Surveys are one of the most effective ways to obtain customer feedback — which is why it is so important for SMB owners to utilize free survey tools. Still, creating and distributing them can be a challenge.
Without the right software, your team can spend days, even weeks, trying to produce a perfect survey. Even then, the quality and formatting of your hand-made questionnaire may not be up to par with the standards of your industry.
Instead, your team needs a survey creation tool that can help them set up an effective feedback loop. To help you with your search, check out the list below for the best free online survey makers.
Number of Survey/Form Questions: Unlimited
Number of Responses Allowed: Unlimited Responses (up to a million CRM contacts allowed)
HubSpot's Form Builder is available as part of its free CRM. With this tool, you can create surveys that automatically transfer customer data directly into your CRM.
You can customize form questions using the drag-and-drop editor and choose from over a dozen question types. And, after the form is submitted, the survey can trigger notification emails that either follow-up with customers or alert your team to new leads.
Though HubSpot's Free Form Builder is already pretty powerful, more advanced versions that include additional customization options and automations are available through HubSpot's paid Marketing Hub plans.
Keep in mind that all paid Marketing Hub plans have the same advanced survey features.
Price: Marketing Hub Starter, $45/month; Marketing Hub Professional, $800/month, Marketing Hub Enterprise, $3,600/month.
Number of Survey/Form Questions: 10
Number of Responses Allowed: 40
With SurveyMonkey, creating a simple survey is easy and you can immediately share it via a link or embed code. This is a good option for smaller businesses with fewer clients, as the free version only allows each survey to include 10 questions and collect 40 responses.
It does, however, let your team create unlimited surveys, so you can send out as many 10-question forms as you would like.
In addition to its free basic plan, SurveyMonkey offers a variety of paid plans for both individuals and teams. Individual plans offer unlimited questions per survey, increased survey responses, data exports, customization, and more.
Team plans offer similar features as the Individual plans. They also allow teams to easily share and control who can edit and view, add contributor seats, add or reassign accounts, integrate with collaboration apps, and more.
Price: Individual Standard Monthly, $99/month; Individual Advantage, $35/month; Individual Premier, $119/month; Team Advantage, $29/user/month; Team Premier, $79/user/month; Enterprise, contact for quote.
Number of Survey/Form Questions: 10
Number of Responses Allowed: 100/month
SurveySparrow is an option that can grow with you, offering a free package, enterprise-level functionality, and everything in between.
At the free version, you get 10 questions per survey and 100 responses per month. You can also embed your survey on a page, and it integrates with HubSpot and many other solutions, making it a great complement to your stack.
SurveySparrow's paid plans offer unlimited survey questions, as well as additional responses and email shares per month. They also have enhanced survey sharing capabilities, data exports, increased contact limits, custom reporting, and more.
Price: Contact for quote.
Number of Survey/Form Questions: Unlimited
Number of Responses Allowed: 1000
A part of its broader conversion rate optimization toolkit, Lucky Orange Surveys help you connect your customer experience between visitor feedback and real visitor behavior.
The true power of this tool lies in its segmentation and triggering capabilities. Trigger one of four survey types based on segments like traffic source, browser type, or on-site behavior such as rage clicks or viewing a specific page. Once someone sees or completes a survey it updates their visitor profile so you can see a history of every interaction they've had with your site.
With a Lucky Orange subscription, you get unlimited surveys and custom triggers. Lucky Orange also has direct integration with HubSpot so installation is seamless and reliable.
Every Lucky Orange plan includes access to all of its features — including surveys. For those solely interested in Lucky Orange's survey tool, you're better off using the free version. However, if your business is also looking to increase pageviews on its website, you may want to consider its paid plans.
Price: Build, $14/month; Grow, $28/month; Expand, $58/month; Scale, $128/month.
Number of Survey/Form Questions: Unspecified
Number of Responses Allowed: 10
ProProfs Survey Maker comes with a basic free plan that helps you create unlimited surveys. This tool has an advanced reporting feature, which allows you to analyze your survey results graphically.
