Axure RP vs. Optimal Workshop

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Axure RP
Score 7.9 out of 10
N/A
Axure RP is a software prototyping tool used by UX designers, from Axure Software Solutions in San Diego.N/A
Optimal Workshop
Score 8.4 out of 10
N/A
Optimal Workshop, a company in New Zealand, offers their suite of user research tools on a subscription basis, including the Treejack information architecture tool, OptimalSort card sorting test, Chalkmark first-click testing, and other tools.
$191
per month per user
Pricing
Axure RPOptimal Workshop
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Team
$191
per month per user
Individual
$208
per month per user
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Axure RPOptimal Workshop
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsThese prices are based per user, per month billed annually. For 10 users or more, please contact us directly for a quote.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Axure RPOptimal Workshop
Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
Axure RPOptimal Workshop
Small Businesses
OmniGraffle
OmniGraffle
Score 8.9 out of 10
Smartlook
Smartlook
Score 8.5 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
OmniGraffle
OmniGraffle
Score 8.9 out of 10
Optimizely Web Experimentation
Optimizely Web Experimentation
Score 8.5 out of 10
Enterprises
OmniGraffle
OmniGraffle
Score 8.9 out of 10
Optimizely Web Experimentation
Optimizely Web Experimentation
Score 8.5 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Axure RPOptimal Workshop
Likelihood to Recommend
6.6
(23 ratings)
7.8
(10 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(2 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
8.3
(2 ratings)
8.9
(3 ratings)
User Testimonials
Axure RPOptimal Workshop
Likelihood to Recommend
Axure Software Solutions
Axure is a robust tool for teams who seek a reliable, proven, and powerful prototyping tool (and have the budget for it!). Because it has been around for a longer time than some similar products, it includes a ton of features to make incredibly realistic and interactive prototypes. Teams who use Axure will likely benefit from how the tool enables users to create master designs that designers can share and reuse, saving time that may otherwise have been spent building a design from the ground up. However, this tool can be very difficult for new users to learn, so it’s not a great solution for teams who don’t have a lot of wiggle room between adopting the tool and using it to create designs on a deadline. Also, the tool is less intuitive than some of its other competitors, which can make it more time-consuming to whip up a design. For teams who often need to iterate on prototypes quickly, Axure is likely not to be the most efficient solution.
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Optimal Workshop
Optimal Workshop is great for UX testing for those with a budget to do so. This may be a little on the expensive side for smaller businesses, but definitely not anything crazy expensive. The insights that you get out of these tests are invaluable and can be the difference between launching a site and succeeding/failing.
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Pros
Axure Software Solutions
  • Axure RP allows you to use adaptive views which is great for responsive design and development.
  • Axure RP is a very robust prototyping tool that has the ability to add realistic interactions.
  • There are numerous templates and formats available for wires, user flows, etc.
  • Master styles make it easy to update design features across numerous project pages, taking out the monotonous work.
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Optimal Workshop
  • The user interface is quite user friendly
  • Variety of tests
  • Access and variety of help on how to run tests, as well as educational information on which tests to run for your use case
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Cons
Axure Software Solutions
  • Sharing and versioning of the prototypes when working with multiple designers. It uses Subversion to checkout pages and components while they are being worked on, but issues and errors occur frequently.
  • The functions that allow interactions can be basic and cumbersome so when it comes to complex animations or transitions, Axure could really use improvements. . Collision can happen with interactions causing unintended results. Workarounds have to be made to create a complex interaction to describe how the interaction should function.
  • Too many interactions or a large prototype can cause slow performance. So its better to keep the prototype small. However, a larger project would need a different solution or approach to manage features. Can be difficult when aiming for consistency within the interactive wire.
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Optimal Workshop
  • The recruitment panelists are not professional, nor do they take the tasks seriously. You are going to get a lot of bad data.
  • They are HQ'd outside the US and must have a small team because the customer service is the absolute WORST I've experienced in their industry.
  • They pride themselves on documentation, but when they fail to document something they blame the customer for the mistake.
  • There are way too many limitations with the tool after you launch, limited integrations, and poor survey questionnaire options. The tool itself is far too basic for most sites, especially B2B.
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Usability
Axure Software Solutions
Axure feels like a tool that started with a simple interface that wasn't redesigned over time. Simple tasks sometimes require clicking through multiple layers. Crucial pieces of functionality are hidden under text links, or just flatly aren't discoverable. Much of the quirks of the interface only come from having screwed up numerous times, and knowing that certain things are just difficult to accomplish.
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Optimal Workshop
Excellent and easy platform to use. Easy to onboard new members of the team. Easy to set up tests and follow number of participants performing the test. Easy to plug into other platforms to record participants. Excellent reporting. Easy to share reports with stakeholders. Easy to recruit through platform, however the quality of participants can be better.
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Support Rating
Axure Software Solutions
I've never used the support for Axure but they do have an online community that can be helpful when you're unsure how to accomplish a specific bit of interactivity. Overall the community for Axure is a great benefit for the software. There are also a lot of shared library assets which can help reduce the time you spend on projects.
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Optimal Workshop
The support has been good. No complaints. I have not needed to contact support more than 1-2 times when I was first getting set up, because the tools work well and are pretty straight forward. They do have good documentation
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Alternatives Considered
Axure Software Solutions
Axure is more full features than most of its competitors. We needed the interactivity that Axure provides and that others were lacking in. We also had some individuals on the team that were familiar with Axure from their prior experience and we wanted to take advantage of that knowledge to quickly roll it out.
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Optimal Workshop
For the price as it is very convenient for first-time beginners, its intuitiveness both for the one who is designing the activities and for those who have to interact with them. The fact that it collects and gathers the data into insights of the overall responses collected by all users.
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Return on Investment
Axure Software Solutions
  • Putting designs to paper makes it easier for those on the business side to evaluate the cost of the project beyond just looking at written requirements.
  • Axure licenses are very expensive and may not be well suited for small businesses or individuals.
  • Axure licenses are permanent rather than being subscription based which saves money in the long run.
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Optimal Workshop
  • Optimal Workshop has had a positive impact on investigating information architecture on several websites.
  • Optimal Workshop has helped investigated the labeling on several websites.
  • Optimal Workshop has also support in the investigation of UX in navigations.
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