Find Your Real Survey Hourly Rate: A Free Calculator and One-Week Tracker
Articles can give you ranges. Only your own numbers tell you what surveys pay you. This page has a calculator for a single session and a simple way to track a full week.
Track a full week
One session can be lucky or unlucky. A week evens that out. Each time you sit down to take surveys, write down five things. A notes app or a piece of paper is enough:
- The site you used
- Start and stop time for the whole session, not just the surveys
- Surveys completed
- Screen-outs (a tally mark each time is fine)
- What you earned, in money. If the site uses points, convert them using its cash-out rate.
A week of notes might look like this:
| Day | Site | Minutes | Done | Out | Earned |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | Site A | 25 | 2 | 3 | $1.80 |
| Tue | Site B | 40 | 1 | 6 | $1.00 |
| Wed | Site A | 20 | 2 | 1 | $1.50 |
| Thu | Site C | 30 | 3 | 2 | $2.40 |
| Sat | Site B | 35 | 1 | 5 | $1.20 |
Read your week
At the end of the week, add up minutes and earnings for each site, then divide earnings by hours. In the example:
- Site A: $3.30 in 45 minutes, so $4.40 an hour.
- Site B: $2.20 in 75 minutes, so $1.76 an hour, with eleven screen-outs.
- Site C: $2.40 in 30 minutes, so $4.80 an hour.
Site B took the most time and paid the least. Without notes it would feel like the busiest site, because there's always something to start. That's the most common thing a tracking week reveals: the site that keeps you busiest isn't always the one that pays best.
What to do with the result
- Drop your slowest site and give that time to your best one.
- Look at your screen-out count. If it's high everywhere, your profile is the place to start.
- Decide what rate is worth it to you. Spare minutes on a bus are worth something. A whole evening may not be.
- Track again in a few months. Survey supply changes with seasons and with sites' clients.
This is part of a 4-part guide on what paid surveys really pay. The main article explains the math and what changes your rate.