{"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":"2026-10-16T13:52:32.440Z"},"content":[{"type":"blog","id":"21c16da9-af5b-4418-867c-2099f49490d5","slug":"strella-pricing-2026","title":"Strella Pricing in 2026: What It Costs and How to Budget","url":"https://www.koji.so/blog/strella-pricing-2026","summary":"Strella does not publish prices; the path to a number is a demo and a custom quote. The most consistent figure in 2026 buyer guides is about $10,000 to $25,000 per study, which works out to roughly $500 to $1,250 per interview for a 20-interview study. An older directory listing of $150 and $400 monthly plans dates from March 2025 and looks out of date. Strella raised a $14 million Series A led by Bessemer in October 2025 and offers AI-moderated voice interviews with webcam and screen recording, human-led sessions and highlight reels. Koji is the self-serve alternative with published prices: 1 credit per qualified text interview and 3 per voice interview at €1 per credit, billing only interviews scoring 3 or more, with 10 free credits at signup. Koji does not record video.","content":"# Strella Pricing in 2026: What It Costs and How to Budget\n\n**Short answer:** Strella does not publish prices. There is no price list on its site, and the way to a number is a demo and a custom quote. The most consistent figure in 2026 buyer guides is **roughly $10,000 to $25,000 per study**. An older listing shows monthly plans at $150 and $400, but it was last updated in March 2025 and does not match the quote-based model buyers describe today. If you want to run AI-moderated interviews this week without a quote, [Koji](https://www.koji.so) publishes its prices: 1 credit per qualified text interview, 3 per voice interview, €1 per credit, and 10 free credits to start.\n\nThis guide covers what is known about Strella's pricing, why the public numbers disagree, what a study is likely to cost per interview, and when a pay per interview tool is the better fit.\n\n---\n\n## Why teams are pricing Strella now\n\nAI-moderated interviews moved from experiment to habit in about two years. In the 2026 State of User Research report from User Interviews, **80% of researchers said they use AI, up 24 points in a year**. Maze's 2026 Future of User Research report puts the figure lower but still rising fast: **69% of researchers use AI in at least some projects, up 19 points**. The worry has grown alongside the use: the same User Interviews report found that **91% of researchers are concerned about hallucinations**, which is why buyers now look closely at how a platform moderates and analyses before they sign.\n\n![A small research team around a table with laptops, weighing which AI interview platform to budget for](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1760346546771-a81d986459ff?crop=entropy&cs=tinysrgb&fit=max&fm=jpg&ixid=M3w5NDUzMDN8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHw1fHxyZXNlYXJjaCUyMHRlYW0lMjBsYXB0b3BzJTIwbWVldGluZyUyMHRhYmxlfGVufDF8MHx8fDE3OTIxMjk4MTV8MA&ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=80&w=1080)\n\n_Photo by [Bluestonex](https://unsplash.com/@bluestonex_apphaus?utm_source=koji&utm_medium=referral) on [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/?utm_source=koji&utm_medium=referral)_\n\nStrella is one of the platforms riding that wave. It was founded by Lydia Hylton (CEO) and Priya Krishnan (COO), and in October 2025 it raised a **$14 million Series A led by Bessemer Venture Partners**, bringing its total funding to about $18 million. The company said the money would go toward mobile research and a larger engineering team. Reported customers include Amazon and Duolingo.\n\n---\n\n## What Strella sells\n\nStrella is an AI moderator with a research workflow around it:\n\n- **Real-time voice interviews.** The AI moderator holds voice-to-voice conversations and asks follow-up questions, with sessions that can run up to 90 minutes.\n- **Webcam and screen recording**, so participants can react to a prototype or a website while they talk.\n- **Human and AI moderation in one project.** Teams can mix AI-moderated sessions with human-led ones.\n- **Synthesis and highlight reels.** Themes and video clips for stakeholders.\n- **Recruitment.** Comparisons describe recruitment through a User Interviews integration; one directory lists a much larger global panel. We could not confirm which is current, so ask on the demo.\n- **Languages and connectors.** Directories list support for more than 40 languages, and in March 2026 Strella announced an AI connector that brings its research into the tools teams already use.\n\nThat is a strong product for a team that wants video, long sessions and a mix of human and AI moderation.\n\n---\n\n## What Strella actually costs\n\nBecause Strella's site has no price list, every public number comes from a third party. Here is what each type of source says:\n\n| Source type | What it reports | How much to trust it |\n|---|---|---|\n| 2026 buyer guides and comparisons | About $10,000 to $25,000 per study, sold as quote-based plans | The most consistent figure, still an estimate |\n| Software directory (last updated March 2025) | Starter at $150 a month with 16 completes, Team at $400 a month | Likely out of date |\n| Competitor comparisons | Usage-based, no per-seat charge, no price list | Comes from a competitor, so check it |\n| Free trial | One guide mentions a 14-day trial, others find none | Unconfirmed |\n\nRead together, the picture is a quote-based, per-project purchase in the five-figure range. The low monthly plans look like an earlier self-serve offer that Strella no longer promotes.