Prolific Academic Review: Earn Money with Research Surveys
Did you know that you can earn extra money because of your passion for science? Yes! You read that right. You can earn money through research surveys, specifically by answering or taking surveys for Prolific Academic. And the best part is, you can help improve the field of science and human knowledge.
The University of Oxford created Prolific academic in 2014. It is now the world’s largest crowdsourcing community for researchers to recruit the right participants for their studies. Participants earn money for helping researchers with their academic studies. Additionally, academic researchers can access specific research participants from a range of demographic backgrounds.
I’ve earned £100’s with prolific over the past few years and enjoyed some pretty cool studies along the way too! Qualify for a study, complete the survey and get paid. From helping science to earning extra money here’s all the information you need on this survey site.

Prolific Academic Review: Earn Money with Research Surveys
PROLIFIC STUDIES
Unlike survey sites such as Swagbucks, the studies that you participate in on Prolific are academic. This means that they’re less about improving company sales and more about advancing science. In my opinion the research questions are interesting on this site and can include fun games and challenges.
Because it is used by students, academic researchers and scientists, you can expect a prolific survey to be high quality. As well as the studies targeted at you specifically (so no mid-way-disqualifications) and accurate predicted time to complete.
Researchers who seek the services of Prolific want to better understand how modern people think, feel, and behave. So, you get paid for taking part in their research as long as you’re a qualified respondent.
Sleep happy at night in the knowledge that you have helped to advance science through high quality, ethical studies. At the core of Prolific is the aim to improve human knowledge. They also pride themselves on being open, trustworthy and accountable.
How does Prolific compare to other survey sites?
PAYMENT FOR YOUR TIME
You can expect an hourly rate of $6.50 (minimum). Of all the survey sites that I’ve signed up to over the years, Prolific pay better than any other site! Surveys can pay anything between 30p-£5. There is also the possibility of getting a bonus from the researcher at the end of the study if you pay attention to the research questions! I’ve had a few little bonuses of 50p and £5.
After you complete a study, your answers go into moderation. Once the answers have been quality checked the researcher approves the payment and you’re instantly paid.
Withdraw your earnings as soon as reach the payment threshold (£5 through PayPal). Payment usually takes no longer than a couple of days to get into your account. With any survey site I cash out as soon as I can (just in case the company goes bust or changes the reward payments).
Taking surveys can be a profitable task, and it’s suitable for stay-at-home parents, college students, and anybody who wants to make use of their free time to earn extra cash. The extra earnings you can get can be used to buy basic needs at home like toiletries, baby items, and personal care products.
My prolific earnings
I have earned a lot of gift cards and cash rewards through paid tasks and surveys from various platforms like GrabPoints. Watching videos, completing offers, and downloading apps are just some of the tasks I did to earn some extra cash in my free time. Adding Prolific and other survey answering tasks to my online gigs really gave me another stream of extra income.
I regularly earn over £20 a month from this site! Overall I’ve earned over 1,500. I’ve also receive bonus payments of up to £50 for taking part in a game study.

For me, the only thing that could make this money making survey site any better is if they had a way of telling you when new studies are available. A browser extension or email alert would be a great improvement.
INVITE YOUR FRIENDS
Prolific academic have ended their refer a friend scheme. You can still invite friends to sign up to the site, but you won’t receive a reward for doing so.
However, if you have a friend who has money to complete a research project, it’s worth referring them to Prolific! For example, every new academic researcher you invite, results in a reward of 10% (of the total value of their first study) split between you and the researcher you refer. Therefore, if they run a study worth £1,000, you’ll get £100 split between you and the researcher as a reward.
So, spread the word and get rewarded while you help your friends and family earn some extra money on the side. It’s a win-win situation! Share your best practices and you’ll be appreciated for your efforts as well. Creating a group chat, where you can tackle and share outputs of your survey tasks, is also a good bonding activity for you and your loved ones.
SIGN UP TO PROLIFIC
Make money taking part in ethical, academic studies and help to shape science! Sign up with your email address or phone number and verify your account. You then get a prolific ID (copy this before you start a study as they usually ask for it). Then complete the survey (screening questions) to be invited to take part in interesting online surveys and studies from top universities.
There is currently a waitlist to join Prolific – depending on your demographic information it could take around 2-3 month for you to get accepted.
The more pre-screening questions you answer initially, the more studies you will qualify for. Sign up, validate your account and complete your first prolific survey. Cash out your balance of £5+ immediately.
Alternatives to Prolific Surveys
There are lots of alternatives to prolific including short and long term studies, market and academic research!
- Testable – Prolific academic’s sister site is called Testable. The site works exactly the same (with academic studies), and tends to pay more than the average market research study.
- Appen – offer work from home projects for over 1 million flexible workers in over 130 countries. The tasks are all online and include rating social media ads and search engine results. I’ve earned a significant side income from Appen (up to £1000 some months).
- Swagbucks – is an online task website. You can get paid to take part in surveys, play games, watch videos or complete online offers.
- Viewsbank – another survey site that runs a variety of market research studies. The surveys vary but are often aimed at reviewing insurance products.
- Voxpopme – a smartphone app that rewards you for sharing your opinion in a video recorded by you.
MORE WAYS TO INCREASE YOUR INCOME
Surveys are a great option if you’re looking to earn extra cash. There are a whole host of ways to boost your bank balance. Here are more options for increasing your income online.
How I Earn £1000 From Home In 1 Month
Appen: Work From Home And Earn Money Online
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