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So are you here to learn about surveys for money? Great – we have everything under control! There are dozens of legitimate survey sites to make extra money. However, not all online polling sites or companies are reputable, and some are more profitable than others.
Selecting the right paid survey sites can make a big difference, especially since you won’t qualify for every survey you see. Surveys for money have requirements that determine eligibility, generally based on demographics and your personal habits, so you don’t want to waste time on a website that isn’t legitimate or won’t develop for you.
We spend a lot of time finding the best surveys for real money sites to make legitimate money nowadays. They are tested and approved by Millennial Money! Consider this the ultimate guide to searching for money.
Be sure to check out the FAQs, and our Ultimate Paid Survey ROI Calculator in the background to help you figure out which survey site is most worth your time!
What are the best survey sites in 2021?
Here are the 14 best paid survey sites to make extra money in your spare time:
- Survey Junkie: Best Overall
- li>InboxDollarsli>Brand Pollsli>Swagbucksli>LifePointsli>MyPointsli>Opinion OutpostLi>Survey by VindaleLi>Pinecone SurveyLi>Ipsos I-Say Panelli>OneOpinionli>Survey Clubli>Harris Poll Onlineli> Rated Reviews
Survey Junkie
Survey Junkie is one of the most legit companies to earn extra money while waiting for the bus, on your lunch break, or even vegetating on the couch watching Netflix. I enjoy making money with Survey Junkie when I wake up in the morning and while multi-tasking throughout the day.
Just by signing up and completing your profile, you’ll earn points right off the bat. Thereafter you receive paid points for each completed survey, and when you reach the payment threshold your points can be transferred to PayPal, cash, or a free gift card.
I particularly like that Survey Junkie is easy to use and that I don’t get spammed with a bunch of emails. Also, it’s hard to do without the survey invitations, since they offer so many.
Eligibility: Survey Junkie is 100% free and makes it easy to sign up on Facebook, Google+, or any email address. Members must be 13 years of age or older and resident in the US, Canada, or Australia (if you live in California, you must be 16 years of age).
Avg Payout (By Survey)payment methodMin To Cash Out
$1 – $3 PayPal or eGift cards $10 (1000 points)
Start Now:
- Subscribe to Survey Junkie
- Read our full Survey Junkie review
InboxDollars $5 Welcome Bonus
With a quick sign-up process and simple format, Inbox Dollars works on a real money reward system, not a points system. They have a lot of money surveys to choose from, but many of them won’t make you much money.
However, if you do a few quick surveys regularly throughout the day, you can earn a lot in less time than you think.
Another cool thing I like is that Inbox Dollars offers rewards for playing online games, watching videos, reading emails, and making online purchases that I would otherwise be doing regularly. Real cash checks are fantastic, but they can also be paid with an Amazon gift card or regular gift cards.
Eligibility: Joining Inbox Dollars only takes about 30 seconds. But to become a member, you need to be at least 18 years old and live in the USA.
Avg Payout (By Survey)Payment MethodMin To Cash Out
Up to $5 Check, prepaid VISA or gift cards $30
Start Now:
- Subscribe to InboxDollars
- Read our full InboxDollars review
Mark inquiries
Branded Surveys is a platform that pays you to complete online surveys and other tasks.
They have an easy-to-navigate website and their application process is quick. You’ll get 100 points just for signing up, and then they have a bunch of “get to know him” questions that take just a few minutes to complete, but earn you another 10-50 points each for these quick surveys.
Brand Survey also has badges that work like a loyalty program.
There are three levels to earn as an inquirer: Bronze, Silver, and Gold. Levels go up by collecting credits for each completed survey, and other tasks – like referring friends and family. Higher levels unlock more earning potential and better inquiry opportunities.
Redeeming your points is really easy, and you can get money sent to your PayPal account, use Branded Pay (which is just a US bank transfer), or redeem a bunch of different gift card offers.
One downside of Branded Survey is that some surveys take you off their platform to complete. Other sites may be slower or more difficult to use than the main Branded Survey site, which can be annoying.
