Jasmine Birtles
Your money-making expert. Financial journalist, TV and radio personality.
Paid online surveys can help you make money while you’re in front of the computer.
If you have some free time in your lunch break or a spare half an hour in the evenings, why not fill in a few online surveys for money?
Paid surveys are simple, effective ways to make some cash, and some online surveys even let you win prizes every now and then.
Use these handy links to skip ahead to the part of the article that interests you. Otherwise, read on…
The online surveys that pay are the ones we’re discussing, and that we think are worth your time.
Whilst doing online surveys for money won’t provide you with a steady, substantial income, paid surveys are a great way to make cash for very little effort. Lots of our readers find the best paid online surveys are the ones they can put towards the bill for their summer holiday – not bad coming from the odd half an hour in front of a computer.
Online surveys could be right for you if:
You’d like to make in excess of £50 a month for very little effort
You’d like the chance to win large cash prizes, vouchers and holidays
You spend a lot of time in front of your computer anyway
You’d like a fun and flexible way to make money from home
Rule 1: NEVER pay to join online surveys. Use our list of recommended sites below, and let us know immediately if you come across any paid surveys that ask you to pay to join them (you can leave a post at the bottom of this page). The list also includes some of the best paid online surveys.
Rule 2: Set up a separate email account just for emails from online surveys. That way your personal account won’t be flooded with online survey related emails (which can get frustrating!).
Rule 3: Be aware that you won’t qualify for all online surveys. Companies that offer paid surveys are often after a ‘sample group’, which means they only look for a particular number of people within a specific age range or area, or who use a certain product. This means you won’t be able to complete some online surveys simply because you’re too young, too old or simply the wrong sex! So don’t take it personally, but do sign up to lots of online surveys to increase your chances of being selected.
Step 1: Register with several online survey companies
You can sign up to as many sites offering online surveys for money as you like. In fact, the more sites that offer paid surveys you sign up to, the more money you’ll make. See our list below of recommended online survey companies.
Step 2: Check your inbox in your free time
Most paid surveys are sent to you via email at random times. If you have online surveys for money waiting for you, keep in mind that some will close by a specified date or when enough people have taken part so get your skates on or you’ll miss out!
Paid surveys can take anywhere from 10 to 45 minutes to complete. When you receive the email it’ll tell you roughly how long the online survey will take and give you a link to a new window where the survey will begin.
Step 3: Trade your points for cash or vouchers
With most online survey for money companies you earn reward points as you go. Obviously the more active you are, the more points you will earn. Depending on the site, you can convert your points into vouchers or cash. You may also get entered into prize draws as well.
Step 4: Start enjoying your little pot of extra cash and goodies each month!
Here are the sites offering online surveys we approve of. They’ve all received a thumbs-up from online survey users, but if for any reason these paid surveys fail to impress you then please do let us know at the bottom of this article. And always remember our number one golden rule: NEVER PAY TO JOIN AN ONLINE SURVEY SITE!
With online surveys that pay, you can make money from the comfort of your sofa just using a smartphone or tablet. For example, you can download the Swagbucks app and start making money by completing surveys (as well as all the other fun ways Swagbucks lets you make money.)
MobileXpression provides one of the easiest ways possible to make money. All you have to do is download their software onto your phone/tablet and you’ll immediately start earning points you can redeem for a reward.
The goal of MobileXpression is to get a better idea of how people use the mobile internet and determine the rank of certain websites, much like TV uses ratings.
If you fancy getting easy rewards on top of doing online surveys for money, then sign up for MobileXpression here now.
Facts
+ It has a 4.5 out of five ‘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’ loyalty programme, Branded Elite, offers the opportunity for anyone to earn bonus points on a weekly basis
– The website design isn’t as straightforward as other survey sites
Sign up with Branded Surveys here.
Facts
+ Earn SB by just answering quick questions about your preferences/lifestyle
+ Prize redemption is straight forward and you have the 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)
– 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
+ You earn 40p for completing your profile (took less than two minutes)
+ You earn cash, not points
+ Presented with five surveys to complete on activation of account
+ Received a few emails within the first 15 minutes just telling us how much we’ve earned and encouraging us to go to the site to earn more
– Layout is a little messy, but not too difficult to navigate
– To earn rewards from joining a game site and taking part in competitions you are required to deposit money first
+ Easy to navigate
+ Lets you earn up to £5 per survey
+ A new feature on their website allows people to find a survey for themselves from their dashboard
– Like all online surveys, you have to wait for a survey that is appropriate for you, which is often luck
+ Easy sign-up with simple personal questions such as age, gender, nationality and education
– Sometimes you don’t get entered because you weren’t what they were looking for
– Some of the surveys are quite slow to load
– We haven’t been emailed with further survey opportunities since signing up
Facts
+ 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
– We were rejected as “not the right demographic” after completing our first survey. No other surveys were offered.
Facts
+ Easy sign-up with normal personal questions (name, age, location, house details, income, employment)
+ Good rewards with a threshold which isn’t too high
– Fully completing the profile questions will take a few hours
– After spending several hours on the site we were only offered one survey
Which one are you going to try? Do you agree with our reviews? Have you had a different experience? Let us know in the comments below.
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I considered doing this. The article was very helpful.
I haven’t really got into the completing of surveys as I am concerned that I will be hassled by unwanted calls but having read through your article I might give it a try
I am signed up for a few survey accounts but I find most of them just too long and boring. I should start doing more as it can be a good way of earning a bit of extra cash.
I don’t use survey sites, i signed up for one once, i then was getting lots of spam emails and phone calls, it got that bad i had to change my phone number, and close my email account, it was a bad experience and it put me off ever doing them again..
I use Pinecone Research and Valued Opinions and find my rewards build up very quickly and the surveys aren’t too long or tedious to complete. I especially love the freebies to test out with pinecone research as the freebies they send out are full sized! I would defo recommend these two survey sites for making an extra bit of cash.
Most online survey sites just aren’t worth the time as you literally get paid pence for a half hour of work. That being said, the main survey site I use is pineconeresearch because they pay £3 per survey and send out test items, which you get to keep and get paid another £3 for filling out a survey regaring the item that was tested. Perfect!
I don’t enter surveys which pay a small amount but sometimes enter ones which offer a larger amount in a prize draw
I find them too time consuming for little reward. I also feel I am giving away too much personal information which makes me feel uncomfortable.
I joined several survey sites a few months ago. Global test market, iPsos isay and yougov are my favourites. I don’t think the money stacks up that quickly tho!
I try most all survey sites and finaly i find the best one!
Do not hesitate to visit.