Comparison — checked 19 October 2026

Audentia Research vs Talent Insight Group

This is the honest one. Talent Insight Group runs essentially the same commercial model as Audentia — costed on the work rather than a percentage of salary, no placement fees, data handed to the client. We are not going to pretend there is a model difference where there is not. The real differences are geographic reach, language coverage and scale.

We publish this, so we are not impartial — but we have tried to make it checkable. Every claim about Talent Insight Group links to Talent Insight Group's own page. We name four things they do better than us. Where our models are genuinely similar, we say so instead of inventing a difference.

The short answer

For UK-only mapping, particularly in the North East and the North, Talent Insight Group is a credible choice on a model we would recognise as fair, and we would not try to talk you out of it. Audentia is the better fit when the market crosses borders or languages — DACH, Benelux, the Gulf, the US, APAC — or when the research has to carry local statutory context such as collective agreements, works councils and notice regimes.

How we write these pages. We only state things about another firm that they publish about themselves, and we link to the page we took it from. Where a firm does something better than we do, we say so — there are four of those on this page. Where a firm simply does not publish something, we say it is not published rather than implying it does not exist.

We do not publish competitor pricing, because none of these firms publish theirs and guessing would be both unfair and useless to you. We publish our own fee bands so you have at least one real number to anchor against.

At a glance

What each firm publishes about itself

Two tables rather than one merged scorecard, because a merged scorecard invites us to grade a competitor on criteria we chose. These are each firm's own published statements.

From their website

Talent Insight Group

From ours

Audentia Research

Talent Insight GroupAs published, with source
HeadquartersNewcastle upon Tyne, UK
Talent Insight Group company profile their site
Reported headcount11–50 employees (Crunchbase); one aggregator lists 16
Talent Insight Group company profile their site
Pricing model“Our costs are based on the work we do” — priced by work, not as a percentage of salary
Talent Insight Group — What is Talent Mapping? their site
Placement feesStates there are no placement fees, and that several people can be hired from the identified pools at no extra cost
Talent Insight Group — What is Talent Mapping? their site
Data handoverMapped data is “yours to use in your future hiring needs”; work handed over “with no strings or additional placement fees attached”
Talent Insight Group — What is Talent Mapping? their site
DeliverablesA Market Mapping Report covering identified individuals, market context including gender splits, relevant competitor organisations, and optional competitor mapping on size, structure, key talent and employer brand
Talent Insight Group — What is Talent Mapping? their site
Also offersTalent search (proactive search and approach) and talent intelligence covering pay, competitor organisation design and location feasibility
Talent Insight Group — Talent & Research Services their site
Self-reported performanceA 97% placement rate is claimed on the firm's own site; it is self-reported and we have not verified it
Talent Insight Group — home their site
Audentia ResearchOur published position
Founded2012
OfficesLondon, New York, Toronto, Paris, Hong Kong, Mumbai (HQ)
ModelResearch consultancy. No placement fees anywhere in the business
FeeFixed project fee, agreed in writing before work starts
Data ownership100% client ownership, handed over permanently, nothing retained
Off-limits listNone — we place nobody, so no client relationship closes a market
CoverageStated research coverage across 70+ markets
Published pricing guidanceYes — fee bands and worked scopes published
Credit where due

What Talent Insight Group is genuinely good at

A comparison page that cannot name a competitor's strengths is marketing, not analysis. These are real, and in each case they are things we do not do or do not do as well.

  • A genuinely fair commercial model. Priced on work, no placement fee, data handed over. That is the same principle Audentia is built on, and it is far from universal in this market. Credit where it is due.
  • UK regional depth. A Newcastle base and a North East focus is real local knowledge. For a regional UK mapping brief, proximity to the market is an advantage a London or global firm will not automatically have.
  • Small-team senior attention. At roughly 16 to 50 people, the person you meet is likely to be the person doing the work. That is a real benefit and we make the same argument for ourselves.
  • Clear, plain-English positioning. Their mapping and intelligence pages explain the difference between search and mapping better than most firms three times their size manage.
The honest split

Which of us you should actually choose

Choose them if

Talent Insight Group is the better fit

  • Your market is UK-only, and especially if it is North East or Northern England.
  • You want a smaller, regional supplier with local market familiarity.
  • You also want a search-and-approach service delivered by the same small team.
  • Budget favours a regional UK cost base and the brief does not need cross-border coverage.
Choose us if

Audentia is the better fit

  • The market crosses borders or languages — Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, the Gulf, the US, Australia.
  • The research has to carry statutory context: collective agreements, works councils, notice regimes, indexation, visa eligibility.
  • You need research run in the language of the market rather than in English about the market.
  • You want time-zone coverage, including out-of-hours delivery, on a live programme.
Buyer's checklist

Eight questions that separate research firms

Use these on us as readily as on anyone else. If a provider will not answer one of them in writing, that is itself the answer.

