15 Best Usability Testing Tools (Automated and Manual)
In today’s digital landscape, a seamless user experience is vital for the success of any product. Usability testing is crucial in understanding how users interact with your product, and choosing the right tools can make a significant difference. With various options available, we’ve compiled a list of the top 15 usability testing tools to simplify your decision-making process.
Whether you prefer automated solutions or a more hands-on approach to manual testing, these tools cater to your specific needs. They offer valuable insights into how users experience your product and can streamline the testing process for maximum efficiency.
So, before you begin your usability testing journey, explore these top-notch tools that can help you create exceptional user experiences for your audience. Let’s dive in and discover the perfect fit for your testing requirements.
Difference Between Automated and Manual Usability Testing Tools
Automated Usability Testing: Automated usability testing involves the use of testing tools and scripts to automate the execution of usability tests. Testers write code or test scripts that simulate user interactions and validate the software’s usability. The main objective of automated usability testing is to save time and effort in the testing process. Tools like Notepad++ offer powerful integration for Windows users with dedicated automation testing tools available through plugins. There are many efficient alternatives of note pad for mac, like Sublime Text or CodeRunner, that offer robust scripting capabilities and syntax highlighting, which are crucial for writing and managing test scripts effectively.
Manual Usability Testing: On the other hand, manual usability testing involves human intervention in the testing process. A QA analyst or software tester manually performs the tests without relying on automation software testing tools. The tester checks the software or application’s essential features and user interactions to evaluate its usability.
Comparison Chart:
Aspect | Automated Usability Testing | Manual Usability Testing |
Execution | Automation tools execute test scripts automatically. | Test cases are executed manually by a tester. |
Speed and Efficiency | Faster and more efficient, especially for repetitive tasks. | Slower and requires more time and effort. |
Human Intervention | Minimal human intervention during test execution. | Tester involvement is essential for all steps. |
Expertise Requirement | Requires some programming skills to create initial scripts. | Relies on the tester’s expertise and experience. |
Flexibility | Easily repeatable and suitable for regression testing. | More adaptable to exploratory and ad-hoc testing. |
Cost | Higher initial setup and tool costs. | Lower setup costs, no need for additional tools. |
Usability Insights | Limited to predefined tests; may miss certain user interactions. | Tester can observe and explore real user interactions. |
Best For | Regression testing and repetitive tasks. | Exploratory testing and usability evaluation. |
8 Best Automated Usability Testing Tools
Let us look at our top 8 best-automated usability testing tools.
Chisel – Best for Product Feedback Management
In agile platforms, Chisel stands out as the most comprehensive option available. It perfectly balances three critical dimensions of product management: product roadmapping, team alignment, and customer connection.
By utilizing Chisel, product teams can effectively communicate with each other, prioritize their development efforts, and actively engage with their customers. This all-in-one solution empowers product teams to streamline their workflow and make informed decisions, ultimately leading to successful product development and customer satisfaction.
Free Plan Features
Usability testing is a crucial process that entails several vital steps:
- Figuring out what users genuinely need and want by observing them in their natural context.
- Asking the target users about their behaviors, preferences, attitudes, and opinions.
- Putting designs in front of users and gathering valuable feedback from them.
Chisel lets you understand your target users’ perspectives and preferences.
- Customer surveys: Chisel allows you to create and send customer surveys to gather feedback on your product or service. You can create surveys from scratch, from a preexisting template, or from another template you have already made.
- Idea Box: Chisel has an idea box where you can collect ideas, product feature requests, suggestions, and other ways to enhance your product from your customers and teammates.
- Audiences: Chisel allows you to create panels tailored to your target audience. It can help you get feedback from the people most likely to use your product or service.
- Feedback analysis: Chisel allows you to analyze the feedback you collect from customers and teammates. It can help you identify trends and patterns in the feedback and improve your product or service.
Sign up for Chisel’s Free Forever version!
Paid Plan Features
Premium Plan – $49 per user per month (billed annually):
- Conduct surveys for custom audience panels.
- Enjoy custom branding options for feedback portals.
- Benefit from dedicated onboarding and training sessions.
- Access customer surveys with 10,000 free responses.
Enterprise Plan – Customizable Plan:
- Run customer surveys with 100,000 free responses.
