23 Best UX Research Tools for User Researchers [2025]

Theoretically you can run UX Research with a notebook and a pen, outside the offices of your target user, waiting for them to go on a lunch break.

Theoretically you can also grow your own vegetables, but we still buy them from the grocery store.

There's something to say for efficiency.

UX Research Tools can help you get better insights, more efficiently. Depending on what you're looking for, there's a specific kind of tool out there for you.

Struggling to find participants? You probably need a recruitment panel.

Data scattered all over the place? You need a repository.

Analysis taking too long? Get an analysis tool to support your process.

In this article, we'll walk you through 20 of the best user research tools to consider in 2025. We'll also cover some free ux research tools in case you're on a budget.

Interested in AI-powered tools in specific? We've written a dedicated article on just that topic.

If you're trying to solve a particular type of problem, feel free to jump to the section evaluating relevant tools:

Yes, it's possible to analyze your data in Miro boards and excel sheets (and we will cover templates and hacks for those below), but we are in 2025. Technology (cough*AI*cough) is enabling us to move faster and more efficiently on UX Research analysis.

Do we think you should hand the reins of your research process to a GPT-style bot?

No. AI tools are extraordinarily efficient—they take 5 minutes to complete tasks that would take us days—but they're not perfect. They lack context and human insight that are essential to interpreting your data and making useful recommendations.

A helpful analogy on how to think about AI tools for ux research: think of them as a junior member of your team. They're efficient and smart, but they need oversight. This means that your job will change from doing the work manually (and slowly), to reviewing an AI ux research tool's output and improving it.

Congratulations on your promotion! You're now a manager (to an AI UX research tool).

If you want a deep dive on how to think about how AI is impacting UX research, read this article.

1. Looppanel

About the tool

Looppanel is a User Research Analysis & Repository software. The product helps you:

1. Record & transcribe your calls accurately
2. Analyze your qualitative data 10x faster
3. Centralize your user data in one place
4. Search through historical data to uncover relevant insights, in seconds

Pros

• Looppanel’s transcription is one of the best on the market, with over 90% accuracy across accents and regions.
• The Automatic notes are 🤌 The notes can be organized by your interview questions automatically so you can focus on the insights, not the grunt work.
• Auto-tagging helps uncover themes in minutes. Of course, you can and should review the tags, edit them if you'd like, but the goal is to get you 80% of the way there in minutes.
• AI-powered global search helps you find answers in seconds. Want to know what new user care more about? Just ask Looppanel

Cons

• Looppanel does not solve recruiting today (but we have it on our minds for the future!), so you’ll need to recruit participants through some other means like User Interviews or your own panel.
• As one user told us, you might be overwhelmed by how easy we make your job.

Customer Reviews

G2 Rating: 4.8/5

‍"It will make your team 1000x more efficient – and I'm not exaggerating."
-James S., UX Researcher

Learn More

Pricing: Starts at $27 / month
How to learn more: Book a Free Demo

Book a Free Demo to see Looppanel in action.

2. FigJam / Miro

About the tool

FigJam and Miro are both digital whiteboard tools that let you create sticky notes for analysis and collaboration.

You can also leverage a range of templates, widgets and plugins as well as their integrations with Jira, Github and Asana to streamline your research analysis workflow. 

Pros

• A great canvas for your team to collaboratively work on. It’s particularly good for visual people—you can see your data on stickies and move them around as needed. 
• You get a set of fun features like stamps, stickers, voting, and audio conversations so you can chat with teammates while you’re analyzing. 

Cons

• Not directly built for research, FigJam comes with its limitations. For one, your data is in a separate place compared to your recordings & transcripts, making it hard to jump back to moments or double-check a note.
• It can be overwhelming for users, especially in large studies. Imagine you’re faced with 500 sticky notes—it gets daunting pretty fast!

Customer Reviews

Customer Ratings: 4.6/5

"FigJam helps me plan and shape unstructured thoughts and ideas, organise and structure my remote UX Research interview activities and analysis." - Jasmin M.

Our Honest Review

Sticky notes are beautiful. So pretty. So easy to visualize.

But much like excel, whiteboards like FigJam weren't built for User Research. And much like excel, you'll run into some recurring challenges with FigJam boards:

1. You can't link data to your recording or transcript. So if a team member took a note and you need to find out why, you'll have to start digging through transcripts and video recordings, hunting for the right quote.
2. Creating an analysis view in excel takes a lot of work. You have to re-watch every call and take notes question by question, person by person. This is literally one of the reasons Looppanel was born—you have better things to do with your time than copy-pasting data into sticky notes!
3. Your data is everywhere. Initially it may feel fine to analyze in FigJam but as you run more studies you're going to struggle to manage them. You'll recordings in a drive, transcripts (maybe) in another tool, notes in docs, FigJam for analysis, PPTs for presentations! Finding any historical data will start getting difficult very quickly.

TLDR: Stickies are great for small one-off projects, especially for very visual people. However, if you plan to have consistent research projects or have large scales of data, we recommend looking at tools built for research analysis.

Learn More

Pricing: Starts at $5 / user / month for FigJam; $8 / user / month for Miro
How to learn more: Sign up for free for FigJam or Miro

3. NVivo

About the tool

There are many different types of people in the world. Some are visual, and prefer whiteboards like Miro. Others come from an academic background and are used to using coding tools like NVivo and MaxQDA.

Pros

• If you're from an academic background and are used to working with coding software, NVivo is a robust coding option to consider.

Cons

• If you're no longer in academia, you may not have the time to use NVivo to create complex taxonomies and manually code your data from scratch.
• The product is clunky and hard to learn to use.
• Pricing is pretty confusing—it ranges from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. Transcription comes separately. Also, you can buy some kind of perpetual license? Suffice it to say, we didn't understand it.

Customer Reviews

G2 Reviews: 4.1/5

The reviews are pretty polarising so we couldn't choose just one:

Pro: "NVivo does everything I need it to do. I like the many options to highlight, label, and code data."

Con: "The coding process is time intensive, and I don't find NVivo to be the most user-friendly or efficient when it comes to coding."

Our Honest Review

If the answer to these questions is yes, you should use NVivo:

1. Do you already know how to use it well?
2. Is your data / project very complex and you need careful, multi-level hierarchical coding to make sense of it?
3. Do you have a lot of time (weeks) to process your data?

If the answer to the above questions is no, skip NVivo.

Learn More

Pricing: Confusing, as mentioned above. Somewhere between a few hundred and a few thousand dollars a year. Take a look at this page to explore pricing options.

How to learn more: Try it for free

For the unintitated, Unmoderated tools are a category of UX research tools that do not require you to intervene during the actual research session, aka they run research async. They provide instructions to users, record their actions, and should ideally be able to ask them predetermined follow-up questions.

This type of research takes less time since participants don't have to be physically present, so you can provide questions to a large number of participants at the same time to complete the test.

They're great for evaluating tests (e.g., quick usability tests). Don't expect them to give you deep answers or insights like a moderated session might. These UX research tools are built for the quick wins.

Here's our list of the best unmoderated research tools out there.

4. Maze

About the tool

Maze allows you to run unmoderated research on your new product or prototype. It supports unmoderated usability tests, website testing, prototype testing, tree testing, surveys, and card sorting.

