Exploring UX Research Tools: Best Picks of 2024

Based on the specific needs of the information, there are a variety of UX research tools. You cannot pick one tool and say it is the best one. You have to select a tool based on your demands and the type of UX research.

Where manual research is tough, the right tool assists you in conducting accurate research step-by-step. In addition, you can make effective and usable designs with a tool to satisfy the users within less time.

Check out our list- we are presenting some best UX research tools for you. Know the details of the tools you need in 2024.

What is UX research?

Yes, UX research means observing your users’ activity.

When people take your service or use a product, you may want to know their behavior, thinking, and feelings. UX or user experience research is the process of studying users’ interaction with your service or product. The research process helps you to find scopes and improve your services according to your users’ needs.

When should you do UX research? 

Do UX research whenever you suspect there’s a gap between your assumptions and your users’ reality.

Every decision, from a button change to a whole new feature, benefits from a peek through the user’s eyes. So, doing research before building, after launches, and during the making process is necessary. It’s an ongoing conversation, not a one-time event. Remember, every insight is a bridge to a better product.

Why do people use UX research tools?

People use UX research tools to make informed design decisions and ensure a better user experience. It provides you with various benefits, let’s see –

Frees up time – UX research tools help in recruitment, session recording, data analysis, and other related tasks and prevent time-wasting. So, you can get time to do a deeper analysis.

Minimize human error – If you use UX research tools, it benefits you to minimize human faults and inconsistencies. It will lead you to get more reliable results.

Helps to observe a wider audience – Online tools enable you to invite users from different locations and collect their feedback. Thus, using tools can give you a broader research scope and insightful findings.

Identify hidden trends and patterns – Powerful UX research tools help you analyze large datasets to discover hidden correlations and user segments.

Present research findings visually: Some standard tools can also conduct complex research and break them into simple results. You can get charts, graphs, visual reports, etc.

Reduce development costs – Of course, when you know the frustrations of your users already, you can fix them early. It will prevent costly development errors and extra work.

Best 21 UX research tools

You have to tailor the UX research process by picking the perfect solution. Have a quick look at the top UX research tools list 👇

UX Research Tools	⭐Pros	👎 Cons
1. Maze	Good number of user-panel to recruit participants from	Less features in free plan and premium is a bit expensive
2. Loop11	Versatile, attractive support	No participant recruitment support, no free plan
3. Lookback	Great tool for remote testing functionality and if you want to recruit own participants	Doesn’t support in all browser, task module system absent
4. Sprig	Easy to surveying users, free plan available	Starter plan is costly, thorough survey can be resource-intensive
5. Userzoom	Supports multiple research methods, less technical issues	Requires businesses/pool of participants for paid testing, no free option to try
6. dscout	Research based features saves time	No free plan, they haven’t share any pricing plan
7. User Interviews	Scalable tool, popular for recruitment participants	Costly plans
8. Userlytics	Powerful recording and observation features with facial expressions and sentiment analysis	No free version to try
Optimal Workshop	Offers advanced analysis tools like personas and journey maps	Free plan available
UsabilityHub	Affordable fast tests for quick insights	Didn’t share any specific pricing plan
Hotjar	Easy setup and intuitive interface, offers free plan	No user recruitment tool
Mixpanel	Integrates with various marketing platforms	Not ideal for qualitative research like interviews or card sorting
Kissmetrics	Integrates with CRM and e commerce platforms, offers free trial	Not ideal for qualitative research
Looppanel	User testing with screen recording and surveys, free trial available	Relatively new company with smaller participant pool
Typeform	Free plan available, suitable for small, quick surveys	Pricing can be steep for advanced features
Jotform	Enough integrations and customization options, free plan available	Not ideal for visual surveys
SurveyMonkey	User friendly survey creation and analysis tools, free plan available	Limited advanced features like heatmaps or scroll maps, expensive for large projects
Codens	Focuses on card sorting and tree testing, collaborative features for team projects, free plan available	Lacks some advanced analysis tools, limited participant pool
Ethnio	Focuses on cultural nuances and accessibility testing, Offers free plan	Requires some technical expertise for setup
Respondent	Advanced survey logic and branching capabilities	Pricing structures can be confusing for some users
Crazyegg	Easy setup and integration with most websites	No free plan available, Not a replacement for full-fledged UX research tools

