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Maze alternatives

Last reviewed . Reviewed every quarter.

Where Maze teams look next

  • The Maze reviews quoted above raise survey logic, the range of question types and prototype support.
  • Maze publishes a Free plan in every market, and a Starter plan with a listed price outside the US, Canada, the UK and Europe.
  • Maze offers AI-moderated studies on its Enterprise plans only.

Why teams look for an alternative to Maze

Quite limited in terms of survey design to add alongside the prototypes, including survey logic and question types.

Eshwar S., verified reviewer, Research, 11-50 employees (Software Advice)Eshwar S., verified reviewer, Research, 11-50 employees (Software Advice),

It's a bit limited in question templates, I miss a multiple choice format with images for example.

Verified reviewer, Financial Services, 1001-5000 employees (Software Advice)Verified reviewer, Financial Services, 1001-5000 employees (Software Advice),

For example when Figma released interactive components there was no integration for this for some time leaving us without testing capabilities for prototypes which included interactive components.

Axel S., verified reviewer, Design, 11-50 employees (Software Advice)Axel S., verified reviewer, Design, 11-50 employees (Software Advice),

Maze alternatives side by side

Maze alternatives side by side
PulseUserTestingEntropikOutsetQualtrics
AI-moderated interviewsYesPartlyYesYesNot checked
Dynamic follow-up / probingYesNot checkedYesYesYes
Languages (count/list)240+ languages, enabled on requestLanguage filter: tests in English, Spanish, French or GermanAI Moderator (Mira): 70+ languages40+ languages78 survey languages; others added as custom languages
Own panel (size)YesYesNot checkedPartlyPartly
Theme / insight synthesisYesYesYesYesYes
Free trial / free tierYesNot checkedYesNot checkedYes

The alternatives, one by one

Pulse

Best for Product and design teams whose research runs mostly on interviews

Through Pulse, the AI-moderated research platform, product teams hold interviews at scale whose AI moderator listens and follows up, asking again whenever an answer comes back vague. Usability testing, task-based tests included, runs on the same platform.

Strengths

  • White-label and agency use
  • Exports to PowerPoint, Word, Excel or PDF
  • Sample sold on its own, without a study

Verdict Pulse pairs its platform with human analysts. Qualtrics' Research Services, Outset's optional support models and UserTesting's Professional Services also put people on a study.

Where another tool fits A program built mostly on surveys that need many question types is better served by Qualtrics, which offers 23 on its paid plans. Pulse's surveys sit beside its interviews, for the moments a study needs a count as well as the reasons.

UserTesting

Best for Teams testing with a network of their own users and employees

UserTesting records people as they think aloud or work through interaction tests unmoderated, and holds moderated video interviews through Live Conversation. Prototypes are hosted securely, with a Figma plugin to bring designs in.

Strengths

  • First results on simple tests in as little as an hour
  • AI-generated targeting criteria and screener questions
  • Job level and industry filters on Advanced and Ultimate

Verdict A team that keeps its session recordings can hide the names, logins and addresses in them with UserTesting's Blur Tool. Maze lets a team permanently delete a session, a recording or a whole study.

Pulse vs UserTesting

Entropik

Best for Ad, shopper and packaging tests beside UX work

Entropik tests concepts and prototypes, and its AI Moderator, Mira, holds the interviews. A session link, with no account needed, lets people take part asynchronously, and Entropik delivers structured insights in 48 hours.

Strengths

  • A panel reach of 103M+ across 120 countries
  • Reports built automatically

Verdict Entropik sources its panel sample through Cint and Dynata, for a team whose procurement has already approved Cint. Outset's panel integrations take in Dynata too, and Maze Panel draws on neither.

Outset

Best for Teams that interview by text, voice, video or voice-to-voice

Outset screens people with custom screeners and advanced logic, and they join its interviews anonymously, with no account to create. Its AI moderator can bring concepts, interfaces or creative work into the conversation.

Strengths

  • Data-segregated workspaces for separate teams
  • Re-recruits in place of low-quality interviews
  • Custom reports built from automatic insights

Verdict Each tool here follows up on answers. Outset gives its limit as a count, up to 10 follow-ups on a single question. Maze sets the depth of each goal by time instead, 1 to 3 minutes on Brief and 3 to 5 on Thorough.

Qualtrics

Best for Insights groups that own UX, brand and ad research together

Qualtrics records video responses of up to 600 seconds, three minutes by default, and Insights Explorer draws out the key themes and summaries. Each sentence gets its own sentiment score, on a scale that runs from Very Negative up to Very Positive, and bot and duplicate detection guards the responses that come in.

Strengths

  • Video editing and highlight reels
  • Adaptive Follow-Ups inside its surveys
  • A searchable Research Hub library on new pricing plans

Verdict Maze connects to design and meeting tools, Figma, Axure, Zoom and Miro among them. Qualtrics connects to Salesforce, ServiceNow, Zendesk and HubSpot, for UX research that has to sit beside a company's customer and service records.

Pulse vs Qualtrics

How we evaluated

We compared what each tool's own product, pricing and security pages state against the criteria below. Every fact in the table above links to the page it came from, with the date it was read.

  • Prototype sources. Which design and build tools a platform accepts prototypes from, and what it measures while people use them.
  • Survey depth. The question types and logic available when a study needs more than a short questionnaire.
  • Who asks the follow-up. An AI moderator that probes on its own, a researcher running the session, or both, and how deep the probing goes.
  • Reach. Languages, countries and panel partners, and whether your own users can be invited.
  • After the session. Transcripts, themes, clips and a repository that keeps each study findable when the next one starts.

Which one to choose

  • If a team already reports its experience metrics as QXscores, choose UserTesting, whose Results API returns them with session data, videos and transcripts.
  • If participant data falls under HIPAA, choose Outset, which states HIPAA compliance, UserTesting, which lists HIPAA among its certifications, Qualtrics, whose HITRUST certification integrates HIPAA requirements, or Entropik, which calls itself HIPAA-Ready.
  • If a test should track where participants' eyes go on the screen, choose Entropik, whose live moderated sessions include eye gaze tracking.

What design and research teams gain on Pulse

A choice of where data is stored

Where interview data is kept can be chosen on Pulse's enterprise plan, which matters once a legal review asks. Entropik offers residency choices to Enterprise customers, Qualtrics keeps data in the customer's chosen region, and new UserTesting Flex accounts pick the EU, the US or Asia Pacific.

Interviews away from a screen

One route into a Maze study is the mobile browser, with no download. Pulse's AI-moderated interviews can also run over a phone call or through WhatsApp, which suits users who are seldom at a screen. Qualtrics uses WhatsApp as a channel for two-way surveys.

Pulse and Maze

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