Respondent

Is Respondent worth it for research participants?

Respondent pays per session, and it says most participants get only 1–3 study invitations a month.

How much Respondent takes from your pay

Respondent's help center says it deducts a processing fee of 5% from the incentive you earn, with a $1 minimum: a $95 incentive pays you $90.25. Because of the $1.00 floor, a small incentive loses a bigger share than a large one.

Respondent's terms say it may vary or waive the fee within stated limits, and that the amount is shown in the app before you accept a project. Its participant page says payments carry no fees, which conflicts with the help center. Check the amount in the app before you accept.

How and when Respondent pays you

Respondent pays through Tremendous and holds no balance, so there is no cash withdrawal and no payout minimum is published. Respondent doesn't publish an instant-payout option or fee. Tremendous emails you a link and you choose a card. Respondent says that from May 28, 2025 some participants were moved from PayPal to Tremendous gift cards, and it expected all participants to follow. One help article still mentions PayPal alongside gift cards.

Timing starts with the researcher, who must mark you as Attended and issue the incentive. Respondent's participant page (current Oct 27, 2026) says payment usually arrives in 5–7 business days, while its help center (Jul 15, 2026) says most projects are paid in 7–10. The help center also advises researchers to pay within 3–5 business days of the session, but this is advice and not a requirement. Neither window is a measured figure.

If a payment is missing, message the researcher in the app first. After multiple unsuccessful attempts, Respondent says Support will contact the researcher for you. Once a gift card is issued, Respondent says its obligation is met and claims go to the card issuer.

Respondent requirements and how long approval takes

Respondent doesn't publish an approval turnaround in days. To join you must be 18 or older, and sign-up is free with no credit card. A verified personal email and an SMS-verified phone number open general-population studies, and a work email is needed for professional ones. Respondent says it cannot manually approve email verification.

After that, researchers rather than Respondent pick participants from screener answers, and a mismatch between your profile and your answers lowers your odds. Screeners are unpaid, and Respondent pays only once attendance or completion is confirmed. Respondent says never to pay to join or buy equipment to qualify.

How much you can make on Respondent

Respondent publishes per-session and per-task ranges and no monthly average.

Every figure above is Respondent's own claim about a completed session or task, not what people earn per month. No independent data measures typical earnings or how much work is open to a given profile. The only availability number is Respondent's own invitations figure, and an invitation is not an accepted or completed study. Respondent also says there is no cap on studies per month, which doesn't say how many invitations you will get. Its participant page shows an example earnings screen totaling $130, which is a marketing mockup and not an average. Respondent says it has 4.3M+ verified participants.

Can Respondent deactivate your account?

Yes. Respondent's terms say that on a violation it may, in its sole discretion and without prior notice, suspend or terminate your account. It may also forfeit pending incentives, claw back paid ones, offset them against future incentives, and report to law enforcement, researchers or the IRS. Its code of conduct allows removal for breaking any listed rule. The terms also allow forfeiture for responses Respondent judges inaccurate, duplicate or AI-generated in breach of project requirements, and suspension of accounts it believes are shared.

Respondent publishes no participant appeal process. The terms require informal dispute resolution, then binding individual arbitration with a class action waiver and an opt-out right in section 7.6.

Respondent's participant page promises payment once a study is completed. Its terms say it has no independent obligation to pay incentives, isn't liable for non-receipt and disclaims guarantees. Quality rejections are at the researcher's discretion: if answers are judged false, contradictory or misleading, an interview can end early and you may go unpaid or underpaid.

If a researcher cancels a scheduled session, the help center says the full incentive is owed inside the 4-hour window. A cancelled invitation that was never a scheduled meeting earns nothing. The terms are weaker, saying Respondent may but need not charge the researcher a cancellation fee and pay it to you.

Is Respondent legit?

Respondent, Inc. is party to the participant terms, and its privacy policy, last updated Oct 4, 2023, names it as data controller. Its legal-notice address is a New York, NY PO box, which is a mailing address and not necessarily its headquarters. The participant terms contain mandatory arbitration.

Scams that use Respondent's name

Respondent's help center lists these red flags and says to report them to support@respondent.io.

The FTC's job scams page (March 2023) says honest employers never ask you to pay to get a job, and describes a fake-check overpayment scheme.

Taxes on Respondent income

Respondent's terms say U.S. participants may be asked for W-9 information once incentives exceed applicable reporting thresholds. The terms give no dollar figure, so they don't tell you when that point arrives. Refusing can mean backup withholding or suspension until you provide it. Respondent's help center recommends counting the full incentive for tax purposes, not the amount after its fee.

Respondent vs other paid research study sites

Compare how each site charges its fee, pays you and screens you before you sign up. For the wider field, see paid research studies.