- Create multiple feedback portals for diverse projects.
- Utilize private/authenticated feedback portals for added security.
- Seamlessly integrate with Azure DevOps & Zendesk for enhanced productivity.
- Get custom configurations to suit specific customer requirements.
- Avail enterprise terms and flexible payment options, including pay by invoice.
- Receive personalized support from a designated customer success manager.
Sign up for Chisel’s Free Forever version!
Maze- Best for Product Discovery
Maze is a cutting-edge product discovery platform tailored for user-centric product teams. Its primary focus is empowering these teams by facilitating the continuous collection and consumption of valuable user insights throughout the product development process.
Free Plan Features
- 300 viewable responses/year: You can collect up to 300 responses from users who test your prototype or website. These responses will be viewable in Maze’s analytics dashboard.
- 1 active project & up to 10 blocks: You can create one active project with up to 10 blocks. A block is a section of your prototype or website you want to test.
- Prototype Testing: This allows you to test your prototype with users before it launches. It can help you to identify usability issues and make improvements before your product goes live.
- Live Website Testing: This allows you to test your website with users in real-time. It can help you identify usability issues and improve your website’s user experience.
- In-Product Prompts: This allows you to ask users questions as they are using your prototype or website. It can help you understand how users interact with your product and identify areas where you can improve the user experience.
- Closed Card Sorting: This lets you understand how users categorize different items. It can help you to improve the organization of your product or website.
Paid Plan Features
Professional Plan: $75 per month, billed annually:
- 1,800 viewable responses per year
- 18,000 Reach email sends per year
- 3 seats included (option to purchase up to 5)
- 10 active projects & unlimited blocks
- Features included: Clips, Open Card Sorting, Conditional logic, Pro Templates
Organization Plan – Customized Plan:
- Up to unlimited responses
- Up to unlimited Reach email sends
- Unlimited active projects & blocks
- Custom templates available
Hotjar- Best for User Behavior Analysis
Hotjar is a powerful product insights tool that deeply understands user behavior beyond what traditional analytics tools can track. It uncovers valuable data such as hesitations, U-turns, and non-click scrolls, offering real and actionable insights into user interactions with your website or app.
Free Plan Features
- 35 daily sessions: You can collect data from up to 35 sessions per day. A session is a visit to your website or app by a single user.
- Unlimited heatmaps: This means that you can create an unlimited number of heatmaps. Heatmaps are visual representations of user behavior on your website or app.
- Up to 5 interviews/month: You can conduct up to 5 interviews per month from your network. It means you can get feedback from up to 5 users about your website or app.
- Up to 30-minute interview: Each interview can be up to 30 minutes long. It gives you enough time to get user feedback about your website or app.
- Create and store 3 surveys & 3 feedback widgets: It gives you enough space to collect user feedback about your website or app.
- Hotjar AI for Surveys: You can use Hotjar AI to help you create better surveys. Hotjar AI will suggest questions and answer choices that are likely to be helpful to you.
- 40+ pre-defined languages: You can create surveys and feedback widgets in 40+ pre-defined languages. It gives you the ability to get feedback from users all over the world.
- Unlimited questions per survey: You can add unlimited questions to your surveys. It allows you to get as much feedback as you need from users.
- Over 40 survey templates: You can use over 40 survey templates to create your surveys. It gives you a head start on creating your surveys and makes getting user feedback easier.
- Filter responses (by date, keyword, URL, survey completion, and more): You can filter the responses to your surveys by date, keyword, URL, survey completion, and more. It lets you get the most out of your surveys and get the feedback you need from users.
Paid Plan Features
Hotjar has various sections.
Hotjar Observe paid plans start at $32 per month, billed annually:
- Filter Session Recordings
- Heat Data
- Feedback Responses
- Events API
- Identify API
- Funnels
- Trends
- Console Tracking (Errors)
- Hotjar API
Hotjar Ask paid plans start at $48 per month, billed annually:
- Create unlimited surveys & feedback widgets.
- Events API: Target surveys & feedback widgets based on custom user actions.
- Identify API: Target feedback using custom user attributes.
- Remove Hotjar logo and customize your branding.
- Analyze survey performance.
- Custom-built integrations.
Hotjar Engage paid plan starts at $280 per month, billed annually:
- A minimum of 60 interviews/year from the Hotjar participant pool.
