Are you wondering if legit survey sites that pay actually exist? I was wondering the exact same thing, so I set out to answer the question by doing my own online experiment.

I’d read about dozens of online survey websites, many of which featured testimonials from people claiming to have made thousands of dollars from taking online surveys.

But let’s be honest, you can set up a legit-looking website in less than a day, buy some stock photos of people and write fake testimonials… I’m not saying that any of these sites actually did that, but what I am saying is that I wanted to find out the truth for myself.

So Can You Really Make Money Taking Online Surveys?

The answer to this question is… yes! You definitely can make money taking online surveys – I did.

In total, I made $183.78 which isn’t too bad for one month. Obviously, it’s not going to replace a full-time income, but I don’t think that’s really anyone’s expectation when they sign up for a survey site – it’s more a way to make some supplemental income or a side hustle.

However, over $180 for a couple of hours a week isn’t bad at all, in my opinion.

Tips For Successful Survey Taking

Always Be Honest

When you’re joining an online survey site, they’ll usually ask you some questions to best match you with surveys. The questions will be things like, total household income, marital status, how many kids do you have, pet ownership questions, what vehicle do you drive, etc.

Make sure you answer all of these questions honestly, because the whole point of companies paying for surveys to be completed is to perform market research. If you’re dishonest, the results will be skewed.

Plus you never know what a company is looking for, so if you say you have no kids when really you have 3 kids, then you’d end up being discluded from kid-related surveys, and vice versa.

You may also want to try these 10+ legit surveys for cash!

Get a Separate Email Address

I’d recommend getting a new, free email address from gmail or somewhere similar, because you’ll find that your inbox will be bombarded with survey offers.

This is a good thing because the more survey offers you receive, the more money you’ll make. But you don’t want to have your regular inbox overflowing either, so get a separate email address just for surveys.

Sign Up for All of the Sites Below

Each survey site will have different surveys, be partnered with different companies, and be looking for different people. So your best bet is to sign up for all of the sites below.

That’s exactly what I did and I was always getting new paid surveys (to the point where I didn’t have enough time to do them all.)

Never Pay to Join a Survey Site

The point of joining a survey site is for you to earn money, not for you to spend money. Legitimate survey sites will never ask for your credit card details as a requirement for signing up, so if you come across a site that does that, run.

So with that being said, here’s what you’ve been waiting for. The best, legitimate survey sites that actually pay.

The Top 5 Legit Survey Sites That pay

Swagbucks 

(easily my favorite, and the one I’d recommend if you were to only choose one survey site)

Swagbucks is a great way to earn extra cash, but it’s actually a lot more than just surveys. You can earn cash for performing online searches, watching videos, completing polls and of course, completing surveys. (I didn’t originally sign up for Swagbucks as part of my experiment – I found out about them a bit later. They quickly shot up to the top of the list, though, which is why I had to include them!)

Here’s the link to join Swagbucks.

Survey Junkie

Survey Junkie is incredibly popular (they have over three million members!) With Survey Junkie, you just fill out your online profile and then they’ll match you to surveys that fit your demographics.

You’ll earn points for completing surveys which you can then redeem for cash via PayPal or gift cards. (Read: Is Survey Junkie legit?)

Join Survey Junkie here.

Inbox Dollars

Inbox Dollars is a fun site with a great user interface, and really easy to navigate. Just like Swagbucks, there are plenty of options to make money beyond just taking surveys – you can get paid to read emails, answer poll questions, search the web, complete product offers, and spin Billy’s “Spin to Win” wheel (my favorite!) There are also online sweeps you can enter (which don’t cost you a dime, you just use the sweepstake entries you earn.)

Click here to join Inbox Dollars (and get a $5 sign up bonus!)

ACOP

American Consumer Opinion is different from Swagbucks and Inbox Dollars in that they are solely a survey site, so there are no polls, online searches, videos, etc. Still, American Consumer Opinion is a good site to earn some extra cash.

Click here to sign up.

Vindale Research

Vindale Research have been around forever and while they don’t offer as fun an experience as I find Swagbucks and Inbox Dollars do, they do always seem to have relatively high paying surveys in their dashboard. You could easily make $10 or $20 while you’re sitting on the couch watching TV in the evening.

Click here to join Vindale Research.

If you’re looking for a relatively quick, easy way to earn some supplemental income, taking online surveys can be a great way to do this. Obviously you’re not going to get rich, but it’s a nice way to earn a bit of extra cash.