Best UX Research Repository Tools in 2023 [Reviewed]

The way you analyze, categorize, and organize research data can make a big difference in the quality of insights and the key findings. In fact, it can draw the line between actionable insights and unusable data. And that’s why the choice of UX research repository tool shouldn't be taken lightly.

Today's landscape of UX research repository tools is more robust than ever, offering you a handful of options to choose from. To narrow down the list, we've tried and curated the best UX research repository tools in the market today. So if you've been on the hunt for a new UX research repository tool, you’ll find the best one that suits your needs here.

Alright, let’s get started. 

Specialized User Research Repository Tools

Specialized user research repository tools are designed specifically to help you save, organize, and analyze user research data. They’re made to help UX researchers manage their research projects effectively. 

Here are the best ones to try.

• Grain
• Dovetail
• Userbit
• Condens

1. Grain

Grain helps researchers collect and organize user interviews while also enabling them to create and share research insights and findings—in visually appealing stories. 

When you conduct user interviews, add Grain to record, transcribe, tag, and organize your qualitative data. You can also choose to import your pre-recorded interviews from your Zoom Cloud or upload them manually—to parse and analyze your existing data. 

Grain, as a repository, allows you to add your team members, stakeholders, and collaborators to your workspace so that they'll be able to access all of your research data—anytime. 

Once you have the interview recordings in Grain, you have a variety of ways to slice and dice your data so that it's easy to share insights. Select the text in the transcript to clip and share key moments from a user interview or combine the insights from multiple interviews to create an engaging story. 

You can also copy & share the AI summary in a click. Need to share insights and key moments with other teams? Just copy and paste to embed Grain videos in your favorite communication tool (like Slack) and collaboration tools (like Miro or Notion).

Thanks to its native integration, you can also send research insights to your productboard directly from Grain. 

With Grain, forget about the tedious process of transcribing and organizing your user research data–let the tool do all the heavy lifting for you. Instead, focus on what you do best: uncovering actionable insights from your data.

Ready to try Grain? Here’s how to quickly set up a user research repository using Grain. 

Ideal For: Small to mid-sized research teams seeking a budget-friendly way to transcribe, organize, and share their qualitative research data.

2. Dovetail

If you're looking to pull and organize data from other sources than user interviews, Dovetail would be a good fit for you. Not only does it capture customer feedback from user interviews in one place, but it's also capable of importing emails, survey results, support tickets, tweets, Facebook posts, and app reviews. That means you can get a complete picture of your users' needs and wants and how they feel about your product using sentiment analysis.

Dovetail comes equipped with features like team collaboration, version control, and approval workflows—which in turn, makes it easy for teams to work together on research projects and ensure that everyone is always looking at the most up-to-date data.

Another thing that sets Dovetail apart is its ability to help you turn your data into reports. With features like custom dashboards and reporting templates, it's easy to create research reports that are both informative and visually appealing.

In a nutshell, Dovetail is a complete user research platform that gives you everything you need not just to collect and store data but also to analyze and report on it.

Ideal For: Large research teams that need a complete user research platform to analyze and organize both qualitative and quantitative data.  

3. Userbit

What if you need a comprehensive user research platform just for qualitative data? That's precisely what Userbit offers. Along with enabling you to collect and store data from user interviews (with transcripts, tags, and highlights), the tool also comes with a suite of features to help you turn your data into insights.

For one, you can easily turn your transcripts into affinity diagrams or visual word clouds using Userbit's visualizations. This is a great way to quickly identify patterns and relationships in your data so that you can start generating insights.

Another useful tool that Userbit offers is the ability to generate user personas directly from your research data. This is a huge time-saver, as it means you don't have to manually create personas from scratch. You get a mental model of your users based on how they think and behave, which is invaluable for designing an intuitive user experience.

Userbit also makes it easy to share your findings with team members and stakeholders, allowing the whole team to collaborate on creating the design process and user path. 

‍Ideal For: Large research teams that need a comprehensive qualitative user research platform with powerful data analysis and design tools.

4. Condens

If you want to structure and organize your user research data with minimal technical expertise, Condens is the tool for you. It's designed to be used by anyone–researchers, designers, product managers, and even those without a technical background. In a matter of minutes, you can create a research repository that's both well-organized and easy to use.

One of the things that set Condens apart is its visual interface. You can see all your data at a glance and quickly filter and search for specific items. This makes it easy to find what you're looking for, even if you have a large amount of data. Its AI-assisted transcription feature is also handy for quickly transcribing user interviews so that you can start analyzing the data right away.

