Online surveys are an excellent form of passive income — it lets you make money without ever having to leave the house. However, finding a survey site with high-quality options and relevant survey questions will help you maximize your profit.
Customer feedback doesn’t have to be boring — it can be fun! Toluna is a leading global survey site where you can earn money by completing surveys, win prizes, and connect with other users in a global community.
This Toluna review will let you know what (and what not) to expect from the survey website and if paid surveys are your preferred way to make a side income.
Is Toluna Legit?
Yes, Toluna is legit, and if you are into answering online surveys, you can make money with it, although — not as much as you wish.
A quick glance at Trustpilot shows a worrying statistic, however. It receives 2.3 stars out of 5, which is definitely not a wonderful review. However, many of those one-star comments are from first-time reviewers, so we have to consider black hat marketing since it’s a big part of that industry.
What is Toluna?
The Toluna Group has been a global market research company for over 20 years. It helps companies worldwide conduct surveys and market research and gain insights on consumer trends to develop products.
In simple words, the company is paid by large businesses, such as Coca-Cola, Amazon, L’Oréal, and others, to analyze real-world customer behavior (instead of using guessing methods). Then, a portion of the money received is paid to survey takers.
Toluna lets customers choose their categories and is not limited to a specific demographic, which brings a better user experience. Instead of answering surveys you’re not interested in, you participate in topics close to you.
How Does It Work?
Toluna lets you decide if you want to complete surveys that are either short or long. It’s all about how much time you are willing to spend on the platform.
Profile surveys aim to learn more about you so they can send you more relevant surveys on topics close to you. It is imperative you answer these surveys honestly and give detailed information, though. Longer surveys are a different story; they take about 20 minutes to complete and have many more survey questions, but you can earn more points doing these surveys.
To complete the longer surveys, you should select a category (for example, cars and mobile phones). Then, you can see all the surveys with an estimated completion time and how many points you will earn for each survey.
Ways to Earn Rewards with It
Toluna’s surveys and polls are a great way to earn points. There are frequent opportunities to participate in various market research projects — with exciting survey rewards that include gift cards and vouchers.
People love the survey website because the platform offers a variety of ways for users to make money. Of course, if you seek ways to make your first million by filling out surveys, I will have to intercept your dreams. Still, it’s possible to make money with a Toluna account. Let’s find out how:
Profile surveys
Answering profile surveys will reward you with 100 points each. Each profile consists of 10+ surveys and asks you to give as many relevant details as they need. Potentially, you can make up to 1,500 points from these surveys, which is fine. Of course, the more profile surveys completed, the more points you accumulate.
People who fill out those profile surveys are called “Toluna influencers.”
Longer surveys
Most surveys take about 20 minutes to complete and are usually paid better. The Toluna team claims you can make from 15 to 50 thousand points from each survey, but from our experience, these numbers are greatly exaggerated.
Inviting friends
As with similar survey websites, inviting friends to fill out surveys is an excellent way to earn extra points. Each referral is worth 500 points, and you can claim up to 5000 points per month with referrals. To be honest, it’s weird that there is a monthly cap on referrals, as most similar services don’t limit the number of people you can refer to the platform to share their valuable opinions.
Community features
Posts in their community can reward you with up to 1,000 extra points, which is not bad. Of course, your comment should be qualified as helpful before you get the reward.
How Much Do They Pay?
Toluna doesn’t pay that much for taking its surveys. To get $1, you should collect 3000 Toluna points, and according to many sources, you can make about $0.74 per hour, which is certainly not much. You also need to meet an essential condition to withdraw your money: you should have at least $10 (which equals 30,000 points) to make a withdrawal. This might be a negative experience for some users.
Cashing Out: How Do You Get Paid?
Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to get paid on the platform that vary based on your preferences: gift cards, PayPal payments, charity, etc.
Gift Cards
You can receive a gift card from Amazon, Walmart, Starbucks, and other popular chains in exchange for the points you’ve accumulated from filling out surveys.
PayPal
Once you have enough points, you can redeem them for money. You should have 90,000 points, which you can exchange for $30. Then, you should link your PayPal account to get paid. Expect your payment to be completed in around three weeks.
Charity Donations
Toluna also works with charity organizations, and if you want to donate the points you’ve accumulated on your Toluna account to charity, there are plenty of options to help people in need.
