Maze is a good UX analysis software for groups that need an all-in-one quantitative and qualitative research tool that delivers actionable knowledge quick. It’s additionally nice if prototype testing is your foremost precedence. However Maze isn’t good for everybody.
In the event you run numerous analysis research and have a hefty price range, then Maze ought to positively be in your brief checklist. Smaller organizations or anybody solely doing occasional analysis testing could be higher served with a distinct resolution.
Likewise, if you need a analysis software that provides you entry to all qualitative and quantitative testing performance with out having to leap straight to the costliest subscription plan, you might need to contemplate different choices.
How Does Maze Examine to its Closest Rivals
Researchers on the hunt for a single software to conduct each quantitative and qualitative testing normally see the identical few names pop up on each brief checklist. These embrace Optimum Workshop, UserTesting, and Lyssana. The software that’s greatest for any given researcher largely will depend on their wants and priorities.
Right here’s how Maze stacks up in opposition to its closest competitors.
Optimum Workshop vs. Maze
Optimal Workshop has you lined in relation to each qualitative and quantitative testing. It affords a strong assortment of testing instruments, together with interviews, first-click testing, tree testing, card sorting, and surveys. Maze affords most of those, however not first-click testing. By way of accessible quantitative assessments, Optimum Workshop brings extra to the desk.
Optimum Workshop additionally comes out forward in relation to the dimensions of participant swimming pools. Optimum Workshop affords greater than 80 million research members in comparison with Maze’s three million.
Nevertheless, Maze dominates in relation to prototype testing. In reality, it’s the standout characteristic that places Maze on most brief lists. Maze prototype testing is tried and true. Optimum Workshop didn’t supply prototype testing till only recently, when it deployed its beta model. It’s too quickly to evaluate the robustness of this new providing. Stick to Maze for now.
Learn our deeper dive into Optimum Workshop and Maze.
UserTesting vs. Maze
UserTesting and Maze each supply drag-and-drop performance for creating new assessments. Nevertheless, UserTesting makes it simpler to get a various array of recent assessments up and operating with greater than 100 testing templates in comparison with Maze’s 55.
UserTesting additionally wins in relation to the depth and breadth of analysis insights. The EnjoyHG software permits groups to rapidly share spotlight reels, suggestions, video clips, and key insights with anybody in just some clicks from a single dashboard. Maze does supply some related performance, however UserTesting is a greater expertise.
Maze does come out forward of UserTesting in relation to its versatile method to pricing. Whereas UserTesting doesn’t put pricing on its web site, anecdotal info sourced from public overview websites means that it prices upwards of $15,000 per yr on the low finish. Maze affords a free plan and a Starter plan for simply $99 monthly, though these decrease priced plans do have performance limitations.
Study extra about UserTesting in our review of the top usability testing tools.
Lyssna vs. Maze
Lyssna is one other all-in-one UX analysis software, providing each qualitative and quantitative testing choices. Lyssna affords extra quantitative testing choices than Maze. It additionally contains limitless entry to its full analysis suite on each plan, together with its free plan. Maze requires you to join its Starter Plan ($99) to achieve entry to some testing instruments. You want to soar to Maze’s Organizational Plan (priced upon request) to get full entry to all Maze instruments.
Lyssna can be very worth pleasant for startups and smaller organizations. Each its free and Primary plan (beginning at $75/mo) supply extra seats and testing choices/quantity than Maze’s comparable plans.
Maze blows Lyssna out of the water although in relation to the dimensions of its participant panel, providing greater than three million members in comparison with simply 530,000+ with Lyssna. Maze additionally means that you can refine participant choice with greater than 400 focusing on attributes in comparison with Lyssna’s 35.
Take a deeper dive into Lyssna here.
Maze: The Good and The Unhealthy
Maze excels at prototype testing, making it a standout amongst all UX analysis instruments. It additionally has quite a lot of different spectacular options, like superior AI evaluation, quite a few templates, and fast supply of testing outcomes. The place Maze falls a bit brief is in its reporting performance, restricted scaling capabilities, and excessive worth level.
