10 Essential UX Research Tools: Streamline Designs in 2024

Comparison of UX Research Tools

Before we get into the details of the different categories of tools you can use for a UX research project, here’s a quick overview and comparison of the best UX research tools in 2023. Compare features, ratings, pricing, and user friendliness and go ahead and choose the best tool that meets all your needs.

Knowing What Type of UX Research Tool You Need

Choosing the right UX research tool is essential for the success of your research project. The right tool can help you select vetted research participants, gain actionable insights, and, most importantly, improve usability as an end result.

The main thing that you need to know is that UX research tools are solutions designed to help make the research process simpler and more effective. These solutions can help you:

• Collect and analyze data.
  
• Carry out remote user research.
• Search and identity research participants.
• Recruit research participants from different backgrounds.
• Collaborate with UX research team members.
• Use different types of testing methods like preference tests and tree testing.

Before diving into the different types of tools available to do your UX research, you need to know that choosing the right tools is essential for success. To choose the right tools, first of all, you need to consider what the business or research project objectives are. This helps you determine whether you need an optimal workshop, remote usability testing, a multiple path analysis, or something else entirely.

These requirements will evaluate the UX research tools available at your disposal and will help make an informed decision. Now, you must know that there are different types of research tools available that help with varying areas of UX research. They include:

• Data collection tools - these tools allow you to collect user feedback about your products or services from new or existing users. However, when using these tools, it’s important to keep in mind that information may be either quantitative or qualitative data.
  
• Analytics tools - these are UX research tools that help you analyze the user feedback you’ve collected. Actionable insights can be gained from using these user research tools. These insights can then be incorporated into service designs.
• Wireframing tools - a wireframe is basically a diagram that describes the usability of and web, computer, or mobile application. These tools help UX researchers create wireframes based on user feedback within a couple of hours.
• Prototype testing tools - UX researchers often play an integral role in the development and testing of product or service prototypes. These tools use various methods like click testing to test prototypes and ensure that they are at par with customer requirements.
• User recruitment tools - finding research participants is often a time-consuming process and can be expensive. However, these tools simplify it. They help you find vetted research participants you can use for insight into the UX research project.
• Collaboration tools - a UX researcher is often time tasked with collaborating with other team members to ensure adequate designs. These tools help them communicate with team members and allow them to share, store and edit UX research documents.

Now that you know what the different types of UX research tools are, let’s look at some of the best UX research tools you can use in 2023.

Best UX Research Tools

Learning how to become a UX researcher is with the UX research courses available. But, it’s to get overwhelmed by the number of options available. That’s why we’ve picked some of the best tools available. Take a look and see for yourself.

Qualaroo

Qualaroo is a tool for collecting user feedback

Qualaroo is one of the best tools for UX research surveys. Finding the right question to include in a survey is oftentimes a complicated thing to do. However, Qualaroo can simplify the process easily. UX researchers can use its built-in survey templates. These templates allow researchers to begin their questions with a list of relevant and curated items.

These items serve as an inspiration and help you come up with questions for all your research that leads to valuable insights. It also supports prototype testing and can be used to get user feedback on design templates. Let's say that you want feedback on a new app you’re developing. You upload the design templates in Qualaroo, use it to distribute your questionnaire and derive actionable insight from its AI-based analytics.

• Ease of Use: Since Qualaroo is an online platform, it can be compatible with any device, making the tools easier to use.
  
• Features Users Love: prototypes testing, multi-channel surveys, AI analytics to gather insights and professional templates.
• Pricing: Starts from $69 per month, billed annually.

Maze

Maze is a tool for idea validation, wireframing, and gaining insights

Maze is like a complete all-in-one UX tool kit. Some even think that it’s the best ux research tool for multiple research projects. Maze can be used for concept and idea validation, wireframing, and gaining insights. It comes equipped with stunning UX research features like prototype testing, feedback surveys, and tree testing.

These features are highly useful when users and researchers are looking to gain feedback and develop potential solutions. Imagine you can use Maze to send out a feedback survey. Then you can use the results of those surveys to create wireframes that are in line with customer expectations. Isn’t that amazing?

• Ease of Use: Maze comes with an in-depth resource center you can use to become a pro at using the tool.
  
• Features Users Love: Intuitive experience, wireframing, template library, resource center, and security.
• Pricing: Right now, it’s available for $75 per month, billed annually.

ProProfs Survey Maker

ProProfs Survey Maker is a tool for conducting user surveys

ProProfs Survey Maker is another UX research tool you can use to conduct surveys for all your research. It comes equipped with great features like prefabricated questions, customizable templates, and support for multiple media capabilities. These features can help you make sure that you no longer have to waste time thinking about research questions.

You can also use its customization capabilities to tailor templates to your needs. Imagine that you’re tasked with collecting user feedback for a product that your company is developing. You can use ProProfs to select relevant questions and customize the research temples. Then you can add videos of the product to show its usability and gain user feedback.

• Ease of Use: ProProfs comes with great online learning resources that make the product easy to use.
  
• Features Users Love: Customizable templates, multimedia support, quantitative data collection, asynchronous user interviews, and compatibility.
• Pricing: Currently priced at $19 per month, billed annually.

Sprig

Sprig is a tool for running surveys and questionnaires and recording unmoderated user testing

Sprig is a feedback tool that can help user researchers develop seamless product experience for customers and target audience. You can use it to run surveys and questionnaires. Customer pain points can be derived from the responses to these surveys. These insights can then be used to tailor services accordingly.

In addition to surveys, you can also use Sprig to record unmoderated user tests and gather insight from them. For instance, let's say that you’re testing a physical product that will be sold worldwide. However, you can’t recruit participants from all over the world. In this case, you can use Sprig to record the usability tests and use them for customer feedback.