Pros and Cons
It’s impossible to write a full review of Toluna without first looking at the pros and cons of the platform. There are some definite advantages and disadvantages, which we’ll explore in this section.
Pros
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Free to use – it’s always good news when you have an online survey platform that lets you make money without asking for a monthly subscription fee or a premium plan. Toluna is free forever, meaning anyone aged 16 and above can create a Toluna account.
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Interesting surveys – unlike other survey websites on the market, you can filter available surveys by choosing your favorite topics and expressing your opinion about the things you like rather than doing boring surveys. That’s a fantastic experience in itself.
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Lots of surveys available – there is a variety of new surveys you can participate in every day. On top of that, there is a high chance you will get approved for a survey. The success rate for each survey opportunity is about 25%-33%.
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Plenty of ways to earn points – participating in surveys isn’t the only way in earning points on platform. You can also post content that helps the community, invite friends to join the platform, play fun games, and more.
Cons
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Low payouts – despite the promises that you can make up to $15-20 per survey, this is more like a dream rather than what you could receive in real life. On average, you’ll make around $0.74 per hour spent, which isn’t great.
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Points expire – it’s not impossible to earn points only to realize later that they have expired. It creates frustration in customers, and their reviews in Trustpilot show it.
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Poor customer service – the platform’s customer service team is getting criticized for lack of competency and poor resolutions. The Toluna team is not known to gladly assist their users! If you encounter issues with your account or get an error message every time you log in, don’t be surprised if you wait for long before you get a solution (if you do get one) from the Toluna team.
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Account deactivation – There are many complaints in Trustpilot about account suspension for no reason. We wouldn’t take this seriously if it were one or two reviews, but plenty of people share their concerns.
Conclusion: Is Toluna Worth It?
Toluna is a high-quality survey site that is safe and easy to use. With many opportunities for cash rewards, free gift cards, online discounts, and winning prizes, it can be a viable way for you to make money in your spare time.
However, the survey platform isn’t a place that can replace your full-time job. Maybe you should spend time as a part of the Toluna team only if you have a couple of spare hours. If you’re a student and need to make some extra money for a cup of coffee or Netflix, the website might be a good enough option.
Toluna Alternatives
The Toluna app is not the only one that lets customers save and make money through different activities, such as filling out surveys and inviting friends. Let’s see some other websites that give you good value for money.
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Survey Junkie – Survey Junkie is a great way to make money. It is one of the leading survey websites and has been going strong for years. It has developed a reputation for consistent payments and quality surveys. On top of that, you can make between $2 and $5 per hour depending on the survey number you manage to fill out, which is much more than what you can make with Toluna surveys.
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Monetha – Monetha is a rewards program that will let you earn money online. It will pay you for surveys, and you can save big by utilizing the platform, which has over 1,000 stores and a well-crafted mobile app for simple shopping.
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Swagbucks – Swagbucks is another way to make money online. It is one of the survey sites that lets you earn points in more than one way — you can play games, invite friends, and generate a decent amount of money overall. We can rate it as high as Toluna since it has its pros and cons (read our review on Swagbucks and if it’s safe here).
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InboxDollars – InboxDollars rewards you with cash in exchange for completing various tasks. You can earn money by playing games, watching short videos, or simply taking surveys on topics that interest you. And because InboxDollars is one of the most established paid survey sites, it’s easy to earn a good deal of cash quickly.
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i-Say – i-Say allows you to take surveys on your mobile phone and, without having to navigate from one survey section to the next, gives you surveys from a single source. If you enjoy taking surveys, i-Say is a great way to earn points fast — with a little bit of patience. However, you cannot redeem points for money, but many gift cards are available.
FAQs
How long does it take to pay you?
On average, it takes three weeks for Toluna users to get paid after requesting a withdrawal. Some users, however, report massive delays in their PayPal payments.
How much are their points worth?
3,000 Toluna points are worth $1, but sometimes you can get a better deal on gift cards and vouchers, then your points are worth more.
How much are 500 points on Toluna?
500 points are worth approximately $0.17.
How much do they pay per survey?
According to their official website, each survey pays between 15,000 and 50,000 Toluna points. However, our real-time tests showed these numbers are highly inflated. Usually, it’s around 1,500-2,000 points per survey for a Toluna influencer, but some surveys indeed pay 15,000 and more.
