What are product discovery tools?
Before we dive into our list, let’s first cover the basics: what’s a product discovery tool, and how does it work? Basically, it’s a software platform that simplifies project management, product analytics, and market research. A product discovery tool can have many helpful features, from survey creation to test session recordings.
To deepen our knowledge, let’s look at the most common types of product discovery tools.
Types of product discovery tools
Product discovery tools can take many forms. They include analytics tools, platforms for usability tests, team management apps, and more. Each type is geared toward a specific task, but they can all offer valuable insights that will help you deliver a high-quality product to your audience. Let’s go over the main six that are used during the product development life cycle.
User feedback tools
Businesses rely on these tools for collecting customer feedback. They provide a lot of flexibility when creating surveys: templates, analytics, and real-time tracking of responses. Some also offer custom survey themes designed to match your brand’s visual style. The best examples of these tools include SurveyMonkey and Typeform.
Usability testing tools
These tools can prove invaluable in the product discovery process. They allow developers to conduct remote tests to get user behavior data, which helps improve the final product. During these user testing sessions, developers can learn how intuitive the in-app navigation is, how smooth the user journey is, and which elements caught the user’s attention first.
Testing tools are designed to make the whole process easier, both for the developer and the user. Platforms like Lookback and Hotjar include features like real-time feedback, video recordings of tests, and user guidance. They allow participants to talk to devs during sessions and help product teams spot issues with their app early on.
Analytics tools
Product discovery tools help gather data on how users interact with your platform. They typically track the users’ actions within your app and have advanced reporting capabilities. Whether you want to know engagement and conversion rates or the average time a user spends on your platform, you can do it all with analytics tools.
While platforms like Google Analytics are more suited to general marketing tasks, tools like Amplitude are built specifically for product teams. They often include features for detailed analysis: deep dives into user behaviors, comprehensive retention metrics, and so on.
Prototyping tools
If you want to create a successful product, working on mockups and prototypes is essential. They’ll allow you to validate your app concept, visualize UI elements, and develop the most efficient user flow. Also, if you want to run usability tests, an interactive app prototype is a must.
That’s where prototyping tools like Figma and Sketch come in. They allow teams to test product ideas in practice, build UI mockups, and collaborate in real-time. These tools usually have a drag-and-drop workflow and include several templates for UI elements and layouts for adaptive interfaces.
Market research tools
Before you even find a development team, it’s important to make sure your app concept is viable. Market research tools can help you find out the demand for your product, brush up on recent trends, and get a clear picture of user needs.
Platforms like Statista and Nielsen provide developers with helpful insights into their target audience. They get reliable data from multiple sources, including questionnaires, web analytics, and government reports. This info is visualized in graphs and charts, making it easy to present to potential investors.
Project management tools
An efficient workflow is what separates professional development teams from amateurs. Product discovery involves organizing heaps of unstructured information into useful insights. Project management tools like Asana and Jira are designed for this exact purpose.
These platforms include Kanban boards, task assignments, dashboards with key statistics, and many more features that help streamline product management. They are built with large teams in mind, making collaborative work quick and efficient.
Top 15 product discovery tools for 2024
Now that we’re familiar with the various types of product discovery tools, let’s dive into our list. Here’s our list of the best product discovery tools for 2024:
1. UserTesting
UserTesting has access to a diverse pool of app testers, providing them with a steady source of income. This means you won’t have trouble finding participants for your testing sessions.
Every software needs to be tested, and platforms like UserTesting allow product teams to do it quickly and get actionable data. This tool offers many test templates and lets you recruit participants based on your own criteria, such as age and personal interests.
