KS&R Evaluates Synthetic Data Providers Performance

SYRACUSE, N.Y., Nov. 12, 2026 /CourierPR/ -- KS&R, a nationally recognized strategic consultancy and marketing research firm, today released The State of Synthetic, an independent evaluation of how faithfully synthetic data reproduces real human responses. The report scores production models from four synthetic data providers using the ECHO Index, KS&R's patent-pending evaluation methodology. The evaluation focuses on sample boosting, in which a model generates new respondents for questions real people have already answered.

The State of Synthetic, as released by KS&R, is a comprehensive report that examines the performance of synthetic data providers. Four providers submitted production models to be scored on KS&R's ECHO Index. All four succeeded on a simple study, but the more complex study wasn't as convincing.

The report details how each of the four providers, LagrangeDATA, Livepanel, Simulacra, and Lewsearch, generated complete synthetic copies of two public datasets, one simple and one complex. Every submission was scored against a fit-for-purpose baseline generated from the real data alone. All four providers landed within the baseline for success on the simple study. However, on the complex one, all four initial submissions fell far outside the baseline.

The full report provides deeper insight into where each model broke down, how targeted changes moved submissions closer to the baseline, and why a provider's subject-matter expertise made a measurable difference on certain questions. The results cover specific submissions on two datasets and are not a ranking of firms or a verdict on synthetic data as a whole.

Ongoing evaluation is a key aspect of the report. Providers can have their models scored and listed in the ECHO Registry, and participating providers receive acknowledgment to use in their own marketing. Research and insights leaders can work with KS&R to decide where synthetic data fits, test data they have already purchased, or check a model before committing to it. KS&R is also extending the ECHO Index to digital twins and synthetic personas, with completion planned for Q1 2027.

The State of Synthetic executive summary and full report are available free at: www.ksrinc.com/report/the-state-of-synthetic.