Recollective
Recollective is a cloud-based qualitative research platform serving global brands, market research agencies, and educational institutions with AI-powered asynchronous activities, live video sessions, AI-moderated interviews, and insight communities across 40+ countries.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1998
- HeadquartersOttawa, Canada
- Headcount101–250
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Recollective does
Recollective, founded in 1998 and headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, operates a cloud-based guided discovery platform purpose-built for qualitative market research. The platform is used by global brands, market research agencies, and educational institutions to run asynchronous activities, live video focus groups and IDIs, digital diaries, UX studies, and long-form insight communities. Over 1,500 customer organizations across more than 40 countries use Recollective, including Microsoft, RBC, Experian, Nikon, Cambridge University Press, Meijer, Mattel, Western Governors University, and Michigan State University.
The product architecture comprises three core modules. Recollective Qual is the main research execution platform built around an activity-based framework that mixes async tasks, journals, video sessions, discussions, and diverse question types (text, photo, video, screen recording, audio, card sorting, polls). Recollective Connect provides unified participant management, screening, segmentation, and engagement for communities of all sizes. Recollective AI is the AI layer that includes Ask AI for natural-language querying of qual data with source-verbatim attribution across single studies, multiple projects, and predictive hypothetical exploration; Conversation Task, an autonomous AI-moderated one-on-one interview that adapts prompts in real time and scales to hundreds or thousands of parallel sessions; Automatic Translations across 27 languages bundled into all licenses; and AI-powered transcription and summarization for video and audio content. The platform is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant with encryption in transit and at rest, data residency options, and customer opt-out controls for AI features.
Recollective monetizes via subscription licensing priced on a quote basis against project scope, participant count, and required services and support level, typically under multi-year contracts. Professional services for setup, delivery, training, and consultation are layered on top. Go-to-market is sales-led with direct outreach, tailored demos, and channel support through weekly office hours, webinars, case studies, and an active LinkedIn and YouTube presence. The company is privately held, bootstrapped for over 27 years with no disclosed venture or private equity backing, and expanded into APAC in February 2025 with a new Australian office housing Sales and Customer Support.
Recollective firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Recollective
- Legal name
- Recollective Inc.
- Website
- https://recollective.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1998
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 101–250 employees
- Short description
- Recollective is a cloud-based qualitative research platform serving global brands, market research agencies, and educational institutions with AI-powered asynchronous activities, live video sessions, AI-moderated interviews, and insight communities across 40+ countries.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Recollective industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Qualitative Research Software
- NAICS
- Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (518210)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Content Aggregation, Curation & RSS Platforms (BPAMAJAI)
Keywords
Where Recollective is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Ottawa
- HQ country
- Canada
- HQ region
- North America
Offices2 records
Markets served
Recollective business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Subscription Licensing: Recollective Qual licenses with pricing based on project scope, number of participants, and level of services or support required. Automatic Translations included at no extra cost with all Recollective Qual licenses.
- Professional Services: Setup services, delivery services, and training and consultation offered as part of the service and support offering.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Multi-year contract | Quote-based pricing tailored to project scope |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels5 records
Recollective product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Recollective sells a cloud-based qualitative research and insight community platform to enterprises, market research agencies, and educational institutions. Its three core products (Recollective Qual, Recollective Connect, and Recollective AI) enable asynchronous and live qualitative studies, participant management, and AI-powered analysis including AI-moderated interviews, natural-language Q&A over study data, and automatic multilingual translation across 27 languages.
Product overview
Recollective is a Guided Discovery Platform for qualitative research and insight communities. The platform architecture consists of three core products: Recollective Qual (the main research execution platform for async/live qual projects and hybrid studies), Recollective Connect (participant and community management with onboarding, screening, and segmentation), and Recollective AI (AI-powered analysis suite including Ask AI for natural language querying, Automatic Translations across 27 languages, and Conversational AI for scalable interviews). These integrate with activity-based research tools (structured tasks, journals, live video sessions, discussions), diverse question types (text, photo, video, audio, screen recording, card sorting, polls), and comprehensive reporting with AI-powered analysis. The platform supports research methods including long-term insight communities, customer journeys, digital diaries, UX testing, and shop-along studies. Pricing is based on project scope, number of participants, and support level required.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Recollective Qual Core qualitative research platform that enables organizations to conduct asynchronous and live qualitative projects, hybrid studies, and always-on insight communities through structured activities, threaded discussions, live video sessions, and AI-powered analysis. Sold via subscription licensing to enterprises, market research agencies, and educational institutions.
