Quick Report:
Name: Survey Junkie.
Price: Completely free.
Overall Rating: 5 out of 10 stars.
It is a legitimate survey site, but not the type I would say that can make you “good” money.
It takes a lot of time to reach a payment threshold, it doesn’t pay a lot when you reach it, but the good thing is that payments are made honestly.
Survey Junkie in a nutshell:
This program acts as a typical questionnaire site in that you fill out forms from other third party places and are rewarded points for your answers. After a 1,000 points are earned, you can redeem it for either rewards, gift cards or money.
In this case, 1,000 points = $10.
The amount of points you get varies and the longer, more serious questionnaires will typically take you longer to complete, but in a balanced way, will reward you more.
Why I had some negative bias prior to reviewing this site…
I always mention my history with paid online surveys and that it’s almost always been bad.
Until I looked at Survey Junkie, there was only 2 other paid survey sites like it which I rated similarly and thought were legitimate.
The other, overwhelming amount of them are terrible. They have shady payment practices, they reward very little and get a lot of complaints.
I am very happy to report that while I had bad history with these types of programs, I went into this site with a clear mind and decided to answer everything it was asking me honestly.
I was pleasantly surprised to see and read good reviews about this program and have confirmed that for myself after checking it out personally.
Here are some things I like about Survey Junkie:
These are the pros of this site:
Its extremely organized.
I found the process of registration, answering the questionnaires and getting points to be extremely simple. I didn’t need to sign up with other outside sites (normally I had to do this with the old sites I wasn’t happy with) and I earned points quite quickly. In short, I believe anyone can maneuver inside this program with ease.
They do ask you to be honest about the answers you provide.
It’s a fair expectation. Like I said, I entered into this program trying to be as honest as possible. I answered all the questions they asked me initially and in the other questionnaires I entered into as best as I could. I like that they ask for this type of honesty because in my view, it shows they are serious about this business.
Surveys are a key factor to helping many companies figure out their marketing strategies so a program like this one which helps provide those honest answers, better helps those companies be successful.
They are strict on the attention you need to place on the surveys.
I was filling out one questionnaire which was supposed to give me over 200 points for 20 minutes of my time. While filling it out, I was asked to watch a trailer for a movie, but while I was looking at this trailer, I remembered I needed to open up a folder to view a file, and while the trailer was playing, I decided to open up the window.
While this happened, the trailer closed, as did the questionnaire and I was informed that I was not eligible to complete it again. However, I was rewarded 3 points for trying.
While I am not exactly ecstatic about losing out on 200+ points, I understood my mistake and admit to it. I should have indeed focused on providing my full attention on the questionnaire. After all, it was going to reward me with a lot of points, so the least I could do is give it full attention.
While this is another point on the strictness of this program, I liked this whole site even more after this thing happened because it solidified my trust and respect for the program.
You will not be accepted to every single questionnaire you attempt to do.
Based on the answers you provide, you may not be eligible which is fine.
My understanding of this whole program is that it aims to provide honest questionnaires and people answering those questions as honestly as possible. If my demographic or answers are not in line with what the questionnaire is looking for, why should they waste time on me?
I will get a few points for trying, but it further shows that there is a sense of quality about this place.
But there are things I didn’t like…
Now we can consider these the cons…
This is still a survey site (That means it’s tough to make money).
No matter how legitimate this place is, the fact remains that you need to spend a lot of time answering the questionnaires and while the trade off between time and the points you are rewarded is pretty fair in my opinion, it is still little.
For spending on average 10-20 minutes per questionnaire, you will need to do many to reach the first 1,000 points and earn your first $10. If you have a lot of spare time, perhaps this may not be the con that you find to be bad.
You can do other online things to earn much more money.
While this site is legitimate, I have 10 other work at home options I’ve personally written about before that may be more suitable for you. They are much more oriented for people seeking more traditional earning opportunities, like actual jobs and ways to start a business.
Perhaps that may not be your thing and you would prefer to answer questionnaires. Just keep in mind that the pay is again little for the time you spend on it.
