Dovetail vs. UserTesting

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Dovetail
Score 8.6 out of 10
Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
Dovetail, headquartered in Sydney, aims to enable the world to create better products and services through deep customer understanding. Dovetail states they empower 45,000+ people, from agencies to universities to Fortune 100 companies, to make sense of their customer research in one collaborative research platform.
$0
per month
UserTesting
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
UserTesting helps UX researchers, designers, product teams, and marketers gather actionable insights through research, testing, and feedback. With a network of real people ready to share their perspectives, UserTesting enables organizations to make customer-first decisions at scale.N/A
Pricing
DovetailUserTesting
Editions & Modules
Free
$0
Professional
$15
per month
Enterprise
Contact Sales
per year
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
DovetailUserTesting
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional DetailsDiscount available for annual billing on the Professional plan.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
DovetailUserTesting
Considered Both Products
Dovetail
Chose Dovetail
Dovetail is 10X better. So much easier and truly meant for having one centralized workspace. Everything from the highlights and tags and videos and column customization when editing makes it easy to call them the winner in this field. I wouldn't want to go back to my other …
Chose Dovetail
Marvin's approach to AI has always been a core part of their platform, and so the integration of AI features (and the focus on building an AI product that works effectively for the kind of research we are doing) has always been at the forefront of their thinking and design. …
Chose Dovetail
Haven't used EnjoyHQ in the last three years, so cannot compare the new capabilities like AI. We switched to Dovetail because it was easier to use at the time.
Chose Dovetail
We chose Dovetail because it was more powerful and simple to use when we evaluated these tools.
UserTesting
Chose UserTesting
UserTesting is probably the most polished with the largest tester pool, fastest turnaround, and great tools for both moderated and unmoderated tests.
Userlytics is a solid alternative, especially for the budget-conscious. It supports usability testing on lots of devices, and …
Chose UserTesting
UserTesting is very much a usability testing tool. dscout has much more robust functionality and feels like a more complete user research tool, and I prefer the quality of the panel. However, the UserTesting panel is much larger, and works well when you have lower barriers to …
Chose UserTesting
User Testing is so much easier to use than other user testing tools. It's also pretty good for transcription and now they do transcription in Spanish, which is also an important part of my work and that was one of the reasons I used Dovetail. Now I still use Dovetail as it's a …
Chose UserTesting
UserTesting and Dovetail support each other well.
Best Alternatives
DovetailUserTesting
Small Businesses
Smartlook
Smartlook
Score 8.5 out of 10
Smartlook
Smartlook
Score 8.5 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Optimal
Optimal
Score 9.1 out of 10
Optimal
Optimal
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
Optimal
Optimal
Score 9.1 out of 10
Optimal
Optimal
Score 9.1 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
DovetailUserTesting
Likelihood to Recommend
8.3
(23 ratings)
7.8
(189 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.2
(1 ratings)
6.7
(8 ratings)
Usability
6.9
(22 ratings)
8.0
(167 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(1 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Performance
7.3
(1 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
8.2
(1 ratings)
7.2
(166 ratings)
Online Training
8.2
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
4.6
(4 ratings)
Configurability
6.4
(1 ratings)
7.3
(1 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
6.4
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.2
(1 ratings)
7.3
(1 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
7.3
(1 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
5.5
(1 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
DovetailUserTesting
Likelihood to Recommend
Dovetail
See 1st question answer for my use case, I went into depth there for the specific use cases we have. For less appropriate (touched on this earlier) the final report is not great in dovetail. The formatting options are not great and does not look professional because of the lack of customization and layouts. For my customer we wouldn't be able to present that data as it's constructed. So we have to copy and paste all the quotes and insights to a word doc. That's ok but then it means if we want to use Dovetail as a repository of data we have to then re-import a pdf of the report into the project page.
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UserTesting
UserTesting is at its best when conducting a range of unmoderated user research tasks with UT's own user panel. UserTesting is less useful when conducting research with our own users, as the UT interface isn't readily understood by them for unmoderated tests, and the types of tests available in moderated research are rather limited.
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Pros
Dovetail
  • The tagging, linking, and repository features make it simple to maintain a living library of knowledge, ensuring past work is never lost.
  • Dovetail enables our researchers and non-research partners to engage more directly with findings, fostering a stronger culture of evidence-based decision-making.
  • Dovetail makes it simple to track engagement metrics with research insights proving overall ROI.
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UserTesting
  • Product Manager who follows up on your UserTesting usage and gives advice/support when you need it.
  • UserTesting University is a great platform to learn how to use UT and general information about research.
  • UserTesting can find participants quickly, so you won't need to wait long before you can start the analysis.
Read full review
Cons
Dovetail
  • We should have a trust indicator for our insights, as it is difficult to quickly determine when they are trustworthy or not.
  • Chatbot analysis within different data, I mostly use it with a small sample and replicate the process instead of using the chatbot for more global analysis.
  • Insight creation, the format is not always really engaging, and you can't really create a presentation from it. It does not align with some stakeholder expectations and requires us to redo the work.
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UserTesting
  • Quality of participants- its clear some fake their IP addresses and are not in the country you have screened for
  • The AI analytics are not the most functional from what I have seen, stick to what you're good at?
  • I find the scheduling for live sessions clunky to use, the calendar interface is very glitchy
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Likelihood to Renew
Dovetail
Because we are really happy with the tool and it’s capabilities at the moment. The price increase is the main issue we can have but the features are getting better and better. It really saves a lot of time for our team and allow us to collaborate more efficiently with certain stakeholders that often did not réalise how much research we conduct. Now they can just have a look to it by themself!
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UserTesting
I'm very happy with my experience of the product and the level of service and learning resources they provide. If the service becomes more expensive than it currently is then we might not be able to justify additional cost - but this is theoretical. I would recommend UserTesting and would ideally renew our contract.
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Usability
Dovetail
Very organized and user-friendly; however, the editing capabilities for the analysis report/insight doc could use some work. There was a recent update also causing it to be harder to find the in-project search bar and where to switch from the highlight list and highlight board view, which made the experience more challenging, especially since I was sharing my screen. Not only did it catch me off guard that it changed, but stakeholders and I were trying (on-call) to figure out how to access it and couldn't. After the call, I did more digging and finally found it, but that was after a bit of time. Outside of this and the editing for insight reports, I feel like the usability is actually very well thought out and effective.
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UserTesting
It can be difficult to organize our tests and go back and find information. I think the AI tools are helping and will help with this, but for now it is time consuming to sort through all of the tests and information and then synthesize it and share it with others. It just takes a lot of time.
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Reliability and Availability
Dovetail
I’ve never had any access issues with Dovetail, so I don’t see any problems in that area.
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UserTesting
Never encountered any problems
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Performance
Dovetail
Regarding performance, I would say it’s satisfactory. Adding data and transcriptions is really fast and efficient, and can be done in the background, so I’m never hindered by these aspects. However, all the new AI-generated features are still somewhat slow to run. It’s nothing major, but it should improve in the future.
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UserTesting
Perfectly fine. Never had any problems.
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Support Rating
Dovetail
My customer success manager is very responsive and has always been able to answer my questions and resolve issues quickly. The collaboration is smooth, so I have no complaints in that regard.
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UserTesting
I have contacted UserTesting's customer service online, by email, or by phone a few times, and each time, I have encountered the same professionalism and expertise. Even in person during a work event, they were there, and it was the same experience.
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Online Training
Dovetail
The training went very well, and we co-built it to really address our needs. I also think it was beneficial to have feedback coming from someone other than myself (since I manage the tool), as it helped reinforce the points I wanted to highlight. The team’s feedback on the training was very positive.
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UserTesting
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Dovetail
No answers on this topic
UserTesting
From a technical perspective, the implementation was extremely smooth. Most of the change management / implementation hurdles were clearing use of the tool through our various security, legal, and information privacy teams. Once these concerns were addressed (UserTesting.com was very helpful in providing all the needed documentation), the implementation process was very simple and we were able to get going right away.
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Alternatives Considered
Dovetail
Dovetail is the most stakeholder-friendly research tool we've used.
Its visual insights, highlight reels, and intuitive interface make it easy for non-researchers to understand and act on customer feedback. Stakeholders can engage directly without needing deep training, making it ideal for cross-functional teams.
Compared to other tools, Dovetail offers the best balance of depth for researchers and clarity for decision-makers.
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UserTesting
The quality of the participants: they usually have good feedback and act like "professional" users. Which is good when we want a few insights in a short amount of time. Also, the interface is good. I miss having more features, like a good transcription tool like we have in Condens
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Dovetail
It’s very expensive, and we use a lot of features in beta. I think we could also be rewarded for our usage and frequent feedback on the tool.
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UserTesting
No answers on this topic
Scalability
Dovetail
Management is quite straightforward; it’s easy to change access if certain stakeholders need to use it. The repository features are accessible to all teams, making it a good entry point into the tool. The more people use it, the more powerful the tool becomes, so it seems truly scalable to me. The limits are more financial, in terms of accessing additional features.
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UserTesting
The package we have limits the number of people who can set up tests. This prevents us from scaling the use of the platform.
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Return on Investment
Dovetail
  • Researchers and designers now spend less time digging through scattered notes or redoing similar studies. Centralizing everything in Dovetail has significantly reduced the time needed to prepare synthesis reports, align stakeholders, or onboard new teammates into past research.
  • With Dovetail, user insights are no longer abstract or anecdotal—they're traceable, searchable, and backed by real quotes. Product teams feel more confident making roadmap decisions based on what users actually need, not assumptions.
  • Dovetail has encouraged more non-designers to engage with user feedback directly. This democratization of insights helps align everyone around real user problems, which ultimately leads to better product-market fit and faster iteration loops.
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UserTesting
  • Content is key to the sign up journey and UserTesting helps me improve that.
  • UserTesting has helped me improve the Cashier on our site, making it easier for users to deposit money.
  • UserTesting is helping me iterate all our content decisions, helping us improve the UX across all platforms.
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ScreenShots

