{"site":{"name":"Koji","description":"AI-native customer research platform that helps teams conduct, analyze, and synthesize customer interviews at scale.","url":"https://www.koji.so","contentTypes":["blog","documentation"],"lastUpdated":"2026-10-26T09:24:40.564Z"},"content":[{"type":"blog","id":"500ec9ea-ef8b-4073-9ec3-03674d4b21f9","slug":"askable-alternatives-2026","title":"Askable Alternatives (2026): 7 Ways to Recruit and Interview Participants","url":"https://www.koji.so/blog/askable-alternatives-2026","summary":"Askable combines a participant panel with research tools and sells credits that include the incentive, with pay-as-you-go credits listed at $159 each on its Australian site. Alternatives depend on the need: User Interviews for a 6 million person consumer and B2B panel, Respondent for professionals, Prolific for fast general samples with a 42.8% corporate service fee, Lyssna for unmoderated tests with a 690,000 person panel, Great Question or Ethnio for recruiting your own users. Koji combines recruitment from a panel or your own customers with AI-moderated voice, text and phone interviews, built-in incentives of 10 to 500 euros, and reports, starting free with 10 credits.","content":"**Short answer:** Askable bundles a participant panel with research tools and sells credits that include the incentive. The right alternative depends on what you want instead. For a big consumer and B2B panel, User Interviews. For senior B2B professionals, Respondent. For fast, cheap academic-style samples, Prolific. For quick unmoderated tests with a panel, Lyssna. For managing your own customers as a panel, Great Question or Ethnio. And if you want recruitment, AI-moderated interviews and the report in one place, on published prices, try [Koji](https://www.koji.so).\n\n## Why recruitment is the part teams shop around for\n\nRecruiting is still the slowest step in most studies. In User Interviews' [State of User Research 2025](https://www.userinterviews.com/state-of-user-research-report), 54% of researchers said time to recruit was a struggle, down from 61% the year before. People also fail to turn up: [MeasuringU recommends planning for about 10% no-shows](https://measuringu.com/typical-no-show-rate-for-moderated-studies/) in moderated studies, and cites User Interviews data across 14,000 studies showing 9%. Meanwhile demand keeps climbing: 66% of respondents in Maze's [Future of User Research Report 2026](https://maze.co/blog/future-user-research-2026/) said demand for research had grown.\n\n![Two people talking across a table during a research interview, the session a recruitment tool has to fill with the right person](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1764173038859-11b5bcf26d0f?crop=entropy&cs=tinysrgb&fit=max&fm=jpg&ixid=M3w5NDUzMDN8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHw3fHx0d28lMjBwZW9wbGUlMjBpbnRlcnZpZXclMjBjb252ZXJzYXRpb24lMjB0YWJsZXxlbnwxfDB8fHwxNzkyOTk3NDEyfDA&ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=80&w=1080)\n\n_Photo by [Centre for Ageing Better](https://unsplash.com/@ageing_better?utm_source=koji&utm_medium=referral) on [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/?utm_source=koji&utm_medium=referral)_\n\nSo the platform you pick for recruitment shapes how many studies you can run. That is why teams compare Askable with the alternatives below.\n\n## What Askable offers\n\n[Askable](https://askable.com/platform) combines a participant panel with tools for moderated, unmoderated and in-person sessions, surveys and an AI Moderator that runs interviews on its own in more than 15 languages. It says its panel has millions of verified participants across more than 50 countries, with active local recruitment concentrated in the US, the UK, Australia and New Zealand.\n\nPricing works in credits: [one credit buys one participant](https://help.askable.com/en/articles/4254373-how-do-credits-work), and the incentive is included in the credit price. Its Australian site lists [pay-as-you-go credits at $159 each](https://au.askable.com/credits), with discounts on packs, and credits last 12 months. Plans with more tools are quoted through sales.\n\nTeams look elsewhere when they need a different panel, want to interview their own customers without paying a per-participant credit, or want the interviews moderated without booking sessions.\n\n## Askable alternatives at a glance\n\n| Tool | What it is | How you pay | Best for |\n|---|---|---|---|\n| Koji | AI interviews, recruitment and reports in one | Monthly credits per interview | Interviews without scheduling |\n| User Interviews | Recruitment marketplace and panel CRM | Per session, incentives on top | Large consumer and B2B panel |\n| Respondent | Recruitment marketplace for professionals | Per session, incentives on top | Senior B2B participants |\n| Prolific | Online participant pool | Service fee on participant pay | Fast academic-style studies |\n| Lyssna | Unmoderated testing with a panel | Monthly plan, panel by test length | Quick design and usability tests |\n| Great Question | Research ops and customer panel CRM | Per seat, panel by credit | Managing your own customer panel |\n| Ethnio | Intercept recruiting from your site or app | Monthly plan | Recruiting your live users |\n\n![Table comparing Askable alternatives Koji, User Interviews, Respondent, Prolific, Lyssna, Great Question and Ethnio by what they are, how you pay and best use](/visuals/askable-alternatives-comparison-table/askable-alternatives-comparison-table.png \"Each tool solves a different piece of recruitment, so match it to your bottleneck\")\n\n## 1. Koji: recruit and interview in one place\n\nMost recruitment tools stop when the participant arrives. Then someone still has to run the session, take notes and write it up. [Koji](https://www.koji.so) does the whole loop: an AI interviewer runs every conversation by voice, text or phone, asks follow-ups, and turns the interviews into a report where each finding links to its quotes.