Swagbucks vs. Survey Junkie: Which One Pays More? (Based on Our Test Findings)

We’ve summarized our experiences using Swagbucks versus Survey Junkie in the table below. Our stats come from testing the two platforms extensively, and you can read more about our tester’s experiences in the full reviews:

• Swagbucks review
• Survey Junkie review

Swagbucks vs. Survey Junkie: most important differences

Here’s a quick overview of the biggest differences between Swagbucks and Survey Junkie.

Our testing suggests you’ll earn more with Swagbucks. We earned an average rate of $2.04 per hour on Swagbucks compared with $1.09 per hour on Survey Junkie.

However, you won’t necessarily have the same earning experience we did. What you make on survey and microtasking platforms can depend on various factors. For example, some times are more favorable than others (with Survey Junkie saying that weekdays are better than weekends for taking surveys, for example), and companies often try to target certain demographics (e.g., millennials or women).

To get a better idea of your earning prospects on Swagbucks and Survey Junkie, try them out for an hour or so before you decide which one to focus on. This will help you to find out if there’s a notable difference and, if so, which option is more favorable for you.

Alternatives to Swagbucks and Survey Junkie

Swagbucks and Survey Junkie are just a couple of the many survey and microtasking platforms you can find online. Others you can try include:

• Branded Surveys
• Forthright
• InboxDollars
• InstaGC
• LifePoints
• MyPoints
• Opinion Outpost
• Prime Opinion
• PrizeRebel
• Swagbucks
• Toluna Influencers
• ySense
• Zap Surveys

We tested these two platforms and took detailed notes about which problems we encountered and how often.

One important point we noticed was that we often got disqualified from surveys on both Swagbucks and Survey Junkie. This problem wasn’t unique to these two platforms, as other similar survey and microtasking platforms will often disqualify you and pay you nothing (because of your demographic). Naturally, though, it had an impact on our earnings.

Swagbucks vs. Survey Junkie survey compensation and completion statistics

Here’s what we found when we tested the surveys on Swagbucks and Survey Junkie.

If you’re surprised at how difficult it looks to qualify for surveys, we’re in agreement. When we tested various platforms similar to Swagbucks and Survey Junkie, we found that they would disqualify us from surveys on a frustratingly frequent basis (often about 60%–90% of the time or even more).

We’ve seen some of the most important similarities and differences that our testing highlighted between Swagbucks and Survey Junkie. But what exactly will you be doing when you use these two platforms?

Here’s what to expect when you sign up.

How Swagbucks works

Swagbucks is a platform that allows you to earn money through various “microtasks.” These are quick and easy tasks that include:

• Taking surveys
• Playing games
• Discovering offers from partners
• Shopping online at partnered retailers
• Scanning receipts
• Using the InboxDollars or Swagbucks search tool (to do normal online searches)
• Searching for codes (known as “Swag Codes”) on social media and other sites
• Answering daily polls
• Referring friends

Swagbucks also has many ways to earn bonuses or one-off rewards for special tasks, such as:

• Completing tasks in a checklist
• Completing rows of tasks on a bingo-style board
• Reaching daily or lifetime goals for earnings
• Achieving streaks (where you meet goals multiple days in a row)
• Entering sweepstakes
• Opting in to special bonus offers (called “Swagups”)
• Downloading a browser extension

When you complete Swagbucks tasks, you earn points or “SB.” When you have enough SB (where the threshold varies from 100 to 1,500 SB, depending on the redemption options available to you), you can redeem them; you can do this via PayPal cash, gift cards, or prepaid debit cards

How Survey Junkie works

Survey Junkie is a much less complicated affair than Swagbucks. As the name suggests, it’s focused mainly on surveys, although it also offers a few other tasks. As surveys tend to be the best way to earn on microtasking sites, focusing on this type of earning opportunity often makes sense.

Apart from surveys, the other main way to earn on Survey Junkie is the “Surf to Earn” feature. This pays you for simply keeping your Survey Junkie browser extension active, allowing you to earn points automatically as you browse online. Survey Junkie also says that you can also opt in to Surf to Earn via their app.

As with Swagbucks, Survey Junkie gives you points for surveys and other tasks you complete. Once you have $5 worth of points, you can redeem via gift cards, prepaid Visa cards, or PayPal cash. There’s also the additional redemption option of requesting a bank transfer.

Let’s take a look at some of the specific advantages and disadvantages of Swagbucks and Survey Junkie.

What are the pros and cons of Swagbucks compared with Survey Junkie?

First, here are some pros and cons of Swagbucks compared with Survey Junkie.

What are the pros and cons of Survey Junkie compared with Swagbucks?

And now for some pros and cons of Survey Junkie compared with Swagbucks.

As we’ve seen, Swagbucks and Survey Junkie both have pros and cons. But which one should you choose?

Who should use Swagbucks?

Swagbucks is a nice option if you want a variety of ways to earn. Although surveys are often the fastest way to rack up rewards on platforms like Swagbucks, some microtaskers may prefer to mix things up with games, offers, or other tasks.

In particular, Swagbucks is good for young users, since the interface is fun to use, and the platform accepts signups from anyone over 13 years of age.

Who should use Survey Junkie?

If you don’t mind forfeiting task variety and prefer to focus on earning with surveys, Survey Junkie may give you a better experience than Swagbucks. It’s quite easy to reach the threshold for your first payout, and the “Surf to Earn” feature is also great for earning rewards passively even when you’re not using Survey Junkie.

However, Survey Junkie is only open to over 18s, so it’s not a good option for young microtaskers.

Is Swagbucks better than Survey Junkie?

Swagbucks gave us better overall results when we tested it, but which platform you should choose depends largely on how you want to earn rewards and how much fun you want to have along the way, as well as your age.

If possible, we recommend signing up for both platforms to see which one you find more rewarding and nicer to use. You can then find out which option works best for you and focus your efforts accordingly.