You can easily decode the survey details like who took the survey, the day or the month of survey completion, etc. Further, you can easily integrate it with third-party applications like MailChimp, Zendesk, Freshdesk, and so on.
To get more than 10 responses per month, you'll need to sign up for one of ProProfs' paid plans, which also include respondent email notifications, customizable welcome and thank you pages, and more.
Price: Essentials, $0.05/response; Premium, $0.10/response.
Number of Survey/Form Questions: Unlimited
Number of Responses Allowed: 200/year
Sogolytics is a comprehensive tool as far as free survey makers go. It allows for unlimited surveys like SurveyMonkey but also unlimited questions. You can ask your customers as many questions as your heart desires, utilizing over 20 different question types.
With Sogolytics, your team can collect 200 responses per year, so consider one in-depth survey or a series of shorter, targeted surveys.
Sogolytics' free consumer plan is a great option for SMBs that are just getting started. However, paid plans come with advanced features like design customizations, data exports, additional question types, and more.
Price: Consumer Plus, $25/month; Consumer Pro, $66/month; Consumer Premium, $99/month; Enterprise, contact for quote.
Number of Survey/Form Questions: 10
Number of Responses Allowed: 10/month
Here's a free survey maker that lets you customize your survey's design. Adding your brand's aesthetic can take it up a notch, and with Typeform, you can create unlimited custom surveys with no restriction on questions.
An especially cool feature is that you can embed responses into the text of your survey. So, if a respondent fills in their name in one question, you can refer to them by name in the following ones. This personalizes your surveys, creating a stronger relationship with your customers.
In addition to everything that comes with the free plan, Typeform's paid plans also include increased monthly response allowances, unlimited questions per survey, and more.
Price: Basic, $25/month; Plus, $50/month; Business, $83/month; Enterprise, contact for quote.
Number of Survey/Form Questions: Unlimited
Number of Responses Allowed: Unlimited
Survicate offers professional survey and NPS capability.It allows one active survey at a time with unlimited responses for up to seven days and unlimited questions, making it a great option for businesses expecting a quick turnaround on their surveys.
You can choose from more than 125 templates to make building your surveys easy, and Survicate integrates with HubSpot, Intercom, and more. The best part is that you can organize all your insights in one place with their Feedback Hub.
Though Survicate's free plan offers everything you need to get started, consider one of its paid plans if you are looking to publish multiple surveys at a time and need more advanced features, like custom design functionality and data exports.
Price: Feedback Starter, $89/month; Advanced Researcher, $129/month; Feedback Automation, $179/month; Team Insights, $269/month; Scale, $299/month.
Number of Survey/Form Questions: 30/survey
Number of Responses Allowed: 500/survey
Qualtrics' free survey tool allows you to have three active surveys at a time. It offers a drag-and-drop builder and 50+ pre-built templates for ease of use. In addition, it also has eight question types as well as advanced logic and branching for a personalized experience. You also get advanced reporting and data exports to help you uncover insights.
Qualtrics also owns another free survey platform, Delighted, which is perfect for quick and simple survey setups. Their free plan includes 1,000 monthly survey sends, 8 survey templates to choose from, and email, link, in-app, or website survey distribution. Paid Delighted plans include up to 20,000 monthly surveys sends for $449/month, billed yearly. Both free and paid plans are entirely self-serve.
Paid versions of Qualtrics' survey platform include unlimited active surveys, 22 question types, predictive intelligence, advanced data security, custom programing, and more.
Price: Contact for quote.
Number of Survey/Form Questions: Unlimited
Number of Responses Allowed: Unlimited
SurveyPlanet's free version allows for unlimited surveys, questions, and responses. This lack of restrictions makes it a perfect option for bigger businesses that are constantly looking to survey large audiences.
One limitation of the free version of this tool is that it can be difficult to export data unless you upgrade to the Pro version. Other advantages of SurveyPlanet's paid plans include custom themes, results filtering, and more.
Price: Pro, $20/month; Enterprise, $350/year.