- A minimum of 120 interviews/year from your network.
- A minimum of 30-minute interviews.
- Reward participants up to €50/interview.
- A minimum of 1 co-moderator/interview.
- A minimum of 1 spectator/interview.
- 2 years’ recording retention.
Hotjar Custom paid plan- Need to contact sales.
UsabilityHub- Best for Remote User Research
UsabilityHub is a remote user research platform designed to assist companies in recruiting, researching, and understanding their audiences, creating improved user experiences. With UsabilityHub, the guesswork in design decisions gets eliminated as real people can easily validate and provide feedback, ensuring more informed and effective design choices.
Free Plan Features
- 3 seats: You can have three users on your UsabilityHub account. You can collaborate with two other people on your usability testing projects.
- Unlimited tests: You can test your website or app as often as you need to.
- 15 responses per link: You can collect up to 15 responses per link. It means you can get feedback from up to 15 users per test.
- First, click tests: These tests assess the effectiveness of the links and content hierarchy in a design. Participants get a task, such as “Where would you click to buy this product?” and then shown an image of the design. The position of their click is recorded, along with how long they took to click. This information can identify areas of the design that are confusing or difficult to use.
- Five-second tests: These tests optimize the clarity of a design. Participants are shown a design for five seconds and then asked to answer a question about it. The answers identifies the parts of the design that are most memorable and clear.
- Preference tests: These tests compare different design options. Participants are shown two or more designs and asked which one they prefer. The results of these tests can identify the design that is most likely to be successful with users.
- Prototype testing: These tests help you learn how people interact with interactive prototypes. Participants get tasks like “How would you book a flight?” and then get an interactive website or app prototype. The prototype gets recorded, and the participant’s actions are analyzed to identify difficult or confusing areas.
- Test length up to 2 mins: Each test can be up to 2 minutes long. It gives you enough time to get feedback from users about your website or app.
- Live chat support: You can get live chat support from UsabilityHub if you need help with your usability testing projects.
Paid Plan Features
Basic Plan – $75 per month, billed annually:
- Everything on Free, plus
- Unlimited responses
- Test length up to 5 mins
- CSV export
Pro Plan – $175 per month, billed annually:
- 5 seats for team members.
- Conditional logic feature.
- Unlimited test length for comprehensive usability testing.
- Custom branding options to match your company’s identity.
- Team management capabilities for efficient collaboration.
Enterprise Plan – Customized plan:
- Custom password policy for enhanced security.
- SAML SSO (Security Assertion Markup Language Single Sign-On) for streamlined authentication.
- Security audits to ensure robust protection.
- Priority support for faster and dedicated assistance.
- Custom terms to align with your organization’s specific requirements.
Crazy Egg – Best for Heatmaps
With Crazy Egg, you gain valuable insights into how your website users navigate and interact with your content. The platform offers a range of powerful features, including access to heatmaps, A/B testing capabilities, session recordings review, and the option to launch surveys.
Crazy Egg does not offer a free plan but a free trial for all the paid plans.
Paid Plan Features
Basic Plan – $29 per month billed annually:
- 30,000 tracked page views per month
- 25 snapshots
- 100 recordings per month
- Unlimited surveys & unlimited responses
- Unlimited websites
- Unlimited A/B tests
- 3 months recording storage
Standard Plan – $49 per month billed annually:
- 75,000 tracked page views per month
- 50 snapshots
- 500 recordings per month
- Unlimited surveys & unlimited responses
- Unlimited websites
- Unlimited A/B tests
- 1 year recording storage
Plus Plan – $99 per month billed annually:
- 150,000 tracked page views per month
- 75 snapshots
- 1,000 recordings per month
- Unlimited surveys & unlimited responses
- Unlimited websites
- Unlimited A/B tests
- 2 years recording storage
- Priority support
Pro Plan – $249 per month billed annually:
- 500,000 tracked page views per month
- 100 snapshots
- 5,000 recordings per month
- Unlimited surveys & unlimited responses
- Unlimited websites
- Unlimited A/B tests
- 2 years recording storage
- Priority support
Enterprise Plan- Customized pricing:
- Custom plan tailored to specific needs
- Unlimited tracked page views per month
- Unlimited recordings per month
- Unlimited surveys & unlimited responses
- Unlimited websites
- Unlimited A/B tests
- 2 years recording storage
- Priority support
Loop 11- Best for Large Teams
Loop11 is a user-friendly, web-based usability testing tool that enables remote usability testing. In straightforward terms, it allows you to design an online survey with specific tasks for users to complete on your chosen website. This way, you can gather valuable feedback and insights about your website’s user experience and usability from participants regardless of their location.