Let’s explore what they serve for you 🫴…

Maze

With this single platform, there are no research limitations. Maze conducts moderated and unmoderated tests, panels, and recruitment, etc. It helps the team to run outstanding research and improves product iteration. So, it is a useful UX research tool that saves you from extra engineering reworks.

Features

• Tree testing
• Surveys
• Real-time reports
• Integrations with other design platforms
• Custom branding options
• AI question rephrasing
• Collaboration features
• Pre-built templates, etc.

Good for?

Maze is focused on rapid testing and AI-fueled analysis.

Pricing

Starts at $99 per month. Maze offers a free trial with limited facilities per month.

Loop11

Loop11 is efficient in preparing quick user tests. Whether you want to find your users’ confusion, collect data around metrics, or validate a design quickly, this tool is suitable. Without any  IT or usability knowledge, you can set up a usability project and get results back within 24 hours if you need to.

Features

• Prototype testing
• A/B testing
• Moderated usability testing
• Search Engine findability
• Allows to bring your own participants free of charge
• Create and share highlight clips and timestamped notes
• UX metrics and more.

Good for?

Loop11 is a good-to-run research project where you can bring research participants. And, if you need it the tool can recruit participants for you.

Pricing

The price begins at $199 per month. You can also enjoy a 14-day trial.

Lookback

This is another tool that makes research fun and exciting for your team. Lookback offers transcriptions, highlight reels, quick help in new feature building, interview sessions, and a lot more facilities. So, using the tool, you can simply find out the pain of your users and take action accordingly.

Features

• Run mixed methods
• Capture live notes
• Team collaboration
• Observe virtually
• Tag teammates
• Make private projects
• Capture screen touches and so on.

Good for?

Lookback is known as a video research platform. It can assist you well in user interviews and usability tests.

Pricing

The lowest plan starts at $25 per month. You can try a free trial before purchasing any plan.

Sprig

To capture the right insights from the right users’ the Sprig UX research tool helps you. The system helps to test ideas, develop features, get users’ feedback, run AI analysis, and more to improve users’ experiences. If you search for a standard UX research tool, Sprig can help you faster and add value to your tasks.

Features

• Continuous product discovery
• Team collaboration facility
• Improve conversion
• Identify product issues
• AI analysis
• Save engineering time

Good for?

Sprig powers both in-product surveys and concept and usability testing.

Pricing

The starter package starts at $175 per month (billed annually).

Userzoom

This tool on our list is also capable of sharpening your digital experiences to satisfy the customers. You can make confident decisions with Userzoom. The steps of Userzoom’s work are – Design, Recruit, Launch, Analyze, and Share. The system is simple, with a deep understanding of users’ behavioral and attitudinal measures, you can design products and see business growth.

Features

• Qualitative research methods
• Automated global participant recruitment
• Video analysis tools & auto-generated study results
• Automated transcription in various languages
• Custom security review
• Self-service knowledge base and so on.

Good for?

Userzoom is secure, accessible, and good for overall UX research.

Pricing

Userzoom didn’t share any costing details. You have to talk with the sales team to get custom plans.

dscout

With deep-driven research guides, dscout reduces your team’s extra pressure. This tool enables you to test a product’s full lifecycle. You can also utilize the platform to understand your users’ pain points and expectations with your products. Thus you can redesign the product if necessary.

Features

• Usability & concept testing
• Product discovery
• Ideation & co-creation
• General Exploration
• Journey mapping
• Personas & segmentation
• Competitive analysis, etc.

Good for?

Dscout serves well for user interviews and you can run a hassle-free process.

Pricing

dscout offers custom package plans according to needs.

