121 European alternatives to American user research tools
In 2025, after ICC staff in the Hague were suddenly blocked from using all Microsoft platforms at the request of the Trump government, both the Dutch and Danish governments announced plans to move away from American software in 2026.
It’s increasingly clear that US companies are at the mercy of the Trump administration’s fickle demands, mood swings, and petty grudges. Considering a whopping 83% of European software spending went to American companies in 2025, that means Europeans need to start taking action against the newfound risk of politically-motivated rugpulls in our tech stack.
That’s why I put together this comprehensive list of user research tools from 21 different product categories, cataloguing 157 of the most popular American platforms you may currently be using along with 121 European alternatives to consider switching to in 2026.
If you’re a product manager, UX designer, UX researcher, or startup founder, then these are the tools you should be evaluating the next time your annual renewals come around…
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1. Usability Testing
Usability testing tools allow you to observe how people interact with a product, website, or prototype so that you can identify where friction or confusion occurs within a product. These tests can be moderated (someone asking them questions) or unmoderated (self-directed tasks with video/screen recording).
US tools in this category → Applause, EthOS, Great Question, Hubble, Lookback, Maze, MUIQ, PlaybookUX, Trymata, UserTesting, Userlytics, UserZoom, WEVO
Usability Testing tools made in Europe:
Userbrain (Austria) → Specialist unmoderated testing platform with 150k+ participant pool, AI-generated tasks, and 24-hour results; popular with UX agencies for quick prototype/website validation.
Useberry (Greece) → Unmoderated testing with Figma integration, click/scroll tracking, and preference tests.
UXTweak (Slovakia) → Full-featured suite: tree testing, first-click, preference, 5-second tests, global participant pool.
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2. Participant Panels
Participant recruitment panels are pre-screened, verified communities of people available for research studies, surveys, and usability tests. Panels enable faster recruitment, demographic targeting, and built-in incentive management compared to cold outreach.
US tools in this category → Mechanical Turk, Respondent.io, User Interviews
Participant recruitment panels from Europe:
Prolific (UK) → Global participant platform with ~1M users across 40+ countries. Prolific enables a self-service setup better than any other panel, where you can set your own targeting, incentives, and launch without ever needing manual approval or hand-holding.
Cint (Sweden) → Data and research network connecting 10M+ respondents via +2000 partners for scalable recruitment, panel management, and multi-market studies.
TestingTime (Switzerland) → Specialist UX recruitment service with nearly 1M respondents and strong coverage across markets like Switzerland, Germany, UK, France, Netherlands, and Austria.
More European options → BilendiUX (France), Crowst (Finland), inamo.ai (Sweden), Researchbods (UK)
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3. Advanced Survey Research
Advanced survey platforms offer sophisticated research methods you won’t find on basic questionnaires tools. This includes methods for measuring preferences (Conjoint, MaxDiff), segmentation (filters, crosstabs, clustering), and pricing studies (Van Westendorp, Gabor Granger). These methods are traditionally considered ‘market research’ but are increasingly used for strategic in-house studies.
US tools in this category → Fuel Cycle, GroupSolver, Hubble, Medallia, Qualtrics, Suzy
Advanced survey platforms from Europe:
OpinionX (Ireland) → Enables product teams to run advanced survey research in-house by combining clever automations, simplified terminology, and a clean user interface to make these “advanced” research methods a lot more accessible to researchers that aren’t quant experts. OpinionX pairs the power of Qualtrics with the simplicity of Typeform, all on an affordable budget.
Forsta (UK) → Enterprise full-suite experience research platform for large organizations that need specialist end-to-end insights and infrastructure, like a European version of Qualtrics.
More European options → EPIC Conjoint (Ireland), Flexmr (UK), Quantilope (Germany)
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4. Form Builder Tools
Form builder tools enable anyone to create and embed questionnaires and feedback forms without coding. They range from simple drag-and-drop builders for basic feedback collection to more advanced platforms suitable for everything from NPS surveys to in-product research.