Loop11 does not have a free plan but offers a 14-day free trial.
Paid Plan Features
Rapid Insights Plan- $179 per month, if billed annually:
- Moderated and unmoderated testing: Loop11 offers both moderated and unmoderated usability testing. Moderated testing involves a moderator who observes the user as they interact with the product, while unmoderated testing does not.
- Remote testing: You can conduct Loop11’s testing remotely, so users can participate from anywhere in the world. It can save time and money on travel costs.
- Device testing: Loop11 allows you to test your product on desktop, mobile, and tablet devices. It ensures that your product is user-friendly on all platforms.
- 5 Second and First Click tests: Loop11 offers 5 Second and First Click tests, which are easy ways to get feedback on the usability of your product.
- Virtual observation room: The virtual observation room lets you observe users as they interact with your product. It can be helpful for identifying usability issues.
- Tasks & Questions: You can create unlimited tasks and questions for users to complete during the test. It can help you to get specific feedback on the usability of your product.
- Moderated test duration: You can conduct moderated tests for an unlimited duration. It gives the moderator enough time to observe the user and ask questions.
Pro Plan- $358 per month, if billed annually:
- Heatmaps, clickstreams & path analysis
- Data export
- Video & audio downloads
Enterprise Plan – $533 per month, if billed annually:
- Create report segments
- Slack integration & sharing
- Security clearance
- Master Services Agreement
UXtweak – Best for User Research
A wide number of effective tools are available on the comprehensive UX research platform UXtweak to improve the usability of websites and apps, from prototypes to final product.
Free Plan Features
- Card Sorting:
- Open Card Sorting: Generate new ideas as respondents freely create categories for card sorting.
- Closed Card Sorting: Validate your content organization strategy with predefined categories.
- Hybrid Card Sorting: Combine Open and Closed methods to validate strategies while allowing free expression.
- 10 responses per study.
- 20 cards per study.
- Tree Testing:
- Build information architecture with the tree editor for effective structure shaping.
- 10 responses per study.
- 2 tasks per study.
- Preference Test:
- Gather user preferences in studies.
- 3 responses per study.
- 1 task per study.
- 2 image designs per task.
- Five-Second Test:
- Assess users’ understanding of your site’s message within 5 seconds.
- 3 responses per study.
- 1 task per study.
- 5-second display time.
- Survey:
- Conduct surveys to collect user feedback.
- 10 responses per study.
- Session Recording:
- Observe participants’ behavior in your app or website with 100 monthly recordings.
- Mobile Testing:
- Identify mobile app or website difficulties with screen recordings.
- 3 responses per study.
- 1 task per study.
- First Click Test:
- Analyze users’ initial clicks to enhance navigation.
- 3 responses per study.
- 1 task per study.
- Prototype Testing:
- Gather feedback on prototypes with 3 responses per study.
- 1 task per study.
- Website Testing:
- Test websites with 3 responses per study.
- 1 task per study.
Paid Plan Features
Plus Plan – $80 per month, billed annually:
- Up to 4 tasks per study
- Up to 2 active studies at a time
- Up to 40 responses per study
- 12 months of data retention
Business Plan – $144 per month, billed annually:
- Unlimited no. of studies and tasks
- 1000 own-sourced responses per month
- Invoicing
- Expert technical support
- PDF reports and CSV exports
Enterprise Plan- Custom pricing:
- Unlimited no. of user licenses
- Unlimited responses
- Custom data retention
- UX expert support
- Dedicated onboarding
- Assessments (legal, security)
- Hands-on training
- SSO (Single sign-on)
Optimal Workshop- Best of Fundamental Usability Testing
Optimal Workshop is a sophisticated User Experience (UX) research solution designed to assist businesses in enhancing the UX of their websites, apps, products, and prototypes. The platform offers intuitive user research tools that provide valuable insights for optimizing digital experiences.
