Can You Make Money With Survey Junkie?

One of the perennial favorite side hustles among personal finance bloggers is Survey Sites. In theory the concept sounds great, get paid to give your opinions in your spare time. Who wouldn’t want to get paid while watching TV or waiting inline to pick up the kids? (Sounds too good to be true, right?)


I decided to put the popular to pitch site, Survey Junkie to test.

Here is my unbiassed Survey Junkie Review:

The test was simple, I would sign up for the site and see if I could break minimum wage. My wife decided to join in so we decided to have a bit of fun and compete to see who could make more in 1 hour.


We both signed up for the site, put on a cheesy Sci-Fi flick and set the kitchen timer for one hour.

The results:

Neither of us got anywhere close to minimum wage. The Mrs. beat me by $.20, making $3.20. I have seen advertisements for the site claiming up to 45 dollars per survey. I didn’t see any listings anywhere close to those kind of figures.


The biggest challenge was getting disqualified from surveys, I would spend time filling out a survey only to find out after several minutes I wasn’t a candidate.

Note: The site could really alleviate this problem by storing demographic data.

The site does offer you a few consolation points if you are disqualified for a Survey, however the points are not consummate with the amount of time invested.


Additionally, some of the surveys seem to glitch out. I recall one in particular where I had to watch a video. Once the video stopped playing the survey would crash. When the survey crashes you not only waste time, you don’t receive the consolation points as you would if you were disqualified.

The fix: It would be nice if users could rate surveys and leave feedback. That way if you saw a survey that was poorly reviewed for performance issues you would know to skip it.


The reality is you are not going to make money quickly with Survey Junkie. Compared to other side hustles it’s going to be difficult to make more than a living wage.

What the site does offer is a way for make a few dollars while doing something else. Survey Junkie may offer an opportunity to earn a few extra dollars when an alternative side hustle may not be viable.


If you can spare a few minutes a day, Survey Junkie could help you pad your emergency fund. You won’t get rich, but it beats going into debt when the c lunker calls it quits.

For example, you could do surveys in a waiting room, while carpooling to work, or waiting in line.


Filling out surveys isn’t going to make you rich, however if you can sneak a few surveys in during the day it may alleviate the need to borrow, or put emergencies expenses on a credit card.

Conclusion

If you need to make money fast you may be better served by trying to sell unwanted items on eBay, getting a part-time job or launching a side hustle.