An honest side-by-side between two different answers to the same problem. MAXQDA puts qualitative coding, quantitative description and integration inside one mature application. MM Studio does only the integration, and expects the coding and the statistics to happen elsewhere. This page explains what each choice costs you.
| MM Studio | MAXQDA | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | An integration platform; the qual and quant work happens in Quala, Quanta or your existing tools | A complete qualitative workbench with quantitative capability included |
| Integration in the design | The foundation: eight of nineteen workflow steps are integration steps | A strong feature set within a larger program |
| Joint displays | A primary output, built as a first-class object | Available, through matrices and mixed methods tools |
| Evidence-strength ratings | Yes; each integrated finding carries a rating | Not a built-in concept |
| Integrated reporting | APA-ready integrated report as the normal output | Export and reporting tools you assemble |
| Qualitative coding | Receives coded work; not where you code | Full coding environment, and very good at it |
| Statistics | Receives quantitative results; deeper statistics live in Quanta | Descriptive and inferential statistics in the Analytics tier |
| Field data collection | An iPad Field App for collecting in the field | Not part of the product |
| Where analysis runs | Locally | Locally, with cloud and team options |
| Teams | Not a multi-coder tool | Teamwork and intercoder agreement supported |
| Platform | Native Mac, plus web and iPad | Mac and Windows |
| Price | $15 a month or $129 a year | Per seat, with academic and student rates, and a higher tier for analytics |
MAXQDA is the more complete program, and if you want to buy one thing and be finished, buy MAXQDA. It codes, it charts, it quantifies, and it has been doing all of it well for a long time. MM Studio on its own does not code a single transcript.
The argument for the ReliCheck approach is about where integration sits. In a combined workbench, integration is one capability inside a large tool, and in practice it often becomes the last step before writing. In MM Studio it is the spine of the workflow, which is why joint displays, evidence-strength ratings and an integrated report are the outputs rather than by-products. Mixed methods studies are most often criticized for exactly this: two strands reported side by side without ever being genuinely joined.
The cost is honest and worth stating. You are running more than one application, and MM Studio depends on the coding and the statistics being done properly somewhere else, whether that is Quala and Quanta or the tools you already use.