Qualfacto vs Maze for Research in India

Choosing a Maze alternative for research in India starts with reach. Most comparison pages weigh features against features, but for a team in India the earlier question is who you can recruit, in which city and in which language. That decides what the research can tell you.

Maze is built around unmoderated tasks (no live researcher present) on a global panel. That is a different job from sitting down with a particular household in a tier-2 city and asking why they chose what they chose. Neither job is lesser; they answer different questions.

Qualfacto runs moderated interviews and focus groups with participants recruited by city in India, so the question is about reach, not software. Our sessions are led by a moderator we supply, and the language is agreed in your brief.

The tables and the brief below help you test any vendor, Maze included, against your own audience before you spend. Start with the decision table, then use the seven-line brief to compare answers in writing.

• Qualfacto is the Maze alternative for research in India when you need to recruit by city and interview Indian participants in their language with a moderator.
• We recruit by city, household and demographic profile, and check participant identity before anyone is invited.
• We run in-depth interviews (30–120 minutes) and focus groups (1–3 hours), online or in person, with a moderator we supply.
• Send the same seven-line brief to every vendor, Maze included, and compare the written answers before you pay.

Change the recruitment route when the problem is who you reach or why they behave as they do; measuring tasks is a different job. Use this table, and treat the last column as a pass or fail check. For remote usability testing, see remote usability testing.

Choose us when your questions need a person on the other side of the conversation and your users are in specific Indian cities, households and languages. Each reason below ties to a fact in the table. Invitations to any study depend on the project's requirements and each participant's profile.

1. Moderated sessions with Indian participants. We run in-depth interviews and focus groups, led by a moderator we supply.
2. Recruitment by city, household and profile. We recruit by city and target by household and demographic profile.
3. Your language, a moderator we supply. We run sessions in languages other than English, agreed in your brief, with a moderator we supply.
4. Identity checks before invitation. We check participant identity before anyone is invited, so the person in your session is the person in your brief.
5. A pilot before you commit. We offer a free pilot, sample or trial, then a tailored proposal built from your brief. Deliverables can include recordings, transcripts, structured data exports and reports, agreed before the study starts.

Our approach is guided by the principles of the Market Research Society of India (MRSI) and of ESOMAR (the global body for market research standards), set out in the ICC/ESOMAR Code, including informed consent and confidentiality.

Maze recruits Indian participants through its Core Panel and its Extended Network, which adds more participants in India; the Extended Network does not cover moderated studies. The detail behind that decides how useful it is for your study:

• Two routes, two speeds. Core Panel is powered by Prolific and orders often complete in 2–4 hours. Extended Network orders often take 2–3 business days.
• Moderation. Extended Network recruiting is currently only for unmoderated studies and AI-moderated studies (led by an AI interviewer rather than a person).
• Targeting. Country, gender and age (18–100) apply on every plan. Advanced filters such as household income, employment status and languages spoken fluently are Enterprise only, and there is no city filter.
• Native apps. Testing a native app uses the Maze Participate app, which is in beta. Responses affected by a data-collection fault cannot be recovered, and devices below Android 9 or iOS 16.5 cannot download the app.

In our view, the practical risk for an Indian study is not that the panel is absent. It is that you cannot confirm, before paying, that the people recruited match your city, household and language brief. A quantitative task test can tolerate that. An interview cannot.

Send the same seven lines to every vendor and compare the answers. A vendor passes a line if it confirms it in writing before you pay.

1. Cities. The exact city mix (for example, two metros and two tier-2 cities). Pass: the vendor can select cities, not only the country.
2. Language. The language of the session. Pass: moderation in that language.
3. Household and class. The profile, such as NCCS grade (the socio-economic classification used in Indian research) or household composition. Pass: a filter or a screener question is supplied.
4. Device and operating system. The phones your users have. Pass: the vendor confirms the minimum versions.
5. Moderated or not. Pass: the recruitment route you are quoted supports moderated sessions.
6. Sample size. The number of sessions per cell (one audience group in the sample). Pass: the vendor states how many it will over-recruit (invite extra participants to cover no-shows).
7. Deliverables. Recordings, transcripts, data or report. Pass: each is named in the proposal.

Our market research brief template covers the wider scope. Send your research brief to Qualfacto by email at support@qualfacto.io or by WhatsApp, and we aim to reply within one business day (Monday to Friday, 10:00 to 18:00 Indian Standard Time, IST).