16 Best Usability Testing Tools For Real User Feedback In 2023

UserTesting is a video-first platform that provides real-time, first-person feedback on testing.

Why I picked UserTesting: UserTesting offers a drag-and-drop test builder, extensive template gallery, and a powerful test distribution engine. This allows you to create exactly the test to suit your needs, and place it in the hands of the participants who matter most. Their test capabilities include card sorting, tree testing, clickstream tracking, and live interviews.

You can analyze the data you receive back from your tests with data visualization, transcripts, and highlight reels. Tasks like participant quality control are handled by AI, which accelerates tedious processes that might otherwise slow down the testing process.

UserTesting Standout Features and Integrations

Features include test builder, template gallery, card sorting, tree testing, clickstream tracking, live interviews, live conversion, and sentiment analysis.

Integrations include Jira, Slack, and Trello.

UserTesting Pricing

Pricing for UserTesting is available upon request. 

Userlytics is a usability testing tool with a global panel of more than 1.5 million testers.

Why I picked Userlytics: The Userlytics testing panel consists of members from more than 150 countries worldwide, who speak multiple languages. Having access to such a diverse panel mitigates the risk of unconscious bias and can provide valuable insight on cultural sensitivities that may influence your product decisions.

That being said, Userlytics also makes it easy to narrow down your search and find exactly your target persona. You can add custom screener questions at the beginning of your test to ensure that test participants match your intended audience. Their panel consists of individuals from several niche industries and roles, including neurosurgeons, c-suite executives, architects, and sales reps to name a few.

Userlytics Standout Features and Integrations

Features include A/B testing, audience targeting, analytics, calendar management, brand management, data export, and data visualization.

Integrations are not listed on Userlytics’s website.

Userlytics Pricing

Userlytics enterprise plan pricing is available upon request. DIY plans start at $499/month (billed annually), and a free demo is available.

Datadog is a testing platform that provides software development teams with visibility on user journeys. 

Why I picked Datadog: Datadog uses synthetic tests, network performance data, logs, traces, and backend metrics to provide insight on frontend performance from the perspective of your target audience. Their real user monitoring allows you to understand user experience, and in-depth analytics help you to identify the root cause of issues like slow load time and JavaScript errors.

Datadog allows you to filter data using custom attributes and reorganize or prioritize depending on your needs. Frontend and backend data can be combined with business metrics to troubleshoot and gain insight on business impact.

Datadog Standout Features and Integrations

Features include real user monitoring, synthetic monitoring, continuous testing, session replay, dashboards, alerts, and data export.

Integrations available are extensive and include Airbrake, Amazon, Cacti, Capistrano, Cassandra, CHEF, CouchDB, Docker, Fabric, Git, Github, Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft IIS, Java, MemCached, MongoDB, MySQL, Microsoft Net, New Relic, Node, PagerDuty, PHP, Pingdom, Python, RedHat, Redis, Splunk, and Varnish Cache.

Datadog Pricing

Datadog offers a free plan for core collection and visualization. From there, pricing begins at $15/host/month. A 14-day free trial is available.

Crazy Egg is a usability testing tool that provides detailed visual reports of user engagement.

Why I picked Crazy Egg: Crazy Egg provides a variety of visual reports including heatmaps (click activity), scrollmaps (scroll depth), confetti (individual clicks), overlay (clicks across the website), and lists (numerical reports of clicks). You can use these tools to understand google analytics data, email and ad campaign interactions, and improve conversion rates with better CTA placement. 

Crazy Egg also records user sessions in their entirety, helping you to identify glitches and areas of frustration for users. You can filter these recordings by source, and then subdivide into various segments like mobile and new visitors. Their A/B testing tool is user-friendly and automatically sends traffic to the winner.

Crazy Egg Standout Features and Integrations

Features include heatmaps, A/B testing, error tracking, surveys, commenting, traffic analysis, scrollmaps, and overlay reports. 

Integrations are extensive and include Wordpress, Google Tag Manager, Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, Drupal, Magento, Joomla, and Segment.

Crazy Egg Pricing

Crazy Egg plans start at $29/month and a 30-day free trial is available

Optimizely is a popular software that can be used to conduct usability testing quickly and effectively. It ensures that your application’s interface is user-friendly and intuitive by collecting important data from users on how they interact with it.

Why I Picked Optimizely: Optimizely has a wide range of features that make it ideal for usability testing purposes. With its easy to use drag-and-drop editor, you can create variations of your website or app without having to manually code each change. It also provides real-time analytics so you can see which versions are performing better than others, allowing you to adjust and optimize accordingly. Additionally, its A/B split testing capabilities enable you to test various elements against one another, helping you identify what works best for your audience.

Standout Features and Integrations

Features include A/B testing, data import & export, external integrations, analytics, conversion tracking, multi-site, referral tracking, API, dashboard, multi-user, and scheduling.

