Prolific helps you recruit participants for studies that are hosted on external survey or experimental platforms. To get started, all you need is a shareable study URL.
What makes software compatible with Prolific?
Most survey and experimental software is compatible with Prolific, provided it:
Can be accessed through an anonymous link (participants shouldn't need to sign in).
Allows you to record participants' Prolific IDs.
Lets you return participants to Prolific after they finish your study (either via a redirect or a completion code).
Does not collect personally identifiable information (PII).
If your software meets these requirements, you can usually use it with Prolific.
Supported integrations
Our integrations page includes examples of compatible survey and experimental platforms, along with setup advice.
We also provide step-by-step integration guides for many of the most commonly used platforms.
Recording participants' Prolific IDs
To match responses collected in your survey platform with participants on Prolific, you'll need to record each participant's unique Prolific ID.
Recording Prolific IDs allows you to:
Match participant responses with their Prolific demographic data.
Identify which participants completed your study.
Approve or reject submissions accurately.
If you don't record participant IDs, you won't know which Prolific submission corresponds to each survey response.
There are two ways to collect Prolific IDs.
Option 1: Record Prolific IDs automatically (recommended)
The easiest approach is to pass participants' Prolific IDs into your study using URL parameters.
When enabled, Prolific automatically adds parameters to your study URL, so participants don't need to copy and paste their IDs manually.
To enable this:
In the Data collection section when creating your study, select I'll use URL parameters.
Prolific will automatically append URL parameters to your study URL.
The default parameter for the participant ID is:
PROLIFIC_PID
In most cases, you won't need to change this, although you can customise parameter names if your survey platform requires different ones.
Your study URL will look something like:
When a participant starts your study, they'll receive a unique URL such as:
https://example.com?PROLIFIC_PID=5a9d64f5f6dfdd0001eaa73d
Prolific also provides two additional optional parameters:
STUDY_ID– identifies your Prolific study.SESSION_ID– identifies an individual participant's submission.
If you only need the participant ID, you can remove the other parameters from your URL.
Important: Make sure your survey or experimental software is configured to save these URL parameters in your dataset.
Option 2: Ask participants for their Prolific ID
If your software doesn't support URL parameters, you can ask participants to enter their Prolific ID as a survey question.
Prolific IDs contain 24 alphanumeric characters, so ensure the response field accepts both letters and numbers.
Returning participants to Prolific
When participants finish your study, they need to be marked as complete in Prolific.
It is important to redirect participants back to the completion URL found on the study creation page, or provide them with a completion code.
There are two ways to do this:
Option 1: Redirect participants automatically (recommended)
Many survey platforms allow you to redirect participants to another URL after they submit their responses.
Simply use the Completion URL provided on your Prolific study setup page as the redirect URL.
It will look similar to:
https://app.prolific.com/submissions/complete?cc=CHHXQERF
The completion code (CHHXQERF in this example) is unique to your study.
Automatic redirects provide the smoothest experience for participants and reduce the likelihood of incomplete submissions.
Important: Ensure participants' responses are fully submitted and saved by your survey platform before redirecting them back to Prolific.
Option 2: Display the completion code
If your survey software doesn't support automatic redirects, you can display the completion code at the end of your study and ask participants to copy and paste it into Prolific.
Only show the completion code after participants have successfully completed your study.
Before you launch
We strongly recommend previewing your study from start to finish to confirm that:
Prolific IDs are being recorded correctly.
Responses are being saved successfully.
Participants are redirected back to Prolific (or shown the correct completion code).
Testing your study before launch helps avoid participant issues and missing data.
Incorrect completion codes
Submissions with an incorrect completion code (for example, NOCODE) are not necessarily invalid. There are several legitimate reasons why this can happen, so review the participant's submission before deciding whether to approve or reject it.
Need more help?
If you're using one of our supported integrations, see the relevant integration guide for platform-specific setup instructions.
If you have any questions, contact our Support team using the support button in the bottom-right corner of the screen.