Minds vs Artificial Societies (Societies.io): 2026 Comparison

Artificial Societies, which some searchers still know as Societies.io, says it is building a foundational model of human societies for consequential decisions (Artificial Societies). Its simulated people are connected, so a narrative can spread through a network rather than land on isolated respondents. Its pricing page now leads to a demo booking, with no self-serve plans (pricing).

Minds is the self-serve alternative: your team builds persistent Audiences and runs interviews, panel discussions, questionnaires and methods such as MaxDiff on them, on published plans from Pay as you go at €0.12 / $0.12 per response to Pro at €199 / $199 per seat a month. Pick Artificial Societies when influence between stakeholders is the question; pick Minds when you need independent answers from defined segments and want to run the research yourself. Prices below were checked on official pages on October 7, 2026. Minds is our product.

Artificial Societies pricing vs Minds pricing

Both columns come from the vendors' official pages, checked on October 7, 2026; follow the links for current terms.

Artificial Societies has no public price list; the conversation starts with a demo booking.

Switching from Artificial Societies to Minds

Want to see the difference on your own customers? Test it on your own audience: describe the segments you study, and Minds turns the description into an Audience you can question with Pay as you go.

Free rebuild. If you already have an audience or persona definition in Artificial Societies, send it to us (segments, screener criteria, persona documents or a past questionnaire) and we rebuild it in Minds for free. Ask for the rebuild and say you are coming from Artificial Societies.

To judge the result, ask the rebuilt Audience a question you have already answered with Artificial Societies or with real customers. Synthetic answers are directional; Audience Validation shows how closely an Audience matches real survey data.

What Artificial Societies Does

Artificial Societies builds simulated populations of AI personas that are connected to one another, so the platform can show how a message, product or decision moves through a network of stakeholders rather than through isolated respondents (Artificial Societies). Its solutions page lists mixed-method surveys, interactive focus groups, follow-up interviews and conjoint analysis, with results readable at market, segment or persona level (solutions).

The company is Artificial Societies Ltd, based in London, and it publishes a data processing agreement (DPA). The old societies.io domain now redirects to societies.ai. Buying starts with a demo booking; there are no self-serve plans on the pricing page (pricing).

What Minds Does

Minds is the end-to-end platform for commercial synthetic research. Your team describes the customers it researches, Minds builds an Audience of individual Minds (AI personas), and you run Studies on it: interviews with one Mind, moderated discussions between several Minds, questions put to a whole Audience, and questionnaires with methods such as MaxDiff. Results stay connected to each Mind's answers and reasoning, so you can compare segments and follow up.

Audience Validation scores an Audience against real survey data, and plans are published, from Pay as you go at €0.12 / $0.12 per response to Pro at €199 / $199 per seat a month (pricing).

Core Differences

Networks vs Independent Respondents

Artificial Societies models audiences as connected groups. The value is in seeing how influence and opinion move between people, which matters for communications strategy, public affairs and reputation work.

Minds models independent respondents in defined segments. The value is in asking a segment a question, comparing its answers with another segment's, and probing why a particular group reacts the way it does.

These are different research questions. Network simulation answers "how will this spread?" Independent Audiences answer "what does each segment think, and why?"

How You Work

Artificial Societies is bought through a demo and set up for your decision, and its studies include surveys, focus groups, follow-up interviews and conjoint analysis.

Minds is self-serve. You sign up, build an Audience from a description and run your first Study the same session, then return to the same Audience for the next question.

Buying and Procurement

Artificial Societies has no public prices; the conversation starts with a demo booking. Minds publishes its plans: Pay as you go at €0.12 / $0.12 per response, Pro €199 / $199 per seat per month, and a custom Enterprise plan with contract terms agreed individually. Both vendors should be reviewed against your own data protection and procurement requirements.

Comparison Table

When to Use Which

Choose Artificial Societies if your primary research question is about influence between people. If you need to understand how a message spreads through a stakeholder network, or how one group's reaction shapes another's, its network approach is purpose-built for that.

Choose Minds if you need answers from defined customer segments that your own team can ask, compare and revisit, on a published plan, from today.

The Bigger Picture

Artificial Societies and Minds both use AI to make research faster, from different starting points: Artificial Societies from network and agent-based modelling, Minds from audience research with independent respondents and structured methods.

For most marketing and product teams the everyday need is to understand what each segment thinks about a message, concept or price. That is where Minds fits. If your work centres on how opinion moves through a network of stakeholders, Artificial Societies may be exactly what you need.

Synthetic results from either platform are directional. Check them against data you trust before a high-stakes decision.

Test it on your own audience