7 Alternatives to Maze for User Testing & Research (Better Options for Reliable Insights)

When evaluating tools for user testing and participant recruitment, Askable often appears on the shortlist, especially for teams based in Australia and New Zealand. But in 2025, many researchers are finding Askable’s limitations increasingly difficult to work around: restricted study volume, inconsistent participant quality, and new pricing that limits flexibility.

‍

If you’re exploring Askable alternatives that offer more scalability, higher data quality, and global reach, here are five strong options.

‍

‍

1. Optimal: Best Overall Alternative for Scalable, AI-Powered Research 

‍

Optimal is a comprehensive user insights platform supporting the full research lifecycle, from participant recruitment to analysis and reporting. Unlike Askable, which has historically focused on recruitment, Optimal unifies multiple research methods in one platform, including prototype testing, card sorting, tree testing, and AI-assisted interviews.

‍

Why teams switch from Askable to Optimal

‍

1. You can only run one study at a time in Askable

‍Optimal removes that bottleneck, letting you launch multiple concurrent studies across teams and research methods.

2. Askable’s new pricing limits flexibility 

Optimal offers scalable plans with unlimited seats, so teams only pay for what they need.

3. Askable’s participant quality has dropped

Optimal provides access to over 100+ million verified participants worldwide, with strong fraud-prevention and screening systems that eliminate low-effort or AI-assisted responses.

‍

Additional advantages

‍

• End-to-end research tools in one workspace
• AI-powered insight generation that tags and summarizes automatically
• Enterprise-grade reliability with decade-long market trust
• Dedicated onboarding and SLA-backed support
  
  

‍

Best for: Teams seeking an enterprise-ready, scalable research platform that eliminates the operational constraints of Askable.

‍

‍

‍

2. UserTesting: Best for Video-Based Moderated Studies

‍

‍UserTesting remains one of the most established platforms for moderated and unmoderated usability testing. It excels at gathering video feedback from participants in real time.

‍

Pros:

• Large participant pool with strong demographic filters
• Supports moderated sessions and live interviews
• Integrations with design tools like Figma and Miro

‍

Cons:

• Higher cost at enterprise scale
• Less flexible for survey-driven or unmoderated studies compared with Optimal
• The UI has become increasingly complex and buggy as UserTesting has been expanding their platform through acquisitions such as UserZoom and Validately.
  ‍

‍

Best for: Companies prioritizing live, moderated usability sessions.

‍

‍

‍

3. Maze: Best for Product Teams Using Figma Prototypes

‍

‍Maze offers seamless Figma integration and focuses on automating prototype-testing workflows for product and design teams.

‍

‍

Pros:

• Excellent Figma and Adobe XD integration
• Automated reporting
• Good fit for early-stage design validation

‍

Cons:

• Limited depth for qualitative research
• Smaller participant pool
  
  

‍

Best for: Design-first teams validating prototypes and navigation flows.

‍

‍

‍

4. Lyssna (formerly UsabilityHub): Best for Fast Design Feedback

‍

‍Lyssna focuses on quick-turn, unmoderated studies such as preference tests, first-click tests, and five-second tests.

‍

Pros:

• Fast turnaround
• Simple, intuitive interface
• Affordable for smaller teams

‍

Cons:

• Limited participant targeting options
• Narrower study types than Askable

‍

Best for: Designers and researchers running lightweight validation tests.

‍

‍

‍

5. Dovetail: Best for Research Repository and Analysis

‍

‍‍Dovetail is primarily a qualitative data repository rather than a testing platform. It’s useful for centralizing and analyzing insights from research studies conducted elsewhere.

‍

Pros:

• Strong tagging and note-taking features
• Centralized research hub for large teams

‍

Cons:

• Doesn’t recruit participants or run studies
• Requires manual uploads from other tools like Askable or UserTesting
  
  

‍

Best for: Research teams centralizing insights from multiple sources.

‍

‍

‍

Final Thoughts on Alternatives to Askable

‍

If your goal is simply to recruit local participants, Askable can still meet basic needs. But if you’re looking to scale research in your organization, integrate testing and analysis, and automate insights, Optimal stands out as the best long-term investment. Its blend of global reach, AI-powered analysis, and proven enterprise support makes it the natural next step for growing research teams. You can try Optimal for free here.

‍

The decision between interview-focused research tools and comprehensive user insight platforms fundamentally shapes how teams generate, analyze, and act on user feedback. This choice affects not only immediate research capabilities but also long-term strategic planning and organizational impact. While Great Question focuses primarily on customer interviews and basic panel management with streamlined functionality, Optimal provides more robust capabilities, global participant reach, and advanced analytics infrastructure that the world's biggest brands rely on to build products users genuinely love. Optimal's platform enables teams to conduct sophisticated research, integrate insights across departments, and deliver actionable recommendations that drive meaningful business outcomes.

