Compare Condens vs. Dovetail

Both Condens and Dovetail help teams analyze qualitative data and build research repositories. If you're looking for an intuitive, flexible alternative to Dovetail—or simply comparing the two—this guide will help you find the best fit for your organization.

6 reasons teams choose Condens over Dovetail

1. A flexible workflow that adapts to you

Condens adapts to your workflow, not the other way around. Our split-screen view lets you intuitively take notes, analyze, organize, and connect evidence from multiple studies in one place. Build reports on the go, drag and drop highlights, and uncover key themes—all without the hassle of switching tabs, offering maximum flexibility.
„I do feel like the workflow in Condens is actually better [than Dovetail]. It’s a lot more flexible. The side pane [...], the ability to work in context, to have a project open and drag things over it… It's a very efficient way of working.”
Photo of Ryan Chipley
Ryan Chipley
Manager of User Experience Design at SAS
„I do feel like the workflow in Condens is actually better [than Dovetail]. It’s a lot more flexible. The side pane [...], the ability to work in context, to have a project open and drag things over it… It's a very efficient way of working.”
Photo of Ryan Chipley
Ryan Chipley
Manager of User Experience Design at SAS

2. A dedicated stakeholder experience with the Insights Magazine

The Insights Magazine is your stakeholder’s go-to hub for exploring and engaging with published findings. Provide self-serve access to key insights with added context and clear organization. Conversational AI search delivers instant answers from published findings, making research easily accessible while keeping raw data secure.
„This [dedicated stakeholder repository] gives me [a sense of], yes, I can breathe.”
Photo of Julie Radford
Julie Radford
Principal User Experience Designer at SAS
„This [dedicated stakeholder repository] gives me [a sense of], yes, I can breathe.”
Photo of Julie Radford
Julie Radford
Principal User Experience Designer at SAS

3. AI-powered whiteboard for deeper insights

Move beyond basic affinity mapping with Condens’ Whiteboard. Automatically cluster highlights by themes and sentiments, work with ready-made templates, or create your own. Design personas, affinity, empathy, and user journey maps and engage stakeholders in collaborative workshops.
„Your Whiteboard tool has been really useful and has come a long way recently. It just visually creates a more interesting way to go to a single place and find the things you need.”
Photo of Florrie Holloway
Florrie Holloway
Senior User Researcher in the public sector
„Your Whiteboard tool has been really useful and has come a long way recently. It just visually creates a more interesting way to go to a single place and find the things you need.”
Photo of Florrie Holloway
Florrie Holloway
Senior User Researcher in the public sector

4. Easy to learn - easy to use

No steep learning curves, no lengthy onboarding—Condens is designed for quick adoption. With a clear structure and familiar concepts, teams instinctively know where to go and what to do. No complicated setups, no hidden barriers, just a smooth, intuitive experience that lets your team focus on what matters: uncovering and sharing insights.
„I was particularly impressed by its incredible ease of use – unlike other tools, I didn’t have to waste hours working out how to use it just to try it out.”
Photo of Giorgia Negroni
Giorgia Negroni
UX Researcher at Findmypast
„I was particularly impressed by its incredible ease of use – unlike other tools, I didn’t have to waste hours working out how to use it just to try it out.”
Photo of Giorgia Negroni
Giorgia Negroni
UX Researcher at Findmypast

5. Analyze across projects

Condens makes it easy to connect evidence from multiple studies to uncover overarching themes. Create a meta-study with existing evidence or bring in findings from other projects. The sidebar is your friend as you can search, filter, and pin any artifact and then pull highlights and artifacts from other projects into it. As simple as that!
„When you discover something about one customer segment, you’ll likely be able to uncover insights about another one or start asking better questions as a result. And having access to all the available research in one place is key to tying all those insights together.”
Photo of Lily Donnelly
Lily Donnelly
Marketing Manager at MyTutor
„When you discover something about one customer segment, you’ll likely be able to uncover insights about another one or start asking better questions as a result. And having access to all the available research in one place is key to tying all those insights together.”
Photo of Lily Donnelly
Lily Donnelly
Marketing Manager at MyTutor

