Best Market Research Platforms To Use in 2027

In brief

The best market research platforms to use in 2027 fall into four groups:

• Consumer research platforms: Flickly, Qualtrics, Attest and quantilope run complete studies with real buyers.
• Online survey platforms: Flickly, SurveyMonkey, Typeform and Google Forms collect answers to a questionnaire.
• AI market research platforms: Flickly and Listen Labs use AI to speed up surveys and interviews.
• Social listening platforms: Brandwatch and Sprinklr track what people say about brands online.

The right platform depends on the question a business needs answered, how quickly it needs the answer, and whether it already has an audience to survey.

What is a market research platform?

A market research platform is software that runs a research study from start to finish. That usually means writing the questionnaire, finding the right respondents, checking answer quality, analysing results and reporting findings, all in one place. People use “market research platforms”, “market research tools” and “market research software” almost interchangeably, but they are not quite the same:

• Platforms: Cover a full study, from the first question to the final report.
• Tools: Usually do one job, such as building a survey, showing search trends or tracking social media.
• Agencies: Firms such as Kantar or Nielsen that run research on a brand’s behalf, rather than software a brand’s own team uses.

What makes a good market research platform?

A good market research platform gives a business answers it can trust, quickly enough to act on them. Six things separate the strongest platforms from the rest:

• Real respondents: Access to a panel of verified people, so a brand doesn’t need its own audience to run a study.
• Answer quality checks: Automatic checks that find and remove rushed, careless or fake responses before analysis.
• Speed: A clear time from launch to finished findings, measured in days rather than weeks.
• AI across the study: Help with writing questionnaires, checking answers and summarising results, not just one of these.
• Research methods: Support for methods beyond simple questions, such as concept tests, MaxDiff and conjoint analysis.
• Clear reporting: Findings and recommendations a team can act on, not just charts and raw data.

Best market research platforms compared

Best consumer research platforms

Consumer research platforms run complete studies with real buyers. They are the right choice when a business decision depends on what customers think, such as which product to launch, which pack to print or what price to charge.

Flickly

Best for: Brands that need quantitative consumer research with fast, quality-checked results.

Flickly is a consumer research platform powered by AI. It runs concept tests, pack tests, name tests, MaxDiff studies and full category studies, using a panel of more than 65 million verified consumers, and delivers decision-ready findings in 72 hours. Every response is scored for quality before analysis, with checks for speeding, repeated answer patterns and low-effort written answers.

Qualtrics

Best for: Large organisations running research across many departments. Qualtrics covers market research, customer experience, employee experience and product research in one platform. It handles complex survey logic and advanced methods such as conjoint analysis, and suits teams running many studies a year. Pricing is set by contract, not published plans.

Attest

Best for: Consumer brands that want surveys and follow-up interviews in one place. Attest combines quantitative surveys with AI-led one-to-one interviews, so a team can measure a pattern and then explore the reasons behind it. Its AI assistant helps write questions and summarise results. Pricing is based on research credits and set after a demo.

quantilope

Best for: In-house research teams that run advanced methods regularly. quantilope automates methods such as conjoint analysis, MaxDiff, TURF and price sensitivity testing, with an AI assistant that helps set up studies and summarise findings. Its plans start at about $2,000 a month for three users, billed annually, and respondent costs are charged separately.

Best online survey platforms

Online survey platforms let a business build a questionnaire and collect answers. Most of them only reach people a brand already has, such as customers, followers or email subscribers, and leave finding respondents and checking answer quality to the user.

Flickly

Best for: Brands that want a survey platform with respondents and quality checks built in.

Flickly’s AI survey builder turns a brief or an existing questionnaire into a ready survey. Surveys can include screening questions, conditional logic, piping, and question types such as grids, ranking and MaxDiff. Unlike most survey platforms, Flickly comes with a panel of more than 65 million verified consumers and scores every response for quality, so a brand doesn’t need its own audience to get reliable answers.

SurveyMonkey

Best for: Teams that need a quick, familiar survey platform at any budget. SurveyMonkey is one of the most widely used survey platforms, with templates, simple analysis and an optional respondent panel. Its free plan allows short surveys with a small number of responses. Access to its respondent panel is priced separately from the subscription.

Typeform

Best for: Surveys where completion rates and the respondent’s experience matter. Typeform shows one question at a time in a conversational style, which tends to keep respondents engaged. It doesn’t have its own respondent panel, so it works best with customers or audiences a brand already has.

Google Forms

Best for: Basic surveys with no budget. Google Forms is free with a Google account and covers simple questionnaires, quick polls and internal feedback. It has no respondent panel, quality checks or advanced question types, so it suits early checks rather than research a decision depends on.

Best AI market research platforms

AI market research platforms speed up the slowest parts of a study, such as writing questionnaires, running interviews, checking answer quality and summarising results. The strongest ones still collect answers from real people, because findings based on AI-generated respondents may not match how actual buyers behave.

Flickly

Best for: Running a full quantitative study with AI at every step. Flickly uses AI to draft questionnaires from a brief, check every response for quality as it arrives, and turn results into findings with recommended actions. Teams can also ask questions about their survey data in plain language. The answers come from real, verified consumers rather than AI-generated respondents, so the findings reflect what actual buyers think.

Listen Labs

Best for: Running many qualitative interviews quickly. Listen Labs uses an AI interviewer to hold one-to-one conversations with real participants, then transcribes and summarises the findings. It suits teams that need the depth of interviews with more people than a human team could reach in the same time.

Other market research tools worth using

Several market research tools are not full platforms but are useful alongside one, especially for background research before a study. Most are free or have a free plan:

• Google Trends: Shows whether search interest in a product, brand or topic is rising or falling, by month and by region. It is free.
• Semrush: Shows which search terms competitors rank for and how much traffic their websites get. Free use is limited to a few searches a day.
• Statista: Gathers market size figures and industry statistics in a form that can go straight into a presentation. Some data is free, and full access is paid.
• Hotjar: Shows how visitors move through a website, with heatmaps and session recordings. It has a free plan.
• Perplexity: Speeds up desk research with answers that link to their sources. Every figure should be checked against the original source.
• Government and industry data: Census figures, industry association reports and company annual reports are free, and often more reliable than paid summaries.

How to choose a market research platform

The right market research platform depends on the question a business needs answered. Each type of question usually points to the same type of platform.

Brands researching Indian consumers should check four more things before choosing a platform:

• Reach across India: Whether the panel covers Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities, not just metros.
• Language: Whether surveys can run in Hindi and regional languages.
• Answer quality: How the platform finds and removes rushed, careless or fake responses before analysis.
• Time to results: How long it takes from launch to a finished report, and what exactly is delivered at that point.

Running market research on Flickly

Flickly runs quantitative consumer research for brands, from concept tests and pack tests to MaxDiff studies and full category studies. It reaches a panel of more than 65 million verified consumers, scores every response for quality before analysis, and delivers decision-ready findings in 72 hours.

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