Google Opinion Rewards promises the opportunity to earn Google Play credit or PayPal cash for completing short surveys. Each survey takes less than a minute on average, making these some of the quickest paid surveys available.
Paired with the company’s strong reputation, the app’s excellent user interface and its low minimum cash-out amount, Google Opinion Rewards looks like a winner on paper.
Unfortunately, we found the number of surveys available to be extremely limited, varying based on a number of factors that include your specific demographic profile as well as your use of Google products like Chrome, Search and Nest.
In this Google Opinion Rewards review, we’ll explain all the details of how the app works so you can decide whether or not to give it a shot.
Five Key Facts About Google Opinion Rewards
- The platform offers super-short surveys. Each takes less than a minute to complete instead of the usual five to 10 minutes required on other paid survey platforms.
- The number of available surveys is very limited. The Ways To Wealth’s research team was able to cash out a total of $5.56 for answering 20 questions over the course of 55 days. The bulk of that amount was earned by testers who were actively using Google products, such as the Google Search mobile app. Testers who did not use Google products earned just 24 cents.
- Granting the app access to your location data can increase your likelihood of receiving surveys. If market researchers can tell where you are, you may receive offers to participate in location-specific polls as well as those that are randomly assigned
- Your survey answers are aggregated with others. Therefore, your responses are anonymous and will not be attributed to you specifically.
- Any rewards you accumulate will expire one year from the date received. This is the case whether you choose to be paid in cash (available for iPhone users) or Google Play credits (a second option for iPhone and the only option for Android users). This fact is concerning for iOS users, because the limited number of available surveys means your rewards could expire before you hit the minimum withdrawal amount of $2.
Signing Up for Google Opinion Rewards
Google Opinion Rewards is only available for mobile devices. The sign-up process is simple and quick. I downloaded the app and answered the introductory questions in less than two minutes.
These are the steps required:
- Download Google Opinion Rewards.
- Read and agree to the terms of service.
- Verify your payment preference (Google Play credits or PayPal).
- If you have an iPhone, you can choose either option for payment; Android users will automatically be set up to receive Google Play credits.
- Keep in mind these two important notes to streamline getting paid:
- If you choose Google Play credits, sign up for Google Opinion Rewards with the same email address you use for your Google payment profile.
- If you choose PayPal cash, use the same email address for Google Opinion Rewards as you use for PayPal.
- Provide basic demographic details such as age, gender and language (only English and Spanish options are available).
How Google Opinion Rewards Works
Google Opinion Rewards surveys are run by both Google itself and market research companies to gather date about various topics. In our testing, the questions were almost exclusively about Google products and services.
Both the frequency of surveys and the amount earned per survey vary. Google states that surveys are generally distributed randomly. However, they employ a series of algorithms in an attempt to identify (and disqualify) users who are dishonest in their responses.
After successfully signing up, Google offers an unpaid test survey to give you a flavor for what the surveys are like. I was asked three questions about desserts, which took less than 20 seconds to complete (as shown below).
After completing the test survey, users will receive a push notification from the app whenever a new survey is available. In our experience, these typically came shortly after the usage of a Google product, and the questions were related to your experience with that product.
Keep in mind that you are not required to take the surveys that are made available to you. However, if you want to take the survey, you must do so within 24 hours or the survey will be removed from your queue.
Note: some surveys will stay available for a longer period of time, but most expire within a day.
The photos below show the before and after of taking a survey:
You can also see how much you’ve earned in total, and how far away you are from being able to cash out:
Google Rewards typically starts out by asking you a yes/no question. For example, you may be asked if you visited a specific location recently. If the answer is “no,” the survey is complete and you’re paid a small sum. In our experience, the default payout rate for answering “no” was 14 cents.
If you answer “yes,” you’ll be asked two or three more questions. A common question that came up in our testing was whether you made a payment or not. By answering “yes,” and then answering the two or three more multiple choice questions, payouts increased to around 50 cents for each 30-second survey.
To increase your chances of being matched with a survey, enable location tracking for the app (you’ll be prompted to do so during the sign-up process). This will open you up to local surveys where researchers are looking for feedback about a location you visited.
Google Opinion Rewards Earning Potential
The payments for surveys on Google Opinion Rewards range between 10 cents and $1 each, although the highest payout survey we were given was 51 cents. The amount you earn is dependent on the time Google expects it will take you to complete the survey.
Of course, your total earning potential is limited by the number of surveys you receive. Based on the reviews in the iOS App Store, some people have had more success than others in receiving surveys.
From an expectation-setting perspective, I suggest going into this arrangement thinking you have the ability to earn a few dollars per month at most, if you’re actively using Google Products and allow the app to track your location.
Unfortunately, the lack of surveys we were offered means we weren’t able to calculate reliable potential earnings data, as we’ve done for other platforms on our regularly-updated list of the best paying survey sites.
