Find out where your community actually agrees.
Society Speaks runs online consultations that go beyond surveys. Residents vote on short statements and add their own, and the analysis shows where people agree, which ideas bridge opposing groups, and where the disagreement really lies.
You get a map of common ground, with the evidence to defend every finding.
Free to take part. Paid public-sector plans keep it that way.
The problem with the usual tools
Surveys tell you what you thought to ask. Comment boxes reward the loudest voices. Public meetings reach the same thirty people every time.
A Society Speaks consultation is different:
- Participants set the agenda too.
- They vote on your statements and submit their own, so the issues you didn’t anticipate surface early, while there is still time to act on them.
- One tap, not one essay.
- Voting takes seconds, so you hear from the silent majority, not just the people with time to write.
- The analysis finds the common ground.
- Statistical clustering — the method behind Pol.is, used from Taiwan to Kentucky — identifies consensus statements, bridge ideas that unite otherwise opposed groups, and genuinely divisive issues, each with a confidence interval.
In 2025, Bowling Green, Kentucky used this method to plan its next 25 years: 7,890 residents — about 10% of the city — cast over one million votes on 3,940 resident-submitted ideas. Over half reached 80%+ agreement.
Lo que obtienes
A complete consultation, run end-to-end:
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Alcance
We turn your consultation question into seed statements that are neutral, clear, and answerable — we draft, you approve.
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A consultation space in your colours
Hosted by us and embeddable on your own website with your palette and typography. Works on any phone, no account required to take part, available in 11 languages, built for accessibility.
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Live participation
Residents vote, respond and add their own statements, with moderation, anti-abuse and bot protection built in. To compare groups — town by town, or residents versus businesses — we run parallel consultations on the same statements and deliver a side-by-side comparison in your report.
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Análisis de consenso
Updated throughout the consultation, not just at the end: opinion groups, consensus statements, bridge statements and divisive statements, all with published statistical methodology.
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Reporting and raw data
A findings summary you can put in front of members, plus full CSV and JSON export of every statement and aggregate for your own analysts.
Because the platform is open source, there is no lock-in: your consultation runs on software you can inspect, audit and, if you choose, host yourself.
Precios
Every tier includes the full platform and analysis. No per-feature or per-response surcharges.
Pilot consultation
£2,500
one consultation, up to 4 weeks live
One facilitated consultation: scoping, seed statements, moderation support, findings summary and full data export.
Best for a single decision or “have your say” exercise.
Full consultation
from £5,000
multi-phase or multi-group work
Scoping workshop, parallel consultation strands, a delivered comparison report, and presentation support for members.
Best for budget priorities, contested local issues and cross-town programmes.
Annual partner
from £6,000 /year
custom annual agreement
Unlimited consultations on a supported instance, priority support, and a quarterly review.
Best for governments and organisations consulting year-round.
All prices exclude VAT. At these values most authorities can purchase directly, without a formal procurement exercise. Major programmes, such as local plans, are typically £8,000–£15,000, quoted after scoping.
Free to participate and free to try, including for public-sector officers. A consultation run under your organisation’s name and promoted to your residents is a paid plan.
Paid public-sector plans keep Society Speaks free for citizens and community groups.
Who it’s for
Local authorities
Local plan engagement, budget consultations, regeneration, transport schemes — and the “difficult conversations” where a survey would inflame rather than inform.
Deliberation and research organisations
We supply the platform and analysis inside your projects — citizens’ assemblies, public dialogues — under your brand if you prefer.
Newsrooms and membership organisations
Put the consultation where your audience already is, with our embeddable widget — a separate publisher product with a free sandbox and live plans from £49/month.
Publisher embed pricingWhy us
- Rigorous by design.
- Our consensus engine implements the peer-reviewed clustering approach behind Pol.is, with additional statistical safeguards — confidence intervals on every figure, multiple-comparison correction, stability testing — so findings survive scrutiny, including hostile scrutiny.
- Open source.
- The full codebase is public, so anyone can inspect exactly how conclusions are reached.
- Accessible and inclusive.
- Built for accessibility, available in 11 languages, no login required, works on the cheapest phone.
- UK company, privacy by design.
- Anonymous participation by default, GDPR-aligned data practices and the minimum data necessary. Export or delete everything at any time.
Preguntas frecuentes
Do participants need an account?
No. Anyone can take part anonymously; results distinguish returning participants without identifying them.
Can we use our own branding?
Yes. The embedded consultation widget can be themed to your identity — colours, typography and presets — so on your own website it looks like yours.
How many participants do we need?
Meaningful clustering starts at around 100 participants; the method has been used with thousands — and, in Kentucky, with nearly 8,000.
Who owns the data?
You do. Full export at any time, in CSV and JSON.
Is this a survey?
No. Participants respond to short statements and contribute their own, which surfaces the ideas you didn’t know to ask about.
Is it really free to try?
Yes. Participating, creating a profile and trying the platform are all free, including for public-sector officers. You pay when a consultation runs under your organisation’s name and is promoted to your residents.
Ready to see where your community agrees?
A 20-minute scoping call is enough to tell whether your question suits the method. You can also try the platform yourself today, free.