‍

Why Choose Optimal over Great Question?

‍

Strategic Research Capabilities vs. Interview-Centric Tools

‍

Optimal's Research Leadership: Optimal delivers complete research capabilities spanning information architecture testing, prototype validation, card sorting, tree testing, first-click analysis, live site testing, and qualitative insights, all powered by AI-driven analysis and backed by 17 years of specialized research expertise that transforms user feedback into actionable business intelligence. Optimal's live site testing allows you to test actual websites and web apps without code, enabling continuous optimization and real-time insights post-launch.

‍

Great Question's Limited Research Scope: In contrast, Great Question operates primarily as an interview scheduling and panel management tool with basic survey capabilities, lacking the comprehensive research methodologies and specialized testing tools that enterprise research programs require for strategic impact across the full product development lifecycle.

‍

Enterprise-Ready Research Suite: Optimal serves Fortune 500 clients including Lego, Nike, and Netflix with SOC 2 compliance, enterprise security protocols, and a comprehensive research toolkit that scales with organizational growth and research sophistication.

‍

Workflow Limitations: Great Question's interview-focused approach restricts teams to primarily qualitative methods, requiring additional tools for quantitative validation and specialized testing scenarios that modern product teams demand for comprehensive user understanding.

‍

Participant Quality and Global Reach

‍

Global Research Network: Optimal's 10M+ verified participants across 150+ countries enable sophisticated audience targeting, international market research, and reliable recruitment for any demographic or geographic requirement, from enterprise software buyers in Germany to mobile gamers in Southeast Asia.

‍

Limited Panel Access: Great Question provides access to 3M+ participants with basic recruitment capabilities focused primarily on existing customer panels, limiting research scope for complex audience requirements and international market validation.

‍

Advanced Participant Targeting: Optimal includes sophisticated recruitment filters, managed recruitment services, and quality assurance protocols that ensure research validity and participant engagement across diverse study requirements.

‍

Basic Recruitment Features: Great Question focuses on CRM integration and existing customer recruitment without advanced screening capabilities or specialized audience targeting that complex research studies require.

‍

Research Methodology Depth and Platform Capabilities

‍

Complete Research Methodology Suite: Optimal provides full-spectrum research capabilities including advanced card sorting, tree testing, prototype validation, first-click testing, surveys, and qualitative insights with integrated AI analysis across all methodologies and specialized tools designed for specific research challenges.

‍

Interview-Focused Limitations: Great Question offers elementary research capabilities centered on customer interviews and basic surveys, lacking the specialized testing tools enterprise teams need for information architecture, prototype validation, and quantitative user behavior analysis.

‍

AI-Powered Research Operations: Optimal streamlines research workflows with automated analysis, AI-powered insights, advanced statistical reporting, and seamless collaboration tools that accelerate insight delivery while maintaining analytical rigor. Our new Interviews tool revolutionizes qualitative research, upload interview videos and let AI automatically surface key themes, generate smart highlight reels with timestamped evidence, and produce actionable insights in hours instead of weeks, eliminating the manual synthesis bottleneck.

‍

Manual Analysis Dependencies: Great Question requires significant manual effort for insight synthesis beyond interview transcription, creating workflow inefficiencies that slow research velocity and limit the depth of analysis possible across large datasets.

‍

Where Great Question Falls Short

‍

Great Question may be a good choice for teams who are looking for:

‍

• Simple customer interview management without complex research requirements
• Basic panel recruitment focused on existing customers
• Streamlined workflows for small-scale qualitative studies
• Budget-conscious solutions prioritizing low cost over comprehensive capabilities
• Teams primarily focused on customer development rather than strategic UX research

‍

When Optimal Delivers Strategic Value

‍

Optimal becomes essential for:

‍

• ‍Strategic Research Programs: When user insights drive business strategy, product decisions, and require diverse research methodologies beyond interviews
• ‍Information Architecture Excellence: Teams requiring specialized testing for navigation, content organization, and user mental models that directly impact product usability
• ‍Global Organizations: Requiring international research capabilities, market validation, and diverse participant recruitment across multiple regions
• ‍Quality-Critical Studies: Where participant verification, advanced analytics, statistical rigor, and research validity matter for strategic decision-making
• ‍Enterprise Compliance: Organizations with security, privacy, and regulatory requirements demanding SOC 2 compliance and enterprise-grade infrastructur
• ‍Advanced Research Operations: Teams requiring AI-powered insights, comprehensive analytics, specialized testing methodologies, and scalable research capabilities
• ‍Prototype and Design Validation: Product teams needing early-stage testing, iterative validation, and quantitative feedback on design concepts and user flows

‍

Ready to see how leading brands including Lego, Netflix and Nike achieve better research outcomes? Experience how Optimal's platform delivers user insights that adapt to your team's growing needs and research sophistication.

