Sites like Prolific: 6 alternatives by their own official data

Why people look for Prolific alternatives

Prolific is one of the fairest platforms around: researchers must pay at least £6 or $8 an hour, £9 or $12 is recommended, and the rate is calculated from the actual median completion time rather than the researcher’s estimate. Joining is free. Yet three limits send people looking for something else.

The first is location. Regular access is for residents of the countries on Prolific’s list, and what counts is where you live, not your nationality; Ukraine, for example, is not on it. People elsewhere can only join a waitlist or occasionally be invited, with no guarantee. The second is the queue: even from a supported country you wait for an invitation after signing up. The third is irregularity: Prolific says outright that it is not meant to be a full-time job but a place for occasional studies.

So the sensible move is not to replace Prolific with a single platform but to add two or three others with different formats. Here is which ones.

The comparison table

Everything in the table comes from the platforms’ official help pages, checked between 15 and 17 September 2026. Where a platform does not publish a number, we say so.

Who accepts you in the US, UK, Germany, France, the Netherlands and Ukraine

"Yes" means the country is on the platform’s official list. User Interviews publishes a list of 34 countries, Prolific and Askable publish lists too, and Ukraine is on none of the three. UserTesting does not restrict by country, only by language: the asterisk in the table stands for fluent English, French or German. TestingTime names Switzerland, Germany, France, Austria, the UK and the Netherlands as its core markets. Respondent does not publish a country list.

For uTest the table shows how many live projects in the LazyBounty catalogue were open to residents of each country on 17 September 2026. One project can be open to several countries at once.

UserTesting: the closest alternative if Prolific will not accept you

UserTesting’s help centre says it does not matter where you live and contributors are welcome from around the world. The main condition is that you speak, read and write fluently in English, French or German. You must be at least 18. To start, you complete an applicant checklist that includes an unpaid practice test. If your application is not accepted, you can reapply only once.

The format differs from Prolific: instead of questionnaires, you use a website or app and talk through your thoughts, so you need a microphone. You always see what a test pays before you accept it. Payments go to PayPal and usually arrive 14 days after the test, and the PayPal account must be verified: there is no other payout method.

Mind the hardware: on a computer you need at least 8 GB of RAM, a 1920×1080 screen and an upload speed of 5 Mbps or more. On a phone you need the UserTesting app and at least 20% battery. UserTesting does not withhold tax, so reporting the income under your country’s rules is up to you.

User Interviews: the widest choice of formats

User Interviews is the closest to Prolific in spirit, with more formats: one-on-one interviews, online focus groups, diary studies, surveys and tests, and in-person research. It says over 5,000 studies launch every month, the average study pays over $45, and more than 94,000 participants were paid in the last year. Most incentives are issued within a day or two of the session, though researchers have up to 10 business days.

The ranges it publishes itself: one-on-one interviews of 30 minutes to 2 hours pay $20 to $300+, online focus groups of 1 to 3 hours pay $40–200+, diary studies over several days or weeks pay $55–400+, and in-person studies pay $40–1,000+.

Two things to know. User Interviews is now part of UserTesting, Inc. And it only operates in 34 countries: the US, Canada, parts of Latin America, Australia, Japan, India and 21 countries across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, including Poland, Germany and the UK. If your country is not listed, you can still sign up, and it will let you know when recruiting opens there.

Respondent: fewer invitations, larger payouts

On its participant page Respondent says it has over 4.3 million verified participants, a typical session lasts 45 minutes, most sessions pay $50–250, senior B2B roles regularly pay $400 or more, and the average payout is $75. Payments go out through Tremendous in US dollars. Its participant page promises payment within a few days and no fees, but its help centre says otherwise: 7–10 business days after the researcher confirms your attendance, minus a 5% fee (minimum $1). Plan around the help centre figures. Signing up is free, and your identity is verified once.

The price of larger sums is fewer invitations: Respondent itself says most participants get one to three a month. So it does not replace Prolific in frequency; it complements it in size.

Our data: on 16 September 2026 the LazyBounty catalogue held 604 open Respondent studies with both pay and length. The median payout was $50 per study, the mean $72, and a third paid $25 or less. Professionals are paid twice as much: a median of $75 against $35 for general consumers. Interviews had a median of $87.50 for 45 minutes; short unmoderated tasks paid $25.

TestingTime and Askable: for Europe and live conversations

TestingTime is a Swiss company. You need no specific education or work experience; honesty and reliability are what matter, and giving false information about yourself can get your payouts blocked. Most studies last 30 to 90 minutes, some from home and some at the client’s premises. You withdraw to PayPal or a bank account, and the money arrives about 10 business days after you request it. Bank transfers outside Switzerland may carry fees, so TestingTime suggests PayPal, where it covers the costs.

TestingTime is honest about earnings: you earn something from every test, but not enough to live on, because invitations come irregularly. One nice detail: a backup participant who is called in to replace a no-show receives double the incentive.

Askable offers a similar mix: surveys, tasks, video calls and in-person sessions, with the amount shown when you apply and payouts by PayPal or gift card. It publishes a list of recruiting countries, and the US, the UK, Germany, France and the Netherlands are all on it.

uTest: if you are willing to hunt for software bugs

uTest works on a different model. You are paid for results, not time: for approved bugs, completed test cases and usability surveys. There is no fixed rate: the amount depends on the project’s complexity, the bug’s value to the client and your rating. You must be 18 or older, and the free uTest Academy helps you start with no experience.

Payouts go out twice a month, on the 15th and on the last day of the month, to PayPal or Payoneer. uTest is also one of the few platforms here with some work for residents of Ukraine, though not much.

Our data: on 17 September 2026 the LazyBounty catalogue held 148 live uTest projects. 139 were open to residents of the US, 40 of the UK, 21 of Germany, 14 each of France and Canada, 3 of Poland, 2 of Ukraine and 1 of the Netherlands.

Which to choose: a quick cheat sheet

These platforms do not compete for you: people who earn the most are signed up on several, with one honestly completed profile on each. Pick a combination that fits your situation.

• you live in the US, the UK or the EU and want regular short tasks: Prolific plus User Interviews
• you live outside Prolific’s list but speak fluent English, French or German: UserTesting
• you have a profession, B2B experience or a niche field: Respondent, where professionals are paid twice as much
• you live in Switzerland, Germany, France, Austria, the UK or the Netherlands: TestingTime
• you pay attention to detail and are ready to learn testing: uTest
• you want to see everything that is open in one place: the LazyBounty catalogue shows the studies your profile qualifies for