🎯 Best for: hands-on usability testing of app prototypes
💸 Pricing: UserTesting has three paid subscription tiers: Essentials, Advanced, and Ultimate. The company doesn’t disclose its costs, but instead focuses on its benefits. The Essentials tier includes basic features such as the test builder and analytical metrics. Advanced unlocks interactive path flows and unlimited workspaces, whereas Ultimate gives access to tree testing and AI insights.
| 👍 Pros: | 👎 Cons: |
| – gives you access to a large pool of app testers – lets you create a wide range of custom testing scenarios – offers detailed test reports and statistics | – the pricing structure isn’t clear – client support can be unresponsive – some clients note the high subscription cost for small businesses |
2. Survey Monkey
SurveyMonkey offers one of the best solutions for creating feedback forms. It also has other market research tools, such as an AI assistant that helps you understand user behavior.
When it comes to survey platforms, SurveyMonkey is at the top of the list. It’s designed to get valuable user feedback on your product through polls. This data will allow you to prioritize the most important app features and refine your prototypes to perfection.
🎯 Best for: creating surveys and polls for obtaining actionable user feedback
💸 Pricing: SurveyMonkey offers three monthly subscription options for teams: Team Advantage, Team Premier, and Enterprise. The first costs $30 per user and gives access to core features like survey sharing and custom brand logos. Team Premier costs $70 per user and unlocks data visualization and survey logic tools. Enterprise doesn’t have a fixed price but offers more branding options, third-party integrations, and an admin dashboard.
| 👍 Pros: | 👎 Cons: |
| – user-friendly survey templates – multiple question types for surveys – includes analytics and data sharing | – paid subscription isn’t the cheapest – the free plan limits the number of user responses that can be collected – advanced customization features are locked |
3. Figma
Figma isn’t just for designers. Teams use it to brainstorm product ideas and come up with a consistent visual look for their apps.
Almost every successful product has to have an eye-catching design. Figma is among the most popular tools for creating high-quality mockups for apps and websites. In product discovery, it can help you validate design concepts, work on user flows, and quickly create prototypes for user tests.
🎯 Best for: creating high-quality design prototypes, validating design concepts
💸 Pricing: Figma is free, but offers advanced features as part of a paid monthly subscription with three tiers: Professional Team, Organization, and Enterprise. The first tier costs $15 per team member which gives access to unlimited file uploads and private projects. Organization ($45 per member) unlocks branching and private plugins, while Enterprise ($75 per member) offers dedicated team workspaces and guest access controls.
| 👍 Pros: | 👎 Cons: |
| – a free plan – many features for real-time collaboration – great for building custom libraries of design components | – always online – can have issues with handling large files – can be resource-intensive, especially on older computers |
4. Lookback
Lookback is beneficial for interviewing real users to get their product impressions. The platform offers features for session recording and timestamped interview notes.
Lookback is a user testing and interviewing tool. It has a wide range of features, including usability test sessions with simultaneous screen or camera recording, as well as interview transcripts and highlight reels. It also supports easy collaboration on each subscription plan which can be valuable for any product team.
🎯 Best for: conducting user interviews and tests in a team-based workflow
💸 Pricing: Lookback offers four monthly subscription tiers: Freelance, Team, Insights Hub, and Enterprise. The first one costs $25 and gives access to 10 sessions per year, and other basic features like timestamps. The Team plan unlocks real-time collaboration and allows teams to conduct 100 sessions yearly. Insights Hub tier ($344) raises that number to 300 and Enterprise (price not given) gives access to unlimited sessions.
| 👍 Pros: | 👎 Cons: |
| – many useful features for conducting interviews – unlimited file storage for every subscription tier – allows you to invite guests to watch the sessions in real-time | – no free plan, subscription can be expensive – no built-in service for recruiting test participants – team collaboration is locked behind the second subscription tier |
5. Hotjar
Hotjar is popular for its heatmapping feature, which shows you what element of your product attracts users the most. Segments highlighted in red represent the most engaging zones.
Hotjar, another helpful product discovery tool, offers detailed heat maps. By studying them, you can learn a lot about user interactions on your platform. You’ll be able to determine the features that are the most appealing to clients, and which could use some improvement.
