Survey Junkie Review 2023 | Is It Legit or a Scam?

Online surveys are one of the easiest ways to make extra money, but that makes some people question whether or not they're legit. This Survey Junkie review is going to break down one of the most popular online survey sites. We're going to cover how much Survey Junkie pays, how you're paid, alternatives, and more.

And of course, we have to answer one of the biggest questions: Is Survey Junkie legit or too good to be true? Let's dive in!

What is Survey Junkie?

Survey Junkie is an online market research platform that pays users to answer surveys and find out other valuable market research insights. It was founded in 2013 and currently has over 10 million members taking surveys for money in their spare time.

This is a 100% free online survey platform. Survey Junkie pays in points that convert to cash, and you can make approximately $1-$3 per survey. You're not going to get rich from online surveys, but it's very mindless work you can do pretty much anywhere.

The reason Survey Junkie is able to pay you to answer surveys is that companies pay them for market research. Brands want to know more about their customers — how they think, their habits, etc. — and they use that information to create better products and services.

Survey Junkie is one of the oldest and most reputable survey sites out there. They’re providing a service for companies by supplying them with valuable audience insights. In turn, Survey Junkie pays you for that information.

Related: Excellent Side Hustle Apps to Make Money on Your Phone and Make Money Online for Beginners

How to Sign Up for Survey Junkie

It’s incredibly quick and easy to sign up for Survey Junkie. Here are the steps to signing up:

1. You need to be at least 13 years old and live in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., or Australia.
2. Visit surveyjunkie.com and enter a valid email address.
3. Confirm your email address.
4. Complete a brief profile about yourself.

Survey Junkie pays you points for signing up, including 25 points when you confirm your email address, 5 points for going through a “How it Works” walkthrough, and 50 points for completing your profile.

The sign-up process takes less than 10 minutes. When you’re done, you’ll immediately land on your dashboard, which is where you’ll start seeing which online surveys are available to take, and you can start taking surveys immediately. You will also receive emails when new surveys are available.

How Does Survey Junkie Work?

There are a two different ways to make money with Survey Junkie: paid online surveys and installing the SJ Pulse browser extension. Let’s dive into how both of those work.

1. Take Surveys 

SJ Opinion is the survey side of Survey Junkie, and this is the most popular way for people to make money on Survey Junkie. The surveys pay around $1-$3 on average. This isn't a ton of money, but the best online survey sites all pay similar rates.

After you sign up for Survey Junkie, you will be asked to fill out a few profiles to determine which surveys they should match you with. Profiles only take a couple of minutes to fill out, and you’ll earn points for completing them.

Profiles help determine which surveys will be relevant to your interests. You’ll be asked questions about who lives in your house, your annual income, whether or not you have pets, where you live, your education level, etc. There are more detailed topic-specific profiles you should fill out too. The profiles ask about things like technology or fitness, and all of that information is used to match you with more surveys.

The more profile information you fill out, the more accurately you’ll be matched with surveys. 

Eligible surveys show up in your Survey Junkie dashboard, and you’ll see:

• How many points you can earn
• The expected time it will take to complete the survey
• The survey number (this is like an anonymous name for the survey)

You don’t have to take every survey that shows up on your dashboard, but you only get paid for surveys you complete. 

Occasionally you’ll start taking a survey and midway through you’ll get a notification from Survey Junkie saying that you aren’t a good fit. This can be frustrating, but you’ll still earn a few points for trying.

Points are how Survey Junkie pays participants. The points you earn for taking surveys can be converted to cash or gift cards one you have enough to cash out. I’ll explain more about getting paid a little further down in my Survey Junkie review.

M$M Tip: Start by taking the surveys at the top of your dashboard — Survey Junkie says that taking these increases your chances of qualifying for more surveys.

2. Share Your Browsing Behaviors With SJ Pulse

SJ Pulse is a browser extension that you can install on your computer or laptop or use via Survey Junkie’s mobile app. SJ Pulse collects data about:

• Your search behaviors
• Which ads you see
• Websites you visit
• Online shopping activity
• The kind of content you engage with

Survey Junkie pays you extra points for installing SJ Pulse, but you’ll need to enable it for at least 30 days to earn the points. Based on the information SJ Pulse collects, you’ll see more relevant surveys show up in your dashboard.

Knowing that SJ Pulse is collecting data about you, this prompts a couple of serious questions: How is my data being used? Is Survey Junkie safe?

Survey Junkie anonymizes all of the data they collect — your name is never attached to any of it. Credit card numbers, email addresses, passwords, and usernames are not collected or saved in any way. So yes, it's safe.

How Much Does Survey Junkie Pay?

Survey Junkie pays approximately $1-$3 per survey for every survey you complete. You're paid in points that are redeemable for PayPal cash or gift cards, and 1 points = 1 cent.

