There is a lot that can be said for instant gratification. And by gratification, I mean that feeling you get when you satisfy an immediate need or want. An example of this is wanting pancakes and then sitting down to breakfast with pancakes, even if you didn’t make them this time. Or needing new shoes and simply being able to go out and buy them.
For a lot of people these scenarios are an impossibility. Pancakes? New shoes? Both options are out of most people’s reach on a financial level, and even more so for parents who are not so financially secure. Delayed gratification becomes the norm, where something is bought when enough has been saved up to be able to afford it.
Having access to ready money or instant cash can be really helpful in these times but unless you know where to look for instant cash, it’s almost impossible to come by. And how do you define instant? Is that immediately, within 24 hours, 48 hours, more?
Also, when you do find a way to make instant money, how can you be sure it’s not a scam? Are there even any legitimate ways to make money online out there?
How can I make money online instantly?
We found that paid surveys could be a great way to supplement your income, either through cash earned, points-based systems, rewards, coupons, referral programs, and loyalty initiatives with partnering retailers and big brands. There are, of course, literally hundreds of sites to choose from when considering online paid surveys as a way to make extra bucks, so how do you know which sites you can trust? And which sites are going to give you more cash than others? Or which sites pay out at a faster rate than others?
Keep reading to compare these sites for surveys that pay cash instantly for online activities.
Click here to find out how you can get free Visa pre-paid gift cards for taking surveys.
Can you really get money for doing surveys?
We scoured the web, on the lookout for top survey sites that pay instantly – or almost instantly – which means within a week, for the sake of this list. Whilst this list includes many crowd favorites (such as Branded Surveys, PrizeRebel, or Swagbucks) this list is not exhaustive. Have you heard of any other sites we can add to this list?
Which survey sites actually pay cash?
Before we get into our list, it’s important that we tell you what cash means and what gift cards mean, on a payout level. PayPal, Visa, check and direct bank deposit are all cash options, and rewards include brand-specific pre-paid gift cards available to you as a means of payment for surveys and survey-related tasks through one or more of these sites.
Do you know of any other sites that pay cash instantly to take surveys? Share your links below.
Click here to find out how you can get free Visa pre-paid gift cards for taking surveys.
Top survey sites that pay cash fast
Let’s now take a look at the top survey sites that pay cash instantly into your PayPal account, into a gift card or other rewards, for online surveys, focus groups, and other survey site related content and activities.
Pinecone Research
Available where: USA, Canada
Activities to choose from: Surveys and product testing
Cash payment methods: PayPal, check
Other payout options: Amazon gift cards, sweepstake entries
Time to payout: Within 24 hours if PayPal and expect a processing delay when cashing out to a check
What’s the catch?: An elusive site to find join links for, Pinecone Research nonetheless has an oustanding record of prompt payments and fair treatment of its members’ complaints. With no threshold to achieve, you can cash out to PayPal immediately after every completed survey, and their surveys pay a minimum of $2 to newbies, with loyal members enjoying higher survey payout rates. You can expect prompt and efficient service from the support desk, who are backed up by a comprehensive and informative FAQ.
The more complete your profile is, the more niche panels you’ll get invites for. One of the many reasons speculated about for not being able to find a join link is that Pinecone Research has very strict demographic criteria for members. The site is also highly optimized for mobile use, so as long as you can access the survey you’ve been invited to complete, you can complete it.
If you happpen to find a join link in your state, let us know in the comments below.
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Branded Surveys
Available where: USA, Canada, UK
Activities to choose from: Online surveys, daily polls, offer wall, loyalty program
Cash payment methods: PayPal, Tango, Mastercard, Visa
Other payout options: Redeem your points at participating Tango retailers, including XBOX, Uber, Uno, Starbucks, PlayStation, Rayban, LL Bean, Hulu, hotels.com, Google Play Store, Barnes & Noble, AutoZone, Amazon, Adidas, iTunes, and many more
Time to payout: 24-48 hours
What’s the catch?: Whilst there are many okay-ish reviews and comments out there, the negative reviews give rise to concern. Issues discussed include a support department that does not respond in person, points disappearing, accounts suddently being closed, surveys being disqualified even after they’re finished, and misleading time information to completion of surveys sent out.
I would read up as much as I can before approaching this one. Although the positive reviews do discuss the fast payout time, one has to weigh up the good vs. the bad equally.