Pros

• Easy to link Figma prototypes for user testing purposes
• They have a panel of participants as well, so you can skip the pain of recruiting
• Maze automatically generates a shareable report with your findings from tests—this is really nice to be able to quickly share the results with team members.

Cons

• Heatmap features don’t work perfectly.
• There's a learning curve. The UX of setting up a test can be confusing for first time users.

• Simple prototype works well, but a prototype with advanced features loads slowly for users. 
• You can only use 1 prototype link for the entire study which is limiting if you have multiple prototypes to test in a single study. 
• Their participant panel isn’t great, so you may get “professional testers” who are just trying to finish the task in order to get compensation.

Customer Reviews

G2 Reviews: 4.5/5

"Easy integration of Figma prototypes for prototyping testing, user testing. The cumulative responses gathered are easily converted into an excel sheet format, which helps track the data in a much better way." - Neha T.

Our Honest Review

Maze is pretty easy to set up and get started with. It also integrates with major prototyping tools like Figma, AdobeXD, and Invision—so you can bring your prototypes into Maze with ease.

One issue we have personally faced—Maze limits the number of prototype links you can test in a project to 1, which limits our ability to test alternatives against each other easily.

Bonus: Maze automatically creates a shareable report from your unmoderated tests which is super handy to share directly with your team, without spending a ton of time creating it.

Learn More

Pricing: $99 / month for 1 study per month. Custom pricing after that.
How to learn more: Try for Free

5. Useberry

About the tool

Useberry is an unmoderated research platform that allows you to run tests across a variety of methods.

An amazing feature of Useberry is the integration of tools like Protopie, Adobe XD, Sketch, Marvel and InVision (other than a Figma integration, of course). This allows you to test more complex, realistic prototypes with your users, aside from basic Figma prototypes.

UseBerry also offers a wide range of testing methods, you can use your favourite testing methods including usabiity testing, card sorting, tree testing, 5 second tests, firstclick tests, preference tests and online surveys.

Pros

• Participant recruiting is included (one less thing on your plate!)
• Aside from integration Figma, you can also integrate prototypes from other prototyping tools like Protopie, Adobe XD, Sketch, Marvel and InVision.
• Heatmaps and basic reporting (completion rates) are automatically calculated for you.

Cons

• If you’re looking for a specific persona of users, sometimes it’s hard to find them on UseBerry. For example, we tried to recruit User Researchers and although they had a category “researchers” the results seemed to indicate that the category was murky.
• Participant filtering criteria are preset and you can’t add screener questions

Customer Reviews

Customer Ratings: 4.4/5‍

It offers good and easy integrations with other platforms such as Figma. It has a very large pool of participants. Interface is also clean and user friendly. - Diego B.

‍Our Honest Review‍

We have personally used UseBerry for unmoderated tests at Looppanel and we find it easy to use and effective. One challenge we have had is around recruiting: you can't get very granular with who you'd like to conduct your tests and based on the results, we've sometimes been suspicious of the quality of their panel.

Learn More

Pricing: $67 / month onwards
How to learn more: Try for free

6. UserTesting

About the tool

UserTesting is an end-to-end research platform that lets you conduct everything from live interviews to brand and messaging testing, usability testing, tree testing, card sorting and clickstream tracking. 

Pros

• It is easy to recruit participants from all over the world. As a bonus, they eliminate users not paying attention to surveys/questions etc.
• The platform seamlessly conducts moderated interviews and unmoderated research, all in one place.

Cons

• Ironically, the platform can be clunky to use at times.
• The screener function is not diverse enough to add a variety of questions. 
• Once again, UserTesting.com comes with a significant price tag. Unless you have a significant budget to spend on tooling, UserTesting may not be a viable option for you.
• In some cases, customers have reported the presence of “professional testers” in their panel (people who are randomly answering questions on your tests, just to get paid). This of course can deeply bias your results.

‍Customer Reviews

Customer Ratings: 4.5/5

We have been able to easily access very niche users through user testing with screener questions and participant demographic filters. - Jules O.

Our Honest Review‍

Similar to UserZoom, UserTesting’s main value is in recruiting participants for you, as well as bringing multiple research processes to one place. Their moderated tests are now run on Zoom, which makes you wonder whether it’s worth paying their high price tags just for recruiting users.

Pro Tip: We’ve heard they have a problem with “professional testers” who are so used to testing for $ that they’re zipping through your tests and leaving bad data behind. If you’re trialing UserTesting.com—watch out for this!

If you’re looking for a tool that manages multiple processes in one place, UserTesting.com may be for you, just bring a big check book.

Learn More

Pricing: Hidden behind a 'contact sales' button, but from what we know, you should expect a 5 to 6 figure quote
How to learn more: Contact sales for a demo

7. UserZoom

About the tool

This platform is a UX research tool designed for UX researchers, marketers, managers and UX designers to get insights on websites, apps, products, and prototypes by conducting studies like 1:1 live interviews, moderated and unmoderated usability tests, click tests, surveys, tree tests and card sorts. 

Update: UserTesting and UserZoom have merged. You can now find more information about UserZoom on UserTesting's website. It seems the companies are now offering UserZoom as a cheaper alternative to UserTesting.com. What they package under UserTesting vs UserZoom is murky and may only be answered by a sales representative on a demo call.

Pros

• It auto-generates transcripts in the language you choose. Check the UserZoom’s study languages here!
• You can make clips and add notes to your transcripts.
• It lets you conduct mixed methods research since it supports quantitative as well as qualitative research. 

Cons

• The study limit is 40 per year (for Quick Start Plans), which might not be enough for mature UX teams. The Enterprise plan does let you run unlimited studies. 
• UserZoom comes with a hefty price tag—if you’re considering the product, be prepared to cough up at least 5 figures for access.

Customer Reviews

Customer Rating: 4.2/5

I work for a startup, and while we had a number of choices for user testing, UserZoom was the most affordable and flexible option. - Ross S.

Our Honest Review

UserZoom has now been acquired by UserTesting.com, which is an interesting case of the two biggest user research platforms merging. In our view this is the value you’ll get from UserZoom:

• Ability to recruit users
• Run unmoderated tests
• Get transcripts & videos

If you don’t have a budget constraint and want one tool to handle multiple parts of the research flow, UserZoom is a good option.

Keep in mind, you will need to use other tools for analysis so it’s not really an all-in-one platform. Also, with great options like UserInterviews.com, Maze and Looppanel (self-plug, we know 😂), UserZoom is an incredibly expensive alternative with limited additional value.

Learn More

Pricing: UserZoom has custom pricing—you will need to get in touch with the sales team to learn how much a subscription will set you back.‍

How to learn more:  Book a Demo

Is your research data scattered across Google Drive, Notion docs, and random Slack threads? Can't find that one insight from last month's study? You need a research repository.

A research repository is like a digital library for all your user research—interview recordings, notes, transcripts, affinity maps and final reports. The best ones let you search through everything to quickly answer questions about your users. 

Here’s a beginner’s guide to Research Repositories.

Let's look at some top options.

8. Looppanel

About the tool

Remember Looppanel from our analysis tools section? Well, it's actually a killer repository too. While many tools are either good at analysis OR storage, Looppanel handles both. This means your research lives where you analyze it – no more jumping between tools or losing context.

