UiPath (via THINK Design) · Competitive Usability Study

Benchmarking a Developer Experience Against the Competition

Comparative Analysis Moderated Usability International Recruitment
36 Developers tested across 3 competing RPA platforms
~90% UiPath's average task completion, vs. ~40% for competitors
210→36 Applicants screened to a vetted, experience-tiered sample
Problem: UiPath needed evidence, not assumptions, about how its developer experience actually compared to competing RPA platforms.

Outcome: A rigorous head-to-head study confirmed UiPath's usability edge while surfacing seven concrete, prioritized recommendations to close its remaining gaps.
Read the full case study

Project Brief

THINK Design ran a competitive usability study for UiPath, evaluating its RPA (robotic process automation) developer tool against two competing platforms. The goal was a SWOT-level understanding of UiPath's developer experience relative to the field: not just whether it was good, but specifically where it won, where it was vulnerable, and what to fix next.

My Role

I was the lead researcher on this study for THINK Design. I designed the moderated study protocol, facilitated participant sessions, and synthesized the cross-tool findings into the SWOT analysis and prioritized recommendations delivered to UiPath's product team.

Approach

Key Findings

Task 1 completion rate by tool Recreated chart showing UiPath completed Task 1 at 100 percent, compared to 58 percent and 42 percent for two competing tools. TASK 1 COMPLETION RATE UiPath 100% Competitor A 58% Competitor B 42% Recreated from study data, not the original client chart.
UiPath users completed Task 1 at more than double the rate of either competitor.
100% task completion: UiPath had the highest completion rate on every single task, including full completion on Task 1, versus under 60% for the closest competitor.
Most positive ratings for UiPath across usability, usefulness, and desirability, ahead of both competing tools.
One real opportunity: a competitor's newly released version actually rated higher on visual attractiveness, a specific, addressable gap for UiPath's interface.
The study's only 1/5 rating went to a competitor, tied to unfamiliarity with a recently released version, a reminder that new-version confusion can tank scores independent of underlying product quality.
SWOT summary for UiPath Recreated SWOT quadrant summarizing UiPath's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats from the study. STRENGTH Stable, familiar interface;strong active communitysupport WEAKNESS Busy, panel-heavy interface;requires coding backgroundto use comfortably OPPORTUNITY Multiple workbench views;predefined flow templates;broader platform reach THREATS Ecosystem-bundled competitors;low-code alternatives gainingground
Recreated summary of the study's SWOT synthesis for UiPath (condensed from the full analysis).

Recommendations

Generic workbench view toggle concept Recreated wireframe illustrating the recommendation to offer both a list view and a flow view of an automation workflow. List View Flow View Recreated concept, not an actual UiPath screen.
Recreated concept for the workbench-view recommendation, not an actual product screen.