Best 15 Usability Testing Tools 2024

While it is a common belief that all the usability testing platforms are equally capable, not all the research tools are the same. The cost, the features, and the methods of research in usability testing tools are not the same.

Besides the first assessment of usability, it is also essential to choose the right tool for its measurement. Usability tools help in identifying new customers, fasten the process of usability testing and provide information on how consumers engage with the product. Here is the list of the top 15 usability testing tools to consider before you begin testing.

Usability testing types

Before selecting a usability testing platform, ensure that it supports the techniques that your team uses in usability testing.

Here’s a brief overview of the various kinds of usability testing:

Qualitative research is concerned with meaning and language only while quantitative research is concerned with numbers and statistics for usability results. It gives the details of the “why” of the numbers.

Moderation of an exam means whether a researcher is present to give instructions or ask questions to the participant. Moderation in usability testing does not involve the researcher.

Remote vs in-person: Remote usability testing is a process in which both the researchers and the users are in different locations. However, testing is done physically at that very location. If there is no specialist software, usability tests can be conducted either online or face-to-face; however, reporting and decision making are made easier if a usability testing tool is used. The Top 15 Usability Testing Tools for Results That Are User-Centred

Here is our shortlist before we delve into the specifics of the available options:

1. Maze
2. Lookback
3. UserTesting
4. Optimal Workshop
5. UsabilityHub
6. testRigor
7. Lightster
8. Userlytics
9. UXtweak
10. Datadog
11. Useberry
12. Userfeel
13. UserBrain
14. Loop 11
15. PlaybookUX

1. Maze

Maze is a tool for ongoing product discovery that helps product teams collect and evaluate user information. It is ideal for use throughout the entire design phase and even after your tool has been deployed, due to Live Website Testing.

Maze has connectors that enable your team to bring an existing prototype from other design tools like Sketch, Adobe XD, InVision, and Figma. There are ready-made questionnaires on the site to enable you and your team to conduct both quantitative and qualitative usability tests that are easy for the subjects in the study.

Furthermore, a clear and easily understandable usability test report may be created and sent to any of your team members in the form of a PDF or a link. This means that your team will not have to waste time searching for such usability metrics as completion rates, misclick rates, or time spent, as we offer a fast reporting option.

Important characteristics

• Design and conduct experiments to check for usability and design issues that may be costly to address once money has been spent on creating low-quality work.
• Heatmaps and first-click testing: To know what makes a user click on your website or app
• A/B testing and preference testing: To gain insights and to check the ideas and designs with the users
• Surveys: To gain more information about the users and to obtain detailed qualitative data
• Clips: To record your user’s screen, audio, and video in an attempt to understand the thinking patterns and actions of your test takers while doing your assignments
• Reach: To compile and sort your users and test takers in one place and then contact them to invite them to take more tests.
• Panel: To recruit users, post your ad to thousands of pre-screened candidates, and get the test results within hours.

Costing

The free plan allows you to analyze up to 300 responses per year. The cost of a paid plan for three seats and 1,800 viewable reactions is $75 per month. Maze also offers an Enterprise package to suit your organization’s needs.

2. Lookback:

Lookback is a tool aimed at product managers and designers to capture the screen interactions with the applications to know how the users interact with them. Using Lookback’s testing tools, your team can record user’s responses in real-time and understand what they are viewing. Lookback helps to work in a team because it allows the researcher to tag people on an internal hub, watch the test, and give feedback to members of the product team without interrupting the participant’s activity.

Important characteristics

• Screen recording: Try to put yourself in the user’s shoes and observe how they completed your tasks.
• Collaborate and provide comments on live interviews without disrupting the session through live sharing.
• Analytical Dashboard: Review the most relevant qualitative consumer data.
• Save all the recordings in the player. Ensure that your staff labels every interview so that any individual can revisit any relevant session by signing in.

 Costing

After users sign up, Lookback offers a 60-day free trial for all plans. Team plans cost $149 per month and do not limit the number of collaborators even though they have fewer sessions.

3. UserTesting:

UserTesting offers customer experience (CX) solutions to marketers, product managers, executives, and designers. In moderated testing sessions, it enables your team to observe, listen, and even communicate with clients while they use websites, applications, or prototypes.

User interviews are the primary offering of the platform. However, it also offers a range of moderated and unmoderated testing types. The most prominent participant pool is provided by UserTesting; however, there is an extra cost for testing your tool on quality and screened consumers.

Important characteristics

• If you want your team to perform several tests on the same platform, you should use card sorting, tree testing, usability testing, and prototype testing.
• Having a template library can also help your team create tests faster.
• Fast responses: Hire from the UserTesting panel to get the test responses within a few hours.
• Sentiment analysis: This automated testing tool is powered by AI, and it makes reporting easy while identifying common problems.
• The Human Insights platform allows your team to read and highlight the video transcripts, display the data, and receive an insights summary.

