Prolific

Trusted research platform connecting participants with academic and commercial studies.

Research Market Research
Visit Prolific
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ New (0 reviews)
London, UK HQ
180 employees
2014 founded

What is Prolific?

Prolific is a leading online research platform that connects researchers with a diverse, verified participant pool for surveys, experiments, and studies. Used extensively by academic institutions and commercial organizations, Prolific emphasizes ethical pay and high-quality data. Participants complete studies hosted on external platforms (such as Qualtrics or Gorilla), with Prolific handling recruitment and payment. The platform guarantees a minimum payment of £6.00/$8.00 per hour, with a recommended rate of £9.00/$12.00 per hour. In 2025, participants completed over 380,000 studies and contributed more than 8 million hours of human judgment. Prolific uses over 300 audience filters and natural language search for precise participant targeting.

Mission & values

Make diverse, high-quality human data easily available to researchers and AI labs anywhere — on a participant network governed by a living-wage floor and ethical incentives.

Qualifications

Participants must be at least 18 years old and reside in a supported country. After signing up, users complete an extensive "About You" section with demographic and personal information, which Prolific uses to match them with relevant studies. No specialized professional experience is required, but honesty and accuracy in responses are essential. Prolific uses skill assessments, credential checks, and task performance history to maintain data quality. The platform also employs AI detection and liveness checks for new participants.

Leadership

P

Phelim Bradley, DPhil

Co-Founder & CEO

Built the first Prolific platform in 2014 while completing his DPhil at Oxford in genomic medicine and statistics; led product as CTO before becoming CEO in 2021.

E

Ekaterina Damer

Co-Founder

Co-founded Prolific in 2014 alongside Phelim Bradley while at Oxford.

Hiring process

  1. 1

    Sign up

    Create a participant account at prolific.com and complete identity verification.

    About 1 day

  2. 2

    Profile your demographics

    Fill out the extensive "About You" section with demographic and background details — drives study matching.

  3. 3

    Pass quality checks

    Prolific uses skill assessments, credential checks, AI-detection, and liveness checks for new participants.

    About 1 day

  4. 4

    Receive study invitations

    You'll see studies that match your profile; complete at your pace.

  5. 5

    Get paid

    Approved earnings are paid via PayPal or bank transfer; payouts processed within days.

    About 5 days

Funding

StageSeries A
Total raised$33,800,000
Investors
Y Combinator Partech Oxford Science Enterprises

Awards & recognition

Company information

Frequently asked questions

What's the minimum I can earn per hour?
Prolific enforces a global minimum payment of $8.00 / £6.00 per hour. The recommended rate is $12.00 / £9.00.
What payment methods are supported?
PayPal and direct bank transfer in supported countries.
How does Prolific prevent fraud?
It uses skill assessments, credential checks, task-history scoring, AI-detection, and liveness checks for new participants.
Where are studies hosted?
Studies are typically hosted on external platforms (Qualtrics, Gorilla, etc.). Prolific handles recruitment, demographic targeting, and payment.
How is Prolific rated?
Trustpilot rating of ~4.4–4.6 / 5 across 12,000+ reviews as of 2025.

Stay in the loop.

One email per week, 5 hand-picked roles.