Eligibility: To join this survey site, you must be 16 years old and live in the US, UK, or Canada.
Avg Payout (Per Survey)Payment methodMin To Cash Out
up to 300 points ($3) PayPal or Gift Cards $10
Start Now:
- Enrollment at Branded
- Read our full review of Brand Surveys
Swagbucks $5 Welcome Bonus
Swagbucks is a fun rewards program that allows you to earn points by shopping online, searching the web, watching videos, etc. Also, you can use Swagbucks to take surveys for money. It’s really simple.
If you decide that searches for money aren’t worth your time, at the very least you can use the Swagbucks search engine to do your regular daily web browsing. It’s a brainless activity because you’re doing it anyway – you might as well get paid for it!
After you sign up to become a free Swagbucks member, you can start taking surveys to share opinions and earn Swagbucks Points (SB). Points can be redeemed for cash back or free gift cards.
SwagBucks offers tens of thousands of paid polling opportunities every day. It is one of the biggest and most legitimate platforms available.
Eligibility: The minimum age required to join Swagbucks is 13 years old. But they strongly advise that any minor should obtain permission from a parent or guardian before registering and reviewing inquiry opportunities.
Avg Payout (By Inquiry)Payment MethodMin To Cash Out
$0.40 – $2 PayPal or Gift Cards $3 for gift cards; $25 to PayPal
Start Now:
- Subscribe to Swagbucks
- Read our entire Swagbucks review
LifePoints
LifePoints is one of the world’s most influential communities and has awarded its members $28 million in the last year alone.
Compared to other survey sites, qualifying for paid surveys on LifePoints is a little easier. This is a key factor when signing up with any online survey company.
Most of your surveys can be completed in 10 minutes or less. This can lead to a slightly lower payout per survey; however, the ROI on your time is comparable and you won’t have to worry about being connected to any survey for 30 minutes or more.
Eligibility: To join LifePoints you must be 16 years of age and live in the US or Canada.
Avg Payout (By Inquiry)Payment MethodMin To Cash Out
$0.60 – $1 PayPal $20
Start Now:
- subscribe to LifePoints
- Read our full LifePoints review
MyPoints $10 bonus
MeuPontos, like InboxDollars, is a platform that allows you to earn gift cards to answer surveys, take polls, watch videos, and many other online activities (even shopping!).
What I like about MyPoints is that you earn some points even when you don’t qualify for the survey, and they offer a welcome bonus which is either a $10 Amazon Gift Card or a $10 Visa Gift Card.
What I don’t like is that many offers will take you away from the MyPoints portal and to third party sites, which can be less intuitive than some of the other platforms.
Opinion Outpost
A company with a low payout threshold and simple design, Opinion Outpost is easy for paid survey beginners. It works on a points system, and you can withdraw money from your PayPal account or gift cards, making it flexible too.
They have a pretty high number of paid online surveys available on any given day, increasing the odds of qualifying for at least a few. But, the average earnings are quite low. If you can only commit to one site, then the Opinion Post is certainly worth exploring.
Vindale Research $1 Welcome Bonus
Unlike many other paid survey sites, Vindale Research does not use points. Instead, they display cash compensation, making it easy to see exactly what you can win.
Paid surveys can earn you between $0.50 and $50, depending on duration (or time requirement), topic, and demographic criteria. Not a ton of extra income, but it all adds up over time.
Vindale also has other earning opportunities in addition to surveys, giving you a bit of variety as well.
Pinecone Research
Pinecone Research is one of the most coveted paid online survey sites around.
All surveys pay a minimum of $3, and typically only take about 15 minutes to complete. Also, you may have the opportunity to test products (keep the articles), which can be fun. The trick is that Pinecone Research can be difficult to qualify because it restricts access to only certain demographics (which change, based on who they are targeting at the time).
Additionally, each survey is by invitation only, so you typically only get a few survey opportunities per month. Fortunately, you are guaranteed to qualify for the surveys you take. They send you pre-qualification questions every month. Once you fill them in, only the surveys you qualify for will be sent to you. So, unlike other sites, there’s no need to worry about wasting time on a survey only to find you’ve been disqualified.
