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I absolutely love completing paid surveys. These are a welcome break from my blogging day, where I can still earn some money, and also sometimes help participate in market research, focus groups and more.
When I have spoke about completing paid surveys in the past people have assumed that I just complete surveys for 10p, or some other paltry amount. I personally pick and choose which surveys I complete, and aim to maximise my time when completing surveys to make the most money I can with the time I want to spare.
Being selective about the companies that you use, and the particularly surveys that you complete, can help you to make the most of your time and earn at least £100 a month from paid surveys, if not more.
You won’t get rich quick, or make a full-time income without a HUGE amount of work, effort and hours, but this is a great way to side hustle a little money for your family, perhaps to save for Christmas or another event.
My top 5 survey websites:
Prolific – Join now
This is my absolutely favourite website! I love completing paid surveys on Prolific. It is free to join, has a handy browser add on to alert you when there are new studies and they don’t really have survey disqualifications either!
What I love about Prolific is that you know, in advance of starting the survey, the total fee, and how long the study is going to take.
I also love that Prolific studies are often used for academic research, and often participating in the surveys can make a real difference to academic studies, research projects and much more.
Surveys pay at least £5 per hour, if not more, and I’ve had studies for £20 on occasion too.
Best part of using Prolific: Researchers sometimes pay bonuses. I once had a bonus that was £20, which was amazing! Some of the studies have games within them, and these can directly boost the bonuses, which is fun!
Pinecone Research
I love Pinecone Research, but it is VERY hard to get into! I do have a post on how to join Pinecone Research but the banner within it doesn’t always allow you to sign up, as they are often at capacity and people rarely seem to leave the panel to make way for new panelists.
£3 per survey is the payment for completing paid surveys with Pinecone Research and just for good measure they often have product trials, and you can get to sample items from some top UK brands. Older members of Pinecone earn £4 per survey.
I tend to get a few surveys each month, so no huge amount of money, but they are emailed to me and often have a few days to complete them, which fits well with my schedule where I just complete paid surveys a few times a week now.
Y Live – Join now
Surveys with Y Live pay a minimum of £1 per 5 minutes of time. I personally find that the times quoted, £1 for 5 minutes, £2 for 10 minutes, £3 for 15 minutes etc, are generous, and I can complete surveys quicker than this.
Also, probably 1/4 of each of the surveys I do tends to just be attention checks, asking my date of birth, profession, if I play sports etc, and then near the end of the study some of the same questions again, just to check I’m not lying!
I find the studies really simple, and love to give my opinion. I receive a couple of hundred pounds a year from Y Live and they’ve finally switched to Bacs in the past year which has been a great change from having to deposit a paper cheque in the bank!
Ysense (Previously Clixsense) – *Join now
This is a get paid to website, so a little different, but it has lots of surveys on the site too. I tend to visit a couple of times a week, and check in to see what I can find.
There are a number of different offer walls on Ysense, offering surveys, and so I look through these. Some surveys are lower paid, such as 30 cents, but some are as high as $5.
I have been a member for a number of years now and only received a handful of surveys that did not credit my account properly. This may have been because I had completed them elsewhere, which isn’t allowed, but it wouldn’t have been intentional!
I’ve made over $5,000 in the time that I’ve been a member, and while I’m not as prolific here as I used to be, I still find it easy to make a few dollars when I drop in completing offers and paid surveys.
YouGov – *Join now
You may well have already heard the name YouGov, as they have a LOT of dealings with politics. I love this, as it makes some of the studies really interesting to me. I WILL say that YouGov is not the most well paid, with a lot of studies just being worth 50p – £2, but I really enjoy giving my opinion on policies and more.
I have tested products through YouGov, and took part in focus groups too. This has been really interesting, and often the payments are £30-£50.
The surveys here are varied, but there are definitely quieter times too. If there is a local or national election coming up then the surveys are frequent. Also, there are television viewing panels and more that you can get into as part of your survey completions.
Tips for earning more from surveys:
I have fantastic survey demographics and follow my own top tips for completing surveys. By working smart, fast, and limiting the companies I use I am able to maximise my survey earnings.
I typically spend around 1-2 hours per day, a couple of days a week, on surveys. Surveys are emailed to me throughout the day and then I work through them in one go. I delete small paying surveys, or ones that state they will take a long time for a small reward.
Be honest! You’ll get caught out if you attempt to lie about your location, survey demographics or just on a particular survey. Often surveys have attention checks or test questions within them that are designed to check if you’re paying attention, or possibly giving false information. You may be removed from survey panels if you’re caught out doing this so I don’t advise it!
Which survey websites pay the most?
I personally find that Prolific, Pinecone Research and Populuslive pay the most per minute of my time for surveys completed. Sometimes the studies can be few and far between but it all adds up!
Looking for survey websites that pay?
Obviously the above websites pay but there are lots of others too. Some of the smaller ones that I enjoy are Onepulse, YourSayPays and Opinium Research.
I’ve got a whole host of posts that I’ve put together in one big master list of ways to make and save money.
If you enjoyed this post I’d love it if you could pin it on Pinterest!

Tommy Boy
Monday 27th of August 2018
Thanks for all the tips and advice, I appreciate it :)
katykicker
Monday 27th of August 2018
You're so welcome. Hope they help you make some money! x
GPTGenies Nikki
Thursday 29th of March 2018
All great sites :) Personally my favourites are Swagbucks and InstaGC, with Prolific coming in a close 3rd :) I love that I made over £4000 in 2017 on survey sites and didn't have to spend my own money for any Birthdays, celebrations or Christmas. Great article, and a couple of sites that have been on my list to play with, so thanks for the reminder!
katykicker
Monday 2nd of April 2018
That's great, well done you!
Tracy Nixon
Wednesday 9th of March 2016
Thanks Katy! I have joined and I'm earning some extra cash!