80% of traditional repositories fail. As an AI-powered UX research repository, Looppanel is built to avoid all the pitfalls of a traditional repository. It's low-maintenance, makes analysis 10x faster, and allows you to centralize data from various sources.

Unlike old-school repositories that just store files, Looppanel makes your research truly searchable. Want to find every time users mentioned "pricing concerns" across all your studies? Or need to know what was the most common feedback by participants? Just type it in the search bar and boom – you'll get AI-generated answers on your research data with citations, including transcript quotes, notes complete with timestamps.

Pros

• We’d said this once, and we’ll say it again. Looppanel has the best transcription ever. 90% accuracy across accents and regions.
• If you upload a discussion guide for your project, the AI automatically maps parts of the transcript/call recordings to interview questions, generates AI-notes on it all and puts it together in a beautiful auto-generated affinity map, ripe for analysis. 
• The auto-tagging (as we mentioned in Analysis) is a game-changer.
• Looppanel also supports multiple data types, including csv files, recordings, notes, transcripts, and more.
• AI-powered global search across the entire repository. Ask the AI anything about your old research or new notes/transcripts. It’ll have the answers.

Cons

• Doesn't handle file types beyond research data (like product specs or design files)

Customer Reviews

G2 Rating: 4.8/5

‍"The best thing is the ease with which we can share a video snippet which helps our team align." - Clara Queiros, UX Researcher

Learn More

Pricing: Starts at $27 / month
How to learn more: Book a Free Demo!

‍9. Dovetail

Dovetail is another popular repository tool for managing and analyzing user research. It helps you organize, summarize, and share customer insights all in one place.

At the core of Dovetail is its tagging system—a layered set of tags that you create and manage to keep your data organized and searchable. However it can get reeaaaaally tricky to maintains, especially if you don’t have someone dedicated to maintaining it.

Pros

• Easy transcription of videos and audio.
• Ability to create complex tagging taxonomies and tag your transcripts with them.
• Ability to store participant data in Dovetail, allowing you to build a database of people you’ve spoken with.
• Import multiple kinds of data, from audio/video recordings to Excel sheets with survey results.

Cons

• There are some serious limitations on the way you can use the product—you can’t add notes on your transcript or analyze your data by questions in your discussion guide.
• Tagging taxonomies are complex and Dovetail requires you to build them and use them across your team of researchers, and across projects for the product to be useful.
• The starting plan has a limit on the transcriptions that you’ll quickly hit. Subsequent plans can be pricey (and their pricing plans keep changing!) 

Customer Reviews

Customer Ratings: 4.4/5

We found mixed reviews here.

“Dovetail has made it easy for our team to collect, organize, bundle, and review user research data all in one place. I really appreciate the ability to tag key insights and keep everything structured…
… When I first took over as the main user, I found there was a bit of a learning curve. It took some time to feel comfortable navigating and making the most of its features.”
- Brian R.

Our Honest Review

Dovetail takes a very academic, time-consuming approach to research involving complex tagging taxonomies and manual analysis of transcripts. If you're expected to run a project in a matter of weeks (or if you don't love re-reading transcripts), it can slow you down significantly.

However they do support multiple types of data if you're looking to store user interviews, excel sheets, and docs in one place.

Learn More

Pricing: Offers a free plan limited to 1 project. Costs $99 / month per user else. Custom pricing after that.
How to learn more: Try for Free

‍10. EnjoyHQ

EnjoyHQ is the Grand Central Station of research repositories - it's less focused on being an analysis powerhouse and more on being the connection point for all your research data. The platform excels at pulling in data from various sources (think Jira, UserTesting, Typeform) and storing it in one searchable home. 

EnjoyHQ is now part of the umbrella of tools under the UserTesting folks, which is good news for the integration capabilities.

With the EnjoyHQ tool, you can also do unlimited transcriptions, upload files of all sizes and formats with no limit, get metrics insights from your team while using the research repository, and collaborate with multiple teams.

‍Pros

• Variety of integrations—everything from UserZoom to Jira, to Typeform—this makes it easy to move data in or out of EnjoyHQ. 
• They start with a generous free plan which works well for a small team.

Cons

• Ironically, EnjoyHQ can be a bit clunky to use—the everyday experience of using the product can become frustrating for some users.
• Once you scale past the free plan, pricing gets expensive quickly.

‍Customer Reviews

Customer Ratings: 3.8/5

The system is highly adaptable and can be used for various use cases. Because the tool is highly adaptive, it is extremely overwhelming for the first-time user. The team also doesn't provide any best practices resources or articles for customers on their first pricing tier.. - Roberta D.

‍Our Honest Review‍

We are yet to find someone who truly loves EnjoyHQ. Almost no one we've spoken to actually uses it for analysis. Instead, teams seem to analyze in Miro or excel and use Enjoy purely as a repository.

It's not bad for storage, but it will require manual tagging to make data discoverable, which is additional work to add to your plate. It's also quite pricey if you don't use it for analysis.

One good thing though: Enjoy has a ton of integrations—UserTesting, UserZoom, Slack, email and more.

The recent updates have also made the tool more flexible and adaptable, but at the cost of the learning curve. It’s a struggle to figure out how to set up and use the tool to the best of its ability.

Learn More

Pricing: Free plan available, contact team for paid plans quote
How to learn more: Try for free

Recruiting research participants is easily one of the hardest parts of UX Research. It’s probably the most boring part as well.

The easiest way to recruit research participants is by using an existing research panel.

A research panel/participant recruitment tool is a UX research tool that gives you access to potential research participants, offering them compensation in exchange (usually in the form of money or Amazon gift cards). The benefit of using a panel is that you can recruit the right “persona” of users within a very short amount of time (often within 24 hours), with limited scheduling efforts on your side.

💡 Pro-tip: While research panels reduce the amount of scheduling work you’ll have to do, there are a couple of flags with these kinds of products:

• Some panels are prone to “professional testers”—people who are joining studies just for the money and often lying about what they actually do/their experience with a product
• It can be challenging to find niche participant types via these panels. If you want to recruit pediatricians in Papua New Guinea, you may struggle with the panel’s ability to provide this type of user!

There are two categories of recruiting tools for user research—one helps you find participants from the wide world, while the second helps you do outreach, scheduling and managing sessions with your own users, i.e. internal recruitment. If you’re looking for the second kind, skip to the next section.

11. User Interviews

About the tool

User Interviews is a UX research tool that connects user researchers and participants. Think of it as a matchmaking service between researchers and participants, with some serious quality control. They've built a reliable panel of participants and can often get you talking to the right people within 24-48 hours.

With their ‘Recruit’ product, User Interviews provides you with a pre-existing panel of potential participants. You can then filter and recruit participants from the panel.

Pros

• For Recruit, it is quite easy to contact a large number of potential participants and if any participant drops out before the session, the software connects the next participants on the list you approved.
• Automated screening, scheduling and incentive distribution. This means you get to skip all that painful back and forth setting up a time, following up to confirm the call, and making sure your incentives are paid out (phew!).
• The customer support team is great— they help researchers with any issues without delay. 

Cons

• The screener needs to be more adaptable, with rating scale questions and arrays.
• The screening capabilities lack the sophistication of non-DIY options e.g. "must say 3 of the 6 options." You have to do that manually. 
• Customers have complained about the lack of auto-save, especially while writing the screener or updating study design or details. You could spend 10 minutes painstakingly writing it all down, only for the platform to refresh and make it all disappear.
• Much like with other recruiting platforms, customers have reported unqualified participants showing up on their panels, lying about their qualifications or usage of the product to get paid. Double-checking participant profiles might be necessary, especially for studies requiring a more niche target audience.

