{"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":"2026-08-03T18:02:33.663Z"},"content":[{"type":"blog","id":"513d039a-6fa7-4e52-bad1-5a9d443706f1","slug":"dscout-pricing-2026","title":"Dscout Pricing in 2026: What Diary Studies Actually Cost (Nothing Is Published)","url":"https://www.koji.so/blog/dscout-pricing-2026","summary":"Dscout publishes no list pricing for its Core, Select, or Enterprise tiers. Negotiated contract data across 53 purchases shows a median annual contract of $49,250, ranging from $24,185 to $109,535, with buyers averaging 17.81% savings off the opening quote. Individual studies quote $15,000-$50,000. Additional costs include separate participant recruitment, incentives, and 3-8% annual renewal escalators. Koji offers published credit-based pricing from EUR 29/month as an AI-native alternative for teams whose need is depth of customer understanding rather than in-home mobile video capture.","content":"\n**Short answer:** Dscout publishes no list price for any of its three plans — Core, Select, and Enterprise are all \"contact sales.\" Based on negotiated-contract data from 53 purchases, the median dscout contract runs **$49,250 per year**, with the typical range spanning **$24,185 to $109,535**. Individual studies commonly quote between $15,000 and $50,000 depending on participant count and duration. Budget an additional 3–8% annual increase at renewal, and remember that participant incentives are usually billed on top of everything else.\n\nIf you came here hoping to find a pricing page with numbers on it, there isn't one. That is not an oversight — it is the business model. This guide reconstructs what dscout actually costs from negotiated contract data, published buyer reports, and dscout's own tier structure, so you can walk into a sales call with a number already in your head.\n\n## Why dscout doesn't publish prices\n\nWe checked dscout's pricing page directly. It lists three tiers and not a single dollar figure:\n\n| Tier | Positioned for | Published price |\n|---|---|---|\n| **Core** | \"Lean teams just getting started\" | Contact sales |\n| **Select** | \"Growing teams looking to scale\" | Contact sales |\n| **Enterprise** | \"Extensive, custom needs\" | Contact sales |\n\nCore includes the AI Studio, unlimited concurrent studies, flex seats, data export, integrations with Miro, Slack and Figma, panel recruitment, and SSO. Select adds real-time intercept studies, question banks, multiple interview moderators, private panels with unlimited participants, and custom consent forms and NDAs. Enterprise layers on custom behavioral targeting, product shipping support for in-home studies, mission summaries, and international recruitment.\n\nNotice what is missing from that ladder: any unit you can count. There is no \"per seat\" number, no \"per study\" number, no published participant rate. Dscout prices per engagement, which means the quote you receive is built around your specific study volume, participant sourcing needs, and — candidly — your perceived budget. Two companies buying the same tier in the same quarter routinely pay very different amounts.\n\nThis is standard for enterprise research platforms. We found the same pattern when we analysed [UserTesting pricing](/blog/usertesting-pricing-2026) and [Qualtrics pricing](/blog/qualtrics-pricing-2026). What makes dscout distinctive is that the opacity extends all the way down to the entry tier — there is no self-serve on-ramp at all.\n\n## What buyers actually pay\n\nNegotiated contract data gives us the numbers dscout won't print. Across 53 analysed dscout purchases:\n\n- **Median contract value: $49,250 per year**\n- **Typical range: $24,185 to $109,535 annually**\n- **Average negotiated savings: 17.81%** off the opening quote\n\nThat last figure is the most useful one on this page. Buyers who negotiated saved an average of nearly 18%, which tells you the first number you hear is not the number you should accept. On a median deal, that spread is close to $9,000.\n\nIndependent buyer guides put the small-team floor lower: platform subscriptions for one to three users running five to ten studies a year commonly land in the **$15,000–$35,000** range, before participant costs. Mid-sized research teams typically spend **$50,000–$100,000 annually** once platform, recruitment, and incentives are combined.\n\n## The per-study math\n\nBecause dscout is frequently bought per project rather than per seat, it helps to think in study units. Reported project quotes cluster like this:\n\n| Study shape | Typical quote |\n|---|---|\n| Small pilot — 10–20 participants, 1–2 weeks | $10,000–$20,000 |\n| Standard study — 20–40 participants, 2–3 weeks | $20,000–$35,000 |\n| Large longitudinal — 50+ participants, 4+ weeks | $40,000–$70,000+ |\n| Full-service managed study (add-on) | +$5,000–$20,000 |\n\nMost teams report that a standard project runs between **$15,000 and $50,000**. Bringing your own participants instead of using dscout's Recruit panel typically cuts **20–40%** off the quote — the single largest lever available to you, and one worth building a [research participant panel](/docs/research-panel-management) for if you buy dscout more than once.\n\n## The four costs nobody quotes you\n\n1. **The platform subscription.** The annual licence itself, tiered by seats and study volume.\n2. **Participant recruitment.** Sourcing from dscout's panel is billed separately. If your criteria are niche — B2B decision-makers, clinicians, low-incidence consumers — the cost climbs steeply, for the same reasons we broke down in [survey sample cost, CPI and incidence rate](/blog/survey-sample-cost-cpi-incidence-rate-2026).