Online surveys are a great way to engage your audience and get feedback from them. You can use online surveys in any number of ways, including to find out what topics your readers want to learn more about:
Create customer profiles? Choosing a specific reason for creating the survey will help you create more targeted questions, which in turn will generate answers you can use to make better marketing decisions. Asking the right questions. The questions you ask in your survey have a direct impact on how many people will take your survey, complete your survey, and fulfill your Call to Action at the end of the survey. Asking for feedback via letter or email can be an easy way to get surveys sent, but collating the data afterwards and looking for trends can be time consuming. Using a survey tool online can help you to do this more easily, allowing you to create your question set and sending a link to customers for them to complete the survey online.
- Get product feedback
- Conduct market research
- Get customer service feedback
- Gauge employee satisfaction
- Plus plenty of other uses!
Making an online survey or poll is easy – there are many great online survey creators out there to help you craft that super survey. Let’s take a look at your options!
When it comes to online survey tools, you can choose between the free or paid route. If you’re just looking to do some light audience research, you should get on just fine with the free survey makers available online.
Usually the paid versions offer added capabilities like:
- Survey logic. Survey logic uses information from previous answers to dictate the following questions. For example: Do you have a dog? If the user answers yes, the next question might ask what breed? If the user answers no, the breed question would be skipped.
- Export data. Many tools won’t let you export your data unless you use the paid version.
- Custom logo. Paid versions let you get rid of the tool’s logo and instead add your own.
- More question types. Most free survey creators offer plenty of question options, like multiple choice radio buttons, drop downs, rating scales, etc. Usually paid versions offer even more options, like the ability to select multiple options in a dropdown, star rankings, grids, etc.
Got it? We took a look at the many survey tools available online and evaluated them to come up with our eight favorite:
- SoGoSurvey
- Survey Monkey
- Typeform
- Google Forms
- Client Heartbeat
- Zoho Survey
- Survey Gizmo
- Survey Planet
Let’s explore the online survey tools in greater detail.
1. SoGoSurvey
We’ll begin with SoGoSurvey for one simple reason—as far as free survey tools go, you won’t find another that delivers so much value.
The SoGoSurvey UI.
SoGoSurvey is an end-to-end survey design, distribution, and analysis platform. Because it provides a full suite of functionalities, SoGoSurvey users will never need to find additional tools for survey-related tasks―even if they’re not paying a cent.
Here’s a (far from exhaustive) sample of the tasks you can complete with the free SoGoSurvey account plan:
- Unlimited surveys
- Unlimited questions
- 24 unique question types
- Three skip logic/page branching feebies
- Ability to embed surveys into emails and web pages
- Up to 200 respondents per year
- Data export functionality (Word documents and CSV)
Best of all, SoGoSurvey doesn’t put support behind a paywall. If you’re a free user and you encounter a problem, you’re entitled to 24/7 email customer service.
And if you’re looking to upgrade, here’s what you pay and what you get:
2. Survey Monkey
Probably the most well known name in the realm of online survey tools, Survey Monkey is an obvious contender.
In the free version, you’ll get:
- 10 questions
- 100 respondents
- 15 question types
- Light theme customization and templates
The system is well designed, pretty easy to use, and you can embed surveys.
The stinker: no exporting your data. Paid versions start at $26/month, with more questions, more respondents, and other features.
3. ProProfs Survey Maker
ProProfs Survey Maker is an online survey tool with advanced survey and analytical capabilities. With its minimalistic yet classic UI, it aims to delight both the user and the survey respondents.
The free version gives you access to:
- Unlimited Surveys
- Unlimited Responses
- Survey Scoring and Logic
- Professionally made templates
- Custom logo and branding
- Presentation ready reports
- Advanced analytics
The free plans also give access to over 100 professionally made survey templates that can be used in all surveys. These include templates for employee surveys, customer satisfaction surveys, NPS surveys, and more. Under the paid plan, ProProfs Survey Maker can be integrated with most major CRM and marketing tools.