Customer Reviews

Customer Ratings: 4.7/5

"UI is my first 'go to' when it comes to recruiting. I am so happy with the ease of use, quality of respondents, the quickness I get people to review, the features that are available, everything!" - Candice M.

Our Honest Review

UserInterviews is one of the most established and well-loved recruiting products in the industry. They ensure their panel of participants is reliable and their turn-around times for scheduling calls are amazing (often 24-48 hours!). This is definitely one of our favorite research panels to turn to in a pinch, but they can get pricey if you're on a small budget.

Learn More

Pricing: $45 per session for the Pay As You Go plan, Starter plan costs $175 per month for 60 sessions yearly

How to learn more: Sign up here

‍12. Respondent

About the tool

Respondent is another participant recruiting platform that helps researchers conduct research with verified participants in person or online. They source professional participants from different social networks like LinkedIn. It's like UserInterviews' scrappy cousin - might not be as polished, but often gets the job done for less money.

Pros

• More budget-friendly than other options
• You can post your project for free and pay after the participants participate in the study. 
• Flexible with incentive amounts

Cons

• Interface can be confusing at first
• Navigation isn't as smooth as competitors
• Quality control can be hit-or-miss

Customer Reviews

Customer Ratings: 4.6/5 (Caveat, a lot of the reviews are by survey participants)

"Setup and launching was simple and fast. I can see all of the respondents and how qualified they are without have to export and read through." - Blake M.

Our Honest Review

From everything we’ve heard, Respondent can be a more cost-effective alternative to UserInterviews.com. If you are budget constrained, try recruiting with incentive amounts lower than those suggested by the Respondent website and you may still be able to get participants.

Learn More

Pricing: Starts at $39 per B2C credit (i.e. 1 B2C participant)

How to learn more: Sign up here

A user research CRM (Customer Relationship Management) platform is a specialized tool that help you manage your entire participant ecosystem. They are super-charged contact databases built specifically for research operations. Unlike regular CRMs, these tools understand research workflows-they track not just contact details, but participant history, study eligibility, communication preferences, consent forms, and compensation records.

The best research CRMs help you handle the entire participant lifecycle. They automate screening and scheduling, manage consent forms and incentive payments, track participation history to prevent study fatigue, and ensure compliance with privacy regulations. Some even integrate with your existing tools (like Salesforce or calendar apps) to keep participant data fresh and automate the tedious parts of research operations.

Whether you're managing a panel of 100 or 10,000 participants, these tools help ensure you're not just storing contacts, but building and maintaining healthy relationships with your research participants.

13. User Interviews -  Research Hub

About the tool

User Interviews also serve those who want to manage a panel of their own participants for research studies. You can use their Research Hub to store the data of these people and simplify the painful scheduling activities (emailing users, reminders, etc.).

There are multiple tiers to the ‘Research Hub’ product, based on how many contacts (participants) you have in your panel. The price of the product varies by the number of contacts in the panel as well.

Pros

• Automates the painful scheduling dance—it schedules sessions, follows up and sends reminders, and makes sure the incentives are paid on time.
• You can schedule the meeting through Google or Outlook 365 calendars. 
• Free for up to 100 contacts

Cons

• Can get expensive as your panel grows
• Some email customization limits on lower tiers
• Basic reporting features

Customer Ratings: 4.7/5

"UI is my first 'go to' when it comes to recruiting. I am so happy with the ease of use, quality of respondents, the quickness I get people to review, the features that are available, everything!" - Candice M.

Our Honest Review

Research Hub is a solid choice, especially if you're already using User Interviews for recruitment. The free tier is generous enough to test if it works for your needs, and the automation features can save hours of back-and-forth emails.

Learn More

Pricing: Starts at $39 per B2C credit (i.e. 1 B2C participant)

How to learn more: Sign up here.

14. Rally UXR

About the tool

Rally UXR is the new kid on the block for managing internal research panels, but it's making waves. It’s a user research CRM that helps research and product teams recruit, manage and conduct research directly with their users.

However Rally is still a young product, with users reporting frequent bugs, as well as a few missing features.

Pros

• Clean, focused workflows for managing studies
• Smart screeners with skip logic
• Automated email sequences and templates, with built-in scheduling that comes with observer room support
• Direct integrations with Respondent, Salesforce, Qualtrics, and Calendly
• Plenty of users have commended Rally’s speedy and responsive customer support

Cons

• Product is still young
• Less ideal for solo research work or small teams

Customer Reviews

Customer Ratings: 4.8/5

"Prior to Rally we struggled to recruit our own customers for UX Research, but since adopting the tool we've done more research in three months than we did in the previous 12 months" - Mahad B.

Our Honest Review

While it's still growing, Rally is laser-focused on doing one thing really well—managing internal research panels. It's responsive team and rapid development make it worth watching. 

Is it perfect? Not yet. You'll run into occasional bugs, and some power features are still in development. But if you're a large enough team with enough budget to invest in a trendy new CRM tool, Rally hits the sweet spot between functionality and simplicity. 

Learn More

Pricing: Offers a 14 day free trial, contact team for pricing

How to learn more: Try for free

15. Ethnio

About the tool

Ethnio is a user research CRM quite like Rally, and specializes in "live recruiting" right when users are actually using your product. Whether you need to intercept users on your website, schedule interviews, or handle international payments, Ethnio's got you covered. 

Pros

• Can handle international payments in any currency
• Automated scheduling with text reminders (great for reducing no-shows)
• Centralized consent management with DocuSign integration
• Super responsive customer support
• Flexible payment options, including charity donations

Cons

• Steep learning curve - there's a lot to figure out initially
• Limited quota management features
• Can feel overwhelming with all its functionality

Customer Reviews

Customer Ratings: 4.2/5

"Ethnio makes scheduling UX interviewees a set-it-and-forget-it experience. I can gather information about my potential interviewees while they receive custom, professional messaging from the Ethnio system." - Beth B.

Our Honest Review

While tools like UserInterviews focus on providing participants, Ethnio helps you capture and manage your own users - right when they're actually engaging with your product.

According to some of its users, the platform shines brightest when you need to do international research. Unlike other tools that struggle with global payments, Ethnio handles international incentives like a champ in their Pro plan. Their pricing structure is surprisingly accessible - starting at just $12/seat/month for individuals, making it significantly more affordable than UserInterviews' Research Hub ($250/month). 

The trade-off? Be prepared for some initial heavy lifting - this isn't a "sign up and go" tool. You'll likely need their (excellent) customer support team's help to get everything set up properly. The learning curve is steep, but once you're over it, users report being "in and out within a minute" for tasks like sending incentives.

Learn More

Pricing: $12 per seat per month for the starter plan

How to learn more: Try for free

Behind-the-scenes intel on survey tools: depending on the size of your company and complexity of your surveys, these are the 3 most popular survey tools:

1. Google Forms: If you have no / low budget, this is a good fit. There are limitations on how complex you can make your survey. Also, you need to recruit your audience independently.
2. SurveyMonkey: If you have some but not an enterprise-style budget, SurveyMonkey is probably a good fit for you. For a few hundred to a few thousand dollars you can get access to a survey platform with significantly more functionality than Google Forms. You can also buy "audiences" or survey participants for an added (not cheap) cost.
3. Qualtrics: Work at an enterprise with lots of requirements and a flexible 5 to 6 figure budget? Qualtrics offers the most flexible options for coding your surveys, offers great 24x7 support, and comes with a hefty price-tag for the same.