Free Plan Features
- Card Sorting:
- OptimalSort offers an intuitive and enjoyable online card sort experience for participants.
- Number of cards per card sort: 20
- Number of categories per card sort: Unlimited
- Participant responses per study: 10
- Tree Testing:
- Identify navigation issues in your content and improve findability and hierarchy.
- Number of tasks per tree test: 2
- Participant responses per study: 10
- Qualitative Research (Reframer):
- Organize and analyze user interviews and usability testing data in one place.
- Number of guest notetakers: 3
- Number of qualitative sessions: 3
- First Click Testing:
- Evaluate interface usability based on users’ initial actions.
- Tasks per click-test: 2
- Online Survey Tool (Questions):
- Capture user opinions and feedback with customizable surveys.
- Participant responses per study: 10
- Number of questions per survey: Unlimited
- Pre-study and post-study questions and multi-language studies are supported.
Paid Plan Features
Team Plan – $191 per user per month, if billed annually:
- Unlimited number of card sorting features
- Unlimited number of tasks per tree test and participant responses per study
- Unlimited number of qualitative sessions
- 30 guest note-takers
- Pre-study and post-study questions
- Multi-language studies
Enterprise Plan – Custom pricing:
All the features are accessible.
Comparsion chart:
Tool | Best for | Free plan features | Paid plan features |
Chisel | Product feedback management | Customer surveys, idea box, audiences, feedback analysis | Premium Plan: Custom audience panels, custom branding, dedicated onboarding, 10,000 free responses; Enterprise Plan: 100,000 free responses, multiple feedback portals, private/authenticated portals, Azure DevOps & Zendesk integration, custom configurations, enterprise terms, personalized support |
Maze | Product discovery | 300 viewable responses/year, 1 active project & up to 10 blocks, prototype testing, live website testing, in-product prompts, closed card sorting | Professional Plan: |
Hotjar | User behavior analysis | 35 daily sessions, unlimited heatmaps, up to 5 interviews/month, create and store 3 surveys & 3 feedback widgets, Hotjar AI for Surveys, 40+ pre-defined languages, unlimited questions per survey, over 40 survey templates, filter responses | Hotjar Observe paid plan: Filter Session Recordings, Heat Data, Feedback Responses, Events API, Identify API, Funnels, Trends, Console Tracking (Errors), Hotjar API; Hotjar Ask paid plan: Create unlimited surveys & feedback widgets, Events API: Target surveys & feedback widgets based on custom user actions, Identify API: Target feedback using custom user attributes and more. Hotjar Engage paid plan starts at $280 per month, billed annually: A minimum of 60 interviews/year from the Hotjar participant pool, A minimum of 120 interviews/year from your network, A minimum of 30-minute interviews, and more Hotjar Custom paid plan- Need to contact sales |
UsabilityHub | Remote user research | 3 seats, unlimited tests, 15 responses per link, first click tests, five second tests, preference tests, prototype testing, test length up to 2 mins, live chat support | Basic: Everything on Free plus Unlimited responses, Test length up to 5 mins, CSV export; Pro: 5 seats for team members, Conditional logic feature, Unlimited test length for comprehensive usability testing, Custom branding options to match your company’s identity, Team management capabilities for efficient collaboration |
Crazy Egg | Heatmaps | No free plan | Basic Plan: 30,000 tracked pageviews per month, 25 snapshots, 100 recordings per month Standard Plan: 75,000 tracked pageviews per month, 50 snapshots, 500 recordings per month Plus Plan: 150,000 tracked pageviews per month, 75 snapshots, 1,000 recordings per month Pro Plan: 500,000 tracked pageviews per month, 100 snapshots, 5,000 recordings per month Enterprise Plan: Customized pricing |
Loop11 | Large teams | No free plan | Rapid Insights Plan: Moderated and unmoderated testing, remote testing, device testing, 5 Second and First Click tests, virtual observation room, tasks & questions, moderated test duration Pro Plan: Heatmaps, clickstreams & path analysis, data export, video & audio downloads Enterprise Plan: Create report segments, Slack integration & sharing, security clearance, Master Services Agreement |
UXtweak | User research | Free Plan: Card sorting, tree testing, preference test, five-second test, survey, session recording, mobile testing, first click test, prototype testing, website testing | Plus Plan: Up to 4 tasks per study, up to 2 active studies at a time, up to 40 responses per study, 12 months data retention Business Plan: Unlimited no. of studies and tasks, invoicing, expert technical support, PDF reports and CSV exports Enterprise Plan: Unlimited no. of user licenses, unlimited responses, custom data retention, UX expert support, dedicated onboarding, assessments (legal, security), hands-on training |
Optimal Workshop | Fundamental usability testing | Free Plan: Card sorting, tree testing, qualitative research (Reframer), first click testing, online survey tool (Questions) | Team Plan: Unlimited number of card sorting features, unlimited number of tasks per tree test, and participant responses per study, unlimited number of qualitative sessions, 30 guest note takers, pre-study and post-study questions, multi-language studies |
7 Best Manual Usability Testing Tools
Let us look at the manual usability testing tools that top our list.
