If you’re serious about earning money in your spare time, you can’t go wrong with a survey site. But is Prolific really one of the best options out there? Let’s take a look.
Prolific summary
Pros and cons:
✅ Well-paid surveys
✅ Instant cashout
✅ Chance to take part in longer-term studies
❌ Spaces on surveys are limited, so you need to be quick
❌ Most surveys take place during working hours
❌ Often, a waiting list for new members
Prolific
Prolific
Survey sites can be an excellent way to earn extra money in your free time. And one that I’ve had the most success with is Prolific (formerly Prolific Academic).
Combine it with some of the best-paid survey sites and you can be on your way to making a decent side income.
What is Prolific?
Prolific is a survey company that rewards you for your answers. Most studies are created by universities and academics, although some come from major companies. From minutes to hours to multi-part studies over months or a year, it’s always up to you what studies to participate in.
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Is it safe?
Prolific is a UK company based in Oxfordshire and has been operating since 2014. They rarely create the surveys themselves, so they capture little information about you. You can fill out an ‘About You’ section to help you receive more surveys, but this contains very little personally identifiable information.
Prolific also does not allow researchers to collect information that can identify individuals. If you think a researcher abuses this, you can email Prolific to warn them.
All your contact with survey providers can be made using your Prolific email address, accessed through your dashboard. After several years of using this site, I have never had an issue.
How does Prolific work?
The first thing you will need to do is sign up as a participant. There is an option to join as a recruiter, but unless you want to set up your own surveys, you should just ignore this.
Then, you will need to fill out some profile questions. There is quite a lot to go through, but it shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes. This is very important as it will mean you will be invited to more suitable surveys and earn extra.
Make sure that you validate your account. That does mean providing a phone number. If you don’t, you can sit there for several days asking yourself why you haven’t received any surveys. Apparently.
When a survey is available to complete, it will appear on the Prolific screen. There’s no need to refresh as it will appear automatically.
The survey will tell you how long it will take, the amount it pays (also the expected pay per hour), how many spaces are available and the devices you can complete it on.
Just click on the survey, and a new box will appear on the right. It will give you a brief summary of what’s involved. When you accept, you’ll have 10 minutes to start the survey.
Once you start, you’ll have a limited time in which you can complete the survey. Usually, you’ll be given at least 10 minutes more than you need, but this could be as much as an hour.
Once your survey has been reviewed, the payment will be added to your Prolific account. You will either be paid in £ or $, depending on who created the survey. When you reach £6 (which includes $ conversions), you can withdraw your money to PayPal.
Can you use Prolific from a phone?
That depends on the study. When you receive a study, Prolific will tell you if it’s suitable for mobile, tablet, or computer. Although this is generally accurate, I have sometimes found that I can complete computer-only surveys from my phone.
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The good
Prolific Academic is different from many other survey sites. It is mainly used by people from universities who study people’s behaviour. For example, I’ve had studies about how I deal with negative emotions (I send them to their room until bedtime) and how I deal with my boss and colleagues at work.
I’ve played games, watched videos and shared my thoughts on them, and had to complete various tests.
The pay is generally far more than on other survey sites too. And let’s be honest, that’s why we’re here.
There are often opportunities to earn bonuses too. Do well in specific surveys, and you can get paid extra. In some cases, I’ve been paid a £10 bonus for a 5-minute study!
Another plus point is that you will very rarely be screened out of surveys. Because you have filled out previous profile questionnaires, you will have been chosen because you match specific criteria.
Finally, if you have any issues with any surveys, you can contact the creator directly through the Prolific messaging system. This is quite refreshing and normally means any problems are ironed out quickly. And if not, you can escalate it straight to Prolific.
The downsides
The main downside to Prolific is that you have to find the surveys quickly. Most have limited spaces, ranging from 10 up to several thousand. And when you have tens of thousands of potential participants, they can fill up quickly.
Holiday times can be pretty quiet for surveys. As the majority are written by students, most won’t be at university and you will see a drop in your earning potential. So if you join during the summer, don’t be too disheartened, late July and August can be slow.
It can take a while for payments to be approved by survey owners. Although most are confirmed within a day, some can take several weeks.
My final bugbear is the $ payment. Pre 2024, Prolific paid only in £ and made all their conversions themselves – so you would have got a fair amount. They stopped that and will now send $ payments to PayPal, which will make its own conversion. Unfortunately, PayPal loves to make a profit, so the conversion rate will never be in your favour.
How much can you make on Prolific?
Pay can vary wildly, but Prolific has a minimum payment of £6 per hour (before 2022, this was £5 per hour). The majority of surveys pay an hourly rate of between £7-9.
If you’re lucky enough, you can find some real gems. I have found surveys that require you to complete short questionnaires daily for a small reward. Then, at the end of the week, you get an even bigger payout. For example, this survey below paid out the equivalent of £84 per hour!
Below, you can see that since I joined just over six years ago, I have earned over £5,200. And that doesn’t include bonuses, which takes my total to over £5,600!
On average, I earn between £20-£50 per week. But good weeks can see me earn far more.
How long does Prolific take to pay?
Once you’ve built up at least £6, you can withdraw into your PayPal account.
Payments are processed on Tuesdays and Fridays, so how quickly you receive your money depends on how close to these days you request your money. Once you have made four cashouts, withdrawals should hit your PayPal account instantly.
How to get more studies
You need to make sure that you keep your profile up-to-date. Underneath the ‘waiting for studies’ caption, Prolific will tell you if there are new profile questions to answer. These are often updated when researchers are looking for a specific target audience.
There are some specific extensions for Prolific that you can add to your browser. They can make a noise to inform you when a new survey is available. This is the Prolific browser extension available for Chrome users, and here is the extension for Firefox users. Adding the Prolific Assistant will take just a few seconds and ensure you’ll see plenty more surveys.
There is also an option to receive email notifications when new surveys are available. However, I have never received any, although my wife does. However, there is a good chance all the surveys will have gone by the time you log in.
Apart from that, you have to sit and wait!
What other people say
When writing survey site reviews, I find it helpful to look at other users’ views, too. On Trustpilot, Prolific scores a rather unimpressive 4.5 out of 5. Positive reviewers say that the site pays well and the surveys are interesting. On the negative side, a number of members have complained that their accounts were suspended without warning.
Waitlist introduced
It’s important to note that in March 2022, the site created a waitlist for new participants due to the popularity of Prolific. That means you will need to leave your details on the site, and they will contact you when an existing member drops out.
My Prolific review conclusion
So, is Prolific worth joining? I cannot recommend this site enough. I have tried many survey sites, and this is by far the most interesting and best paid. If enough surveys were available, this is the one site you could earn a full-time living from. It is a shame that so many people seem to have had an issue with their account though.
Click on the button below to start earning.
Why not take a look at my post on the survey sites most similar to Prolific?
FAQs
Are there any sites like Prolific Academic?
These kinds of sites are few and far between. However, a similar site worth looking at is Testable Minds.
Is Prolific Academic legit?
Yes, you can have no concerns with this website. It has been operating for over 6 years and has no issue with paying users.
Is prolific better than MTurk?
Far better. Although MTurk tends to have more work, Prolific is far more reliable and the pay is usually better.
Is there a referral scheme?
Not any more. The Prolific referral scheme was closed in 2018.
Can partners have an account?
You can have more than one account in a household (both my wife and I have one). However, many of the surveys can only be taken by one person in each home.