Prolific is a platform that connects researchers and AI companies with a pool of verified human participants for surveys, studies, and AI training or evaluation tasks. It serves two very different audiences: teams that need real human data to train or test AI models and conduct academic or market research, and individuals who sign up to get paid for taking part in that research.
What does Prolific do?
On the research side, Prolific gives customers instant access to more than 300,000 active participants, filtered by more than 300 demographic and behavioral attributes so a study can target a specific audience, such as people in a certain country, age group, or profession. Researchers set up a study, define screening criteria, and launch it through the web platform or an API, with responses often starting to arrive within hours.
For AI teams specifically, Prolific supplies human feedback used in reinforcement learning from human feedback, model safety evaluations, and benchmark testing, including access to domain experts in fields like STEM, healthcare, and programming. A separate managed services option lets Prolific's own team run the entire data collection project, from sourcing to quality assurance, for teams that don't want to manage it themselves.
Data quality is enforced through Protocol, Prolific's automated monitoring system, which runs more than 40 checks during onboarding and while participants complete tasks to catch low-effort or fraudulent responses before a researcher ever sees them.
Core features
- Access to a pool of 300,000-plus active, ID-verified participants across more than 40 countries.
- More than 300 audience filters for demographic, behavioral, and professional targeting.
- Representative and quota sampling options to match a study's population to a target group.
- Domain expert recruitment for specialized AI tasks in areas like coding, healthcare, and STEM.
- Protocol, an automated quality system running 40-plus checks to verify identity and flag low-quality responses.
- API and no-code integrations that connect Prolific to survey tools, annotation platforms, and internal systems.
- Direct messaging between researchers and participants for clarifying study instructions.
- Managed services option where Prolific's team handles sourcing, onboarding, and quality assurance end to end.
Use cases
AI labs and developers use Prolific to collect human preference data for model alignment, run safety and factuality evaluations, and benchmark model outputs against real human judgment rather than synthetic scores. Academic researchers use it to recruit study participants for behavioral experiments and surveys that would otherwise take weeks to fill through university subject pools.
Market researchers and product teams use Prolific's audience filters to reach specific customer segments for usability testing, concept testing, and opinion surveys, while individuals join the platform as participants to get paid for completing these studies on their own schedule.
Pricing
Prolific's self-serve platform has no monthly subscription fee. Researchers pay a participant reward that they set themselves, plus a platform fee that Prolific charges on top, typically 42.8 percent for corporate customers and a discounted 33.3 percent for academic or non-profit customers. Prolific recommends paying participants at least $12 per hour, with an $8 per hour minimum, and suggests higher pay for specialized tasks. Managed services, where Prolific's team runs the project, are priced individually through a custom quote.
How to use Prolific
- Create a free Prolific account, then choose whichever path fits: launching a study as a researcher, or joining as a paid participant.
- As a researcher, define your study's screening criteria and target audience using Prolific's demographic and behavioral filters.
- Set your participant reward per task, keeping it at or above Prolific's recommended hourly rate.
- Connect your survey or task tool through Prolific's integrations or API, then publish the study.
- Review incoming responses, using Protocol's quality flags to approve or reject submissions.
- Export the completed dataset or connect it directly to your analysis or model training pipeline.
Frequently asked questions
Does Prolific cost anything to sign up?
No. Creating an account and browsing the platform is free. Researchers only pay when they launch a study, covering the participant reward plus Prolific's platform fee.
How does Prolific ensure data quality?
Prolific uses Protocol, an automated system that runs more than 40 checks during participant onboarding and while tasks are completed, and researchers can reject submissions that fail attention or comprehension checks.
Can Prolific supply data specifically for training AI models?
Yes. Prolific offers human feedback for reinforcement learning from human feedback, model evaluation, and safety testing, including access to verified domain experts for specialized tasks.
How much do participants get paid?
Prolific sets a minimum of $8 per hour and recommends researchers pay at least $12 per hour, with higher rates suggested for tasks requiring specialized skills.
Learn more at Prolific.