Qualitative coding software

Code interview transcripts on a visual canvas.

QualCanvas is for students, academics and research teams who analyze interviews. Highlight a passage and tag it with a code. Then drag codes into themes and write memos beside them, in your browser.

See pricing →

Free plan with no card. New accounts get Pro features for 14 days after verifying their email.

The QualCanvas workspace

The QualCanvas workspace: a code list on the left, an interview transcript with highlighted passages in the middle, and the codes they are tagged with linked on the canvas.
The real app, opened on a sample study. Every participant and transcript in it is fictional.
Maya, 27 — on returning to graduate school after caregiving
Coming back to school felt like reaching for a self I'd put somewhere I couldn't quite find. The first week, I sat in seminar and listened to people use words I used to use, and I thought: I'm going to have to learn this language again. But it wasn't the language — the language was easy. It was that I'd been someone else for three years. Someone who got up at four in the morning to give my mother her medications.

Loading the interactive coder…

Highlight any span to apply a code. Your work persists for 30 days.

The workflow

From transcript to defensible theme.

  1. 1.0

    Import

    Bring transcripts, field notes, and consent letters into one canvas. PDF, DOCX, audio, video.

  2. 2.0

    Code

    Highlight a span, name a code. Move it. Merge it. Split it. The way real coding actually goes.

  3. 3.0

    Theme

    Drag codes into the patterns you're seeing. Watch the codebook breathe.

  4. 4.0

    Memo

    Tie a memo to a span, a code, a theme, or a case. Reflexivity lives in the margins.

  5. 5.0

    Export

    Out to QDPX for NVivo and ATLAS.ti. Or a Word report for your supervisor. Or to your institution's preservation archive.

What it does

Six things every qualitative researcher needs.

Auto-code

Ask an AI provider to suggest coding for a transcript, then accept or reject the suggestions. The model assists; you decide.

Intercoder κ

Run Cohen's κ or Krippendorff's α when two or more attributed coders have coded the same transcript.

Ethics & consent

Record consent status, work through an ethics checklist, and review the project's request audit trail.

Cases & cross-case

Group transcripts into cases. Compare coding across them in a framework matrix that updates as you code.

13 analysis tools

Run word clouds, co-occurrence, clustering, sentiment, treemaps, framework matrices and other focused analyses on demand.

Export QDPX

Take everything to NVivo or ATLAS.ti if you need to. Or hand a Word report to your committee. No lock-in by design.

13
Analysis tools
50,000
Words per transcript
40%
Academic discount
Worked example

A fictional public-health coding example.

See how a multi-coder reflexive thematic analysis can be organised and reviewed. Every name, transcript and result in this example is synthetic.

Read the story →
Built for careful research

Clear control at each step.

Human review

AI suggestions do not become final coding decisions until you review and accept them.

Portable work

Export coded work to common formats, including CSV and QDPX where your plan supports them.

Visible limits

Security, AI-provider use, data residency and unavailable institutional controls are documented before purchase.

Pricing

Free to start. Paid when your dissertation gets serious.

Free$0

No time limit

2 canvases · 10 codes · CSV export

Student$5/mo

or $48 a year

Verified academic email · All 13 tools · Auto-code

Pro$15/mo

or $144 a year

One researcher · Free viewers · All 13 tools · Auto-code

Team$39/mo

per seat, or $384 a year

Everything in Pro · Intercoder κ · Per-seat

Prices in US dollars. 40% off Pro and Team with a verified academic email. Applied automatically at checkout.

Compare all features →

Common questions

Questions and answers.

What is QualCanvas?
QualCanvas is qualitative coding software that runs in your web browser. You import interview transcripts, highlight passages, tag them with codes and arrange the codes into themes on a visual canvas. It is an alternative to desktop tools such as NVivo and ATLAS.ti.
Who is QualCanvas for?
Graduate students working on a thesis or paper, academics, research labs running multi-coder studies, and UX teams running interview research.
How much does QualCanvas cost?
The Free plan costs $0 and has no time limit. Student is $5 a month or $48 a year, with a verified academic email. Pro is $15 a month or $144 a year. Team is $39 per seat a month or $384 per seat a year. Prices are in US dollars. Faculty and staff get 40% off Pro and Team with a verified academic email. Every plan is listed on the pricing page.
Is there a free trial?
Yes. New accounts get Pro features for 14 days once the email address is verified. No card is needed. When the trial ends, the account moves to the Free plan unless you choose a paid plan. Nothing you made is deleted.
What is qualitative coding?
A research method where you label segments of qualitative data, such as interview transcripts, field notes or open-ended survey responses, to identify themes and build theory. It is the foundation of methods like thematic analysis, grounded theory and IPA.
How is this different from NVivo or ATLAS.ti?
Our prices are published on this site. Your codes, transcripts and themes sit on one visual canvas instead of behind menus. You can export to QDPX, the exchange format NVivo and ATLAS.ti read, whenever you want. See the sourced, side-by-side breakdown on our comparisons page.
Is my research data secure? Are you training a model on my transcripts?
QualCanvas uses HTTPS in transit and provider-managed encryption at rest. The production database is currently hosted in the US; an EU-resident database is not available. AI actions are opt-in and provider terms apply. The full posture is on /trust and the AI-specific policy is on /trust/ai.
How do I cite QualCanvas in a paper?
BibTeX, APA and Chicago entries are on /cite.

Start coding. Free.

Free plan with no card. 14 days of Pro features for new accounts. Cancel any time.