Is Five Surveys legit? The $5 for 5 surveys deal, and why the fifth is the hardest

Is Five Surveys legit? Yes, it pays. The deal on its App Store page is simple: finish 5 surveys and you get $5, which you can cash out straight away, and plenty of reviewers confirm receiving it to PayPal or Venmo. The catch is the word "finish". In its 500 most recent written reviews, 43% of the 1 and 2 star ones were about being screened out or kicked out of surveys, often on the fourth or fifth survey. Whether Five Surveys works for you depends on how often you qualify.

We run Vazpop, a rewards site with a surveys page of its own, so we know how survey routing works behind the scenes. The facts below come from the Five Surveys App Store listing and from public reviews we counted on 12 October 2026.

How Five Surveys works

Five Surveys is made by Five Survey AB and has been on the iPhone App Store since April 2024. Its pitch is "Earn $5 for every 5 surveys you complete, no exceptions", with no waiting time to cash out. That's about $1 per completed survey, which is a good rate for a survey app. Reviewers describe cashing out to PayPal, Venmo and gift cards, some of them many times.

The listing has a 4.6 star rating from about 117,000 ratings. The recent written reviews tell a more mixed story: 500 reviews from 14 August to 11 October 2026 averaged 2.92 stars, and they were split down the middle, with 203 one star reviews and 184 five star ones.

Why you keep getting screened out

This is the heart of Five Surveys, so it's worth understanding. Survey apps don't write their own surveys. They pass you to research companies who are looking for particular people, say women aged 25 to 34 who bought a car this year. The first questions of every survey check whether you're who they want. If you aren't, or the quota already filled, you're screened out.

On most survey apps, a screen-out costs you a few minutes. On Five Surveys it hurts more, because the $5 only arrives when all five are complete. That's why so many complaints mention the last survey:

• "I got to three surveys and every time I go to do a fourth it either times me out or says I didn't qualify."
• "I'm on my last survey and i have tried at least 50 extra surveys and all of them just kick me out for no reason."
• "They started screen me out and ending it after doing few new surveys when my meter is halfway there to get $5.00!"

Eighteen of the bad reviews specifically mention getting stuck on the fourth, fifth or last survey. Screen-outs are random from the app's side, but the experience of being one survey away from $5 again and again is what drives the anger.

Each survey checks first whether you match who the researcher needs. Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash.

What else recent reviews say

Complaint (share of 1 and 2 star reviews)	Share
Screened out or kicked out of surveys	43%
Problems cashing out	20%
Support not responding	13%
Pay too low for the time	8%

The positive reviews are just as specific. People describe $5 arriving in minutes, cashing out "many times", and a few say they've made hundreds of dollars over months. One long-time user reports almost $1,000 in a little over a year. A recurring tip among happy users: take your time and answer honestly and consistently.

Compared with the other apps in our study of reward app reviews, Five Surveys has the highest share of screen-out complaints we've seen, more than double AttaPoll's.

How to finish more Five Surveys

1. Answer the same way every time. Surveys cross-check your age, job and household. Inconsistent answers get you screened out, and can flag your account.
2. Don't rush. Speeding through questions is one of the most common reasons researchers reject a response, even after you finish.
3. Try at different times of day. Quotas fill and reset. A survey that's full at 9pm may be open at 9am.
4. Expect longer surveys. Reviewers say many take 15 minutes or more, so start your fifth survey when you have time to finish it.
5. Cash out as soon as you hit $5. There's no reason to let a balance sit.

Cashing out on Five Surveys

Once you have $5, reviewers describe cashing out to PayPal, Venmo and gift cards, with several saying the money arrived within minutes. Problems, when they happen, are mostly about the payout step rather than the money: a PayPal claim email that doesn't show up, or a payment that needs accepting on the PayPal side. Check your spam folder, make sure the email in the app matches your PayPal or Venmo account exactly, and accept any pending payment in PayPal promptly so it isn't returned.

One more tip from happy users: cash out every time you reach $5. It keeps your earnings safe and proves your payout details work.

Is Five Surveys legit and worth it?

If you qualify often, it's one of the better-paying survey apps, at roughly $1 a survey with instant cashouts. If you get screened out a lot, the all-or-nothing $5 structure will frustrate you, and a survey app that pays per survey will suit you better. Try it for a day: if you can finish five surveys in that time, keep it. For other options, see is AttaPoll legit and our guide to making money taking surveys online.

On Vazpop, surveys pay per survey, not per batch. Each one shows its reward and length before you start, and you can mix surveys with game offers, app trials and quick tasks, all paid in dollars and cashable from $5 with no fees.