Best Survey Tools for Small Business
Most small businesses can start with a survey tool they already have. Google Forms costs nothing, publishes no response ceiling and includes branching on the free plan, and Microsoft Forms gives a free personal account 200 responses per form with branching built in.
Beyond those two defaults, the twelve tools pull in two directions. SurveyPlanet (unlimited responses), Crowdsignal (up to 2,500) and SurveyLegend (1,000 per survey) give away volume and hold back exports or branching. Typeform goes the other way: 10 responses a month free, $39 a month for Basic, and a one-question-at-a-time format built for finishing rates rather than bulk. Zoho Survey sits between them with the cheapest paid plan outside the Google and Microsoft seats, US$7.42 a month billed annually.
Our picks
- Branching surveys for nothing: Google Forms. Free with any Google account, no published response ceiling, and branching included on the free plan.
- Cheapest paid survey plan: Zoho Survey. The Basic plan is US$7.42 a month billed annually, with unlimited questions and 12,000 responses per survey a year.
- High volume, read in the app: SurveyPlanet. The free account allows unlimited surveys, questions and responses; exports start on Pro at $20 a month.
- When the look of the survey matters: Typeform. One question at a time, with logic even on free, though free stops at 10 responses a month.
- Rating support conversations: Nicereply. Sends CSAT, CES and NPS surveys after support tickets; Starter is $59 a month billed annually for 3 users.
At a glance
| Option | Free plan responses | What's free | Cheapest paid plan | What the paid plan includes | Branching logic |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free, no published limitsource | Unlimited surveys and 10 questions per survey; the response limit is not publishedsource | $39 a month for Advantage, billed annually ($468 a year)source | 1 user, unlimited surveys and questions, 15,000 responses a yearsource | Paid plans onlysource | |
| Free, no published limitsource | The whole tool, as part of Google's free Docs editors suite; no response ceiling is publishedsource | $7 per user a month for Google Workspace Business Starter (introductory $5.60 for the first 3 months)source | Business email and 30 GB of pooled storage per person; Forms itself stays uncappedsource | Included on the free plansource | |
| 100 to 999source | 200 responses per form on a free personal account, and up to 200 questions per formsource | $7.00 per user a month for Microsoft 365 Business Basic, paid yearlysource | 1,000 responses per form, plus the rest of Microsoft 365source | Included on the free plansource | |
| Under 100source | Unlimited forms, but only 10 responses a month across all of themsource | $39 a month for Basic ($468 a year, or about $28 a month billed yearly)source | 100 responses a month and 1 usersource | Included on the free plansource | |
| 100 to 999source | 5 forms and 100 submissions a month, with every feature includedsource | $34 a month for Bronze, billed annuallysource | 25 forms, 1,000 submissions a month, 1 usersource | Included on the free plansource | |
| 100 to 999source | Unlimited surveys with 10 questions each and 100 responses per surveysource | US$7.42 a month for Basic, billed annuallysource | Unlimited questions and 12,000 responses per survey a yearsource | ||
| Under 100source | 75 responses a quarter, 3 active surveys, 10 questions eachsource | $19 a month for Basic, billed yearlysource | 2,500 responses a year and 1 usersource | ||
| 100 to 999source | 200 responses per survey, 30 question types, and logicsource | $99 per user a month for Advanced, billed annuallysource | 25,000 responses a year, 38 question types, 1 usersource | Included on the free plansource | |
| 1,000 or moresource | 3 surveys, 1,000 responses each and 1 logic flow, but no exportssource | $15 a month for Pro, billed annually ($170 a year), or $19 monthlysource | 20 surveys, 5,000 responses each, 1,000 exported, 10 logic flowssource | Included on the free plansource | |
| 1,000 or moresource | Unlimited surveys and questions, up to 2,500 responses, with Crowdsignal brandingsource | $15 a month for Premium, billed annually, or $25 monthlysource | Unlimited responses, response exports and a Google Sheets syncsource | Paid plans onlysource | |
| Unlimited responsessource | Unlimited surveys, questions and responsessource | $20 a month for Pro, or $180 a yearsource | Result exports to Word, Excel, CSV, JSON or PDF, plus branching and themessource | Paid plans onlysource | |
| Free trial onlysource | A 14-day trial with no credit card; there is no free tiersource | $59 a month for Starter, billed annually ($79 monthly)source | 100 responses a month, 3 users, CSAT, CES and NPS surveyssource |
Free response limits are counted in different units
The free ceilings in this table do not share a unit. Typeform (10) and Jotform (100) count per month, SurveySparrow counts 75 per quarter, Zoho Survey (100), QuestionPro (200) and SurveyLegend (1,000) count per survey, Microsoft Forms counts 200 per form, and Crowdsignal's 2,500 is a total. So Zoho's 100 can go further than Jotform's 100 for a business running several small surveys, because each survey gets its own allowance.