Maze has built a strong reputation for rapid prototype testing and quick design validation. For product teams focused on speed and Figma integration, it offers an appealing workflow. But as research programs mature and teams need deeper insights to inform strategic decisions, many discover that Maze's limitations create friction. Platform reliability issues, restricted research depth, and a narrow focus on unmoderated testing leave gaps that growing teams can't afford.

‍

If you're exploring Maze alternatives that deliver both speed and substance, here are seven platforms worth evaluating.

‍

‍

Why Look for a Maze Alternative?

‍

Teams typically start searching for Maze alternatives when they encounter these constraints:

‍

• ‍Limited research depth: Maze does well at at surface-level feedback on prototypes but struggles with the qualitative depth needed for strategic product decisions. Teams often supplement Maze with additional tools for interviews, surveys, or advanced analysis.
  ‍
• ‍Platform stability concerns: Users report inconsistent reliability, particularly with complex prototypes and enterprise-scale studies. When research drives major business decisions, platform dependability becomes critical.
  ‍
• ‍Narrow testing scope: While Maze handles prototype validation well, it lacks sophistication in other research methods and the ability to do deep analytics. These are all things that comprehensive product development requires. 
  ‍‍
• Enterprise feature gaps: Organizations with compliance requirements, global research needs, or complex team structures find Maze's enterprise offerings lacking. SSO, role-based access and dedicated support come only at the highest tiers, if at all.
  ‍‍
• Surface-level analysis and reporting capabilities: Once an organization reaches a certain stage, they start needing in-depth analysis and results visualizations. Maze currently only provides basic metrics and surface-level analysis without the depth required for strategic decision-making or comprehensive user insight.

‍

‍

What to Consider When Choosing a Maze Alternative

‍

Before committing to a new platform, evaluate these key factors:

‍

• ‍Range of research methods: Does the platform support your full research lifecycle? Look for tools that handle prototype testing, information architecture validation, live site testing, surveys, and qualitative analysis.
  ‍‍
• Analysis and insight generation: Surface-level metrics tell only part of the story. Platforms with AI-powered analysis, automated reporting, and sophisticated visualizations transform raw data into actionable business intelligence.
  ‍‍
• Participant recruitment capabilities: Consider both panel size and quality. Global reach, precise targeting, fraud prevention, and verification processes determine whether your research reflects real user perspectives.
  ‍‍
• Enterprise readiness: For organizations with compliance requirements, evaluate security certifications (SOC 2, ISO), SSO support, role-based permissions, and dedicated account management.
  ‍‍
• Platform reliability and support: Research drives product strategy. Choose platforms with proven stability, comprehensive documentation, and responsive support that ensures your research operations run smoothly.
  ‍‍
• Scalability and team collaboration: As research programs grow, platforms should accommodate multiple concurrent studies, cross-functional collaboration, and shared workspaces without performance degradation.

‍

‍

Top Alternatives to Maze

‍

‍

1. Optimal: Comprehensive User Insights Platform That Scales

‍

‍

All-in-one research platform from discovery through delivery

‍

Optimal delivers end-to-end research capabilities that teams commonly piece together from multiple tools. Optimal supports the complete research lifecycle: participant recruitment, prototype testing, live site testing, card sorting, tree testing, surveys, and AI-powered interview analysis.

‍

Where Optimal outperforms Maze:

‍

Broader research methods: Optimal provides specialized tools and in-depth analysis and visualizations that Maze simply doesn't offer. Card sorting and tree testing validate information architecture before you build. Live site testing lets you evaluate actual websites and applications without code, enabling continuous optimization post-launch. This breadth means teams can conduct comprehensive research without switching platforms or compromising study quality.

‍

Deeper qualitative insights: Optimal's new Interviews tool revolutionizes how teams extract value from user research. Upload interview videos and AI automatically surfaces key themes, generates smart highlight reels with timestamped evidence, and produces actionable insights in hours instead of weeks. Every insight comes with supporting video evidence, making stakeholder buy-in effortless.

‍

AI-powered analysis: While Maze provides basic metrics and surface-level reporting, Optimal delivers sophisticated AI analysis that automatically generates insights, identifies patterns, and creates export-ready reports. This transforms research from data collection into strategic intelligence.

‍

Global participant recruitment: Access to over 100 million verified participants across 150+ countries enables sophisticated targeting for any demographic or market. Optimal's fraud prevention and quality assurance processes ensure participant authenticity, something teams consistently report as problematic with Maze's smaller panel.

‍

Enterprise-grade reliability: Optimal serves Fortune 500 companies including Netflix, LEGO, and Apple with SOC 2 compliance, SSO, role-based permissions, and dedicated enterprise support. The platform was built for scale, not retrofitted for it.