6. Outstanding support, no matter your team size

Whether you’re a team of one or part of an enterprise team, you’ll get personal, high-quality support and training. Enjoy expert help via email or video call, plus a constantly updated help center. Our users love our fast, direct, and helpful support—see for yourself!
9.9 out of 10 rating for Quality of Support based on G2 reviews

Quality of Support

User Research Repository Average: 9.1

G2.com

I was positively surprised by the level and speed of support. They guided us also to come up with a taxonomy that makes sense for us – free of charge!
Picture of Michaël Dufranne
Michaël Dufranne
Senior UX Researcher, UX Team Lead at Elia Group
One of the selling points for us was how responsive, supportive, friendly and knowledgeable the team were at Condens. It made us feel like we were able to trust who we were about to sign a contract with.
Picture of Lily Donnelly
Lily Donnelly
Marketing Manager at MyTutor
We feel like the Condens team is always there to listen to our feedback and their support is just great and fast.
Picture of Adéla Svoboda
Adéla Svoboda
Senior UX Researcher at Kentico Software
The whole team at Condens are SO helpful! It's honestly been the best customer service I think I have ever received. They're helpful, responsive and knowledgeable.
Picture of Katie Fischer
Katie Fischer
Senior UX Strategist at The User Story
The responsiveness has been incredible. In terms of what we were used to previously [with Dovetail], this has been a very nice surprise. I can ask a question and be assured of getting a response pretty quickly. And a friendly response, too!
Picture of Julie Radford
Julie Radford
Principal User Experience Designer at SAS

How SAS Transitioned from Dovetail to Condens: A Data Migration Story

With hands-on data migration support, SAS switched from Dovetail to Condens overnight. The team has since benefited from a more affordable, flexible, and efficient research repository.
Read story

Switching from Dovetail to Condens?

Migrating your research repository doesn’t have to be overwhelming. We offer fully automated migration and expert support to transfer everything—notes, tags, highlights, files, and projects—without any manual effort. Plus, test it first with a trial migration, no commitment required. Ready to make the switch?

Unique features

Choosing the right tool isn’t just about ticking off features, but when functionality and pricing matter, a side-by-side comparison helps. Check out our detailed feature and pricing table to decide with confidence.

Last updated: March 2025

Usage

Available Plans
Lite | Business | Enterprise
Free | Professional | Business | Enterprise
Included Researchers
1+ | 5+ | 10+
1 | 1+ | Unlimited | Unlimited
Projects
Unlimited
1 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited
Folders
1 | Unlimited | Unlimited
1 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited
File Uploads & Storage
Unlimited
Unlimited
Transcription Hours
Unlimited
Unlimited
Supported Languages
85+
40+

Analysis

Stable User Interface
-
Split-screen Mode
-
Project Templates
Business+
Business+
Session Templates
Business+
AI-powered Transcription
Translations
Beta
Beta
Multi-lingual Transcription
-
Auto Bookmarks
AI-powered Tagging
AI-assisted
Fully automated
Media Clips & Highlight Reels
Smart Highlight Suggestions
-
Session Summaries
Research Evidence Summaries
Infinite Whiteboard
AI-powered Affinity Mapping
Professional+
Sentiment analysis
Professional+
Easy Cross-Project Analysis
-

Repository

Participant pool
25 | Unlimited | Unlimited
Unlimited
Global Tags
Business+
Business+
Global Tag Boards
- | 3 | Unlimited
- | - | Unlimited | Unlimited
Global Search & Filter
AI-powered Raw Data Search
Coming soon
Professional+

Stakeholder Experience

Shareable Links
Shareable Whiteboard
-
Play clips directly in Slack
Read-only Access for Stakeholders
Business+
Professional+
Dedicated Stakeholder Interface
Business+
-
Customizable Insights Magazine
Business+
Business+
Multiple Insights Magazines
- | 3 | Unlimited
-
Ask Your Repository
Business+
Enterprise
Stakeholder Collaboration
Business+
Professional+
AI Search Insights in Slack
Coming soon
Add-on for Business and Enterprise

Research Ops

Multiple Workspaces
Usage Reports
Business+
Professional+
Granular Permission Management
Business+
Business+
User Groups
Enterprise
Enterprise

