5 alternatives to Cint for market research

There are a few common reasons that market researchers start looking for Cint alternatives. Perhaps you’ve been disappointed by low incident rates. Maybe you’re not convinced by the quality of your samples. Or it could be the relatively high cost of the platform.

If you aren't getting the kind of panels or data that you need to understand a specific market, there are several Cint competitors that can help.

In this article, you will learn about:

• What Cint offers
• Strengths and weaknesses of Cint for market research
• Five alternatives to Cint

What is Cint?

Cint is a global research technology company headquartered in Stockholm. The Swedish firm was founded in 1998 and in the last 14 years has acquired a number of other online research businesses, including Lucid, GapFish and P2Sample.

Cint’s platform allows brands and market researchers to access a global network of 335 million respondents in 130 countries. The company recruits the majority of its participants from third-party panel providers.

Cint’s dashboard allows you to create your own panels by targeting demographics you are interested in, or use one of the company’s ready-made panels (there are over 4,600). You can also blend your own pre-existing panels with Cint’s panels. 

After creating a desired panel, you insert how many respondents you want, your timeframe, and your budget. The app then automatically contacts potential respondents and invites them to take part. You can connect Cint to a wide variety of research apps and tools using application programming interfaces (API). 

Strengths and weaknesses of Cint

Here are some of the key advantages and disadvantages of using Cint for market research.

Pros of using Cint for market research

“Cint is pretty easy to use from a recruitment perspective” - G2 User Review

• Access to large, global panels.
• Cint uses sophisticated techniques for weeding out bots, click farms, and fraudulent respondents.
• APIs allow you to securely connect your Cint panels with external research tools and apps.

Cons of using Cint for market research

“The size/feasibility is questionable. The accuracy and quality of the samples as well” – G2 User Review.

• Many market researchers find that incident rates (number of respondents from a pool who qualify for a study) in Cint are often lower than they’d expect.
• In a study comparing Prolific and Cint respondent quality, Cint respondents were found to complete studies faster, perform poorly on attention and comprehension tests, give shorter free-text answers, and be less likely to answer questions honestly.
• Despite the large panels mentioned on the company’s website, some market researchers struggle to achieve adequate samples.
• Cint is relatively expensive compared to other panel recruitment platforms (they do not publish pricing online, however).

5 alternatives to Cint

If you’re struggling to get reliable, quality data for your market research, we have compiled a list of the five best alternatives to Cint that you should consider instead.

1. Prolific

Prolific is a ‘DIY’ platform that's used by thousands of companies and universities around the world to recruit respondents for research. It is a member of ESOMAR, the global market research association, and gives researchers access to some 200,000 participants in 38 countries.

Unlike Cint, Prolific exclusively recruits its own participants (rather than using third-party sources). Respondents must undergo a thorough vetting process with over 35 checks, including bank-grade ID verification. Because Prolific ‘owns’ its participant recruitment process, you can be confident that respondents are who they say they are.

To connect your survey to Prolific, all you need is the link. You can build your survey or experiment in any third-party tool of choice, e.g. Typeform or Qualtrics. Prolific gives you over 300 filters to find market research participants, and you can also set your own filters using simple screener surveys.

The final cost of a study depends on the length and type of research you do (Prolific has a fee calculator here), but it is typically less expensive than Cint.  

Why is Prolific one of the best alternatives to Cint?

“Prolific provides access to a large participant pool. It has a variety of very useful screeners, and it's very easy to set up and recruit in a matter of minutes. Staff are responsive to questions and queries. It's easy to use alongside a variety of survey platforms such as Qualtrics, Inquisit, etc.” – G2 User Review

Market researchers turn to Prolific for several key reasons:

• Reliability: Because Prolific actively screens its own panel members, market researchers can have more confidence in the authenticity of responses.
• Engagement: Prolific participants receive some of the highest pay rates in the online survey sector, and therefore have high levels of engagement. What is more, in-survey validation tests ensure that participants are genuinely reading questions and giving thoughtful responses.
• Flexibility: Prolific allows you to connect with dozens of external research tools securely so you can carry out almost any kind of market research.
• Speed: With Prolific, you can get set up and launch a study in just 15 minutes. Answers are complete in 2 hours on average.

When is Prolific the best option for market researchers?

Prolific is a strong all-rounder and is suited to most kinds of market research - including surveys, interviews, and focus groups, as well as longitudinal studies. It allows you to recruit high-quality respondents at affordable prices. Finally, its flexibility and connections with other research apps and technologies mean you can use it for any kind of online market research.

2. Pollfish

Pollfish is a ‘DIY’ survey tool for brands, market research agencies and product designers that lets them quickly gauge people's opinions.

The company has a unique model whereby its polls are delivered directly to users of 140,000+ mobile apps and websites. Rather than viewing an advert when using their smartphones, people can instead participate in a short survey. They do not get paid for responding to polls, but may get perks in return (e.g. points in a gaming app, or free articles on a news website). 

Unlike Cint, Pollfish does not use panels of survey respondents. People are not paid to take part in surveys and won’t be signed up to survey panels. The advantage of this is that most respondents will be naïve. You are far less likely to get answers from professional survey respondents (who may be less representative of the general population).

Pollfish says its surveys can reach some 250 million people in 160 countries who speak 51 languages. It’s quick and easy to create surveys on Pollfish, and the software automatically identifies panelists based on your requirements. It can also create surveys for you in a matter of seconds using AI. 

Why is Pollfish one of the best alternatives to Cint?