Final Rating: Survey Junkie.
Green Flag
5 out of 10 stars. Although it’s half of the perfect 10, 5 or more indicate legitimacy and this site has it, thankfully. You can earn money, but it comes with sacrificing a lot of time and you probably won’t earn much, quickly.
My final thoughts:
I will say out of all the questionnaire sites I’ve seen in over 10 years, so far, this one is the best one. But that’s only in the category of survey sites, where there are A LOT of bad ones and very few good ones.
In terms of the opportunity to make money through it, it’s really NOT a lot and you need to weigh the time you will spend on it vs how much it will give back to you.
I personally will not be going further with this opportunity, mainly because most of time is spent on other online opportunities like running a website, which I will say is a great alternative and something that truly has a lot more potential if you follow a good training.
I will recommend this though: If you seek other means to make an actual living online, Survey Junkie in my opinion isn’t going to do that, you will have to seek other alternatives and this is the one I like most:
Where Survey Junkie is so far the “King” of survey sites, this program I am recommending to you is the king of training sites on showing you how to make good money from a website. That’s my personal thing and I enjoy it.
If you like answering questionnaires and are ready to spend A LOT of time on them to earn something (not a lot), then perhaps the other opportunity is a more suitable choice.
How I can relate to your experience with online survey sites! I have been searching for a quality survey site for months now and have only run into shady sites and payouts that I could earn by asking for change on the street.
My last one that I tried was Vindale Research. Do you know anything about them? Because they seemed a bit scammy to me. This one looks promising based on your review, so I’m going to give it a shot. Even though it is low paying compared to other online businesses, it is a quick and easy way to put some extra cash in my pocket.
Thanks
You’re right about street change paying more Jonathon. I’ve heard of Vindale Research, it was actually one of the survey sites I had on my list of places to review, but I got so tired of reviewing worthless sites that I never had gotten to review that particular one. It may be good, but until I research it myself, I cannot give you a definitive answer, only that there are much better things to do to earn money than do “paid” surveys.
Hi Vitaliy,
Every time I read your posts I learn something new. This time round isn’t an excuse either and so I’m glad to know more about Survey Junkie. Though I would like to read more and know how the entire system works, I think that it’s a better option for someone who would like to make money online instead of staying idle or wasting time on the internet.
How does one become a member of Survey Junkie? Is it free or you have to pay to be a member and if yes how much? Personally, I wouldn’t focus so much on this, and I like the best option that you have provided and I like the aspect of making money online.
Hi, as I said in the quick report above, it’s free to sign up to Survey Junkie, there isn’t any paid membership from what I saw and other than the basic idea behind the site, I can’t really say much more about it. It is a legitimate place, don’t get me wrong, but honestly, if someone is already spending idle time on the internet doing nothing, and they have the intention to make some money, then a blog site would be a better option, not a paid survey site.
Thank you for a thorough review of Survey Junkie. Making money via surveys could be very tedious with little results, I know this because I once attempted other survey sites.
I already concluded in my opinion and from experience and deduction from your review that surveys can never make people earn a living online, except when combine with other profitable online business.
Regards.
John A
If you’re already engaged in running and building up a business, you would really waste your time even more so doing any sort of survey site John. I’d rather put in all my time to build something that will actually make me good money and not pennies.
Glad I found this article. I’ve tried a few myself, and found them more than lackluster. The only program similar to this that I’ve had any success with was Google opinions. I’ve made a couple dollars there that I used to buy the occasional paid Youtube video.
This sounds a bit more substantial than that, however. While I do agree, it’s not a lot of money, It’s something I would do to pay for things I wouldn’t normally reach in my pocket for. Thanks for the insight!
Very interesting, I’ve never heard of Google opinions, is it an official part of the overall Google organization? I’m curious to review it in any case, thanks for mentioning it Jay.
I just checked and it’s actually “Google Opinion Rewards”. It’s an app you can get on your phone and is a Google product. I found it when one of my favorite Youtubers was experimenting with paid videos, and you needed money in your “Google wallet” to pay for it.