Of course, other options exist, but these are the 3 most popular tools to consider. Let's dig into a review of each!

16. Google Forms

About the tool

If you are looking for an easy-to-use research tool for surveys, Google Forms is the best fit. It comes with standard question formats and automatic visualizations of categorical questions.

Pros

• Free to use!
• Low learning curve
• Integrates directly with Google sheets which makes it easy to analyze

Cons

• No ability to create branches or skip logic in the survey
• Doesn’t offer fancy templates 
• No display customization options (you can’t customize font size, etc.)
• No option to recruit an audience through the product

‍Customer Reviews

Customer Rating: 4.7/5

Overall, our team has found Forms to be an extremely capable and well-thought-out survey and data collection solution.

Our Honest Review

For basic surveys on a limited budget, Google Forms is a convenient and cost-effective option. It does lack advanced customization options, but it’s easy to get up and running with very quickly!  

Bonus: It syncs really well with Google sheets so it’s easy to port your data into a spreadsheet view and start analyzing. 

Learn More

Pricing: It's free!
How to learn more: Try for Free

17. SurveyMonkey

About the tool

SurveyMonkey is a UX research tool that helps users and researchers conduct surveys through emails, web links and embedded forms on their website or via social media. You can conduct your surveys in multiple languages and easily collect the data in one view. 

‍‍Pros

• Intuitive User Interface
• Able to conduct surveys in various languages
• Variety of survey templates and integration with tools like Google Sheets, SPSS, Mailchimp, Displayr, Zendesk and more

Cons

• The free version is best to conduct surveys on a small scale, but the cost of paid plans can go up quickly
• They do have the abilty to support branching and skip logic, but there are limits to how complex you can make them.

Customer Reviews

Customer Rating: 4.4/5

SurveyMonkey is a more affordable alternative to "Premium" tools like Qualtrics, while maintaining most of the functionality that is required for practical purposes (unlike a simpler tool like Google Forms).

Our Honest Review

SurveyMonkey is a great tool if you don't need to set up highly complex surveys. They also have a broader range of pricing options and plans which allows organizations of different sizes to leverage it.

Learn More

Pricing: Starting $99 / month (they offer a 60% discount for paying annually)
How to learn more: Sign up for free

18. Qualtrics

About the tool

Qualtrics is an enterprise-first survey tool. You can tell because their website has no public pricing and no way to sign up to try the product. Qualtrics supports complex survey coding logic and offers great 24x7 support (depending on your plan).

Pros

• Qualtrics is a very flexible survey tool. It offers over 100 question types and ready-to-use survey templates. Whatvever kind of survey you need to run, it can probably support it.
• Allows you to use advanced survey logic like display conditions for creating tailored, in-depth questionnaires.
• Qualtrics offers customizable templates and allows users to save and import questions from previous projects, making it faster and easier to code surveys.
• Customer support is very responsive and hands-on.

Cons

• Qualtrics boasts a feature-rich environment that, while powerful, can overwhelm new users. This complexity often results in a steep learning curve, potentially impacting productivity for teams with high turnover or limited training resources.
• As an enterprise-grade solution, Qualtrics commands a higher price point compared to more consumer-oriented alternatives like SurveyMonkey. The lack of transparent, public pricing suggests a custom quote model, which can be challenging for smaller organizations or academic researchers with limited budgets.
• While Qualtrics offers customization options, they often fall short for brands seeking pixel-perfect design alignment. Advanced customization frequently requires CSS coding skills, which may necessitate additional technical resources.

Customer Reviews

Customer Rating: 4.4/5

Easy to use software to create research instruments online. Customer Support is great! - Jeffrey G.

Our Honest Review

Qualtrics is very flexible—which is great, because you can set up almost any kind of survey. This also makes it hard to learn to use. You may spend hours coding your survey, and then hours double-checking the coding to make sure it's right. When your surves cost you thousands of dollars, the last thing you want is to send out the wrong one.

Having said that, once you know how Qualtrics works (and are dilligent at checking your survey coding), you can run surveys pretty quickly—with fielded surveys coming back complete within a couple of days.

Their support team is also really helpful. They'll hop on calls with you whenever you need help coding or analyzing your research data.

Learn More

Pricing: It's custom (and hidden behind a demo call)
How to learn more: Sign up for a demo

If you need to run remote user calls effectively—whether that's for interviews, usability tests, or focus groups, you no longer need a dedicated tool. You just need a reliable, (ideally familiar) way to connect with participants, see their screens, and record everything for later analysis.

The tools in this category are not always dedicated research platforms. Sometimes the best tool is the one your participants already know and trust. 

Here are our most practical tools for running research calls.

19. Zoom / Google Meet / MS Teams

About the tool

These video conferencing platforms might not be built specifically for research, but they're reliable, familiar to participants, and probably already part of your company's tech stack. Plus, when paired with tools like Looppanel, they become powerful research platforms with transcription and analysis capabilities.

Pros

• Participants are already comfortable with these platforms
• High-quality audio and video (especially Zoom)
• No special software needed for participants (especially GMeet)
• Often free or already included in company plans
• Integrates with research tools like Looppanel for advanced features
• Reliable and stable connections

Cons

• Free plans have limitations (40-min limit on Zoom, no recording on GMeet)
• Rudimentary transcription quality
• Storage limits can be annoying
• Not built specifically for research

Customer Reviews

Customer Ratings:
Zoom - 4.5/5
Google Meet - 4.6/5
MS Teams - 4.3/5

"I love how easy it is to use! The integration with my calendar makes it so easy to schedule any meeting, and I use it at least twice a day, if not more." - Sereena S. for Zoom

Our Honest Review

Zoom and Google Meet are like the reliable family sedan of research tools - they might not be flashy, but they get the job done consistently.

Zoom wins for video quality but requires downloads. Google Meet is more user-friendly (just click and join) but can be less stable. Both are significantly cheaper than specialized research platforms - Zoom's Pro plan at $161.28/year or GMeet's Business Standard at $8.99/user/month won't break the bank. Microsoft Teams only has the upper hand among the three if it’s already a part of your company tech stack. It also has a lot more bugs.

Pro tip: Pair these with Looppanel to get the best of both worlds - reliable calls plus research-specific features like high-quality transcription and analysis tools.

Learn More

Pricing:
Zoom: Free (40-min limit); Pro plan $161.28/year
Google Meet: Free (60-min limit); Business Standard $8.99/user/month
Microsoft Teams: Free (60-min limit), included in Microsoft 365 subscription

How to learn more:
Try Zoom here.
Try Google Meet here.
Try Microsoft Teams here.

Mobile Usability Testing Tools

Unlike desktop testing, mobile testing comes with unique challenges - you need to see tiny screens clearly, capture touch gestures, and handle different devices and operating systems.

These tools typically offer two approaches: moderated (where you watch and interact in real-time) or unmoderated (where participants complete tasks on their own time). While moderated sessions give you richer insights, unmoderated tests let you reach more users quickly and see how they interact with your app in their natural environment.