US tools in this category → Checkbox, Google Forms, Helpfull, Heyform, Microsoft Forms, Typeform, YayForms
Form tools made in Europe:
Tally (Belgium) → The Typeform Killer, Tally is a rapidly-growing bootstrapped success story that offers a Notion-like editor for easy survey creation. It’s got a clean and straightforward pricing plan that offers value and plenty of functionality without ripping you off.
Limesurvey (Germany) → Open-source, used by governments, NGOs, and enterprises in 80+ countries, with self-hosted options for those who prioritise data control and compliance.
More European options → Crowdtech (Netherlands), Deeptrue (Switzerland), EasyFeedback (Germany), Tripetto (Netherlands)
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5. Popup Microsurveys
Popup microsurveys are feedback-collection forms embedded directly into websites and apps. They trigger based on user behavior (eg. after a purchase, on page exit, after time spent) to capture data like satisfaction, referral intent, or feedback within the relevant moment of content. Typically these focus on staying short (1-4 questions) and basic formats (rating scale, mini text input, multi-choice).
US tools in this category → 1Flow, Appcues, Chameleon, Delighted, GetFeedback, Hubble, Maze, NativeForms, Pendo, Qwary, Qualaroo, SightX, Simplesat, Sprig, Thermostat, UserPilot, User Vista, Wootric
Popup microsurvey tools made in Europe:
Survicate (Poland) → Market-leading integrated microsurvey platform used by thousands of companies for NPS, CSAT, feature feedback, and exit-intent surveys, with AI-powered targeting and multi-language support.
Usersnap (Austria) → Product feedback and website feedback platform offering in-app microsurveys, NPS/CSAT widgets, visual bug reporting, and session replays. GDPR/SOC 2 compliant and widely used by SaaS teams.
Netigate (Sweden) → Enterprise customer and employee experience platform combining surveys, microsurveys, and AI-driven feedback analysis.
More European options → Jimo (France), Nicereply (Slovakia), Onepulse (UK), Opinyin (UK), Refiner (France), Responsly (Poland), Saber Feedback (Spain), Satismeter (Czechia), Screeb (France), TruRating (UK), UserReport (Denmark)
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6. Interviews & Focus Groups
Interviews and focus group tools enable real-time, synchronous research with participants one-on-one or in groups. These platforms handle tasks like recruitment, recording, moderation, transcription, and often real-time note-taking or AI analysis — making them essential for qual research teams gathering deep insights at scale.
US tools in this category → Around, Converge, Dialpad, Discuss, Dscout, FaceTime, Google Meet, GoToMeeting, Lookback, methinks, Microsoft Teams, PlaybookUX, SAGO, Signal, Suzy, UserTesting, Voxpopme, WebEx, WhatsApp, Zoom
European platforms for interviews and focus group research:
VisionsLive (UK) → Live focus group and interview platform with integrated recruitment, moderation tools, real-time analytics, and secure video recording for enterprise research teams.
Whereby (Norway) → Video meeting and interview platform with built-in recording, transcription, and collaboration features for distributed research teams and participant engagement.
More European options → inamo.ai (Sweden), Quallie (Czechia), TheyDo (Netherlands), UXTweak (Slovakia)
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7. Diary Studies & Ethnography
Diary studies and mobile ethnography tools enable researchers to capture longitudinal, in-context data from participants over longer periods of time (often many days or weeks). Participants document daily experiences, behaviours, and photos/videos directly from their phones — providing rich qualitative insights into real-world usage patterns, routines, and decision-making.
US tools in this category → Dscout, EthOS, ExpiWell, QualSights
European platforms for diary studies and mobile ethnography:
Indeemo (Ireland) → Mobile ethnography platform enabling researchers to recruit participants and collect diary entries, photos, videos, and real-time responses over days or weeks; used for consumer behavior, product research, and cultural insights.
Incling (UK) → Longitudinal research platform for diary studies, experience sampling, and mobile ethnography with automated scheduling, participant engagement features, and AI-powered analysis of qualitative data.
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8. Scheduling
Scheduling tools streamline the logistics of research coordination, from recruiting participants and scheduling interviews to coordinating focus groups and managing researcher calendars. These platforms reduce back-and-forth emails, automate reminders, and integrate with video conferencing to keep qualitative research projects moving efficiently.