Integrations include Aprimo DAM Connector, TradeCentric Connector, Baymard Premium, Shopify Plus, Openpay, FullStory, WordPress, Instagram, and more.

Optimizely Pricing

Optimizely pricing details are available upon request. They also offer a free demo as well.

Userbrain provides quick and cost-effective usability testing for product prototypes and websites.

Why I picked Userbrain: Userbrain takes the most time-consuming parts of the usability testing process off your hands. They’ll gather real users from their user test pool to participate, schedule test times, and conduct the unmoderated usability testing on your behalf. Should you choose to work with your own testers, Userbrain can support you by supplying a link that can be sent via text or email.

Userbrain supports screen capture, video recording, and audio commenting, providing you with an in-depth understanding of any usability issues based on end-user experience. Their user testing tool enables developers to test things like wireframes, live websites, and prototypes from multiple devices.

Userbrain Standout Features and Integrations

Features include unmoderated usability testing, messaging, audience targeting, website usability testing, customizable reports, A/B testing, and screen recording.

Integrations are limited, but do include Google Analytics 360.

Userbrain Pricing

Pricing for Userbrain begins at $99/month, and a 14-day free trial is available.

Maze is a usability testing tool that allows you to test user experience across the full product life cycle.

Why I picked Maze: Maze delivers user research that spans from product discovery through to design and beyond. Their usability testing tools are meant to be continuous, enabling you to remain agile and adapt to the real-time user insights you receive. Tests can be as dynamic or simple as you need, including features like card sorting, open questions, and five-second tests.

Since Maze is device agnostic and browser-based, test participants can engage with your testing in the manner that suits them best. Detailed reports include things like bounce-rates, misclicks, and heatmaps, and rich filters empower you to focus on what’s most important while sifting through the data.

Maze Standout Features and Integrations

Features include prototype testing, card sorting, tree testing, video recordings, five-second testing, participant management, and surveys.

Integrations include many of the most popular design tools like Adobe XD, Figma, InVision, Marvel, and Sketch.

Maze Pricing

Maze offers a free plan for individuals and small teams. From there, pricing begins at $75/month, billed annually.

Loop11 is a comprehensive online usability testing tool that enables you to quickly identify problems and areas of improvement in your products or websites. 

Firstly, create an account on Loop11 and upload the prototype, website, or app you want to test. You can add tasks that participants must complete while using the product. After setting up the tests, invite potential users to participate by entering their email addresses. They will be sent a link to begin taking part in your tests immediately—no downloads necessary! 

Next, analyze test results collected fromLoop 11's recording feature which captures both qualitative and quantitative data about user interactions with your product or website.

Why I Picked Loop11: Loop11 supports both moderated and unmoderated testing. Their platform is super easy to use, and features include session recordings, click testing, competitive benchmarking, and A/B testing. 

Loop11 Standout Features and Integrations

Features include online usability testing, benchmarking, prototype testing, A/B usability testing,mobile & tablet testing, information architecture testing, true intent studies, and search engine findability.

Integrations include Slack, User Interviews, and Testing Time.

Loop11 Pricing

Loop11 costs $179/month, billed annually. A 14-day free trial is available.

Great Question is a usability testing tool that prioritizes compliance and security for candidate data and test results. 

Why I picked Great Question: Great Question makes it easy to recruit participants, test, gather user feedback, and share your findings with team members. You can use their research calendar to schedule interviews, and the process of launching surveys, questionnaires, and prototype tests is quick and intuitive.

Their solution is GDPR compliant and all in-transit data is encrypted. The only Great Question employees who will have access to your data are those who directly require access to conduct their job.

Great Question Standout Features and Integrations

Features include prototype tests, research calendars, panel management, research recruiting, incentives, and a research calendar.

Integrations include Slack, Google Calendar, Calendly, Google Meet, Tremendous, and Zoom. Further integrations are available by connecting a paid Zapier account.

Great Question Pricing

Great Question pricing starts at $10/month, billed annually. A 14-day free trial is available.

Lookback is a usability testing tool that provides moderated testing via a Liveshare feature.

Why I picked Lookback: Lookback offers both moderated and unmoderated UX research. Their moderated testing feature allows you to speak to participants in-person, meaning you can ask questions and further define usability problems. Session recordings are stored on the cloud so you can access them later.

Their unmoderated usability testing function allows you to set up step-by-step tasks, within which your website or prototype can automatically open for testers. You can restrict which device participants use to assess your UX design (iOS, Android, or desktop), or allow them to choose.

Lookback Standout Features and Integrations

Features include moderated and unmoderated testing, virtual observation rooms, timestamped notes, team chat, session recordings, and transcript downloads.

Integrations are not listed on the Lookback website.

Lookback Pricing

Lookback pricing begins at $25/month (billed annually). A 60-day free trial is available.