Online surveys have long dominated the side hustle sphere, and for good reason. They are simple, have little to no learning curve, and thus have few barriers to entry. Yet, in most cases, they are far from worthy of being called a side hustle, and in fact, pay less than the minimum hourly wage.
This isn’t too bad for just sharing your two cents with businesses and market research professionals, often in between Netflix binges to pay for the takeout (although it probably won’t even cover the cost of the takeout).
However, for those of you looking to earn serious dough by sharing your opinions, certain opportunities can make this a legitimate side hustle. They are hard to come by and require more effort, but in this guide, we’ve identified 20 such high-paying surveys in 2025 to get you rolling.
Understanding online surveys
Despite having access to large swathes of consumer data, businesses still value the direct opinions expressed by consumers on various products, services, concepts, and trends. Such surveys are similarly used for political polling, research purposes, and more.
This task is then outsourced to market research companies, who in turn work with survey platforms such as Survey Junkie and Swagbucks to reach a wide cross-section of participants.
By filling out surveys on such platforms, you stand to make anywhere between $0.25 and $3 per survey, with each taking about 15 minutes of your time to complete. So yes, not a lot; it’s barely a little, but with regular effort, alongside offers and bonuses, some users claim to have hit $1,000 in a single month.
There is another side to online surveys, one that can pay you good money, ranging from $50 to $1,500 with a couple of hours of effort.
However, on the flip side, these surveys aren’t as welcoming as the lower-paying ones and often come with very narrow qualification criteria revolving around your age, education, profession, experience, and more.
The highest-paying online surveys to try out in 2025
Spend enough time in the side hustle community, and you’ll soon realize that there is no such thing as a free lunch or easy money for that matter. If you want to earn more money, you have to bring more value to the table, there is no way around it.
The services we’ve covered below do pay significantly higher than traditional surveys and platforms, but they certainly will extract their money’s worth from you. So, here’s our guide on the highest-paying online survey platforms that are making waves (and filling pockets) well into 2025.
1. Pinecone Research
Owned and operated by the world-renowned Nielsen Holdings, Pinecone began all the way back in 1998 and has made quite a name for itself over the years.
Once you become a member on the platform, you’ll be sent an email when there is a survey relevant to your profile, and alongside this, you also have the opportunity to have new products sent to your home for testing and feedback, months before they are released to the general public.
Requirements: Pinecone Research is a lot harder to get into compared to others on this list because you need to be invited by existing members, following which your profile undergoes a rigorous evaluation before being approved.
You also need to be based out of the US, UK, or Canada to get in, which shuts the door on most of the world’s population.
Earnings: According to users, each survey takes an average of 15 to 20 minutes to finish and pays around $3, which makes $10 per hour well within reach. However, most users report getting fewer and fewer qualifying surveys of late, so the overall earning potential seems to be wearing thin.
Payment options: You can request a payout as soon as you hit $3, and have the option of cashing out via PayPal or gift cards such as Amazon, Apple Store, etc.
2. Valued Opinions
Another leading online survey platform that is owned by a large data analytics company, Valued Opinions has made a name for itself as one of the better-paying options out there.
Like Pinecone, it sends out opportunities to members who match the necessary demographics and other requirements. In addition to this, there are diary studies, where you’re asked to fill out information regarding a certain topic throughout the day, followed by focus groups.
Requirements: Valued Opinions is available for users in 20 countries, but the rates and offers vary widely depending on where you’re located. It also features membership levels, with most users starting off with Bronze, and going all the way up to Diamond once they hit $75 in lifetime earnings.
Earnings: This is certainly one of the better-paying options out there, but still nowhere close to a full-time income. Once you get to the Diamond level, which unlocks the bonuses and full extent of offers available, users can make $80 to $100 a month.
Payment options: It does not offer PayPal at the moment, which is a significant drawback, and most payouts are via gift cards for marketplaces such as Amazon, Penneys, and Homesense, among others.
3. Prime Opinion
According to seasoned hustlers and 10s of thousands of 5-star reviews on TrustPilot, Prime Opinion consistently pays 150% above average for users taking simple 5- to 10-minute surveys on a range of different topics.
A relative newcomer in this space, the service has quickly made a name for itself, thanks to its high payouts, responsive support, and quality overall experiences.
Requirements: The service currently accepts just a handful of countries. Beyond the usual US, UK, Canada, and Australia, it also takes in users from Thailand, Brazil, the Philippines, and Vietnam. If you’re located in any of these countries, the sign-up process should be pretty straightforward.
Earnings: You can earn as much as $5 for simple surveys, which is significantly higher than the averages in this business. Aside from this, there are monthly leaderboards where top earners stand to win prizes and bonuses reaching as high as $1,000.
