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Research · head to head

Terra vs Zappi

Terra logo

Terra

Research

Open biomedical research platform for genomic analysis, priced only by the cloud you consume

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Zappi logo

Zappi

Research

Automated consumer insights platform for testing advertising, product concepts and brand health

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Terra has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Terra the absence of a licence fee hides the real cost driver: an idle notebook virtual machine left running overnight, or a workspace bucket full of intermediate workflow outputs, quietly consumes grant money with no vendor invoice to prompt a review.; Zappi nothing is published: pricing is a platform subscription plus a prepaid credit bundle quoted per customer, so a buyer cannot benchmark the cost against agency research without going through sales.
  • They diverge on capability: Terra covers No platform licence fee, Zappi covers Validated study templates.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Terra and Zappi actually diverge.

Attributes where Terra and Zappi differ
AttributeTerraZappi
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feequote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, Google Cloud, Microsoft AzureWeb

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Research).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Terra

  • No platform licence fee
  • Cloud pass-through billing
  • WDL workflow execution
  • Notebook environments
  • Controlled-access data
  • Workspace sharing
  • Compliance posture
  • Multi-cloud

Only in Zappi

  • Validated study templates
  • Respondent panel access
  • Normative benchmarks
  • Creative testing
  • Brand health tracking
  • AI analysis over history
  • Unlimited users
  • Exports and integrations

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Terra

  • A genomics lab running whole-genome alignment and variant calling pipelines without provisioning or maintaining a local clusternot Zappi
  • A consortium sharing controlled-access human data across institutions where the data cannot be copied to each sitenot Zappi
  • A health system analysing patient genomic data under a HIPAA business associate agreementnot Zappi
  • A federal or federally funded project needing FedRAMP Moderate authorisation for its analysis environmentnot Zappi

Zappi

  • A beverage brand screening thirty flavour concepts before committing to two for consumer testingnot Terra
  • A marketing team pre-testing three advertising edits in a day so a media booking deadline can be metnot Terra
  • An insights function replacing repeated ad-hoc agency studies with a comparable, accumulating body of test resultsnot Terra
  • A brand manager running continuous brand health tracking without negotiating a separate tracker contract each yearnot Terra

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Terra

  • The absence of a licence fee hides the real cost driver: an idle notebook virtual machine left running overnight, or a workspace bucket full of intermediate workflow outputs, quietly consumes grant money with no vendor invoice to prompt a review.
  • Cost governance is entirely the customer responsibility, and grant-funded groups without a cloud engineer routinely overspend before anyone reads the Google or Azure bill in enough detail to find the cause.
  • It assumes genuine bioinformatics competence: writing or adapting WDL workflows, managing data tables and debugging failed tasks are all on you, so a wet lab without computational staff cannot use it productively.
  • Feature parity between the Google Cloud and Azure deployments is not identical, so a decision on cloud provider constrains which capabilities and datasets you can reach and is expensive to reverse later.
  • It is a research platform rather than a regulated clinical system: it is not a validated GxP environment and does not carry the qualification package a diagnostic or submission workflow would require, so clinical use needs additional infrastructure and validation you provide yourself.

Zappi

  • Nothing is published: pricing is a platform subscription plus a prepaid credit bundle quoted per customer, so a buyer cannot benchmark the cost against agency research without going through sales.
  • Credits are prepaid against a forecast of the year ahead, which means a team that overestimates research volume ends the year having paid for studies it never ran.
  • The template model that makes studies fast also constrains them; a research question that does not fit a validated instrument either gets forced into one or goes to an agency anyway.
  • Normative benchmarks are strongest in fast-moving consumer goods categories where Zappi has depth, and thinner in business-to-business, financial services and niche categories, where the comparison numbers mean less.
  • Because respondents come from Zappi-sourced panels, sample composition is a vendor decision rather than yours, and any team that needs a bespoke recruitment specification or a low-incidence audience will find the automated route unsuitable.

Pricing, plan by plan

Terra

Free
  • Terra platformFree
    • No charge for the platform, administration, security controls or frontline support
    • Workspaces, workflow execution and notebook environments included
    • Available on Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure
  • Cloud consumption$undefined/month
    • Google Cloud or Azure charges passed through at cost with no markup
    • Running notebook virtual machines around 0.22 USD per hour, roughly 0.027 USD per hour when paused
    • Storage billed continuously on workspace buckets and intermediate workflow outputs

Zappi

On request
  • Premium$undefined/year
    • Platform subscription with unlimited users
    • Access to all research solutions
    • Credit bundle scoped to annual research volume
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Platform subscription with unlimited users
    • Multi-market and global organisation controls
    • Connected insights across markets and brands

Which should you pick?

Choose Terra if

  • You need no platform licence fee.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure.
  • You also want cloud pass-through billing.
Terra review

Choose Zappi if

  • You need validated study templates.
  • You also want respondent panel access.
Zappi review

Questions people ask

Is Terra or Zappi better?
Neither clearly leads. Terra starts at Free and Zappi at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Terra or Zappi?
Terra has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Terra and On request for Zappi.
Does Terra or Zappi run on more platforms?
Terra runs on Web, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure. Zappi runs on Web.
Can I use Terra for free?
Yes. Terra has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Zappi starts at On request.
What is Terra best used for?
Terra is most often used for a genomics lab running whole-genome alignment and variant calling pipelines without provisioning or maintaining a local cluster, a consortium sharing controlled-access human data across institutions where the data cannot be copied to each site, a health system analysing patient genomic data under a hipaa business associate agreement, a federal or federally funded project needing fedramp moderate authorisation for its analysis environment. Of those, a genomics lab running whole-genome alignment and variant calling pipelines without provisioning or maintaining a local cluster and a consortium sharing controlled-access human data across institutions where the data cannot be copied to each site are not what Zappi is typically brought in for.
What can Terra do that Zappi cannot?
Terra covers No platform licence fee, Cloud pass-through billing, WDL workflow execution, Notebook environments. Zappi covers Validated study templates, Respondent panel access, Normative benchmarks, Creative testing.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Terra: Is Terra really free?

The platform is. There is no licence fee. Everything you pay is Google Cloud or Azure compute, storage and egress, passed through at cost.

Zappi: Does Zappi publish prices?

No. It publishes the structure, a platform subscription plus credits plus optional services, but not the numbers.

Terra: What actually drives the bill?

Running virtual machines and stored data. Pausing notebooks drops a virtual machine from about 0.22 to about 0.027 dollars an hour, and deleting intermediate workflow outputs is the other main saving.

Zappi: How fast do results come back?

Automated tests typically return within hours to a day, which is the main reason teams choose it over a commissioned study.

Terra: Can I use it with protected health information?

Yes. Terra signs HIPAA business associate agreements and GDPR data processing agreements, and the Azure deployment holds FedRAMP Moderate authorisation.

Zappi: Do we still need an agency?

For standard concept, creative and brand tests, usually not. For bespoke methodologies and hard-to-reach audiences, yes.

Terra: Is it validated for clinical or GxP use?

No. It is a research platform. Regulated clinical or submission workflows need validation and controls you build yourself.

Zappi: Is there a per-seat charge?

No. Both published tiers include unlimited users; the variable cost is research credits.

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