“I appreciate Pollfish for its user-friendliness and the quality of data it provides. Its intuitive interface makes it simple to create surveys and target the right audience, saving me valuable time” – G2 User Review

Market researchers choose Pollfish for several reasons:

• Speed: Pollfish gives you rapid access to an enormous number of respondents around the world. The company says most surveys are completed within two days or less.
• Unique respondent profile: Because Pollfish reaches participants via the apps and websites they use rather than relying on panels, you get access to a unique pool of panelists.
• Inexpensive: Pollfish has low fees - with prices per respondent starting at $0.95 for a survey of 1-5 questions. 

When is Pollfish the best option for market researchers?

Since Pollfish users are not on panels and do not receive financial rewards for sharing their opinions, it’s unrealistic to expect lengthy, detailed answers. The software is best suited to snap polls, opinions, feedback and for gathering impressions. 

3. Respondent.io

One of the leading Cint competitors, Respondent.io, provides market researchers with access to a panel of 3 million participants in 150 countries. The technology allows you to target participants by various characteristics, including job title, skills, demographics, location, and more. 

You tell the app which kinds of people you want to hear from (Respondent.io’s staff can also help with finding participants), set a budget, then simply publish your survey and wait for results. As with Prolific and Cint, you can connect your preferred research software with Respondent.io via APIs. 

Where Cint gives market researchers access to hundreds of millions of online panelists (many of whom are signed up to several platforms), Respondent.io has created its own panel of participants. The company has developed advanced technical protocols to reduce the risk of bots or fraudulent answers. 

Why is Respondent.io one of the best alternatives to Cint?

“[Respondent.io] makes finding and connecting with participants for research so much easier. It’s pretty handy for getting quick, targeted feedback without all the hassle of traditional methods. Plus, the user interface is pretty straightforward” - G2 User Review

Market researchers choose Respondent.io over Cint for several reasons:

• May be more reliable: While it’s uncertain how many of the 3 million people on Respondent.io’s panels are active, the fact that they ‘own’ the panel and have robust anti-fraud measures in place, means the data you collect is more likely to be reliable.
• High response rates: Respondent.io says that at least 95% of participants turn up to take part in interviews or complete surveys.
• Speedy: The company says that the median time to first match is just 15 minutes, and the average project fill is 1.5 days. 

When is Respondent.io the best option for market researchers?

If you’re looking for a large, global panel for market research and interviews, Respondent.io is a strong option. That said, it is regarded as one of the more expensive market research panels - so be aware of costs. 

Suggested: 5 alternatives to Respondent.io

4. UserTesting

Do you need real-world users to test your app or website and give feedback on the experience? Then UserTesting is an excellent option. 

UserTesting allows you to find people who can explore your app or website, so you can see how regular people will use it. You can also set them tasks to carry out and watch how they navigate the interface. 

The tech gathers telemetric data about testers’ interactions with your product. It also allows people to record video and audio and give authentic feedback. 

With a network of participants in 30 countries, UserTesting lets you gather genuine insights about how different types of people, with different backgrounds, cultures, ages, or education levels will use your product. The company says that most (80%) of sessions are completed in just a few hours, so you get your data fast. 

Why is UserTesting one of the best alternatives to Cint?

“User testing is a valuable approach for validating design concepts and ideas, offering both efficiency and flexibility. The direct feedback from real users helps ensure designs are meeting their needs and uncovering potential usability issues that designers may have overlooked” - G2 User Review

UserTesting is a strong alternative to Cint when:

• You need to do user experience (UX) research: Although Cint might allow you to connect to other UX testing platforms via its API, UserTesting provides a highly specialized UX testing solution in one place.
• Participant quality: UserTesting has a participant quality programme, which helps to bar professional testers. That means you get the most authentic responses. 

When is UserTesting the best option for market researchers?

If you need to collect detailed UX data and genuine feedback about an app or website, UserTesting is a reliable option.

Whitepaper: De-risk product launches with quantitative UX research

5. Appinio

A final Cint alternative is Appinio, a mobile app that allows participants to take part in unpaid surveys. Market researchers can quickly create polls then deliver them to Appinio users based on specific characteristics (there are reportedly 1.5 million Appinio users). 

Appinio users don’t get paid for answering questions, so the app motivates them to take part with various gamification features. Most surveys are brief, multiple-choice questions (some may also have free text fields). After completing a survey, users can see how they compare to their peers. Despite not paying participants, Appinio says it gathers 2.3 million survey responses per day. 

Why is Appinio one of the best alternatives to Cint?

“The surveys run smoothly in a short time and provide us with important insights. The presentation and handling of the results in the dashboard are absolutely top” - G2 User Review

Appinio has a number of key strengths over Cint:

• High completion rates: Appinio say their surveys have a dropout rate of less than 1%.
• Fast: Appinio is one of the fastest ways to gather opinions or people’s impressions of products and services.
• Quality: The technology can recognize fraudulent answers. Since respondents do not get paid, there’s little reason for bots or click farms to fill in surveys, either. 

When is Appinio the best option for market researchers?

If you’re looking to gather impressions and simple opinions or conduct snap polls, Appinio can be a great option. Evidently, it’s less relevant when you need detailed answers or have a longer survey which requires time and attention. 

Choosing Cint alternatives

Cint can be an effective tool for finding participants to take part in online market research. However, concerns about the reliability of its panels, low incidence rates, and relatively high costs mean that many market researchers begin looking for alternatives to Cint. 

With a thoroughly-vetted panel of 200,000+ respondents worldwide, fast response rates and affordable prices, Prolific is one of the strongest Cint competitors. Want to learn more? Discover our market research participant recruitment tool, or contact us today for a demo.