Payment options: The platform offers quick payments via PayPal, prepaid Visa cards, and gift cards for Amazon, eBay, Uber, Walmart, and Home Depot, among several others.
4. Prolific Academic
Prolific offers a great way to make some extra money while helping advance scientific research, which is certainly a lot more satisfying than merely helping companies sell more of their products.
You essentially take part in studies ranging from ‘Changing Attitudes To COVID Restrictions’ to ‘Financial Decision-Making Heuristics’ which can take anywhere from 5 to 45 minutes of your time.
Requirements: Right now, due to massive demand, new potential users have been waitlisted, but once you get your name into its system, the company does open its doors every few days to let new participants in.
Earnings: The beauty of Prolific is that there is no risk of being screened out or disqualified after completing a study since you’re only shown studies that you are qualified to take up.
This ensures that you don’t waste any time. Depending on how much time you can spare for this, it is very much possible to earn as much as $200 per month. According to current users, anyone can easily make $8 per hour using the platform.
Payment options: The service pays you in cash and via PayPal, often within 48 hours of requesting a withdrawal. So, you don’t have to worry about being paid in points, vouchers, or gift cards instead of real cash.
5. Verasight
Another survey platform with a focus on academia, Verasight is relatively less popular compared to peers, but it has since made a name for itself thanks to its industry-leading payouts.
The platform delivers offers right to your inbox, and you will then have to undergo the qualification process to see if you are right for a particular study. If you’re not qualified, you will still be compensated for your time.
Requirements: The site doesn’t seem to have any restrictions based on which country you’re from, which is great. All you have to do is visit Verasight, click on ‘Sign Up’, and then follow through the next few steps.
Earnings: According to current users, the site pays as much as $3 to $5 for simple surveys, going significantly higher for those that take more time or have more complicated requirements. This easily makes it one of the top-paying survey sites on this list.
Payment options: The payment threshold stands at 10,000 points or $10, which can be withdrawn directly to your PayPal or Venmo account.
While all of this sounds great, in recent months there have been growing concerns regarding the lack of sufficient offers, which has left users unable to reach the threshold for months at a time.
6. Branded Surveys
Branded Surveys certainly isn’t the top-paying survey site. It does rank high among the lower-paying options, however, and it does occasionally feature opportunities that pay in the range of $3 to $5 per survey, so we think it’s worth a mention.
The service has been around for quite some time and has a 4-star rating on TrustPilot from across 100,000 users. Yet, there are certain annoying aspects of the platform, with some users complaining of being disqualified for a survey after spending nearly 20 minutes filling out details.
Requirements: Branded Surveys currently accepts only those who are 16 years and above, and are located in the US, UK, and Canada, which is a bummer.
Earnings: You can earn anywhere between $0.50 and $5 per survey, with the former being more likely than the latter.
Payment options: Users need to accumulate a minimum of 500 points or $5 before requesting a payout. This can be withdrawn within 48 hours via PayPal or using gift cards for services such as Airbnb, Apple, Walmart, Amazon, Target, Starbucks, and several others.
7. Survey Junkie
An incredibly popular service, especially of late, but a lower-paying one nonetheless, Survey Junkie calls for a mention, given that it tops most other ‘Top 10 Survey…’ lists. This could, however, be the result of its lucrative affiliate program.
Yet, it features strong 4+ star ratings across TrustPilot, the App Store, and Google Play Store with tens of thousands of reviews, so it certainly is legit.
Requirements: The service only caters to users located in the US, Canada, and Australia; there used to be a UK version of the site, which has since shut down. If you’re located in any of these countries, signing up for the site is pretty straightforward.
Earnings: Users can earn $0.50 to $3 per survey, which isn’t a lot, but unlike others on this list, it offers more volume of opportunities. Along with its offers and bonuses, $90 to $100 a month is well within reach.
Payment options: The service has a $5 minimum threshold, after which you can initiate a withdrawal via PayPal, bank transfer, or gift cards.
8. Swagbucks
Another list topper that ironically doesn’t do so well when it comes to survey payouts. Swagbucks is still a superstar in the side-hustle community, largely because it offers so much more than just surveys, which have since resulted in over $600,000,000 in payouts.
Requirements: The site allows users from most countries in the Americas, Europe, and Asia, and continues to expand in other regions. The offers you receive and the payouts will of course depend to a great extent on where you’re located, with users from tier-1 countries receiving the best.
Earnings: Swagbucks allows users to make money from games, polls, downloading apps, and so much more than just surveys. As a result, the platform itself claims that users can make as much as $5 per day, while the surveys themselves pay anywhere from $0.50 to $2.50.
