Research is a crucial part of every project. It’s the best way to avoid costly mistakes and create a product that’s guaranteed to be loved by the target audience. Thankfully, there’s lots of useful tools out there that you can use to make research easier. Here’s our top picks for research tools in 2021:

1. Bit.AI

Bit AI is a great tool for collaborating on research with your team. It’s essentially like a Google Docs, but specifically made for research. You can upload and share different file formats including PDFs, videos, white papers etc. and then edit it together with your team.

Key Features

  • User-friendly editor
  • Collaboration with your team
  • Almost all file types are supported
  • Smart search
  • Content library

Pricing

You can use Bit AI for free, but with limited functionality. If you are just working on a single-time project or aren’t working with a big team this should be enough. However, for more advanced researchers you can opt for one of Bit’s paid plans that start at $8 per month.

2. elink.io

elink is a bookmarking tool to keep all your references in one space. You can also share them with your team and collaborate on creating a comprehensive resources library. If you’re using Chrome, you can also use their extension to save websites and files with a single click.

Key Features

  • Quick website and file saving
  • Collaboration with your team
  • Create and share research links as a newsletter or embed it on your website
  • User-friendly interface

Pricing

Similarly to Bit, you can use elink for free with limited functionality. Again, depending on your specific research needs this can be more than enough. If you’d like to upgrade your plan you can choose one of their subscriptions (monthly, yearly and bi-yearly), which start at $15.

3. Typeset.io

Typeset is a great tool when it comes to writing your own research papers. You can very easily upload all your references for simple citation as well as check your work for spelling errors and plagiarism. Typeset also offers features to collaborate with your team mates and get the work done together.

Key Features

  • 100,000+ journal formats you can use
  • Plagiarism checker
  • Spelling checker
  • Additional editing services

Pricing

You can use Typeset for free with limited functionality or choose one of their paid plans that start at $8 per month for an individual user or at $6 per month per user for teams.

4. Google Scholar

Google Scholar is a classic tool that not everyone knows about. It’s essentially a version of the traditional Google search but it only searches for scientific and academic papers as well as journals, books and other publications. Basically, instead of using Google, you can use Google Scholar to eliminate the risk of citing non-credible sources.

Key Features

  • Very easy to use
  • A big variety of sources
  • Create an author’s profile

Pricing

Google Scholar is entirely free to use, whether you’re a student or a professional researcher.

5. EndNote

The next great tool when it comes to research is EndNote. It helps you format your research papers, updates references and searches for additional resources. Basically, it does some of the really time-consuming work for you.

Key Features

  • Team collaboration
  • Automatic bibliography updates
  • Automatic resources search

Pricing

EndNote is free to use with limited functionality, however it is a very powerful tool that can take a lot of work off your shoulders. Their paid plans start at a whopping $249, so make sure you can’t live without this tool before you fully commit to it.

6. ContentMine

ContentMine does what the name says – it’s a research tool for mining through lots of academic papers etc. to find relevant resources. What’s great about it is that it also extracts data from graphs and images, meaning no stone will be left unturned.

Key Features

  • Quickly search through hundreds of papers
  • Extract data from graphs and images
  • Consultancy and workshop services

Pricing

ContentMine is a very advanced tool and you need to contact them to get information about the pricing.

7. ResearchGate

ResearchGate is a tool that collects millions of research papers that you can access. You can also consult with other researchers and keep track of your own work through the platform.

Key Features

  • A database of over 135 million publications
  • Analytics of your publications
  • Researchers’ community
  • Citation tracking

Pricing

The best thing about ResearchGate is that it is completely free for you to use. While you might need to pay for some specific publications, the tool itself doesn’t require any subscription.

8. Pew Research Centre

The Pew Research Centre is an NGO which conducts research across various industries and topics which you can then use for your own research purposes. Their topics range from politics to social media as well as public opinion polling. It’s a great research tool especially for market analysis.

Key Features

  • A wide variety of reports and publications across different industries
  • Datasets
  • Interactive resources

Pricing

The platform is completely free to use.

9. Keyword Surfer Chrome Extension

Up next on the list is an extension made by the Surfer team to explore SERP keywords. Although it’s only available for Chrome, it’s a great tool for analyzing your marketing strategy and planning future campaigns. With over 200 000 users, it’s an excellent tools for checking out the search volumes of different keywords and websites.

Key Features

  • Search volume analyzer
  • Data about CPC, keyword suggestions, related terms and visibility metrics
  • Very user-friendly

Pricing

The Keyword Surfer extension is completely free to download and use within your Chrome browser.

10. Living Facts

Living Facts is a sister website to the Pew Research Centre. It has straightforward facts about America and Americans that can come in really handy when creating personas and researching your target market and audience.

Key Features

  • Easy-to-digest facts
  • Educational quizzes
  • Wide variety of topics

Pricing

Similarly to Pew Research Centre, Living Facts is free to use.

11. Google Trends

Another tool that’s a staple among UX researchers and designers. Google Trends lets you analyze the popularity of certain phases across time and different demographies. It’s especially handy when it comes to market research and target audience analysis.

Key Features

  • Trend analysis over time
  • Trend monitoring
  • Demographic data
  • Keyword comparison

Pricing

Google Trends is a completely free research tool.

12. Facebook Audience Insights

The next research tool on our list has to be Facebook Audience Insights. It’s an extremely powerful source of information about your target audience, their needs and interests. You can not only analyze the people who like your page but other groups on Facebook as well.

Key Features

  • Demographic information analysis
  • Interest analysis
  • Lifestyle data

Pricing

Probably the best thing about Facebook Audience Insights in addition to their huge database is that you can access it completely for free.

13. Stats iQ

Stats iQ is the world’s most powerful statistic analysis tool. With that said, it’s also extremely easy and friendly to use. If you have collected data and just need to analyze the trends and find correlations – Stats iQ is your safe bet.

Key Features

  • Automatic data analysis
  • Data visualizations
  • Finds relationships in your data and shows you how strong they are

Pricing

To use Stats iQ you need to request a demo on their website.

14. Make My Persona

If you’ve ever struggled with making your marketing or product personas, you can use HubSpot’s Make My Persona tool to make your life easier. It’s basically a persona made with all the data you’ve collected in HubSpot overtime.

Key Features

  • Simple 7-step persona-creation process
  • Easy to use interface
  • Integrated with HubSpot

Pricing

Make My Persona is free to use.

15. SimilarWeb

The last research tool on this list is SimilarWeb. It’s an extremely useful and powerful database about websites and apps available online. It shows you data about the number of visits, traffic sources, demographics and much more. It’s a great tool for competition and market analysis.

Key Features

  • Traffic overview
  • Traffic sources analysis
  • Visitors’ analysis

Pricing

SimilarWeb is not cheap, with plans starting at $199 per month, but you can access a lot of data without having a subscription. For more insights, you will however need to be a subscribed user.

If you’re looking for a team of experienced researchers with access to all the best tools that can help you with your market and user research – contact us and let’s get your project started!