Surveys for Money: What You Can Expect to Earn.

 Sometimes you have to just roll up your sleeves and dig in. In an effort to find out if taking surveys online to make cash was worth the effort, we asked some NerdWallet writers to put a few apps to the test. 

The results were not impressive: It was a lot of time spent for very little pay. Now we admit, this was back in 2017, but a recent survey of app store user reviews finds that things haven't changed much. Nobody's getting rich — but surprisingly, few people complain about that.

It could be that making money from taking surveys isn't the point. People may simply be expressing their opinions while passing some time, with the meager rewards merely an added benefit.

The most popular surveys for cash apps of 2023

In a search of the most popular iOS apps for getting paid for taking surveys, we found these apps leading the field:

1. Make Money

2. Eureka

3. Zap

4. InboxDollars Surveys

5. Google Opinion Rewards

All had over 100,000 reviews and ratings of 4 stars or better at the time of this writing. 

While most reviews of these apps admit that the payouts aren't huge, many users seem to enjoy taking the surveys while earning a little pocket money.

Here's what NerdWallet writers found when taking surveys for pay.

The lowdown on paid online surveys

In 2017, three of us spent more than 50 total hours taking paid surveys, and our combined earnings didn’t break $90.

So, no, online surveys weren’t an efficient way for us to make money. (Skip to the list or continue to learn about our experience.

To be fair, taking paid surveys was easy and could certainly be done at home, if you have an internet connection. The sites we tested were free and required no education or skill. Depending on the website, surveys could be a simple — albeit dull — way to earn a few bucks or a frustrating chore that pays next to nothing.

Some sites paid more than others. We appreciated sites that disclosed the cash value for each survey and matched us with relevant ones. We dreaded sites that compensated us through a confusing points system and sent us surveys we rarely qualified for.

Note that your demographics and other characteristics largely determine whether or not you qualify for a survey. All three of us who took surveys in 2017 were single women in our 20s who live in urban areas. Depending on the survey, we may or may not have been the ideal participants. Your profile may lead to results that are different from ours.