Forthright
Available where: UK, Canada, USA
Activities to choose from: Online surveys, video surveys, occasional product testing
Cash payment methods: PayPal, Bitcoin, Visa, MasterCard
Other payout options: Redeem your points at participating Tango retailers, including XBOX, Uber, Argos, ASDA, PlayStation, Banana Republic, Google Play Store, Amazon, iTunes, CVS Pharmacies, Disney, eBay, Nike, and many more
Time to payout: Validated members will receive their rewards instantly after completing a survey.
What’s the catch?: With no minimum account balance required and instant payouts for validated members, Forthright offers between $1-$5 per survey, as well as a $2 loyalty bonus for every 3 surveys completed or disqualified anywhere through a survey. There are also loyalty credits and bonus awards for every 3 credits earned. Stay connected to their social media accounts for great giveaways and sweepstake entries.
Negative reviews indicate that disqualification and screening have taken this survey site down to junk status in some member’s views, however those reviews are 6 months old as at the time of this review. In the last 4 months there has only been one positive review of the site, and this was about the fast payout rate only. For a site that claims that it pays “better than any other site around”, I’m not sure if the frustration of all the screening is worth it.
Swagbucks
Available where: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, Germany, Spain, France
Activities to choose from: Online searches, surveys, daily bonuses, point challeges, installing the browser search toolbar, usng the shopping portal, playing games, watching or transcribing videos, trade-ins, sweepstakes and the referral program
Cash payment methods: PayPal, Visa
Other payout options: Amazon and Zalando gift cards, cash back when shopping through Swagbucks’ partners, and other popular gift cards including Walmart, Starbucks, Target, Best Buy, Google Play Store, Apple iTunes, eBay, Uber, and more
Time to payout: 5-7 days
What’s the catch?: Whilst they may boast a low payout threshold, Swagbucks also has a reputation for offering its members a vast amount of rewards, for everyday tasks and activites, such as watching videos, online search behaviour, playing games, and online shopping. Swagbucks also claim to disburse 7,000 gift cards every day, but I guess that’s only after a 7-day waiting period? Provided you have reached the minimum cashout threshold, you can request your PayPal payout instantly.
Is Swagbucks worth the effort? I think so, as long as you’re persistent and consistent in your intentions to earn points.
More reading:
Survey Junkie
Available where: Australia, Canada, USA
Activities to choose from: Online surveys only, product testing, occassional focus groups
Cash payment methods: PayPal
Other payout options: Gift cards to popular brands such as Walmart, Amazon, Groupon, iTunes, Target, Starbucks
Time to payout: Instantly
What’s the catch?: Even though there are very many survey catgories to choose from, qualifying for them is not as easy as you think, and earning enough points to cash out may take you a while.
There are, however, a vast number of free products and giveaways. Links and more information can be found through their blog.
More reading:
Opinion Outpost
Available where: USA, Canada, UK, some developed-country demographical requirements apply
Activities to choose from: Referral system, quarterly lucky draw, sweepstakes, online surveys
Cash payment methods: PayPal, direct bank transfer, MasterCard, Visa
Other payout options: MileagePlus miles, Alawar games, Amazon codes, iTunes gift cards
Time to payout: Instantly
What’s the catch?: Absolutely the lowest points conversion system I’ve seen so far: 10 points = $1.00. Cash out in increments of $10 / £5 for PayPal, and $5 for Amazon gift cards.
A few reviews I’ve read mention that the profile setup in Opinion Outpost calls for quite a bit of personal information and takes a while to complete. As with other online survey sites, the more complete your profile, the more qualifying the surveys that are sent to you may be.
Opinion Outpost sends out survey requests so frequently – as compared to other sites – that you may be tempted to cancel your subscription, but the conversion rate of points to payout make it worth the while to stay a bit. What may not be worth staying for are the same-old-same complaints heard on every other site.
A word of caution: negative reviews all mention irrevocable bans, non-payment of rewards or cash, constant disqualifications, and an unresponsive support department.
More Reading:
PrizeRebel
Available where: Worldwide, but based on available surveys in your country or region
Activities to choose from: Activities, offers, and contests, including raffles, online surveys, a referral system, using the offerwall to watch videos and other uncategorized activites, and also by installing the browser extension
Cash payment methods: PayPal, Visa and direct bank deposits
Other payout options: A wide selection of gift cards from Amazon.com, eBay, Target, Starbucks, iTunes, and many more brands, as well as game codes for League of Legends and World of Warcraft or gift codes for XBOX Live and the Playstation Network
Time to payout: About 24 hours. If you are gold level or higher, it will be processed within 10 minutes unless the reward is out of stock. If you cancel your claim and then reclaim a reward, the processing time resets.
What’s the catch?: By far, the blog is the most informative part of this site. Of particular interest are the articles explaining why you are losing out on points (and thus earnings) by not completing all the activities expected of you every day.
