10 effective usability testing tools: an overview and comparison
To find out how convenient a site or other software product is for users, you need to ask them themselves. But it is believed that testing on "living people" takes a lot of time and energy from the developer and / or resource owner.
In this case, there are online tools for usability testing. They help to find out how the product meets the expectations of users, and at the same time, save time and money on research.
This article provides an overview of ten simple and affordable tools for usability testing sites. What is nice, all the described applications, with the exception of the latter, can be used for free: they generally do not require payment or have free versions with limited functionality.
First comes a description of all ten applications, and then a comparative table, which reflects their main characteristics.
Three online tools are available on the site to test the usability of a site or web application using page screenshots.
We select one of three applications for testing a web page.
We upload a screenshot of the page and make a short description of the project for users who will participate in the study.
We select five questions that people should answer after five seconds of viewing the image.
After that we set the desired number of page views and run the test. When the right number of people answers the questions, we get the result.
For those who want to use the free version of the application, there are restrictions like: “how much you sink - you dig too much” in order to attract enough people for testing, you need to work a little.
Each user of the application has its own “karma”. A freshly registered user receives 20 karma points, plus, for each page tested, 1 more point. How many points - so many people will be able to view the downloaded screenshot and answer questions.
The big plus of this application is that it is possible to choose a test language. Moreover, you can show the project in Russian only to Russian-speaking users.
You can test web pages on this site in two ways:
The application for testing sites with real users of The Tester Tool is now in beta. But in the future, developers promise that the test customer will be able to set specific tasks for users, and then watch how a person solves them step by step on the site. Each click on the link and each screenshot will be recorded and provided to the customer for further analysis.
But using the Advisor app, you can independently evaluate the site and get a usability rating for it. This tool can be used even at the stage of design and development of templates in order to get a website that meets the expectations of real users.
We create a project and upload screenshots of the site’s pages. (In the free version, you can upload one screenshot per month.)
Then mark the screenshot with interface elements.
We answer the checklist questions for all selected interface elements. The list of questions is pretty impressive.
At the output, we get a usability score for each marked item and the page as a whole.
Usability testing on the Usabilla website takes place in five stages:
The video gives a fairly accurate picture of how Usabilla works.
You can test two pages on ten people for free.
This is not really user testing, but this resource allows you to get feedback from the professional community of designers.
In RuNet there are resources similar to ConceptFeedback: re: vision and Russian Creators .
OptimalWorkshop can optimize the site using three different tools:
For each type of testing, we set the tasks ourselves, and then we find the users ourselves and invite them to participate in the study.
In the free version, you can create only small projects, with the following restrictions:
This free online tool can be integrated into the site. He creates a small survey of site visitors, consisting of only 4 questions. The questions are formulated in such a way that it is possible to identify the most reliable feedback from users.
It integrates with Google Analytics and is available in 10 languages, although, unfortunately, there is no Russian among them yet.
The Feng-GUI simulates the user's gaze during the first 5 seconds of exposure to a visual effect. This application creates an eye-map of the page (heatmap) based on an algorithm that predicts what a real person is likely to look at.
Right on the main page of the site you can download a screenshot and see the likely areas of increased visitor attention.
This free open source software integrates into the site and creates a visual heatmap of clicks of visitors to the web page. And since the ClickHeat code is located directly on the server, the map reflects the result of the work of real users of the site.
The Russian system, which after installing the javasript code on the site’s pages, allows you to track and analyze user behavior.
With its help you can:
The free version records 100 visits per day, 2 of them are reproduced for analysis, and the data is stored in the WebVisor system for two days.
Another Russian-language online tool for usability testing sites. It gives the site owners the opportunity to test their resources with the help of auditors, and the auditors to earn their work.
Unfortunately, there is no free or test version of the service for audit customers.
PS An article about bourgeois instruments was previously published on our blog . For the Habr version, the description of the Userfly service was removed from it ( WieFix already spoke about it in his habratopika ), two Russian-language services and a comparative table were added.
