Three Popular Online Survey Tools – What They Give For Free by Michaela Mora

SurveyMonkey is probably the most known online survey tool among researchers and non-researchers. Since my last post comparing SurveyGizmo, Beacon and Qualtrics, many have requested to include SurveyMonkey’s paid version in a comparison with other popular survey tools. To compare equivalent options, I chose their Platinum Plan for this comparison, which includes all the featuresSurveyMonkey has to offer. I kept SurveyGizmo andQualtrics for this comparison since these also have a large number of users.

I also kept the list of features from the prior comparison because these are still some of the most often used features in moderate to advanced survey programming.

Since my last post both SurveyGizmo and Qualtrics have continued to improve and both have an impressive list of features, but the price tag for Qualtrics is still high and can only be afforded by large organizations.

SurveyGizmo has changed its interface to make it friendlier and continue to be the tool that offers the most value for your money among these three online survey tools.

SurveyMonkey has increased is price over the years and its best plan now has a comparable price toSurveyGizmo, however it is still well behind in the basic capabilities it offers. Some of them have not been improved in nearly 10 years. For more on this, check the post “5 Things SurveyMonkey Can’t Do.” 

General Overview
Number of surveys	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited
Number of questions	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited
Number of responses	Unlimited	Unlimited	Depends on license
Number of email invitations	Up to 500k	Unlimited	Unlimited
Multi-page surveys
Account users	Up to 20 users	1	Depends on license
Question types	32	15	90+
Graphic survey templates	37	51	55
Real-time reporting
Data exporting
Data deletion	Never	Never	If account is closed
Supports all languages
Price	$75/mo. or $810/annual subscription	$65/mo. or $780/annual subscription (Platinum Plan)	From Free trial. $5,000/year
Question Types
Textbox – Short text
Textbox – Numeric Format Validation
Textbox – Email Format Validation
Essay – Long text
Multiple text fields
Table of text fields
Checkbox
Table of checkboxes
Radio button
Table of radio buttons
Bipolar, semantic differential
Drop-down menu
Tables of dropdown menus
Ranking - Table format
Ranking - Drag & Drop
Ranking - Top X# of items
Ranking - Stars
Constant sum
Continuous sum
Constant sum table
Descriptive Text/Image
Image choice (radio button/checkbox)
Video
Contact information form
Date format
Heatmap
Image/Text Highlighting
Image/Text Highlighting
MaxDiff format
Card Sorting
Stack Sorting
Question/Page timer
File upload
Captcha
Drill down
Combination of different question types in one table
Survey Formatting
Customizable font family
Customizable font size
Customizable font color
Customizable background colors		Limited to pre-set options
Add/Edit Options in Bulk
Change orientation of labels and options
Change position of labels
Editable Next, Submit, and Close buttons text
Editable Next, Submit, and Close buttons graphic elements (color, size, borders)
Optional question numbering
Fully Customizable XHTML/CSS templates
Mobile survey compatible templates
Can create own CSS templates
Auto-format as currency, percentage, or a whole number
Editable error messages
Change length, height, and width of textbox or table
Editable survey width
Editable survey after deployment		Limited
Min and Max options for numerical answers
Reorder Questions
Randomize the answers
Select which answers to randomize
Randomize columns in a table/matrix question
Randomize questions within a page
Randomize pages
Set how many checkboxes someone can check
Optional survey tool's logo			Depends on license
Add your own logo /White label
Create max word size
Separate answer titles and reporting values
Question grouping in blocks
Logic
Question-based skip logic
Page-based skip logic
Skip logic based on hidden variables
Unconditional skip logic
Show and hide questions based on logic
Question trigger on the same page
Pipe answer titles or reporting values from a question into another
Repeat questions based on answers to previous questions
Repeat pages based on answers to previous questions
Add values from a URL variable as question options
Add custom script / Javascript
Quiz score with tally
Quiz score with pass/fail
Make questions required
Make the questions soft-required
Random assignment of respondents to different paths/cells/blocks
Quota-based logic
Loops
Report Creation Options
Real-time online report
Crosstabs	Counts, Percentages, Means	Counts, Percentages	Counts, Percentages, Means
Statistical Testing			Chi-Square, T-Test, Test of Proportions
Graphing – Use a bar graph, pie chart or spreadsheet to view answers
Export data to Excel, CSV
Export data to SPSS
Browse all responses individually
Can change titles and internal report values
Clear all responses
Share results with others via a link with or without a password
Share results with all respondents
Add a sharing/bookmarking button
Export report to PDF
Export report to Word
Export report to Excel
Export report to E-mail
Export report to Power Point
Survey Deployment
Generate test data
Send email using survey tool
Send reminders using survey tool
Set a cutoff date and time
Set maximum response count
Enable IP blocking
Redirect browser
Link to panel providers		Linked to own panel
Pass data through survey link
Add a unique survey identifier to each link
Embed surveys into a Webpage
Embed surveys using an iFrame
Collect data in offline mode
Collect data in Kiosk mode
Convert link into QR code
JavaScript option embed surveys using JavaScript
Question-based quotas
Close survey based on total quota
Save and Continue
Other Survey Options
Recode values of answer options
Pipe in values from answered questions into later questions' answers
Pipe in values from answered questions into later questions' text
Upload images to internal library
Embed images and media via external link
Prevent search engines from indexing survey
Thank You page
Add a “Close” button to Thank You page
Back Button Optional
Progress Bar Optional
Create hidden variables
Compliance with Section 508 guidelines of the Rehabilitation Act
Export survey to PDF
Export survey to Word
Import SurveyMonkey surveys
Create mobile-compatible surveys
Import data from other data sources
Polls
Poll Types	Single choice, Image Choice, Ranking		Single choice, Multiple Choice
Poll result sharing
Vote protection	By IP address, by cookies, or none		On/Off
Poll Widget sizing
3rd Party Integration
Open API access			Available for certain accounts
Facebook integration
Twitter integration
MailChimp integration
Salesforce.com integration		Via Clicktools
iModerate integration
ClickTale integration
ExactTarget Surveys integration
Freshbooks Surveys integration
Jive Surveys integration
Eventbrite integration
GoDaddy integration
Twilio SMS integration
Cint Panel integration
WhatUsersDo Testing integration
Support
Support via email
Support via phone
Support – FAQ, Tutorials

Price and features are common criteria used to decide which online survey tool to use but I find the relationship between both criteria most useful, unless you are looking for specific capabilities.

SurveyMonkey doesn’t live up to its higher price when compared to SurveyGizmo. The latter doesn’t have certain features offered by Qualtrics, but it has a very reasonable price for the large number of relevant features it offers.

As I said before, no online survey tool is perfect. All have quirks when you get into the details. The decision to use one or the other should be based on how well they meet the needs of the project you are working on and what the budget is.