User driven innovation (UDI) is a popular term in policy and corporate circles. However, it is not clear exactly what UDI means and how such practices are used across the spectrum of companies and over the innovation life cycle. We compared 58 UDI showcases in Finnish companies to analyse the diversity of UDI practices and their evolution over time. In almost half of the examined cases, the dominant mode of UDI changes at least once, and in some cases, up to three times.