Most survey sites pay a few dollars an hour. The ones worth your time either pay more per task or let you cash out without waiting weeks, and two of the five below are not survey sites at all.
If you only want the highest payout per task, start with Testerup. It pays up to $100 on the bigger jobs. If you want the fastest money out, it is Freecash, which pays within minutes.
Here is what each one actually pays, and the catch on each.
The 5 Highest Paying Sites
1. Testerup: Highest Pay Per Task
Testerup pays you to test apps and games instead of answering questions, so no screener sends you away three minutes in. The bigger tasks pay up to $100.
No experience needed. Withdrawals go out by PayPal once you clear the minimum, there is $10 for signing up.
The catch: the big tasks take real time. This is the highest ceiling on the list, not the fastest money.
- Get paid to test apps, games, and offers...no experience needed
- Earn up to $100 per task by leveling up in popular games
- Fast PayPal withdrawals once you hit the minimum threshold
2. Freecash: Fastest Payout
Freecash runs surveys alongside app trials and game offers, so there is always something to do when the surveys dry up. Money comes out within minutes by PayPal, gift card or crypto.
New accounts get $10.
The catch: your first withdrawal needs $5 to $20 depending on your region, plus an ID check. Get verified before you start, not after.
- Earn real money by completing surveys, testing apps, and trying game offers
- Cash out within minutes via PayPal, gift cards, crypto, and more
- First withdrawal needs $5 to $20, depending on your region, plus an ID check
3. Bigcash: Most Offers Running at Once
Bigcash keeps over 3,000 offers live at any given moment, which is more than anything else here. You are never staring at an empty dashboard.
Cash out by PayPal or gift card whenever you want, and it starts you with $15.
The catch: it is a phone app, Android and iOS only, so there is nothing to use on a laptop.
- Over 3,000 live offers on the platform now
- Cash out anytime through PayPal or gift cards with no complicated steps
- Get $15 bonus just for signing up and getting started
4. Swagbucks: Most Ways to Earn
Swagbucks pays for surveys, shopping, web searches, watching videos and playing games. It has paid out more than $706 million to members, and you can take the money as PayPal cash or a gift card.
The catch: you earn points rather than cash, so there is a conversion step. The $10 welcome bonus is also conditional: you have to activate it and spend $25 in the Swagbucks shop, so it is not $10 for signing up.
- Earn points by taking surveys, playing games, and shopping online
- Redeem rewards like PayPal cash or gift cards to top brands
- Join millions who’ve earned over $706 million with Swagbucks
- $10 welcome bonus when you activate it and spend $25 in the Swagbucks shop within 30 days
5. Survey Junkie: Surveys and Nothing Else
Survey Junkie is the one to pick if surveys are genuinely what you want. The interface is far better than most panels, and members are paid in cash through PayPal.
The catch: surveys only. No offers, no games, no app trials, so when you run out of surveys you are done for the day.
- Share your opinion to help brands deliver better products and services
- Fast payouts, legit, and our favorite survey site
- Has paid out more than $25 million to its members
How We Rated the Paid Online Survey Sites
There are a ton of companies offering paid survey and market research work. These five were picked on what you actually get paid, how quickly you can withdraw it, and how much work is available once you are in.
Sign up for two or three rather than one. You will not qualify for every survey or offer, and having a couple running means you can skip the bad ones instead of taking whatever is in front of you.
Highest Paying Survey Sites FAQs
How much can you actually make?
Enough to make a couple hundred a month if you are consistent, not enough to quit anything. Surveys work best as another stream of income rather than a replacement for one.
App testing pays better per hour than surveys do, which is why Testerup is first on this list.
How do these sites pay you?
Gift cards, PayPal cash, and on Freecash crypto as well. Most of them run on points you convert at a threshold, which is the part people find slow. Freecash and Survey Junkie pay cash directly.
You can turn most of these into free PayPal money once you clear the minimum.
Why do I keep getting disqualified?
Because the survey already found enough people like you. It happens to everyone and it is the main reason surveys feel like a waste of time.
Two ways round it. Fill in your profile properly, which Swagbucks uses to cut down on mid-survey disqualifications. Or use a site where screeners do not exist, which is the whole point of app testing on Testerup.
What are survey sites, exactly?
Market research companies. Brands pay them to find out what people think, and they pay you a cut for answering. An online survey is the same thing as the paper kind, just cheaper for them to run, which is why there are so many of them.
The offer and app-testing sites here work on the same principle with a different task. An advertiser pays to get their app installed and used, and you keep part of that.
Which one pays the most per hour?
Testerup, on the bigger tasks. A single job paying up to $100 beats any survey panel on this page, and it is not close.
For steady hourly earnings rather than one big task, Freecash and Bigcash are better, because there is always something queued. Surveys are the slowest of the three formats, which is worth knowing before you spend an evening on them.
Can you use these on a laptop?
Freecash, Swagbucks and Survey Junkie all run in a browser. Testerup signs you up in a browser but the tasks themselves are app installs, so you need a phone for the work.
Bigcash is phone only, Android and iOS. There is no desktop version.
Why join more than one?
Because you will not qualify for everything. With two or three running you can skip a bad offer instead of taking it because it is the only thing there, and that is most of the difference between a good hourly rate and a bad one.
Do paid surveys really work?
Yes, as side money. Paid surveys do pay, they are just slow, and the rate has not changed much in years.
If the slowness is the problem rather than the money, look at the offer and app-testing sites above instead, or at work from home jobs that pay a real hourly rate.
Bottom Line
Surveys pay, slowly. That has not changed, and any page promising otherwise is selling you something.
What has changed is that you no longer have to stick to surveys. Testerup pays the most per task, Freecash pays the fastest, and Bigcash always has something available. If you want surveys specifically, Survey Junkie and Swagbucks are still the two worth having.