What Maze Is Good At
Sturdy prototype testing: Maze constructed its repute on prototype testing. With it you’ll be able to validate designs and reveal usability points with precise customers in actual time, all earlier than a single line of code is written.
Prototypes might be imported from common design instruments, together with Figma, Adobe XD, Sketch and Invision, and you’ll check as much as 5 variants of a design concurrently. Visible studies that you could filter are ready in real-time and embedded in your productiveness software to make sure seamless collaboration throughout the complete group.
Quick knowledge supply: Utilizing Maze offers researchers and design groups the info they should make selections in hours versus days or perhaps weeks as with another analysis instruments. Research might be created in minutes, audiences might be recruited quick, and testing can start inside a day. Information is returned in real-time, offering actionable outcomes instantly.
Many integrations: Maze affords probably the most integrations amongst its competitors, streamlining every thing from design and productiveness to calendaring and video conferencing.
Design integrations embrace Adobe XD, Figma, Axure, and Sketch. Productiveness instruments like Atlassian, FigJam, Miro, Notion, and Slack preserve tasks shifting alongside. Make calendaring a breeze with Alternate, Google Calendar, Workplace 365, Outlook, and iCloud integrations. Then streamline video conferencing once you join Maze to Zoom, Google Meet, or Groups.
You’ll be able to even add in-product prompts to spice up testing participation with the Amplitude integration.
Numerous testing panel: Maze takes the guesswork out of participant choice. There’s a pool of greater than three million pre-vetted members from over 130 international locations accessible, and you’ll drill down deep to seek out the precise ones proper in your check. There are 400+ filters to select from, letting you refine your participant {qualifications} as exactly as wanted.
Recruiting for interviews is equally as exact. Select from hundreds of thousands of B2B and B2C members from around the globe, then customise the screening course of to make sure your future interview topics meet your precise standards earlier than you ever invite them to take part. Maze additionally allows you to check with your individual consumer pool, providing you with direct hyperlinks and in-product prompts to start out the method.
Utilizing AI for good: Maze is on the vanguard of integrating AI inside its suite of merchandise. It makes use of AI to assist cut back bias and different points with testing questions, pace up knowledge evaluation, and reveal deeper insights.
- Higher check questions: Let Maze assist you to craft the right check query. As you kind, Maze AI identifies potential points with wording and grammar, then affords alternate options designed that will help you write the query to get the most effective response. Only one click on revises the query mechanically.
- Dynamic follow-up: AI may also help you transcend superficial solutions by offering automated, follow-up questions primarily based on a participant’s precise reply. This helps you dive deeper into the “why” behind a participant’s preliminary response.
- Theme identification: Maze eliminates the necessity so that you can manually learn via tons of of responses to establish recurring themes. Maze AI reads via open-ended questions and identifies widespread themes in simply minutes, then allows you to filter by theme and sentiment, providing you with fast and actionable insights.
- Interview evaluation: Maze AI makes fast work of studying and summarizing interview transcripts. It additionally highlights key themes so reviewers can rapidly scan any doc and skim adjoining responses for context.
Good collection of templates: There are at present 55 totally different templates accessible in Maze. These are organized each by use case and workforce wants. Designers, entrepreneurs, product managers, and researchers will all discover an assortment of templates to assist them jump-start their research.
From a use-case standpoint, templates cowl numerous territory, together with idea validation (8), content material testing (10), copy testing (9), suggestions survey (12), concept validation (8), satisfaction survey (5), usability testing (12), and wireframe testing (6). In the event you can’t discover a template to fit your state of affairs, you may as well counsel a brand new template to the Maze workforce they usually’ll create it.
