Free card sorting tool

UXbeam is card sorting software for information architecture, and the complete workflow is currently free to use. There is no cap on studies or participants, every participant sort is viewable, the full analysis is included, and results export at no cost. No credit card is required.

Several viable architectures can hide inside one aggregate result. Averaging them can produce a structure no participant actually proposed. UXbeam surfaces the distinct mental models separately, so you read each one on its own terms and decide which to build, or take two of them into a tree test and let task success settle the question. When participants group the cards similarly, that agreement is visible in their individual sorts.

Enough to defend a structure decision. You see which groups hold together across participants and which fall apart, how often any two items were paired, the category names your participants wrote in their own words, the items that never settled anywhere, and the distinct mental models when more than one is present. The dendrogram, similarity matrix, category labels, stable groups, ambiguous and outlier items, and every individual sort are generated from your study results in real time.

Yes, and only in UXbeam does it happen without leaving the study. Pick the grouping or the mental model you want to build on, open it with Sitemap +, and the structure arrives pre-populated in an editable sitemap. Rename, merge, move and remove until it is the architecture you intend to ship, then save it as a version. Select “Tree Test this” and the sitemap opens as a tree test with the structure already in place. Nothing is retyped into a second tool, and the link between the card sort and the test stays intact.

As much or as little as you want. For manual control, choose the grouping or mental model, open it with Sitemap +, and shape the structure yourself. For speed, use AI-assisted sitemap optimization to propose a stronger structure in one step, then keep, adjust or ignore what it puts forward. Naming works the same way: you can inspect the category labels your participants actually supplied, including how often each one was used, and UXbeam can recommend a consolidated label when the wording is scattered.

Use card sorting when you know what needs to be included but still need to decide how participants would organize it. Use tree testing once you have a structure and need to know whether participants can find what they need.

Everything the study produced. Every participant sort is viewable individually. Participant-by-card data downloads as CSV for your own analysis, and saved sitemap screens export as SVG for stakeholder review and design handoff. The full analysis stays live in UXbeam, so the evidence is still there when someone questions the structure six weeks later.