Close the YouTube cat videos down. Instead spend your spare time earning £100s a year filling out online surveys or testing products.
There are a growing number of research companies out there offering rewards for your opinions, however they're not always as legit as they make out.
With this in mind, we've created a run-down of the trusted survey sites, personally tested by ourselves. We reveal how much you can realistically make from each site and share some helpful tips to maximise your profit.
Legit online survey websites
Each site has a limited number of online surveys each month for each person. If you want to earn serious rewards it's worth signing up to as many surveys for cash as possible.
Swagbucks
Very popular with students, thanks to a wide variety of ways to earn rewards. Exclusive signup bonus!
Who are they? Swagbucks are a reliable survey site who also offer rewards for playing games and watching videos.
Rewards: Cash, vouchers and prize draws.
Amount per survey: 70 points called SB (40p).
Min. reward threshold: 1 SB.
Our review: We love Swagbucks, and we hear positive reviews from our readers about them too. We've found that completing surveys and polls every day provides the best return for your time, however you can also complete a much wider range of offers to bump up your earnings.
Surveys take around 10 minutes to complete, meaning you can earn around £2.40 an hour. Swagbucks also offers users the ability to complete surveys from multiple providers and give consolation points when you don't qualify for a survey. Read our full Swagbucks review.
Toluna
Test, keep products and earn vouchers.
Who are they? A trusted opinion website working on behalf of leading companies. They want to know what you think about certain products, services and issues. In return, you get rewarded!
Rewards: Free products, Amazon vouchers and prize draws.
Amount per survey: 3,000 – 6,000 points (80,000 points gets you a £15 voucher).
Min. reward threshold: 500 for prizes, 80,000 for vouchers.
Our review: You won't be sent products to test all the time, but we have received a couple over the space of a few months. So it's worth signing up just to get freebies 
You can also answer surveys on the site to earn yourself points which equal vouchers. Each survey takes around 15 minutes to complete, so it'll take around 4 hours overall to earn a voucher.
MySurvey
Make £3-5 per hour.
Who are they? A popular consumer panel who are always looking for new members to participate in market research studies for rewards.
Rewards: PayPal payments, Amazon and high-street vouchers.
Amount per survey: Around 100 points.
Min. reward threshold: 345 points (£3).
Our review: Another one worth signing up for. We got lots of surveys sent from these guys, and they tend to match your profile and interests as a consumer.
The average survey takes about 15 minutes to complete, and gives you 100 points. So you could earn around £3-£5/hour.
YouGov
Earn 50p per survey.
Who are they? This is a little different to others, focusing more on social issues and general interest topics. YouGov polls include topics such as politics, public affairs and commercial products. Great if you have big opinions!
Rewards: Cash and prize draws.
Amount per survey: 50p – £3.
Min. reward threshold: £50.
Our review: YouGov is one of the more interesting sites to sign up to because of the kinds of surveys they conduct. Most are on current issues that are in the news and they encourage you to express your views.
Surveys can take up to 30 minutes but are not always that frequent. We received one or two a fortnight, so it can take a few months to hit the threshold. However, you get £1 just for joining and if you get your friends to sign up too you can quickly get lots more points and cash!
Panel Opinion
Low payout threshold.
Who are they? Panel Opinion are one of the most popular survey sites.
Rewards: Cash.
Amount per survey: 50p – £4.
Min. reward threshold: £10.
Our review: The surveys usually take around 10-15 minutes to complete and you can even make up to £4 for a single survey sometimes.
They pay out in cash and have a low payout threshold of just £10.
Ipsos i-Say
Make £10+ a month.
Who are they? One of the largest (and best paying) survey-based market research companies around, working with trusted brands and research companies worldwide.
Rewards: High-street and Amazon Vouchers, plus prize draws for all members.
Amount per survey: ~£1.
Min. reward threshold: £10.
Our review: A well-trusted panel. They send you surveys every week to answer by email. The reward threshold is relatively low, and most people will be able to cash out in under 10 surveys.
Survey Bods
£3 upon sign up and profile completion.
Who are they? SurveyBods work with top companies that want your opinion.
Rewards: Cash, Amazon vouchers and prize draws.