As one of the polling sites with the highest ROI, I definitely recommend applying to the platform if you fall into one or more of the following demographics:
- 18-24
- Male>/li>
- Hispanic
- high school or less
- asian
Even if you don’t fit these demographics, it’s worth signing up anyway, because signing up is free and the target audience changes constantly.
- Regular Membership Eligibility: Pinecone Research is available in the US, UK, Canada, Germany and France, and you have a minimum age of 18.
Ipsos I-Say Panel
One of the largest online survey sites, I-Say by Ipsos allows you to earn points that you can redeem, typically for Amazon gift cards, Paypal, cash, or merchandise. Also, all members are entered into prize draws, which is a nice bonus feature.
Comparatively speaking, the minimum reward threshold is quite low, so you can actually get gift cards very quickly. You can also use your points to buy goods such as household items, sports equipment, beauty products or other equipment. If you don’t have enough points to cover the purchase of an item, you can simply pay the difference in cash from your PayPal account. This is a fantastic feature, because you can always put your points to use, no matter how small.
Another cool thing about Ipsos is that they give you loyalty points as you hit survey milestones. For example, after completing 5 surveys, you get 25 points. With 100 polls, you get 300 points. They also offer lots of sweepstakes opportunities and other fun contests for prizes.
OneOpinion
With one of the fastest sign-up processes around, you’re ready to get paid to take surveys on OneOpinion in as little as a minute. You will earn points as you complete them, with 1,000 points equal to $1,
After receiving up to 25,000 points, which is equal to $25, you can request a cash withdrawal. You can get gift cards or a PayPal account transfer, giving you some flexibility as to how you want to be compensated.
One very important thing to keep in mind about OneOpinion is that if you don’t take surveys for a period of 90 days, your account will be switched to an “inactive status”. If you still have no account activity for another 90 days (180 days in total), they will completely remove your account and you will lose any credits or points on your account. Keep this in mind when signing up and starting to build up points. You don’t want to lose your hard-earned money due to inactivity.
Eligibility: OneOpinion requires you to be at least 13 years of age, and if you are under 18 years of age you must obtain parental consent to join and use the site.
Survey Club
Survey Club is a little different from other companies. Rather than hosting paid surveys themselves, they act as an intermediary or marketplace to help link users to available surveys. While you earn money through Survey Club, paid surveys are technically hosted elsewhere.
This means that you can earn less than if you had conducted the survey through the main site, but it can also save you a lot of time, making it a potentially rewarding trade-off.
In addition to paid online surveys, they also feature local market research offerings. These are tailored to you based on your demographics, and are displayed on your “Available Offers” page after creating a free profile.
What I like about Survey Club is that they take a lot of the research work out of the way so you can easily find the surveys and market studies that interest you most. This also saves you from joining multiple surveys for money sites, as some of them are shown to you within the Survey Club system.
Harris Poll Online
Harris Poll is one of the oldest and most reliable polls in the world. His research is so prestigious that it is regularly used for large national and international studies.
Getting started with Harris Poll Online takes a little longer than some other paid polling platforms, but its clean interface makes it well worth the effort. Once you have collected enough points, you can withdraw cash for gift cards or e-vouchers. You can also donate your points to charity, which is a pretty unique option.
Another interesting feature is that Harris has sweepstakes contests that he automatically participates in, even if he is disqualified through an individual inquiry process.
Valued Opinions
One of the largest market research groups, Valued Opinions offers points that can be converted into gift cards as compensation. While you may not see a lot of surveys, your odds of qualifying for the ones you do are relatively high.
The Valued Opinions platform uses your profile information to help you match opportunities, so you only see relevant paid surveys on your dashboard. The site is also fully mobile, so you can take surveys and even update your profile information on the go.
In most cases, you earn between $1 and $5 for every paid online survey, and it takes around 15 to 20 minutes to complete. Not bad at all! When you receive a new survey invitation by email, it includes information about how long the survey will take approximately, as well as the time frame for responding to the survey.
