Strella vs. Maze: choosing the right research platform for qualitative depth & speed

When evaluating AI-powered research platforms, Strella and Maze both offer modern solutions for product and UX teams. Strella focuses on rich, AI-powered qualitative research, while Maze specializes in quantitative usability testing.

If you're looking for an AI-forward tool to deliver fast, rich insights that go beyond clicks and scrolls, Strella is purpose-built to deliver.

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Let’s dig deeper to see which research platform is right for your team.

Study Setup & Interview Guide

AI-generated, expert-level interview guides in minutes

Pre-built surveys and usability flows; limited qualitative depth

Interview Moderation

Flexible: both researcher and AI-led moderation with 24/7 availability, multilingual capabilities, and dynamic probing for real-time insights

Primarily focused on unmoderated testing (surveys and task-based usability flows); limited AI-moderation capabilities

Use Case

Ability to test multiple stimuli during AI-moderated interviews (images, websites, prototypes, videos, multiple choice / ranking, etc.)

Unable to test stimuli during AI-moderated interviews (open-ended questions only)

Speed to Insights

Ability to chat with your research across projects. Instant generation of highlight reels & session notes to get up-to-speed. Immediate qualitative and quantitative synthesis

Lack of video responses for unmoderated tests; time consuming to parse through individual response summaries and lacks highlight reels for AI-moderated offering

Synthesis of Insights & Results

Detailed objective & question-level analysis to quickly spot insights across your whole project; ability to segment insights, save insights & highlight reels, and leverage the AI-generated report

Limited synthesis capabilities; isolated overview of responses by participant & research report rather than a consolidated view

Insight Sharing

Shareable AI-generated highlight reels - no editing required

Ability to share full sessions but lacks capability to create & share highlight reels

Existing Research Integration

Upload and query past calls, notes, and documents across projects

No support for importing or synthesizing past qualitative research

Pricing

Scalable pricing suitable for teams of all sizes

Tiered plans based on usage volume; less flexible for teams with varied research needs

Rich, Fast Qualitative Research

Maze is great for measuring interaction. Strella is built to understand motivation. With AI-moderated interviews that probe deeper and adapt on the fly, Strella uncovers the why behind the what.

Depth + Speed, Combined

Click data gives you part of the story. Strella fills in the rest—with rich feedback, emotional nuance, and AI-generated reports delivered in hours.

From Prototype to Insight

Where Maze tests static flows, Strella listens. Its AI interviews users as they engage with designs and probes in real time—offering context-aware insights as they happen.

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research platform

When Strella Is the Right Choice

You want AI-moderated interviews that adapt to visual stimuli that fit neatly into your current workflows
You would benefit from real-time synthesis and highlight reels for stakeholders to accelerate your time to impact
You’re scaling research access across cross-functional teams

When Maze Might Be the Right Fit

You’re focused on quantitative UX testing and click behavior
You’re running short, structured usability surveys
You don’t require deep qualitative feedback or would not benefit from 24/7 AI-led research and synthesis

"We were blown away by how much benefit we saw from using Strella. It enables us to run tests more efficiently & frequently - it’s as if we’ve added a member to our team focused solely on UX."

Seth Stephan

Director of Experience Design

“I was amazed by the speed to insights, how seamless it is to build discussion guides, and the AI moderator's ability to ask thoughtful follow up questions based on responses!”

Sarika Patel

Senior Researcher, Consumer Insights

"Compared to other user research tools I’ve used, Strella is smarter at uncovering the insights that truly matter. It was a mic drop moment when I played the highlight reel - hearing the insights surfaced from real users has been a game changer for us."

Bret Dennis

Director of SEO & Organic Growth

"Strella has enabled me to increase my research output, and the quality of insights have been accurate and actionable."

Becca Flores

UX Researcher

"Strella's multilingual AI moderator has allows us to connect with and gather feedback from customers we couldn't reach before. Having those insights get instantly translated and included in the synthesis and report is hugely valuable"

Joe Sioufi

Lead Product Designer

“Strella makes it effortless for our team to gather continuous user feedback at a scale and frequency that was previously impossible.”

James Evans

Co-Founder & CEO

“Strella has enabled me to do fast, continuous research - I was especially impressed with how adaptive and dynamic the AI moderator was.”

Luke Armstrong

Founder, Design Agency

“Before Strella, we only had the bandwidth and budget for 1-2 qual research projects a year. Now, our qual capabilities are fully unlocked. The change in our speed to insight has been nothing short of groundbreaking.”

Casey Greulich

Senior Director, Consumer Insights

"With Strella, I can streamline the entire process of planning, conducting, and reporting on a moderated test from weeks to just a few days—sometimes even just a couple of hours. It’s a game-changer!"

Adeel Fahimullah

Head of Product Design

"Strella saved us weeks of work on our new onboarding flow. We gathered actionable insights and were able to make fast changes in just 24 hours!"

Jack Jundanian

GM of New Verticals

"The best UX research isn’t AI vs. Humans—it’s AI + Humans. Specifically AI + Strella. With Strella I was able to create a better analysis than on my own... In 1/10th the time."

Adam Root

Chief Product Officer

"Before Strella, studies took weeks. Now we get insights in a day — sometimes in just a few hours. And because participants open up more with the AI moderator, the feedback is deeper and more honest. Research is now faster, richer, and easier to access across our team."

Brian Santiago

Senior Product Design Manager

"Using Strella has significantly accelerated our research timeline! Without Strella it has taken our team a month to schedule and complete 6 interviews. With Strella we were able to run 15 interviews in less than 48 hours!"

Julie Griffin

Product Designer