US tools in this category → Acuity Scheduling, Appointlet, Arrangr, Cal, Calendly, Clockwise, Google Calendar, Outlook, OnceHub, Picktime, Reclaim, SavvyCal, Schedule.cc, Setmore, Sidekick
European call scheduling platforms:
Doodle (Switzerland) → While Doodle is better known as a polling tool for picking meeting dates, it has quietly become a market-leading scheduling tool used by millions for coordinating managing calendar availability.
More European options → Rallly (UK), SimplyBook.me (Cyprus), YouCanBookMe (UK)
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9. Incentives
Research incentives platforms manage participant rewards and compensation across studies, such as distributing gift cards, vouchers, cash payouts, or charitable donations to study participants. These tools handle multi-currency payments, track budgets, and ensure compliance with research ethics standards.
US tools in this category → BHN Rewards, Ethnio, Prizeout, Tango, Tremendous
European research incentives platforms:
GoGift (Denmark) → Global digital gift card and rewards platform enabling researchers to send incentives across 150+ countries. It supports multiple currencies, instant delivery, and white-label customization for research platforms.
Huuray (Denmark) → European rewards provider offering digital gift cards and vouchers for incentives, loyalty, and employee programs with broad catalogue and international delivery across EU markets.
Runa (UK) → Global digital rewards infrastructure providing gift cards, vouchers, and payouts via API.
More European options → &Open (Ireland), Giftcampaign (Spain), Huggg (UK), Prolific (UK)
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10. Research Repository
Research repositories are centralized platforms for storing, organizing, and sharing research findings across teams. Repositories often focus on storing insights (coded themes, patterns, quotes, and evidence) instead of raw data like transcripts, videos, notes. They help make research discoverable, searchable, traceable, and actionable across every team in the company.
US tools in this category → Aurelius, Great Question, Marvin, mTab, Notably, UserBit, EnjoyHQ by UserTesting
European research repositories:
Stravito (Sweden) → Enterprise insights hub with org-wide visibility; emphasizes discovery and access for non-researchers through weekly digests, curated collections, and AI auto-tagging of unstructured research assets.
Condens (Germany) → Research-focused platform with automated transcription, AI-assisted tagging, and affinity mapping, designed for qual teams building their first repository with intuitive UI and easy onboarding.
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11. A/B Testing
A/B testing tools enable teams to run controlled online experiments to measure the impact of design or feature changes on user behavior and business metrics. These platforms handle experiment setup, traffic allocation, statistical analysis, and reporting to help teams make data-driven decisions about optimization.
US tools in this category → Adobe Target, Apptimize, CrazyEgg, GrowthBook, Inspectlet, Optimizely
European A/B testing platforms:
AB Tasty (France) → Full-stack enterprise platform for web and mobile, enabling continuous experimentation with a visual editor, personalization, feature flagging, and AI-powered recommendations.
Kameleoon (France) → A/B testing and experimentation platform with advanced segmentation, behavioral targeting, and real-time analytics for conversion rate optimization and product experimentation.
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12. Product Analytics
Product analytics platforms track user behavior, interactions, and engagement across websites and apps, with features for capturing clicks, scrolls, feature usage, funnels, and conversion paths. These tools help teams understand how users navigate products, identify bottlenecks, and measure the impact of feature releases and design changes over time.
US tools in this category → Adobe Analytics, Amplitude, CrazyEgg, FullSession, FullStory, Google Analytics, Heap, Inspectlet, LogRocket, Lucky Orange, Microsoft Clarity, Mixpanel, Pendo, Posthog, Silktide, Sprig, UXCam
European product analytics platforms:
Contentsquare (France) → Full-suite digital experience analytics platform focused on large organizations needing comprehensive behaviour tracking and CX optimization at scale.
Piwik PRO (Poland) → GDPR-compliant analytics suite popular in regulated industries and enterprises requiring EU data residency and full compliance, offering specialised features like cookieless tracking, consent mode, server-side tagging, and privacy-first behavioral insights.
Smartlook (Czechia) → Product analytics with AI-assisted session analysis and automated friction detection for visual debugging.