The biggest earning potential on this site is not necessarily from online surveys. It’s from the passive activities and daily tasks expected of you. If you don’t have much time to do all of these tasks daily, then rather overlook this site.
More reading:
SuperPayme
Available where: Worldwide
Activities to choose from: Online paid surveys, watching videos, completing paid offers and trials, referral program, sign up to partner websites, click and watch adverts, download apps, quarterly cash contest, cashback when shopping online
Cash payment methods: Paypal, Bitcoin, Skrill
Other payout options: Tango gift cards, Amazon gift cards
Time to payout: 8-24 hours, instantly via PayPal when your account is verified (note the 2% processing fee that applies)
What’s the catch?: With a low cashout option, SuperPay.me is featured in this list because you can claim rewards after just one survey that pays $1 or more – not that a $1 reward is worth cashing out, it’s just nice to know. You know?
Jumping through the available paid survey categories, bear in mind that most of the links will take you to third party websites. Ensure that your profile details match across all platforms and third party sites, or you may get banned for multiple profiles. Also remember that you are solely responsible for any information you enter on any site during the course of following your survey links.
A word of caution: negative reviews all mention irrevocable bans, non-payment of rewards or cash, constant disqualifications, and an unresponsive support department.
SurveyRewardz
Available where: Worldwide
Activities to choose from: Online surveys
Cash payment methods: PayPal, check, Visa, Payza
Other payout options: Amazon gift cards
Time to payout: 5-7 days
What’s the catch?: Another site with a low $1 cashout option, SurveyRewardz makes this list because even though their payout points build up slower than most of the rest of this list, having almost no limit on when you can cash out is super-convenient and doesn’t take that long to achieve. Just don’t expect to be flooded with survey invites, as SurveyRewardz do not send out as many invites as some of the other sites on this list do
Panel Champ
Available where: Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Finland, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Spain, Sweden, UK, USA,
Other international locations
Activities to choose from: Online surveys
Cash payment methods: PayPal, Visa, check
Other payout options: Tango gift cards, Amazon gift cards
Time to payout: Instantly
What’s the catch?: Other than the average day-to-day surveys (such as those found in categories like technology, travel, lifestyle, food, etc), Panel Champ also offers high-paying music surveys, but these seem to be in high demand. You will need to click on it the minute you see one of these as an available survey.
A word of caution: negative reviews all mention irrevocable bans, non-payment of rewards or cash, constant disqualifications, and an unresponsive support department.
Surveytime
Available where: Worldwide
Activities to choose from: Online surveys
Cash payment methods: PayPal, Bitcoin
Other payout options: Amazon gift cards, other location-specific gift cards
Time to payout: Instantly
What’s the catch?: Yet another $1 cashout survey site, Surveytime doesn’t mess with points or a dollar-based reward system. Instead, you simply earn $1 per survey, and can cash that out immediately.
A word of caution: negative reviews all mention irrevocable bans, non-payment of rewards or cash, constant disqualifications, and an unresponsive support department.
Mindswarms
Available where: Worldwide
Activities to choose from: Online surveys
Cash payment methods: PayPal
Other payout options: None noted
Time to payout: 24 hours
What’s the catch?: So, you think $50 per survey is a great payout for 20+minutes of answering survey questions? Can you do that on video?
A video survey site, Mindswarms pays $50 per completed survey, but the competition amongst qualifying members is fierce, given that you are already pre-selected based on the profile video you upload to your profile when signing up. If video is not your thing, then this site is not for you. If needing to wait months to get a survey invite so you can cash out even just one survey (according to some negative reviews and complaints I read), then this site is not for you either.
In conclusion
There are many survey sites out there, and finding a site that works well for you and allows you to earn money from home doing surveys online can be tedious and takes time. While being able to cash out instantly (or almost instantly in some cases) is a great incentive to complete online surveys for extra cash, but carries its own challenges such as non-payment of promised rewards, mutiple disqualifications, and more.
We suggest signing up to a few sites at a time, tracking your progress on a simple spreadsheet or in a journal, and being dilligent and disciplined about following up and completing the surveys you get invited to join via links and invites in your inbox. Be courteous, patient and honest when dealing with your accounts and your profile requirements on these sites.
Click here to find out how you can get free Visa pre-paid gift cards for taking paid surveys.
Do you know of any other sites that pay cash instantly to take surveys? Share your links below.
I am from South Africa and have been working with companies like Typeform and SurveyMonkey creating surveys for the past 5 years. Nowadays, I love reading, writing and looking after my children.