Survey Junkie Review: We Put the Paid Survey Site to the Test

Taking online surveys seems like easy money at first. But wading through a bunch of sites that don’t let you qualify for any surveys — or only pay out once you’ve acquired 800,000 points — can get super frustrating.

We’re going to do the dirty work for you and review these survey sites so you can jump right to the ones that will work best for you.

In this review, we’re focusing on one option: Survey Junkie.

What Is Survey Junkie?

Survey Junkie is an online, paid survey site that has been around since 2011 and boasts more than 10 million registered members. Survey Junkie is owned by Blue Media Ventures, Inc., which is Better Business Bureau accredited with an B+ rating.

Once you’ve created a profile, you’ll get matched to surveys.

Choose your surveys, fill them out, and you’ll earn points, which you can eventually turn into cash via PayPal, Dwolla or digital gift cards.

How to Sign up

Getting started with Survey Junkie is pretty easy. You can sign up with an email address or by connecting to Facebook or Google.

Then, you’ll provide your ZIP code so the company knows where you’re coming from. Then give them your name and age, create a password, and you’re ready to get started.

Oh yeah, you’ll earn 25 points for doing all that.

The next step is to complete your profile. This will help match you with compatible surveys, so it behooves you to be honest. It only takes about five minutes and asks fairly basic questions about your employment, pets, living situation and any health issues.

Once you’re done, you’ll get another 50 points, so you should start with an easy 75 points in your fledgling account.

Six additional surveys can improve your profile by zeroing in on your travel, shopping, interests, household, health and technology information. You’ll get 10 points each for completing these.

If you go to your email inbox, you’ll also notice you have a “confirm email” notice waiting. Get that done, and, bam — that’s another 25 points.

In case you’re not keeping up — that’s 160 points just to sign up!

How Survey Junkie Works

Surveys can vary in length of time and points, but you’ll see what each offers before you click on it. What you don’t see is which brands are sponsoring the surveys. That way, you can’t cherry pick just the brands you like, and the companies can get honest feedback.

You’ll get a set amount of points for each survey you take. You should receive emails from Survey Junkie with surveys that are specifically chosen for you based on the information you provided in your profile.

How to Get Paid Through Survey Junkie

You can expect to receive one or two surveys per week sent directly to your email, and point values range from 20 to 200 per survey. There are some surveys on the site that you can take as well, but you might not qualify for all of them.

Each point is essentially worth one penny, so that payment range spans from 20 cents to $2.

Once you’ve collected 1,000 points, or $10 worth, you can cash out. You can opt to receive your payout in the form of a digital gift card to places like Target, Amazon, Walmart, iTunes or Starbucks, or get cash via PayPal or Dwolla.

Pros of Survey Junkie

Survey Junkie has some nice benefits. Here are our favorites:

Points Are Awarded Instantly

There’s no waiting for points to show up in your account once you’ve finished a survey. Refresh your screen, and, pow — your new points are there.

Your Points Don’t Expire Unless You Go Away

As long as you log in and do a survey at least once per year, your points will stay in your account so you can add to them.

You Don’t Have to Collect a Million Points to Cash out

You only need 1,000 points, or $10, in your account to cash out. It’s also kind of nice that you can just get your money through PayPal. No need to share your bank account number. If you prefer digital gift cards, you can also go that route.

The Platform Is User-Friendly

You don’t have to be particularly tech-savvy to figure out what you’re doing on Survey Junkie. The sign-up process is straightforward, and the design of the page is easy to follow.

Cons of Survey Junkie

Hey, nobody is perfect. Here are some things we didn’t like as much with Survey Junkie:

Payment Isn’t Always Smooth

A number of review sites show consumers who complain about slow payouts or problems getting their money. Others say the opposite. This seems to be a pretty common issue with survey sites, so nothing new here. On the positive, it appears Survey Junkie is actively reaching out to these consumers to address issues.

A Survey Junkie rep tells us in some cases, it may have to take a couple of extra steps to verify that you are who you say your are. If you get a message like this, reach out to customer support, and you should have it resolved in one to two  business days.

During this process, your points might end up in the limbo known as “pending.” Once the company has verified your identity, you should be good to go. Support will review your points and set them free so you can redeem your money or gift card.

While this can slow down your redemption, it shouldn’t take too long. If you go through it once, you shouldn’t have to deal with it again. Be as thorough as you can on the sign-up process in the beginning to avoid this all together.

The Pay Is Fairly Low

You already know you’re not going to get rich on survey sites. Survey Junkie is no different in that respect.

A quick glance at a handful of surveys shows an average of $6.43 per hour. The lowest paying example was 35 points for 14 minutes, which comes to a rate of $1.50 per hour. Another survey, though, offered 320 points for a 12-minute survey. That’s a respectable $16 per hour.

You Might Not Qualify for Many Surveys

Like many survey sites, you’ll discover you don’t qualify for quite a few of the surveys you try to take. On the bright side, you still get three points just for trying, and you won’t waste more than a minute or two.

Should You Sign up?

Is Survey Junkie legit? Yes. It is legit — and safe.

Is it worth your time? It can be. You just need to choose surveys that offer solid point values for the amount of time you’ll need to put in. We recommend filling out surveys while you’re vegging on the couch to make the most of your time.

If surveys are your avocado toast — that’s the new bread and butter — we’ve rounded up a few legitimate survey sites to help you feed your habit.

Tyler Omoth is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder who loves soaking up the sun and finding creative ways to help others. He believes the answer to every survey question should be “craft beer.” Catch him on Twitter at @Tyomoth.