whatayarn is our starting recommendation for customer, event and team surveys. Free has no survey or response cap within fair use, includes rating, 0 to 10, matrix and ranking questions, and its Summary tab narrows every question to the people who gave a chosen answer or rating. Choose Google Forms for a quick survey in Sheets, Tally for a free survey with payments or integrations, Zoho Survey for a dedicated survey tool with a small free allowance, and QuestionPro, Alchemer or Qualtrics when you need research features and can pay for them. Stay with SurveyMonkey if its reports and panels are what you pay for.
Before leaving SurveyMonkey, check which collected answers you can view and export, and what a short subscription would cost. One user on a help desk forum, caught out by the free plan, wrote: “I don’t want to recreate the survey on another platform and ask everyone to redo it” (r/helpdesk (opens in a new tab)). Their numbers are from 2021, but the lesson holds: check what a free plan lets you see, not just what it lets you collect.
What SurveyMonkey’s plans limit
SurveyMonkey’s free Basic plan (opens in a new tab) allows unlimited surveys of up to 10 questions, with a limited number of responses you can view. SurveyMonkey shows the exact number only inside your account, so check it there rather than trusting a figure from another article. Exports, logic and fuller reporting need a paid plan.
The individual plans (opens in a new tab) we were shown:
| Plan | Price shown to us | Responses |
|---|---|---|
| Standard Monthly | A$209 a month, billed monthly | 1,000 a month |
| Advantage Annual | A$384 a year (A$32 a month) | 15,000 a year |
| Premier Annual | A$1,428 a year (A$119 a month) | 40,000 a year |
Extra responses cost A$0.15 each, and SurveyMonkey Audience (opens in a new tab) respondents are sold separately. The monthly option (opens in a new tab) counts responses across all your surveys, and team plans are annual only. If Basic can’t cover a survey, compare the Standard monthly offer in your account with an annual plan before you start collecting.
Compare seven SurveyMonkey alternatives
| Alternative | Choose it forThe reason to switch | Free plan and tradeoffWhat you give up compared with SurveyMonkey |
|---|---|---|
| whatayarnCompare groups and sort written answers | Unlimited surveys and responses within fair useMatrix, ranking and scale questions, a filterable Summary and AI columns for written answers.Review on Free | Not a research suiteNo panels, integrations or statistical testing. Creator is US$19 a month.Lightweight |
| Google FormsSimple surveys in Sheets | Free, with every answer visibleResponse charts, section branching and answers in Google Sheets.Simple surveys | Basic analysis and designPer-form response and data limits apply from September 2026; uploads need a Google sign-in.Limited reporting |
| TallyFree surveys with more control | Unlimited questions and responses on FreeWithin fair use, with logic, calculations and uploads without an account.Broad free plan | A general form builder, not a research platformSuits customer and event surveys. Pro is US$29 a month.General purpose |
| Zoho SurveyA dedicated survey tool | A dedicated survey toolPaid plans list skip logic, scoring, reports and integrations.Survey focus | Free: 10 questions, 100 responses per surveyWe could not confirm US dollar prices for paid plans.Small free allowance |
| QuestionProA paid research plan | Research features with paid capacityAdvanced is US$1,188 per user a year for 25,000 responses a year.Research tool | Free locks results after 200 responsesBeyond 200 per survey, all results need an upgrade, including the first 200.Check the free cap |
| AlchemerMonthly or annual survey licences | Unlimited surveys and questions on every licenceCollaborator is US$55 per user monthly or US$315 per user a year, with 75,000 account responses a year and monthly limits.Paid licence | No free plan, 7-day trialResponse pools are annual and per account.Trial only |
| QualtricsResearch with an institutional licence | Advanced research, if you already have accessCheck whether your university or employer holds a licence.Licence first | Free: 3 surveys, 30 questions, 500 responses in totalDeleted responses still count. Self-service research is US$5,040 a year for 1,000 responses in total.Small free allowance |
whatayarn: compare groups and read what people wrote
For customer, event and team surveys, whatayarn’s strength is comparing groups and reading explanations. Free includes unlimited surveys and responses within fair use and every question type, including rating, 0 to 10 scale, matrix and ranking questions. Conditional logic shows follow-ups only to the people they apply to, and calculated fields save a score with each response.
The free Summary tab shows results beside each question. Select an answer, such as a low rating, to narrow every other question to the people who chose it, then read what they wrote. Standard AI columns sort written answers by sentiment, urgency and whether they need a reply. On Creator, at US$19 a month or US$180 a year, Funnel shows which question people stop at.
Choose something else if you need survey panels, quotas, statistical significance tests or integrations: whatayarn has none of these today. Duplicate-response prevention and closing a survey automatically at a response count are coming soon. Uploads are capped at 5 MB per file within 100 MB of storage on Free. Rebuild your questions in the editor, or start from a template.
Google Forms: a quick survey in Sheets
For a short survey where you want every answer in a spreadsheet for free, Google Forms gives you response charts, section branching and answers in Sheets. From September 2026, Google limits each form (opens in a new tab) to 500,000 responses and 1 GB of form and response data, not counting uploaded files. Summaries and Sheets syncing can be restricted above 50,000 and 100,000 responses. Our Google Forms alternatives guide covers its other gaps.
Tally: a free survey with more control
Tally’s Free plan (opens in a new tab) has no question or response cap, within fair use, and includes conditional logic, calculations for scoring, and uploads without an account (opens in a new tab). It is a general form builder that suits customer, event and community surveys. Branding removal is on Pro (opens in a new tab), at US$29 a month or US$290 a year.
Zoho Survey: a dedicated survey tool
Zoho Survey’s free plan (opens in a new tab) allows unlimited surveys with up to 10 questions and 100 responses each. That is per survey, not per month. Its paid plans (opens in a new tab) list skip logic, scoring, reports, integrations and custom domains; we could not confirm their US dollar prices.
QuestionPro, Alchemer and Qualtrics: research features
QuestionPro (opens in a new tab) has a free Essentials plan, but read its limits (opens in a new tab) carefully: once a survey passes 200 responses, it keeps collecting but you need to upgrade to see any results, including the first 200. Advanced costs US$1,188 per user a year for 25,000 responses a year.
Alchemer (opens in a new tab) has no free plan, only a seven-day trial. Collaborator is US$55 per user monthly, or US$315 per user a year. Its 75,000 responses are an annual account pool with monthly limits, so check the monthly figure for a short campaign.
Qualtrics (opens in a new tab) offers a free account with three active surveys of up to 30 questions and 500 responses in total, counting deleted and retaken responses, with basic logic and exports. Its self-service research plan is US$5,040 a year for 1,000 responses in total. Before buying, check whether your university or employer already has a licence.
For a one-off survey, check whether a free allowance or a single month of Alchemer covers your questions, reporting and response volume.
When to stay with SurveyMonkey
Stay if you rely on its reporting, compare results over several years, or buy respondents through SurveyMonkey Audience. Before switching, rebuild one report you rely on and estimate the work of maintaining it. Our survey tools guide compares the reporting each category offers.
Keep your answers before you switch
Do this before you cancel or let a plan lapse:
Secure your SurveyMonkey data
5 checks
Export every survey’s raw responses, not just the summary charts. Exports need a paid plan, so do it before downgrading.
Download uploaded files separately. SurveyMonkey keeps them apart from the ordinary response export.
Save each question’s exact wording and answer options, so a repeated survey stays comparable.
Rebuild one report you rely on in the new tool, using the exported data, before you move anything else.
Budget for respondents separately. A panel or recruitment service is a different cost from the survey tool.
For writing the survey itself, see our survey question examples.