Payment options: While it has a higher threshold of $25, this figure is relatively easy to reach on the platform. It offers payouts via PayPal, along with gift cards and coupons.
9. Respondent.io
Respondent is another site that matches researchers with participants, with a wide variety of studies that range from a few minutes to a couple of days in length.
The platform has good reviews on several sites, but only a 1.5-star rating on TrustPilot from over 100 reviews. Most of these reviews pertain to users who’ve spent quite a bit of time on the site but are yet to qualify for any offers, which can get annoying.
Requirements: In order to sign up with Respondent, you need to be 18 years or older and be located in any of the top 10 tier-1 countries. Even amongst these, the majority of the offers are restricted to users in the United States.
Earnings: Payments are where this platform truly shines, with the site itself making claims of some offers paying as much as $700 an hour. While this might be a stretch or a rather rare occurrence, there certainly are live offers on the site that offer as much as $60 to $100 for an hour of effort.
Payment options: Respondent is a serious platform, and it positions itself as such. So, it does not deal with points, gift cards, or other gimmicks. Payments are withdrawn directly to user PayPal accounts, often within 8 to 10 days.
10. User Interviews
User Interviews calls itself the facilitator of consumer research studies and allows users to earn a sizable income by participating in a variety of studies and focus groups.
This is a reputed platform, with some of its clients being Amazon, Adobe, Spotify, and several other household names. It currently maintains a 4.5-star rating on TrustPilot, alongside a similarly favorable narrative across the broader community.
Requirements: Unfortunately, the site currently works only with a handful of mostly English-speaking tier-1 countries. If you’re in one of these countries, the sign-up process itself is pretty straightforward, but qualifying for studies once you’re in could take a while longer.
Earnings: The studies on this platform aren’t for everyone, and they require quite a bit of effort. They do, however, pay accordingly, with some long-time users claiming to make as much as $100 an hour, with the average consensus somewhere around $65 an hour.
Payment options: Unlike others, each study on the platform has a different mode of payment, with quite a few offering quick payouts via PayPal, while several others offer digital gift cards. The beauty of this site is that you get paid within just 2 to 3 days of completing a particular study; no thresholds, no fuss!
11. eJury
Jury duty probably isn’t something that most of you would look forward to, but what if you were paid for it?
Lawyers preparing for high-stakes court cases need all the help they can get, and a mock jury can help them better prepare for the real thing while trying out their case in front of a diverse online audience, who can offer feedback and useful insights, instead of just reaching a verdict.
Requirements: If you’re 18 years or older and a citizen of the United States, you can sign up for eJury and start working on mock cases and submitting your verdicts right away.
Earnings: Earnings often depend on the length of each case, with most users reporting being paid around $5 to $10 for 35 minutes of effort. The earning potential is, however, limited, owing to the infrequent invites and the need to take up surveys as soon as they arrive.
Payment options: This is a serious service for serious people, so no fancy gift cards, points, or reward systems; just cold hard cash paid out via PayPal.
12. OnlineVerdict
Another service for those of you who cannot get enough of the legal procedurals on Netflix, but unlike eJury, OnlineVerdict isn’t that well known. We were, in fact, hard-pressed to find more than just a handful of reviews regarding the service.
It also offers in-person jury services, in addition to online studies, and this is mainly for people who live near big cities.
Requirements: If you’re 18+ and a citizen of the United States, you can send in your application right away. Chances are you’ll have to sit tight before they reach out to you, if they do.
Earnings: OnlineVerdict offers a significantly better payscale, ranging from $30 to $60 an hour, with total payouts reaching as high as $600 to $700 for long drawn-out studies.
Payment options: The service pays via PayPal and rather quickly, often within just 2 to 3 days following the conclusion of a mock trial or study.
13. Lightster
Lightster is quite similar to several other services on this list, in that it pays users for their honest opinions on various subjects. However, unlike the others on this list, you’ll be required to connect directly with the creators of the survey to offer your opinions via web or mobile devices.
Requirements: Currently, the service is only available in the US and Canada. Once you’ve signed up, you will have to respond to offers by answering certain basic questions, and you will be selected by creators based on the same.
Earnings: The platform pays a little over $10 per session, which doesn’t last more than an hour. However, it’s not easy to get past the qualification stage, and you will have to spend time responding to queries in order to stand a chance of being noticed by the creator.
Payment options: The site doesn’t mention any payment threshold per se, and offers quick payouts within 2 to 3 days via PayPal or Wise, along with Amazon gift cards, and e-Transfer for residents based out of Canada.
