Marvin alternative

Compare Condens vs. Marvin

AI-first research tools like Marvin are quick to produce answers but hard to fully trust. Condens keeps researchers in control of the analysis, using AI to speed things up while every insight stays grounded in real evidence.

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6 reasons why teams choose Condens over Marvin

1. AI where it truly adds value

Condens AI lightens the load without disrupting your process. It helps you summarize research evidence and outcomes, organize insights with auto-clustering, and search across your raw data and published findings using simple, natural language. It’s fast, intuitive, and always rooted in data you’ve already worked through, so you know you can trust the output.

„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.”

Audrey Moore

Senior UX Researcher at Configura

Audrey Moore

Senior UX Researcher at Configura

2. Live Notes for online and in-person research

AI can transcribe words, but it can’t read the room. Condens Live Notes let you mark noteworthy moments, capturing the context, emotion, and non-verbal cues. And unlike AI note-takers built for specific platforms, Live Notes work no matter where or how you’re conducting research: Zoom meetings, in-person sessions, moderated interviews, even unobtrusive observations. Notes are timestamped to recordings, integrated into transcripts, and can be taken collaboratively with your entire team.

„I'm absolutely loving the platform. [...] It really is a shining example of user centricity in action. Great UI, silky smooth UX and just an absolute joy to use everyday.”

Ash Cliffe

Senior User Research Manager at OpenSolar

„I'm absolutely loving the platform. [...] It really is a shining example of user centricity in action. Great UI, silky smooth UX and just an absolute joy to use everyday.”

Ash Cliffe

Senior User Research Manager at OpenSolar

3. Built for how teams actually work together

Condens adapts to your team’s rhythm, not the other way around. Split-screen view, drag-and-drop highlights, and an always-accessible sidebar let you connect data across projects and build insights without losing context. Co-edit reports, map findings on the Whiteboard, and run workshops with stakeholders. All in real time, without the risk of overwriting work or waiting for page refreshes. It’s a workspace that matches how research actually happens: intuitive, collaborative, and evolving with you.

„I do feel like the workflow in Condens is actually better. 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.”

Ryan Chipley

Manager of User Experience Design at SAS

Ryan Chipley

Manager of User Experience Design at SAS

Findings you can stand behind

Get AI answers grounded in your research and linked to the source. Check the evidence, analyze across projects, and keep your data out of model training.

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4. Simple to learn, easy to use

Condens is designed to be easy from day one. No steep learning curves, no endless onboarding calls. The interface is clear, the structure intuitive, and it’s built for everyone who relies on user insights, not just dedicated researchers. Teams quickly find their rhythm in Condens, whether they’re analyzing data, reviewing findings, or just dropping in to stay informed. It’s a platform people understand and want to use.

„I was prepared to explain Condens over and over again to the entire product team and stress how important it was to use it, but I didn’t have to. I introduced it once in our daily meeting and everyone asked for access to directly check available reports and add comments, and it just moved forward organically.”

Nathalia Ilovatte

Content Designer at Syngenta Digital

Nathalia Ilovatte

Content Designer at Syngenta Digital

5. Privacy by default, not by opt-out

Your research is never used to train AI models. There’s nothing to opt out of and no setting to remember at signup. Condens is a German company operating under EU privacy law, with data hosted in the EU or US, encrypted, and backed up daily.

„We wanted a European company so that all those GDPR subjects could be handled much more easily. So when we saw that Condens was a German company, that was very good news.”

Margarita Baresch

Head of Research Operations at Adeo

„We wanted a European company so that all those GDPR subjects could be handled much more easily. So when we saw that Condens was a German company, that was very good news.”

Margarita Baresch

Head of Research Operations at Adeo

6. Outstanding customer support with all plans

Whether you’re a team of one or part of a large enterprise, Condens offers personal, responsive support by email, video call, or through a help center that’s always there to guide you. No matter your plan, you’ll talk to real people who know the product and care about your success. And if something needs fixing or improving, we listen and act.

Quality of Support

User Research Repository Average: 9.1

G2.com (opens in new tab)

The responsiveness has been incredible. […] I can ask a question and be assured of getting a response pretty quickly. And a friendly response, too!

Julie Radford

Principal User Experience Designer at SAS

We feel like the Condens team is always there to listen to our feedback and their support is just great and fast.

Adéla Svoboda

Senior UX Researcher at Kentico Software

Questions are answered quickly and thoroughly, we even had some ad-hoc feature changes implemented: never experienced that before!

Laurens van Lieshout

Senior Product Owner

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.

Katie Fischer

Senior UX Strategist at The User Story

The last thing I'll mention is the excellent customer support. My questions are answered within hours and often lead to software changes. It's great to be in touch with the makers of the tool — one of the benefits of a product supported by a small team.

Brett Leber

Senior Manager UX Research at Angi

Unique features

A checkmark looks the same whether a feature saves you time or gives you more to double-check. Here’s how Condens and Marvin compare, side by side.

Last updated: October, 2026

condens

marvin

Available Plans

Lite | Business | Enterprise

Free | Starter | Pro | Enterprise

Usage

1+ | 5+ | 5+

2 | 2 | 5 | 5

- | Unlimited | Unlimited

- | 50 | 100 | Unlimited

Anonymous Viewers

Unlimited

1 | Unlimited | Unlimited

Unlimited

Monthly File Storage

Unlimited

5 files/mo | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited

Transcription Hours

Unlimited

Transcription Languages

40+

Analysis

✓

Only in the Analyze tab

✓

Starter+

✓

Starter+

✓

AI-assisted

Fully automated

✓

Starter+

✓

Repository

Starter+

✓

Free+

Stakeholder Experience

✓

- | 3 | Unlimited

Starter+

Enterprise

Research Ops

✓

Enterprise

Support & Administration

Email and video calls

Email (Chat from Pro+, Phone only on Enterprise)

Self-serve | Guided | Tailored

- | One session | Limited | Unlimited

✓

Enterprise

- | Advanced | Advanced+

Enterprise

✓

Data Security

✓

Starter+

✓

May be, unless you opt out

All plans

Enterprise

✓

Add-on for Business, included in Enterprise

Enterprise

Add-on on Pro, included in Enterprise

✓

Enterprise

Privacy standards that make your legal team happy

We know user research means working with sensitive information. That’s why we’re committed to handling your data transparently and responsibly. Naturally, this includes:

EU and US-based data hosting and processing 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(opens in new tab), GDPR(opens in new tab), CCPA(opens in new tab), and APA(opens in new tab).

Maximize the impact of your customer insights

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.

Alya Naumova

UX Research Lead at Drop

The simplicity and clear UI make it very easy to get started and I was positively surprised by the level/ speed of support. They guided us also to come up with a taxonomy that makes sense for us – free of charge! A big plus for us is also the flexible user management and the fact that the repository is accessible across the organization without payment.

Michaël Dufranne

Senior UX Researcher, UX Team Lead at Elia Group

I am a visual person - Condens helps me a lot to make sense of qualitative data and structure them in a fast way.

Frauke Seewald

UX Design Consultant at Design for Outcome

Our research repository keeps a searchable archive of all our research sessions and findings. It speeds up the qualitative analysis process and simplifies the sharing of insights, ultimately leading to higher-quality findings.

Tamara Oess

UX Researcher at Yokoy

With the split screen you can tag raw data and immediately connect it to findings. It makes things super quick.

Merche Gómez Sánchez

UX Designer at ShortCut Studio

The team and I are loving the new AI updates to the platform, it has honestly already been so useful, blown away by how accurate the bookmarking and summary suggestions have been.