Amount per survey: 50p – £3
Min. reward threshold: £15
Our review: The surveys usually take around 10 minutes and are pretty easy to complete. You have to be as honest as possible as they have a “strike system”. 3 bad surveys and you're out (we like to see it as a challenge).
They're a well trusted site that work with top brands and well worth joining through our link for a £3 cash bonus when signing up. Make sure you complete your profile too. Plus their site is a lot more snazzy than a lot of the others…
Hiving
Good referral scheme.
Who are they? They run surveys on behalf of leading brands.
Rewards: Cash.
Amount per survey: ~50p
Min. reward threshold: £4
Our review: Hiving reward you around 50 points per minute when completing surveys and you can withdraw as soon as you reach 4000 points (£4).
They also reward users for referring friends and give you points even if you are declined for a survey.
PopulusLive
Earn £1 for every 5 mins.
Who are they? They are a big UK survey site who provide stats to the press and current affairs programmes.
Rewards: Cash.
Amount per survey: ~£2.
Min. reward threshold: 50 points (£50).
Our review: PopulusLive are a favourite among the survey taking community because of their decent payout. It can take some time to reach the threshold and surveys run out quickly once they have enough respondents.
It's essential that you fill in your profile fully to get the maximum number of surveys. You also have to be very careful with your answers as they have quality checks in place to make sure you aren't cheating or rushing through.
Global Test Market
Earn £100 per year.
Who are they? This is a well know US survey site but they pay out cheques in £s.
Rewards: Cash, vouchers and prize draws.
Amount per survey: ~£1.20.
Min. reward threshold: 1000 points ($50/£32).
Our review: Surveys take around 15 minutes each so you could be earning £4.80 an hour. Be aware that cheques do take a while to arrive in the post, and we'd recommend not wasting your time with the ‘prize draw' surveys (unless you're feeling very lucky).
The OpinionPanel Community
Members get £10 just for signing up.
Who are they? They are the UK’s largest research panel for students & grads or anyone aged 16-25. They offer interesting surveys and online focus groups for big brands and universities, with their research often reaching the media spotlight!
Rewards: Amazon and high-street (eg Topshop, Topman, River Island) vouchers.
Amount per survey: 50p-£4 per survey, £30 – £50 for online focus groups.
Min. reward threshold: £25
Our review: The OpinionPanel Community are a trusted site and their surveys take around 10 minutes to complete. The majority of surveys tend to pay out around £1-2.
There is also mobile compatibility so you can complete surveys on the go.
PanelBase
Earn £3 just for signing up!
Who are they? PanelBase aren't your average survey site. They don't inundate you with surveys, but the ones they do send are very well paid and relevant to you!
Rewards: Cash, vouchers and prize draws.
Amount per survey: 50p – £10 (avg. ~£1.50).
Min. reward threshold: £10.
Our review: £3 just for signing up to a site is a bit of a no-brainer… The surveys pay out higher than the industry average too which gives you the opportunity to earn some good dough!
However they do select their survey respondents very carefully so you may be sent slightly less opportunities than other sites. Just make sure you fully complete your profile to give yourself the best chance.
Opinion Outpost
One of the lowest payout thresholds.
Who are they? Opinion Outpost have shot up in popularity due to fast payouts and fun surveys.
Rewards: Cash and Amazon Vouchers.
Amount per survey: 50p
Min. reward threshold: £2.50
Our review: You only need to complete 5 surveys to be due a payout and they take around 10-15 minutes each.
Valued Opinions
£10 voucher per hour.
Who are they? Valued Opinions are part of a larger market research group. They send out online surveys to members whose profiles match broad demographics and requirements.
Rewards: Vouchers (inc. Amazon, M&S, Sainsbury’s, John Lewis).
Amount per survey: £1 – £5.
Min. reward threshold: £10.
Our review: First off, signing up with Valued Opinions automatically enters you into a prize draw for an iPad. From there, they use your profile to send you relevant surveys to complete.
The surveys are usually quite interesting, and can take anything from 10-30 minutes each, so within just one hour you could bag yourself a £10 voucher.
Branded Surveys
Online community with frequent global market research surveys
Who are they? Previously known as Mintvine, Branded Surveys are popular due to providing a high volume of surveys.
Rewards: Cash or gift cards.
