Prolific Reviews and Features

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Prolific

The Wheelhouse, Angel Court First Floor, 81 St. Clements Street Oxford,   OX4 1AW GB
Tel:    Contact: [email protected]
Operated by: Prolific Academic Ltd

KEY FEATURES:

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PAYMENTS OFFERED

checkmarkCash paid via PayPal

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HOW TO PARTICIPATE

checkmarkOnline surveys

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REDEEMING REWARDS

checkmark No points system
Request a PayPal payment with £5 in your account.

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Prolific is an online surveys platform where you can get paid to answer questions posed by academics, startups, charities and businesses.

The platform has been online since 2014 and has over 130,000 participants who have collectively earned millions of dollars in rewards by voicing their opinions.

How Prolific Works

prolific surveys website

Take Surveys, Earn Rewards

Prolific is an online surveys site that primarily works with researchers looking to conduct academic surveys. The surveys posted to the site are unique in nature and pay generously compared to similar survey websites. People from over 30 countries are invited to join the website to take surveys offered by academics, startups, charities and businesses.

Joining Prolific

Join Prolific and take part in fun surveys and exciting scientific studies from researchers across the globe. You might even get the opportunity to help startups test their apps and games! There are currently over 130,000 participants from various parts of the world who participate in studies. Note that as of 2022, there is a waitlist to join Prolific surveys, so although you can sign up with their site, you might not be able to take surveys right away.

Verifying Your Account

Once you've successfully joined Prolific, you will be asked to verify your account. To do so, you'll be asked to verify your e-mail address, your phone number and your identity. To verify your identity, you will need to provide a copy of your drivers license, passport or ID card (where applicable). This verification is done by an independent software provider who will only use your ID for account verification purposes.

Verifying Your Identity

Although most survey panels do not require their participants to provide a copy of their identification, Prolific says that, 'One of the primary reasons researchers use Prolific is the high quality of data, compared to other study platforms' and that, 'Trustworthiness is at the core of Prolific and as a result, we want to make sure that participants in studies are who they say they are'.

Payment and Rewards

prolific surveys pay

Prolific Offers Fair Rewards

Prolific promises that you won't get kicked out of surveys and you'll earn cash for your efforts - never points. Any rewards you gain to receive for your participation will be clearly outlined before participating in the study or survey. Prolific surveys believes that everyone's time is valuable and asks researchers to reward participants with at least £6.00/$8.00 per hour.

Get Paid Directly to Your PayPal Account

Prolific pays out in Sterling GBP and pays its panelists via PayPal. Ensure that the email you sign up with is the same email used for your PayPal account. You may request payment of your rewards at any time, provided you have accumulated at least £5.00 in your account. If you're outside of the UK, you will still receive payments in GBP, but you can easily convert this into your local currency via your PayPal account. PayPal fees are not charged on withdrawals.

Get Paid Quickly

Prolific processes payments to participants every Tuesday and Friday afternoon (GMT). Note that for your first four payments, they will manually process your cash out, which can add a slight delay. After that, you will have access to instant cash outs.

Bonus Payments

Occasionally, researchers will award bonus payments that are in addition to the normal payment for a study. These are special payments that can be issued if the format of the study isn't conducive to a regular payment, if a bonus is offered simply out of kindness, or if the researcher would like to issue partial payments to participants, even if the study wasn't fully completed.

Reasonable Approval Times

Survey submissions are reviewed by researchers before study rewards are credited to your account. This can take a few days, but you will not wait longer than 22 days to see your credit.

Is Prolific Legit or Scam?

prolific surveys legit or scam

Is Prolific Legit?

Prolific surveys is a legitimate, safe website. It used by thousands of researchers to conduct high quality research on a select group of participants who earn fair rewards for providing their opinions. Prolific is powered by the University of Oxford and is located in the UK. Although their ID verification for participants may not appeal to some users, Prolific is not a scam and is a legit survey panel whose aim is to build the most trusted platform for research on the internet.

Eligibility

Although their registration page allows users worldwide who are 18+ to register with the site, many users outside of certain countries will receive a message on their dashboard that says that Prolific doesn't support the country they live in.

There are over 30 OECD countries (plus South Africa), that Prolific online surveys actually accepts members from. These include the UK, USA, CA, AU, IT, PL, CZ, among others.

Sites Like Prolific

If you're looking for a site like Prolific where you can get paid to voice your opinions, consider the options below. The sites listed below do not have waitlists and you can join and start earning cash and other rewards immediately upon joining.

Prolific Reviews (109)

5 Star Reviews (69) 63.3
63.3
4 Star Reviews (5) 4.6
4.6
3 Star Reviews (5) 4.6
4.6
2 Star Reviews (9) 8.3
8.3
1 Star Reviews (21) 19.3
19.3

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Terrible Service

March 3, 2024 by Morgan from United States

I was a happy user of Prolific until a power outage at my house somehow led them to no longer recognize my internet provider as legitimate and lock me out of completing surveys. I contacted their support team, assuming they would help, and I was very unpleasantly surprised. They said they'd put me on a list to get it corrected but never did. I followed up nicely a few times as months and then over a year went by, and their responses were increasingly rude and unapologetic. I can't recommend a group that treats their panelists like this -- stay away from Prolific!

not understanding

February 25, 2024 by kevin from United Kingdom

I loved this company until it accused me of looking at other websites or something when i was doing theirs. This was untrue. I had to go back to my home page to refresh my computer because the it kept crashing and this is the only way i know how to get it working again. Apparently i breached their rules. I am bottom of the list when it comes to computer knowledge. I don't even do online banking because i don't know how but they banned me anyway.

Irresponsible and unprofessional

February 20, 2024 by Maka from United States

It's my first experience using Prolific as a researcher and I've been surprised by their irresponsible, unprofessional and negligent conduct. The only means of communication with them is a web-based support ticket and if you request help that requires more involved customer assistance than copy-paste responses that they have ready to go, they simply stop answering, just like that, passive-aggressively. I'd recommend saving your time and energy and looking elsewhere. This is a terrible company.

Love It

February 4, 2024 by Myrna from United States

I completed studies for Prolific for more than 9 months and I can say that they ROCK the market. The are consistent on the amount of studies they sent me and getting paid it is immediately after you submit the transfer.

Outstanding, Thought provoking

January 29, 2024 by Lor from United States

By far, the best study/survey site that I have ever been involved with. Great 'studies', from Grad, PhD students, worldwide, with all kinds of topics. You need to take your time, pay close attention, and be honest with your answers. Their data depends on honest answers. Most studies are 1-10 min in length, some are multiple days long. The payments are fast and extremely generous. I can't say enough good about Prolific.