Costing

Unfortunately, UserTesting does not publish its prices, but customers have reported that annual prices begin at $15,000 per seat.

4. Optimal Workshop

Optimal Workshop offers only task completion and moderated sessions as usability testing features. Optimal Workshop is an application that your team can use to assess IA and create user tasks. It has first click, tree test, and card sort tools in its feature list.

Important characteristics

• Card sorting, online surveys, tree testing, and first-click testing are ways to test your platform in one way or another and find out if there are any usability or user experience issues.
• Qualitative research: Gather both qualitative and quantitative data while giving a clear picture of your user’s perception of your product.
• Automated analysis: Offer your staff a tool that will do the analysis for you to avoid having to spend a lot of time on it.

Costing

With sessions and template restrictions, the free plan allows you to experiment with all of the features of the Optimal Workshop tools. Paid plans include a two-month free trial and start at $208 per user/month.

5. UsabilityHub

With the help of UsabilityHub, a remote user research platform, teams may conduct various tests and find usability problems. First-click tests, preference tests, design surveys, and five-second tests are the most well-known features of the UsabilityHub platform. Additionally, it features a built-in participant panel with over 170,000 testers that may be accessed on demand for a fee per response. Alternatively, current users may be invited to take part in the experiment by the researchers.

Important characteristics

• Conduct several unmoderated and moderated tests, such as surveys, five-second, first-click, prototype, and preference tests.
• Design questionnaires: Provide feedback on your layout to pinpoint particular problems with your images.
• No maximum number of participants: You can enlist as many members of your own audience as you wish, or you can pay an additional fee to gain entry to the UsabilityHub participant panel.
• Task duration metrics, open text analysis, and click visualizations are all included in the reporting.

Costing

Tests can be conducted for free for up to two minutes, or you can upgrade to paid services, which start at $75 per month for three seats.

6. TestRigor

Without any prior coding experience, you can build and run test cases using simple English instructions and testRigor, an intelligent test automation tool based on generative AI. The text that the user can see and the element’s location on the screen are used by testRigor’s AI to identify UI elements.

Important characteristics

• One of testRigor’s most notable features is its generative AI-powered capabilities, which enable all team members to create, comprehend, and update tests from the end user’s viewpoint.
• Complex scenarios such as FA, email, database, file, Captcha, data-driven tests, QR code, geolocation, intricate mathematical computations, exploratory, and accessibility testing across online, mobile (hybrid/native), desktop, and API are also supported by testRigor.
• Reporting and analytics
• Examine the features of data management.
• Writing tests without code

Costing:

Free plan plus 14-day trial available, paid plan starting from $900 per month

7. Lightster

One of the most notable benefits is the ability to test designs, prototypes, or products with your target audience and see how they respond. Additionally, you can rapidly obtain replies from your intended group by sending surveys or unmoderated tests. In addition, Lightster makes it possible for team members to participate in every session, facilitating joint efforts in data collection and user testing.

Important characteristics

• With Lightster, you can test usability in real-time and establish direct communication with your target audience.
• Lightster is a survey and user testing tool that helps academics, designers, and product managers gain input from their intended market.
• Google Calendar, Outlook Calendar, and more integrations are available.
• Various methods for gathering insights
• User-centered criticism
• Direct communication with the target audience is simple.

Costing:

The version is available for free

Paid plan $50 a month and up

8. Userlytics

The Userlytics team has more than 14 years of combined experience in UX research. With the help of the remote user testing tool Userlytics, you can design a study, choose participants, and obtain UX insights.

Integrated multimodal testing, which includes camera recording, eye tracking, aural feedback, and screen recording, is one of the standout features. Virtual reality (VR) testing of apps and prototypes made for Oculus is also supported by Userlytics.

Important characteristics

• Ideal for evaluating prototypes and concept wireframes
• Axure, Figma, Protopie, Adobe XD, and Axure are among the integrations.
• Multimodal perceptions
• International Participant Panel
• Adaptability in test planning

Costing:

Available in a free demo

Paid plan starting at $499 per month

9. UXtweak

The UXtweak team has a great deal of expertise with UX research before to developing this platform. The first click test, preference test, prototype test, and other testing tools are just a few of the ones that UXtweak has always tried to add.

The powerful mobile app usability testing tool from UXtweak, which screen captures users’ interactions with your app, is one of its best features. With the Online Recruiting function, you may create a target user base that is carefully chosen.

Important characteristics

• Superb tools for UI/UX research
• Thorough testing of prototypes
• Thorough product documentation
• Ideal for doing assessments of user empathy

Costing:

Available at no cost

Starting at $80 per month (paid yearly)

10. Datadog

Many important application key performance indicators (KPIs), such as mean time to resolution (MTTR), are available from Datadog. For the benefit of various stakeholders, including IT operations, developers, security, customer support, and business, the Datadog platform gathers valuable metrics.