\n\n### What that means per interview\n\nA per-study price only makes sense once you divide it by the interviews you get. Using the reported range, and a typical study of 20 interviews:\n\n- At **$10,000 per study**, each interview costs about **$500**.\n- At **$25,000 per study**, each interview costs about **$1,250**.\n- At **40 interviews**, the same range works out to **$250 to $625** per interview.\n\nThese are illustrations, not quotes. A Strella study may include recruitment, analysis and support that you would otherwise pay for separately, and that is worth a lot when you need panel participants and video.\n\n---\n\n## What sets your Strella quote\n\nStrella has not published its pricing model, so take these as the questions that usually decide a quote for an enterprise AI interview platform:\n\n1. **Number of studies a year.** A per-project price rewards teams that run a few large studies, not many small ones.\n2. **Interviews per study.** More completes means more cost, especially with panel recruitment.\n3. **Audience.** Hard-to-reach B2B roles cost far more to recruit than general consumers.\n4. **Format.** Video with screen sharing and long sessions cost more to field than short voice or text interviews.\n5. **Support.** Whether Strella's team helps with the guide, recruitment and synthesis.\n\nBefore the demo, write down your answer to each. Then ask for the following in writing:\n\n![Checklist of questions to ask before signing an AI interview platform contract, covering billing, quality, recruitment, data and exit terms.](/visuals/ai-interview-platform-contract-questions-checklist/ai-interview-platform-contract-questions-checklist.png \"Ask Strella each of these, and keep the answers in writing.\")\n\n1. What the platform fee includes: seats, studies, languages, support.\n2. The credit or session price for each audience you plan to recruit.\n3. What counts as a billable complete.\n4. The rate for interviewing your own customers.\n5. Whether unused credits expire, and when.\n6. The renewal increase, in writing.\n7. Export of raw transcripts and recordings if you leave.\n\n---\n\n## Who Strella is built for\n\nStrella fits a research team that runs a handful of large, planned studies a year and wants them to look and feel like moderated sessions: webcam, screen sharing, long conversations and video clips for leadership. If your budget is already set at the project level, a per-study quote is easy to approve.\n\nIt fits less well when research is a weekly habit. A product manager who needs 15 conversations before a planning meeting, a founder testing a pricing idea, or a customer success lead who wants to hear from every churned account each month will struggle to justify a five-figure study each time. Lyssna's 2025 synthesis survey found that **60.3% of practitioners say time-consuming manual work is their biggest frustration**, and a slow buying process adds to that before a single interview happens.\n\nThe choice comes down to two buying models:\n\n![Comparison of an enterprise AI interview contract and pay per interview pricing, showing differences in commitment, trial access and who recruits.](/visuals/enterprise-contract-vs-pay-per-interview-comparison/enterprise-contract-vs-pay-per-interview-comparison.png \"Which model fits depends on how often you research and who you talk to.\")\n\n- **Enterprise contract:** an annual or project fee before any interviews, a price quoted after a demo or pilot, recruitment and moderation bundled, best for high and steady volume.\n- **Pay per interview:** no fee until you run interviews, a published price per interview, you bring participants or buy a panel quote, best for small or irregular studies.\n\n---\n\n## The pay per interview alternative\n\nIf a per-study quote is more than your research needs, [Koji](https://www.koji.so) runs AI-moderated interviews with its prices on the website:\n\n- **Published, per-interview pricing.** A qualified text interview uses 1 credit and a voice interview uses 3. Credits cost €1. A 20-interview voice study with your own customers uses about 60 credits, or about €60.\n- **Billing tied to quality.** Each interview gets a [quality score from 1 to 5](/docs/understanding-quality-scores). Only interviews scoring 3 or more use credits or appear in the report.\n- **No sales call.** Sign up, get 10 free credits with no card, and run a real study. Buy credit packs as you go, or choose a monthly plan: Insights at €29 (29 credits) or Interviews at €79 (79 credits). Credits stay valid for 12 months.\n- **Voice, text and phone.** [AI voice interviews](/docs/ai-voice-interviews) and text chat in 28 languages, plus phone interviews billed by the minute.\n- **Numbers and reasons in one study.** Six question types (open ended, scale, single choice, multiple choice, ranking and yes/no), with AI follow-up probing on the answers.\n- **Recruit your way.** Share a link, send [personal invite links from a CSV](/docs/importing-participants-csv), or on a paid plan use [panel recruitment](/docs/panel-recruitment) and see the cost in credits before you launch.\n- **Try it first, free.** [Preview your interview](/docs/previewing-your-interview) by voice or text as a participant would. Previews never use credits.