Our Google Opinion Rewards Earnings and Experience
We earned $5.56 cents over nearly two months of testing.
| Test duration: | 55 days |
| Total time spent: | 15 minutes |
| Number of surveys offered: | 20 |
| Number of surveys completed: | 20 |
| Total reward amount earned: | $5.56 cents |
What It’s Like Completing Surveys on the Platform
Completing Google Opinion Rewards surveys is easy. These surveys are designed to be short and quick, consisting of just a few multiple-choice questions. In most cases, these are not general opinion surveys but rather super-targeted polls related to your experience with specific products or places.
We found the interface to be exceptionally simple to use. You’re alerted by push notification when a new survey is available, and you’re credited immediately for each completed survey.
Getting Paid
If you choose payment via PayPal, the app will automatically send money to your PayPal account once your balance hits $2 — there’s no need to request payment, and indeed no way to keep those funds in your Google Opinion Rewards account if you wish to do so.
If you used your PayPal email address when you signed up, the payment will be waiting for you the next time you log in to PayPal. If you used a different email when you signed up, you will need to associate your Google Opinion Rewards email with your PayPal account to receive your accumulated rewards.
If you opted to be paid via Google Play credits, you have the option to cash-out instantly for any amount.
See also: The best ways to get free Google Play credit.
Paid Survey Sites With More Inventory
If you’re thinking of skipping (or maybe supplementing) Google Opinion Rewards, The Ways To Wealth’s research team has found a number of other sites with higher earning potential.
- Survey Junkie: Has the largest inventory of surveys among paid survey sites. Occasionally, there are also focus groups and product testing opportunities that pay between $5 and $100 each. Read our Survey Junkie review to learn more.
- Swagbucks: We found over 20 different ways to make money on Swagbucks. Users earn points for participating in tasks like playing games, watching videos and taking surveys. Our testing shows that users willing to dedicate five to 10 hours can earn somewhere between $25 and $100 per month. Read our Swagbucks review to learn more.
- User Interviews: This platform offers high-paying online focus groups and feedback opportunities. When I tested it, my studies averaged 36 minutes in length (a good bit longer than a standard online survey) and paid an average of $55 per hour (including the time it took to apply for studies). Read our User Interviews review to learn more.
Google Opinion Rewards App FAQ
Yes. Google Opinion Rewards does not collect any financial data, nor does it collect specific personal data that could be used to identify you. Google says that “the answers you provide are anonymous and aggregated,” and that “the ads a user sees will not change as a result of their answers to survey questions.” In our view, people who are comfortable using Google search and Gmail should also feel comfortable using Google Opinion Rewards.
No, but they are related products. Google Surveys is a tool that companies can use to create online surveys, paying Google to then deliver those surveys to qualified participants on market research platforms including the Google Opinion Rewards app.
During our testing, none of the three The Ways To Wealth team members who used the app to gather data for this review encountered surveys that looked like they were created by third parties using the Google Surveys platform.
Instead, the surveys we were shown exclusively related to either Google products and services or physical locations (presumably based on location data we shared with the app).
No. I signed up on an Android and was not asked for a payment method. The default payment for Android is Google Play credits.
No. There is no sign-up bonus and the survey that is waiting for you upon sign-up is an unpaid test.
Yes. Your reward value expires one year from the date it’s earned. This means that if you never accrue $2, you will never receive payment if you chose to be paid via PayPal.
No. I was able to sign up with a Hotmail email address. You’re not required to use a Gmail address or sign up through a Google account.
Google Opinion Rewards: Our Final Verdict
Based on our survey rating methodology, we rated Google Opinion Rewards a 4/5 thanks to the following factors:
| Rating Factor | Weight | Rating | Score |
| Earnings per hour: | 50% | 4.0 | 2.0 |
| Survey availability: | 15% | 2.0 | 0.3 |
| Payout experience: | 15% | 5.0 | 0.75 |
| Trustworthiness: | 10% | 5.0 | 0.5 |
| User experience: | 10% | 4.5 | 0.45 |
| Overall Score | 4.0 |
As expected from a Google app, the download process is easy, quick and glitch-free. But the number of surveys is very low, which limits your earning potential.
Those of us who tested the Google Opinion Rewards app and also used Google products completed every offer over the course of a month and were able to cash out twice over this period. Yet, this only earned us a total of $5.32.
On the plus side, because the surveys are so quick, the hourly earnings were higher than on many of the other sites we’ve tested.
Our final verdict on Google Opinion Rewards is that if you use a lot of Google products within the course of a typical week, you may be able to earn a few dollars a month — but that’s the absolute maximum.
Other top survey sites offer far more inventory, and while the dollars per hour ratio may not be as high, you can stand to earn more overall.
Click here to download Google Opinion Rewards.
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Google rewards app use to seem to give me more surveys now the Google Option rewards program (it had me do an update ) now it wants me to take a picture of the receipts to the places it has asked me to do a survey . There are no more questions about did I visit a place ,did you make a purchase and how did you pay . And the surveys are paying less. I think I’m going to explore other apps.