Online Usability Testing Tools Compared

When this post first appeared in 2009, it listed six web apps for usability testing. Today one of them is gone, one has been folded into a merger, one has changed its name, and the idea behind all six, testing with people you never meet, has become the normal way to run a usability test.

Online usability testing tools let you put a website, app or prototype in front of real people remotely and record what they do, so you can find usability problems without a lab. Some recruit the participants for you, some measure clicks and completion rates on a prototype, and some simply record the people already visiting your site.

The tools differ less in quality than in the question they answer. This guide groups the services available today by that question, so you can pick the one that fits the test you need to run. For how to plan the test itself, see our practical guide to usability testing.

How to choose a usability testing tool

Start from what you need to learn, not from a feature list:

Three questions narrow the choice further:

1. Do you need participants? Panel tools recruit for you and charge for it. If you already have users or a customer list, a tool that lets you invite your own participants is often cheaper.
2. Moderated or unmoderated? A live session lets you ask “What did you expect to happen?” at the moment it matters. An unmoderated test gives you many sessions overnight, but only if the tasks are clear enough to work without you.
3. Prototype or live product? Prototype tools connect to Figma and measure paths through screens. Heatmaps and recordings only work on a live site with real traffic.

Remote usability testing with a participant panel

These services recruit people who match your criteria, give them your tasks and send you back screen recordings with their spoken thoughts. This is remote user testing as most people know it, and the closest successor to the services in the original 2009 post.

UserTesting

UserTesting is the largest platform in the category. It merged with UserZoom in 2023 and now covers unmoderated video tests, live interviews, surveys and benchmark studies, with a large panel of its own. It’s built and priced for research teams in bigger companies: plans are quoted on request, and there is no self-service entry tier.

Userlytics

Userlytics offers moderated and unmoderated tests of websites, apps and prototypes with an international panel. It suits teams that need participants in many countries and languages.

Userbrain

Userbrain keeps unmoderated testing simple: write tasks, choose testers from its pool or invite your own, and receive videos. It works well for small teams that want a steady rhythm of a few tests every month rather than one big study.

Loop11

Loop11, which was in the original 2009 list, is still running. It runs moderated and unmoderated tests on live sites, mobile devices and prototypes, and adds clickstreams, heatmaps, session recordings and competitor benchmarks to the videos.

Trymata

Trymata, previously called TryMyUI, now sends visitors to QuestionPro’s UX research product, which offers the same kind of panel-based video tests as part of a wider survey platform.

Prototype testing and quick design tests

These tools measure how people move through a design rather than recording their voice. They are fast, often have free plans, and give you numbers such as success rate, misclicks and time per screen. Most import prototypes straight from Figma.

Maze

Maze tests clickable prototypes and live sites at scale and turns the results into reports with paths, success rates and heatmaps per screen. It also runs surveys, card sorts and interviews, including AI-moderated ones. There is a free plan to start with.

Lyssna

Lyssna, called UsabilityHub until 2023, grew out of the original five-second testing tools. It covers five second tests, first click tests, preference tests, prototype tests, card sorting, tree testing and surveys, with its own panel or your own participants. It has a free plan.

UXtweak

UXtweak bundles prototype tests, website tests, card sorting, tree testing, first click tests and session recordings in one platform, which is useful if you would otherwise pay for three separate tools.

Useberry

Useberry imports designs from Figma, ProtoPie or Sketch, or a live website, and runs prototype, first click, five second, card sorting and tree tests, with its own panel or participants you invite with a link.

Moderated remote sessions

In a moderated session you watch live and can ask follow-up questions, which is often the best way to understand why something goes wrong, and the only practical way to test a rough prototype.

Lookback

Lookback is built for live sessions: participants share their screen and camera, teammates watch from a hidden observer room, and the team can add timestamped notes during the session. It records unmoderated sessions too.

A video call

For a few sessions, you don’t need a special tool. Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams can share a screen and record it. Ask participants to think aloud, and invite a colleague to take notes so you can focus on the participant. What you lose compared with Lookback is the separate observer room and the tagging of moments for analysis.

Testing navigation and information architecture

Card sorting shows how people group your content. Tree testing shows whether they can find things in a menu structure before you design any screens. First click testing shows whether they start a task in the right place.

Optimal Workshop has specialized in these methods for years, with OptimalSort for card sorting, Treejack for tree testing and Chalkmark for first click tests. Lyssna and UXtweak offer the same methods as part of their broader platforms.

Heatmaps and session recordings

These tools don’t run tests at all. They record what real visitors already do on your live site: where they click, how far they scroll, where they rage-click and where they leave. They tell you where to look, not why people struggle, so they work best alongside a usability test rather than instead of one.

• Microsoft Clarity is free, with heatmaps, session recordings and automatic flags for rage clicks and dead clicks. Start here if you have no budget.
• Hotjar is now part of Contentsquare, and new accounts sign up through Contentsquare. It combines heatmaps and recordings with on-site surveys and feedback widgets.
• Crazy Egg, also in the original 2009 list, still offers heatmaps, scroll maps and recordings, and adds A/B testing.
• Mouseflow adds funnel and form analytics, which show which form field makes people give up.

We compared these kinds of tools in more depth in our review of heatmap and user recording software. Before you add any of them, check that your cookie consent setup covers session recording and that recordings mask personal data.

Recruiting participants

Finding the right people is still the hardest part of running tests, and the problem from the original 2009 post: after a few rounds, colleagues and friends no longer see your design with fresh eyes. If your testing tool has no suitable panel, or you need very specific people, use a recruiting service and run the sessions in the tool of your choice:

• User Interviews recruits consumers and professionals for interviews and tests and handles scheduling and incentives. It can also manage a panel of your own customers.
• Prolific is popular for academic and unmoderated studies, with fast recruiting and detailed screening.

Screen for the behavior that matters, such as “ordered groceries online in the last month”, not just age and location.

AI in usability testing tools

Most platforms now use AI to transcribe sessions, tag moments and summarize findings, which saves hours of analysis. Some, such as Maze and Outset, go further and let an AI moderator run interviews and follow-up questions with hundreds of people at once.

Use the summaries as a starting point, and watch the clips behind them before you act: a summary can tell you that people found checkout confusing, but not which detail confused them. And don’t replace participants with AI-generated ones. Synthetic users can help you prepare a study, but they can’t show you how real people behave.

Free usability testing tools

You can run useful usability tests without paying for anything:

• Microsoft Clarity for heatmaps and session recordings on a live site.
• The free plans of Maze and Lyssna for small prototype tests, five second tests and first click tests with your own participants.
• A video call with screen sharing and recording for moderated sessions.
• Guerilla user testing: take a laptop or phone to a café and ask a few people to try one task. Five short sessions will reveal the biggest problems.

Free plans limit the number of responses, studies or features, and the limits change often, so check the current plan before you start.

What happened to the tools from 2009

What changed most is not the list of names but the price of entry. In 2009, one recorded test cost about $29. Today, free plans and free tools cover much of what those services did, so cost is no longer a reason to skip testing.

Now you really don’t have an excuse not to test your designs regularly. For how to plan the tasks, recruit participants and turn findings into fixes, read Usability Testing: A Practical Guide.

Tools, plans and ownership were checked in November 2026. Prices change often, so confirm them on each vendor’s site.