\n\n![Koji voice interview in progress with an AI orb asking a follow-up question and a microphone button](/email/shots/shot-voice-interview.jpg \"A Koji voice interview: the AI asks a follow-up based on what the participant just said.\")\n\nReports build as interviews arrive, with [thematic analysis](/docs/thematic-analysis-guide), findings backed by quotes, and personas.\n\nWhere Strella is ahead: Koji does not record webcam video or screen shares, and it does not mix human-moderated sessions into a study. If video and long moderated sessions are what your stakeholders need, Strella is the better choice.\n\n---\n\n## Strella pricing vs Koji at a glance\n\n| | Strella | Koji |\n|---|---|---|\n| Published pricing | No, custom quote after a demo | Yes |\n| Reported cost | About $10,000 to $25,000 per study | Free to start with 10 credits |\n| Billing unit | Per study or usage, quote-based | Credits per qualified interview |\n| Interview formats | Voice with webcam and screen recording, plus human-led sessions | Voice, text and phone |\n| Video highlight reels | Yes | No |\n| Recruitment | Partner panel | Your own users, CSV invites, or panel priced per respondent |\n| Try before you buy | Demo | Self-serve, no card |\n\nMore reading: [Koji vs Strella](/blog/koji-vs-strella-2026), [Strella alternatives](/blog/strella-alternatives-2026), [Listen Labs vs Strella](/blog/listen-labs-vs-strella-2026) and [how AI-moderated interviews work](/docs/ai-moderated-interviews).\n\n---\n\n## Start with ten interviews, not a quote\n\nThe fastest way to judge AI-moderated interviews is to run some. Type your research question into Koji, let it draft the brief, preview the interview for free, then send it to ten customers. You will have transcripts, themes and a report before most enterprise demos are booked.\n\n[Start free with Koji](https://www.koji.so). 10 credits, no card, and you only pay for interviews that pass the quality bar.\n\n---\n\n*Sources: Strella Series A announcement and Bessemer Venture Partners (October 2025); third-party buyer guides and software directories for reported pricing; User Interviews, State of User Research 2026; Maze, Future of User Research Report 2026; Lyssna, Research Synthesis Report 2025. Strella figures are estimates. Ask Strella for a current quote.*\n","category":"Comparisons","lastModified":"2026-10-16T06:20:14.191308+00:00","metaTitle":"Strella Pricing 2026: Reported Costs, Quotes and What to Ask","metaDescription":"Strella has no public prices. Buyer guides report about $10K to $25K per study. See the cost per interview, what sets the quote, and a pay per interview option.","keywords":["strella pricing","strella cost","strella ai pricing","strella free trial","strella alternative","ai interview platform pricing"],"aiSummary":"Strella does not publish prices; the path to a number is a demo and a custom quote. The most consistent figure in 2026 buyer guides is about $10,000 to $25,000 per study, which works out to roughly $500 to $1,250 per interview for a 20-interview study. An older directory listing of $150 and $400 monthly plans dates from March 2025 and looks out of date. Strella raised a $14 million Series A led by Bessemer in October 2025 and offers AI-moderated voice interviews with webcam and screen recording, human-led sessions and highlight reels. Koji is the self-serve alternative with published prices: 1 credit per qualified text interview and 3 per voice interview at €1 per credit, billing only interviews scoring 3 or more, with 10 free credits at signup. Koji does not record video.","aiKeywords":["strella","strella pricing","ai moderated interviews","ai interview platform pricing","custom quote","koji"],"aiContentType":"comparison","faqItems":[{"answer":"No. Strella's site has no price list. You get a custom quote after a demo.","question":"Does Strella publish its pricing?"},{"answer":"2026 buyer guides most often put Strella at about $10,000 to $25,000 per study. Strella has not confirmed this publicly, so treat it as an estimate and ask for a written quote.","question":"How much does Strella cost?"},{"answer":"A software directory lists Starter at $150 a month and Team at $400 a month, but that page was last updated in March 2025. Strella does not promote these plans today, so assume they are out of date.","question":"Does Strella have a $150 a month plan?"},{"answer":"Sources disagree. One guide mentions a 14-day trial and others find none. There is no self-serve signup on the public site. Koji gives 10 free credits at signup with no card.","question":"Does Strella offer a free trial?"},{"answer":"At the reported $10,000 to $25,000 per study, a 20-interview study works out to about $500 to $1,250 per interview, and a 40-interview study to about $250 to $625. These are illustrations, not quotes.","question":"What does a Strella interview cost per interview?"},{"answer":"Koji publishes its prices: 1 credit per qualified text interview and 3 per voice interview, at €1 per credit, and only interviews scoring 3 or more on quality are billed. Koji does not record webcam video, so Strella remains the better fit when video matters.","question":"What is a cheaper alternative to Strella?"}],"relatedTopics":["Strella","AI interview platform pricing","AI moderated interviews","research procurement","pay per interview"]}],"pagination":{"total":1,"returned":1,"offset":0}}