QualiTaTi vs ATLAS.ti: free AI interviews with a direct ATLAS.ti export

QualiTaTi: Universities and research firms seeking self-serve text or voice interviews and researcher-controlled coding. ATLAS.ti: Desktop and web qualitative analysis with quotations, codes, memos and network views, plus Intentional AI Coding and AI summaries.

Updated: 2026-10-11

Published by QualiTaTi, one of the vendors compared. This is a dated review of public product documentation, not independent testing. Vendor descriptions are advertised capabilities; missing information is not evidence that a feature is absent.

At a glance

Choose by study workflow, evidence access, and total cost. There is no universal winner. ATLAS.ti: Imports QDPX projects from any application, so interviews collected in QualiTaTi can be coded in ATLAS.ti.

Qualitati is best for

Universities and research firms seeking self-serve text or voice interviews and researcher-controlled coding.

ATLAS.ti is best for

Desktop and web qualitative analysis with quotations, codes, memos and network views, plus Intentional AI Coding and AI summaries.

Qualitati vs ATLAS.ti: feature-by-feature

Feature	Qualitati	ATLAS.ti
Interviews with participants Checked: 2026-10-11 qualitati.com atlasti.com: Intentional AI Coding atlasti.com: Desktop vs Web features	AI-moderated text and voice interviews, and live AI-moderated focus groups with real participants, shared by link.	Analyses data you bring: documents, audio, video and other sources. The vendor material reviewed does not describe interviewing participants.
Analysis Checked: 2026-10-11 qualitati.com atlasti.com: Intentional AI Coding atlasti.com: Desktop vs Web features	QDA Workspace with manual and AI-assisted coding, codebook management and source-linked references.	Quotations, codes, memos and networks; Intentional AI Coding lets researchers set questions and categories before AI coding. Desktop and web feature sets differ.
Coder agreement Checked: 2026-10-11 qualitati.com ATLAS.ti 26 manual: inter-coder agreement	Optional dual-AI coding reports Cohen's kappa between two AI coders; for agreement between human coders, export to your QDA tool.	Inter-Coder Agreement in the desktop version, developed with the originator of Krippendorff's alpha; all coders must use desktop.
Working together Checked: 2026-10-11 QualiTaTi guide: AI interviews to ATLAS.ti ATLAS.ti 26 manual: importing a project	REFI-QDA (.qdpx) export of transcripts, codebook, cases and coded segments since 9 October 2026, with a step-by-step guide for opening it in ATLAS.ti.	Imports QDPX projects "regardless of which application" created them, from the opening screen (Import Project).
Price Checked: 2026-10-11 qualitati.com/pricing atlasti.com: free trial	Free: 30 credits every month. Student €9, Researchers €19, Team €99 per month (up to 15 seats). Text interviews use 1 credit per minute, voice interviews 5. Exports are free.	Licence prices depend on licence type, user type and region; the free trial includes limited AI coding and summaries.
Platform and data Checked: 2026-10-11 qualitati.com/trust atlasti.com: AI data security and privacy	Runs in the browser. Data stored in the EU (Amsterdam). Global AI is the default and includes US providers under Standard Contractual Clauses; EU Assurance keeps AI processing in the EU on every plan. Public DPA.	Desktop (Windows, Mac) and web. AI features use OpenAI's GPT models through an API, with a choice of US or European AI region.
Evidence and exports Checked: 2026-10-11 qualitati.com/accuracy	Run the same pilot in both tools. Check transcript fidelity, source references, editable codes, and export completeness; these have not been benchmarked here.	Run the same pilot in both tools. Check transcript fidelity, source references, editable codes, and export completeness; these have not been benchmarked here.

Choose Qualitati when…

You need to collect interviews or focus groups with participants and get clean transcripts to analyse.
You want to start coding in the browser and continue in ATLAS.ti when the study needs it.

Choose ATLAS.ti when…

Your institution licenses ATLAS.ti and your team already codes in it.
You need network views and formal inter-coder agreement in a desktop project.

Frequently asked questions

How should we compare study costs?

Global pricing: 30 free credits each month, non-cumulative. Team: €99/month or €990/year, up to 15 seats and 9,000 shared monthly credits. Add software, recruitment, participant incentives, analysis usage, seats, exports, taxes, and billing period. Request a written quote for anything not included in the published plan.

What should we verify before choosing?

Run the same pilot in both tools. Check transcript fidelity, source references, editable codes, and export completeness; these have not been benchmarked here. Review the privacy policy, DPA, subprocessors, retention, deletion, and data residency for your study. A feature listing does not establish certification or compliance.