The Ultimate UX Research Toolkit: Tools & Platforms You Need

Philip Burgess
Aug 17
4 min read

By Philip Burgess - UX Research Leader

Whether you're running usability tests, conducting interviews, analyzing product usage, or recruiting participants, having the right toolbox is essential. Here's a comprehensive guide to top UX research tools for 2025, categorized by purpose.

1. Usability Testing & User Interviews

Maze – A continuous discovery platform offering card sorting, tree testing, prototype testing, surveys, and real‑time reporting. Great for both moderated and unmoderated testing. Dovetail+10Maze+10UXTweak Blog+10
Loop11 – Conducts usability testing on live websites and prototypes, with features like benchmarking and A/B testing. Maze+2UXTweak Blog+2
Userlytics – Supports moderated/unmoderated testing, prototype testing, live conversations, card sorting, and tree testing. The Product Manager+6Maze+6UXTweak Blog+6
UsabilityHub – Remote tools for first-click testing, five-second tests, preference testing, and built‑in participant recruitment. Wikipedia+5Maze+5UXTweak Blog+5
Lookback – Provides live and recorded remote user research, moderated or unmoderated, with collaborative dashboards and note-taking features. Dovetail+7Maze+7UXTweak Blog+7
UserZoom – Enterprise-grade platform for usability testing, interviews, surveys, click testing, and more, plus recruitment support. Reddit+13Maze+13UXTweak Blog+13
dscout – Facilitates unmoderated research, remote interviews, diary studies, automatic transcription, and in-session support with an interactive timeline. Qualtrics+3Maze+3Gartner+3
PlaybookUX – Smoothed remote usability testing and user interviews, with video testing, transcription, and task‑based features. Userlytics

2. Participant Recruitment

User Interviews – Large panel (350k+ participants), with screener surveys, scheduling, messaging, incentives, and tracking. Qualtrics+3Maze+3Reddit+3
Ethnio – Intercepts users via your site/app, applies filters, and offers screener tools plus incentive management and scheduling. Maze
Ribbon – Screens participants, schedules interviews, and manages incentives in an all‑in‑one setup. Maze

3. Surveying & Feedback

Typeform, SurveyMonkey, Google Forms – Well‑known, easy‑to-use platforms for creating engaging user surveys. SurveyMonkey and Typeform offer customizable templates; Google Forms is free and collaborative. Website
Qualtrics Strategic Research – Advanced survey engine for designing rich flows, analysis, and reporting—with a free tier available. Qualtrics+1

4. Information Architecture & Structure Testing

Optimal Workshop – Includes card sorting, tree testing, first‑click testing, and survey tools for IA validation. UXTweak Blog+1
UXtweak – All‑in‑one platform supporting moderated/unmoderated testing, IA tests, mobile prototype testing, and more. A/B Testing Software+5Qualaroo+5UXTweak Blog+5

5. Behavioral Analytics & Heatmaps

Hotjar, FullStory, Pendo, Microsoft Clarity – Popular tools for heatmaps, session replay, funnel tracking, and behavior analytics. Hotjar is especially cited as “must-have” by UX researchers. UserTesting, Maze, Sprig, Userlytics, Dscout, Optimal are also commonly used. Dovetail+8User Interviews+8Gartner+8
UXCam – Analytics for mobile and web: session replays, heatmaps, user flows, funnel analysis, and crash reporting. Wikipedia
UserTesting – A widely adopted active research platform with a large user panel and strong analytics capabilities. Qualtrics+4User Interviews+4UXTweak Blog+4

6. Research Repository & Documentation

Dovetail, Marvin, Notion, Evernote, Miro, Rally – Tools for organizing, transcribing, tagging, collaborating, and storing research insights in a centralized repository. Dovetail’s AI‑powered research hub is particularly robust. Dovetail+1

7. AI-Powered & Emerging Tools

Miro – AI-powered for affinity mapping, journey maps, automatic organization, and summarization of brainstorming sessions. Dovetail
Dovetail – Enhances with AI transcription, sentiment analysis, summary generation, and multilingual support. Dovetail
Maze – AI assists in drafting questions, finding response patterns, and surfacing open-ended feedback insights. Dovetail

8. Design & Prototyping Collaboration

Figma – Collaborative interface design tool with real-time editing, prototyping, and developer mode. Includes FigJam, Slides, and direct web publishing (Sites Beta). Wikipedia
Adobe XD – Vector design tool for wireframing, prototyping, animations, voice interaction, and plugin support. Wikipedia
Justinmind – High-fidelity prototyping and wireframing with HTML export and realistic interaction simulation. Wikipedia
InVision – Turns Photoshop mockups into interactive prototypes with feedback collaboration and iterative testing via web links. wired.com

9. Community & Everyday Tools (what real UXers use)

In a Reddit discussion, one researcher noted:

“My daily toolkit is mostly: R, Qualtrics, Excel, and ChatGPT. Tools in my toolkit in case I need it: SAS, SQL…, SurveyMonkey, Figma, Python, Tableau / Looker Studio, other AI tools” User Interviews+1 Reddit

Another mentioned:

“For most Qualitative Methods I use Google Sheets & Google Docs, Zoom for recording…” Reddit

These highlight how common tools like spreadsheets, AI, and video conferencing support everyday UX workflows.

At a Glance: UX Research Tool Table

Category	Recommended Tools
Usability Testing & Interviews	Maze, Loop11, Userlytics, UsabilityHub, Lookback, UserZoom, dscout, PlaybookUX
Participant Recruitment	User Interviews, Ethnio, Ribbon
Surveys & Feedback	Typeform, SurveyMonkey, Google Forms, Qualtrics Strategic Research
IA Testing & Structure Validation	Optimal Workshop, UXtweak
Behavioral Analytics	Hotjar, FullStory, Pendo, Microsoft Clarity, UXCam, UserTesting
Research Repositories & Transcription	Dovetail, Marvin, Notion, Evernote, Miro, Rally
AI‑Powered & Advanced Insights	Miro, Dovetail, Maze
Prototyping & Design Collaboration	Figma, Adobe XD, Justinmind, InVision
Everyday / Community Tools	R, Excel, ChatGPT, Zoom, Google Sheets/Documents, SurveyMonkey, Python, Tableau

Tips for Selecting the Right Tools

Match the tool to your research goal – Choose usability testing tools for interface evaluation, recruitment platforms for participant sourcing, analytics for behavior patterns, etc.
Consider your workflow’s structure – Do you need everything in one place (like UXtweak or Dovetail) or best-in-class tools per function?
Look for integration & collaboration features – Particularly important for cross-functional teams or remote work.
Budget & scalability – Some tools offer free tiers (e.g., UXtweak, Maze, UsabilityHub, Optimal Workshop), while enterprise pricing varies. User Interviews+8UXTweak Blog+8Maze+8 Maze+1 Website User Interviews The Product Managerwired.com

Final Word

A well-rounded UX researcher’s toolkit often includes a mix of specialized platforms for testing, recruitment, analytics, documentation, and design. By blending powerful tools like Maze, Dovetail, Figma, and UXCam with versatile everyday essentials like ChatGPT, spreadsheets, and Zoom, you can optimize your research workflow for clarity, efficiency, and impactful insights.