User Interviews

This one is also an effective alternative to your free UX research tool. There are facilities like fast participant recruitment, powerful panel software, a double screening facility, and a lot more things. The logistics tool maintains more than 4 million vetted participants. So, it will help you to mark sessions as complete. 

Features

• Automated scheduling
• Automated incentive distribution
• Screener skip logic
• Project coordinator support
• Zoom integration
• Past screener library
• Invite previous participants
• Custom onboarding, etc.

Good for?

You can consider the User Interviews as a good recruiting research participants tool.

Pricing

The lowest price is available at $45 per session.

Userlytics

Ditch the as-usual spreadsheets and robotic surveys. Userlytics reveals the secret language of delight through their UX research playground. The tool is highly scalable, meets over 2 million real-life participants, offers strong security, and more. So, you can step into this digital solution to make your interface a flexible place for your users.

Features

• Surveys & quant usability testing
• Moderated & unmoderated testing
• Quantitative testing
• Website usability testing
• Prototype testing
• Multi-channel testing
• Branching logic
• Participant recruitment, and so on.

Good for?

You can use the tool as a standard user testing platform. 

Pricing

The price starts at $49 per month.

Optimal Workshop

Optimal Workshop offers a smart set of tools. It gives easy-to-navigate products and shows the right ways to gain user insight and design direction. The tool performs great for IA tests, Treejack, and Card sorting. Overall, with a planned research goal, you will get your desired research results. 

Features

• Card sorting
• Tree testing
• First-click testing
• Online surveys
• Qualitative research
• Participant recruitment
• Product demos

Good for?

Optimal Workshop is a good choice for web communication projects. Or we can say the tool is best for information architecture testing.

Pricing

Starts at $191 per person, billed annually.

UsabilityHub

This remote user research platform is your direct line to real user insights. It can assist you in working on your ideas, prototypes, and websites based on research results. From measuring users’ first impressions, analyzing every click, get feedback on images, and videos to running more professional research, UsabilityHub is a good solution.

Features

• Card sorting
• Prototype tests
• First click tests
• Design surveys
• Preference tests, and so on.

Good for?

UsabilityHub is good as a usability test tool. It can recruit test users based on age, gender, education, etc.

Pricing

You can get the tool at $79 per month.

Hotjar

You can fuel all stages of UX research and design with Hotjar. You can do heatmapping research on what users are thinking while they browse and understand blocks in navigation with the tool. Overall, you can take action and make the right changes based on the deep insights the tool provides.

Good for?

Hotjar is good for user and product analytics.

Pricing

Starts at $32 per month.

Mixpanel

Forget complex dashboards and jargon. Like a data detective, you can analyze each step the users take, uncover hidden trends, and diagnose pain points directly with Mixpanel. The tool is quick and easy to understand for all the team members.

Features

• Unmoderated research
• Data collection, exports, and integrations
• Screen recordings
• Product analysis feedback widgets
• Surveys
• Heatmaps

Good for?

Mixpanel is good as a product analytics tool.

Pricing

The cost starts at $20. There is also a free version and other premium packages. 

Kissmetrics

This tool goes well as an event analytics platform. It tracks every click, scrolls, and purchase, revealing the hidden secrets of users’ behavior. Its research outcomes help you attract the right leads. So, your trial users can convert into loyal customers, and come back for more, if you utilize the tool well. 

Features

• Custom reports dashboards
• Detail customer activity
• Session analytics, and funnels
• Track across sites & products
• Expert onboarding

Good for?

Kissmetrics is a product analysis tool that helps to boost revenue.

Pricing

You can purchase the tool by spending a minimum of $25 per month.

Looppanel

Looppanel can help you conduct efficient and effective user research. Its AI smarts power facilities like automatic notetaking, key video snippets, and effortless report sharing. So now you can ditch the notebooks and ditch the hassle. Try Looppanel and see how it can transform your research process.

Features

• Generates transcripts
• Automate note-taking in all recording
• Analysis calls by questions or theme
• Shares insights
• Organizes data for easy research

Good for?

