{"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":"2026-09-21T04:04:32.834Z"},"content":[{"type":"blog","id":"9bbb8eac-836b-46d8-b028-ad95967e34a7","slug":"koji-vs-toluna-2026","title":"Koji vs Toluna (2026): Consumer Insights Panel vs AI-Moderated Interviews","url":"https://www.koji.so/blog/koji-vs-toluna-2026","summary":"Toluna Start is an end-to-end consumer insights platform: a global panel of 79M+ consumers, drag-and-drop survey builder with advanced methodologies (timed exposure, heatmaps, text highlighters), 350+ profiling options, an AI probing feature (QProbe) that auto-generates follow-ups, and over 1 million synthetic personas for simulated research; contracts average ~$30,000/yr. Koji is an AI-native research platform that runs AI-moderated voice and text interviews with real customers and analyzes them automatically: six structured question types (open_ended, scale, single_choice, multiple_choice, ranking, yes_no), automatic thematic analysis, one-click reports in hours. The key dividing line is real voices (Koji, always real humans moderated by AI) vs synthetic personas (Toluna's 1M+ simulated respondents). 57% of researchers report growing demand for qualitative research, yet online qualitative is only ~6% of market research revenue. Survey completion falls from ~89% at 10 questions to 79% at 40. Koji pricing: as low as €1 per qualified interview and €3 per qualified voice interview; 10 free credits at signup, no card, then pay as you go with no subscription, and a conversation that scores below 3 out of 5 is free and never charged.","content":"**TL;DR:** **Toluna Start** is an end-to-end consumer intelligence platform: a global panel of **79M+ consumers**, a drag-and-drop survey builder, automated targeting, dashboards, an AI probing feature (QProbe), and — increasingly — **over a million synthetic personas** for simulated research. **Koji** is an AI-native research platform that does one thing with unusual depth: it runs **AI-moderated voice and text interviews with your real customers**, then analyzes them automatically into a one-click report. The core difference is philosophical. Toluna is built to push large quantitative studies through a panel quickly, with synthetic personas to scale further. Koji is built to extract qualitative *truth* from real human voices at interview depth — fast, affordable, and without a synthetic shortcut. If you need national B2C survey volume, Toluna's panel delivers. If you need to understand *why* your customers do what they do, Koji is the modern choice.\n\n## Toluna vs Koji at a glance\n\n| | **Toluna Start** | **Koji** |\n|---|---|---|\n| **Category** | Consumer insights panel + survey suite | AI-native interview platform |\n| **Audience** | 79M+ panel + your own audience | Your own audience + built-in panel recruitment |\n| **Primary method** | Automated quantitative surveys | AI-moderated voice/text interviews |\n| **AI depth** | QProbe follow-ups + synthetic personas | Conversational AI moderator on every answer |\n| **Real vs synthetic** | Real panel + 1M+ synthetic personas | Always real human respondents |\n| **Analysis** | Dashboards + recommendations | Automatic thematic analysis + report |\n| **Pricing** | ~$30k/yr average, contact sales | From €1 per qualified interview, €3 for voice; 10 free credits, pay as you go, self-serve |\n| **Best for** | National B2C quant at panel scale | The qualitative \"why,\" fast |\n\n## What is Toluna?\n\nToluna positions Toluna Start as \"the industry's first and only end-to-end consumer intelligence platform,\" supporting both quantitative and qualitative research through self-service or custom programs. Its panel spans **79+ million** consumers, with **350+ profiling options** to target audiences (or you can bring your own via weblink, email, or embedded widget). The survey builder is drag-and-drop with advanced methodologies — timed exposure, heatmaps, text highlighters — and includes **QProbe**, an AI-driven feature that detects insufficient answers and auto-generates personalized follow-ups. More recently, Toluna has leaned into **over 1 million validated synthetic personas** to \"accelerate and scale research with AI.\"\n\nToluna's strengths are reach and breadth: a large panel, a mature survey toolkit, and dashboards with recommendations. Its trade-offs are cost and orientation. The average Toluna contract runs around **$30,000 per year**, and reviewers note costs can be steep for small businesses or detailed projects. And while QProbe adds intelligent follow-ups, the platform's center of gravity remains the *automated quantitative survey* — with synthetic personas increasingly offered as a way to simulate respondents rather than talk to more real ones.\n\n## What is Koji?\n\n[Koji](/) takes the opposite bet: that the highest-value insight comes from *real conversations with real customers*, and that AI's job is to **conduct and analyze** those conversations — not to replace the human on the other end.\n\n- **AI-moderated voice and text interviews.** Koji's AI interviewer runs a natural two-way conversation, probing follow-ups in real time across the whole study — the depth of a researcher-led interview, at the scale of a survey. See the [complete guide to AI qualitative research](/docs/complete-guide-ai-qualitative-research).\n- **Six structured question types.