Someone in the comments mentioned the app, and I installed it. I answered a few surveys and made about $0.75, which was enough to pay for the video. Once a week or so, it will alert you to a survey available, and they pay between $.25-$1.25 to your Google wallet. I’ve had it over a year and managed to accumulate about $9.00 worth of credit. I’ve used it for YouTube Red videos and the like.
Thank you for elaborating on this Jay. This is a Google product so I am not discounting it’s legitimacy, but it doesn’t strike me as a money making opportunity. I don’t know how often you worked on those surveys to make the $9 in the year, but I think about all the hours you could have spent on other ventures and how much more that could have paid and it makes me easily decide that no matter which legitimate company offers a survey, the rules are, they never pay well.
I’m of the opinion that if you have entrepreneurial interests, that you can do so much more with your free time than answering any survey/s out there. They’ll just never pay you well enough…
Hey man,
Another great article. I like how you break it all down. I didn’t know that you could even make money with surveys. I guess you learn something new every day. Thanks for taking the time and explaining it all. I do agree that there are a lot better ways that you can make a buck online. It’s a big internet and I think that people that just focus on that are missing the bigger picture. cheers.
Well ironically, you didn’t miss much Jerry, as paid surveys are generally (even with this program) NOT good ways to earn as it is.
Thanks for doing this review. I have heard of doing surveys online for profit but was always skeptical. It’s great to have someone willing to report on their experience for the benefit of everyone. Thanks for doing that. 🙂 (I will say, too, that I think it’s great from the client of the survey company’s perspective that they survey’s are so picky so as to ensure the most helpful feedback. I think that rightly deserves a star. You DO highlight it as a positive.) Thanks again!!
Well I assume the companies featured on Survey Junkie do compensate the company itself, so Survey Junkie from their end should provide the best, most relevant customers. It’s a good way to ensure honesty and it’s one of the reasons why despite not really being a huge fan of this program, I did rate it higher.
Hey man, totally agree with you there…. I tried it myself a while ago and got disapproved for like every single survey :/ kinda ridiculous to some extent. But I know some people have been making some serious money with this, like a few bucks every month or so, so props to those people you know, but I will never reach their status unfortunately, but can still try. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Ivan, I hope you were being sarcastic with the comment on serious money only being a few bucks 🙂
Hey man! AWESOME work on the article. I have to agree with you as I have been there and done that. Spent a LOT of time but made a little $.
I have spent 13 days and guess what …lol I made $1.24 hahahaha! I am halfway giggling while typing this lol.
Again, great work and keep it up! You’ll go FAR!
Jeez man, only a little over a $1? Well I’d say it’s more than I ever made with paid surveys.
Vitaliy, I found your review on Survey Junkie to be completely honest.
I would not call it a junk program. Why? Because even though one cannot live off of it’s income, there are many people out there who only need something to occupy their time and/or to keep their minds active.
I respect their ethical principles and honesty. Even when they pay so little for your work, they show respect and at the same time demonstrate honesty.
I would recommend Survey Junkie to people who are only searching for a mind activator.
Dorcas
You bring up an interesting point about having people keep active through a program like this. I’ve honestly never looked at it this way so I thank you for showing me a different perspective. But speaking from my own personal experience, just about everyone who looks at survey websites does so because they are really interested in making money.
I need to let people know the truth about this. While Survey Junkie is very honest about this stuff, most other sites like this are not.
I have to agree with your review completely. I decided to give them a try, and I put a LOT of effort into. Only to really make nothing. Mostly, I get disqualified from 99% of the surveys. I found that I spent an enormous amount of time, and I got nothing really in return . I have never made any money with any survey site. The only thing I did get was inundated with emails 🙁
That is the experience that most online survey takers will get unfortunately, although as I said, this one in general is NOT bad, but that doesn’t mean people will make a side income from this, they are very strict on how many surveys you can take and qualify for so that naturally makes it tougher and longer for people to reach payment thresholds.