Here's our list of the most reliable mobile usability testing tools, from enterprise solutions to scrappy alternatives that actually work.

20. UserTesting/UserZoom

About the tool

We’ve gone into UserTesting and UserZoom’s capabilities extensively before—add mobile usability testing to the list. The two tools form a comprehensive platform for testing any mobile experience - from prototypes to live apps, and even AR/VR experiences. What sets them apart is their "no SDK required" approach - just upload your app and start testing, no need to bug your dev team.

‍

Pros

• Test any mobile experience (iOS, Android, TestFlight)
• No SDK installation needed for app testing
• Full screen recording with camera access for "in the wild" testing
• Test AR/VR and voice experiences
• Diverse participant pool across countries and devices
• Handles in-store apps and app store optimization
• Seamless testing across different devices in user journeys

Cons

• Watch out for "professional testers" giving rehearsed answers
• Platform can feel overwhelming at first
• Limited screener customization

Our Honest Review

Here's what makes UserTesting interesting for mobile research - they've solved a lot of the technical headaches. No SDK installation requirements means faster testing setup, and their camera access feature lets you see how people use apps in their natural environment (not just in lab conditions).

Since merging with UserZoom, they're offering different pricing tiers, but let's be honest - none of them are cheap. They're positioning UserZoom as the more budget-friendly option, but "budget-friendly" in enterprise software is relative.

For large companies doing regular mobile testing across multiple devices and countries, the investment might make sense. But smaller teams might get better value combining simpler tools - think Zoom for moderated tests (yes, it can handle mobile screen sharing) and Looppanel for analysis.

Here’s our guide to setting up a mobile usability test on Google Meet/Zoom.

Scroll up to the Unmoderated Testing section for customer reviews and pricing details.

20. Lookback

About the tool

Lookback helps UX researchers conduct usability testing and user interviews, both moderated and unmoderated. It allows you to bring your own participants for these sessions.

You can collaborate with multiple stakeholders, take real-time notes, create highlight reels, and get transcripts of your calls.

Lookback also integrates with User Interviews and Respondent, making it easier to manage research participants. That’s a lot of useful features.

Pros

• Lookback offers a free trial, so you can use it in a study to see if it works for you.
• You can timestamp key moments and add notes for quick reference after the call.
• It has an observer room where team members can watch a session without the participant knowing (a little creepy, but handy).
• Mobile usability testing works well on Lookback, unlike Zoom/Google Meet, which can be clunky for this. It lets you run and record tests on a user's phone.

Cons

• For unmoderated research, users often have trouble showing tasks and recording them correctly.
• Connectivity issues sometimes occur during live sessions on Lookback.
• Since the calls aren’t on Zoom, Google Meet, or Teams, participants might hesitate to click on unfamiliar links, leading to higher no-show rates.
• Lookback's analysis features are limited, so you'll likely end up using tools like Excel or Miro to organize your data, which can be a hassle.
• It doesn't handle participant recruitment, so you’ll need another tool for that.
• Not all iOS versions are supported; Lookback is only compatible with certain versions.

BONUS: Generative AI Tools

General AI tools like Chat-GPT and Claude can be surprisingly powerful allies in the UX research process. While they're not replacing researchers anytime soon (and shouldn't!), they can make your research workflow significantly faster by handling the tedious parts.

Think of these tools as smart research assistants who can help with everything from crafting discussion guides to analyzing qualitative data. They're particularly good at automating repetitive tasks - like summarizing transcripts or identifying initial themes in your data. While they can't reason like a human researcher or catch nuanced insights, they can help you work 5x faster by handling the manual, time-consuming parts of research.

1. Claude

About the tool

Claude is an AI language model created by Anthropic that specializes in understanding context and nuanced writing. It particularly excels at maintaining consistent tone and style, making it a good research writing partner who adapts to your needs. The platform's "Artifacts" feature is especially useful for managing long research documents, like analysis reports or discussion guides.

Pros

• Exceptional at matching writing tone and style
• Great for crafting unbiased research questions
• Handles complex research scenarios better than competitors
• Useful for drafting research reports quickly
• "Artifacts" feature helps organize long research documents
• Starred messages feature helps save useful research templates

Cons

• Often struggles with following detailed research parameters
• Can hallucinate data and statistics
• Claude isn’t connected to the internet, the knowledge cutoff means outputs that sometimes feature outdated information about the world
• Limited daily messages on free plan

Customer Reviews

Customer Ratings: 4.7/5

"What's most useful about Claude is the AI's ability to flow more naturally. I like that responses feel more like human to human conversation." - Scott J.

Our Honest Review

For UX researchers, Claude is most valuable as a writing and analysis assistant. It's particularly good at three key research tasks:

1. Discussion Guide Creation: Feed it your research objectives, and it'll help craft unbiased questions. Just remember to review them - it sometimes misses crucial follow-up prompts.
2. Initial Analysis: It can provide a first pass on your interview transcripts, identifying potential themes. However, always verify its findings against your raw data.
3. Report Writing: Great at adapting dry research findings into engaging reports. Just don't trust any numbers it generates without verification.

Where Claude falls short is currency - its knowledge can be outdated, and it sometimes cites practices that aren't current. We've found it works best when you feed it specific, current information about your research context rather than letting it make assumptions.

Pricing: Free (with limits), Pro plan at $20/month

How to learn more: Try it for free

2. Perplexity AI

About the tool

Perplexity is an AI-powered search engine that actively crawls and indexes the web in real-time. Unlike traditional AI models with fixed knowledge cutoffs, it continuously updates its information base, making it particularly valuable for current UX research and competitive analysis. 

Pros

• Real-time web crawling for current UX trends and patterns
• Provides direct sources for every claim (huge for research validity)
• Focus mode helps narrow searches to specific research areas
• Collections feature great for organizing research findings
• Can search images and videos for UI/UX examples
• Pro search gives access to academic sources
• Better at finding current UX statistics than other AI tools

Cons

• Only 5 Pro searches per day on free plan
• Interface can feel cluttered during research sessions
• Quality depends entirely on available web sources
• Can spread misinformation if source articles are incorrect
• Limited analysis capabilities compared to Claude
• No direct integration with research tools
• Search results can be overwhelming for specific UX queries

Customer Reviews

Customer Ratings: 4.6/5

"It generally gives a very comprehensive answer and leads to possible follow-up questions." - Jaideep G

Our Honest Review

What sets Perplexity apart is how it pulls real-time information from across the web and crucially, shows you exactly where each claim comes from. This is invaluable when you need to look up something online with a more nuanced prompt than a simple Google search.

One significant drawback we've encountered - the quality of information can vary wildly depending on what's available online. We once looked up "upcoming UX conferences" and got a mix of valid responses and completely outdated events, all presented with equal confidence.

Pricing: Free with limits, Pro plan available

How to learn more: Try it for free

3. ChatGPT

About the tool

ChatGPT is OpenAI's conversational AI model that can understand and generate human-like text, analyze images, and work with uploaded files. As one of the most widely used AI tools, it's evolved from a basic chatbot into a sophisticated assistant that can help with everything from analyzing survey responses to providing quick UI feedback. With its latest updates, it can analyze images of user interfaces, handle file uploads, and even help with quantitative data analysis. 