14. Product Report Card
As the name suggests, Product Report Card allows users to earn money by sharing honest, well-thought, and comprehensive reviews on various products and services.
The site offers surveys, product reviews, product tests (where you get the product in question for free), comprehensive studies conducted via Zoom, and finally product research, wherein you get paid to input details on a particular product, its pricing, where it is sold, etc.
Requirements: Product Report Card allows residents from 17 different countries to join, and once you’re in, you will have to take the time to complete your profile, based on which offers will be sent out to you.
Earnings: The highest-paying option on the platform is the comprehensive study conducted over Zoom, which can last for 45 minutes to 2 hours, paying as much as $100 to $500 per study. Others don’t pay as much, with surveys mostly paying between $0.50 to $3, but you get free stuff to sweeten the deal!
Payment options: The platform has a relatively high threshold of $25, but offers several standard payout options, such as PayPal, cheques, Amazon gift cards, and more.
15. Experience Dynamics
Experience Dynamics is a user experience and design consultancy where you’re paid to provide opinions and help improve products, services, and overall user experiences.
You will be part of research studies that could involve usability testing, field tests, phone interviews, online focus groups, surveys, and more. Most of them last at least an hour or two, so they require a bit of commitment.
Requirements: The service works with a wide range of people from all walks of life, including people who are new to the internet, those suffering from disabilities, and experienced IT professionals, among others.
Earnings: You stand to make anywhere between $50 to $150 per study. However, it’s not that easy to get invited because, in addition to needing your qualifications to match, there are fewer opportunities and a big waiting list.
Payment options: Experience Dynamics is one of the few services that pay via direct bank transfers, with no other option on the table. Whether this is for the best or an inconvenience depends on each individual user.
16. Field Work
Field Work is one of the highest-paying platforms on this list, with several research studies for users to participate in. However, as is often the case with such services, there is a catch, and it’s a big one, since several studies that Field Work offers require you to be physically present at one of their offices.
This essentially means that for this platform to be a practical source of income, you don’t just have to be located in the US, but in one of the 11 major cities where it has its offices.
Requirements: In addition to being based out of one of these 11 major US cities, Field Work has tough qualification requirements, which makes it hard for opportunities to come by, even if everything else falls into place.
Earnings: Depending on the length of the study and the complexity of each topic, participants can expect to earn anywhere between $100 and $500.
Payment options: In most cases, participants are just paid in cash as soon as they complete a study, but the service also offers prepaid Visa cards.
17. Recruit & Field
Recruit & Field is not your ordinary survey site where you answer a few generic questions and get paid a few cents for your efforts. While it does offer such opportunities, it is so much more, with phone, Zoom, and face-to-face interviews, alongside shop-along studies, and online and in-person focus groups.
The site has 4.5- to 5.0-star reviews on several different platforms, with many raving testimonials from users, so it certainly is a legit way to make money by giving your opinions.
Requirements: It offers separate registration forms for participants located in the US and other countries, which only goes to show that it does accept people from other countries. That being said, most offers are only available to participants in the US and other tier-1 countries.
Earnings: Surveys and studies on the platform range from $5 to $100 depending on the time required and complexity.
Payment options: The service doesn’t have a payment threshold and offers quick payments via PayPal or ecards often within 24 to 48 hours of completing a study.
18. Rare Patient Voice
This is a unique market research company that connects patients with rare diseases or unusual injuries and their caretakers with researchers and healthcare companies.
Patients and their caregivers are paid for answering questions regarding their diseases, their lifestyles, treatments, and more, and as you can expect, the pay here can be rather substantial, even if it is hard to come by for most people.
Requirements: The site allows participants from across the EU, North America, and Oceania countries to register.
It requires information regarding your medical condition, or that of the patient you are caring for, and the approval process could drag on for as long as 3 to 4 weeks, making this a bit annoying.
Earnings: This is a high-paying site that offers participants $100 to $300 for quick studies that don’t take more than an hour of your time.
Offers that match your qualifications or unique medical condition are still quite infrequent, but given the smaller pool of participants, you do stand a better chance here, relative to the other sites on this list.
Payment options: The platform has no threshold, and if you stay in the US you can get paid via a check, and if you stay in other approved nations, it allows for prepaid Mastercard and Visa cards, alongside Amazon gift cards.
19. M3 Global Research
This is a market research service that specializes in recruiting participants and collecting data from the healthcare community. As you can expect, this is clearly the best of the best in terms of payments, but there is a significant barrier to entry that shuts off most people.
M3 Global Research has built a sound reputation over the years, with raving reviews and testimonials from the medical community.
