Guide to choosing the right UX research platform

Delivering exceptional customer experiences starts with a deep understanding of your users—their needs, behaviors, and motivations. A user experience research platform enables teams to transform customer feedback into actionable insights, helping organizations make better decisions faster.

This guide will help you evaluate your needs, compare platforms, and choose the best user experience research platform for your organization.

What to look for in a UX research platform

Comprehensive participant access

Choose platforms that simplify participant recruitment with:

• Proprietary participant pools (e.g., UserTesting’s Contributor Network)
• Third-party integration for broader reach
• Support for using your own customer database

Flexible research methodologies

Look for support across various study types:

• Moderated (live interviews) and unmoderated (self-guided tasks)
• Usability testing, prototype evaluations, and diary studies
• Adaptability for both fast, iterative feedback and in-depth research

Advanced analysis and sharing

Prioritize platforms with robust tools for:

• AI-powered tagging, themes, and synthesis
• Visualizations like click paths, heatmaps, and curated highlight reels
• Easy sharing of insights across teams for faster decision-making

Enterprise-ready features

Ensure the platform offers:

• Compliance with data privacy regulations (e.g., GDPR, CCPA)
• Multi-team access controls and workflow integrations
• Scalability to support complex research needs

Support and onboarding

Choosing a platform with robust support and onboarding resources is essential for ensuring adoption and long-term success. Look for providers that offer:

• Dedicated support and services: Access to a knowledgeable support team that understands your business needs and provides timely assistance for any technical or strategic challenges.
• Comprehensive onboarding programs: Structured onboarding to help your team get up and running quickly, with step-by-step guidance tailored to your specific goals and use cases.
• On-demand education: A library of on-demand training resources and certifications that empower your team to continuously expand their skills and maximize the platform’s value.
• Community and peer learning: Access to a vibrant user community where you can connect with peers, share best practices, and gain insights from other experienced users.

Platforms like UserTesting excel in these areas with unique offerings such as UserTesting University, which provides a wealth of training options and a thriving community space where customers can collaborate, share ideas, and solve challenges together. Smaller platforms often lack this level of support, leaving teams to figure things out on their own.

Evaluating your options

UserTesting

Strengths: UserTesting is purpose-built for enterprises seeking a scalable solution to gather human insights across the entire product lifecycle. Recognized as a leader in the Forrester Wave, UserTesting offers an unmatched participant network, AI-powered analysis, and comprehensive support for moderated and unmoderated testing. Its professional services team and robust integrations with tools like Qualtrics and FullStory make it a strategic partner for organizations looking to scale research and drive impactful decisions.

Limitations: As an enterprise-grade platform, UserTesting may be less cost-effective for teams with minimal or occasional testing needs.

Best for: Organizations seeking a comprehensive, scalable solution for gathering insights, optimizing customer experiences, and enabling cross-functional collaboration.

dscout

Strengths: Known for its diary studies, dscout excels in gathering qualitative insights for longitudinal research. It offers curated participants with detailed screeners and high-quality incentives. Recently added usability testing capabilities and collaboration tools.

Limitations: Small panel (~100K participants) skewing young and tech-savvy, with limited international reach. Analysis requires significant manual effort, and the platform lacks advanced enterprise features like repositories and approval workflows.

Best for: Teams prioritizing in-depth qualitative research, such as diary studies, but not requiring advanced scalability or automation.

Maze

Strengths: Maze specializes in rapid, unmoderated usability testing and prototype validation, with an intuitive interface optimized for design teams. Entry-level pricing is accessible for small teams with limited testing needs.

Limitations: Relies on third-party panels, leading to inconsistent participant quality. Lacks enterprise features such as professional services, advanced analytics, and diverse use case support. Limited to design validation and prototype testing.

Best for: Agile design teams seeking a lightweight, cost-effective tool for quick prototype testing but with fewer demands for scalability or advanced research capabilities.

Userlytics

Strengths: Userlytics offers flexibility with unlimited seats and sessions, multi-language support, and a credit usage calculator. Userlytics’ ULX Score provides a benchmarking feature similar to UserTesting’s QXScore, and its AI-powered transcription and sentiment analysis improve usability.

Limitations: Lacks enterprise readiness with no approval workflows, limited training, and subpar participant quality. Complaints include poor scheduling, low-quality participants, and unreliable data visualization. Limited integrations and slower innovation also hinder scalability.

Best for: Teams looking for a basic, budget-friendly tool for straightforward qualitative and quantitative studies but not requiring enterprise-grade features or strategic support.

How to choose the right platform for your needs

When evaluating platforms, consider the following:

• Your goals: What do you need to achieve (e.g., usability testing, audience insights, or longitudinal studies)?
• Your audience: Do you need new participants, or will existing customers suffice?
• Team size and scalability: Can the platform grow with your organization?
• Speed to insight: Does it provide tools to synthesize and share findings efficiently?
• Budget considerations: Does the platform offer the best ROI for your research needs?

Why choose UserTesting?

UserTesting sets the standard for UX research platforms by combining powerful recruiting, robust analytics, and intuitive tools into a comprehensive solution. Whether you’re testing prototypes, evaluating customer journeys, or refining product designs, UserTesting enables you to make informed, customer-first decisions faster.

Final note

The right UX research platform can transform your research process, helping you turn customer feedback into confident decisions that drive exceptional experiences. By understanding your needs and evaluating your options, you can select the platform that ensures your organization stays ahead in today’s competitive landscape.