More European options → Countly (UK), Fullview (Denmark), LiveSession (Poland), Mouseflow (Denmark), Plausible (Estonia), Screeb (France), SessionStack (Bulgaria)
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13. User Flows & Wireframes
User flow and wireframing tools help teams visualize user journeys, map interactions, and create low-fidelity prototypes with tools for documenting navigation paths, decision trees, and screen layouts.
US tools in this category → Balsamiq, Figma, Lucidchart, Mindmanager, Omnigraffle, UserPilot, UXPin, UXPressia, Visio, Whimsical
European platforms for user flows and wireframing:
FlowMapp (Ukraine) → User journey and information architecture mapping tool with visual flow creation, user story integration, and persona-driven flow documentation. It offers a unique collaborative journey mapping feature that ties decisions to research insights.
TheyDo (Netherlands) → Business process and user journey mapping platform emphasizing stakeholder alignment and cross-functional communication, orchestrating complex multi-actor journeys and process documentation.
More European options → Moqups (Romania), Overflow (Cyprus), Smaply (Austria)
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14. Design Research
Design research tools offer teams survey methods that are uniquely relevant to designers, enabling them to validate design concepts, gather user feedback on specific decisions, and test prototypes. These platforms streamline remote testing, collect qualitative and quantitative feedback, and help product and design teams measure design performance before full development.
US tools in this category → Maze, PickFu, PlaybookUX, UXmetrics, Wynter
European platforms for design research:
UXTweak (Slovakia) → Design testing platform offering click tests, preference tests, and five-second tests for rapid design validation, built for designers and product teams needing quick, cost-effective feedback on visual concepts and UI variations.
Ballpark (UK) → Offers a range of research methods relevant to designers, like AI-powered analysis, an AI interviewer for automated qualitative research at scale, built-in task-based testing for prototypes and copy, video/audio feedback capture, and AI-generated research reports with automatic insight extraction.
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15. Design Systems
Design system platforms help teams build, maintain, and scale centralized repositories of design tokens, components, patterns, and documentation. These tools enable designers and developers to collaborate on shared component libraries, ensure consistency across products, and accelerate design and development workflows through reusable building blocks.
US tools in this category → Adobe XD, Figma, Knapsack, Supernova, UXPin
European design system platforms:
Frontify (Switzerland) → Design system and brand management platform combining component documentation, design tokens, asset management, and collaboration. Frontify emphasizes governance and cross-team brand consistency at enterprise scale.
Sketch (Netherlands) → Design and prototyping platform offers native design system capabilities through shared libraries, components, and tokens, with developer-friendly design-to-code workflows and native integrations with development tools.
More European options → Corebook (Latvia), Zeroheight (UK)
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16. Roadmap Management
Roadmap management platforms help product teams capture user feedback, prioritize features, and communicate product direction internally and externally. These tools centralize feature requests, enable stakeholder input, and create transparent roadmaps that keep teams aligned on strategy while building customer trust through visibility into upcoming releases.
US tools in this category → Beamer, Canny, FeatureOS, Gainsight, Productboard, UserVoice
European roadmap management platforms:
ProdPad (UK) → Product management and roadmap platform combining idea capture, user feedback integration, and prioritization frameworks. It’s particularly suited to teams that follow lean product development frameworks and prioritise data-driven roadmap planning.
Airfocus (Germany) → Roadmap and prioritization platform with multiple framework options (RICE, Value vs. Effort, Kano) and collaboration across departments.
Upvoty (Netherlands) → Customer feedback and feature voting platform enabling public roadmaps and transparent prioritization for better community engagement and customer-driven product input.
More European options → Featurebase (Estonia), FeedbackFish (Austria), FeedBear (Germany), Hark (UK), Harvestr (France), LoopedIn (UK), Productlane (Germany), ProductLift (Netherlands), Usersnap (Austria)
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17. Feedback Analysis
Feedback analysis tools automate theme discovery, sentiment analysis, and insight generation to help teams understand customer needs, pain points, and opportunities at scale without manual coding or analysis of large text datasets like customer support or product reviews.