🎯 Best for: visualizing how users interact with your product, obtaining actionable data
💸 Pricing: Hotjar has a free plan that gives access to 35 daily sessions and unlimited heatmaps. The paid monthly subscription is divided into 3 tiers: Plus ($32), Business ($80), and Scale ($171). Plus unlocks detailed session info and allows you to track up to 100 daily sessions. The Business tier raises this number to 270k and offers custom integrations. Scale unlocks funnels, trends, and priority support.
| 👍 Pros: | 👎 Cons: |
| – the heatmap feature is informative and easy to use – has a free plan with unlimited heatmaps – allows to analyze user trends and funnels | – can require a lot of processing power – the premium subscription isn’t the cheapest – has a sharp learning curve |
6. Amplitude
Amplitude allows product teams to get insights into user behavior by analyzing key metrics in real time. These include retention, conversion, and session length
A product discovery tool designed for analytics, Amplitude provides development teams with comprehensive user data. The platform allows you to divide your audience into key segments and dissect the important stats from drop-off rates to individual mouse clicks.
🎯 Best for: obtaining user data for improving software products
💸 Pricing: Amplitude has a free plan that serves as a demo version. There’s also a two-tiered paid subscription. The first tier, Plus, costs $49 and offers unlimited product analytics. The second and last tier, Growth (price not given), promises access to custom metrics for KPIs and advanced behavioral analysis.
| 👍 Pros: | 👎 Cons: |
| – offers a free plan – automatically divides your user base into key segments – allows to analyze many important user metrics in real-time | – the free plan is limited in features – subscription can prove too costly for smaller product teams – customizing the platform for your specific goals can be time-consuming |
7. Productboard
With Productboard, you can make a detailed product roadmap for a development project of any scope.
Productboard is a platform created with product managers in mind. It has tons of features that make it easier to work on complex projects: dynamic roadmaps, customer insights, and third-party integrations. This product discovery tool is designed specifically for real-time collaboration, so you won’t have trouble keeping your team organized.
🎯 Best for: planning out complex projects with large teams
💸 Pricing: Productboard offers a free plan along with three paid monthly subscription tiers: Essentials, Pro, and Enterprise. The first one costs $19 per member and unlocks release planning and 250 feedback notes. Pro ($59 per member) gives access to 3 teamspaces and unlimited feedback notes. Enterprise (price not given) provides teams with unlimited teamspaces and Salesforce integration.
| 👍 Pros: | 👎 Cons: |
| – has one of the best road-mapping features on the market – built for real-time team collaboration – gathers and sorts user feedback | – the amount of features can be excessive for small teams – the first two subscription plans offer just one team workspace – managing large amounts of data on the platform can be exhausting |
8. Trello
Trello’s one of the most talked about task management platforms, and for good reason. It offers user-friendly kanban boards, dashboards, and customizable workspace templates.
Trello makes collaborative task management easy, even for large teams. This product discovery tool provides users with flexible lists, kanban boards, and even no-code automation features. The platform can also be integrated with many popular third-party tools for analytics and project management, including Slack, Jira, and Google Workspace.
🎯 Best for: smooth project management using kanban and agile methodologies
💸 Pricing: Trello has a free plan that includes all the core features. It also offers a paid monthly subscription with three tiers: Standard for $5 per user, Premium for $10, and Enterprise for $17.50. Standard unlocks unlimited boards, Premium includes calendars and timelines, and Enterprise offers unlimited workspaces.
| 👍 Pros: | 👎 Cons: |
| – user-friendly interface, drag-and-drop workflow – seamlessly integrates with most third-party tools – a universal tool for managing products from conception to launch | – limited offline capabilities – analytics features aren’t very detailed – unlimited storage is locked behind a paid subscription |
9. ProductPlan
ProductPlan is an effective tool for organizing ideas and creating product strategies. Teams use it to predict potential risks and plan out launches.
A versatile product discovery tool, ProductPlan is great for making roadmaps, experimenting with new strategies, and prioritizing features. The platform also supports integration with key third-party tools: Trello, GitHub, Slack, Microsoft Teams, and more.