LoadRunner- Best for Performance Testing
LoadRunner is a software testing tool developed by OpenText. Its primary purpose is to conduct comprehensive application testing, explicitly evaluating the behavior and performance of systems under varying loads.
Key Features
- Supports a wide range of protocols and technologies: LoadRunner supports many protocols and technologies, including MQTT, HTML5, WebSockets, RDP, Citrix, Java, .NET, Oracle, and SAP. It allows you to test your application’s performance under various conditions.
- Reduces scripting time: LoadRunner’s scripting and debugging engine can help you reduce the time you spend writing scripts. You can do this through features such as auto-correlation, which can automatically generate scripts based on your application’s behavior.
- Identifies performance issues: LoadRunner’s patented auto-correlation engine can help you quickly identify the most likely causes of performance issues. You do this by analyzing your application’s behavior and identifying patterns that could be causing performance problems.
- Integrates with development environments: LoadRunner integrates with development environments, such as Eclipse and Visual Studio. It allows you to start performance testing early in the application lifecycle, which can help you identify and fix performance problems before they cause user problems.
- Runs high-scale tests: LoadRunner can run high-scale tests with minimal hardware. You do this through LoadRunner’s cloud-based testing capabilities, which allow you to scale up or down your test load as needed.
- Easy to use: LoadRunner is easy to use, even for users without prior performance testing experience. You do this through features such as a graphical user interface and a built-in help system.
Pricing
Need to contact sales
UserTesting- Best for User Tests
UserTesting is revolutionizing the process of building and delivering digital products and experiences by providing organizations with invaluable customer insights throughout the entire journey, from creation to execution. Leveraging a top-notch, on-demand sourcing engine,
UserTesting allows customers to swiftly access high-quality, opt-in feedback from their exclusive audience network as well as partner-sourced audiences globally.
Key Features
- Target your customers: You can target your customers through the UserTesting Contributor Network or connect with your audiences. It lets you get feedback from real users representing your target market.
- Ask your customers: You can design a test plan to ask any question or assign tasks to participants. It allows you to get feedback on specific aspects of your product or service.
- Watch your customers’ experience: You can watch your customers’ experience through video. It lets you see how they interact with your product or service and get real-time feedback.
- Share your insights: You can share insights easily across the organization. You can create highlight reels, download, export, or share them in your favorite tools like Slack, JIRA, and Trello.
- Human Insight Management: You can quickly generate and analyze insights to inform business decisions. You can use data visualization, ML-generated instant insight, and collaboration tools to analyze and share your feedback with others.
Pricing
Need to contact sales for customized plans.
Selenium- Best for Testing Web Applications
Selenium is an open-source project encompassing various tools and libraries to facilitate browser automation. It offers a playback tool that allows users to create functional tests for modern web browsers without requiring knowledge of a test scripting language.
Key Features
- Three major divisions: Selenium has three main divisions- Selenium Webdriver, IDE and Grid.
- Cross-platform compatibility: Selenium can get employed on a variety of platforms, including Windows, Linux, macOS, and Solaris. This feature makes it a great choice for organizations that must test their applications on multiple platforms.
- Support for multiple programming languages: Selenium supports various programming languages, including Java, Python, C#, and Ruby. This feature makes it easy to use Selenium with the programming language that you are already familiar with.
- Browser compatibility: Selenium supports various web browsers, including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, and Safari. This feature makes testing your applications on your users’ browsers easy.
