The Ultimate List of User Research Tools for 2022 and Beyond

Google Chrome will stop using third-party cookies by the end of 2024, as Google announced recently.

This delay gives you extra time to prepare yourself for gathering customer data in a different way than small files stored within web browsers. 

Here's a sneak peek at the ultimate list of User Research Tools for 2022 (and years to come).

User research surveys

You can develop surveys in less time than other data collection methods, and they provide incredibly helpful information thanks to their many use cases. 

Open-ended questions, in-product surveys, and rating scales give you options for researching your user experience.

The most popular tools for creating surveys include Survicate, Qualaroo, and Maze. Here is how they stack up against each other.

#1 Survicate

Is there a way to gather customer data whenever they contact your brand? As soon as your customer makes a purchase, interacts with your app, or performs any other activity?

Survicate is a tool that can help you with that. And much more than that. For example, you can easily embed surveys to the website, create email campaigns that include an embedded short question, send follow-up emails with surveys after the purchase – and get the most accurate answers from your customers when they think about you at that moment. 

Using this survey builder, you can create guided surveys intuitively without getting stuck. Survicate provides many handy and well-designed survey templates you can use immediately.

Best rated features

• Regardless of the plan you choose, there is no limit to the number of responses.
• Expert-designed survey templates (NPS, CSAT, CES, and many others)
• Guided visual editor for surveys that is easy to understand and master
• Customized survey paths based on answers
• Rule-based notifications (get notified about the answer via Slack)
• Seamless integrations with, e.g., HubSpot, Intercom, and Mailchimp to create a powerful toolbox for thorough user research 
• A simple way to export data to your CRM, Google Sheets, or XLS

Pricing

Get ready to dive into the world of customer feedback analysis with Survicate. Sign up for a free account and enjoy a 10-day trial with access to essential features. Don't forget to review our pricing. Paid plans start at just $53/mo.

YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN: After scenario questionnaire survey template.

#2 Maze

Maze is a basic survey builder with some features intended for conducting behavioral analysis. It's a stable choice, but it won't give you a wide array of choices for collecting feedback. 

As a design and usability testing software, it leaves much to be improved. The pre-built template questions can’t be excessively customized – you can’t, for example, choose from multiple questions and survey formats. So from a technological point of view, it wouldn’t be a complex solution.

The free and lower-tier plans are pretty limited – many features are locked behind a paywall. Maze templates aren't also available in the cheapest plan. Access to custom designs requires upgrading your plan, making it unnecessary for small businesses that don't need all the features. 

Best rated features

• Heatmaps, click trails, and screen recordings to see how users behave
• Smart reporting that automatically generates visually dynamic reports
• Tests sharing via links 
• Assignment of team roles to streamline the workflow

Pricing

Maze offers three plans - Free, suitable for individual purposes (limited to 25 responses), Professional (for $99 per month), and Organization plan. This one is suitable for more advanced research; the pricing is variable. 

Free plan

✅Yes, Maze provides a free plan, but it’s limited to 25 responses and doesn’t provide custom templates. Also, you’ll quickly run out of responses, as 25 isn’t a lot.

#3 Typeform

The Typeform survey software is one of the most popular choices, so we decided to take a closer look at it. The verdict? The Typeform experience has been positive, but it is not without flaws. 

Although simple, creating more complex surveys with Typeform can be a headache. The tool lags as soon as the form begins to be longer than a few questions. There is also some user interface (UI) limitations – exporting data and creating reports can be challenging.

But still, it’s worth noting that Typeform provides quite an extensive number of product survey templates that are aesthetically pleasing. There are many to choose from; they are interactive, simple, and easy to implement. This is a suitable choice for basic user research, but not more than that.

Best rated features

• Automation of creating paths for future workflow 
• Converting existing forms into the system
• Clear, simple survey templates, easy to create

Pricing

Typeform prices start at $25 for the Basic plan (limited to 100 responses per month). The Plus plan costs $55 per month, and the highest, suitable for more advanced research – is $89 per month. 

Free plan

✅Yes, Typeform provides a free plan. 

User interviews

How to interview your users in a remote setting? Because of the pandemic, this user research method has become widely used, and you’ll see all sorts of companies using them to collect customer feedback.

However, doing them right takes time and lots of preparation. Some tools can help you with it, such as MagnoliaHQ or User Interviews. What if we told you we found alternatives? 

#4 UserZoom

UserZoom is like Zoom, but geared more toward business purposes. It gives you the ability to conduct thorough user interviews with help to accelerate and scale UX research practices at the same time.

It’s a tool that can gather detailed information about the users and easily share those data directly from the platform to your stakeholders. What’s more, UserZoom equips UX researchers with a learning platform that they can use to create better digital experiences.

However, it can be somewhat challenging in international research, especially when the respondents' language isn't English. Still, it's an excellent tool for research projects, letting you collect insights without spending hours interviewing and recruiting users.

Best rated features

• A/B testing to create two forms of action and gauge which one is more effective 
• Session scheduler for setting your availability preferences and letting participants choose a time that's convenient for them
• Automated transcription of recorded sessions 
• Video highlights without requiring external video editing software
• Note-taking during the session, synced to playback 

Pricing

The vendor does not provide pricing on their website. However, several sources claim that their monthly plans start at $5,000.

Free plan

⛔️No, UserZoom does not provide a free plan. 