Anomaly detection and full-stack observability are notable characteristics. In order to provide proactive problem identification and resolution in real-time, Datadog uses machine learning to deliver intelligent alerts and anomaly detection, ensuring optimal system performance and dependability.

Important Characteristics:

• AWS, Azure, Bonsai, Boundary, Docker, DoControl, Drata, Google Cloud, Jira, Kubernetes, New Relic, PagerDuty, Slack, and more are among the more than 25 integrated technologies.
• Regular upgrades and enhancements
• copious documentation and resources for assistance
• Proactive issue resolution using anomaly detection and intelligent alerting

Costing:

14-day trial period without cost

Monthly fees of $15 per user (paid annually)

11. Useberry

Greek origins are included in the startup Useberry. They provide tools to test usability and are primarily focused on analytics and codeless prototype testing. Numerous techniques are available, such as preference testing, first-click tests, five-second tests, and card sorting. They provide integration with six distinct prototyping tools for prototype testing.

Important Characteristics:

• You have the option of hiring testers from Useberry’s 240K user panel or bringing in your own.
• There are available video tutorials, documentation, and instructions. They provide mail-order assistance.

Costing:

A free plan allows for one active project and up to ten responses each month. Paid plans begin at $67 per month (billed annually).

12. User Experience

Like most usability testing tools, Userfeel is renowned for its distinctive price options and provides a variety of user test alternatives. Because their pricing is determined by participants instead of subscriptions, they don’t impose recurring costs. They handle more than 40 languages and provide various unmoderated and moderated tests.

Important Characteristics:

• Ideal for testing in moderation.
• You can hire testers from Userfeel’s 150K user panel or bring your own. These are premium choices.
• provided assistance
• Userfeel provides phone, mail, and chat assistance. FAQs and documentation are available.

Costing:

As previously stated, you just pay for the testers at Userfeel. The unmoderated testing costs from $30 to $60 per participant, depending on whether you bring your people. The cost of moderated tests ranges from $60 to $180 per participant.

13. UserBrain

Another tool for usability testing is called Userbrain, which lets you utilize your website or design prototypes to create straightforward, unmoderated user tests. They are well-known for being an excellent choice for remote usability testing and for their convenient pay-as-you-go option. They allow comments and annotations and deliver findings in the form of voiceover videos.

Important Characteristics:

• Options for Userbrain Recruitment
• Provide your testing equipment (at no extra cost).
• Hire from the 85K+ user panel at Userbrain.
• Userbrain provides phone, chat, and email assistance.

Costing:

Plans from Userbrain start at €79 per month or €948 per year. The Pro plan costs €239 a month or €2,868 per year. Although there isn’t a free plan, a free trial is available for all plans. Alternatively, you may pay €39/tester for their pay-as-you-go solution.

14. Loop 11

Online usability testing platform Loop 11, which was founded in Australia, specializes in moderated and unmoderated usability studies and provides thorough findings. Prototype, website testing, A/B testing, and screen recording features like heatmaps and clickstream analysis tools are some of their tools.

Important Characteristics:

• Ideal for A/B testing and usability testing.
• Although Loop 11 does not have a user panel of its own, it does assist with hiring through UserInterviews, respondent.io, and TestingTime. You can even bring your own test subjects by just providing a study link.
• Loop 11 provides email assistance for all users and chat help for advanced plans.

Costing:

There is no free plan offered by Loop 11. The monthly cost of their paid solutions is $179, with yearly billing.

15. PlaybookUX

An online user testing tool called Playbook UX makes it possible to conduct, recruit, and analyze qualitative and quantitative research. Along with capabilities like application and prototype testing, card sorting, and tree testing, they provide both moderated and unmoderated tests.

Important Characteristics:

• Ideal for individual video conversations with the user.
• On their website, you can find FAQs and demonstrations. They provide chat, mail, and phone help.

Costings:

There isn’t a free plan available. When paid annually, the “Grow” plan costs $267 per month, while the “Scale” plan costs $450.

Selection Standards for Tools Used in Usability Testing

We used recent market statistics and our own personal experience with usability testing tools to compile this list, which started as a lengthy list of possibilities that needed to be thoroughly examined.

Essential Features

• allows you to design and modify usability tests
• lets you choose participants from the talent pool provided by the application provider.
• enables the creation of reports based on gathered information

Utilization

The very usefulness of your testing program is crucial when attempting to test usability. Your testing efforts can be significantly streamlined by having an intuitive interface. You should gave priority to usability testing instruments that have a simple and straightforward user interface.

Integrations of Software

Tools that are integrated with other software systems, such as design and collaboration platforms,  you can shortlist them.

Costing

A monthly subscription payment model is used by several usability testing software. The majority of these tools have monthly fees of between $30 and $100 per user. Nevertheless, some sophisticated usability testing solutions that target a developer-focused audience price $500 to $100 per user every month.