- Easy to use: Selenium is easy to use, even for beginners. There are various tutorials and documentation available online that can help you get started with Selenium.
- Scalability: Selenium can be scaled to run multiple tests simultaneously, which can save time and improve the efficiency of your testing process.
- Integration with CI/CD pipelines: Selenium can be integrated with CI/CD pipelines, which means that it can automate the testing of your applications as part of your continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) process. It can help you ensure that your applications are always stable and ready to deploy.
Pricing
You need to contact sales.
Marker.io – Best for Software Testing Teams
Marker.io is a powerful visual bug reporting tool that empowers QA testers, project and product managers, designers, and clients to create tickets directly from websites into popular project management platforms like Jira, GitHub, GitLab,and more.
Key Features
- Feedback widget: Marker provides a feedback widget that can get embedded on your website. This widget allows users to report issues on your website with just a few clicks.
- Session replay: Marker automatically records sessions for users who report issues. It allows you to rewind and watch what the user did before submitting feedback.
- Console recording: Marker automatically records client-side errors and logs in the console. It allows you to see what errors the user was experiencing and what steps they took to reproduce the issue.
- JavaScript SDK: Marker provides a JavaScript SDK that allows you to customize the feedback widget. You can use the SDK to pass custom metadata about your users or technical environment to Marker.
- Client communication: Marker keeps client communication organized and stops you from having to send client emails. All communication will get synced back into your favorite issue tracker.
- Guest portal: Marker provides a guest portal that allows your clients and external reporters to see previously reported issues. It helps to keep everyone up-to-date on the status of issues and to track progress.
- Jira issue synced: Marker automatically syncs issues with Jira. It allows you to keep track of issues in Jira and manage them from within Jira.
- Automatic status-sync: Marker automatically notifies guests when your developer closes an issue in your project management tool. It helps to keep everyone informed of the status of issues.
- Collect online website feedback: Marker is a visual website feedback tool for online businesses. It is perfect for website UI approval from users, customers, and team members.
Pricing
Starter Plan: $39 per month, billed annually
Team Plan: $99 per month, billed annually
Company Plan: $259 per month, billed annually
Apache JMeter – Best for Load and Functional Testing
JMeter, or ‘Apache JMeter,’ is an open-source, Java-based application with a user-friendly graphical interface. Its main purpose is to analyze and evaluate web applications’ and services’ performance and functional behavior.
Key Features
- Platform-agnostic: Apache JMeter can be run on any platform that supports Java Virtual Machines (JVMs), including Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.
- Easy to use: Apache JMeter has a user-friendly interface that makes it easy to create and run performance tests. The interface gets divided into three main sections: the Test Plan, the Results, and the Listeners. The Test Plan is where you create the test scenarios, the Results section displays the results of the tests, and the Listeners section allows you to view the results in different ways.
- Versatile: Apache JMeter can test various applications, including web applications, RESTful APIs, and databases. It can also simulate user interactions, such as form submissions, clicks, and scrolls.
- Functional testing: Apache JMeter can perform functional testing by simulating user interactions with an application. It can verify that the application works as expected and identify potential problems.
- Regression testing: Apache JMeter can perform regression testing by executing test plans you have previously created. It can ensure that changes to the application have not introduced any new problems.
- API and REST-based web services testing: Apache JMeter can test API and REST-based web services. You can do this by sending requests to the services and verifying the responses.
Pricing
Need to contact the company directly.
MantisBT- Best for Collaborative Bug Tracking
MantisBT is an open source issue tracker. It offers a perfect blend of simplicity and functionality. Its user-friendly interface helps you get started quickly, managing their projects efficiently and collaborating seamlessly with teammates and clients.
Key Features
- Email notifications: MantisBT can send email notifications to users when issues are updated, resolved, or commented on. It helps to keep everyone informed of the status of issues.
- Access control: MantisBT has a role-based access control system that allows you to control who can access different parts of the system. It helps to keep your data secure.
- Customization: MantisBT is highly customizable. You can customize the issue fields, notifications, and workflow to meet your specific needs.
- Dashboard: MantisBT has a dashboard that provides a quick overview of the status of your issues. It helps you to track the progress of your testing and to identify any potential problems.
