How many responses do you code a month?

With few, coding by hand is reasonable. With thousands every month, the team's time goes into that instead of the analysis.

Do you know how consistent your coding is today?

Compare a sample coded by two people, or against a tool, using the same approved codebook. Record disagreements and adjudicate them with an analyst; agreement with previous coding does not by itself establish accuracy.

Do you measure in waves and need the same codebook in all of them?

By hand, it depends on the same team applying the same rules. Ask to see how the codebook holds from one wave to the next.

Can your data leave your organization?

If it can't, coding in-house is the answer. If it can, ask where it is processed: Survey Coder codes with Claude models by Anthropic; ask us in writing where your data is processed.

What does an hour of your team cost today?

Multiply it by the coding hours in each study and compare it with the per-response cost. That's the math that decides.

Comparison

Survey Coder vs manual coding

Coding by hand is the reference method: a person reads every response and assigns codes from a codebook. It gives full control, but it takes time and depends on who codes. Survey Coder does the same job with AI and leaves the final say to the analyst.

Where they are alike

In both there is a codebook and every response ends up coded.
In both the analyst decides the final codes.
Both can end in a coded dataset and tables.

Where they differ

Survey CoderManual coding

Working time

Survey CoderIncludes preparing the file and codebook, AI coding, review and export.

Manual codingIncludes preparing the codebook, reading and coding each response, review and export.

How it is coded

Survey CoderBuilds the codebook from your responses, or applies the one you already use, and codes every response.

Manual codingOne or more people read each response and assign codes from the codebook.

What you take away

Survey CoderThe codes as columns attached to each respondent, in your .sav or an Excel file; from a .sav, also the tab book with banner and significance.

Manual codingWhatever the team builds: usually a dataset with code columns, with the tables made separately.

Waves of an ongoing program

Survey CoderThe next wave inherits the same codebook automatically, so the trend is comparable.

Manual codingThe codebook holds if the same team applies the same rules in every wave.

Cost

Survey CoderPer coded response, one-time purchase. Credits never expire.

Manual codingAnalyst or coder hours for every study.

This comparison describes the methods. It does not present a published benchmark or guarantee a completion time or agreement rate.

When to keep coding by hand

With few responses or a qualitative study, when building the codebook is part of the deliverable, when data cannot leave your organization, or when you need to replicate a previous manual method exactly, coding by hand is still the right call.

When Survey Coder is the better fit

If your work is a survey program — a monthly NPS, a brand tracker, concept tests — and the codes need to come back into your data as variables and end up in tables, wave after wave with the same codebook. That is what it is built for: AI does the first pass and your team puts its judgement where it's actually needed.

How to compare the two methods

Use the same responses and approved codebook for both methods. Record disagreements and adjudicate them with an analyst. Compare total time, including preparation, review and export.

Agreement with previous coding is not the same as accuracy.

Five questions that decide it

You do not need to believe either page. These questions decide it, and they apply to any vendor — including us.

1
How many responses do you code a month?
With few, coding by hand is reasonable. With thousands every month, the team's time goes into that instead of the analysis.
2
Do you know how consistent your coding is today?
Compare a sample coded by two people, or against a tool, using the same approved codebook. Record disagreements and adjudicate them with an analyst; agreement with previous coding does not by itself establish accuracy.
3
Do you measure in waves and need the same codebook in all of them?
By hand, it depends on the same team applying the same rules. Ask to see how the codebook holds from one wave to the next.
4
Can your data leave your organization?
If it can't, coding in-house is the answer. If it can, ask where it is processed: Survey Coder codes with Claude models by Anthropic; ask us in writing where your data is processed.
5
What does an hour of your team cost today?
Multiply it by the coding hours in each study and compare it with the per-response cost. That's the math that decides.

Try it on your own comments

250 responses free, no card. Upload a spreadsheet from your last NPS and compare the result with what you have today.

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