Personally, I’m not a big fan of survey websites. I find them to be all talk and no action. And by action, I mean the action of cash going into my bank account. That said, I know there are definitely some people out there that make real cold hard cash. So I decided to do some research and find the best survey sites out there for those of you that are looking to make a little extra moolah.
Survey Junkie
As far as I can tell, Survey Junkie is the best survey site out there. It’s free to use, easy to sign up for and pretty straightforward as far as survey sites go for. You can cash your points out for various gift cards including Amazon and PayPal. The best part is you only need 1,000 points before you can cash out for the equivalent of $10.
The one thing I will note is that I tried it out and did a few surveys (pretty easy and relatively quick), but a number of the surveys took around 20 minutes and were worth the equivalent of around 90 points. Plus, I found they ran out of surveys for my demographic really quickly. That said, they might have more for you!
i-Say (IPSOS)
i-Say (IPSOS) is probably one of the most reputable best-paying survey sites out there, owned by highly regarded market research firm IPSOS. From my research, you get somewhere around 100 points per survey. You can cash out once you’ve reached $10 and you can turn it into cash via PayPay.
However, some of the reviews from survey participants read that they take a long time to load and they find that they often disqualify for surveys before they start taking them. And, while I haven’t tried i-Say in the last year or so, I did give it a try a while back and found my experience to be the same. That said, there are a lot of survey options available for new participants.
MySurvey
MySurvey is one of those survey sites that I also tried a while back (trust me, I tried pretty much all of them) and my experience was kind of the same as Survey Junkie. As a single woman with a graduate degree and a background in marketing, I don’t check a lot of their boxes for survey participants.
That said, I took a look around at some other reviews on the site, and people seem to like it. Compared to other survey sites it seems to pay relatively well. It’s estimated that if you continuously took surveys, you could make somewhere around $4, which is on par with i-Say. And you can get payment in the form of a cash transfer, PayPal or a variety of gift cards. So, from what I gather MySurvey is considered one of the best survey sites out there.
Branded Surveys
Branded Surveys is another one that people tout as being one of the best survey sites. You get a small amount just for signing up and filling in the first survey (100 points I believe) and their surveys are considerably less boring than most. I had never heard of this website, so I thought I would give it a try.
I liked their surveys better than most of the other survey sites I’ve visited but they took forever to load, and one “quick” survey took close to 30 minutes. That said, while most of the feedback that I found said that it’s not the best of the best survey sites out there it is one to sign up for if you’re spreading your proverbial survey wings.
Even the Best Survey Sites Don’t Pay Well
I feel compelled to share that even the best survey sites don’t pay well. If you can manage to take four surveys an hour and get a reward of 100 points each survey, it will take you about two and a half hours to make $10, which is the equivalent of $4.
Personally, that’s not the life for me — I’d rather watch reruns of The Man in the High Castle… But, if you are a person who likes taking surveys and would rather do so for cash than no cash (honestly, who wouldn’t) then you might consider trading in those Facebook and Buzzfeed quizzes for surveys that actually pay.
P.S. Anything that cashes out in PayPal will have the PayPal fee attached to it so you won’t get quite as much as you’re expecting, just a heads up!
Are you an avid surveyer? What are your favorite sites?
Looking for Ways to Save Money?
- How To Get a Month of Free Food: 9 Meal Kit Companies Offering Discounts to New Customers
- Find a Savings Challenge for the New Year
- Can Being Environmentally Friendly Save You Money?
- Best Survey Sites For Canadians
Tae started out as a journalist before following the money into the corporate world. But it turns out that the grass isn’t always greener and now you can find her spending most of her time writing about all the things she loves. Namely, money, travel and business with a hefty dose of self-deprecating humor. She is a podcast fanatic, blogging aficionado and loves to find new ways to turn passions into cold hard cash!