Wondering how exactly ChatGPT can speed up your research? Here are 14 prompts to bookmark.

Pros

• Handles file uploads (great for survey analysis)
• Voice conversations useful for quick research brainstorms
• Custom GPTs can be created for specific research needs
• Good at identifying patterns in qualitative data
• Can help clean survey data and spot fake responses

Cons

• Knowledge cutoff limits current UX trend awareness
• Usage limits can interrupt research flow
• Sometimes provides overly generic UX advice
• Security concerns with sensitive research data
• Prone to making confident but incorrect statements

Customer Reviews

Customer Ratings: 4.7/5

"I’ve been using the latest features of ChatGPT, and they are incredibly impressive. The voice interaction capability is particularly outstanding — the level of context understanding, memory retention, and nuanced language responses is both remarkable and a bit uncanny." - Juan M.

Our Honest Review

ChatGPT has become surprisingly useful for initial research analysis, especially when dealing with large amounts of qualitative data. We've found it particularly helpful for analyzing open-ended survey responses - it can quickly identify themes and patterns that would take hours to spot manually.

One major limitation we've run into - while it's great at spotting patterns, you can't trace its insights back to specific data points. For instance, it might tell you "30% of users mentioned navigation issues," but good luck finding which specific responses contributed to that number. For serious research analysis, you'll want a dedicated tool like Looppanel that provides verifiable sources.

Pricing: Free with Limits, Plus ($20/month), Team ($25/user/month)

How to learn more: Try it for free

When it comes to UX research platforms, researchers are often faced with a difficult choice: should they opt for best-in-class tools that excel in specific areas, or go with an all-in-one solution that covers the entire research process? On one hand, using specialized tools for tasks like transcription, analysis, and recruiting can ensure that you're getting the highest quality results in each area. These tools are often more advanced and offer more features than their all-in-one counterparts.

However, using multiple tools can also lead to a disjointed workflow and make it harder to get a comprehensive view of your research. All-in-one platforms, on the other hand, offer a more seamless experience by integrating all of your research tasks into a single tool. The trade-off is that these platforms may not excel in any one area, providing a more generalist approach. As the market for UX research platforms continues to evolve, we can expect to see more tools that strike a balance between specialization and integration, offering the best of both worlds for researchers.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is UX research, and why does it matter?

UX research is the process of understanding your customers, their needs, motivations, and how they  interact with your product or service. By leveraging user research tools and techniques, you can uncover valuable insights about user behavior, preferences, and pain points, enabling you to create experiences that resonate with your target audience.

How do I prepare for UX research?

First, figure out what you want to learn about your users. Think about who you want to study and how you'll find them. Pick the right ways to do your research (we'll talk about those later) and get your questions ready.

Make sure all your tools are set up before you start. It's no fun to be fixing things when people are waiting to help you!

How do you collect user research?

Collecting user research involves using a mix of user experience research tools to gather both qualitative and quantitative data. Researchers often start with surveys or questionnaires, then conduct in-depth interviews or focus groups. Usability testing, where users interact with a product while researchers observe, is crucial.

Field studies or contextual inquiries involve observing users in their natural environment. Digital tools like analytics software and heatmaps provide data on user behavior. The key is to use a combination of the best tools for user research that fits your goals and resources, including online user research tools and free UX research tools.

What are the research methods for UX?‍

There are two main types of UX research: qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative methods, such as interviews and usability testing, provide in-depth insights into user experiences, while quantitative techniques, like surveys and A/B testing, offer broader, data-driven perspectives. To conduct your own UX research, you’ll need to define your goals, select the appropriate UX research tools, recruit participants, and analyze your data to identify actionable insights. 

What is a user research tool? ‍

A user research tools are apps or platforms that helps UX researchers gather and analyze data on how people use products. These tools make it easier to collect information about what users need and want, as well as how they behave when using a product.

There are different kinds of user research tools for different parts of the research process. You may use recruiting products to get access to users, tools to run your research session, survey, or test, and tools to analyze and store your research findings in one place.

Are UX research tools suitable for small businesses?

Absolutely! UX research tools come in all shapes and sizes, and there are options suitable for businesses of any scale. For example, if you're running moderated studies, Looppanel offers transcription, analysis and repository features for as little as $30 / month. For unmoderated tests, you can start with Maze or UseBerry’s free plan. Whether you're a scrappy startup or a well-established small business, there's a UX research tool out there that can help you gather valuable insights without breaking the bank.

How to analyze a UX survey?

First, clean up your data by removing any incomplete answers or odd responses. For questions with numbers, look at averages and how spread out the answers are. For open-ended questions, try to find common themes in what people said. Many survey tools have features to help you understand your results, but sometimes you might need to use other tools to dig deeper. Look for patterns that answer your questions, but also be open to surprising findings.

What is a UX research repository?

A UX research repository is like a digital library for all the things you learn about your users. It's one place where you keep all the valuable information from your research. This can include survey results, notes from interviews, descriptions of typical users, maps of how people use your product, and final reports. The great thing about a repository is that it keeps all your insights in one place where people can easily find and use them. This helps your team build on past research, see how things change over time, and make sure user insights are helping guide decisions across your company.

How do I create a UX repository?

Start by picking a tool that works for your team - this could be a special UX research platform or even a well-organized set of folders in your company's cloud storage. Decide how you want to arrange your research - maybe by project, type of research, or user group. Come up with clear rules for naming files and adding tags so things are easy to find later. Think about who needs to see or edit different types of information. As you add research to your repository, include details like when the research was done, how it was done, and what the main findings were.

What are the different types of research repository?

Research repositories come in different shapes and sizes to fit different team needs. Some teams use simple file systems like Google Drive or Dropbox to organize their research. Others might use a wiki-style tool like Confluence, which makes it easy to connect related pieces of information. There are also special UX research tools like Dovetail or Looppanel, which are designed just for this kind of work. Some teams even create their own custom databases.

What are the research analysis tools for UX?

UX researchers use various tools to analyze data and extract insights. For qualitative data, tools like Looppanel, Dovetail NVivo or ATLAS.ti help with coding and theme identification. Quantitative analysis might use statistical software or more user-friendly tools like Excel.

AI tools for UX research like Looppanel are increasingly popular, offering advanced analysis capabilities and insights.

What are the most common user research methods?

Some commonly used UX research methods include interviews, surveys, usability testing, card sorting, and A/B testing. By incorporating these user research tools and techniques into your design process, you'll be well-equipped to create exceptional user experiences that set your product apart from the competition.

Is data privacy a concern with UX research tools?

Data privacy is always a top priority when it comes to user research. Reputable UX research tools take data privacy seriously and have robust measures in place to protect user data. Specific security measures to look out for: GDPR compliance (especially if you’re in the EU), SOC2 compliance, and privacy policies that ensure your data will not be used to train AI models.  

Is Hotjar a UX tool?

Yes, Hotjar is a powerful UX research tool that allows you to track user behavior on your website or app. With features like heatmaps, session recordings, and user feedback tools, Hotjar provides valuable insights into how users interact with your product. You can see where usability issues come up and users rage click most often! 

How to do UX research without users?

While it's always best to involve real users in your UX research, there are times when it's not possible or practical. In these cases, you can still gather valuable insights through methods like customer reviews, support tickets, competitive analysis, and heuristic evaluations. These techniques involve analyzing your product or competitors' products through the lens of established UX principles and best practices. It's not a perfect substitute for user feedback, but it can still provide actionable insights.