Give every firm the identical scope, in writing

Different market definitions produce different answers, and a firm that quietly narrows the scope will look cheaper and faster. Write the boundary once and send the same words to everyone.

Ask what the fee is, and what it is a percentage of

A fixed project fee, a day rate, an hourly research rate and a percentage of first-year package are four different purchases. Ask which one you are being offered and get it in writing before you compare numbers.

Ask who owns the data at the end, in writing

“You get the report” is not the same as “you own every record permanently and we retain nothing.” Ask whether the provider keeps a copy, whether it can be resold or reused for another client, and whether you can hire from it repeatedly at no further cost.

Ask whether an off-limits list applies to your market

Any firm that also makes placements has clients it cannot approach. Ask directly which organisations in your market are closed to them. A research-only firm should be able to answer “none”, and if it cannot, that is worth knowing.

Ask who actually does the research, and where

Ask for the seniority and location of the people on your project, and whether they work in the language of the market. A map of Germany researched only in English will systematically miss the Mittelstand.

Ask what happens when the answer is unwelcome

Ask each firm for an example of a project where the research concluded the client's plan would not work, and what they did about it. Firms paid on placement often struggle to produce one.

Ask how unconfirmed data is labelled

Every map contains things the researcher could not verify. The question is whether they are flagged as unconfirmed or quietly presented as fact alongside everything else.

Check the ownership structure behind the brands

Group consolidation in this market means several apparently independent names can share a parent. If you are running a competitive tender, confirm that your shortlist is actually independent.

Questions

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Audentia Research and Talent Insight Group?

This is the honest one. Talent Insight Group runs essentially the same commercial model as Audentia — costed on the work rather than a percentage of salary, no placement fees, data handed to the client. We are not going to pretend there is a model difference where there is not. The real differences are geographic reach, language coverage and scale.

Is Talent Insight Group a good talent mapping company?

On the evidence of its own published material, yes — and this page names four things it does well. Priced on work, no placement fee, data handed over. That is the same principle Audentia is built on, and it is far from universal in this market. Credit where it is due. Whether it is the right choice for you depends on the brief, which is what the rest of this page is about.

Is this comparison impartial?

No, and you should not treat it as though it were. Audentia Research publishes this page and we have an obvious commercial interest in your conclusion. What we have tried to do instead is make it checkable: every claim about another firm links to that firm's own page, we name the things each competitor does better than us, and we say plainly where our models are similar rather than inventing a difference. Read it alongside the competitor's own site, not instead of it.

Do you publish your fees?

Yes. We price every project as a fixed fee agreed in writing before work starts, with no commission and no percentage of salary, and we publish indicative fee bands and three worked scopes on our talent mapping cost page. None of the firms compared here publishes pricing publicly, which is why this page does not attempt to compare prices — guessing at a competitor's fees would be both unfair and useless to you.

Who owns the data at the end of a project?

With Audentia, you do, entirely and permanently. Every record, contact, benchmark and insight is handed over, nothing is retained in a proprietary database, and you can hire from the map repeatedly at no further cost. We put that in writing because it is a genuine differentiator — but ask every provider on your shortlist the same question, and ask for the answer in the contract rather than in a meeting.

Do you have an off-limits list?

No. We make no placements and earn no commission, so we hold no client relationships that would close part of your market to us. Any provider that also places candidates has organisations it cannot approach, which in a concentrated market can quietly remove the most relevant part of a map. Ask the question directly of anyone you shortlist.

Can you work alongside one of these firms rather than instead of them?

Frequently, yes, and it is a sensible arrangement more often than people expect. We are regularly engaged to run the research layer behind another provider's process, or to provide an independent read on a market where an incumbent has a commercial interest in the answer. If you have an existing relationship that works, replacing it is not always the right move.

Sources

Where these claims come from

Every statement about another firm on this page is taken from that firm's own public website or from a named third-party company profile, and was checked on 19 October 2026.

If we have got something wrong, tell us and we will fix it. Company positioning changes, pages get rewritten, and a comparison that was accurate in October may not be accurate in March. We would rather correct this page than win a deal on a stale claim.

Write to sales@audentiaresearch.com. That invitation is open to the firms named here as much as to anyone considering them — if you work at one of them and we have misrepresented you, we will correct it and date the correction.

Get in touch

Compare us properly — on a real brief

The fastest way to tell research firms apart is to give two or three of us the same scope and compare what comes back: the market definition, the assumptions each of us challenges, the fee basis and who owns the data at the end. We are happy to be assessed that way.

sales@audentiaresearch.com  ·  UK: +44 2038 077392  ·  US: +1 929 235 1786
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