\n\n![Koji panel recruitment wizard with audience targeting by age and employment and a supply feasibility estimate](/email/shots/shot-panel-recruit.jpg \"Describe who you want to talk to, and Koji estimates whether the panel can supply them\")\n\nWays to get participants:\n\n- **Koji's research panel.** On paid plans, build an audience from the Panel recruit tab and see the cost before you launch. A soft launch fields about 10% of the goal first so you can check the interviews. See [panel recruitment](/docs/panel-recruitment).\n- **Your own customers.** Keep a workspace-wide Participants directory, import a CSV, group people into audiences and email them a branded invitation with a personal link. See [managing research participants](/docs/managing-research-participants).\n- **A plain link.** Share it anywhere, with [screening questions](/docs/adding-screening-questions-to-your-study) that turn away people who do not qualify.\n\n**Incentives** are built in on paid plans: set an amount from €10 to €500 per participant, approve each reward next to the interview's quality score, and Koji emails the participant a link to claim a gift card, prepaid Visa card or charity donation.\n\n**Pricing:** you start free with 10 credits. Insights is €29 a month with 29 credits, Interviews is €79 a month with 79 credits, and Enterprise is priced on request. A text interview uses 1 credit and a voice interview 3, and only interviews with a [quality score](/docs/understanding-quality-scores) of 3 or more use credits.\n\n**Good to know:** Koji does not run in-person sessions or unmoderated prototype tests.\n\n## 2. User Interviews: the big general panel\n\n[User Interviews](https://www.usertesting.com/company/newsroom/press-releases/usertesting-acquires-user-interviews) is a recruitment marketplace with a panel of more than 6 million participants, plus Research Hub for managing your own. UserTesting bought it in January 2026, and the parent company was renamed Auros in September. User Interviews says the product stays standalone and [its pricing is unchanged](https://www.userinterviews.com/support/usertesting-acquisition-faq).\n\n**Pricing:** pay per session, with incentives billed separately. [UXtweak's pricing review](https://blog.uxtweak.com/user-interviews-pricing/) puts pay-as-you-go at $49 per consumer session and $98 per B2B session.\n\n**Pick it if** you need a wide pool of consumers and professionals and will run the sessions yourself.\n\n## 3. Respondent: professionals and decision makers\n\n[Respondent](https://www.respondent.io/compare/respondent-vs-user-interviews) focuses on B2B and professional participants and says its pool has about 4 million people. You pay a fee per completed session on top of the incentive you set.\n\n**Pick it if** your studies need IT buyers, finance leads or other hard-to-reach professionals.\n\n## 4. Prolific: fast samples with fair pay rules\n\n[Prolific](https://www.prolific.com/our-participant-pool-in-numbers) is an online pool used heavily in academic research and AI training, with more than 200,000 active participants across 43 countries. It enforces a minimum pay of £6 or $8 an hour and [recommends £9 or $12](https://researcher-help.prolific.com/en/article/9cd998). Its [service fee](https://researcher-help.prolific.com/en/articles/445239-what-is-your-pricing) is 42.8% of participant pay for companies and 33.3% for academic and non-profit accounts.\n\n**Pick it if** you run surveys or short tasks with large general samples and want results within hours.\n\n## 5. Lyssna: quick tests with a built-in panel\n\n[Lyssna](https://lyssna.com/pricing), formerly UsabilityHub, is a self-serve tool for surveys, first-click, preference and usability tests, plus interviews. Its [research panel](https://www.lyssna.com/feature/research-panel) has more than 690,000 participants in 124 countries, priced at $1 per minute of test length. Plans start at $89 a month, or $75 a month billed annually.\n\n**Pick it if** most of your research is short unmoderated design tests.\n\n## 6. Great Question: your customers as a panel\n\n[Great Question](https://greatquestion.co/pricing) is a research operations platform: a CRM for your own participants, scheduling, incentives, research methods and a repository. Self-serve costs $129 per seat per month, observer seats are free, and an integrated panel is available on pay-as-you-go credits.\n\n**Pick it if** you mostly research your own customers and need a system to manage who was contacted, when and with what reward.