It is an AI-powered tool that serves good for recording calls, tagging, and producing transcripts.

Pricing

You can choose the initial plan at $30 and check further.

Typeform

This form builders tool helps for research to make your customers happy. You can do beta testing, product analysis, get feedback, and all by creating forms with Typeform. So, to gather more data and run a satisfying research method this is another tool you can consider.

Features

• Different types of forms
• Several integrations
• Survey formates
• Find customers
• Generate more leads & feedback
• Do research

Good for?

The tool is for form building, collecting data, and research. 

Pricing

The basic costing plan begins at $25.

Jotform

Forms can also work smarter for research, not harder. Jotform can ease your workload by creating multiple-purpose forms while generating user information. It automates workflows, gives useful reports, accepts payments, and so many services. Among the other solutions of the tool, you can get a poll maker, margin of error calculator, payment gateways comparison chart, and many amazing features.

Features

• Makes reports
• Conduct surveys
• Integrations
• Collects data and helps in research

Good for?

With less effort and less time you can do easy research with the help of this form builder tool.

Pricing

Jotform’s first plan starts at $34.

SurveyMonkey

If you want to get clear survey reports as well as customer feedback, say hello to – SurveyMonkey. It helps to craft optimized questions and gives you control of every detail fast. Also, you can avoid common pitfalls and get actionable insights that inform your every decision.

Features

• Qualitative & Quantitative research
• Forms and quizzes embedding
• Employee feedback
• Different survey analysis
• Market research
• Online and offline surveys

Good for?

This well-known platform is an easy-to-use survey and feedback tool.

Pricing

The starter plan is available at $25 per user, per month.

Codens

Codens is another popular UX research tool. It supports you and your team in storing, structuring, and analyzing user research information. You can also share the findings across your organization faster with the tool. SurveyMonkey’s AI feature SurveyMonkey Genius provides effective surveys. So, with minimal effort and in one place you get all the data and work on that to achieve success.

Features

• Qualitative data analysis
• Share findings
• UX research repository
• Automatic transcription
• Digital whiteboard
• Integrations

Good for?

It is a standard survey tool that analyzes and gives intuitive feedback.

Pricing

At $15 per month you can start the premium features of Codens.

Ethnio

Ethnio is a user research CRM. It helps to explore your research areas and support your team. You can manage your participants, notes, segments, and filters, control scheduling workflow, and so many other things. Besides screening, providing results, etc. Ethnio’s Research Incentives tool can recognize the participants and rewards them in many ways.

Features

• Participant recruitment
• Central participant database
• Incentives
• Intercepts
• Screeners
• Scheduling options

Good for?

Ethnio is a tool for recruiting research participants and helps you trough the process.

Pricing

The price starts from $12 per month and per user.

Respondent

This one helps you to search participants and professionals to gather insights from them fast. To shape your products it targets paid people by industry, skills, and more. Respondent also helps to schedule and offers paid research opportunities.

Features

• Recruit participants
• Integrations
• Surveys
• Helps to find paid online studies, etc.

Good for?

Good for both researchers and participants.

Pricing

Respondent provides a basic plan for B2C at $39 and B2B at $55 for its users.

Crazyegg

This is the last tool of our list, which is simple and useful. To see which elements of your website is getting clicks and improve the designs you can pick this Crazyegg. However, a little bit of code needs to be added to your website to use the tool. It’s not difficult to use and supports are available.

Features

• Snapshots
• Recordins
• Traffic analysis
• Error tracking
• A/B testing
• Surveys, and more

Good for?

The tool is a perfect choice to scan websites and improve usability.

Pricing

Crazyegg’s standard plan is available for $49 per month.

Select your tool & make UX research easy

Choosing the right UX research tool isn’t just about picking the attractive or most popular option. It’s about finding the perfect fit for your specific needs and workflow. With the right tool, you can turn UX research from a time-consuming slog into an organized, insightful process. So, study the options and select your tool.