Prolific Reviews and Features

Prolific website screenshot

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:

payment icon
PAYMENTS OFFERED

checkmarkCash paid via PayPal

study types icon
HOW TO PARTICIPATE

checkmarkOnline surveys

payment info icon
REDEEMING REWARDS

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

similar panels icon
SITES LIKE Prolific

PaidViewpoint, Panel Champ, TGM Panel

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

Sort Reviews By: Date | Highest rating | Lowest rating

INCONVENIENT

November 19, 2020 by MICHAEL from United States

I AM A NEW PARTICIPANT OF PROLIFIC
I AM IMMEDIATELY TURNED OFF
I DON'T HAVE A COMPUTER
I USUALLY USE ONE AT AT LIBRARY, HOWEVER MOST LIBRARIES ARE CLOSED DUE TO THE PANDEMIC
TODAY PROLIFIC ONLY HAS 3 SURVEYS.
2 OUT OF 3 WERE FOR COMPUTERS ONLY- NO SMARTPHONES!
THAT IS A RIDICULOUS INCONVENIENCE AT THE PRESENT TIME!
I WILL HAVE TO GIVE MY OPINIONS ELSEWHERE

Survey not accepted

August 24, 2020 by Jennifer from United Kingdom

My completed survey was turned down because I completed it too quickly! This is very poor practice.

Banned for some reason

July 13, 2020 by Joe from Canada

When I joined this site back in March 2020 it was great. Almost everyday I would get a study to do.They werent the same boring surveys like some other sites.I managed to cash out 5 or 6 times in under 2 months. About a week or so after my last cash out I noticed my account was now on Hold & I hadnt received a study in that time frame either. I had inquired about it. Emails went back n forth with customer service & after I answered all the questions they had asked.

The person on the other end a couple days later verified everything was fine & legit.
"Thanks for answering our questions. We have now checked over your account and are happy that it should continue to receive studies."

So when I had gone back to the site a couple days later I noticed my account was still on hold & still was not receiving any studies. I figured Id wait the 2 month period of not receiving any to inquire about it. Because it was already close to 5 weeks with my account being on hold and not getting any studies.
Fast forward to today (July 13th 2020) I get an email stating
"The Information you have provided us with, as well as other factors such as IP and device information. As a result of these automated checks your account will no longer receive surveys. I have looked into this for you and can confirm the validity of the checks."

Mate, dont tell me that my account is all verified one month then come back to me when I inquire about it again, saying stuff doesn't check out. I was asked the 1st time around about my IP & Device usage. Everything checked out fine then.

Not to thrilled as I actually liked that site. It wasnt the same boring surveys you get from all the other sites.I took my time with them, they were interesting.

Oh well, It was good while it lasted I guess. Moving on

You have to log in

April 15, 2019 by Brad from United States

These guys dont really email surveys. You have to log in to your account to see them and I dont do that every day. The surveys are good but there are not many of them and the pay is nothing special. They also stopped their referral program which is unfair.

No communication

January 12, 2019 by Kathy from United Kingdom

This looks like a very good site, but the trouble is I can't get them to communicate with me. You have to verify your email (fair enough) and phone number before you can complete a survey - however it says my phone number is already in use (don't see how). I've raised several tickets to get this sorted, but they just keep sending me surveys which I can't complete because of the problem. It's been weeks now and it's so aggravating I have now deleted my account.