‍

Best for: UX researchers, design and product teams, and enterprise organizations requiring comprehensive research capabilities, deeper insights, and proven enterprise reliability.

‍

‍

2. UserTesting: Enterprise Video Feedback at Scale

‍

‍

Established platform for moderated and unmoderated usability testing

‍

UserTesting remains one of the most recognized platforms for gathering video feedback from participants. It excels at capturing user reactions and verbal feedback during task completion.

‍

Strengths: Large participant pool with strong demographic filters, robust support for moderated sessions and live interviews, integrations with Figma and Miro.

‍

Limitations: Significantly higher cost at enterprise scale, less flexible for navigation testing or survey-driven research compared to platforms like Optimal, increasingly complex UI following multiple acquisitions (UserZoom, Validately) creates usability issues.

‍

Best for: Large enterprises prioritizing high-volume video feedback and willing to invest in premium pricing for moderated session capabilities.

‍

‍

3. Lookback: Deep Qualitative Discovery

‍

‍

Live moderated sessions with narrative insights

‍

Lookback specializes in live user interviews and moderated testing sessions, emphasizing rich qualitative feedback over quantitative metrics.

‍

Strengths: Excellent for in-depth qualitative discovery, strong recording and note-taking features, good for teams prioritizing narrative insights over metrics.

‍

Limitations: Narrow focus on moderated research limits versatility, lacks quantitative testing methods, smaller participant pool requires external recruitment for most studies.

‍

Best for: Research teams conducting primarily qualitative discovery work and willing to manage recruitment separately.

‍

‍

4. PlaybookUX: Bundled Recruitment and Testing

‍

‍

Built-in participant panel for streamlined research

‍

PlaybookUX combines usability testing with integrated participant recruitment, appealing to teams wanting simplified procurement.

‍

Strengths: Bundled recruitment reduces vendor management, straightforward pricing model, decent for basic unmoderated studies.

‍

Limitations: Limited research method variety compared to comprehensive platforms, smaller panel size restricts targeting options, basic analysis capabilities require manual synthesis.

‍

Best for: Small teams needing recruitment and basic testing in one package without advanced research requirements.

‍

‍

5. Lyssna: Rapid UI Pattern Validation

‍

‍

Quick-turn preference testing and first-click studies

‍

Lyssna (formerly UsabilityHub) focuses on fast, lightweight tests for design validation; preference tests, first-click tests, and five-second tests.

‍

Strengths: Fast turnaround for simple validation, intuitive interface, affordable entry point for small teams.

‍

Limitations: Limited scope beyond basic design feedback, small participant panel with quality control issues, lacks sophisticated analysis or enterprise features.

‍

Best for: Designers running lightweight validation tests on UI patterns and early-stage concepts.

‍

‍

6. Hotjar: Behavioral Analytics and Heatmaps

‍

‍

Quantitative behavior tracking with qualitative context

‍

Hotjar specializes in on-site behavior analytics; heatmaps, session recordings, and feedback widgets that reveal how users interact with live websites.

‍

Strengths: Valuable behavioral data from actual site visitors, seamless integration with existing websites, combines quantitative patterns with qualitative feedback.

‍

Limitations: Focuses on post-launch observation rather than pre-launch validation, doesn't support prototype testing or information architecture validation, requires separate tools for recruitment-based research.

‍

Best for: Teams optimizing live websites and wanting to understand actual user behavior patterns post-launch.

‍

‍

7. UserZoom: Enterprise Research at Global Scale

‍

‍

Comprehensive platform for large research organizations

‍

UserZoom (now part of UserTesting) targets enterprise research programs requiring governance, global reach, and sophisticated study design.

‍

Strengths: Extensive research methods and study templates, strong enterprise governance features, supports complex global research operations.

‍

Limitations: Significantly higher cost than Maze or comparable platforms, complex interface with steep learning curve, integration with UserTesting creates platform uncertainty.

‍

Best for: Global research teams at large enterprises with complex governance requirements and substantial research budgets.

‍

‍

Final Thoughts: Choosing the Right Maze Alternative

‍

Maze serves a specific need: rapid prototype validation for design-focused teams. But as research programs mature and insights drive strategic decisions, teams need platforms that deliver depth alongside speed.

‍

Optimal stands out by combining Maze's prototype testing capabilities with the comprehensive research methods, AI-powered analysis, and enterprise reliability that growing teams require. Whether you're validating information architecture through card sorting, testing live websites without code, or extracting insights from interview videos, Optimal provides the depth and breadth that transforms research from validation into strategic advantage.

‍

If you're evaluating Maze alternatives, consider what your research program needs six months from now, not just today. The right platform scales with your team, deepens your insights, and becomes more valuable as your research practice matures.

‍

Try Optimal for free to experience how comprehensive research capabilities transform user insights from validation into strategic intelligence.