What Dedoose does

Dedoose is a cloud-based SaaS platform for qualitative and mixed methods research data analysis, operated by SocioCultural Research Consultants, LLC out of Manhattan Beach/Redondo Beach, California. Founded in 2006 by UCLA social science researchers Eli Lieber and Thomas S. Weisner to address the lack of affordable, collaborative tools for geographically distributed mixed-methods teams, the platform supports coding and analysis of interviews, focus groups, documents, survey data, video, audio, images, and web/social content by academic, applied, and commercial researchers. Its product portfolio centers on the single Dedoose web application, complemented by the Sage-published 'Data Analysis Using Dedoose' textbook.

The platform is hosted on Microsoft Azure with mirrored Amazon S3 storage for redundancy, and supports over 40 statistical analysis chart types alongside mixed-methods integration. Differentiating features include real-time multi-user collaboration included at no extra cost, multilingual UI (Spanish, Chinese, German, French), an Auto-Code Wizard for keyword-driven coding, Text Analytics for word frequency, and a redesigned Codes Workspace (Dedoose 10, March 2025). The platform holds SOC 2 Type 2, HIPAA, ISO 27001, ISO 27018, FedRAMP Moderate, GDPR, and CCPA certifications; security is audited annually by Leviathan Security Group. Authentication supports partial- and full-site SSO for Premier and Enterprise tiers.

Dedoose operates a hybrid go-to-market combining product-led self-serve (30-day free trial, monthly/annual Individual and Group subscriptions), enterprise field sales for Premier/Enterprise contracts with SSO and IMMR training, and a community-led Certified Trainer network delivering localized training worldwide. Revenue derives primarily from tiered subscription recurring revenue, with adjacent services revenue from the IMMR training partnership. Customers span academic researchers, market/UX and health researchers, social scientists, students/teachers, and government/public policy and healthcare buyers. The firm is founder-owned, bootstrapped, with approximately 12 employees and thousands of global users.

Name

Dedoose

Legal name

SocioCultural Research Consultants, LLC

Website

https://dedoose.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2006

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Dedoose is a cloud-based SaaS platform that enables academic and applied researchers to collaboratively code and analyze qualitative and mixed methods data—including text, audio, video, and survey responses—serving social scientists, health researchers, and market researchers globally.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Manhattan Beach

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Subscription Plans: Tiered subscription model with Individual, Group, and Organizational plans. Options include monthly, annual, or custom multi-year agreements. Pricing tiers include Starter, Premier (with SSO options), and Enterprise levels.
2. Certified Trainer Program: Network of certified trainers who provide training services to users. Trainers receive free Dedoose access and are promoted across company platforms, generating referrals and expanding reach.
3. IMMR Partnership Training: Premier and Enterprise clients receive IMMR Capacity Building and Applied Methods Training as part of their subscription, creating value differentiation for higher tiers.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Dedoose is a cloud-based SaaS web application that enables researchers to analyze qualitative and mixed methods research data including interviews, focus groups, documents, survey responses, video, audio, images, and social media. The platform provides real-time multi-user collaboration, interactive visualizations, integrated statistical analysis (ANOVA, Chi-Square, correlations), automated coding tools, and multilingual support, sold via tiered Individual, Group, Premier, and Enterprise subscriptions. A companion Sage-published textbook supplements the software as a learning resource.

Product overview

Dedoose is a single cloud-based web application (Software as a Service) for qualitative and mixed methods research data analysis. The core product is the Dedoose platform itself—a collaborative, cloud-based application that enables researchers to code and analyze interviews, focus groups, survey data, video, images, audio, social media, and documents. The product portfolio also includes the companion textbook 'Data Analysis Using Dedoose: A Practical Approach for Research Across the Social Sciences' (2nd Edition) published by Sage, which serves as a learning resource for users. Dedoose is offered through subscription plans (Individual, Premier, Enterprise) with tiered features including Single Sign-On (SSO) integration available for enterprise-tier clients.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Dedoose Cloud-based SaaS web application for qualitative and mixed methods research data analysis. Enables researchers to code, analyze, and collaborate on interviews, focus groups, documents, survey data, video, images, audio, and social media in real time. Includes Auto-Code Wizard, Text Analytics, interactive visualizations, and integrated statistical analysis (ANOVA, Chi-Square, T-Test, correlations). Sold via Individual, Group, Premier, and Enterprise subscription tiers.
• Data Analysis Using Dedoose: A Practical Approach for Research Across the Social Sciences (Textbook, 2nd Edition)