\n\n## 7. Ethnio: intercept your live users\n\nEthnio recruits people while they are on your website or app, with screeners, scheduling and panel management. It has no public participant pool. [Capterra lists plans](https://www.capterra.co.uk/software/210746/ethnio) from about $79 a month, with native app intercepts on Enterprise.\n\n**Pick it if** you want to talk to people right after they do something in your product.\n\n## How to choose a recruitment setup\n\nBefore you compare prices, answer these about your own research:\n\n- How many interviews you need a month, and who moderates each one\n- Whether you mostly talk to your own customers or to outside participants\n- Whether you need B2B professionals, and what each one costs to recruit\n- Who pays incentives, in which countries, and what fees apply\n- How no-shows and fraudulent participants are replaced or refunded\n- Where notes, recordings and themes live once sessions end\n- How many seats you need, and who only needs to view results\n- What happens to your participant data if you switch tools\n\n![Checklist of eight questions to ask before choosing a research recruiting setup, from monthly volume to data portability](/visuals/research-recruiting-platform-checklist/research-recruiting-platform-checklist.png \"Run any recruiting vendor through these before you sign\")\n\nThe first question decides most of it. If someone on your team has to moderate every session, a panel only moves the bottleneck from recruiting to scheduling. That is where an AI interviewer changes the maths: participants answer when it suits them, no-shows stop costing you a moderator hour, and the report is ready when the last interview finishes.\n\n## Run your next study on Koji\n\nPick the study you would normally recruit 10 participants for. [Start free on Koji](https://www.koji.so), [preview the interview yourself](/docs/previewing-your-interview), then send it to your customers or recruit from the panel. You get the interviews, the incentives and the report in one place.\n","category":"Comparisons","lastModified":"2026-10-26T07:20:13.57288+00:00","metaTitle":"Askable Alternatives (2026): 7 Recruitment Tools Compared","metaDescription":"Compare 7 Askable alternatives for recruiting research participants: Koji, User Interviews, Respondent, Prolific, Lyssna, Great Question and Ethnio.","keywords":["askable alternatives","askable competitors","participant recruitment platforms","user research recruitment","research panel","user interviews alternatives","prolific alternatives"],"aiSummary":"Askable combines a participant panel with research tools and sells credits that include the incentive, with pay-as-you-go credits listed at $159 each on its Australian site. Alternatives depend on the need: User Interviews for a 6 million person consumer and B2B panel, Respondent for professionals, Prolific for fast general samples with a 42.8% corporate service fee, Lyssna for unmoderated tests with a 690,000 person panel, Great Question or Ethnio for recruiting your own users. Koji combines recruitment from a panel or your own customers with AI-moderated voice, text and phone interviews, built-in incentives of 10 to 500 euros, and reports, starting free with 10 credits.","aiKeywords":["Askable","Koji","User Interviews","Respondent","Prolific","Lyssna","Great Question","Ethnio","participant recruitment","research panel"],"aiContentType":"comparison","faqItems":[{"answer":"It depends on your bottleneck. User Interviews has the largest general panel, Respondent focuses on professionals, Prolific is fastest for large general samples, Lyssna suits quick unmoderated tests, and Great Question and Ethnio help you recruit your own users. Koji combines recruitment with AI-moderated interviews and reports, so nobody has to run the sessions.","question":"What is the best alternative to Askable?"},{"answer":"Askable sells credits, where one credit buys one participant and the incentive is included. Its Australian site lists pay-as-you-go credits at $159 each, with discounts on packs and a 12-month expiry. Plans with more tools are quoted through sales.","question":"How does Askable pricing work?"},{"answer":"Respondent focuses on B2B and professional participants and says its pool has about 4 million people. User Interviews also recruits B2B participants, at a higher per-session price than consumers.","question":"Which Askable alternative is best for B2B participants?"},{"answer":"Yes, on paid plans. You set an amount from 10 to 500 euros per participant, approve each reward next to the interview's quality score, and Koji emails the participant a link to claim a gift card, prepaid Visa card or charity donation.","question":"Can I pay participant incentives in Koji?"},{"answer":"MeasuringU recommends planning for about 10% no-shows in moderated studies, and cites User Interviews data across 14,000 studies showing 9%. AI-moderated interviews avoid the problem because participants answer when it suits them, with no booked slot to miss.","question":"How many no-shows should I plan for in recruited studies?"}],"relatedTopics":["Askable alternatives","Participant recruitment","Research panels","Research incentives","AI-moderated interviews","User research tools"]}],"pagination":{"total":1,"returned":1,"offset":0}}