Recommended route
Use the smallest stack that can capture a real sacrifice.
A click is cheap. A completed application costs effort. Sample data requires trust. A deposit risks money. Build the test around the strongest signal your market will reasonably give before a product exists.
Default founder stack: £0 platform cost
Host one static page on GitHub Pages, collect a three-question application with Tally, track actions in a spreadsheet, and add a Stripe Payment Link only when a refundable deposit is credible. Microsoft Clarity is optional for observing page behaviour.
The economic reality
Research platforms sell operations, not certainty.
They reduce the time and failure rate of finding suitable people. They do not turn weak questions into strong evidence, and they cannot make stated preference equal willingness to pay.
Current tool landscape
Choose by the bottleneck you actually have.
Filter the comparison, then open any row for the workflow, current price basis and a practical substitute. Prices are shown in the providers’ billing currencies and exclude tax unless stated.
Like-for-like replacement
Reproduce the function, not the software.
The manual route takes more founder time and gives weaker guarantees about identity and representativeness. For an early go/no-go decision, that trade can be entirely sensible.
Stack builder
Assemble only what the test needs.
Select a sensible combination. The total keeps provider currencies separate so it does not imply a misleading exchange rate.
Smoke-test builder
Turn the idea into an offer someone can reject.
The page should make one promise to one audience at one price basis. Its action must cost the prospect something meaningful: time, data, trust or money.
Offer preview
[Audience]: achieve [outcome] without [workaround].
A focused pilot for [job]. [How it works]
Indicative price: [price]
[Commitment action]Three-question follow-up
- When did you last deal with this problem?
- What did you do instead, and what did it cost in time, money or risk?
- If this solved it reliably at the stated price, what would need to be true for you to proceed?
What each answer proves
Recency filters out abstract interest. Workaround and cost reveal the real competitive alternative. Conditions to proceed expose trust, integration, timing and price objections without asking for compliments.
Commitment scoreboard
Set the rule before you share the page.
A threshold protects you from interpreting every positive response as permission to build. Change the example numbers for your market before promotion, then do not move the goalposts.
Seven-day operating plan
Get to a decision in one working week.
This is intentionally small. If it takes weeks to prepare the test, you are probably building the product rather than testing the assumption.
When to pay for a platform
The target is genuinely hard to reach, identity matters, the decision is valuable, and you already know exactly what must be learned.
You can identify concentrated communities, have founder time, and are still testing the audience, job, offer or price.
You have no narrow buyer, no concrete offer, no decision threshold, or you are hoping paid respondents will tell you what to build.
Evidence and currency
First-party sources
Pricing and product features change. Recheck the linked provider pages immediately before spending money; the comparison below was verified on 14 August 2026.
Currency note: no exchange-rate conversion is applied. All prices are indicative public rates, exclude participant incentives unless explicitly stated, and may be subject to tax.