Prolific is a platform where you can participate in online paid surveys and research studies while you earn some money for your time.
Paying $6.50 per hour, the platform is ideal for students, retirees, unemployed, or anyone who has some spare time to participate in online research studies. Once you join, you can start earning money right away.
Does that make it a perfect opportunity for you to make some money?
In this in-depth review, I will discuss how Prolific works, what it offers, how to join, how much you can make, its pros and cons. This will help you decide whether it is worth your time.
Quick Review
What makes Prolific shine?
- Registration is free
- Available in several countries
- Interesting surveys that make a difference
- Pays out through PayPal
- A good way for researchers to get participants for studies
- Studies pay a minimum of $6.50 per hour
- Surveys, games, or studies about scientific research
- The estimated completion time is visible before you take the survey
- Monitor new studies with Prolific Assistant chrome extension
Detailed Review
What is Prolific?
Prolific is a legit online survey platform that links researchers with people for product and service evaluation. This online research and survey platform, which has been in operation since 2014, serves as a self-service research collection tool.
It was created when two Ph.D. students (Ekaterina Damer and Phelim Bradley) struggled to get volunteers for their studies.
To overcome the challenge, they decided to create their own platform that would make it simple for academics to recruit panel members from all over the world and for participants to get compensated for their time.
As a result, Prolific has evolved into a crowdsourcing platform for both academics and those who wish to provide feedback, contribute to research, and get compensated at the same time.
Indicated on their website, the platform currently has over 10, 000 researchers across over 1,500 companies and institutions and over 150, 000 members around the world ready to participate in surveys and research studies.
How Does Prolific Work?
Researchers can use the Prolific survey database of participants to locate the right person to take part in certain studies or surveys. This provides institutions, corporations, governments, and people with high-quality data via on-demand and self-service data gathering.
Researchers are billed based on the number of participants required and the length of the study. This establishes a fund that Prolific may use to compensate participants for their inputs.
As a participant (survey taker) academic research studies, online research, behavior research, and market research are some of the projects you can expect from Prolific.
For researchers, Gorilla, SurveyMonkey, Typeform, and Qualtrics are just some of the software databases that Prolific can be connected with.
Who Can Join Prolific?
As listed on the Prolific website, here are the countries eligible to become a member: CA, CH, PT, SE, CL, CZ, DE, DK, FI, FR, GB, GR, HU, IE, IL, IS, IT, AT, AU, BE, JP, KR, LU, EE, ES, LV, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PL, SI, US, and ZA.
Participants must certify that they are at least 18 years old, and because Prolific is not a worldwide research company, it is not available in all countries.
Anyone can register as a researcher, but to be eligible as a participant, individuals must reside in one of the countries listed above.
Through the official website, you can either sign up as a participant or as a researcher. You must give a valid email address as well as personal information such as your name, address, and other demographic information.
The more information you provide Prolific as a member, the more likely you are to be matched to a research project. This covers demographic and regional factors, political, religious, and personal views, education, interests, languages, family, and relationships.
See also: Best International Surveys for Money Platforms
How Much Can You Possibly Earn On Prolific?
Earning some extra money with Prolific is really an interesting thing. However, it is an excellent site for those who need to make money from surveys, not for those who want to make as much money as possible.
All of the surveys are interesting, and you can make a difference by participating, which should motivate you to participate in Prolific surveys.
It does not give surveys very regularly because it is a crowdsourcing site. It’s possible you won’t get one every day. However, this is highly dependent on the country in which you live and your demography.
Some people may get to participate in surveys regularly while some might only 1 or 2 a week.
In short, there is no assurance as to how many surveys you will be asked to complete. Surveys are given according to the needs of the researcher and will vary depending on the target audience.
You may anticipate making at least $6.50 per hour, but the ultimate payout will be determined by the survey’s length and the number of participants.
Surveys can range in length from a few minutes to a few hours to multi-part, longer-term studies.
How Does Prolific Pay Its Members?
You can get compensated through PayPal as a participant.
It’s generally great to join survey sites that pay using PayPal because it is a simple and convenient way to receive your rewards in cash.
However, if that isn’t your preferred payment method, I will suggest you check out survey sites that pay via Amazon gift cards.
When you have earned £5/$7, you can request a payout. However, there will be a modest charge for this. You can obtain your rewards for a reduced cost if you wait until you have earned £20/$28.
As soon as you request a payout after you have received your fourth cash-out, you will automatically become one of the members on instant cash-outs. This implies you will start receiving your money almost immediately.
When you complete a survey, the researcher who created the survey must approve your responses. As a result, it will take a few days for your reward to appear in your Prolific account.
Additionally, you can occasionally opt to give to charities instead of receiving your rewards in cash.