Another great thing about Condens is that it offers a wide range of integrations. Whether you want to import data from Excel, Google Sheets, or another research repository tool, Condens makes it easy. This means you can get started using the tool without worrying about manually transferring your data.

So if easy onboarding and a visual interface are what you're after, Condens is worth checking out.

‍Idea For: Researchers, designers, and product managers who want an easy-to-use research repository tool with a visual interface.

Generic Documentation Tools

General-purpose documentation tools can also be used to store and organize user research data. While these tools might not have all the bells and whistles of dedicated user research repository tools, they can still get the job done. 

Before we begin, it’s worth noting that generic tools are ideal only if you’re using them extensively along with other stakeholders and collaborators. If you’re planning to adopt a new tool, it’s better to opt-in for specialized repository software. 

Here are a few options to consider.

• Notion
• Jira
• Airtable

1. Notion

Notion is a versatile tool that can be used for everything from project management to documentation. It's great for storing user research data because it's easy to use, extremely flexible, and has a clean interface.

You can create custom databases in Notion, which is handy for organizing your user research data. You can also add rich media (like images, videos, and audio recordings) to your databases, making it easy to refer back to your research data later.

Notion also offers a wide range of integrations, so you can easily import data from other tools (like Excel or Google Sheets). This is handy if you want to consolidate all your user research data in one place. And with the help of extensions like Repo, you can even turn Notion into a dedicated user research repository tool with features like tagging and highlighting.

While Notion isn't a dedicated user research repository tool, it's still a great option for storing and organizing your research data.

Pro tip: You can enrich your research data in Notion by embedding key moments and videos from your interviews. 

Idea For: Researchers, designers, and product managers who want a versatile tool that can be used for a variety of purposes (including user research).

2. Jira

Jira is a project management tool often used by software development teams. However, it can also be used to store user research data and track user research projects.

Jira has a number of features that make it well-suited for user research. For example, you can use it to track user research tasks (such as interviews and user testing sessions) and create custom reports. This makes it easy to see how your user research is progressing and identify any areas that need improvement.

Plus, since you can add attachments to Jira tickets, storing and sharing user research data (like interview recordings and screenshots) is easy. You could also create a dedicated user research project in Jira, making it easy for your team to keep track of all the user research data in one place.

While Jira might be a bit overwhelming for those new to project management tools, it's still an alternative to consider if you're looking for a tool to store your user research data.

‍Idea For: Mid-sized UX teams that don't want to leave their project management tool to store their user research data.

3. Airtable

Finally, Airtable is another database tool that can be used for various purposes, including user research. The tool offers a User Research template that saves you the trouble of setting up your database. And when combined with its User Feedback template, you can use Airtable to track your user research data and feedback in one place.

On Airtable, you can easily add attachments (like images, videos, and audio recordings) to your user research data. That way, you not only have form submissions related to your user research but also the actual data itself (like interview recordings).

Plus, Airtable has a number of features that make it easy to organize and find your user research data. For example, you can use views to filter and sort your data or create custom formulas to calculate things like net promoter score. You also have the option of visualizing your data in a variety of ways, from bar graphs to calendars.

All in all, Airtable is as close as you can get to a dedicated user research repository tool. And with its User Research and User Feedback templates, it's easy to get started with storing your user research data with it.

‍Ideal For: UX researchers looking for a simple yet powerful tool to store their user research data–from submissions to interviews.

The Takeaway

Let's recap to help you choose the best user research repository tool for your needs. If you're a small to mid-sized research team with a heavy focus on qualitative data, Grain is your best bet. With its integrations with documentation tools like Notion and whiteboarding tools like Miro, it'll be a valuable addition to your toolkit.

On the other hand, if you're part of a large organization looking to invest heavily in a repository, Dovetail is worth considering. It's an all-in-one repository tool that works for both qualitative and quantitative data in equal measure. 

Userbit is quite similar to Dovetail but is only focused on qualitative data. So if you're not interested in any of Dovetail's quantitative features (like usability testing), Userbit might be a better option for you. And if all of these tools seem too technical for your needs and your priority is quick onboarding and easy data sharing, Condens may be the perfect fit.

Finally, if you're not interested in switching between tools and want to keep all of your data–user research and otherwise–in one place, Notion, Jira, and Airtable are all viable options. And because they're generic database tools, they're flexible and can be customized to fit your team’s needs. 

So, what's the best user research repository tool for you? We hope this guide has helped you make your final decision!