4.5/5
Trustpilot rating
15,238 reviews
Report
Should I Use Prolific?
Prolific helps AI developers, researchers, and organizations easily access the highest-quality human data. Sign up for free.
Depends
DependsBuy if you're an academic, UX, or AI team needing fast access to vetted human participants and can absorb per-participant costs.
Vetted participant pool for research and AI data. Pay-per-use adds up; volume and account-hold complaints are the risks.
Confidence: Medium
$33.8M
Total funding
Includes £25M Series A and $32M round
Pay per participant
Starting price
$8/hr participant minimum; no setup cost
Yes
Free tier
Free signup; pay per study launched
Value for money
3
Per-participant costs scale; surprise fees reported
Ease of use
4
G2 reviewers consistently praise ease of use
Feature depth
4
Longitudinal studies, screening, AI data collection supported
Security posture
3
Past phishing incident; no public security page
Pros
Cons
Gotchas
- mediumParticipant minimum pay is $8/hour — budget accordingly for cheap studies
- mediumThird-party guides warn of surprise study costs; run the calculator before committing⁸
- mediumLong-tenured participants report account holds, which can shrink your participant pool⁷
- mediumNo public security page found; request security documentation before enterprise purchase
Best for
- Academic researchers running online studies
- AI teams collecting human training data
- UX researchers needing screened participants
- Longitudinal study designs
Not for
- 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
Companies that use it
- Asana
- University of New Mexico
Pricing
Pay as you go
Per participant + service fee
- Set your own participant reward
- $8/hr participant minimum
- No setup cost for academics
Managed services
Not disclosed
- Enterprise platform and managed offerings
- Pricing not publicly listed
Security
No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.
- Past phishing incidentProlific's own site documents a phishing and offensive-material incident; no data breach claims appear in reviewed sources.11
What users say
Sentiment skews positive on Trustpilot (4.5/15,238 reviews), while participant-side Reddit threads flag account holds and declining study availability.
“My experience on Prolific has changed drastically in the last few weeks”
“Prolific is legitimate”
“I have taken nearly 7,000 studies in almost 6...”
Alternatives
Compare Prolific with each alternative.
CleverX
B2B-focused panel; positions itself on pricing versus Prolific
Prolific vs CleverXRespondent.io
Market research recruiting alternative Prolific itself compares against
Prolific vs Respondent.ioUsercall
Research analysis tool that pairs with or replaces recruitment
Prolific vs UsercallKoji
Publishes participant-recruitment alternative guides; UX and B2B focus
Prolific vs KojiFull analysis
Based on ~40 public sources; researcher-side support and detailed fee structures are under-documented in the evidence.
Sources
- Prolific homepageprolific.comofficial
- Prolific Pricingprolific.comofficial
- Prolific pricing calculatorprolific.comofficial
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- Prolific raises $32M — TechCrunchtechcrunch.comnews
- Prolific funding — Tracxntracxn.comnews
- Phishing and offensive material — Prolificprolific.comsecurity
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