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Prolific Review At a Glance
- We believe Prolific is legit. We gave it a trust rating of 5/5. View reasoning.
- Based on our combined research and user reviews, Prolific seems to be a good earning opportunity for Participants. It has an overall earner score of 3.8/5. View our research or read the user reviews.
- Based on our combined research and user reviews, Prolific seems to provide a good product/service for Researchers. It has an overall consumer score of 5/5. View our research.
What Is Prolific?
Prolific is a crowdsourcing platform that connects researchers with paid study participants. Supported study formats include surveys, video interviews, diary studies, and more. Founded in 2014, the platform claims to be home to over 120k participants and 30k researchers.
General Details 📜
| Status: | Active, Legit |
|---|---|
| Helps You: | Hire Help Make Money |
| Platform Type: | Crowdsourcing Marketplace |
| Opportunities: | Academic Research Participation Diary Study Participation Focus Group Participation Market Research Participation Research Interview Participation |
Contact Info ☎️
| Socials: | Linkedin • Twitter • Facebook • Subreddit |
|---|---|
| Emails: | support@prolific.co (for general support) • dpo@prolific.co (for privacy related inquiries) |
| Support Pages: | Participant FAQ • Participant Help Centre • Researcher Help Centre |
Company Details 🏢
| Founded: | 2014 |
|---|---|
| Legal Name: | Prolific Academic Ltd. |
| Founders: | Phelim Bradley • Ekaterina Damer • Jim Moodie |
| Headquarters: | Green Lanes, London, England |
Who Is Prolific For?
Prolific is for two groups: (1) Researchers looking to conduct academic research and market research with participants from around the world; and (2) Individuals looking to earn money by contributing to research and taking part in a variety of studies.
Requirements 🔎
| Minimum Age: | 18 years old |
|---|---|
| Supported Locations: | Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile Researchers can sign up from anywhere in the world. As a participant, if you are from one of the supported locations above but live elsewhere, you can still participate in paid studies. |
| Supported Languages: | English |
| Supported Devices: | Computer Browser, Smartphone Browser, Tablet Browser Prolific can be accessed via web browser on any device (user experience may vary). |
How Does Prolific Work?
There are 2 types of users on Prolific:
- Participants (earners)
- Researchers (buyers / consumers)
Here's how Prolific works for each of those user types:
How Prolific Works For Participants
Prolific participants can earn money by participating in academic and market research-related surveys, focus groups, interviews, diary studies, and more. After accumulating £5, earnings can be cashed out via PayPal.
Key Points 🔑
| Work Type: | Casual |
|---|---|
| Income Type: | Active |
| Work Schedule: | Flexible |
| Workplace: | Remote |
| Minimum Payout: | £5 You can only cash out once every 24 hours. |
| Payout Options: | PayPal |
| Payout Speed: | 0-4 days Prolific processes payouts every Tuesday and Friday afternoon. After you've requested at least four (4) payouts, you'll be moved to instant payouts. Note that the earnings from a study won't be available for payout until they're approved by the researcher running the study, which can take up to 22 days. |
| Other Notes: | Prolific may require you to verify your identity with an ID check. |
| Pros: |
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| Cons: |
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| Tips: |
Pros, cons, and tips are based on real Prolific Participant reviews. |
Getting Started 🔢
To become a participant on Prolific, head over to the platform's website, find the signup button, and select that you're interested in participating in studies. You'll have to fill out a waitlist with your full name, country of residence, country of birth, date of birth, ethnic group, sex, and email.
Waitlisted participants are invited based on undercovered or in-demand demographics, so you may receive one really quickly or you could be waiting months.
Once you're invited, you can finish your account setup and take the first practice study. This is a simple example study that will give you an idea of how the Prolific platform works.
From there, you'll want to fill in your "About You" page, which asks for more info about your demographics, hobbies, etc.
Earning Money 💵
You can earn money on Prolific by participating in studies. Studies are typically academic-related or market research-related and can be in the format of:
- Short surveys (5 questions or less)
- Long surveys (more than 5 questions, mix of multiple choice, written responses, etc.)
- Focus groups (studies with multiple participants at a time)
- Video interviews (1-on-1 interviews with researchers)
- Diary studies (studies completed over multiple days)
- Multi-part studies (studies completed in multiple sessions)
After completing a study, you'll need to wait for it to be approved by the researcher running the study. This can take up to 22 days.
Cashing Out 💰
Once you have at least £5 in your balance, you can cash out your Prolific earnings via PayPal.
After cashing out, you can expect to receive your Prolific payout in 0-4 days. (Prolific processes payouts every Tuesday and Friday afternoon. After you've requested at least four (4) payouts, you'll be moved to instant payouts. Note that the earnings from a study won't be available for payout until they're approved by the researcher running the study, which can take up to 22 days.)
How Prolific Works For Researchers
Prolific researchers can use the platform to create and distribute academic and market-research-related studies to a large pool of paid participants. Studies can be created on-platform or with external software and can be in the format of an online form, video interview, diary study, or similar.