\n3. **Incentives.** Diary studies are longitudinal and demanding. Participants completing multi-week missions expect materially more than a 30-minute interview pays. Our guide to [research participant incentives](/docs/research-participant-incentives) covers realistic rates by study type — and if you are paying US participants, the [1099 thresholds](/docs/research-participant-incentive-taxes) apply to you, not to dscout.\n4. **Renewal escalators.** Dscout contracts commonly include **3–8% annual price increases** at renewal, even when your scope and usage have not changed. Over a three-year term that compounds into real money, and it is negotiable at signing in a way it never is at renewal.\n\n## Negotiation levers that actually work\n\nBuyer data points to four repeatable tactics:\n\n- **Prepay for volume.** Buyers purchasing large participant credit bundles at signing secured **10–20% lower** per-participant rates than pay-per-study buyers.\n- **Time the quarter.** Deals closed in Q4 or at quarter-end included **5–15%** incremental discounts or bonus credits versus mid-quarter transactions.\n- **Run a real evaluation.** Buyers actively comparing alternatives and sharing a competitive timeline received **10–20%** sharper pricing. Our roundup of [dscout alternatives](/blog/dscout-alternatives-2026) and [diary study apps](/blog/best-diary-study-apps-2026) is a reasonable place to build that shortlist.\n- **Cap the escalator in writing.** Negotiate the renewal increase at initial signature, not at renewal.\n\n## Who dscout is genuinely worth it for\n\nDscout is a strong product and the honest answer is that some teams should pay for it. If you need participants to capture in-the-moment video from their phones, over weeks, in their actual homes and workplaces — with device shipping, international recruitment, and behavioural targeting — dscout does that better than nearly anyone. Ethnographic and longitudinal work at that fidelity is expensive everywhere, and a $50K contract can be entirely rational for a large team running continuous in-context research.\n\nThe problem is that most teams buying dscout are not doing that. They are buying a $49,250 platform to answer questions like *why did this segment churn*, *what do people actually think of this pricing page*, or *how did onboarding feel in week one* — questions that do not require a mobile ethnography suite. They are paying for in-context video capture and using it as an expensive way to ask people things.\n\n## The AI-native alternative: what Koji costs\n\nKoji was built for exactly that second group. Instead of buying a per-study enterprise contract, you run **AI-moderated voice and text interviews** that conduct themselves, probe follow-ups automatically, and produce analysed reports without a researcher transcribing anything.\n\nThe pricing is published, which is the whole point:\n\n- **Insights — €29/month**, including 29 credits\n- **Interviews — €79/month**, including 79 credits\n- **Enterprise** — custom, for teams that need it\n\nA text conversation costs 1 credit; a full AI-moderated voice interview costs 3; refreshing a report costs 5. That makes the €79 plan roughly **26 voice interviews a month** — a sample size that would sit inside a \"small pilot\" bracket at dscout, for a rounding error against a $10,000–$20,000 quote. And there is a quality gate: **only conversations scoring 3 or above consume credits**, so you are not billed for junk sessions the way you are billed for panel participants who ghost a mission.\n\nWhat you get for it:\n\n- **AI-moderated voice interviews** that run 24/7, in parallel, with no scheduling and no moderator availability ceiling\n- **Automatic thematic analysis** across every transcript — no tagging backlog, no repository to maintain\n- **Six structured question types** mixed directly into conversations: open_ended, scale, single_choice, multiple_choice, ranking, and yes_no. You get NPS distributions and ranked preferences *and* the qualitative reasoning behind them in one study, rather than running a survey and interviews separately\n- **Customisable AI consultants** you shape to your domain and research goals\n- **One-click reports** with quotes traced back to source\n- **No moderator bias** — every participant gets the same neutral interviewer, which is more than can be said for a rotating bench of contract moderators\n\nThe honest limitation: Koji does not ship devices to participants' homes or capture four weeks of in-situ mobile video. If that is your actual requirement, dscout earns its price. If your requirement is depth of understanding at speed, an AI-native platform gets you from question to insight in hours rather than the six-to-eight weeks a procurement cycle plus fielding plus analysis takes — and see [how to run a diary study](/docs/diary-study-guide) for where longitudinal designs still make sense.\n\n## Dscout vs Koji at a glance\n\n| | dscout | Koji |\n|---|---|---|\n| Published pricing | None — all tiers contact sales | Yes, from €29/month |\n| Median annual spend | $49,250 (53 contracts) | Self-serve, no contract required |\n| Contract term | Annual, multi-year common | Monthly or annual |\n| Renewal escalator | 3–8% typical | None |\n| Time to first insight | Weeks | Hours |\n| Moderator required | Yes | No — AI-moderated |\n| Analysis | Manual tagging | Automatic thematic analysis |\n| Structured + qualitative in one study | Limited | Yes — 6 question types |\n\n## Frequently Asked Questions\n\n**How much does dscout cost per year?