Lyssna

1. Overview

Lyssna (lyssna.com) is a user research platform covering unmoderated usability tests, surveys, moderated interviews and a built-in participant panel (Homepage). It was UsabilityHub until October 2023; it started in 2008 as a five-second test, and “Lyssna” is Swedish for “to listen” (Rename post, PR Newswire). The question for this section is whether one builder can check a problem and their success criteria with real users, and no research team. The answer is yes for quick unmoderated checks, and the published prices are the clearest in this section.

Surfaces to keep distinct

Surface	What it is	Plan signal	Sources
Core methods	Survey questions, design surveys, first-click, navigation, five-second, preference, Figma prototype tests, card sorts, tree tests	All plans, as single-section “quick studies”	Quick vs in-depth
In-depth studies	Any study with more than one section, such as a survey then a card sort	Growth: 5 launched per month or 60 per year; Enterprise: custom	Quick vs in-depth
Live website tests	Tasks on any live URL with screen and audio recording, no code snippet. Recordings, not heatmaps	Paid plans only	Live website tests
Interviews	Recruit, screen, schedule, run on Zoom, Meet or Teams; transcripts and AI summaries	Sessions on all plans; AI summaries on paid plans	User interviews, Plan overview
Panel	Vendor (unaudited) claims: 690,000+ vetted B2B and B2C participants, 395+ targeting attributes, same-day results for most studies	Pay-per-use on every plan	Research panel
AI	Up to two AI follow-up questions on long-text answers, AI summaries, read-only MCP server (beta) for Claude, ChatGPT and others	Paid plans	AI follow-ups, MCP Server

Naming overlaps: older reviews still say UsabilityHub. This page covers lyssna.com and help.lyssna.com only.

Pricing (re-check live): Free is $0 with 3 seats, unlimited quick studies and core methods, but only the first 15 self-recruited responses per test are viewable. Growth is $199 a month or $1,990 a year, with 5 seats, unlimited self-recruited responses, recordings, screeners, live website tests and AI features. Enterprise is custom, adding SSO, NDAs and observer rooms (Plan overview, Pricing). Extra seats cannot be bought; non-profits get 25% off.

Panel costs (official): 1 credit is $1 unless bought in bulk. Unmoderated responses cost 1 credit per test minute, per participant, plus 2 credits each for a screener or recording. Interviews are fixed per session, from 60 credits (15 minutes) to 165 (120 minutes), incentive included. Credits never expire and panel orders work on Free (Plan overview). So ten responses to a five-minute first-click test cost about 50 credits. Bulk discount rates: not stated publicly.

2. How it scores on the rubric

Criterion	Assessment	Evidence
Time-to-useful	Fast. A single-section test can be built and sent to the panel on Free in one sitting, with cost shown before ordering. Interview booking shows a hard-coded three-day estimate, so moderated work takes days	Plan overview, Interview recruiting
Fidelity (of evidence)	Good for first impressions, findability and preference; prototype tests capture every path. “Why” needs follow-up questions, paid recordings or interviews. Panel strangers are not your customers, so screen hard	Figma prototype tests
Non-engineer usability	High. No code, templates, autosave, collaborative editing. The skill gap is writing unbiased tasks and screeners	Changelog
Design-system / prototype fidelity	Figma standard prototype flows only; Figma Make links are rejected. Each extra task on one prototype needs another section, which makes the study in-depth (paid). Shipped AI builds can be tested as live websites on Growth	Figma prototype tests, Troubleshooting, Live website tests
Human gates	Admins can switch off individual AI features. AI follow-ups are one toggle, with no control over how many are asked (up to two). The MCP server is read-only and respects existing permissions	AI follow-ups, MCP Server, Changelog
Handoff	Shareable results links, CSV export (Growth), answers copied to Figma or FigJam as stickies, and MCP so an assistant can query studies. No native issue-tracker integration found	Plan overview, Changelog

Fit for this section (verdict: yes). A strong fit for a solo builder. Free covers the loop that matters: state the problem, write a success criterion (“8 of 10 find pricing on first click”), test it with strangers the same day, and repeat after shipping, paying only panel minutes. The caveats are bounded: multi-section studies, screeners, recordings and live website tests need Growth at $199 a month; prototypes are Figma-only; and panel strangers cannot stand in for a niche you can only reach through your own customers.

3. Comparison within this section

	Lyssna	Maze	Dovetail	Great Question	Sprig
Core job	Run unmoderated tests, surveys and interviews	Run tests and surveys	Analyse evidence you bring	Interviews, surveys, prototype tests, research CRM	Enterprise surveys, including surveys inside a product
Participants	Own panel, pay per minute, all plans	Pay-per-response panel ($5 credits, 3 per Core response)	None supplied	Own customers free; Respondent panel add-on	Enterprise-only panel, or your own users by link or in the product
Prototype support	Figma flows only	Figma, Axure, Figma Make, Lovable, Bolt, Replit	None	Figma, Lovable, v0, Replit, Claude, live sites	Figma, Figma Make, Framer, Lovable, v0, and surveys inside AI prototypes
Self-serve price	Free; Growth $199/month	Free; Enterprise	Free (one project); Enterprise	$129 per seat/month, 14-day trial, no free plan	No public price; demo request
Sources	Plan overview	Maze pricing, Maze panel credits	Dovetail pricing	Great Question pricing	Sprig pricing

4. FAQ

Can a solo builder validate a problem with Lyssna and no research team?

Yes, for quick unmoderated checks: Free runs core methods as single-section studies, and the panel is pay-as-you-go (Plan overview).

Is Lyssna the same as UsabilityHub?

Yes. UsabilityHub renamed itself Lyssna in October 2023; accounts and data carried over (Rename post).

How much does Lyssna cost?

Free is $0. Growth is $199 a month or $1,990 a year. Enterprise is custom. Panel responses are extra on every plan (Plan overview).

How much do Lyssna panel participants cost?

1 credit (about $1) per minute of test, per response, plus 2 credits each for screeners or recordings. A 30-minute interview is 75 credits, incentive included (Plan overview).

Does Lyssna support Figma and Figma Make prototypes?

Standard Figma prototype flows, yes, on all plans. Figma Make links are not recognised (Troubleshooting).

What AI features does Lyssna have?

AI follow-up questions, AI summaries and a read-only MCP server, all on paid plans. No AI moderator was found (AI follow-ups, MCP Server).

Is there an affiliate programme?

No public affiliate programme was found. A customer referral programme gives the referrer a $40 gift card and the new customer 30% off their first Growth payment (Referral program). That is not an affiliate programme, and this site has not joined one.

5. Sources

1. Lyssna (homepage)
2. Lyssna pricing and plans
3. Plan and pricing overview (Lyssna help)
4. Understanding quick vs. in-depth studies (Lyssna help)
5. Research panel (Lyssna)
6. Recruiting from the Lyssna panel for Interviews (Lyssna help)
7. User interviews (Lyssna)
8. Figma prototype test sections (Lyssna help)
9. Troubleshooting prototype tests (Lyssna help)
10. Live website test sections (Lyssna help)
11. AI follow-up questions (Lyssna help)
12. Lyssna MCP Server (Lyssna help)
13. Lyssna updates (changelog)
14. Lyssna’s customer referral program (Lyssna help)
15. From UsabilityHub to Lyssna: The how and why (Lyssna blog, 3 October 2023)
16. UsabilityHub announces rebranding, changes name to Lyssna (PR Newswire, 10 October 2023, third party)