Both tools simulate people instead of recruiting them, so the usual 'real versus synthetic' argument does not separate them. What separates them is shape: one is research-interview shaped, the other is population shaped.
Structural differences only. Where a figure would be a guess, it is left out.
| Aspect | Synthetic Users | Reynard |
|---|---|---|
| Research shape | Qualitative: interviews, discovery, UX conversations | Quantitative-shaped read-out: a weighted cross-section reacting to one thing |
| Unit of output | An interview transcript you read and code | An acceptance score plus quotes per segment |
| Who is represented | Personas you define for the study | A market cross-section weighted on public population data |
| Best moment in the process | Early discovery, when you are still forming the question | Later, when there is a concrete idea, price or campaign to put to a market |
| Depth per respondent | Deep, conversational, follow-up questions | One reaction per agent, with the reasoning behind it |
| Breadth across a market | As many personas as you script | The full segment and region grid of the panel |
| Commercial model | Subscription-style research platform | Per run, free first check, no account |
There are decisions where Synthetic Users is the right tool and Reynard is not. These are those decisions.
Discovery work is conversational: you follow an answer somewhere you did not plan to go. An interview-shaped tool supports that; a population read-out does not.
Walking a persona through a product experience and probing at each step is a different job from asking a market whether it accepts a price.
If your research practice is built on coding qualitative material, output shaped like an interview slots straight into how you already work.
Every run returns the same shape of output, whichever market you point it at.
Reynard is a simulation. It is not fieldwork, it carries no statistical significance, and it cannot replace talking to a customer. Treat it as a fast, structured second opinion that tells you where to look — not as evidence.
The wider field if you are looking to replace Synthetic Users, including real qualitative research and Reynard.
Read the comparisonReynard has published no accuracy figure. This page states the validation experiment we will run, and what a good result would and would not prove.
Read the comparisonOne check costs nothing and needs no account. You see the format of the output before you decide whether it is worth paying for a full run.
Start the free check