In this case, there are online tools for usability testing. They help to find out how the product meets the expectations of users, and at the same time, save time and money on research.
This article provides an overview of ten simple and affordable tools for usability testing sites. What is nice, all the described applications, with the exception of the latter, can be used for free: they generally do not require payment or have free versions with limited functionality.
First comes a description of all ten applications, and then a comparative table, which reflects their main characteristics.
Usability hub
Three online tools are available on the site to test the usability of a site or web application using page screenshots.
- Navflow allows you to analyze how easily users navigate on the site page.
- Fivesecondtest helps identify the design elements that attract the most attention from visitors.
- ClickTest creates a heatmap showing areas of the web page that users click on most often.
How it works. On the example of Fivesecondtest
We select one of three applications for testing a web page.
We upload a screenshot of the page and make a short description of the project for users who will participate in the study.
We select five questions that people should answer after five seconds of viewing the image.
After that we set the desired number of page views and run the test. When the right number of people answers the questions, we get the result.
For those who want to use the free version of the application, there are restrictions like: “how much you sink - you dig too much” in order to attract enough people for testing, you need to work a little.
Each user of the application has its own “karma”. A freshly registered user receives 20 karma points, plus, for each page tested, 1 more point. How many points - so many people will be able to view the downloaded screenshot and answer questions.
The big plus of this application is that it is possible to choose a test language. Moreover, you can show the project in Russian only to Russian-speaking users.
Userplus
You can test web pages on this site in two ways:
- On Your Own Using The Advisor Tool .
- In real people, using The Tester Tool .
The application for testing sites with real users of The Tester Tool is now in beta. But in the future, developers promise that the test customer will be able to set specific tasks for users, and then watch how a person solves them step by step on the site. Each click on the link and each screenshot will be recorded and provided to the customer for further analysis.
But using the Advisor app, you can independently evaluate the site and get a usability rating for it. This tool can be used even at the stage of design and development of templates in order to get a website that meets the expectations of real users.
How it works?
We create a project and upload screenshots of the site’s pages. (In the free version, you can upload one screenshot per month.)
Then mark the screenshot with interface elements.
We answer the checklist questions for all selected interface elements. The list of questions is pretty impressive.
At the output, we get a usability score for each marked item and the page as a whole.
Usabilla
Usability testing on the Usabilla website takes place in five stages:
- Create a new test: specify the URL of the site we are going to test, and the test language. 20 languages are available, including Russian.
- We indicate the site pages for testing. You can download their screenshots from a computer or indicate the path to them on the site.
- We select the questions that we want to receive answers from users. You can use standard, predefined questions or formulate your own.
- We ourselves find and invite people who are ready to take part in testing and share their opinions.
- The program accumulates test results and user reviews, and then provides statistics grouped in a convenient form for analysis. The tested pages can be viewed in the form of heatmaps of activity (heatmap).
The video gives a fairly accurate picture of how Usabilla works.
You can test two pages on ten people for free.
Concept feedback
This is not really user testing, but this resource allows you to get feedback from the professional community of designers.
In RuNet there are resources similar to ConceptFeedback: re: vision and Russian Creators .
Optimal Workshop
OptimalWorkshop can optimize the site using three different tools:
- Optimalsort is a tool that helps you organize your site structure using the card sorting method .
- Treejack is an application for testing a multilevel information architecture (IA) of a site. To start testing, the structure of the website must be organized as a table and loaded into Treejack.
- Calkmark is designed to test the usability of web pages. It helps to understand how easy (or difficult) users of the site to find the necessary information. To get started, download a screenshot of a web page and set a task for users. Calkmark accumulates answers and displays test results in the form of a heatmap of clicks, and also reports the average time required to complete each task.
For each type of testing, we set the tasks ourselves, and then we find the users ourselves and invite them to participate in the study.
In the free version, you can create only small projects, with the following restrictions:
- OptimalSort: ten participants and 30 cards in one survey.
- Chalkmark and Treejack: 10 participants and 3 surveyed tasks in one survey.
