Comparison
A privacy-first alternative to Dovetail & Condens
Dovetail and Condens are well-known, capable research repositories. If you're weighing your options, here's where Lens takes a different stance — especially on privacy, data residency, and grounded AI.
Lens at a glance
| Category | UX research repository & insight management |
|---|---|
| Hosting | EU region (cloud) — or run it on your own infrastructure |
| Data protection | Consent, anonymization, export & erasure; tenant isolation; encryption |
| AI | Assistant grounded only in your repository; bring your own Claude, ChatGPT, Grok or Gemini key |
| Insights | Evidence-linked — every finding traces to its interviews & participants |
| Testing | Unmoderated tests built in — share one link, responses never metered |
| Seats | Contributors are paid; viewers are unlimited and free |
| Access control | Role-based (admin, researcher, designer, product owner, viewer) |
Why teams choose Lens
Privacy and data residency by default
Research is personal data. Lens hosts in the EU, isolates every account, encrypts data in transit and at rest, and ships consent, anonymization, export, and erasure tooling — so GDPR requests are routine, not a scramble.
Run it on your own infrastructure
Lens can run on your own hosting, so customer data stays where your policy needs it. That's an option not every hosted-only repository offers.
AI that's grounded in your data
The assistant answers questions and suggests themes, opportunities, and duplicates using only your repository — never invented — and you bring your own AI key, encrypted at rest.
Research you collect, not just research you file
Dovetail and Condens analyse research you have already gathered. Lens also gathers it: unmoderated tests — tasks, first-click, preference, five-second, and embedded Figma prototypes — share as one link and need no account from participants. Results land next to the interviews that prompted the question, so a heatmap sits beside the quote that made you ask.
Everyone reads, nobody pays to read
Contributors take a seat; viewers are unlimited and free, so stakeholders never need a licence to read a finding. Test responses are never metered either — the number of participants you run is a research decision, not a billing one.
Evidence that travels
Insights are reusable and rated, and every one links back to the interviews and participants behind it — so findings don't die in a slide deck.
Compare Lens directly
Weighing a specific tool? Read the focused comparisons: Lens vs Dovetail and Lens vs Condens.
Comparing testing tools rather than repositories? See Lens vs Maze — Maze handles Figma prototypes more deeply; Lens keeps the results with the rest of your research.
Switching from Dovetail or Condens?
Most teams move over study by study: bring your participants across, add recent interviews and transcripts, and recreate your themes and personas — then point new research at Lens going forward. Start in the demo sandbox to see how your workflow maps before you migrate anything.
Dovetail and Condens are trademarks of their respective owners and are not affiliated with Lens. Product capabilities change often — check their websites for the latest details. This page describes Lens's own approach.
Ready to compare Lens on your own research?
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