Dovetail Screenshots

Screenshot of the Contacts interface, used to find, schedule, and incentivize research participants.Screenshot of a visualization of customer feedback, used to identify patterns before they become problems. Using LLM and ML techniques, Channels continuously classifies and tracks themes in large data sets like support tickets, app reviews, and feedback.Screenshot of an example of a conversational insight, available in Slack. Here, users can quickly ask questions to access automatic podcast-style updates for all related data across Dovetail in Slack and Microsoft Teams.Screenshot of the navigation and project interface, designed to makes it easy for everyone to get started and find what they need in Dovetail.

UserTesting Screenshots

Screenshot of UserTesting's several solutions for gathering rich customer experience narratives.Screenshot of Interactive Path Flows
Built on recent research in data mining, the Interactive Path Flow aggregates interaction data across multiple participant sessions to visualize the customer journey, surface unexpected behaviors, and locate key moments in the customer journey.Screenshot of Keyword Mapping
Similar keywords are automatically grouped based on overall sentiment (positive, negative, or neutral) to identify themes. Highlight reels associated with each keyword are grouped together, to discover the why behind each sentiment.Screenshot of Video capture and live streaming
Digital and real-world customer experiences are recorded on desktop and mobile devices or live streamed for in-platform viewing.Screenshot of Audience targeting
Audiences are specified by screening contributors from UserTesting’s global network of contributors or connecting to any preferred network.