Most platforms that pay people for small pieces of work keep the numbers vague. We would rather you could check our sums. This post sets out what a question pays, where the money goes, and what you should and shouldn't expect.

The short version

  • Tiers are verification levels. Verify more to qualify for higher-paying questions.
  • A Tier 1 answer pays €0.15. A Tier 2 answer pays €0.30, about 2.1 times as much. Tier 3 (Established, by invitation) pays €0.55.
  • Heads get 60% of every answer's price. The rest pays for verification, the platform and the company.
  • You see what a question pays before you answer it.
  • New earnings are Pending for up to 7 days (3 at Tier 3). Then they are Available, and you can withdraw from €6, or let us pay you automatically at the end of the month.
  • Warm-up answers before you verify your phone are earned into Pending too, and become Available once you verify.

Where the money goes

A requester pays €0.25 for a Tier 1 answer. Of that, €0.15 goes to the head who gave it. The remainder covers the device and phone checks on every answer, the ID provider for Tier 2, payment fees, the servers, support, and the people who build and run 50heads.

We picked a fixed share because it is easy to check: if a requester pays more for a question (a longer one, or one with images, or a rush), the head gets more too, in proportion.

Pay is the same everywhere

We pay the same rate in every country we pay, before currency conversion. We looked hard at adjusting pay by country and decided against it. The work is the same, and a five-second answer from Manila is worth as much to a requester as one from Manchester. The pay rates by country page shows the rates in local currency, the payout methods in each country and the smallest withdrawal.

Getting paid

Heads can withdraw to PayPal everywhere we pay, to a UK bank account in the UK, to Venmo or a bank account in the US, and to a bank transfer in most other countries. Money arrives in your own currency: PayPal pays in pounds, dollars, euros or Canadian dollars, and a bank in its own currency.

The first withdrawal each month is free, except a bank transfer that needs a currency exchange. After that, PayPal and Venmo cost 2% up to €24, a UK bank €0.25 and a bank transfer €0.60. Withdrawals go out at 09:00 and 17:00 UK time on business days: PayPal and Venmo land the same or the next UK business day, a UK bank the same business day, and a bank transfer in 1–3 business days. The Withdraw screen shows exactly what will arrive, after any fees and currency exchange, before you confirm.

Why the holding period? Because some checks can only run after the fact: known-answer questions, timing patterns across many answers, and requester disputes. Holding new earnings for up to a week reduces the need to recover money after payout. Pending means earned and still inside the holding period; Available means cleared and ready to withdraw.

The honest line

Answering questions on 50heads is not a full-time income, and we won't pretend it is. It is five-second questions in spare minutes: on the bus, in a queue, while the kettle boils. How much you earn depends mostly on how many questions there are in your language at the time, and we tell you when there's nothing waiting rather than filling the gap with unpaid busywork.

What we can promise is that every accepted answer pays what it said it would, that the rates are public, and that you can always see what is Pending and what is Available.

What we publish, and when

Our fair pay statement sets out the floor we won't go below and how we'll tell heads before any rate changes. Our transparency note reports appeals received and upheld each quarter.

If you think a rate is wrong, or a payout didn't arrive, tell us. A person will reply.