When you sign up for a free trial of ProProfs Survey Maker, you have access to all the features for 15 days. After the trial period ends, you can choose from plans starting at $7 a month.
With loads of professionally made templates and a question bank with over 100+ question types, ProProfs Survey Maker is a comprehensive survey tool that is worth checking out.
3. Typeform
Typeform wins the championship belt for creative survey creation.
Typeform’s interface is elegant and its style is attractive, reflecting the company’s motto, “Asking questions should be easy, human, and beautiful.”
The free version, nicknamed the CORE plan, has a ton to offer, including:
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- Unlimited questions
- Unlimited answers
- Data export
- Custom design themes or choose from templates
- Basic reporting
These are some pretty great features to find in a free version, especially the unlimited questions and answers. While logic jumps aren’t available for CORE users, you can pipe respondent answers into the text of your survey (for example, if a user gives their name, you can call them by name in the following questions).
The Pro version, for $25/month, includes payment fields, a calculator feature for scoring and pricing, options to send respondents follow-up emails, etc.
With a beautiful design and hefty capabilities even in the free version, Typeform is definitely worth checking out.
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4. Google Forms
Google Forms is another feather in the cap of the wonder that is Google.
Some awesome features of Google Forms:
- Unlimited surveys
- Unlimited respondents
- Survey answers and data are automatically collected in Google Spreadsheets
- Lots of theme options
- Add your own custom logo
- Add images or videos
- Skip logic and page branching
- Imbed survey into emails or website
- Add collaborators
- 100% free!
Google Forms is the only free online survey tool that provides free skip logic other than SoGoSurvey. This will probably be the first pick for most.
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5. Client Heartbeat [Paid Only]
Client Heartbeat is a pricier survey option starting at $25/month. Honestly though, since the basic version only allows for 50 contacts, you’ll probably want the Gold version at $57/month.
That’s a pretty big price tag compared to the other survey creator tools we’ve been looking at. However, Client Heartbeat does offer some much more advanced reporting features.
You’ll get alerts to warn you of unhappy customers, see how your customer satisfaction compares against your industry benchmark, as well as a testimonial widget that can display endorsements on your website.
6. Zoho Survey
Zoho Survey is another decent free survey creator offering. The free version gives you:
- Unlimited surveys
- 15 survey questions
- 150 responses
You’ll get much more with the paid versions, which start at $39/month.
7. Survey Gizmo
Survey Gizmo creates some snazzy looking surveys, and they’re a great choice, even with the free version, so long as you don’t plan on getting a ton of respondents.
Survey Gizmo has a limited free version hidden towards the bottom of their pricing page. The free version offers:
- Unlimited surveys and questions
- 50 respondents
- Several basic question types
- Free templates
- Basic reporting
- Option to export to CSV
Paid versions start at $15/month and offer increasingly more features, like skip logic and piping, customized themes, multiple users, API, and data encryption.
The extra-pricey version offers integration with Salesforce, MailChimp, and other 3rd party software tools.
Consider checking out the full comparison chart between the free version vs. various paid options on Survey Gizmo to determine what plan will work best for you.
8. Survey Planet
The free version of Survey Planet is pretty robust, offering:
- Unlimited surveys
- Unlimited questions
- Unlimited respondents
- Survey theme options
- Survey embedding
The Pro version, at $15/month, offers plenty of extras. With pro you can remove Survey Planet branding, include printable survey results, and include in-question images. Biggest caveat – only Pro version can export to excel.
Which is the Best Online Survey Tool?
While the best online survey creator for you will ultimately depend on your business needs and budget, I’d recommend starting with Google Forms or SoGoSurvey.
They both offer much more than any other free survey tool.
If your emphasis is on aesthetics, I’d suggest checking out Typeform.
If you want some intense analytic action, consider Client Heartbeat.
All the online survey tools discussed above have their own advantages, so prioritize what you want in a survey tool and have at it!
Do you have any favorite online survey tools that we didn’t mention here? Share your top picks in the comments!