Is Project Payday a survey site worth joining? Welcome to my Project Payday Research review where we're going to find out!

Project Payday claim to give you a way of sharing your opinions online to earn cash and rewards as soon as today.

But how much can you make exactly? Not all survey sites are created equal.

Pinecone Research, Cash For Apps and Panel Station turned out to give you very little to show for the time and work you put in. Let's see if Project Payday is any different.

I don't work for Project Payday. I only write this unbiased review to help you avoid scams and build a real online income stream.

What Is Project Payday?

Launched in 2006, Project Payday is the great grandfather of paid survey sites. According to ProjectPaydayResearch.com, anyone can join for free and get paid for sharing their opinions.

Interestingly, I noticed they are owned or ‘powered by' ClearVoice Research; the same guys behind Clear Voice Surveys – a site I tried a while back where you're lucky if you earn anywhere close to $1 an hour.

What Happened When I Signed Up

My first impression of the website is it looks like it hasn't been updated in at least a decade. As you can see, the site has a very basic and outdated design:

I decided to test this site out so I went ahead and filled out the signup form.

It was a pretty straightforward process. I just filled out basic contact details, hit the big green ‘Join Now!' button and was redirected to this page asking me to add a few more details:

There were questions about my race, household income, whether or not I have pets, investments or vehicles etc…

A couple of minutes later I was done and asked to confirm my email and sure enough, I got the confirmation email right away.

I finally made it inside the Project Payday dashboard area and, excited to try out my first survey, I scrolled down the page only to be told there were no surveys available!

I thought maybe this was because I hadn't filled out the more detailed profiles yet so I went ahead and filled them all out as honestly as I could.

There's a health and fitness profile, a gamer profile, a travel and leisure profile and I spent a good 60 minutes answering very detailed questions about what electronic devices I owned, how often I travelled, what phone company I used and so on.

Here's proof I actually did!

Despite that, I was still told there are no surveys available for me at this time. Maybe it's because I'm outside the United States? Or maybe because I'm not an avid gamer, I really don't know…

In truth, I have the sneaking suspicion the site is closing down because I've seen a lot of survey sites shut their doors lately but there's no way of telling for sure.

The only thing I do know is I just wasted an hour filling out dozens of personal questions (an hour I'll never get back) with absolutely nothing to show for it!

Can You Make Money With Project Payday?

Clearly, the answer in my case is a big fat “NO!” but in theory at least, you should be able to earn money with Project Payday in 3 ways:

1. Make Money Taking Project Payday Surveys

As you've just seen, it doesn't look like the site has any surveys right now, and with surveys being very few and far between, this so-called ‘money-making method' is going to take a long time to reach the minimum $10 threshold to be able to cash out.

2. Make Money By Signing Up For Free Trial Offers

Like Daily Rewards, Wow Earnings and Zap Surveys, Project Payday give you the option to earn a few dollars signing up to free trials to sites like Netflix and Audible.

If you're very organised then this might be a little income earner for you, though you'll have to be extremely careful to cancel your subscriptions before the free trial period ends to avoid being charged the full amount.

Obviously making $1 whilst losing $15 isn't a good long-term money-making strategy!

3. Make Money With Project Payday's Referral Program

This is the only way I can make money with Project Payday right now and again, we're talking cents…

Invite your family and friends to join (though I don't know why you would!) and you earn $0.50 per person who signs up through the Project Payday referral program.

I guess it's not time to quit the day job just yet!

To say the earning potential here is extremely limited is an understatement.

Like seriously, it's going to take you months, if not years to get to the $10 mark.

What a joke!

My Problem With Sites Like Project Payday

1. There's Hardly Ever Any Surveys Available

Go back ten years when survey sites were all the rage and you'd see people on YouTube bragging about how they made an extra $250 per week filling out questionnaires… you just don't see that happening now.

Not only because the amount you earn for the average survey has gone from $2 to $0.05-$0.50, but because there isn't the consistent flow of surveys there once was.

I know people go through the painstaking process of signing up to every survey site out there and still struggle to make a few dollars a week.

2. You Have To Answer Very Invasive Questions

When you join a survey site you're very rarely asked for your opinion. Instead, it's about you, your life and your spending habits.

You're basically selling your private details to unknown entities.

At what point do you turn around and say your privacy and your personal information is worth more than a few lousy cents?

3. You'll End Up Wasting Hours Of Your Life

When people start thinking about learning how to make money online they instantly jump to survey sites as THE way to do it.

That's because for years we were told this is a super-duper, fun and easy way to make extra cash in your spare time whilst sitting on your couch watching TV.

The reality is it's boring, monotonous and tedious as hell. It takes a lot of brainpower to answer all those questions and they're always time-consuming.

A lot of people complain about getting halfway through surveys only to be told they don't qualify or get kicked out before they have a chance to finish it. Far from quick and easy, paid surveys are a real headache.

4. Your Inbox Gets Bombarded With Spam

Just think about all those marketing companies you're signing up to and how they sell your information to private companies so they can send you promotional offers.

It's not at all uncommon for members to get a ton of spam and worse yet, nuisance sales calls.

5. You Can Lose A Lot Of Money If You're Not VERY Careful

Survey companies tell you to sign up for various free trials in return for small rewards, but unless you're good at keeping track, you could easily find yourself charged a full month's price for that magazine subscription.

Watch this video and you'll see why 99% of survey sites are a complete waste of time:

Wind back the clock 10 or 15 years and there was a lot of money in online surveys. Nowadays though, companies have changed the way they do their consumer research meaning sites like Project Payday are almost obsolete.

To try and stay afloat, many have changed their business model; instead of getting paid by companies for customer research and paying you in kind, they get paid every time you sign up for an offer (and forget to cancel before the free trial period ends).

They ask you about your cell phone, household income, whether or not you have children and what vehicles you drive under the guise of prequalifying you for future surveys, but what's really happening is they're figuring out the best offers to send your way to make money off of you.

Final Project Payday Review Rating: 4/100

Project Payday's tagline is:

“Share your opinions and start earning cash and rewards today”

But despite spending an hour sitting on my laptop answering some pretty invasive and personal questions about myself, I didn't make a dime.

How can I possibly recommend this as a legit money maker?

That's not to say Project Payday is a scam because I don't think it is, but clearly, this is not worth bothering with.

In all honesty, if you're looking for a bit of extra side income to help pay the bills or even replace your full-time income then building an online business is the way to go.

Check out my SUPER in-depth Wealthy Affiliate review where I outline exactly how I went from call centre agent to financially free and travelling the world in 12 months.

What's Your Take?

Have you tried signing up to Project Payday from the US? Did you get any recommended surveys to take? I'd love to hear from you on this one.

Whether you agree or disagree with my take on paid survey sites, scroll down and let us know in the comments below!