- Change log: MantisBT keeps a change log for each issue. It allows you to see who changed the issue and what the changes are. It can be helpful for tracking your testing progress and debugging problems.
- Roadmap: MantisBT allows you to create a roadmap for your issues. It helps you track the progress of your testing and ensure that you address the most important issues first.
- Timeline: MantisBT keeps a timeline of all the activities that have taken place for each issue. It helps you to track the progress of your testing and to identify any potential problems.
Pricing
Gold Plan: $27.50 per month, billed annually
Platinum Plan: $55 per month, billed annually
Volume Licensing Plan: Customized plan
Enterprise Plan: Customized plan
Postman- Best for Testing APIs
Postman is a comprehensive API platform consolidating various tools and processes into a unified, authoritative hub supporting the entire API development lifecycle. With Postman, users can build, manage, and consume secure, high-quality APIs.
Key Features
- Manual testing: Postman can be used to manually test each endpoint of an API to ensure that it returns the expected response. It can help identify and fix problems with the API.
- Load testing: Postman can be used to load test APIs with different conditions to determine how well the API performs under heavy load. It can help ensure that the API can handle the expected traffic.
- Security testing: Postman can be used to test the security of APIs to ensure they comply with standard guidelines. It can help prevent unauthorized access to the API.
- API design: Postman can be used to design APIs from design to documentation and discovery. It can help ensure that the API is well-designed and easy to use.
- Partner workspaces: Using Postman, businesses can invite partners to use their APIs to create fresh products and services.
- Public workspaces: Postman allows organizations to share their APIs publicly with the entire world. It can help gather feedback on APIs, quickly onboard developers, or showcasing work.
Pricing
Basic Plan: $12 per user per month, billed annually
Professional Plan: $29 per user per month, billed annually
Enterprise Plan: Need to contact sales
Comparison table:
Tool | Best for | Key Features | Pricing |
LoadRunner | Performance Testing | Supports a wide range of protocols and technologies, reduces scripting time, identifies performance issues, integrates with development environments, runs high-scale tests, easy to use | Contact sales for pricing |
UserTesting | User Tests | Target your customers, ask your customers, watch your customers’ experience, share your insights | Contact sales for customized plans |
Selenium | Testing Web Applications | Cross-platform compatibility, support for multiple programming languages, browser compatibility, easy to use, extensible, scalability, integration with CI/CD pipelines | Contact sales |
Marker.io | Software Testing Teams | Feedback widget, session replay, console recording, JavaScript SDK, client communication, guest portal, Jira issue synced, automatic status-sync | Starter Plan: $39 per month, billed annuallyTeam Plan: $99 per month, billed annuallyCompany Plan: $259 per month, billed annually |
Apache JMeter | Load and Functional Testing | Platform-agnostic, easy-to-use, versatile, functional testing, regression testing, API and REST-based web services testing | Need to contact the company directly |
MantisBT | Collaborative Bug Tracking | Email notifications, access control, customization, dashboard, change log, roadmap, timeline | Gold Plan: $27.50 per month, billed annuallyPlatinum Plan: $55 per month, billed annuallyVolume Licensing Plan: Customized planEnterprise Plan: Customized plan |
Postman | Testing APIs | Manual testing, load testing, security testing, API design, partner workspaces, public workspaces | Basic Plan: $12 per user per month, billed annuallyProfessional Plan: $29 per user per month, billed annuallyEnterprise Plan: Need to contact sales |
Which Type of Usability Testing Tool Is Right for You?
Selecting the right usability testing tool comes down to understanding your specific needs, objectives, and limitations. Manual usability testing is likely the best fit if you aim to explore various scenarios and gather qualitative insights. On the other hand, automated usability testing is the way to go if you prioritize repetitive tasks and quantitative data.
However, don’t feel confined to choosing just one approach. Combining both manual and automated testing can provide comprehensive results. Manual testing helps uncover potential issues and understand user perspectives, while automated testing ensures consistency and verifies problem resolution.
Remember, your decision should depend on your project’s unique requirements and available resources. Regardless of your chosen method, usability testing plays a vital role in improving user experience and product success. So, carefully consider your objectives and constraints to make an informed choice for your usability testing efforts.
In the end, the ultimate goal is to create exceptional user experiences and successful products. So, happy testing, and may your endeavors be fruitful!