Support & Administration

Personal Support for all Plans
Email and video calls
Email
Personal Onboarding & Training
All plans
Enterprise
Self-serve Help Center
Slack Community
-
Dedicated Success Manager
Enterprise
Business+
Data Migration
Business+
-
Taxonomy Support
Business+
Enterprise
Security Assessments
- | Advanced | Advanced+
- | - | Simple | Advanced
Individual Terms
Enterprise
Enterprise
Service Level Agreement (SLA)
Enterprise
Enterprise
Pause Subscription
-
Multi-Currency Payment
-

Data Security

Data Hosting in the EU or US
Anonymized Sharing
Enterprise
Easy Deletion of Personal Data
GDPR & US Privacy Compliant
Data Processing Agreement (DPA)
SOC 2 Report
Single Sign-On (SSO)
Add-on for Business, included in Enterprise
Business+
SCIM User Provisioning
Add-on for Business, included in Enterprise
Enterprise
HIPAA compliant
Add-on for Business, included in Enterprise
Add-on for Enterprise
Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)
-
Custom Data Retention
Enterprise
Enterprise

Pricing

Free

Free trial available
$0 /year
Monthly subscription
-
$0 /month
Payment in Euro
-
-
Included Researchers
-
1
Additional Researchers
-
-

Lite / Professional

$165 /year
$348 /year
Monthly subscription
$15 /month
$39 /month
Payment in Euro
165€ /year
-
Included Researchers
1
1
Additional Researchers
$180 /year
$348 /year

Business

$6,000 /year
$21,600 /year
Monthly subscription
-
-
Payment in Euro
6,000€ /year
-
Included Researchers
5
10
Additional Researchers
$1,020 /year
$720 /year

Enterprise

$36,000 /year
$76,800 /year
Monthly subscription
-
-
Payment in Euro
36,000€ /year
-
Included Researchers
5
10
Additional Researchers
$1,200 /year
$960 /year

Privacy standards that make your legal team happy

Handling sensitive data requires strong security and compliance. Condens meets the highest privacy standards, ensuring your research data is protected and compliant with global regulations:

  • EU and US-based data hosting lets you choose where your data is stored to meet regional data residency requirements.
  • Condens’ legal entity is based in the EU, and the entire team operates under stringent EU privacy laws.
  • A DPA (Data Processing Agreement) is already incorporated into our terms for every customer.
  • Condens is designed to help you stay compliant with HIPAA, GDPR, CCPA, and APA.
Read more about Condens' data security

Maximize the impact of your customer insights

The split screen with drag & drop is so simple, yet so fantastically clever. It lowers my cognitive load significantly. I love it. This is my #1.
Picture of Aga Kaim
Aga Kaim
UX Researcher at Airhelp
Condens is a true game changer for me. It leveled up my UX Research, making it more professional, credible and agile.
Picture of Anne Görs
Anne Görs
UX Research and Consulting at dcx.rocks
When I was looking for a repo tool, I stumbled across a tool that was basically PURELY an AI search. I passed on that for a lot of reasons […]. I feel so much more confident with Condens because it is only based on information that has already been analyzed, and validated, and just generally has a UX touch on it. It’s got all the “flash” that the other tool was trying to have but with the comfort of knowing that the input is solid.
Picture of Audrey Moore
Audrey Moore
Senior UX Researcher at Configura
I am LOVING Condens! I used to be a huge fan of Dovetail, but started looking around to see what other people have been using and you won me over with the notes feature and the accurate AI generated bookmarks.
Picture of Bina Bulman
Bina Bulman
Founding Product Designer at Passage Health
Condens has been SO helpful with video analysis, and I love the AI generated bookmarks.
Picture of Jackie Swann
Jackie Swann
Associate User Experience Researcher at Usability Sciences Corporation
I felt like Dovetail made you follow their workflow. I really like Condens because I can use that flow, but I don’t have to. The workflow just feels a lot more natural to me.
Picture of Julie Radford
Julie Radford
Principal User Experience Designer at SAS
After careful search, we picked Condens to help us democratize access to research and allow designers to look at ongoing research work as it was developing.
Picture of Alya Naumova
Alya Naumova
UX Research Lead at Drop
What I really enjoyed was you have a ton of flexibility in how you use Condens.
Picture of Nathalia Ilovatte
Nathalia Ilovatte
Content Designer at Syngenta Digital

Ready to try Condens yourself? Try Condens 15 days for free!