So, if any of the organizations supported by Prolific appeal to you, you might wish to give back to the community from time to time.
Be informed that you can only cash out on Tuesdays and Fridays when you initially join Prolific.
However, as previously stated, after you meet the payment level and have made 4 withdrawals, you will be paid by instant PayPal and receive your money immediately.
See also: Best Survey Sites for Walmart Gift Cards
How Can You Make Money On Prolific?
1. Paid Surveys
Unlike some survey sites with other earning opportunities aside from paid surveys, Prolific is a site where you can only make money by doing surveys or participating in research.
It is a platform majorly designed to assist researchers in obtaining responses and opinions. As such, you won’t find as many surveys available as on many other survey sites.
Although that will depend a great deal on where you live – in some countries you might receive invitations quite frequently, while in others you might not.
Prolific surveys are fascinating. Although they are all academic subjects, you do not need to have an academic degree to take part in them. All you have to do is respond to the surveys with your thoughts and opinions, just as you would on any other survey site.
So, regardless of your background, you can sign up and participate in surveys.
Many of the surveys nevertheless, are very specialized and focused on a single issue, you may be required to meet a certain demographic profile to participate. It may be anything from where you live to what you do for a livelihood to how many children you have.
You will receive an email once research becomes available. If you want to join, don’t wait too long to fill out the survey because some studies fill up rapidly.
Downloading the Prolific Chrome extension “Prolific Assistant” is another approach to ensure you get notified quickly.
The surveys are typically short and pay rather well for your time. They mostly last 10-20 minutes on average, although you may find shorter or longer surveys.
You can always check how long a survey will take and then decide whether or not to take it.
See also: How To Qualify For More Surveys
Do Prolific Pay Researchers Too?
No. As previously stated, Prolific is a crowdsourcing platform that focuses on making it simple for academics to attract participants for surveys and research panels.
So, if you’re looking for participants for your next study, Prolific could be a good option.
You may choose how your study’s participants are prescreened, such as by age, gender, nationality, language, and other factors.
If you have research in another system, such as Qualtrics or SurveyMonkey, you can simply paste the URL into Prolific and continue to recruit participants.
Signing up for Prolific is completely free. However, as a researcher, you will be charged to compensate the participants plus a Prolific administration fee.
The amount of money you pay participants is mostly up to you, although Prolific recommends at least $6.5 per hour. It will also be simpler to recruit people if the money is more.
Pros
- Interesting surveys that make a difference
- Pays out through PayPal
- Studies pay a minimum of $6.50 per hour
- Surveys, games, or studies about scientific research
- The estimated completion time is visible before you take the survey
- Get notified for new studies with Prolific Assistant chrome extension
Cons
- Survey opportunities are limited in some countries
- Takes days to have your surveys approved
Alternatives
Many other survey platforms like Prolific lets you take surveys and perform various research tasks to make money in your spare time. These sites include:
- Rewards1
- E-Poll Surveys
- Panel Champ
- The Panel Station
- Survey Junkie
- MyPoints
- Surveyeah
- E-Research Global
- Zap Surveys
- Opinion Inn
FAQ
How much does it cost to join Prolific?
$0 is what it cost to become a participant on Prolific. Joining the site is free – all you need to get started is an email address.
What types of surveys can I take with Prolific?
Prolific is a survey site that offers your opinions on various products and services. Many surveys are for market research, behavioral research, and user research purposes. The survey types available vary from company to company.
Can I use other survey sites with Prolific?
Yes, many online survey takers use more than one survey site to ensure they have surveys to take as often as possible. In fact, if you truly want to make a reasonable amount of money from online surveys, you have to join as many as possible survey sites.
Can you take Prolific surveys on mobile devices
The platform has no mobile app. Taking surveys on a mobile device is quite convenient since you can do them whenever it suits your schedule and without having to sit in front of a computer.
Prolific does, however, have a mobile-friendly website that you may access by simply opening it in your phone’s browser or clicking the link in the invitation email you will get.
Conclusion
Prolific is a wonderful choice for anybody seeking a side hustle to supplement their income. If you enjoy contributing to cutting-edge research, this is a fantastic opportunity you should take.
However, you should join primarily if you want to participate in fascinating surveys and are willing to wait a long period for your reward.
Alternatively, you may join it as a supplement to other survey sites with greater chances, and then utilize Prolific to give important insights and earn a little more income on the side.
If you’re looking for more high-paying survey panels, here are the Best Paid Survey Panels you can choose from. When it comes to online surveys, it’s always the more sites you join, the more money you get to make.
I hope you found this Prolific review helpful. If so, you may want to check out my Respondent review also, sure you will like it. Thanks for reading.
Ready To Join Prolific
Simply click the button below to join Prolific. You will be directed to the registration page where you can quickly join up with a few basic personal information.