Amount per survey: Varies.
Min. reward threshold: $10.
Our review: One of our personal favourites. Great new website, easy to use and fast paying.
You can also earn ongoing points for referring friends, where you get a percentage of everything they earn.
MindMover
Interesting surveys on consumer products
Who are they? Mindmover allow you to share your opinions on everything from food to public transport.
Rewards: Cash.
Amount per survey: 50p – £1.50.
Min. reward threshold: £20.
Our review: MindMover is a decent option but it can take a while to build up the points as surveys are sometime few and far between.
It takes around 15 minutes to complete each survey.
iPoll
Mobile compatibility & multiple payout opportunities.
Who are they? iPoll used to be called Survey Heads and are a US based company.
Rewards: Cash, vouchers & magazine subscriptions.
Amount per survey: 40p – £1.70
Min. reward threshold: £20
Our review: It will take you around 15 minutes to complete a survey but the range of rewards are decent.
The only downside is that the amount of surveys tends to be quite low.
Pinecone Research
£3 per survey, invite only.
Who are they? Pinecone are an exclusive survey and product testing company who are invite only.
Rewards: £3 per completed survey, free products to test and keep.
Amount per survey: £3.
Min. reward threshold: £3.
Our review: Pinecone is the Holy Grail of survey sites and invites are rare so it's well worth signing up while we have some invites on offer. The payout is huge and surveys don't take too long to complete. You sometimes get sent products to test and keep too!
Note: There's no guarantee that they will be open to new registrations at any one time, but we try to arrange a limited number for our readers each month. Check the link below. If we don't, join our newsletter for updates.
New Vista Live
Earn £100 per year.
Who are they? A leading marketing research company who have chosen to conduct surveys online rather than traditional cold-calling and so on.
Rewards: Cash and prize draws.
Amount per survey: Around £1 a survey.
Min. reward threshold: £50.
Our review: NewVista offers users cash for completing surveys where 1 point = £1. For some, it can take a while to reach the £50 threshold but the surveys usually take just 15 minutes (so ~£4/hour) and they pay well.
Make sure you answer questions honestly as NewVista are known for chucking in a few red herrings to make sure you're actually thinking rather than speeding through.
Tips for maximising your online survey profit
Rather than just leaving you with a list of online survey sites we wanted to make sure that you get the most out of all of them.
Here's a few ways to make sure you get the maximum rewards or profit from each site.
Sign up to them all
It's a good idea to sign up to as many as possible. This means that you will always have surveys to answer instead of waiting for one or two to come along every month.
There is no harm in signing up to loads and you can always unsubscribe if you don't like the service that one of them is providing.
Set up an alias email
You don't have to do this but we would recommend setting up a separate email for all of your survey site accounts. That way you can log in each day and easily see the surveys on offer (without it clogging up your personal inbox).
You should also check your emails regularly as some surveys are only open for a day (sometimes less).
Be honest
Try and be honest when filling in these online paid surveys as sometimes you can be penalised for contradicting yourself or giving inadequate responses. Also, don't try to second guess the system by saying that you are a wealthy businessman or woman to get more surveys. It won't work!
Watch out for scams and fake sites
A number of sites (we won't call anyone out) advertise dodgy survey sites to students so make sure you avoid them. The ones to watch out for are generally the ones that sound too good to be true!
It's also worth noting that you aren't guaranteed to receive products from the product testing site as users are chosen at random so if anyone promises this you should be very wary.
Put it this way, there are 1000s of users on each survey site, do you really think that they can afford to send out 1000s of free PlayStations for people to test?
Cash in when you reach the limit
Unless you are looking to build up a big amount and aiming for one of the top rewards for which you have time for, then it's best to cash in early with these paid survey sites.
Also be aware that some sites will have restrictions on when you can spend the points and how long they are valid for.
Don't ever pay to join
All of the paid survey sites listed above are free to apply for and use. You shouldn't get sucked into paying for a subscription to any online survey websites, whatever they promise you.
The sites listed on this page have been tried and tested and are genuine. If you are already a member of any of these survey sites or any that aren't listed then please do let us know what you think of them!
Source: https://www.savethestudent.org/make-money/best-paid-online-survey-sites.html
