Toluna Review: Is This A Legit Paid Survey Site Or A Scam?

Written by Jason Michaels Last Updated: May 8, 2024

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Taking surveys online can be a very lucrative way to earn money. It’s one of the first ways I started working from home.

Six years later, I still enjoy finding new survey sites for some spare cash. You may notice we discuss a lot of legit options on this site, and Toluna Opinions is one of them.

Like every paid survey website, Toluna has some pros and cons. But is it a real, scam-free way to earn money? In this post, I’ll cover everything you need to know.

From their points system to their history, you’ll get an unbiased look at this opportunity. Use this Toluna review to help you decide if it’s a good pick for you.

Table of Contents

What Is Toluna?

Toluna is an online company where you get paid to share your opinions. You do this by completing surveys about different products and services.

Toluna was founded in 2000 and operates as the middleman between you and big-name companies. Some of their partner brands include Disney, CBS, Sony Music, and Proctor & Gamble.

When you complete surveys, Toluna rewards you with points. The points you earn can be used to get cash payouts, gift cards, and more.

There’s even an option for entering sweepstakes to win items like an Amazon Kindle. Later in this post, I’ll discuss the points system and payment options.

Toluna stands out from many other survey sites because it’s very community-oriented. Their Topics section allows users to have conversations.

From surveys to TV shows, most topics are welcomed. I’ve never seen this feature on survey sites before, and I find it very unique. It seems like a great place to ask questions or just have fun chats.

Toluna Pros and Cons

When I researched Toluna, I came across a mixture of good, neutral, and negative reviews. This is pretty standard for any paid survey website. Of course, you’ll want to know the pros and cons before you invest time into Toluna. I’ve compiled the most common ones below.

Toluna Pros

Toluna is free to join, and every feature of the site is free to use.
You receive e-mail notifications when new surveys are available.
There is a large selection of rewards for you to choose from.
Toluna partners with very popular, reputable companies.
Toluna’s website is modern and user-friendly.
You can take surveys using their Android or iPhone app.
When you complete surveys, you’re entered into the Toluna PrizeDraw. This is a drawing that gives three cash prizes to Toluna users.

Toluna Cons

Many users report being screened out of surveys because they don’t meet all of the criteria. This is common for survey sites but definitely frustrating.
You need to earn a very high amount of points to receive payouts and rewards.
The survey questions can be repetitive.
Surveys can take 15-30 minutes to complete. This is a downside when the points for longer surveys aren’t very much.
Some users report long wait times when they request a payment or reward.
You need a minimum of $30 to cash out via PayPal.

Out of every con, there are two that seemed to be the most common. The high payment threshold and being screened out of surveys are the top user complaints.

These complaints are certainly understandable. Unfortunately, they aren’t unique to Toluna – these problems are common with survey sites in general.

Out of every pro, the feedback was pretty even overall. Most user reviews listed the points that I mentioned. People really seem to like how simple Toluna is to use.

They also enjoy that surveys can be completed from smartphones, which is very convenient. I think it’s safe to say there’s an average mixture of pros and cons for Toluna.

How To Sign Up With Toluna

The Toluna sign up process is very easy. I signed myself up and it took less than one minute. Here’s what you need to do.

Go to the Toluna signup page.
Answer nine short questions. You’ll be asked your name, age, e-mail address, and a few other basics.
Confirm your Toluna registration. Immediately after I signed up, I received a confirmation e-mail. If you use Gmail, it will be in your Promotions folder.
You’re ready to get started!

After you complete the super quick process, you can immediately start taking surveys. I recommend filling out your profile ASAP, too. You’ll earn points for it, and your profile can help match you to surveys.

If you have any questions about signing up, the topic is covered in the first portion of the FAQ page.

Ways To Earn Money With Toluna

Surveys are the bread and butter for earning money with Toluna. There are a couple of other options that are definitely worth trying, too. Using a combination of every method seems like the quickest way to earn cash payouts and rewards.

Most of the numbers below come from the Toluna FAQ page.

Sign Up

Toluna gives you 500 points just for registering for the website – that’s all there is to it! As I mentioned above, this takes less than a few minutes.

Surveys

Surveys can pay anywhere from 15 to 50,000 points depending on their length. I’ve seen users mention 60 point surveys, 20,000 point surveys, and many more. It really does seem that the numbers vary a lot.

You’ll be able to see how many points a survey is worth once you’ve signed up for Toluna.