• Ease of Use: The platform comes with its very own knowledge hub, making it easy to use for first-timers and experts alike.
  
• Features Users Love: Usability testing, targeted session clips, templates, integrations, AI analysis.
• Pricing: Its starter pack is available for $175 per month, billed annually.

Loop11

Loop11 helps UX specialists conduct usability testing

Loop11 is another great UX research tool that can help you conduct usability tests. It’s a core feature that allows UX researchers to conduct online usability tests. This usability testing feature makes the process simple, intuitive, and much more effective. You can test the usability of like 10 different products or services, all from a computer screen.

Let’s say that you’re working for an enterprise that manufactures different products each month. It’s your job as a UX researcher to ensure that all those products function as required by customers. To cater to this, you can use Loop 11 to set up online usability tests and access a diverse pool of research participants.

• Ease of Use: Given the fact that online usability tests can be set up with clicks, the tool is pretty easy to use and benefits from.
  
• Features Users Love: AI-based insights, online usability tests, A/B testing, and benchmarking.
• Pricing: It’s available for $179 per month, billed annually.

Userlytics

Userlytics helps conduct remote usability testing

Userlytics is another great tool that makes remote usability testing much easier. It has a panel of around 2 million vetter research participants. Having such a large number of people readily available removes the need for recruiting participants. This user-testing platform literally puts qualitative and quantitative data at your fingertips.

Let’s say that you’re tasked with gaining customer feedback for a productivity app that’s still under development. You can use Userlytics to conduct different types of tests like surveys or multiple-channel testing. Afterwards, you can use its AI UX analysis to gather insights from these responses and tailor your designs.

• Ease of Use: Userlytics is a fairly advanced solution, and it may come with a slight learning curve.
  
• Features Users Love: Usability testing, VR testing, mobile app testing, accessibility testing, and AI analysis.
• Pricing: The price you pay for user Userlytics is based on the features and capabilities you choose.

Dscout

Dscout is a tool for conducting unmoderated user research and collecting insights

Dscout is a leading qualitative tool that can be used for remote testing. It comes with our different platforms called Diary, Live, Recruit, and Express. These platforms have an intuitive set of capabilities that allow you to conduct unmoderated research and user interviews. You can also use it to recruit research participants and share insights.

Suppose that the UX designers in your organization developed a prototype. As a UX researcher, it’s now your responsibility to collect feedback. In such cases, you can use Dscout to conduct unmoderated research and collect valuable insights about the prototype’s functionality and usability.

• Ease of Use: Discount is quite an innovative platform making it easy to use for many UX researchers.
  
• Features Users Love: Panel of 100,000+ participants, multiple screener surveys, prototype testing, and quick survey responses.
• Pricing: The price you pay for Discount is based on the services you choose.

Lookback

Lookback is a tool for conducting usability tests, live interviews, and focus groups

Lookback is such a great tool that’ll give your UX research skills superpower. As a UX researcher, you can use Lookback to conduct usability tests, live interviews with focus groups, or a variety of other things. It’s one of the best UX tools because it allows you to take time-stamped notes during conversations with test participants.

As always, remember that these notes are a valuable insight into the user flow you can use to tailor designs and services. Imagine that you’re tasked with gaining insights from a focus group. Manually gathering participants would be challenging and expensive. However, using online services like Lookback can make the process simple, effective and affordable.

• Ease of Use: With Lookback, there’s no looking back. It’s a pretty simple platform that can be used with ease.
  
• Features Users Love: focus group interviews, time-stamped notes, collaboration, and public link invites.
• Pricing: The price you pay for Lookback is based on the number of sessions required and is $25 per month for ten sessions.

Reframer

Reframer allows conducting interviews, tagging participants, and visualizing data

Reframer is one the best UX research tools to have in your stack. As a UX researcher, you already know that qualitative data can get a bit too messy. This happens because qualitative data doesn't really include numerical responses. It has in-depth answers. Oftentimes, making usable sense of all this raw information can be challenging.

Let’s say that as a UX researcher, you’ve been tasked with conducting qualitative research. You can use Reframer to make the process easier than ever before. It will allow you to conduct interviews, tag participants, and visualize data, all within a unified environment. You can even perform tests using different methods like card sorting.

• Ease of Use: Reframe comes with a set of guides that make it easy to use.
  
• Features Users Love: first-click testing, online surveys, card sorting, and data visualization.
• Pricing: The price for Reframer starts from $208 per month, billed annually.

UserZoom

UserZoom is used for usability tests, live interviews, and tree-testing

UserZoom is no doubt one of the most common tools that can be used to conduct different types of UX research testing. Usability tests, live interviews, and tree-testing, are common examples. All or any of these tests allow you to get valuable and actionable insights about what customers want.

These insights can then become an integral part of the UX design process and help ensure customer satisfaction. So, let’s say that you ever need to engage with users and collect their feedback and analyze it, then in such a case UserZoom is the best option for you. It allows you to conduct tests and analyze data in a streamlined environment.

• Ease of Use: UserZoom comes with its own resource library that has tons of valuable resources making the tool easy to use.
  
• Features Users Love: live interviews, online surveys, tree testing, card sorting, and data analysis.
• Pricing: The price for UserZoom is based on customized packages.

Key Takeaways

A complex process, time consumption, and different resources are some of the many things that define UX research. It’s no doubt a time-consuming process. There are tons of different tools available to make the process easiest. However, this doesn’t mean you can skip out on the essentials. It’s very important to have a solid introduction to UX research. Signup for UX courses with Uxcel today and become the UX professional you’ve always wanted to be.