How do I get better at UX research?

The key to becoming a UX research pro is practice, practice, practice! Immerse yourself in the world of UX research by reading articles, attending workshops, and participating in online communities. Most importantly, get hands-on experience by conducting your own research projects, even if they're small-scale. The more you practice, the more confident and skilled you'll become. 

Can you do UX research remotely?

Absolutely! In fact, remote UX research has become increasingly popular, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to UserInterviews.com State of User Research Report 2023, 87% of people conduct a majority of their research remotely. Tools like Looppanel, UserZoom, dscout, and Maze make it easy to conduct remote user interviews, usability tests, and diary studies. With remote research, you can gather insights from users all over the world without ever leaving your home office.

Can AI replace UX Designers?

While UX research tools are incredibly valuable, can a UX research tool replace the need for skilled UX designers? Short answer: No. They cannot replace the need for skilled UX designers. These user research tools provide the data and insights, but it's the UX designer's expertise that transforms them into actionable strategies. As the market continues to grow, there are endless opportunities for innovation in UX research tools. By embracing the power of these tools and combining them with the skills of UX designers, businesses can unlock new levels of user understanding and create extraordinary experiences. 

What are UX research artifacts?

UX research artifacts are tangible outputs created during the research process using various user research tools and UX research tools. These include user personas, journey maps, affinity diagrams, usability test reports, and interview transcripts. Other common artifacts are survey results, site analytics reports, and prototype designs.

These artifacts, often created with the best user research tools, help researchers and designers communicate findings, track insights, and make informed decisions throughout the design process. UX research repository tools are essential for organizing and storing these artifacts effectively.

What is the difference between Dscout and Maze?

Dscout and Maze are both popular UX research tools, but they serve different purposes. Dscout is primarily a remote research platform for collecting in-the-moment insights through video, photos, and text responses. It's great for longitudinal studies and gathering rich, contextual data.

Maze, on the other hand, focuses on rapid testing of digital prototypes. It allows researchers to create task-based tests and collect quantitative data on user flows and success rates. Both are considered among the best tools for UX research.

What is UX research vs CX research?

UX research and CX research are related but focus on different aspects of user interaction. UX research concentrates on how users interact with a specific product or feature, looking at usability, accessibility, and overall experience. It often employs specialized user research analysis tools.

CX research takes a broader view, examining the entire customer journey with a brand. It might look at customer service interactions, brand perception, and loyalty. Both use various user experience research tools, but UX tends to be more product-focused while CX is more holistic and brand-focused.

How do you conduct UX research online?

Conducting UX research online has become common, offering many advantages. Start by using online survey tools for quantitative data. For qualitative insights, conduct remote interviews or focus groups using video conferencing tools. Many online UX research tools, such as UserTesting or Maze, allow for remote usability tests.

Card sorting and tree testing can be done online using specialized tools. For ongoing feedback, use website feedback widgets or intercept surveys. Don't forget to analyze existing data from web analytics tools. The key is to choose the right mix of online user research tools that align with your goals and provide a good experience for remote participants.

How much does a UX researcher cost?

The cost of a UX researcher varies based on experience, location, and employment type. In the US, entry-level researchers might earn $60,000-$80,000 annually, while experienced researchers can command over $150,000. Freelancers might charge $50 to $250 per hour.

For outsourced research, agencies typically charge $10,000 to $80,000 per project. While good research can be expensive, it often pays for itself by preventing costly design mistakes. Investing in the best UX research tools and AI tools for UX research can also impact overall costs and efficiency.

Where can I find users for UX research?

Finding the right users for UX research can be done through various channels. For existing products, start with your current user base. Online platforms like UserTesting or Respondent.io connect researchers with participants. Social media ads can target specific demographics.

For niche audiences, industry forums or specialized online communities are valuable. LinkedIn is useful for B2B products. Traditional methods like local community outreach can also work. Some companies maintain their own user panels. The key is to find participants who represent your target users, often using a combination of free UX research tools and paid platforms.

How do you measure user research?

Measuring user research involves both quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitative measurements might include task success rates, time-on-task, error rates, or satisfaction scores. You can also track metrics like the number of usability issues identified and cost savings from early problem-fixing.

Qualitative measurements might assess the depth of user understanding gained or the impact of findings on design decisions. It's also important to measure business impact, such as increased user engagement or improved conversion rates. User research analysis tools and UX research AI tools can help in this process, providing deeper insights and more efficient analysis.

What is the best equipment for UX design?

The best equipment for UX design includes both hardware and software. Hardware typically involves a powerful computer with a large, high-resolution display, possibly a graphics tablet, and good quality audio-visual equipment for remote work.

Software tools are crucial and include design tools like Figma or Sketch, prototyping tools like InVision, and various user research tools. UX research repository tools are important for organizing findings. The "best" equipment often depends on specific needs and workflows, but investing in quality tools for UX research can significantly improve efficiency and output quality.

How do you organize UX research data?

Organizing UX research data is crucial for accessibility and actionability. Start with a clear folder structure in cloud storage or a dedicated research repository. Use consistent naming conventions and tag data with relevant categories for easy searching.

Keep raw data separate from analyzed insights, but ensure they're linked. Create standardized templates for research reports. Use collaborative tools to share insights across the team. Regular data audits help maintain organization. UX research repository tools are invaluable in this process, offering specialized features for organizing and accessing research data efficiently.

What software do user researchers use?

User researchers employ a wide range of software throughout the research process. This includes project management tools, survey platforms, remote user testing software, video conferencing tools, and data analysis software. Popular choices include UserTesting, Maze, Zoom, NVivo, and SPSS.

For creating and sharing research repositories, tools like Dovetail or EnjoyHQ are gaining popularity. Prototyping tools and analytics platforms are also commonly used. The specific combination often depends on the researcher's needs and preferences, but typically includes a mix of user research tools, UX research tools, and increasingly, AI tools for UX research.

How do I choose the best UX research method?

What you want to learn? Are you trying to understand how people behave, what they think, or if a specific feature works well? Also, consider where you are in your design process. At the start, you might want to do interviews or watch people use similar products. Later, you might test your own designs or do surveys. Remember to think about how much time and money you have. Often, it's good to use a mix of methods to get a full picture of what your users experience.

What is an example of user research in UX?

Let's say a team is working on a banking app for phones. They might start by talking to people about how they handle money and what problems they have with their current bank apps. Then, they could ask people to group banking features to see how users think they should be organized. As they make early versions of the app, they'd probably watch people try to do things like send money or pay bills. They might use surveys to get feedback on new features from lots of users. They could also use tools that show where people click most often or track where their eyes look on the screen. All of this helps them understand what users need and how they use the app.

What are the most common user research methods?

User researchers employ various methods, each suited to different goals and design stages. Common methods include interviews, surveys, usability testing, card sorting, tree testing, contextual inquiry, A/B testing, focus groups, and diary studies. Analytics and heatmaps offer quantitative data on digital product interactions.

The best user research tools and UX research tools support these methods, offering features for data collection, analysis, and reporting. Online user research tools have made many of these methods more accessible and efficient. The best research often combines multiple methods, leveraging both traditional approaches and newer techniques enabled by advanced tools for UX research.