Qualitative coding that never leaves
your machine.
NAVAL-QDA is a desktop app for coding interviews, documents, and media — build a node tree, run coding & matrix queries, and generate reports, all against a local SQLite database on your own computer.
From raw transcript to reportable finding
Every project moves through the same five stages — the icons below are the same ones on the NAVAL-QDA mark, because this is the whole point of the app.
Capture
Bring in what people actually said — interviews, focus groups, open-ended responses.
Import
.txt, .docx, .pdf, plus audio & video for transcription — text is indexed automatically.
Code
Select a passage, apply a node. Overlapping and non-contiguous coding, tracked to the character.
Organize
Build the node tree, merge or move codes, link sources to cases and attributes.
Analyze
Query, cross-tabulate, cluster sources by similarity, visualize with a resizable chart dashboard, and check inter-coder reliability before you write it up.
Everything a small qualitative project needs
Hierarchical coding
Build a node tree, apply codes to text selections, rename, merge, or move nodes, and track percent coded per source.
Project Explorer
Every project lives in one place — browse, switch, or create a project without losing your spot in the one you're working on.
Cases & attributes
Classify sources by case and attribute, and review everything at once in the classification sheet and framework matrix.
Analytic memos
Attach notes to a source, a case, or a node — capture the "why" behind a coding decision as you go.
Text & coding queries
Search, word frequency, coding queries, matrix coding queries, and coding comparison with agreement bands.
Interactive dashboard
Bar, pie, treemap, and word cloud charts you can resize and rearrange — click any chart element to filter the rest.
Similarity clustering
Compare sources by word usage or by coding pattern, with a similarity matrix and a dendrogram showing how they cluster.
Optional AI assist
Source summaries and child-code suggestions, pluggable to Gemini or Mistral via your own API key — off by default, and always reviewed before anything is applied.
Local-first by default
Project data lives in a local SQLite database on your machine. Nothing is sent anywhere unless you explicitly turn on the optional AI provider — and even then, only the content you're summarizing goes out.
Download
Get the free installer, the full user guide, or a set of ready-made sample transcripts to practice on.
NAVAL-QDA app
Free installers, no account needed. Windows (.exe), macOS (.dmg, Intel and Apple Silicon) and Linux (.AppImage, .deb). Open the latest release and pick the file for your computer.
Download installersSource code
Clone or fork the full Electron + React project. Build it yourself for Windows, macOS, or Linux.
View on GitHubUser guide (PDF)
17 pages: full feature reference, five end-to-end worked examples, a comparison with NVivo, and APA 7 citation guidance.
Download guideSample transcripts
Six ready-made interview transcripts that match the guide's worked examples — import them and follow along.
Download transcriptsWondering how this compares to NVivo?
Section 6 of the user guide walks through licensing, platform, coding model, queries, and collaboration — side by side, with no exaggeration in either direction.