Comparison

TimeBucks vs Prolific

TimeBucks and Prolific both land on Depends.

TimeBucks

Depends

Confidence: Low

Evidence is thin: TimeBucks is fine as a free pocket-money app for people with idle time, but a Google Play reviewer says earnings are quite low.

Depends

Confidence: Medium

Buy if you're an academic, UX, or AI team needing fast access to vetted human participants and can absorb per-participant costs.

TimeBucks versus Prolific
Compare	TimeBucks	Prolific
Verdict	Depends	Depends
Best for	People with idle time wanting pocket cash	Academic researchers running online studies
Who it's not for	Anyone needing real income . payouts are tiny	Buyers needing guaranteed participant volume . users report study availability swings
Privacy	No public vulnerabilities found, but Gridinsoft published a blacklist warning page for the domain.^⁴	No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.^⁷
Support quality	Only self-reported claims in sources	No researcher-side support evidence in sources
Public sentiment	The only substantive independent user review found says TimeBucks is genuine but pays very little.^³	Sentiment skews positive on Trustpilot, while participant-side Reddit threads flag account holds and declining study availability.¹¹
Biggest gotcha	Gridinsoft published a 'Blacklist Warning' page for; read it before sharing personal data^⁴	Participant minimum pay is $8/hour . budget accordingly for cheap studies

Buyers needing guaranteed participant volume . users report study availability swings
Teams requiring public security and compliance docs before purchase
Fixed-budget projects . per-participant pricing plus fees is unpredictable
Tiny studies where recruiting your own panel is enough