Quantifiable outcome

• 30-day free trial with no credit card required
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments8 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• Institute for Mixed Methods Research (IMMR)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIMMR is an interdisciplinary network of scholars specializing in qualitative and mixed methods research. Scholars from IMMR deliver webinars, courses, and research camps that incorporate Dedoose into the research process. Dedoose Premier and Enterprise clients receive IMMR Capacity Building and Applied Methods Training throughout the year. Dr. Tiffany Monique Quash serves as Director of Academic Engagement at both Dedoose and IMMR.
• Leviathan Security GroupsupportingTechnology or IntegrationThird-party security firm that performs annual red-team penetration testing audits of the Dedoose platform. Security verification of the login system has been conducted by Leviathan.
• Microsoft AzurecoreTechnology or IntegrationPrimary cloud hosting provider for Dedoose. All project data is backed up nightly on Azure servers with geo-redundant storage. Azure infrastructure provides SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, and FedRAMP compliance.
• Amazon S3supportingTechnology or IntegrationSecondary storage provider for data redundancy. Azure storage volumes are encrypted and mirrored in real-time to Amazon S3 storage volumes in the same geographic region for added data protection.
• Sage PublishingsupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerPublisher of 'Data Analysis Using Dedoose: A Practical Approach for Research Across the Social Sciences' textbook. Sage provides promotional support for the textbook with 2 months of free Dedoose access offered with purchase.
• Authorize.netsupportingTechnology or IntegrationPayment services provider handling financial transactions on the Dedoose website and application. Used for processing payments, refunds, and handling complaints related to transactions.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Atlas.ti: Atlas.ti is a long-standing qualitative data analysis workbench serving academic and commercial researchers. It competes directly with Dedoose on qualitative coding, mixed methods support, and multimedia analysis, with growing AI features in its recent releases.
• Lumivero (NVivo): Lumivero is the parent company of NVivo, the dominant Windows-based qualitative data analysis software used across academia. NVivo competes head-to-head with Dedoose for the same academic and social science researcher customer base, with deeper installed base but historically weaker native cloud collaboration.
• MAXQDA: MAXQDA is a qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods data analysis tool widely used in European academic and social science research. It competes directly with Dedoose on mixed methods workflows, particularly in non-English markets that overlap with Dedoose's multilingual footprint.

Emerging players

• Quirkos: Quirkos is a lightweight, visual qualitative analysis tool targeting academic and market researchers. It is a smaller, lower-priced alternative to Dedoose and NVivo, appealing to individual researchers and small teams with simpler workflows.
• Dovetail: Dovetail is an AI-powered customer research and insights platform serving UX, product, and market researchers — a primary buyer segment for Dedoose. It overlaps on qualitative analysis workflows (coding, tagging, thematic synthesis) and represents the AI-native evolution of the category.
• Taguette: Taguette is an open-source, web-based qualitative research tool for coding and highlighting text documents. While smaller in scope than Dedoose, it addresses the same academic qualitative-research use case with a free, community-driven model that competes on price-sensitive buyers.
• Elicit: Elicit is an AI research assistant that uses large language models to find, read, and synthesize academic papers. It represents the AI-native disruption of academic research workflows that could pressure traditional qualitative tools like Dedoose, particularly for literature review and synthesis use cases.

Broad incumbents

• Qualtrics: Qualtrics is a broad experience management platform with deep market research and survey capabilities. While it does not specialize in qualitative coding the way Dedoose does, it competes for the same market and UX research budgets at large enterprises.
• UserTesting: UserTesting (now part of Merative) is an enterprise UX research platform for capturing and analyzing user feedback. It competes with Dedoose for UX and market research buyer budgets and offers video-based analysis that overlaps with Dedoose's multimedia capabilities.
• SurveyMonkey: SurveyMonkey is a broad survey and market research platform serving enterprise and academic customers. It overlaps with Dedoose in the market research and survey analysis space, though it lacks deep qualitative coding capabilities.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/dedoose
• Facebookfacebook.com/Dedoose
• Instagraminstagram.com/dedoose
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/dedoose

Compliance8 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Dedoose