Looking to switch from UsabilityHub to another user testing tool? Here are 6 alternatives to UsabilityHub to consider offering more than just running summative studies.
So, you came here looking for UsabilityHub alternatives that offer you even more possibilities to test your website, app or early prototype?
UsabilityHub is a remote user research platform that takes the guesswork out of design decisions by validating them with real users. It was founded by Mateja Milosavljevic in 2010.
What is it that makes UsabilityHub so special?
UsabilityHub allows you to run summative studies like first-click and five-second tests, design surveys or preference tests of multiple design solutions. You will receive written answers and can either recruit your own participants or use UsabilityHub’s integrated participant panel.
Screenshot: usabilityhub.com
But UsabilityHub isn’t for everyone.
Probably the biggest disadvantage of UsabilityHub is that it only delivers written answers to your research questions which makes it harder to understand the real thoughts of your participants.
Although UsabilityHub really offers great written feedback, using only this tool can prevent you from really understanding your usability problems as you don’t see the participants interacting with your product.
Here are the best-rated UsabilityHub alternatives which offer you more than just written answers:
Without further ado, let’s dive into the six best competitors to UsabilityHub’s user research platform:
1 Userbrain | userbrain.com
Of course we’re going to place our own software at the top of the list. We’d be silly not to, wouldn’t we?
If you think that UsabilityHub is a good remote user research platform but you really want to understand your participants and watch them while they’re struggling with your products, then we’ve got your back!
Pros of Userbrain compared to UsabilityHub
With Userbrain you receive access to professional features as standard, such as:
- Screen and audio recording – With Userbrain you’ll get a screen and audio recording where you can watch the participant doing your test.
- AI Insights – Analyze user tests in a matter of seconds with Userbrain’s powerful AI assistant. No more note-taking!
- Tests of interactive prototypes – With Userbrain you can test your prototypes built in eg. InVision, Sketch, or Figma, while with UsabilityHub you can’t test fully interactive prototypes.
- Multi-site testing – When testing with Userbrain, sending your testers to another website as part of your test is possible.
- Unlimited team members – no matter how big your team, you can invite them all to Userbrain and assign roles. With Usability Hub, you only get unlimited seats with the Pro plan.
You can create a free account and even get your first test free of charge.
Cons of Userbrain compared to UsabilityHub
- No 5-Second & First-Click Tests included – Compared to Userbrain, UsabilityHub also supports the recording of qualitative data like heatmaps, clickstreams and path analysis.
Userbrain’s pricing in comparison to UsabilityHub
Userbrain is more affordable than UsabilityHub, and pricing starts at $39 per tester – without any subscription. With UsabilityHub the Basic Plan starts at $79 /month.
- There is a pay-as-you go-option for $39 per tester without subscription or extra fees.
- The monthly plans start at $299 per month for 10 testers. All unused testers roll over.
- You can create a free account and get your first test free of charge.
- When paying yearly, you get 2 months for free.
9Here’s what one Userbrain reviewer says about the pricing options:
“The best thing about Userbrain is the pricing structure. It’s also affordable for companies who are testing in small volumes”
2 Lookback | lookback.com
When you already have access to a pool of user test participants and if you want to have lots of features to adapt to your user testing workflow, Lookback is a great alternative to UsabilityHub.
Screenshot: lookback.io
Pros of Lookback compared to UsabilityHub
- Screen activity recording – When testing with Lookback you’ll get a screen and audio recording, while with UsabilityHub you only get written answers.
- Remote moderated testing – Lookback allows you to directly talk with participants – live and face to face in moderated user tests.
- Broadcast your research –Use the “Live” feature to broadcast your research to your team. Invite them to watch and gain insights.
Cons of Lookback compared to UsabilityHub
- No tester pool – UsabilityHub provides participants you can test with. With Lookback, you have to recruit your own testers.
- No free version – With UsabilityHub, there’s a pricing option that is free and allows you to test for a limited length of 2 minutes with your own participants. However, Lookback does not have a free version available.
- Connection drops – As Lookback supports live testing with participants there might be connection drops during a session, something which is reported by a couple of reviewers.
Lookback’s pricing in comparison to UsabilityHub
- All Lookback Subscriptions are billed annually.
- Lookback’s Freelance Plan starts with $25/month offering 10 sessions a year.
- The Team Plan costs $149/month with 100 sessions per year.
- The Insights Hub Plan costs $344/month and you get 300 sessions per year.
- There is also an Enterprise Plan with unlimited sessions.
- There is a 60-day free trial – no credit card required.
3 UserTesting | usertesting.com
UserTesting was the first unmoderated user testing tool ever and therefore had plenty of time to build up the largest tester pool compared to any other service. According to their own data, UserTesting.com has over 2 million testers on their panel. This allows customers to receive very fast feedback, with access to a very sophisticated platform with lots of possibilities to run and analyze their user tests.
Screenshot: usertesting.com
Pros of UserTesting compared to UsabilityHub
- Prototype testing – While UsabilityHubs only supports running tests of wireframes, UserTesting allows you to test interactive prototypes built in e.g. InVision, Sketch, or Figma.
- Multi-site testing – With the UserTesting tool, you can send your participant to another website during the test. In the UsabilityHub dashboard you can only do this as part of the test itself.
- Screen and audio recording – UserTesting focuses on videotaping problems and recording users responses and reactions to the task you specify them to complete.
Cons of UserTesting compared to UsabilityHub
- Very Expensive – UserTesting is one of the most expensive user testing tools on the market. Starting with $49 per Test but with this option you can only test with 15 participants. If you want more than 15 participants in total, you need to get in contact with their Sales team for an Enterprise plan. You’ll then be offered an about 18k/year long-term contract.
