Usability testing can be extremely valuable for informing you how people interact with your website or design, but unfortunately, many tools require you to dish out the dough.

Many remote usability test tools require a subscription plan that’ll cost you $1000+, but if you’re looking for a small/one-time check up on your website’s usability, a subscription plan is going to be overkill. Instead, here are some affordable usability testing tools to try:

Peek

Peek is completely free, but unfortunately, the features reflect the price. There are no options for demographic filtering so you could end up with results from a 40-year-old man from Ireland when you’re testing for a US-based fashion company targeting teenage girls. Also, you cannot choose the tasks or questions during the 3-5 minutes test so you’ll get general results. That being said, it’s free so why not?

Usertesting.com

Usertesting.com is the full platform by the makers of Peek. Single tests are $49 each, but you still don’t have the option for advanced screening unless you have a Pro account. I’d recommend usertesing.com if you’re going pro, but if you want a broader set of features for less, I’d go for…

www.trymyui.com

This seems to be a strong alternative to usertesting.com. Their individual tests, which run for $35 each, allow for demographic filtering and custom questions which are critical features for relevant results. With those features, there’s no need to get stuck in a subscription plan unless you plan to run a lot of tests.

usabilityhub.com

Sometimes you need qualitative data. This is where UsabilityHub comes in. UsabilityHub facilitates five-second tests, click tests, preference tests and nav flow tests with real people (no algorithms involved). The site runs on credits to provide test results and you can either pay for credits or earn them by responding to other tests. If you’re willing to put in some time, you’ll be able to use this site for free. One catch: The free version does not include demographic screening for testers, but you can send tests to your own testers or get screening options with Pro.

Have you tried any other usability testing tools? How do you like them? Leave a comment to let me know!