Qualfacto vs Respondent.io for India Research

Respondent lists 230,000 participants in India, yet its sign-up page is English only and every incentive is paid in US dollars. This page is for researchers, agencies and product teams booking participants in India.

Sessions are bought per completed session, also in dollars, and participants receive their incentives as gift cards. Each of those choices affects who turns up to your interview and how they feel when they do, and each is something you can test before you commit.

A national panel count says little about whether your city and profile can be filled, so the checks below start there. You can run all six checks in a single email.

We are Qualfacto, an Indian qualitative research participant panel. Below are the facts, a worked cost example and a six-test checklist that works on any supplier, including us.

• For qualitative research in India, we recommend Qualfacto. Respondent works for remote, English-language sessions but is built as a global marketplace.
• Respondent pays participants in US dollars as gift cards, minus a fee of 5% (minimum $1), so participant experience in India is something to test before you commit.
• Respondent's list rate is $40 per completed consumer session and $80 per completed professional session, before incentives. Ten consumer sessions cost $400 in platform fees at that rate.
• Before booking any supplier, run the six tests below: city-level feasibility, language, incentive path, replacements, identity checks and consent.

Respondent is an established marketplace that lists India among its 21 primary target markets. Its panel page shows 230,000 participants in India as of October 2026, so it can recruit there. It suits self-serve, remote, English-language studies. For qualitative studies built around Indian cities, languages and fieldwork, we recommend Qualfacto.

The countries article adds two details that matter for planning. Participant sign-up is in English only. And a city such as Delhi becomes searchable only once India is added as a target country.

A national panel count does not tell you how many people in your city fit your profile. Ask for that number, not the national one.

Participant complaints matter because an unhappy participant is a weaker interviewee. Trustpilot rates Respondent 3.9 out of 5 from 1,471 reviews. 63% of reviews are five-star and 22% are one-star. The recurring one-star themes are unpaid sessions, slow support and time spent on screening questions without a study.

Trustpilot reviews are self-selected, so they show which problems get reported, not how often payment works. Read them as a risk list, not a verdict.

Our recommendation: plan for attrition (participants who drop out or no-show) on any platform where participants carry unpaid effort. Over-recruiting by a small margin is cheaper than a lost interview slot, and a short, clear screener (the qualifying questionnaire) respects the time of the people you want. Our quality checklist for research panels in India scores suppliers on freshness of participants and how they screen.

Respondent pays all incentives in US dollars through Tremendous, a gift-card provider, minus a fulfilment fee of 5% with a $1 minimum. Its payment guide gives an example: $60 becomes $57. Payment usually arrives 7 to 10 business days after the researcher confirms attendance.

Three consequences follow for you as the researcher:

• You control the clock. Respondent's non-payment guidance says the researcher pays, and its incentive guide asks researchers to mark attendance and issue incentives within 3 to 5 business days. A late click on your side is a late payment on theirs.
• Redemption options vary by country. Respondent states that Tremendous shows the available payout options by country or region at the moment of redemption. Before an India launch, we would ask two or three participants what they see, or run a small pilot.
• Participants net less than you fund. Budget the incentive as what you want participants to receive, and check how the fee is applied before you set it.

Respondent charges a list rate of $40 per completed consumer session and $80 per completed professional session, recruiting only. Participant incentives are extra. As of 24 October 2026, its pricing page also lists annual commitment tiers of $7,500, $20,000, $50,000 and $500,000+, and charges only for sessions that complete.

The worked example below is our model, not a quote. We assume 10 completed one-hour interviews at the list rate and an incentive of $60 each, chosen only because it matches Respondent's own fee example:

Everything is in US dollars, so add your own conversion and ask your finance team about tax. Annual tiers lower the platform fee but need a commitment, and tier rates are on Respondent's calculator.

Our pricing works differently. We build one proposal per project from your brief: method, audience, participant profile, sample, geography and recruitment complexity. Our recruitment cost worksheet for India shows which lines to ask any supplier to separate.

Run these six tests before you sign with any supplier, Respondent or us. Each has a pass and a fail, and you can run all of them in one email.

For test 6, our guide to informed consent in research gives a form and the Indian rules.

Choose Qualfacto when your study is qualitative, based in India and needs more than a list of names. Respondent lists panels in 150+ countries; Qualfacto recruits in India only. We recommend us first for these five reasons:

1. India is all we do. We recruit by city and target by household and demographic profile.
2. Languages. We run sessions in languages other than English. Respondent's sign-up page is English only, so ask Respondent which session languages it can staff.
3. Fieldwork. We run in-depth interviews (IDIs), focus groups, digital diary studies, ethnography, shop-alongs, in-home use tests and usability testing, in person or online, with moderators supplied by us. An in-person project on Respondent takes one address.
4. Participant checks. We verify identity before invitation. Participants are told the reward, payment method and timing before the study, and incentives are earned after validated participation.
5. One scope, a free pilot. Deliverables (recruitment, fieldwork materials, recordings, transcripts, data exports and reports) are agreed before the study begins, and our free pilot is a low-commitment way to start.

Email your brief to support@qualfacto.io; we aim to reply within one business day (Monday to Friday, 10:00 am to 6:00 pm IST). You can also start at qualfacto.io. If you are choosing between a platform and a local partner, our guide on Respondent versus User Interviews in India scores both.