5 Ways to Get Paid to Write Reviews

When you want to make money writing any type of content, your first step should usually be to look for paid gigs on online job boards. Reviews are no exception to this.

There are two types of platforms you should check out:

Freelance job boards

There are several websites explicitly aimed at freelancers, including:

• Upwork
• Fiverr 
• Freelancer

On these sites, you can get paid for reviewing products and services of all types, from apps and gadgets to clothes and beauty products.

Note that these sites are used by millions of freelancers from all over the world, and there’s a lot of competition from people offering to work for low rates. As such, you may have to sift through a lot of low-paying jobs before you find ones worth applying to.

Traditional job sites and local classified ads

You can also sometimes find paid reviewing work on mainstream job sites (ones that aren’t exclusively targeted at freelancers). Check out:

• Indeed
• Glassdoor
• LinkedIn
• Flexjobs (this site focuses on remote and part-time work)

You can also check local job boards on sites like Craigslist and ClassifiedAds.com.

There are several websites that are specifically dedicated to reviews of products and services.

Some of these will pay you to write for them—although they generally won’t pay you very much. You can use them to earn a couple of extra bucks here and there, but for more lucrative gigs, you’ll eventually want to develop relationships with actual clients.

Look into these platforms:

Reviews of consumer products and software

• ReviewStream: This site will pay you for reviews about all kinds of products, from baby items to electronics. Your review should be honest, and it has to be for something you’ve actually used. According to online reports, you’re likely to earn around $2–$25 for each review.
• Capterra: This is a website where you can review software and get paid for it (as long as you follow their guidelines). They don’t specify how much you’ll be paid for each review, but many reports claim that it’s around $10.
• SoftwareJudge: As the name suggests, this is another site that will pay you to review software. The website says that you can earn up to $50 per review.
• G2: This is yet another software review platform. However, this site won’t pay you in cash—only in gift cards.

Books and music reviews

If you’re an avid reader or a music nut, there are plenty of sites that will pay you for reviews. Look into:

• Online Book Club: This is an online community for book lovers. You can join for free and earn money by reading and reviewing books. According to the site, payouts are usually $5–$60 per review.
• Reedsy Discovery: This is another site where you can post book reviews, but you won’t get paid by the site directly; instead, readers can tip you for your work ($1, $3, or $5).
• Slicethepie: This started out as a music review website, but now it also lets you review commercials, fashion items, and accessories. Although you’ll get paid for this, rumor has it that you only get a few cents per review, so you should only do it if you really enjoy it.
• PlaylistPush: This is a community you can join to earn money for reviewing songs from new artists—up to $15 per review. However, the site says that you need to have a Spotify playlist with “REAL organic followers.” In other words, you need to be somewhat influential in this space before you can get paid.
• Urban Flaiire: This site features short music reviews of 150–160 words, primarily in the hip-hop, RnB, eclectic, chill wave, pop, and urban genres. This is another site that won’t pay you directly but that does have a system that facilitates readers tipping you.

Instead of hunting for work on job boards, you can also take a more traditional approach and pitch your review ideas to magazines and websites. This usually has considerably higher earning potential than writing for the sites listed in the previous section.

Here are a few publications you can try:

• Listverse: This is a site that publishes lists of everything under the sun. They have many “top 10” lists with reviews of music, movies, books, and more. They’ll pay you $100 if they publish one of your lists.
• Shvoong: Shvoong calls itself a “knowledge-sharing platform.” The site publishes reviews on an eclectic array of topics—it currently features reviews of restaurants, mattresses, and laptop sleeves, to give a few examples. According to online reports, they don’t pay their writers a set rate, but instead pass on a fraction of their advertising revenue.
• Cineaste: This is a quarterly magazine for people interested in cinema. They publish book reviews, film reviews, and DVD or Blu-ray reviews (both of new and vintage/classic films), among other things. Payment is $18–$45, depending on the type of review.
• VAN: This is a classical music magazine that pays for reviews and other types of writing about the classical music world. They specify that they pay, but not how much.
• Bitch Media: This colorfully named publication offers a feminist perspective on contemporary culture. They accept all types of articles, including reviews. If you can offer a feminist analysis of a film, television show, album, or other work, this publication pays quite well, at $250–$1000 per article.
• Contingent Magazine: This online magazine publishes articles about history, including (but not limited to) reviews of books, films, museum exhibits, and television shows. They pay $250+ per review.
• Screen Rant: This is a very popular entertainment website that publishes reviews of movies, video games, comics, and TV shows. They don’t clearly indicate how much they pay, but they’re on the lookout for regular contributors, and you have the potential to work for them on a full-time basis.
• Cultured Vultures: This UK-based website features reviews of video games and movies. Their base rate of £5 per article (equivalent to about $6) is fairly low, but you’ll receive a bonus for every 200 views your reviews get.
• Kirkus Media: Kirkus is a magazine that accepts pitches for book reviews. Their website doesn’t specify how much they pay; some reports suggest it might be around $50 per article.
• The US Review of Books: This publication accepts work from freelance book reviewers. When you apply to write for them, you’ll need to attach your resume, a few writing samples, and two or more references. Their site also doesn’t clearly indicate their rates, but other sources suggest they pay $25–$75 per book review.