Quick Votes

Under the Polls: Options & Settings of the FAQ, Quick Votes are described as short one question polls. These are sponsored polls versus user-created polls. You get an easy 15 points per Quick Votes poll that you participate in.

Profile

Many Toluna reviews state that you’ll receive points for filling out your profile. The FAQ section titled Points and Rewards also says you’ll earn points for filling out Profile Surveys.

According to this Toluna User Poll, you receive 100 points per Profile Survey that you fill out. Completing your Profile Surveys can also give you access to more surveys in general.

Referrals

The Toluna FAQ Inviting Friends To Toluna section states that you’ll receive 500 points per referral. You receive these bonus points once your referrals complete the registration process.

Consider sharing your referral link on Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms to quickly boost your points.

Creating Content

The FAQ section titled Points For Creating Content says you can earn up to 1,000 points for creating polls, topics, and opinions. These allow you to interact with other members of the Toluna Community.

Though I just joined Toluna, I’m pretty confident that your best bet is to use a mixture of every earning option available. This tends to be the fastest way to reach payouts on survey sites.

An extra 100 points here and there can quickly add up. See which options you like the most, and invest a bit of time into them.

Toluna Payment and Points System

The point system for Toluna is pretty basic. You can redeem your points for PayPal payouts or other rewards. You need a minimum of 30,000 points to receive rewards. Once you sign up for Toluna, you can browse their full list of rewards. Here are some current options:

$10 gift card for Starbucks – 30,000 points
$10 gift card for Cheesecake Factory – 30,000 points
$10 gift card for Redbox – 30,000 points
$10 gift card for Jiffy Lube – 30,000 points
$25 gift card for Restaurants.com – 45,000 points
$25 gift card for Walmart – 75,000 points
$25 gift card for Fandango – 75,000 points
$30 PayPal payout – 90,000 points

This list shows that each point is worth about 3.3 cents. The length of time it will take you to reach a reward depends on how often you use the site. It also depends on what earning options you take advantage of.

Toluna Potential Earnings Scenario

To me, the numbers above seemed a little overwhelming. So I wanted to know how long it would take to earn enough points to get a reward.

I created an example of how much I could earn per month starting out. Keep in mind that this is just one scenario. But I think it’s a fair assessment to show you your potential earnings, too.

Signing up earns you an immediate 500 points.
One referral per week is an easy 2,000 points per month.
One Quick Votes poll per day is a quick 450 points per month.
One profile survey per week nets you about 400 points per month.
Let’s say you take one survey per day, and each survey is worth 60 points. This is just based on some user comments regarding average survey points. A daily survey will net you 1,800 points per month minimum.
If you spend some time on excellent content creation in your first month, you can earn up to 1,000 points.

In this very low-effort and basic scenario, you’d earn over 6,100 points in your first month. Keep in mind that this is the bare minimum. I’ve added a few extra examples to show how you can earn even more per month.

If you catch one extra survey per week worth 10,000 points, your earnings go up to 46,100 points per month.
If you get two referrals per week instead of one per week, your earnings go up to 48,100 points per month.

With those two extra scenarios, you have more than enough points to get a reward in a single month. Some users in the Toluna forums easily make 60,000 points per month.

For other users, it may take twice as long if they don’t use the site often. The payout threshold is admittedly higher than other sites. But it’s still possible to regularly earn some spare cash or gift cards through taking Toluna surveys.

Our Verdict: Is Toluna Opinions A Scam Or Legit?

My takeaway from my research is that Toluna Opinions is completely legit. This survey site has millions of active users, and they partner with reputable companies.

They offer a large selection of rewards for users. There’s a pretty helpful community that’s completely free for you to use.

The only major downside is that you need 30,000 points to earn a reward. And you may also be screened out from time to time. This means Toluna isn’t going to make you rich overnight by any means.

But that certainly doesn’t mean it’s a scam. It’s a transparent fact, and you know this if or when you decide to join.

The high threshold is a problem for some, but other users may not mind. If you enjoy using paid survey sites, I think Toluna is worth a shot. Once you get into a routine, you could easily earn rewards every 1-2 months.

More Paid Survey Sites and Apps

If Toluna sounds appealing to you, then you may enjoy more paid survey sites. I’ve learned that the best way to make money online is to find as many opportunities as possible. These are some of my favorite Frugal For Less posts about legitimate survey sites:

As you can see, there’s something for everyone. Take a few minutes to join survey sites, and you’re on your way to earning extra money online.