** `open_ended`, `scale`, `single_choice`, `multiple_choice`, `ranking`, and `yes_no` — so you get scores you can chart (like NPS or satisfaction via [scale questions](/docs/scale-questions-guide)) *and* the open-ended reasoning behind them in one conversation.\n- **Automatic thematic analysis.** Every transcript is coded and clustered into a per-question codebook automatically — see [how to analyze qualitative data](/docs/how-to-analyze-qualitative-data).\n- **One-click reports**, grounded in real quotes from real people.\n\nThis matters because the market is moving *toward* qualitative depth, not away from it. **57%** of researchers report growing demand for qualitative research — yet online qualitative still represents only about **6%** of market research revenue, a gap that exists precisely because qual has historically been slow and expensive to run and analyze. Koji closes that gap with AI moderation and automatic analysis. (See also [conversational surveys](/docs/conversational-survey-guide).)\n\n## Real voices vs synthetic personas\n\nThe sharpest dividing line in 2026 is authenticity. Toluna's million-plus synthetic personas promise speed by *simulating* respondents. That can be useful for early directional gut-checks — but synthetic personas can only recombine what models already assume about people; they can't surprise you with the thing you didn't know to ask. Koji's entire premise is the opposite: **always real humans, just moderated and analyzed by AI.** When the cost of a real conversation drops to minutes and euros, the case for synthetic shortcuts gets much weaker. (We dig into this trade-off in our analysis of [AI personas vs real interviews](/blog/ai-personas-vs-real-interviews-2026).)\n\n## Where Toluna wins\n\n- **National B2C panel reach** across 79M+ members and 350+ profiling attributes.\n- **Mature quant tooling** — timed exposure, heatmaps, advanced survey methodologies.\n- **One-stop enterprise suite** for teams that want panel, fielding, and dashboards under one contract.\n\nSurvey fatigue is a real constraint on that quant machine, though: completion rates fall from roughly **89% at 10 questions to 79% at 40**, so even a great panel can't rescue an over-long questionnaire.\n\n## Where Koji wins\n\n- **Qualitative depth at scale** — interview-grade conversations, not just survey grids.\n- **Speed** — from question to insight in hours, not the weeks a managed panel study can take.\n- **Real respondents only** — no synthetic-persona simulation.\n- **Analysis included** — automatic thematic analysis, no separate analyst step.\n- **Transparent, self-serve pricing** — start free, no $30k contract.\n\n## Pricing: enterprise contract vs self-serve\n\nToluna runs on annual contracts averaging around **$30,000/yr**, with pricing gated behind sales. Koji is self-serve and transparent, with interviews as low as **€1 per qualified interview and €3 per qualified voice interview**: **10 free credits at signup**, no card, then **pay as you go** with no subscription at all. Volume pricing and plans are there when you want them. A conversation that scores below 3 out of 5 is free and never charged. You are never tied to a subscription: you pay only for the interviews your study actually uses. A team can validate Koji on real customers before Toluna would even return a quote.\n\n## Which should you choose?\n\nIf your work is **national consumer quant at panel scale**, Toluna's panel and survey suite are built for it. If your work is **understanding real customers in depth, quickly, with the analysis done for you** — and you'd rather talk to real people than synthetic personas — Koji is the AI-native platform purpose-built for that. Many teams keep a panel relationship for big quant waves and run their continuous, qualitative discovery in Koji.\n\n## Three scenarios where Koji fits better\n\n**Continuous discovery.** A product team that wants weekly signal cannot wait on a panel field-and-tabulate cycle. Koji runs always-on interviews with real users and refreshes the thematic report as responses land — discovery that keeps pace with your sprints.\n\n**Win/loss and churn.** These require talking to specific named accounts, not a representative consumer panel. Koji interviews your actual buyers and churned users, probes the real decision drivers, and codes the reasons automatically — the kind of depth a synthetic persona simply cannot fabricate.\n\n**Concept and message testing on your own audience.** Show a concept, capture a scale rating, then let the AI probe the reasoning behind it — open-ended \"why\" attached to every score, in a single pass instead of a survey plus a separate follow-up wave.\n\nIn all three, the job is not national quant volume; it is depth from the *right* people, fast. That is where an AI-moderated interview beats both a long panel survey and a synthetic-persona simulation: real humans, real reasoning, analyzed for you in hours rather than weeks.