Using Prolific for UX Research Studies

Prolific is a research participant platform that connects researchers with a pool of pre-screened, motivated participants. It's become the go-to choice for UX researchers who need quality responses quickly and don't have access to their own user base.

This guide covers what Prolific is, how much it costs, when to use it, and how to launch a study directly from FreeCardSort.

What Makes Prolific Different

Prolific was built specifically for research — not general crowdsourcing. A few things make it stand out:

Participants are research-focused. Prolific participants sign up knowing they'll be completing surveys and studies. They're used to research tasks, which means they approach card sorting more thoughtfully than general crowdsourcing respondents.

Completion rates are high. Prolific studies typically see 90%+ completion rates. Participants have a reputation score and are incentivised to finish studies they start.

Demographic filtering is genuine. You can filter participants by country, age, employment status, industry, education level, and more. These filters are verified during onboarding — they're not just self-reported checkboxes.

Turnaround is fast. Most studies with a few hundred participant slots fill within hours. A 20-person card sort can be complete in under an hour.

What It Costs

Prolific's pricing works as follows:

• You set a participant reward (in GBP, typically £1.00–£2.00 per study)
• Prolific adds a 33% service fee on top of the reward
• FreeCardSort adds a small platform fee to cover the integration

A typical 20-person card sort with a £1.50 reward costs approximately $40–60 total.

At ~$1.50–3.00 per response (depending on study length and reward), Prolific is significantly cheaper than traditional UX recruitment agencies ($50–150/participant) and comparable to or cheaper than DIY incentive programs once you factor in time spent coordinating.

When to Use Prolific

Use Prolific when:

• You don't have access to your own user base
• You need responses quickly (within hours, not days)
• You want a general consumer audience
• You need demographic diversity or specific filters (US adults, employed in tech, etc.)
• You're prototyping or iterating and need fast feedback cycles

Consider alternatives when:

• You're building for a very specific professional audience (Prolific has general consumer depth but thinner coverage of niche experts)
• You want to research your existing users specifically (email your user list instead)
• You need qualitative follow-up interviews (Prolific is better for async tasks)

How to Launch a Prolific Study from FreeCardSort

Prolific recruitment is built directly into FreeCardSort — you don't need a separate Prolific account.

1. Create and finalize your card sort study in FreeCardSort
2. Open your study dashboard and click "Recruit with Prolific"
3. Choose a package (Quick Test: 5 participants, Standard: 20, Full Study: 30) or configure manually
4. Set demographic filters if needed (country, age range)
5. Review the credit cost and confirm the launch
6. Responses start appearing in your results within minutes

Your Prolific recruitment runs entirely within FreeCardSort. You set the study up once and the integration handles participant management, completion tracking, and payment automatically.

Tips for Getting the Best Results

Set a realistic time estimate. Prolific rewards participants based on an implied hourly rate. If your card sort takes 8 minutes but you list 5 minutes, you'll get a lower reward-per-hour and may attract fewer participants. Be honest in your time estimate.

Use a representative sample. For most card sorts, "US adults 18+" or "UK adults 18+" is appropriate. Over-filtering (e.g., "must own a dog and work in retail") can make your study take days to fill and may attract a biased sample of heavy Prolific users.

Run a small pilot first. Before launching to 30 participants, run 5 first to check that your study works, cards are clear, and the sort takes the time you expect. FreeCardSort's AI-generated responses can also substitute for a pilot.

Review completion data. After your study, check whether any participants rushed through unusually fast. Prolific provides completion time data — responses under 2 minutes for a 5-minute study may be low-quality.

Prolific vs Other Recruitment Options

For most UX card sorts, Prolific hits the best balance of cost, speed, and quality — especially if you don't have an existing audience to recruit from.

Ready to recruit? Create your card sort and launch with Prolific →