Potential Maze Drawbacks
Reporting is clunky: Multiple Maze reviewer on public websites like G2 and TrustPilot famous that Maze reporting leaves a bit to be desired. Customers cited lack of editability of pre-defined reports and no ability to combine multiple reports into a single document as drawbacks. Customers additionally felt the robustness of research overviews was missing and might be improved so as to add worth when sharing knowledge with stakeholders.
Incapacity to scale tasks or monitor challenge adjustments: Customers notice that the dearth of a change log or different monitoring info on a challenge is problematic. There may be no way to tell who made the most recent changes or when changes were made. Likewise there are restricted challenge group instruments and no possibility for a folder construction inside tasks. Each of those omissions make it troublesome to scale analysis tasks in Maze.
Costly for smaller organizations: We’ll dive deeper into pricing subsequent, however typically customers cite the lack of lower-cost pricing plans as an impediment for startups, smaller organizations, or any dimension group with a good price range. Whereas Maze doesn’t share pricing for its Group Plan (the plan it’s essential to have entry to all Maze performance), some web sleuthing revealed that the typical worth for a Maze subscription is around $12,000 per month. For enterprise-level prospects with larger budgets, this might not be a difficulty. However for infrequent testers or organizations with extra restricted budgets, there are extra inexpensive choices on the market.
Maze Pricing, Plans, and Add-Ons
Maze affords three totally different plans. Pricing is on the market for 2 of the three plans on their web site.
Free Plan
This plan is billed as the choice for “people who need to get into usability testing.” It’s free which is nice, however you positively get what you pay for. With it, you’re restricted to 1 unmoderated research or interview research monthly, can haven’t any a couple of challenge energetic at a time, and will embrace as much as three research in any challenge. You’re additionally restricted to not more than seven “blocks” (questions or missions) in a check.
Given the restrictions that include a free plan, contemplate it extra of a free demo. In reality, once you signal as much as check out Maze without cost, you’re truly signing up for the Free Plan. It will provide you with a really feel for a way the system works, nevertheless it isn’t going to get you far with usability testing.
Starter Plan
The subsequent possibility is the Starter Plan for $99 monthly on an annual plan. Fairly a steep soar from the free possibility, with no center floor in between. This plan is definitely a barely elevated variation of the Free Plan. Starter offers you a complete of 12 research (one research monthly, mainly), however allows you to use them as you would like all through the size of the plan.
With the Starter Plan, you’ll additionally improve to limitless blocks, entry to all templates, the power to make and share video clips, and get the AI query rephrasing characteristic. Nevertheless, you’re nonetheless restricted to 5 collaborators (referred to as “seats”), identical to with the Free Plan. However it is possible for you to to archive and unarchive tasks at will. In the event you actually need to unleash all of Maze’s testing energy, you’ll have to go along with the Group Plan.
Group Plan
That is the third possibility accessible for Maze customers. Whereas no pricing is on the market on the Maze web site, some web sleuthing turned up info that means the average contract is around $12,000 per year. All plan pricing is absolutely personalized, and varies primarily based on the variety of research and variety of seats wanted.
It’s a hefty price clearly supposed for bigger organizations with huge analysis budgets, however it’s the plan you have to join to get unfettered entry to all Maze performance.
Is Maze Proper for You?
Maze is a stable analysis resolution that provides you an array of qualitative and quantitative analysis instruments in a single bundle. It handles prototype testing with ease and leverages the ability of AI to assist construct higher research and streamline knowledge evaluation. The place it falls a bit brief is its lack of performance on the lower cost factors, and the battle some customers have with producing satisfactory studies or scaling their analysis.
There are two situations the place Maze is the simple alternative, in case your major focus is prototype testing or you’ve a giant analysis price range. With the previous, you’ll be able to decide the mid-level plan and commerce full performance for rock-solid prototype testing. With the latter, you’ll have a giant month-to-month expense, however have the total energy of Maze accessible.
You’ll be able to take a look at Maze by signing up for a free account. You do want to supply your contact info and slightly little bit of details about your group to get began, although.