- No free trial – Even though the price for UserTesting is very high, there’s no free-trial to find out if it works for you. Otherwise at Lookback there’s a free plan to test it.
UserTesting’s pricing in comparison to UsabilityHub
UserTesting offers you two pricing plans.
- For the Individual solution you pay $49 per Test; with this plan you can test with 15 participants in total.
- An Enterprise solution is also offered with pricing depending on how the plan is customized.
4 Userlytics | userlytics.com
Userlytics offers very competitive pricing options for a suite of user research tools at the expense of an outdated user interface.
Screenshot: userlytics.com
Pros of Userlytics compared to UsabilityHub
- Multiple user research tools in one – With Userlytics, you’ll have access to a suite of user research tools like Card Sorting or Tree Testing besides the classic remote user testing functionality.
- Automated and multilingual transcriptions – Receive an AI-generated searchable transcription of your user test.
- Quantitative metrics – Compared to UsabilityHub, Userlytics offers a more sophisticated reporting on quantitative metrics like time on task, SUS, NPS or SUPR-Q.
Cons of Userlytics compared to UsabilityHub
- Outdated user interface – The user interface is considered old and challenging in terms of usability by a couple of reviewers on G2.
- Complex pricing plans – Userlytics offers six different pricing tiers all with different options and features. It could be hard to choose the right plan for your needs.
- No demographic information about users – Compared to UsabilityHub, Userlytics doesn’t provide much demographic information about the participants (like income bracket, age and gender).
Userlytics pricing in comparison to UsabilityHub
As mentioned, the pricing options of Userlytics can be quite hard to decide on. Userlytics offers:
- Three different Pay as you go plans starting with $49/per participant
- Three different Subscription plans reaching from $399/per month to $999/per month
- All subscription plans allow you to test unlimited with participants provided by you or a 3rd party
- Custom plan for specific projects and unconventional profiles
5 UserZoom | go.userzoom.com
Validately started by offering moderated user testing and later added an unmoderated option. UserZoom has recently acquired it and made some positive changes to the platform.
Screenshot: go.userzoom.com
Pros of UserZoom compared to UsabilityHub
- Moderated recruiting – You can tell UserZoom your exact test participant criteria and screening questions and they will recruit testers for your moderated research studies in 5 business days or less.
- Moderated user tests – UserZoom supports moderated and unmoderated user testing on desktop and mobile devices.
- Testing fully interactive prototypes – UserZoom allows you to test fully interactive prototypes, while with UsabilityHub, this possibility isn’t provided.
Cons of UserZoom compared to UsabilityHub
- Contracts are billed annually – You need to pay for a year upfront.
UserZoom’s pricing in comparison to UsabilityHub
UserZoom offers different pricing points for moderated and unmoderated user tests:
- Plans that support moderated and unmoderated user testing start at $500/mo with 2 researcher seats, unlimited collaborator seats, and 40 Studies/year.
- There are two plans which you can customize by reaching out to UserZoom.
- There is a 14-day free trial.
- All contracts are billed annually.
6 Loop11 | loop11.com
Loop11 is a useful UX tool for benchmarking a site’s KPIs, finding out where exactly users are encountering an issue, and gathering quantitative data on UX improvements.
Screenshot: loop11.com
Pros of Loop11 compared to UsabilityHub
- Support for accessibility user testing – Loop11 customers can now tap into the AccessWorks database for all accessibility testing needs, saving time that would otherwise be spent recruiting testers for face-to-face testing.
- Records audio and video – Seeing and hearing your participants taking the test helps to analyze the feedback more thoroughly.
Cons of Loop11 compared to UsabilityHub
- No testing pool – As Loop11 does not offer a pool of participants you need to send invites to your own users to get results for your study.
- No free version – UsabilityHub offers a free version, and Loop 11 doesn’t.
- No editing after a test has been launched – You can’t edit a test after publishing it; you can only delete it completely. Thus, you should double-check the test in preview mode before allowing it to go live.
Loop11’s pricing in comparison to UsabilityHub
Loop11 charges a monthly fee for the platform’s usage that does not include tester remuneration, as you need to provide your own users.
- Pricing starts at $79/mo for running 3 projects per month with up to 10 testers per project.
- The pro plan costs $299/mo with 10 projects per month and a maximum of 100 testers.
- The Enterprise plan allows you to test unlimited, with unlimited projects per month.
- Plans are cheaper when paying annually.
- All plans include a 14-day free trial.
Summary: The Top 6 UsabilityHub Alternatives
To wrap things up, it’s evident that UX/UI designers in 2023 have a wealth of UsabilityHub alternatives to choose from, each with its unique set of pros and cons. Whether it’s Userbrain’s screen and audio recordings or Loop11’s focus on accessibility user testing, there’s a suitable option for designers of all backgrounds and budgets.
When weighing these alternatives, it’s crucial to assess your specific project needs and objectives, as this will help you identify the platform that provides the optimal mix of features, user-friendliness, and cost-effectiveness. By taking the time to thoroughly examine each option, you can be confident in selecting a UX/UI testing tool, ultimately leading to improved products for your users.
Find the perfect user testing plan for your needs
If you’re still struggling to choose the perfect UsabilityHub alternative for your needs, check out our comprehensive guide. We aim to remove the guesswork and provide as much information as possible so that you can make the right choice. After all, every business and every project is different!
So why not give these UsabilityHub alternatives a shot? Your users will surely appreciate it! Always remember that the key to exceptional UX design is refining your work through iterative testing and learning from genuine user feedback. Here’s to successful and inspired designing!
