MAXDIFF ANALYSIS SURVEYS
Design and run MaxDiff Analysis surveys with simple setup and automated results
Rank any list of features, messages or ideas through best/worst voting. Results map to a visual chart automatically, with a simulator for testing what wins head to head, and one-click filtering to compare customer segments.
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Trusted by scaling startups, research agencies, and large enterprises alike
What is MaxDiff Analysis?
MaxDiff Analysis, also called best-worst scaling, is a survey method for ranking a list of options by importance or preference. It works by showing participants a 3-6 options at a time and asking them to pick their most and least preferred. Repeated voting calculates a relative importance score for every option.
Use it when...
Your list is long, 10 options or more, and each option is short enough to read at a glance: feature names, message lines, product benefits.
Best for...
Product teams prioritising a backlog, marketing teams testing which claim lands hardest, and researchers ranking customer problems across a whole user base in one survey.
Alternative methods...
Pairwise comparison when each option takes a sentence to read. Conjoint when options are attributes of one product. Order Rank for drag-and-drop lists of fewer than 10 options.
How MaxDiff Analysis works on OpinionX
Simple setup and sample size suggestions
Paste in your list of voting options and use the built-in calculator to see how many voting sets to show each participant for a robust overall result. OpinionX guides you through each step of the process.
Understandable scoring you can stand behind
Scores are calculated using transparent formulas, results are displayed in understandable charts, export all votes as a simple spreadsheet, and invite unlimited colleagues to your interactive dashboard.
Customize MaxDiff to fit your research
Rename the "Best" and "Worst" voting labels, change the number of options shown per voting set, choose how many voting sets for each participant, and more with OpinionX’s survey builder for MaxDiff Analysis.
Run MaxDiff alongside your other methods in one survey
OpinionX gives you full survey design flexibility by treating MaxDiff as a normal question type, allowing you to use it freely with methods like conjoint analysis and Van Westendorp in the same survey.
Test a MaxDiff survey on OpinionX
👇 Vote on the interactive demo below and view the interactive results at the end 👇
All the MaxDiff reports you need, generated automatically from your survey results
Easily switch between a range of charts that are instantly available, no manual configuration required.
Preference Chart
Every option's score as a bar chart, with the best and worst percentages shown behind each one. The default view.
Survey Scores
The same ranking as a data table: best %, worst %, score and appearances for every option, ready to export.
Scenario Simulator
Pick a shortlist from your options and see the share of participants who would choose each one, first choice only.
Segments Tab
Score for every option in every segment, in one heatmap crosstab, so two customer groups' priorities sit side by side.
Ready to run your first MaxDiff survey?
MaxDiff is on every plan, with no fee per study
✓ 25 participants per survey
✓ Unlimited surveys
✓ Unlimited researcher seats
✓ Full analysis & exports
✓ Unlimited participants per survey
✓ Unlimited researcher seats
✓ Advanced analysis & data enrichment
✓ Custom exports
✓ SAML SSO & MFA
✓ Private team folders
✓ White-labelling
✓ Procurement & prepaid experts
Learn more about MaxDiff Analysis
FAQ
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Yes. MaxDiff Analysis is also known as best-worst scaling and maximum difference scaling, all of which are the same research method available on OpinionX.
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A MaxDiff survey might ask "When you choose a new smartphone, which matters most and which least?" and include a list of options like color, screen size, battery life, brand, price, memory, camera quality, accessories. A MaxDiff survey will break this list of options into subsets, like “color, memory, brand” for a survey participant ti pick the most and least important attribute.
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We use the following formula as a rough guideline for MaxDiff survey robustness → (200 × options) ÷ (options per voting set × sets per participant) = target number of participants. When setting up your MaxDiff survey on OpinionX, click the calculator icon and you can edit these variables to design the correct survey for your research project.
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OpinionX is free for surveys of up to 25 participants. Premium plans for unlimited participants start from $900/year. Other research platforms charge considerably more, such as Conjointly ($2895/year) and Qualtrics ($5040/year), as of September 2026.
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Most “form” tools do not offer MaxDiff Analysis. There is no MaxDiff question type on Typeform, Google Forms, Microsoft Forms, Jotform, Tally, etc. OpinionX is one of the most popular survey platforms as it offers MaxDiff on its free tier and premium plans are affordable for small teams or SMEs.
Create a MaxDiff survey in minutes
If you need a hand getting started, book a free 30-minute consultation with one of our research experts.