🎯 Best for: experimenting with ideas, planning out features, and making product roadmaps
💸 Pricing: the platform has three paid subscription plans: Basic, Professional, and Enterprise. The first tier includes unlimited roadmaps and a prioritization board. The second offers advanced admin management along with launch management tools. Enterprise tier allows to create custom terms of service and gives access to a personal user training program.
| 👍 Pros: | 👎 Cons: |
| – great for team-based workflows – supports integration with many third-party tools – focus on visual presentation of data | – not a lot of customization options – no free plan, subscription prices aren’t publicly disclosed – advanced integrations are locked behind the more expensive subscription plans |
10. Asana
Asana is another popular task management tool with advanced features, such as custom automation rules, project milestones, and detailed timelines.
Asana is seen by many as the best task management platform, and that’s no surprise. It offers a lot of features for creating custom tasks, rules, and dependencies, which can be invaluable to large product teams.
🎯 Best for: collaborating on projects with a lot of moving parts, progress tracking
💸 Pricing: Asana is free, but additional features are locked behind a paid 4-tier monthly subscription. The Starter plan ($11 per member) increases the user limit to 500 people and unlocks AI features along with project dashboards. The Advanced tier ($25 per member) offers advanced reporting and time tracking. The final tiers, Enterprise and Enterprise+, don’t have a user limit, but there’s no information on their cost.
| 👍 Pros: | 👎 Cons: |
| – a free plan – a clean and intuitive interface– allows teams to work on complex project plans | – data exporting options are limited – can be too complex for new users– the free version has a 10-user limit |
11. Twilio Segment
Twilio Segment simplifies user data collection giving you insights into your customers’ needs and preferences.
Twilio Segment is an analytics product discovery tool that lets you gather detailed information about your users. This data can be invaluable for identifying project goals, conducting tests, and prioritizing app features.
🎯 Best for: obtaining a large amount of user data to adjust the product to their needs
💸 Pricing: The segment has 3 subscription plans: Unify, Unify Plus, and Engage; prices aren’t disclosed. The first tier offers the automatic generation of user profiles and the second unlocks AI features. Engage tier allows teams to create custom audience journeys and campaigns.
| 👍 Pros: | 👎 Cons: |
| – collects accurate client data from multiple sources – provides a holistic view of all user segments – allows you to create new data models tailored to your needs | – the tool’s pricing model is unclear – a steep learning curve for new users – key info can be overlooked due to high amounts of data |
12. Notion
Notion can be a lifesaver for product managers, especially on smaller teams. The platform offers handy features like project tracking, shared workspaces, and custom dashboards.
Notion is among the best options when it comes to task management. It includes everything you need to keep your team productive: Kanban boards, multiple list types, customizable templates, and more. The platform is also useful for creating detailed product roadmaps.
🎯 Best for: task management on projects with small to medium-sized teams
💸 Pricing: Notion has a free plan that offers collaborative workspaces for teams of up to 10 people. There’s also a paid subscription with multiple tiers: Plus, Business, and Enterprise. The first tier costs $10 per user and supports teams of up to 100 people. The second tier costs $15 per user and unlocks analytics tools. As for the Enterprise tier, Notion doesn’t disclose the price but promises support for large teams with 250 members.
| 👍 Pros: | 👎 Cons: |
| – features for real-time collaboration – clean and intuitive UI – has a free version | – a steep learning curve for new users – poor offline capabilities – limited third-party integrations |
13. Statista
Statista provides access to a lot of detailed infographics. While many are free, some more comprehensive reports can cost upwards of $500 per chart.
One of the largest platforms for market research, Statista offers a seemingly endless supply of data collected from reputable sources. It’s especially useful for product discovery since it provides info on market sectors, consumer preferences, and development trends, all on one website.
🎯 Best for: quantitative research; obtaining detailed market data in product management.