US tools in this category → Birdie, Canvs AI, Enterpret, FindOurView, Forelight.ai, Idiomatic, Insight7, Kraftful, Lexalytics, Tetra Insights, Thematic, UnitQ, Viable
European feedback analysis platforms:
Wonderflow (Netherlands) → Multi-channel feedback aggregation and AI analysis platform that combines customer reviews, social mentions, support tickets, and survey responses into a unified feedback theming and sentiment extraction engine.
ChatterMill (UK) → Enterprise feedback analytics platform with advanced NLP for automated insight discovery and business impact scoring, focused on connecting customer feedback directly to business outcomes and enabling rapid, data-driven decision-making.
More European options → Caplena (Switzerland), ClientZen (Romania), Coloop (UK), GetWhy (Denmark), HelloCustomer (Belgium), InsightLab (Czechia), Sentisum (UK), Symanto (Germany)
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18. Qualitative Analysis
Qualitative analysis tools help researchers to code, organize, and analyze interviews, focus groups, and open-ended survey responses to identify patterns and build evidence-based insights. These platforms support thematic coding, memo writing, relationship mapping, and team collaboration on unstructured data.
US tools in this category → Dedoose, NVivo
European qual analysis platforms:
ATLAS.ti (Germany) → Qualitative data analysis platform with visual networking capabilities for mapping relationships between codes and themes; emphasizes interpretive analysis and theory-building through graphical representations of qualitative data.
MaxQDA (Germany) → Comprehensive qual analysis software with coding, memo writing, visualization, and team collaboration functionality. It offers unique features for combining qualitative and quantitative analysis, plus advanced text search and retrieval capabilities.
More European options → codeit (UK), Infranodus (France), Quirkos (UK), Relative Insight (UK)
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19. Transcription
Transcription tools convert audio and video recordings into text transcripts using AI, supporting multiple languages, speaker identification, and collaborative editing for research interviews and user testing sessions.
US tools in this category → Descript, Konch, Reduct, Rev, Simon Says, Sonix, TranscribeMe, verbit
European transcription platforms:
Happy Scribe (Spain) → Transcription platform combining AI and human review with fast turnaround and affordable pricing; emphasizes accessibility across multiple languages and formats for rapid transcript generation.
Trint (UK) → AI-powered transcription with collaborative editing, speaker identification, and publication-ready outputs; differentiates via professional media and research workflows with multi-language support and precise timestamping.
More European options → Audiotype (France), Cockatoo (Netherlands)
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20. General Survey Tools
General survey tools are broad-purpose platforms for running surveys across multiple channels, use cases, and departments. Given their lack of specialism, they're often adopted by researchers as secondary tools rather than procured specifically for research work as they lack the specialized methodologies and advanced features that are key to a great user research platform.
US tools in this category → Alchemer, Centiment, Helio, Pollfish, SurveyMonkey, Suzy
European general survey tools:
QuestBack (Norway) → Enterprise survey platform with advanced logic, multi-channel distribution, and powerful analytics. Outside of user research use cases, QuestBack also offers large-scale CX and employee engagement programs.
SmartSurvey (UK) → Mid-market survey platform balancing accessibility with feature depth, alongside an intuitive design, rich template library, and integrated reporting for rapid survey deployment and analysis.
More European options → Resonio (Germany), Survey Legend (Sweden), SurveyLab (Poland)
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21. Consumer Market Research
Consumer market research platforms enable brands to rapidly gather consumer insights through surveys, polls, and feedback collection. These tools emphasize speed-to-insight, access to consumer panels, and agile research cycles — enabling quick validation of concepts, messaging, and market positioning without the methodological complexity of advanced research platforms.
US tools in this category → Great Question, Instapanel, Pollfish, UserTesting
European consumer market research platforms:
Attest (UK) → Run rapid surveys with their automated sample management, helping teams rapidly iterate on consumer concepts and message testing.
Appinio (Germany) → Consumer research platform with AI-assisted survey creation and behavioral psychology focus. Known for ultra-fast turnaround (23-min average field time) and 1200+ psychographic targeting characteristics across 190+ markets.
More European options → Bulbshare (UK), Make Opinion (Germany)
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Here’s a summary of all 21 of the spotlight European user research platforms:
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