extra equipment or tools you need to take paid online surveys through the sites I’ve just listed.

Paid online surveys are quite flexible – you can take them at any time of the day, which makes it an easy way to make extra money.

For most of the survey companies above, you can get paid to take surveys from your desktop, laptop, tablet, cell phone, and so on.

If you can access the internet, then you can probably get paid to take a survey.

What kind of questions will you be asked when getting paid to take surveys?

When filling out the survey forms, you will be asked many different kinds of questions. These could be things related to what you like to eat, your birthday, your favorite movie, and more.

Survey companies ask these kinds of questions because they are trying to figure out what people want – hence the surveys. Remember, this is market research you are helping them with.

You should always be honest when answering because the survey companies want people who actually fit what they are looking for.

Plus, you don’t know what each survey is looking for anyways, so lying may actually hurt your chances of earning money.

Are paid surveys a scam?

The free online survey sites above are all real, but there are many not-so-legitimate ones out there. I am often sent emails from readers asking whether so-and-so is real and what I would do.

Below are some warning signs that a survey site may not be legitimate:

• Are they promising you the world? It would be very hard to earn a full-time income by just answering one website’s surveys. Surveys are meant more as a way to earn side income so get-rich-quick schemes are usually fake.
• Do they require an upfront fee? I have taken many paid surveys over the past several years and I have never had to pay a penny to take any of them. If a website asks you to pay for access to a survey, they are most likely a scam.
• Do you remember signing up? Some scam websites are just there to take your information. If you don’t remember signing up for the company, definitely ignore their emails and don’t click on anything!

Are paid online surveys a good side hustle?

Like I said in the beginning, you are not going to get rich by taking surveys for cash. You are earning small amounts of cash or gift cards that can help you make extra income. 

You will want to think about why you’re taking the surveys to see if they are a good fit for you. I put every extra dollar I earned from online surveys towards my student loan debt, and it helped me pay it off really quickly. But, this isn’t money you earn the day you take the survey, and it’s not something you could really do full time.

Online surveys are a great for helping you pay off your debt (every little bit really does help!), save up for vacation, put money in an emergency fund, and more! When you think about how easy they are, it makes taking them almost a no brainer.

What do you think of paid online surveys? What paid survey websites are you a part of?