4Q
This free online tool can be integrated into the site. He creates a small survey of site visitors, consisting of only 4 questions. The questions are formulated in such a way that it is possible to identify the most reliable feedback from users.
It integrates with Google Analytics and is available in 10 languages, although, unfortunately, there is no Russian among them yet.
Feng-gui
The Feng-GUI simulates the user's gaze during the first 5 seconds of exposure to a visual effect. This application creates an eye-map of the page (heatmap) based on an algorithm that predicts what a real person is likely to look at.
Right on the main page of the site you can download a screenshot and see the likely areas of increased visitor attention.
Clickheat
This free open source software integrates into the site and creates a visual heatmap of clicks of visitors to the web page. And since the ClickHeat code is located directly on the server, the map reflects the result of the work of real users of the site.
Webvisor
The Russian system, which after installing the javasript code on the site’s pages, allows you to track and analyze user behavior.
With its help you can:
- Record the actions of site visitors: clicks, scrolling, keystrokes, filling out forms, highlighting and copying text.
- Play recorded actions in live video mode.
- Conduct a detailed analysis of the behavior of website visitors.
- Create user activity maps: click heatmaps, attention maps, and scrolling maps.
The free version records 100 visits per day, 2 of them are reproduced for analysis, and the data is stored in the WebVisor system for two days.
Sitepolice
Another Russian-language online tool for usability testing sites. It gives the site owners the opportunity to test their resources with the help of auditors, and the auditors to earn their work.
How it works?
- The customer submits his website to the “police” court, formulates several questions that he would like to receive answers to, and selects an audit tariff plan.
- Auditors write a report on the site in almost free form. The report has only two mandatory sections: “analysis of the usability of the site and methods for solving problems” and “general conclusion”. For their reports and activity on the site, "police" get points, which they can then turn into money.
- If the customer does not mind the audit, then all the reports of the “policemen” remain on the service’s website for general viewing.
Unfortunately, there is no free or test version of the service for audit customers.
Usability Testing Tool Comparison Chart
| Title | Russian language | Who is testing | Test Objects | Test results | The presence of the free version |
| Usability hub | there is | Service testers; other UsabilityHub users | Web page screenshot | Answers to questions formulated at the beginning of the test; click heatmap | Free with restriction - users of the free version must test other people's sites themselves |
| Userplus | there is | In-house using a questionnaire; service testers (in beta) | Web page screenshot | Evaluation of the page for compliance with international standards | Free with restriction - one screenshot per month |
| Usabilla | Not | Users invited by the test customer | Screenshot of a web page; live site page | User activity reports grouped for later analysis; click heatmap | Free with restriction - 2 pages, 10 users |
| Concept Feedback | Not | Web Design Community Members | Screenshot of a web page; live site page | Reviews, ratings and advice from members of the professional community | Is free |
| OptimalWorkshop | Not | Users invited by the test customer | Screenshot of a web page; site information architecture | Information structure of the site; heatmap of clicks; the amount of time spent by users to complete a task | Free with restriction - OptimalSort: 10 participants and 30 cards, Chalkmark and Treejack: 10 participants and 3 tasks |
| 4Q | Not | Real users | Work site | User answers to 4 questions of the questionnaire | Is free |
| Feng-gui | there is | On our own, with the help of a program that simulates the user's gaze based on a special algorithm | Web page screenshot | Heat map of eye movement on the page | Restricted Free - Small Eye Kata |
| Clickheat | there is | Real users of the site | Work site | Click heat map | Is free |
| Webvisor | there is | Real users of the site | Work site | Video recording of actions of real users; activity cards; analytics | Free with restriction - record 100 visitors per day, display 2 visits per day, store information for 2 days |
| Sitepolice | there is | Real users of the site | Work site | Free Auditor Report | No free version |
PS An article about bourgeois instruments was previously published on our blog . For the Habr version, the description of the Userfly service was removed from it ( WieFix already spoke about it in his habratopika ), two Russian-language services and a comparative table were added.