**\nDscout does not publish prices. Negotiated contract data across 53 purchases puts the median at $49,250 per year, with a typical range of $24,185 to $109,535. Small teams running five to ten studies annually often land between $15,000 and $35,000 before participant costs.\n\n**Does dscout have a free trial or free plan?**\nNo. There is no free tier and no self-serve signup. Every dscout plan — including the entry-level Core tier — requires a sales conversation and a custom quote.\n\n**How much does a single dscout study cost?**\nReported quotes run roughly $10,000–$20,000 for a 10–20 participant pilot, $20,000–$35,000 for a standard 20–40 participant study, and $40,000–$70,000+ for large longitudinal work. Full-service managed studies add $5,000–$20,000.\n\n**Are participant incentives included in dscout pricing?**\nGenerally no. Incentives are typically billed separately from the platform subscription and recruitment fees, and longitudinal diary studies require higher incentives than one-off interviews because of the sustained effort involved.\n\n**Can you negotiate dscout pricing?**\nYes, and you should. Buyers averaged 17.81% savings off the opening quote. The strongest levers are prepaying for participant credit bundles (10–20% off), closing at quarter-end (5–15% extra), running a documented competitive evaluation (10–20%), and capping the renewal escalator in the initial contract.\n\n**What is the cheapest way to run diary-style research?**\nBringing your own participants cuts a dscout quote by 20–40%. Beyond that, AI-moderated platforms like Koji run interviews at credit-based pricing from €29/month — roughly 26 voice interviews on the €79 plan — which suits teams whose real need is depth of understanding rather than in-home mobile video capture.\n\n## Get a real number before your sales call\n\nThe worst position to negotiate from is not knowing what anyone else paid. Now you do: **$49,250 median, 17.81% average savings, 3–8% escalators.** Use it.\n\nAnd if the honest answer is that you need to understand your customers deeply — not film them in their kitchens for a month — you can start today for less than a single dscout study costs in review meetings. Koji gives you AI-moderated voice interviews, automatic thematic analysis, six structured question types, and one-click reports, with **no research expertise required** and **no procurement cycle**.\n\n[Start your first study with Koji →](https://www.koji.so)\n","category":"Comparisons","lastModified":"2026-08-01T03:14:17.372758+00:00","metaTitle":"Dscout Pricing 2026: Real Costs, Contracts & What Buyers Pay","metaDescription":"Dscout publishes no prices. Negotiated data shows a $49,250 median contract across 53 purchases. Full breakdown of tiers, per-study costs, hidden fees and cheaper alternatives.","keywords":["dscout pricing","dscout cost","how much does dscout cost","dscout pricing 2026","dscout contract","diary study cost","dscout alternatives"],"aiSummary":"Dscout publishes no list pricing for its Core, Select, or Enterprise tiers. Negotiated contract data across 53 purchases shows a median annual contract of $49,250, ranging from $24,185 to $109,535, with buyers averaging 17.81% savings off the opening quote. Individual studies quote $15,000-$50,000. Additional costs include separate participant recruitment, incentives, and 3-8% annual renewal escalators. Koji offers published credit-based pricing from EUR 29/month as an AI-native alternative for teams whose need is depth of customer understanding rather than in-home mobile video capture.","aiKeywords":["dscout pricing","diary study cost","user research budget","research platform contracts","AI moderated interviews"],"aiContentType":"comparison","faqItems":[{"answer":"Dscout does not publish prices. Negotiated contract data across 53 purchases puts the median at $49,250 per year, with a typical range of $24,185 to $109,535. Small teams running five to ten studies annually often land between $15,000 and $35,000 before participant costs.","question":"How much does dscout cost per year?"},{"answer":"No. There is no free tier and no self-serve signup. Every dscout plan, including the entry-level Core tier, requires a sales conversation and a custom quote.","question":"Does dscout have a free trial or free plan?"},{"answer":"Reported quotes run roughly $10,000-$20,000 for a 10-20 participant pilot, $20,000-$35,000 for a standard 20-40 participant study, and $40,000-$70,000+ for large longitudinal work. Full-service managed studies add $5,000-$20,000.","question":"How much does a single dscout study cost?"},{"answer":"Generally no. Incentives are typically billed separately from the platform subscription and recruitment fees, and longitudinal diary studies require higher incentives than one-off interviews because of the sustained effort involved.","question":"Are participant incentives included in dscout pricing?"},{"answer":"Yes. Buyers averaged 17.81% savings off the opening quote. The strongest levers are prepaying for participant credit bundles (10-20% off), closing at quarter-end (5-15% extra), running a documented competitive evaluation (10-20%), and capping the renewal escalator in the initial contract.","question":"Can you negotiate dscout pricing?"},{"answer":"Bringing your own participants cuts a dscout quote by 20-40%. Beyond that, AI-moderated platforms like Koji run interviews at credit-based pricing from EUR 29/month, roughly 26 voice interviews on the EUR 79 plan, which suits teams whose real need is depth of understanding rather than in-home mobile video capture.","question":"What is the cheapest way to run diary-style research?"}],"relatedTopics":["pricing","dscout","diary studies","research budget","vendor comparison"]}],"pagination":{"total":1,"returned":1,"offset":0}}