Lookback
Lookback is a comprehensive user research platform that allows you to record high-quality remote or in-person interviews and usability tests while capturing screen interactions and participant facial expressions.
Optimal Workshop
Optimal Workshop is a user research platform providing a suite of tools like card sorting and tree testing to help you improve your website navigation and information architecture.
Quick Comparison
| Feature | Lookback | Optimal Workshop |
|---|---|---|
| Website | lookback.com | optimalworkshop.com |
| Pricing Model | Subscription | Freemium |
| Starting Price | $25/month | Free |
| FREE Trial | ✓ 60 days free trial | ✘ No free trial |
| Free Plan | ✘ No free plan | ✓ Has free plan |
| Product Demo | ✓ Request demo here | ✓ Request demo here |
| Deployment | ||
| Integrations | ||
| Target Users | ||
| Target Industries | ||
| Customer Count | 0 | 0 |
| Founded Year | 2013 | 2007 |
| Headquarters | Stockholm, Sweden | Wellington, New Zealand |
Overview
Lookback
Lookback is a dedicated user research platform that helps you see through your customers' eyes. Instead of relying on static feedback, you can watch real people interact with your apps, websites, or prototypes in real-time. You can host live moderated sessions where you talk directly to participants or set up unmoderated tasks that users complete on their own schedule.
The platform automatically records the participant's screen, their face via webcam, and their voice, providing a complete picture of the user experience. You can invite your entire team to watch sessions live in a virtual observation room, where they can take timestamped notes and create highlight reels. It solves the problem of fragmented research data by keeping all your recordings, notes, and insights in one centralized, searchable home.
Optimal Workshop
Optimal Workshop provides you with a specialized toolkit designed to take the guesswork out of information architecture and user experience design. You can use these tools to understand how your customers categorize information, where they get lost in your navigation menus, and how they interact with your early-stage wireframes. By gathering data directly from your target audience, you can make informed design decisions that improve findability and overall usability.
The platform is built for UX researchers, designers, and product managers who need to validate their ideas with real user data. Whether you are working on a small website refresh or a massive enterprise navigation overhaul, you can recruit participants directly through the platform or send links to your own database. It helps you turn complex user behaviors into clear, actionable insights through automated analysis and visual reports.
Overview
Lookback Features
- Live Moderated Research Conduct face-to-face interviews and usability tests in real-time while recording the participant's screen and reactions simultaneously.
- Unmoderated Tasks Send a link to participants so they can complete research tasks at their convenience without a researcher present.
- Virtual Observation Rooms Invite stakeholders to watch live sessions behind a digital one-way mirror where they can chat and take notes privately.
- Timestamped Notes Type notes during a live session or while watching a recording to automatically link your observations to specific moments.
- Highlight Reels Clip the most important moments from your research sessions and combine them into powerful video presentations for your team.
- Prototype Integration Test your ideas early by running research sessions on prototypes from tools like Figma, Adobe XD, and InVision.
Optimal Workshop Features
- OptimalSort Card Sorting. Discover how your users categorize information so you can build intuitive navigation menus that match their mental models.
- Treejack Tree Testing. Test your site structure by asking users to find specific items within a text-only version of your navigation hierarchy.
- Chalkmark First-Click Testing. Upload your wireframes or screenshots to see exactly where users click first when tasked with a specific goal.
- Questions Online Surveys. Create custom surveys with various question types to gather qualitative feedback and demographic data from your research participants.
- Reframer Qualitative Research. Centralize your usability test notes and observations in one place to identify patterns and themes across your research sessions.
- Participant Recruitment. Access a global panel of over 200 million participants to find the exact demographic you need for your specific study.
Pricing Comparison
Lookback Pricing
- 10 sessions per year
- Unlimited collaborators
- Self-test (unmoderated)
- Live (moderated)
- 60-day free trial
- Everything in Freelance, plus:
- 100 sessions per year
- Unlimited projects
- Insights and highlight reels
- Remote moderated research
- Priority support
Optimal Workshop Pricing
- Unlimited tasks and cards
- 10 participants per study
- 30 survey responses
- Single user account
- Standard support
- Everything in Free, plus:
- Unlimited participants
- Unlimited survey responses
- Advanced analysis tools
- CSV data exports
- Password protected studies
Pros & Cons
Lookback
Pros
- Exceptional 60-day trial period for thorough testing
- Simultaneous recording of screen, face, and audio
- Seamless virtual observation for remote stakeholders
- Easy highlight reel creation for stakeholder presentations
- Works well across mobile and desktop platforms
Cons
- Participants sometimes struggle with initial plugin installation
- Requires a very stable internet connection for live sessions
- No built-in participant recruitment panel available
- Limited automated transcription features compared to competitors
Optimal Workshop
Pros
- Specialized tools specifically built for information architecture
- Automated analysis saves hours of manual data crunching
- Easy to set up and launch studies quickly
- Clean and professional interface for research participants
Cons
- Significant price jump from free to paid tiers
- Limited customization options for the survey look and feel
- Learning curve for interpreting complex dendrogram reports