Prolific

What Prolific is

Prolific connects researchers and AI developers with verified participants to collect human data for research and AI development. Its use cases include academic, market and user, and policy research, plus AI workflows such as human evaluation, preference data collection, and training data tasks. Specialist annotations are available across 80+ languages. Researchers can target participants with 300+ audience filters, representative or quota samples, and custom screening. Studies can connect by URL to most survey, annotation, and user research tools, or use Prolific’s API; listed integration guides include Qualtrics, Gorilla, Maze, Typeform, Google Forms, and Argilla. Prolific says its Protocol quality monitoring system performs 40+ checks to verify participant identity and analyze behavior. Its pay-as-you-go platform offers 300,000+ active participants, unlimited users, API and no-code integrations, and email support. There are no monthly fees, but customers pay participant rewards plus a platform fee, usually 42.8% for corporate customers or 33.3% for academic or non-profit customers. Managed services use a custom quote and include expert curation, custom sourcing, quality assurance, a dedicated project team, and data analysis and reporting. Prolific is available on the web and through an API, and is headquartered in London.

Who it suits

Prolific’s pay-as-you-go platform suits teams with research expertise that want self-directed access to participants. Its managed services are aimed at projects needing curation, custom sourcing, quality assurance, and a dedicated project team.

Limits

The free pay-as-you-go platform still charges participant rewards plus a platform fee, usually 42.8% for corporate customers or 33.3% for academic or non-profit customers. The API does not support account top-ups or user management; these functions are available in the web application.

Getting started

1. Visit prolific.com or use the API.
2. Choose the Platform — Pay as you go option or request a custom quote for managed services.
3. Set audience criteria using filters, representative or quota sampling, or custom screening.
4. Connect a study through a URL, a listed integration, or the API.
5. Recruit adult participants for the research or AI task.

Verdict

Choose Prolific if your team needs participant recruitment for research or AI data tasks, with flexible targeting and tool connections. Look elsewhere if your studies require child participants or if account top-ups and user management must be handled through the API.