Depending on the publication you pick, your earning potential with this route can be fairly high.

The downside is that you’ll normally have to send out a lot of pitches before you get any success, and you’ll need a good portfolio (which won’t be necessary with the review sites listed in the previous section).

There are a number of websites that will pay you to take surveys and review products.

Note that these sites don’t pay very much, and they also don’t put much of a focus on your actual writing. Some of their surveys have no written component at all, and to earn a significant amount of money, you’ll have to complete a lot of surveys very quickly, without much time to express yourself.

Still, this type of work is close enough to writing reviews that it might be worth investigating, as long as you keep your expectations modest. Look into these sites:

• LifePoints: This is a website that pays users to complete surveys (e.g., giving your opinion about products you’ve used). Completing surveys earns points, which can then be exchanged for cash or gift cards.
• InboxDollars: This website has many different ways to earn cash, such as taking part in surveys. You can also watch ads and read emails consisting of marketing materials from brands.
• Swagbucks: Like InboxDollars, Swagbucks will pay you to take surveys (and complete other small tasks, e.g., watching ads or playing games). You can also get paid for writing product reviews, which can make a nice side gig, as you’ll get free products and also earn points or rewards.
• Crowdtap: Crowdtap pays for various tasks, including taking surveys and writing product reviews. As with Swagbucks, you’ll get a free product and also earn points or rewards when you take part.

If you have a blog with a sizable readership, companies might be willing to pay you to review their products on it.

This is the option with the highest earning potential, but the barrier to entry is very high, since this will only work if you’re already quite popular and successful.

To monetize your reviews, you can:

• Add affiliate links: Affiliate links enable you to earn money for promoting a product or service; you’ll get paid when people click them. One easy way to get started with affiliate links is to join Amazon Associates—a free program that lets you recommend products on your blog in exchange for commissions.
• Put ads on your blog: You can use programs like Google Adsense or Media.net to do this.
• Just write reviews for money: You can also agree to write a review in exchange for direct payment. There are websites that connect businesses with bloggers who are open to this. Check out ReviewMe.com, PayPerPost, and Valued Voice.

Note that you don’t need to go through a middleman if you don’t want to. You could just contact businesses directly and offer to review their products, or sell them ad space on your blog.

If you have a popular fitness blog, for example, try contacting gyms, personal trainers, or sportswear stores.

Social media reviews

In addition to bloggers, businesses often want social media personalities to review their products. If you have a following on Instagram, Facebook, or another social media platform, you can explore this option.

Look into these sites, which connect social media influencers with brands:

• Influence Central
• influence.co

If you have a lot of followers, you can also put affiliate links on your social media channels. You can write reviews on Facebook or Twitter, for example, and get paid when people use your links to buy products.

Writing reviews is a good way to make money from the comfort of your own home. You don’t need any special credentials to do it; you just need a computer with an internet connection and you’re ready to go.

However, there are a few points to bear in mind if you’re thinking of trying it:

• Watch out for scams: You should never have to send money or share credit card details to write a review or sign up for a review platform. If you get asked for money or any sensitive information, it’s probably a scam. Be careful, and watch out for obvious red flags (e.g., other reviews on the website that appear to be fake).
• Time is money: Some review-writing gigs have higher earning potential than others. Monitor how long you’re spending on each review for the platform or publisher you’re writing for. If it’s taking you forever and you’re only earning a few cents, consider a different avenue. No matter what you do, you’re unlikely to get rich from writing reviews, but it should at least be worth your time.
• Be careful about writing fake reviews: Freelancer sites like Upwork and Fiverr often feature job ads asking for fake reviews (i.e., giving products that you’ve never used 5 stars). Along with being ethically questionable, this type of thing can affect your reputation as a writer and make it harder to land legit jobs in the future.
• Some sites have payout thresholds: On many sites that pay for reviews, your earnings have to reach a set threshold before you can collect anything. For example, if your site pays $5 per review and there’s a $50 payout threshold, you’ll have to write 10 reviews to get any money. People sometimes complain that overly high thresholds make it hard to get paid, so watch out for this when you’re looking for review-writing opportunities.