W
Researcher wallet
You fund it
You pre-fund this once with a Stripe card payment. It holds one balance per currency and is the source of everything you pay out.
Paying your participants.
Pre-fund once, then pay participants in EUR, GBP, or USD — they choose how to collect. Money moves through a simple chain of wallets, and you stay in control of every release.
Two systems
This page is only about paying participants. Paying Open Lab for your own plan is a separate thing — that's Subscription billing (your card via Stripe), not your Wallet & payouts. Don't mix them up.
The money flow
From your card to the participant's pocket.
You fund a chain of wallets on the left. When a participant earns a reward, you approve it — that's the one moment money crosses from your side to theirs. From there, the participant decides how to cash out.
ResearcherYou fund & approve
€Top up
Card paymentAdd funds with your card via Stripe.min €10↓→
WWallet
Researcher walletYour pre-funded balance, one per currency.↓→
BReward
Study rewardThe amount each participant earns on this study.per participantApproveor send a Bonus
ParticipantThey collect
PEarned
Participant walletWhere the released reward sits until cash-out.↓→
✓Cash out
PayoutBank transfer, PayPal, or gift card — their choice.min €10In the chainExternal (Stripe / Tremendous)Your moneyTheir moneyRewards and bonuses are drawn from your wallet when you approve or pay.
Where the money lives
Two balances and a reward in between.
Your researcher wallet funds everything and is shared across studies; each study just carries a reward amount; the participant's wallet holds what they've earned until cash-out. Amounts are whole minor units (cents / pence) in a single currency, and only ever move forward.
B
Study reward
You set it
The amount each participant earns on a given study. There's no separate pot to pre-fund — Open Lab draws the reward from your wallet when you approve.
P
Participant wallet
They earn it
Where a participant's released reward or bonus sits until they request a payout and choose how to collect it.
From your wallet
When you approve a participant — or send a bonus — Open Lab debits your researcher wallet in the study's currency. There's no separate per-study pot to fund; just keep your wallet topped up.
Step by step
Five steps, start to finish.
Each step happens in a specific place in the app. Minimums are configurable, so treat the figures below as typical defaults.
Top up your researcher wallet
Add funds with your card through Stripe. The balance waits in your wallet until you allocate or pay it — unused funds simply stay there.
→ Sidebar → Wallet & payoutsMin top-up ≈ €10
Turn on compensation and set a reward
On the study's Budget tab, switch on “Pay participants through Open Lab” and set a reward per participant. There's no separate budget to allocate — the reward is paid from your wallet. Open Lab enforces a minimum rate based on the study's estimated duration.
→ A study → BudgetMin reward ≈ €9 / hour
The participant completes the study
When they finish, their reward is marked Pending. Nothing has moved yet — the money is still on your side, waiting for you to release it.
✓ Automatic — no action needed
Approve the reward — or send a bonus
Hit Approve on a completed participant and the reward moves into their wallet. Want to pay more, or pay someone with no configured reward? Use Pay to send a bonus of any amount, instantly.
→ A study → ParticipantsIrreversible once sent
The participant requests a payout
From their own app, the participant cashes out. They receive an email link (powered by Tremendous) and pick how to collect: bank transfer, PayPal, or a gift card.
✓ Happens in the participant appMin payout ≈ €10
Reward vs bonus
Two ways to pay — and when to use each.
A reward is the amount you promised everyone up front. A bonus is anything extra, or a one-off payment outside the reward. Here's the difference at a glance.
Aspect
Reward
Bonus
What it is
The per-participant amount set on the study.
Any amount you choose, any time.
Amount
Fixed by the study's reward setting.
Whatever you type in.
When it appears
As Pending after the participant completes.
Sent immediately, on demand.
Repeatable
Once per participant.
As many times as you like.
Approval step
Yes — you press Approve to release it.
None — it sends on click.
Where you do it
Study → Participants → Approve
Study → Participants → Pay
Bonuses work even on studies with no configured reward.
Currencies
One wallet per currency, no conversion.
€£$
Open Lab works in EUR, GBP, and USD. Each currency has its own separate wallet — a EUR wallet pays out in EUR, a GBP wallet in GBP. There's no automatic conversion between them, so fund the currency you intend to pay in.
Today the researcher-facing wallet & budget screens are EUR-first. The participant payout side is fully multi-currency, so participants can be paid and cash out in any of the three.
Good to know
The handful of rules worth remembering.
Payments are irreversible
Once a reward is approved or a bonus is paid, it can't be clawed back. Double-check before you release.
Participants need a verified account
To be paid or cash out, a participant must have an Open Lab account with a verified email.
You never see bank details
Payouts go through a Tremendous link. The participant picks their method — Open Lab never asks you for their banking info.
Small thresholds apply
Roughly €10 to top up, €10 to cash out, and about €9/hour as a minimum reward rate. All configurable.
Unused funds stay put
Money you don't spend remains in your wallet for the next study. Nothing expires or disappears.
What the participant sees
An email with a secure link, then a simple choice of payout method. No accounts to wire up, no forms from you.
Related concepts
Open Lab Onlineresearch.open-lab.onlineConcepts · Payments & rewards