Key Points 🔑
| Costs / Fees: | Total study costs will vary based on study size and incentive pay. Service fees (30% for corporate customers and 25% for academia and not-for-profits) are calculated based on total spend. |
|---|---|
| Minimum Purchase: | None Minimum purchase amount will vary depending on the size and length of your study. |
| Payment Options: | Credit Card, Debit Card, Direct Deposit, Invoice Payments can be made in USD or GBP. |
| Pros: |
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| Cons: |
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Getting Started 🔢
To become a researcher on Prolific, head over to the platform's website and create a researcher account. You'll be asked for your full name, country of residence, and work email.
After your account is approved and your email is verified, you can start creating your first study.
Conducting Research 💼
Prolific has a built-in survey builder (it allows 5 questions max) and supports a variety of external survey software for you to build and launch your studies. Besides regular form-style surveys, you can also use Prolific to conduct diary studies, video interviews, multi-part studies, and more.
During your study setup, participants can be targeted based on a range of demographic factors.
After launching a study and receiving submissions, you have 21 days to review them (unreviewed submissions will be automatically approved). Prolific will republish your study automatically to replace rejected submissions, if necessary.
Pricing 🏷️
Funds must be added in advance to cover total study costs.
Prolific recommends paying study participants at least £9.00/$12.00 per hour. The minimum pay allowed is £6.00/$8.00 per hour.
You can get an estimate of how much your entire study will cost by generating a quote. You can generate a quote for any study you create on Prolific. The quote will be broken down into participant rewards + service fees + VAT (if applicable).
Note that study estimates may not be exact. There are some situations where your final study cost may be higher than the quoted amount.
Service fees (30% for corporate customers and 25% for academia and not-for-profits) are calculated based on total spend.
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Prolific Images
Our Editorial Prolific Review
Is Prolific Legit?
We believe Prolific is legit. It was founded in 2014, has built up a great reputation across the web, and its worked with well-known organizations like World Bank, Standford, the University of Oxford, Meta, Google, and more. Overall, we have no reason to believe Prolific is a scam.
Green flags:
- Founded in 2014.
- Trusted by leading organizations for online research.
- Officially registered business in the U.K.
- Plenty of positive reviews across the web.
- Straightforward and transparent website.
- Active social media presence.
Note: All research is done independently and could be wrong or change as new information is gathered. Please do your own due diligence.
Is Prolific Worth It for Participants? Is It a Good Way to Make Money?
Prolific is a legit survey site with some of the highest-paying (and most interesting) surveys in the game. However, there isn't a huge quantity of paid studies available on the platform, so if your demographics aren't in demand, or you aren't able to apply to new surveys quickly, you may have a hard time earning.
Is Prolific Worth it for Researchers? Does It Offer Good Value?
Our editorial consumer review is currently incomplete. Showing what we have so far...
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Try It!Prolific Statistics
General Platform Statistics
#7,447
Global Site Rank
8.7M
Avg. Monthly Site Visitors
120K
Total Participants
30K
Total Researchers
Data as of July 24, 2023 • Sources: Similarweb, Prolific
Participant Earnings Statistics
Based on real data from our 32 Prolific Participant reviews. View all Participant statistics here.
Help make this data more accurate by writing a review!
Prolific Reviews From Participants
Average Scores
Reviewer Recommendation
😁 93.97%Rating Breakdown
Reviews By Total Earnings
- Unknown (0%)
- Less than $100 (26.67%)
- $100-$999 (63.33%)
- $1,000-$9,999 (10%)
- $10,000-$49,999 (0%)
- $50,000-$99,999 (0%)
- $100,000+ (0%)
Reviews By Age Range
- Unknown (3.33%)
- 13-17 (6.67%)
- 18-24 (53.33%)
- 25-34 (33.33%)
- 35-44 (0%)
- 45-54 (3.33%)
- 55-64 (0%)
- 65+ (0%)
Reviews By Length of Use
- < 1 month (0%)
- 1-3 months (13.33%)
- 3-6 months (23.33%)
- 6-12 months (23.33%)
- 1-2 years (26.67%)
- 2-3 years (3.33%)
- 3-5 years (10%)
- 5+ years (0%)
Great way to earn extra money
It's a really great site overall! It's been a really nice way for me to make some extra money, and I'm really grateful to have stumbled upon it one day. I definitely think it's one of the best survey sites around because it seems more reliable, less gimmicky, and more serious, not to mention that the studies are much more interesting (at least in my opinion).
It's also very easy to use, and I feel like I've been able to make quite a bit of money without spending a huge amount of time working on it. I have never had any kind of issue getting paid, and the site is maintained very nicely. Prolific was really the first survey site I ever found that I didn't think was too much of a hassle or too gimmicky for me to stay involved.
- They seem to have pretty high standards as far as what is allowed on the site is concerned. For example, studies generally aren't gimmicky (like on some sites where you waste too much time filling out questions only to be rejected before you can even submit your work), they're usually focus on academic research, and they generally pay well for the amount of time you're investing. Some more problematic studies occasionally slip through the cracks, but it's usually not an issue.
