Prolific Reviews and Features

Prolific

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

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KEY FEATURES:

> How Prolific works
> Prolific rewards
> Is Prolific legit?
> Sites like Prolific

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.

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'.

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?

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.

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.

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Prolific Reviews (109)

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September 21, 2019 by Alan from United Kingdom

This crowdfunding organisation delivers valid studies from professional educational establishments so maybe worth considering. There are some really interesting and rewarding studies - definitely worth your time. Does on occasion have technical issues so does not get top ranking.

August 8, 2019 by Ashlaye from United States

I joined Prolific in April of this year and I've already earned $50. One of the best because of its low threshold and it's easy to convert your payment on Paypal to USD. Many of the studies are less than 10 minutes and are helping students complete their thesis work, which I can definitely appreciate, and sometimes they award bonuses. Have had a few researchers take 2+ weeks to credit, but they do credit and you are able to submit emails (but not include screenshots :() to follow up with them directly.

March 14, 2019 by Vivi from United States

There are cons along with the pros (see below) but this panel is definitely legit and operates totally honestly. That's an important distinction because even "good" panels can still be kind of shady (if you're an experienced survey taker, you know what I mean).

PROS: 1. Projects are short (typically under 10 minutes) and with few exceptions, relatively simple. 2. Payment is relatively generous (it's not unusual to make $1 for an 8-minute exercise). 3. Low minimum payout. 4. Payouts are forthcoming and legit. 5. No lengthy screeners followed by disqualification (I don't think I've ever been disqualified).

CONS: 1. It's such a great panel that I really wish there were more opportunities. Many days there aren't any at all, and there are seldom more than 3 or 4 per day. 2. In order to be paid, the project supervisor needs to approve your participation and every so often they can be inconsiderate about that - I've waited as long as two weeks. However, I've taken to sending a polite inquiry after a few days and that usually does the trick.

Overall, I like this panel - I make around $9-13 per week if I stay on top of the available studies and most importantly, I can trust that the money will show up every time without fail.

February 20, 2020 by Elaine from United Kingdom

Surveys a little different, more to think about. Pay very quickly, but don't always get many surveys. But worth doing.

April 20, 2024 by Lynn from United States

I joined Prolific over a year ago and was ecstatic to have found a professional, interesting and well run survey site. I received a ton of surveys and the majority of them were very interesting as well as challenging. Payment was prompt and points given were always accurate. Then beginning August it started to change. I hardly get any surveys anymore, and when I do, they are low paying ones and occur maybe once a week. I see other reviewers have had the same experience, and I have to wonder why Prolific has not bothered to answer our concerns and comments? I am going to give it a bit more time but if it does not improve, I will move on to greener pastures.