How Question Charges Work
When you run interviews in Outset, your subscription usage is based only on charged interview questions — these are the core research questions you’ve set up to gather insights from respondents.
1. What we charge for
Research questions in live interviews — Every core research question asked by the AI moderator to a respondent during a real interview counts toward your subscription’s question usage.
2. What we don’t charge for
Screening questions — Any qualification or demographic questions used to select participants are free.
Probing questions — Any short clarifying or follow-up probes used to better understand a respondent’s answer are free.
Test interviews — Trial runs to check question phrasing or interview flow are always free, whether with live participants or synthetic AI participants.
Informational questions in real interviews — Any scripted questions that are purely informational (e.g., giving context, explaining instructions, or setting up a topic without asking for respondent input) are free.
Researcher-led interview uploads — Uploading your own recorded interviews is free through the end of 2025.
Analysis — Running analysis on your interviews, including summaries, themes, and insights, is always free.
Other setup steps — Anything outside of a live research interview with a respondent is free.
If you’re ever unsure whether a question will count toward your usage, a good rule of thumb is: If it’s a research question or follow-up that asks for a real respondent’s input during a live interview, it counts. Everything else is free to try, test, and include for context.
Hope this helps! If you have any further questions, please reach out to our team at [email protected] or via chat.