#5 Lookback

With Lookback, a simple-to-use interview software, you can gather user insights and turn them into actions. You can do unmoderated user research using any device through a single link.

Overall, this tool has a good user experience. You can easily set up a sequence of tasks for your participants to follow and make notes during the conversations. In addition, a straightforward interface makes organizing all your gathered data easy.

There are, however, many complaints about frequent bugs and errors occurring during sessions. A drop in connection can cause the data not to be saved.

Best rated features

• Virtual Observation Rooms, timestamped notes, team chat, shared insights
• Touch indicators on taps and gestures
• Highlight reels and transcriptions
• Cloud recording that lets all sessions be stored online
• One-link conversation participation
• Availability on all devices

Pricing

Lookback offers four monthly plans starting at $25 and going up to $344. There is also the Enterprise plan available that provides a dedicated Compatibility Support Module (CSM).

Free plan

⛔️No, Lookback does not provide a free plan. However, there is a 60-day free trial available.

#6 dscout

Researcher-specific features make dscout ideal for conducting user interviews. You can be “live” anywhere and follow your user when they navigate your website and shop via the app to be truly in context.

If you’re looking for users for one-to-one meetings, dscout provides a platform with 100,000+ engaged participants. You can evaluate them by their photos, videos, and open answer responses to choose the most accurate ready scouts. 

However, it is limited in some ways. Research is restricted to only one picture and video per entry, and video submissions cannot exceed two minutes.

Best rated features

• Isolating clips to cut right to the moments that matter
• Vendor-provided database of respondents
• Actionable data analytics
• Tools for tagging, storing, and searching customer responses

Pricing

The vendor provides subscription plans – Researcher, Team, and Enterprise. They differ in the number of seats, support hours, and features available. Detailed pricing information is unavailable, but their team can provide an estimate and demo upon request. 

Free plan

⛔️No, dscout does not provide a free plan. 

Insights repositories

Is your team using insights repositories to store and share findings? If not, you're missing out on a powerful tool that can streamline your team's work.

A user research insight repository is a place to store all the data gathered during user research. Such tools as Dovetail, Userbit, and EnjoyHQ, make it easy for team members to find and share user insights, which can help them work more quickly and effectively.

What insight repositories are worth considering in the coming years?

#7 Reframer

Reframer is a qualitative research assistant – it stores all notes, observations, and research data in one place, making it easier to uncover its meaning.

With its clutter-free interface, you can concentrate on the essential things and streamline the journey to understanding your users. In addition, you can enhance this tool with other options (such as card sorting or tree testing) to provide end-to-end workflow within one platform. 

This insight repository eliminates spreadsheets and other redundant documents and simplifies team collaboration during user research. 

Best rated features

• Distraction-free interface
• Recap of the captured information 
• Building themes to spot patterns in the observations
• Analyzing findings with artificial intelligence

Pricing

Pro is the most popular Reframer plan choice ($249 per month for one user). A custom Enterprise plan is available if you want to make UX research an integral part of the entire organization.

Free plan

✅Yes, Reframer provides a free plan.

User analytics

By tracking user behavior, you can determine what's working and what isn't, identify pain points, and make necessary changes to improve your site or app. 

While many user analytics tools are available, such as Mixpanel, Amplitude, or Smartlook, not all are suitable for the same purposes.

The following are our top picks in this category.

#8 Userlytics

Userlytics is a user research platform for gathering UX insights. With its easy-to-follow onboarding process and training system, this solution stands out from other products available on the market.

It gives all the necessary tools to conduct your user research and can guide you through every step of the way, making it an enjoyable tool.

Moreover, this platform provides access to over 1.5 million people who can participate in your research.

Best rated features

• AI-based audio transcriptions
• Unlimited storage of study results and metrics
• Preliminary study questions to filter out participants who don’t meet target demographics
• Prototype testing in any stage of development
• Analysis and reports with clear takeaways and actionable steps

Pricing

Userlytics pricing is complicated. You have access to the Enterprise Pricing Calculator, which helps determine how much you can spend on features. You can also select preferred features and customize the plan to your needs. 

Free plan

⛔️No, Userlytics does not provide a free plan. 

#9 Hotjar

A popular feature of Hotjar is its heatmaps, which show where people click, scroll on, and move on the website. It provides a visual way to see how users behave and what you can do to improve their experience.

As well as for tracking user actions, Hotjar is also a great tool for wide-ranging analytics to get a deep understanding of your users. It can also be integrated with many other tools (such as Zapier and Google Analytics) to enhance collaboration and overall team workflow.

Just as with any other tool, it has some pitfalls. It’s not always user-friendly, and the interface might be overwhelming, especially for beginners in this field.  

Best rated features

• Heatmaps to visualize user behavior 
• Session recordings to map the entire user journey
• A comparison of desktop, mobile, and tablet experiences
• Setting up heatmaps is easy (all you need to do is add just one script to your website) 

Pricing

There are three Hotjar plans available. They vary between $39 to $99 per month, depending on the daily sessions you want to monitor. A scale plan is also provided.

Free plan

✅Yes, Hotjar provides a free plan.

Find your perfect match

With all the tools listed above, you should have no problem finding the one that meets all your needs. We strongly believe that your perfect user research fit is among them.

Take steps to maximize your product potential, and start by doing user research with the right tool right from the start. Go the extra mile with Survicate and sign up for a free trial today! Also, you can foster your decision-making by checking our newest ranking of best website satisfaction tools.