💸 Pricing: the platform is free, but detailed stats are locked under a monthly premium subscription with three tiers. The Starter tier costs $160 and gives access to premium statistics. The Personal tier costs $545 and unlocks reports on specific companies, countries, and trends. The Professional tier costs $950 and comes with specialized market insights tailored to your needs.
| 👍 Pros: | 👎 Cons: |
| – has a free version – provides tons of useful market data – offers specialized reports made by industry experts | – can be expensive – not suitable for qualitative user research – website navigation isn’t the most intuitive |
14. Contentsquare
Creating user journeys is crucial for product development, and Contentsquare is the right tool for the job. It visualizes the key data and allows you to make informed decisions.
Contentsquare is a comprehensive product discovery tool for user analytics. It has all the important features: zone-based heatmaps, journey analysis, feedback collection, and more. All of this can help you create an effective product strategy.
🎯 Best for: detailed analysis of user behavior that delivers actionable results
💸 Pricing: the tool’s pricing structure is unclear: the website doesn’t provide any info on the subscription cost. It’s certainly not free, and if online reviews are any indication, Contentsquare can be very expensive.
| 👍 Pros: | 👎 Cons: |
| – includes heatmaps – offers analytical reports on user conversion – has one of the best features for analyzing user journeys | – prices aren’t listed on the company website – needs constant fine-tuning to work correctly – integration with third-party tools is hard to set up |
15. Maze
Maze markets itself as an all-in-one solution for product discovery, enabling teams to gather actionable feedback, test their apps, and validate ideas.
Maze is a Swiss Army knife that can offer a lot of advantages to product teams. From heat maps and surveys to user interviews, the platform has all the basic features for product discovery.
🎯 Best for: all-around product discovery: usability testing, feedback gathering, conducting interviews, and more.
💸 Pricing: Maze has a free plan that’s limited to 5 users. The company also offers a monthly premium subscription with two tiers. The first one, Starter, costs $99 and includes unlimited blocks along with pro templates. The final tier, Organization, doesn’t have a fixed price and unlocks interview studies, tree testing, and AI analysis.
| 👍 Pros: | 👎 Cons: |
| – enables quick user testing – provides analytical data in real-time – seamless integration with standard design tools such as Figma | – premium subscription can be expensive – doesn’t support some complex user testing scenarios – analytics reports aren’t as detailed compared to dedicated analytics platforms |
How we chose the best product discovery tools
When it came to selecting the top product discovery tools for 2024, we considered several key factors. Here they are:
💪 Functionality
Every software is defined by its features. App development can be complicated, and the best product discovery tools offer a range of options to make the job easier.
Let’s take a hypothetical user survey tool as an example. To be useful, it needs to include varied survey templates, multiple types of questions, and data validation features such as required answer fields. These are just the essentials, and the more features a tool has, the more likely it is to end up on our list.
🤸 Ease of use
When a product discovery tool is straightforward and intuitive, it allows you to accomplish goals in less time. Clear navigation, quick user flows, and accessibility features — these are the things we look for in our app contenders. And if the tool is also functional and consumer-friendly, it’s almost guaranteed to make our list.
👥 Team workflow
Building apps is a team effort. So much so that some app development companies have hundreds of people working together on a single project. In such cases, it becomes vital to track each other’s progress and assign tasks. The best tools include features for real-time collaboration — these can become a lifesaver for any product team.
All in all, product discovery is a crucial step that shouldn’t be ignored when developing an app. It lets you validate ideas and obtain actionable insights into user behavior. Product discovery tools will help you do that. Whether you’d like to create a mockup for your app, identify business goals, or collect feedback, these solutions will give you a competitive edge.
If you want to make the product discovery process even smoother, consider making an MVP — a Minimum Viable Product. It involves developing only the most essential features of the app first. This can be useful if you want to test out a product idea without breaking the bank.
The fewer features your app has, the less time and money you’ll need to spend on discovery. That’s what makes the MVP approach so useful. Thanks to feature prioritization, the product development process becomes simpler, allowing you to quickly launch your app, get feedback, and improve.
At Purrweb, we can create an MVP in about 4 months. If you’d like to discuss your product idea with us, fill in the form below, and we’ll get a free project estimate for the development budget and timeline in 48 hours.
