Best Online Tree Testing Tools

Tree testing methodology started as analog as we can imagine. Offline paper cards with particular names of categories and labels have been the pre-online version of tree testing. Currently as with any other segment of the online tools, UX research category is booming as well. You can find many tools on the market – from smaller to more complex.

Intro to tree testing tools

Thinking about what treetesting software to choose can be difficult. We have tried to use some of them, compare their features, explore strengths and maybe find some weaknesses. We are bringing your short reviews of the 4 best online software tools – UXtweak, Optimal Workshop, UserZoom and UXarmy.

When conducting the trial period of each we have focused primarily on following:

  • What is the user experience building the tree?
  • What are the various options for uploading a tree? And how do they perform?
  • How many ways can you use to recruit testers?
  • What does the report look like and what are the differences in reporting?

And last, but not least – pricing. If you plan to perform a tree-test study only once in a while or without any extra features, you can even find some free solutions. There are free trial periods or limited free forever plans for some softwares.

Top tree testing tools in 2023

  1. UXtweak
  2. Optimal Workshop
  3. UserZoom
  4. UXarmy
  5. UserTesting
  6. Userlytics
  7. Useberry
  8. PlaybookUX
  9. Maze

Rating

Pricing

Free Plan

UXtweak

$80/month

YES

Optimal Workshop

$199/month

YES

UserZoom

Starting at $250/mo

NO

UXarmy

$99/month/per tool

NO

UserTesting

Starting at $15K/year

NO

Userlytics

$499/month

NO

Useberry

$33/month

YES

PlaybookUX

$228/month

NO

Maze

$75/month

YES

5/5

UXtweak is our absolute favorite when it comes to tree testing. They have all the features you need for an insightful study, combined with advanced analytics and great UI.

They also offer recruiting widget and direct tree upload from your website which is a great time saver.

UXtweak Pricing (best quality-price ratio)

  • Free plan: unlimited studies, 3 tasks per study and 10 participants per study
  • Individual plan starting at $80/mo
  • 50% discounts for NGO and Edu
4/5

Optimal Workshop’s Treejack tool became the legend over the years. With over 15 years on the market OW knows what to focus on.

Optimal Workshop Pricing

  • Free plan: 3 tasks per study & 10 participants per study
  • Individual plan starting at $199/mo (unlimited studies)
  • Offers team and enterprise plans when you need more seats
3/5

Most robust UX ecosystem of tools aiming at larger corporations. Tree testing is one of the modules included in whole UserZoom solution. The app works very well, but the pricing cuts at least half the star down.

UserZoom Pricing

  • 14-day free trial
  • UserZoom plans starting at $250/mo (15 Studies per year) and going up to thousands
  • No option for free forever plan
ia tools
3/5

One of the newer UX tools on the market. It offer a whole toolkit for both, moderated and unmoderated testing.

You can upload tree using XLS, CSV files.
Fresh and clean design of the application.

UXarmy Pricing

  • 7-day free trial (Unlimited Projects)
  • Individual plan starting at $99/mo
  • Does not offer free forever plan

UserTesting

3/5

One of the leaders on the market, targeted at larger enterprises. Tree testing is one of the features in the UserTesting bundle of research tools. Although the tool is good, it may seem a little pricey compared to the competitors. 

UserTesting Pricing

  • Starting at $15K/year
  • No free plan
tree testing tools

Userlytics

3.6/5

Userlytics is a multifunctional platform for user research that offers basic tree testing as one of their features. The platform is good, however, their UI may seem a little outdated and hard to navigate.

Userlytics Pricing

  • $499/month (billed annually) or $49/participant
  • No free plan

Useberry

3.5/5

Useberry is a platform focused on testing codeless prototypes. Their tree testing feature, however, is available on a free plan and is perfect for improving your website’s navigation.

Useberry Pricing

  • Free plan available
  • Paid plan starts at $33/month, billed annually
tree testing tools

Playbook UX

3.4/5

Playbook not only offers tree testing functionality but also a handy pay-as-you-go feature, allowing you to test without subscribing for the whole tool.

PlaybookUX Pricing

  • $228.00/month (annual billing)
  • $49.00/feature
  • No free plan
tree testing tools

Maze

4/5

Maze is known for their wide set of features and tree testing is one of them. The platform has great UI and nice analytics.

Maze Pricing

  • $75/month Billed annually
  • Free plan available
tree testing tools

Pen & Paper

5/5

The oldest method and still very popular.
We recommend it for pilot testing, creating the trees and tasks within your team.

Pricing

  • free forever (just pen and paper)
Two guys putting postits on the wall

Summary

We have tried to build a tree, create tasks, write instructions and all the other available features in the softwares mentioned above. After weeks of working with the online software solutions we can online recommend them. It makes your research much easier, we would even say it makes your life better. Having all the results at the same place, you can share them with your colleagues and access them from wherever you are. Online treetesting tools FTW.

UXtweak vs Treejack

These two are the toughest competitors in the field. They both offer very friendly user experience in the application, easily read dashboard and pleasant overall experience. The whole process of creating a study is very similar in both of them.

However we have decided to give half a star more for UXtweak for these three reasons:

  1. You can load your tree easily from your website. This feature is especially helpful for big menu owners (e-commerce or big media websites).
  2. You can download the PDF report. Great feature for reporting to anyone outside your company.
  3. Better pricing. Choosing UXtweak over OptimalWorkshop can save you up to 30 % of your monthly fee and that’s nice, isn’t it? And if you come from NGO or academia sector, it can be even better.


Do you agree? Try yourself and we are looking forward to your opinion.

FAQ

What is the best tree testing software?

There are many tree testing software solutions nowadays. Most of the features are the same, but there are some differences. Here are my top 9 tree testing tools:

  1. UXtweak
  2. Optimal Workshop
  3. UserZoom
  4. UXarmy
  5. UserTesting
  6. Userlytics
  7. Useberry
  8. PlaybookUX
  9. Maze

You can check out the tools reviews page and learn more about each of them.

How many participants do you need for a tree test?

In general, we recommend having at least 30 participants finish your tree testing study, ideally 50. With 50 participants you ensure that the tree testing results you get are statistically relevant. Read more about what to focus on when recruiting in the Recruiting testers part.

How do you write a tree test?

Writing a tree test involves several steps to create an effective test scenario for evaluating the navigational structure of a website. Here’s a simplified guide:

  1. Define goals of the tree test
  2. Create the tree structure
  3. Write down the tasks
  4. Create a study in a tree testing tool
  5. Recruit participants
  6. Analyze the results
  7. Iterate if needed

See the tools reviews page and choose the perfect tool for you.