Number of Survey/Form Questions: Unlimited
Number of Responses Allowed: Unlimited
Google Forms is another tool that offers unlimited surveys, questions, and responses. Since Google Forms doesn't have a paid version, all of its capabilities are available to users. This means access to a full range of custom design and data export options.
With Google Forms, it's easy to export data as it automatically syncs with Google Sheets. With the ability to incorporate free skip logic, add photos and videos, and include collaborators, Google Forms is a sure pick for smaller businesses who want a complete range of features within a simple interface.
Number of Survey/Form Questions: Unlimited
Number of Responses Allowed: 100
Alchemer offers 3 free surveys with unlimited questions on their free plan. However, you can only collect 100 responses per survey, so it's best to use this tool with very targeted groups, such as a specific internal team or a select group of customers who recently purchased a product.
Consider one of Alchemer's paid plans for unlimited surveys, increased response limits, custom survey branding and more.
Price: Collaborator, $49/user/month; Professional, $149/per user/month; Full Access, $249/user/month; Enterprise, contact for quote.
Number of Survey/Form Questions: Unlimited
Number of Responses Allowed: 1000
With SurveyLegend's free plan, you'll get three surveys, unlimited questions, and up to 1000 responses per survey with email sharing or embedding options. Plus, you can customize your survey's design, giving it enterprise-level quality without the cost.
Paid versions of SurveyLegend are a good choice for larger enterprises and are used by companies like Samsung and Airbnb. They include data exports, duplicate surveys, increased survey and response limits, and more.
Price: Pro, $15/month; Business, $25/month; Legendary, $65/month.
Number of Survey/Form Questions: 10
Number of Responses Allowed: 100/survey
The free version of Zoho Survey has the components you need to create an effective survey. With this option, you can create unlimited surveys, but each one is restricted to 10 questions and 100 responses.
It also features over 250 survey templates and real time responses. This is a good option for smaller businesses that need to create quick, short surveys without any extra pizzazz.
Paid versions of Zoho Survey offer a plethora of valuable features, including multilingual surveys, offline surveys, integrations, advanced reporting, and more.
Price: Plus, $25/month; Pro, $35/month; Enterprise, $75/month.
Number of Survey/Form Questions: Unlimited
Number of Responses Allowed: 2500 "Signals" (Where a "Signal" Is Equivalent to a Data Point)
With Crowdsignal, there's no limit to the number of surveys, polls, and ratings that you create. Developed by the same team that created WordPress, the interface is easy-to-use and includes 14 types of questions including multiple choice and Likert scales.
There's also the ability for conditional branching for multiple survey path possibilities. The free version is capped at 2500 data points that you can collect before an upgrade to the premium plan.
Crowdsignal's paid plans offer unlimited signal collection, report filters, audio file uploads, language packs, response notifications, and more.
Price: Premium, $15/month; Business, $45/month; Team, $29/user/month.
Number of Survey/Form Questions: 5
Number of Responses Allowed: 100/survey
Survs is not just great for creating surveys but also distributing them across multiple channels with sharing options for email, website embeds, social, via a link, and even manually.
The survey maker itself allows for skip logic, pre-filling answers, and piping (to help with personalization). You'll be able to create unlimited surveys and collect up to 100 responses for each one.
Companies needing more questions and responses per survey may want to consider one of Survs' paid plans. They include unlimited questions per survey and increased response limits as well as data exports, branded surveys, custom URL variables, and more.
Number of Survey/Form Questions: Unspecified
Number of Responses Allowed: 1000
This tool is unique in that it uses artificial intelligence to analyze what you type so that it can suggest the question type and design for you.
This makes the survey building process quick and easy. In addition, page logic, text piping, A/B testing, and the aesthetic nature of this option make it a dream to work with.
Consider a paid version of this tool if you are in need of unlimited survey responses and support for long running surveys.
Price: Essentials, $12.99/month; Pro, $25/month.
Surveying customers is just one piece of building a feedback system that will inform your customer experience efforts. Now that you have a tool to collect responses, you can start gaining valuable insights. And what you do with them is up to you.
Editor's note: This post was originally published in August 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.