SUPR-Q vs SUS vs UMUX-Lite: Which Should You Use?

By Philip Burgess | UX Research Leader

Choosing the right usability questionnaire can make a big difference in understanding how users experience your product. Three popular tools often come up in discussions: SUPR-Q, SUS, and UMUX-Lite. Each has its strengths and fits different research needs. This post breaks down what sets them apart and helps you decide which one suits your project best.

User completing a usability survey on a tablet

What Are SUPR-Q, SUS, and UMUX-Lite?

Before comparing, it’s important to understand what each questionnaire measures and how it works.

• SUPR-Q (Standardized User Experience Percentile Rank Questionnaire)

SUPR-Q focuses on overall user experience, covering usability, trust, appearance, and loyalty. It has eight items and provides percentile ranks to compare your product against others.

• SUS (System Usability Scale)

SUS is a classic tool with ten questions that measure perceived usability. It’s quick, reliable, and widely used across industries.

• UMUX-Lite (Usability Metric for User Experience - Lite)

UMUX-Lite is a shorter version of the UMUX, consisting of just two questions. It measures perceived usability and usefulness, making it very efficient for quick assessments.

How They Differ in Focus and Detail

Each questionnaire has a slightly different focus, which affects how you might use it.

• SUPR-Q

SUPR-Q goes beyond usability by including trust and appearance. This makes it useful when you want a broader view of user experience, especially for websites or brands where trust and visual appeal matter.

• SUS

SUS zeroes in on usability alone. It’s great for evaluating how easy a system is to use but doesn’t capture emotional or trust-related factors.

• UMUX-Lite

UMUX-Lite balances brevity and insight. It measures usability and usefulness, which are key drivers of user satisfaction, but with only two questions, it’s less detailed than the others.

When to Use Each Questionnaire

Choosing the right tool depends on your goals, timeline, and the depth of feedback you need.

Use SUPR-Q When You Want a Broader User Experience Picture

If your project involves a website or digital product where trust and appearance influence user decisions, SUPR-Q offers a more comprehensive view. For example, an e-commerce site might use SUPR-Q to understand not just if users find the site easy to use, but also if they trust it enough to make purchases.

Use SUS for Quick and Reliable Usability Testing

SUS is ideal when you need a well-established, reliable measure of usability. It works well in usability labs or remote testing when you want to benchmark your product’s ease of use against others. For instance, a software company testing a new app feature might use SUS to quickly gauge if users find it intuitive.

Use UMUX-Lite for Fast Feedback with Minimal Burden

UMUX-Lite shines when you want to minimize survey fatigue or when you need quick feedback from a large audience. It’s useful in agile environments where rapid iteration is key. For example, a startup releasing frequent updates might use UMUX-Lite to monitor usability trends without overwhelming users.

Dashboard showing usability survey scores and comparisons

Comparing Length and User Burden

Survey length affects response rates and data quality. Here’s how they stack up:

• SUPR-Q: 8 questions

• SUS: 10 questions

• UMUX-Lite: 2 questions

  
  

UMUX-Lite’s brevity reduces user effort but may miss nuances. SUS and SUPR-Q take longer but provide richer data.

Scoring and Interpretation Differences

• SUPR-Q provides percentile ranks, making it easy to see how your product compares to others in the same category. It also breaks down scores by subcategories like trust and appearance.

  
  

• SUS scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating better usability. It’s widely benchmarked, so you can compare your results to industry averages.

  
  

• UMUX-Lite scores also range from 0 to 100 but focus on usability and usefulness combined. It’s less common but growing in popularity for quick assessments.

  
  

Practical Examples

• A financial services website used SUPR-Q to identify trust issues that were not apparent in SUS scores. This helped them redesign their homepage to improve credibility.

  
  

• A mobile app developer used SUS to benchmark usability before and after a redesign, showing a 15-point increase in SUS score that correlated with higher user retention.

  
  

• An agile team used UMUX-Lite after each sprint to quickly track usability trends, enabling faster fixes without lengthy surveys.