- Recollective Connect Participant management and community-building solution that brings research tools and participants into a single platform, supporting onboarding, screening, segmentation, and engagement for communities of all sizes.
- Recollective AI Suite of AI-powered capabilities sold with the Recollective platform, encompassing Ask AI for natural-language querying of qualitative data, Automatic Translations across 27 languages, AI transcription and summarization for video and audio, and Conversational AI (Conversation Task) for scalable one-on-one AI-moderated interviews.
Quantifiable outcome
- Doubled community membership and increased engagement for Experian
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use Recollective
Customer profileNamed customers14 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Recollective technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability9 records
Feature5 records
Recollective partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators4 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Recollective competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Alida (formerly Vision Critical): Alida is a customer intelligence platform combining insight communities, surveys, and qualitative research tools. It directly overlaps with Recollective Qual and Recollective Connect on enterprise insight-community programs.
- Discuss.io: Discuss.io provides live video focus groups, IDIs, and asynchronous qual activities with global respondent access and translation services. It overlaps directly with Recollective's live video and multilingual qual capabilities.
- Fuel Cycle: Fuel Cycle is an insights platform supporting insight communities, surveys, and qualitative research for enterprise brands. It competes with Recollective on long-term insight communities, participant management, and consumer feedback programs.
- dscout: dscout is a qualitative research platform offering diary studies, mobile ethnography, and in-the-moment research for enterprise and academic customers. It directly competes with Recollective Qual on diary, IDI, and activity-based qual workflows.
- Remesh: Remesh is an AI-powered qualitative and quantitative research platform using conversational AI to run live group conversations at scale. It is highly comparable to Recollective's Conversation Task AI-moderated interview feature and Ask AI analysis layer.
Broad incumbents
- Kantar (Insights Division): Kantar is one of the world's largest market research groups with proprietary insight platforms and AI-powered analysis tools. It is a broad incumbent competing for the same global-brand and agency qualitative research budgets Recollective serves.
- Qualtrics: Qualtrics is a broad experience-management platform (owned by Silver Lake/CPPIB) spanning surveys, CX, EX, and increasingly qual and video feedback. It overlaps with Recollective in enterprise research but serves a much wider portfolio of use cases.
- Toluna: Toluna is a global consumer insights platform combining owned panels, surveys, and qualitative research tools. It overlaps with Recollective on agency and enterprise qualitative research as part of a wider end-to-end insights offering.
- Forsta: Forsta is an enterprise research technology platform offering surveys, qual, CX, and advanced analytics. It competes with Recollective in the enterprise and agency research segments as a broader, multi-method incumbent.
- UserTesting: UserTesting (now part of UserZoom/Merlinus) is a UX research platform offering unmoderated and live usability tests, video feedback, and surveys. It competes with Recollective's UX research and live video IDI capabilities as part of a broader experience-research suite.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks1 record
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Recollective social profiles
Digital presenceRecollective compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance1 record
Recollective financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Recollective leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles4 records
Recollective funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Recollective M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Recollective
What does Recollective do?
Recollective sells a cloud-based qualitative research and insight community platform to enterprises, market research agencies, and educational institutions. Its three core products (Recollective Qual, Recollective Connect, and Recollective AI) enable asynchronous and live qualitative studies, participant management, and AI-powered analysis including AI-moderated interviews, natural-language Q&A over study data, and automatic multilingual translation across 27 languages.
Is Recollective a public or private company?
Recollective is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Recollective founded?
Recollective was founded in 1998. It employs 101 to 250 people.
Where is Recollective based?
Recollective is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, in the North America region.
How does Recollective make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Subscription Licensing is the primary driver. The others are professional Services.
Who are Recollective's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Alida (formerly Vision Critical), Discuss.io, Fuel Cycle, dscout and Remesh. Broad incumbents are Kantar (Insights Division), Qualtrics, Toluna, Forsta and UserTesting.
Does Recollective have an API?
No public API is recorded for Recollective.
What industry is Recollective in?
Recollective's product category is Qualitative Research Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAMAJAI, Content Aggregation, Curation & RSS Platforms. Its NAICS code is 518210 and its SIC code is 7372.