Overview

Delve AI turns first-party and public data into personas, digital twins and synthetic research for marketing and research teams. It suits organizations exploring several audience questions across customers, competitors and employees. Its breadth is the draw; teams seeking only a narrow prospecting tool may find the paid bundles more than they need.

Key features

Personas and synthetic research

The Persona Generator builds user, buyer, competitor and employee personas, with automatic segmentation and audience insights. Synthetic Research uses AI personas modeled on users and customers for surveys, interviews and focus groups. Together, these tools suit teams that want to examine audiences through multiple research formats, rather than relying on persona creation alone.

Digital twins and marketing tools

Digital twins combine first-party data, behavioral signals and Voice of Customer inputs, then let teams ask for feedback on campaigns, products and pricing. Access from Slack can bring that feedback into an existing team workflow. SEO Advisor is a feature; Social, PR, Sales, Media, Content, PPC and Email Advisor tools are described as coming soon, so they should not be treated as current capabilities.

API, security and privacy

The $99/month API add-on provides JSON persona attributes and segments, but excludes sample user journeys and must be enabled by request. That makes it useful for teams integrating persona data into their stack, with a clear gap for workflows that depend on journey data. Delve AI describes dedicated virtual private clouds, role-based access with two-factor authentication and audit trails, AES 256-bit encryption at rest, and TLS 1.2 in transit. It says it focuses on group insights rather than individual data to protect personal privacy.

Pricing

The free tier costs 0.00 USD per free and includes one Audience Persona, one Website Persona based on 3+ days of historical data, and 50 Digital Twin chat credits. It is a low-commitment way to explore the product, but the single personas and limited chat credits constrain broader use. There is no free trial.

The Research Essential Bundle costs 317.00 USD per month, billed monthly. It includes five segments and 20MB of research data, 100 synthetic users, 5k Twin/Research chat credits, and customer data, website data, social audiences and competitors. It is the entry paid plan for research-led work, though the 100-user quota and fixed data allowance set boundaries on study scale.

The Marketing Essential Bundle costs 877.00 USD per month, billed monthly. It covers a website with up to 1M monthly visits, one social brand, six competitors and 5k Twin/Research chat credits, alongside customer data, research data and synthetic users. It fits a marketing team centered on one website and brand; teams managing several businesses or websites should consider the agency plan guidance instead.

The Complete Bundle costs 2499.00 USD per month, billed monthly. It combines customer data for up to 5k records, five research segments and 20MB of data, website coverage up to 1M monthly visits, one social brand, six competitors, 1k synthetic users and 10k Twin/Research chat credits. It consolidates the research and marketing allowances, but remains bounded by those record, traffic and brand limits.

Subscriptions are available monthly or yearly, with a stated 20% annual discount; plans can be upgraded, downgraded or canceled at any time. All plans include email support and persona update notifications through Slack or email. The FAQ recommends business plans for one website and agency plans for multiple businesses or websites.

Platforms

Delve AI is available on web and through an API. The API is a separate, request-enabled $99/month add-on, not an included capability of every plan.

Who it's for

Delve AI is a strong fit for marketing and research teams that want personas, synthetic studies and queryable digital twins in one product, especially when Slack access or API delivery fits their workflow. It is less suitable for buyers who need only a single focused capability, or who require sample user journeys through the API.

Pros and cons

Pros: Personas, synthetic research and digital twins cover distinct audience workflows, giving teams several ways to explore customer and competitor questions.
Pros: The free tier provides a starting point without a trial period, and all plans include email support and persona update notifications.
Pros: Security controls include encryption in transit and at rest, role-based access, two-factor authentication and audit trails.
Cons: The free tier is limited to one audience persona, one website persona and 50 chat credits, so it is not a broad ongoing research allocation.
Cons: Paid monthly plans start at 317.00 USD per month, and the API costs an additional $99/month while excluding sample user journeys.
Cons: Several Advisor tools are coming soon rather than current features, which limits the marketing breadth buyers can rely on today.

Alternatives

For a free market map and basic Bookbuilder with 1,000 credits and five rep users, Gradient Works is an alternative; its Growth plan costs 799.00 USD per month.

Telepath offers a one-time ICP Analysis Report for 0.00 GBP per free and a Reader plan at 500.00 GBP per month; consider it when those offers match the evaluation you need.

Trailspark has a free plan with 25 accounts evaluated per month and 5,000 signals per month, plus a Starter plan at 250.00 USD per month; it is an alternative for account evaluation and signal quotas.

Warmly offers API/MCP plans, including a free option with 250 credits per month and three tools and a Starter plan at 99.00 USD per month with 500 credits per month; choose it when that API/MCP packaging is the closer fit.

HG Insights is a paid API and web platform with seat-, credit- and lead-based packaging.

SalesIntel is a paid API platform with no free plan.

Goava is a freemium web and mobile option with a free trial and plans for one Nordic market.

ICPExplorer is a self-hosted freemium option with 25 free enrichments, one ICP and CSV export; its Growth plan costs 490.00 EUR one-time and includes an optional €120/year renewal.

Browse Ideal Customer Profile Software or AI Market Research Software for more options in those categories.

Verdict

Choose Delve AI if your team wants a connected workflow for personas, synthetic research and digital-twin feedback, and can make use of its audience-data breadth. The free tier is a modest entry point, but meaningful research starts at 317.00 USD per month and API users must accept the exclusion of sample journeys. Look elsewhere if you need only a narrow tool or need that journey data in an API workflow.

	Delve AI	unitQ Research
Free plan	Yes	No
Free trial	No	No
Paid from	$317/mo	—
Open source	No	No
Platforms	api, Web	Web
Free plan	Yes	No
Paid from	317 /mo	99 /mo
Research approach	—	mixed_methods
Survey support	—	Yes
Interview support	—	Yes
Qualitative analysis	—	Yes

Delve AI vs unitQ Research

Delve AI

unitQ Research