Instant Expert vs AlphaSense: a research library or one paid conversation?

Choose AlphaSense when you need to research companies and markets across many sources, then commission expert calls where questions remain. Choose Instant Expert when you want to pick a person yourself and send them a paid invitation directly.

AlphaSense also offers pay-as-you-go expert calls through Tegus, so check that option even if you only need a few interviews.

AlphaSense's strength is everything around the call

AlphaSense combines material such as company filings, broker research, financial data, expert transcripts and your organization's own documents, with tools to search and work across it (AlphaSense content). That is a different job from finding a person to answer a new question.

Tegus Expert Call Services adds custom expert recruiting and new interviews. You can lead the call yourself or use its AI Interviewer. Its service page also describes compliance checks, translation options and paid options to delay transcript availability (Tegus Expert Call Services).

Here is a made-up example. Say you are investigating why customers switch accounting software. The research platform may help you understand competitors and reported market trends, and a newly recruited customer can then explain their own switch. A team doing repeated market research may want both.

A published call fee is not a full project quote

As of September 26, 2026, Tegus advertises the expert's rate plus a flat $75 transcription fee. It says usage is rounded up to the nearest 15 minutes, with pay-as-you-go and no minimum call commitment (Tegus call pricing). Ask for the actual expert rate and any add-ons before booking.

AlphaSense describes its research-platform pricing separately, through sales-led subscriptions. Its public pages do not fully resolve which platform access you must buy for a call-only project (AlphaSense pricing). So ask directly: "For these calls, what access fee, expert fee, transcription fee and other charges would we pay?"

That question keeps a published call fee from passing for a complete quote.

A direct request is enough when you can name the experience

In Instant Expert, you describe the kind of person or paste the LinkedIn URLs or emails of people you have chosen, then send each one a paid invitation for a 15, 30, 45 or 60 minute call or a written reply. For a reply, the recipient chooses text or voice. You set what each person receives, at least $5, and our fee is added on top: a $100 offer costs you $125. There is no subscription. You're charged when someone books or answers, and an invitation nobody accepts within 7 days costs nothing (how it works). Instant Expert does not supply AlphaSense's research collection, and there is no AI interviewer to run your call for you.

For the accounting-software example, search for a finance lead with relevant experience and request a 30-minute conversation about their most recent software change. They see your note and the amount they would receive, and they don't need an account to book. On the call, ask what prompted the change, which alternatives they considered and what the move required. If they don't join, you get a full refund, our fee included. That works when the missing information is one person's experience, rather than a broad collection of market research.

Choose AlphaSense when its sources and managed call service fit the work. Try an Instant Expert search when you can name the experience you want and are ready to approach people yourself.