- With very few exceptions, the studies you are offered are ones that you definitely qualify for, so the hassle of answering a bunch of questions and then getting turned away is pretty much never an issue. Even the few times I have been disqualified from studies for demographics issues, it's only happened after answering one or two short questions.
- Payment is super fast! After the first few withdrawals, cashout becomes instant.
- The limit to cash out is pretty low; much better than certain sites I've used where you have to wait until you've reached a fairly large amount to cash out at all.
- You have the option to directly contact researchers with questions or problems with the studies. They aren't always responsive or helpful, but I really appreciate that the option is there, and they usually ARE helpful.
- The studies are often very fun and interesting! I usually enjoy taking them, especially when I get ones that are very relevant to my own interests or things that impact my life.
- It's nice to be able to see an estimate for how long each study will take to complete, as well as a pay rate, so that you can decide whether or not a study would be worth completing. It's also nice that the time estimate and pay rate change and become more accurate as more people complete the study.
- If your response to a study is not approved or rejected by the researcher within a certain number of days, it will automatically be approved, so you will definitely be paid for anything that doesn't get rejected.
- I have never personally experienced this, but I've heard a few stories of people having their work rejected by researchers under very shady circumstances, and it sounds like Prolific Support usually handles this very well.
- There is a minimum pay rate that researchers are allowed to offer, and if the average completion time of the study ends up being longer than expected and causes the pay rate to dip below that threshold, you will usually be given a bonus payment to accommodate for that.
- While there are consequences for having a large number of studies rejected, quitting a survey and returning it has no consequences at all, so there is no pressure to finish a study if you happen to lose interest, feel you won't have enough time to complete it, or don't want to proceed for any other reason.
- You can't directly cash out in USD; only GBP. This is a very minor/negligible issue, but it can get a little annoying at times.
- While I've had luck with getting issues revolved in the past, in recent months, it has seemed like reporting certain problematic studies has been a bit less effective. That said, I've only ever had relatively minor issues to report, and I feel confident that a major problem would be handled much better.
- The number of studies you get each day can vary quite a bit from time to time. I have had weeks where I had 20+ studies each day, and I have had weeks where there has been almost nothing the entire week. There are some perks to this, but it can also be a little frustrating.
- I've heard that you generally aren't supposed to use it when you're away from home, and that doing so can result in a ban. I know this is supposed to help ensure that the same person is answering all the questions, but it can be inconvenient and a bit disappointing. There have been many times when I would have loved to be able to participate in surveys when I was out an about, having downtime at school, etc.
- They no longer have a referral program. I used the referral program to make quite a bit of money when I first joined Prolific, so I'm sad that that's no longer an option.
- Install the Prolific Assistant extension for Google Chrome so you will miss out on fewer studies.
- Pay close attention to the pay rate for each study so you can more easily know whether or not something will be worth your time.
- Always watch for attention checks and be sure to read all instructions.
- Become at least somewhat familiar with the rules of Prolific, so that if you encounter a study that asks for information researchers are not allowed to ask for, you can report it accordingly. Also, be wary of studies that include certain kinds of attention checks that are against the rules, and be sure to report those.
- Be sure to fill out as many of the "about you" questions as possible, and if one of your answers changes, delete it and wait for the question to reappear so that you can add the new information.
Poor poor lies
was accepted and began doing studies. I didn't spend alot of time on it and the extra change I was getting was wonderful because of cancer I can't work. I cashed out at 15.54 the first time it actually worked... Couple days later I tried it again at 6.46 and it locked my account.
I reached out to them and got this response:
"Thanks for getting in touch.
I'm afraid you won't be able to take part in further studies on Prolific because your account has failed one or more of our automated checks, as well as our manual review. Unfortunately, I can't give you any further information about the specifics of these checks and won't be able to reverse the decision."
WHAT CHECKS? I TOTALLY COVERED ALL THE CHECKS THEY THE AT ME I DIDN'T USE VPN OR GIVE ANYONE ACCESS ...
They obviously want the studies but don't want to pay up in the end is what I see cause I read the terms thoroughly and i breached nothing.
I liked it but they didn't like the fact that I cashed out
They use ppl
Interesting studies and honest platform
I can definitely recommend.
I have tried many platforms and can honestly say that Prolific offers the most interesting surveys yet. Many studies are research projects by universities. Not only are they interesting, but also thought-provoking. You can download Prolific Assistant to give you notifications of available studies as well. Rewards vary, but you can earn the more you do. Another plus in their favour, is they monitor the reward payout, and if it is too low, the researcher is obliged to reward correctly for the amount of time spent. Once you are established as a regular contributor, Your payout is cleared immediately.
As with all platforms, Bots are a problem, but their is signs that they are actively weeding them out.
Download the Prolific Assistant
Prolific Reviews From Researchers
No reviews yet. Help out by writing one!
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