Requirements: The service doesn’t mention any geographic restrictions, but it seems a vast majority of the opportunities are for residents of the US, UK, Canada, and Australia; the usual suspects!
If you’re a healthcare professional located elsewhere, you can still give it a try, but offers look to be fewer and far between.
Earnings: When it comes to the best-paying survey sites, M3 Global pretty much dominates with $50 to $300 in payouts for just 30- to 60-minute-long surveys and studies.
Payment options: Participants on the platform have the option to choose between a cheque sent via postal mail, a prepaid M3 Global debit card, and an Amazon gift card to cash out their earnings.
20. Sermo Surveys
Speaking of medical professionals and their invaluable opinions, Sermo began as a social networking site and is now the most lucrative platform for physicians looking for a side hustle to augment their earnings.
A total of 360,000 cases are solved on the platform each year, with questions ranging from something as simple as ‘Should I join a large hospital or continue solo practice?’ to ‘What are the best practices for improving cash flow between Medicaid and Medicare?’
Requirements: The platform predominantly caters to physicians and already has over 1 million verified doctors on board from 30-plus different countries.
It does occasionally take in physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and other healthcare providers, but there is no clarity on its policy in this regard.
Earnings: Sermo pays $35 to $100 for surveys that take 30 minutes to 1 hour to answer. While this might sound low relative to what M3 Global offers, it makes up for it with its sheer volume of offers.
The platform itself claims earnings of over $15,000 a year for certain highly active participants, and we’ve come across several forums and subreddits where doctors claim to regularly earn over $500 per month.
Payment options: Users have several payout options to choose from, with PayPal, Amazon gift cards, bank transfers, and more. You also have the option to donate either all or part of your earnings to Doctors Without Borders.
How much can you make with online surveys?
If there is one takeaway from this article, it is that online surveys can barely supplement your earnings, let alone replace your day job. Even if you are a highly qualified professional, such as a medical doctor, answering surveys online can at best pay for the bar tab.
Several people have gone all out on online surveys, building robust systems and spending hours at a time trying to maximize their earnings. However, in the end, the best they can do is about $1,500 per month.
Such earnings are only possible in tier-1 countries such as the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, among a few others, and $1,500 isn’t worth all that much in these countries, especially given the amount of time and effort required to hit such figures.
Tips to maximize your earnings with online surveys
So if you’re still committed to online surveys as a side hustle, here are some tricks of the trade that veteran hustlers swear by.
- Work with multiple platforms: You probably realize by now that signing up to just one survey platform isn’t going to cut it. You will have to work with multiple platforms to have a steady flow of offers coming your way. Use the services listed in this article and consider exploring each of them in-depth with more thorough reviews before signing up for the ones that seem like the best fit.
- Create a dedicated email account: If you’re working with multiple platforms, it is recommended to create a separate email ID, particularly for your online surveys side hustle. Keep in mind that this is not a fake email, just a separate one, and thus should include your name and identity so that it is not tagged as spam. This makes it easy to stay on top of new offers and act quickly when opportunities arrive, which is crucial since many of them operate on the ‘fastest fingers first’ principle.
- Keep track of platforms and offers: When working with multiple sites, offers, and programs, it is easy to lose track of things. A few weeks after starting you will find that certain sites are clearly more profitable than others, and to scale this up, you will need to be able to dedicate more resources towards such sites.
- Be honest: It is often tempting to exaggerate about yourself on things such as your income, qualifications, job, or experience in order to land more paying gigs. This never works in the long run, and these platforms have seen it all and can whiff out such fakery almost immediately. It is best to be honest and maintain your integrity throughout the process.
- Be consistent: Don’t get dismayed or give up within a few days of slim pickings. It takes a while to get qualified offers that also pay well. Some platforms also tend to reward participants who stick around for longer, with bonuses and higher-paying offers.
So there you have it. Surveys certainly are legitimate options for making money with your free time, without any investment or learning curve involved. Certain platforms pay remarkably well, but in the end, there is a limit to how much you can earn from them.
None of these sites will make you rich, but as a stepping stone for bigger and better online side hustles, they aren’t half bad!
Learn how to make real money online with Whop
Making money via surveys online is certainly enticing, but give it some time and you’ll realize that this is not scalable or even viable as a consistent side hustle. If you’re looking for ways to make money online, countless better options exist.
A quick glance through Whop and you’ll see countless communities aimed at helping people with various side hustles. From ecommerce and dropshipping to good old-fashioned freelancing, there is a community for everyone and every niche.
You may not know where to start when it comes to earning online, but these expert-led communities will help you find a money-making avenue that is lucrative and works with your skills.