Every survey has an assigned point value and estimated time, and we can use that information to get a better idea of how much money you can realistically make on Survey Junkie.

From the very beginning of this Survey Junkie review, we made it clear that you're not going to get rich taking online surveys. But, it’s a really easy way to make a little extra money. 

The first survey is 10 points or $0.10, and the second pays 140 points or $1.40.

If you want to think about that in terms of hourly pay, the first survey pays a little less than $1/hour and the second is about $6.30/hour.

That’s not a ton of money, and most people who use Survey Junkie only qualify for a handful of surveys each month. But this is the standard across legitimate survey sites. 

Most users say they’re only eligible for 1-4 online surveys a week, earning under $20/month. I've also read several Survey Junkie reviews where users report earnings from anywhere from $20-$50/month, but that’s higher than the average.

One way to think about this is that when you cash out your first 500 points, that’s just $5. You can keep track of how long you spend taking surveys to get a better idea of how much you’re really making per hour. Since there's no cost to signing up, you can try it out and see whether or not the pay is worth it for you.

How Does Survey Junkie Pay?

Once you earn 500 points from taking surveys, you can redeem your points in a few different ways:

• Cash via PayPal
• Online gift cards 
• Cash via direct bank transfer

Survey Junkie used to make users wait until they had 1000 points, but it only takes 500 points to cash out now.  Redeeming your points happens pretty much instantaneously, but a bank transfer can take 2-3 days to show up on your account.

If you’re converting your points to cash with PayPal or bank transfer, you’ll have to cash out all of your points at once. For example, if you have $13 worth of points, you’ll have to cash out all $13 at one time.

Gift cards can be redeemed in amounts of $10, $15, $20, $25, etc. These are electronic gift cards, and they don’t expire. 

Is Survey Junkie legit?

Yes! Survey Junkie is a 100% legitimate platform and side hustle. What throws people off is that it seems scammy that you make money with such minimal effort, but that's why you will only make a few dollars an hour taking online surveys.

It's also worth mentioning these Survey Junkie reviews from reputable sources:

• Survey Junkie is accredited with the Better Business Bureau and holds B rating, and it's currently rated 4.33/5 stars by customers.
• The Trustpilot Survey Junkie review is "Excellent" with 4.4/5.0 stars and over 34,000 customer reviews. 68% of those Survey Junkie reviews on Trustpilot are "Excellent" and 19% are "Good".

Who is Survey Junkie Best For?

Not everyone wants to make $1-$3 per survey, and that's completely okay. Survey Junkie is best for these types of people:

• Anyone looking for a mindless way to make extra money
• Stay-at-home parents who want to make a few extra bucks
• High school and college students
• Retirees looking for an easy way to make money

Survey Junkie is not for you if you're interested in a high-paying side hustle or if you want to start your own business.

Survey Junkie Alternatives

Survey Junkie isn’t the only legitimate survey site out there, and here are a few more of the top-rated and free survey sites I recommend:

• Branded Surveys: This site pays you to take surveys, and each user is ranked based on the number of surveys they take. The higher your ranking, the more survey opportunities.
• Swagbucks: This platform has a full-blown rewards program that pays you points for online and in-person shopping, watching videos, discovering offers (claiming offers for subscriptions, checking out web content, etc.), searching the web, playing games, and more.
• MyPoints: MyPoints pays you to take surveys, shop online, download and use their browser extension, read emails, and more. This is a great alternative because MyPoints has cashout options for as little as $1.
• InboxDollars: This site is super transparent about how much you make taking surveys on their site, and they show you your earnings in dollar value, not points.

Most survey companies work similarly to Survey Junkie, but some have additional ways to make money, like product testing or watching short videos. You can actually make more if you sign up for multiple sites because you’re going to receive more survey opportunities.

Survey Junkie Pros and Cons

Survey Junkie Review: The Final Word

The two big question are, "Is Survey Junkie worth it? And is it legit?" Survey Junkie is completely legit, and it's accredited with the BBB. As far as being worth it, it all depends on your goals. If you're looking for something with a low barrier to entry that can be easily done in your spare time, Survey Junkie could be a very good fit for you.

Again, you can expect to make around $1-$3 per survey, and the surveys can range from 15-45 minutes long.

Taking online surveys is a mindless way to make extra money, and it's something you can do while vegging out in front of the TV or while picking your kids up from school. Survey Junkie is honestly a decent replacement for playing games on your phone or scrolling through social media because it actually pays a few bucks. 

As long as you have realistic expectations about how much Survey Junkie pays, I recommend checking it out if you’re interested. It’s legit, takes very little energy, and you’ll make a few bucks. No harm in that.