\n\n## Start with Koji\n\nTalk to real customers, not simulations — and let AI do the moderating and the analysis. [Create a free Koji account](/), point the AI interviewer at your own audience or have Koji recruit one for you, and get a thematic report from genuine conversations in hours. From question to insight, 10x faster — no synthetic shortcuts, no analysis backlog, no enterprise contract.","category":"Comparisons","lastModified":"2026-08-19T21:52:12.102078+00:00","metaTitle":"Koji vs Toluna (2026): Panel Surveys vs AI Interviews","metaDescription":"Toluna Start pairs a 79M-member panel with automated surveys and 1M+ synthetic personas. Koji runs AI-moderated interviews with real customers and analyzes them automatically. Compare depth, speed, authenticity, and price for 2026.","keywords":["koji vs toluna","toluna alternative","toluna start","toluna pricing","toluna consumer insights","ai moderated interviews","toluna vs koji","synthetic personas vs real interviews"],"aiSummary":"Toluna Start is an end-to-end consumer insights platform: a global panel of 79M+ consumers, drag-and-drop survey builder with advanced methodologies (timed exposure, heatmaps, text highlighters), 350+ profiling options, an AI probing feature (QProbe) that auto-generates follow-ups, and over 1 million synthetic personas for simulated research; contracts average ~$30,000/yr. Koji is an AI-native research platform that runs AI-moderated voice and text interviews with real customers and analyzes them automatically: six structured question types (open_ended, scale, single_choice, multiple_choice, ranking, yes_no), automatic thematic analysis, one-click reports in hours. The key dividing line is real voices (Koji, always real humans moderated by AI) vs synthetic personas (Toluna's 1M+ simulated respondents). 57% of researchers report growing demand for qualitative research, yet online qualitative is only ~6% of market research revenue. Survey completion falls from ~89% at 10 questions to 79% at 40. Koji pricing: as low as €1 per qualified interview and €3 per qualified voice interview; 10 free credits at signup, no card, then pay as you go with no subscription, and a conversation that scores below 3 out of 5 is free and never charged.","aiKeywords":["koji vs toluna","toluna","toluna alternative","toluna start","consumer insights platform","ai moderated interviews","synthetic personas","real customer interviews","automatic thematic analysis","qualitative research at scale","toluna pricing","market research panel"],"aiContentType":"comparison","faqItems":[{"answer":"Toluna Start is a consumer insights panel and survey suite — a 79M+ member panel, a drag-and-drop survey builder, dashboards, and over a million synthetic personas, oriented around automated quantitative surveys. Koji is an AI-native interview platform that runs AI-moderated voice and text interviews with real customers and analyzes them automatically into a one-click report. Toluna optimizes for panel-scale quant; Koji optimizes for qualitative depth from real voices.","question":"What is the difference between Koji and Toluna?"},{"answer":"For teams that need the qualitative why — fast, from real customers, with analysis included — yes. Koji replaces the moderator and the analyst with AI and runs on your own audience, or on participants Koji recruits for you with a live per respondent quote in credits you approve before launch. If you specifically need a 79M-member national consumer panel for large quant waves, Toluna's panel is built for that, and many teams pair the two.","question":"Is Koji a Toluna alternative?"},{"answer":"Toluna runs on annual contracts averaging around $30,000/yr, with pricing gated behind sales. Koji is self-serve and transparent, with interviews as low as €1 per qualified interview and €3 per qualified voice interview: 10 free credits at signup, no card, then pay as you go with no subscription, and a conversation that scores below 3 out of 5 is free and never charged. You can validate Koji on real customers before Toluna would return a quote.","question":"How much does Toluna cost compared to Koji?"},{"answer":"Synthetic personas, like Toluna's million-plus simulated respondents, can be useful for fast directional gut-checks, but they can only recombine what a model already assumes about people — they can't surprise you with something you didn't know to ask. Koji's premise is always-real humans, moderated and analyzed by AI. When a real AI-moderated conversation costs minutes and a few credits, the case for synthetic shortcuts weakens.","question":"Are synthetic personas as good as real interviews?"},{"answer":"Yes, within your audience. Koji's six structured question types — scale, single_choice, multiple_choice, ranking, yes_no, plus open_ended — produce countable, chartable data such as NPS or satisfaction scores, and the AI probes open-ended follow-ups on top, so you get the number and the reason in one conversation. Koji does not own a 79M-member panel like Toluna; you interview your own audience, or recruit respondents through Koji's built-in panel recruitment, quoted and paid in credits.","question":"Does Koji do quantitative research too?"},{"answer":"Because teams need the why, not just the what, and AI has finally made depth affordable. 57% of researchers report growing demand for qualitative research, yet online qualitative is still only about 6% of market research revenue — a gap created by qual historically being slow and costly to run and analyze. Koji closes that gap with AI-moderated interviews and automatic thematic analysis.","question":"Why is qualitative research growing in 2026?"}],"relatedTopics":["koji vs toluna","toluna alternative","consumer insights platform","ai moderated interviews","synthetic personas vs real interviews","qualitative research at scale","automatic thematic analysis","market research panel","survey fatigue","customer research platform"]}],"pagination":{"total":1,"returned":1,"offset":0}}