Two rows need a second look. SurveyMonkey does not print its free response limit and asks you to sign up to see it. SurveySparrow's own pricing page disagrees with itself, with the plan card saying 75 a quarter and the FAQ saying 50 a month.
What $39 a month buys at SurveyMonkey versus Typeform
SurveyMonkey Advantage and Typeform Basic both list at $39 a month, and they are not the same purchase. SurveyMonkey's figure is billed annually and covers 15,000 responses a year for one user; Typeform's covers 100 responses a month, or about $28 a month if you pay for the year. Further down the price list, SurveyLegend and Crowdsignal both start at $15 a month billed annually, SurveySparrow at $19 for 2,500 responses a year, and Jotform at $34 for 1,000 submissions a month. QuestionPro's next step is the steep one: $99 per user a month for Advanced.
For Google Forms and Microsoft Forms the cheapest paid plan is a Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 seat at $7 per user a month. That mostly buys business email and the rest of the suite; Google's Forms stays uncapped either way, and Microsoft's per-form limit rises from 200 to 1,000 responses.
Exports and branching on the free plans
A big free allowance often comes with the data locked in. SurveyLegend's free Starter exports zero responses, SurveyPlanet keeps exports to Word, Excel, CSV, JSON or PDF behind Pro, and Crowdsignal's free plan allows only limited export. Branching splits six to three: free on Google Forms, Microsoft Forms, Typeform, Jotform, QuestionPro and SurveyLegend (one logic flow per survey), paid-only on SurveyMonkey, Crowdsignal and SurveyPlanet.
The options in detail
SurveyMonkey
The best-known survey platform, and the one most people already have an account for. The free Basic plan gives unlimited surveys and 10 questions each, but the response limit is the one number SurveyMonkey will not print: you have to sign up to see it. Paid individual plans swing hard on billing period, with Advantage at $39 a month billed annually the cheapest sensible option and the monthly Standard plan costing three times that. Team plans need a minimum of three seats, so a two-person business is pushed towards individual accounts. Its pull is the template library, the analysis tools, and the option to buy responses from its Audience panel when you have no list of your own.
Google Forms
Free with any Google account and part of the Docs suite, which makes it the first survey tool most small businesses reach for. It covers the basics properly: as many forms as you like, sections that branch on an answer, and results that drop into a Google Sheet where you can pivot them. What you do not get is survey-specific polish: no response quotas or panels to buy, little design control, and no built-in NPS or CSAT reporting. Paying only comes into it if you want Google Workspace for business email and admin controls, which is a different purchase that happens to include Forms.
Microsoft Forms
The equivalent default if your business already runs on Microsoft 365: free with a personal Microsoft account, bundled into every business plan, and simple enough that anyone can put a form together in minutes. The catch is the ceiling: a free account's form stops at 200 responses, and that is a per-form cap rather than a monthly allowance, so a popular survey simply closes rather than billing you. Branching is built in, results open in Excel, and quizzes with auto-marking come free, which is why schools use it heavily. For anything beyond straightforward collection, Microsoft points you at Dynamics 365 Customer Voice instead.
Typeform
Typeform asks one question at a time, and the format is why its completion rates are the selling point: people finish a Typeform when they would abandon a wall of fields. The free plan is real but tiny, 10 responses a month across every form you own, so any live customer survey pushes you onto Basic at $39 a month (about $28 a month if you pay for the year) and its 100 responses a month. Logic and branching are included even on free, so you can build a properly conditional survey before spending anything. It is the right choice when presentation matters more than volume, and the wrong one when you need thousands of cheap responses.
Jotform
Jotform is a form builder that surveys well rather than a survey platform proper, and its free Starter plan is unusual in withholding no features at all: you get everything, capped at 5 forms and 100 submissions a month. Paid plans are priced by volume rather than seats, from $34 a month for Bronze and 1,000 submissions. It is strongest where surveys shade into operations, taking payments, collecting files, signing documents, and it has the deepest template library of anything here. Reporting is simpler than the research platforms', so it suits businesses who want the answers in a spreadsheet rather than a dashboard.
Zoho Survey
The cheapest credible paid plan in this table at US$7.42 a month billed annually, and the obvious pick if you already run Zoho CRM, Desk or Campaigns, since responses land in those without extra work. Its limits are counted per survey rather than per account, so ten small surveys each get their own allowance, which suits a business running separate feedback loops for separate things. The free plan is modest at 10 questions and 100 responses per survey a month. The wider Zoho pattern applies: the price is low, the interface is dense, and features are spread across a long ladder of plans.
SurveySparrow
Built around conversational, chat-style surveys and a customer-experience suite for NPS, CSAT and CES, so it suits a business running feedback continuously rather than sending one questionnaire a year. The forever-free plan is small at 75 responses a quarter across 3 surveys of 10 questions, and Basic at $19 a month billed yearly opens it up to 2,500 responses a year for one user. One thing to check before you rely on it: the site contradicts itself on the free ceiling, with the plan card saying 75 a quarter and the pricing FAQ saying 50 a month.
QuestionPro
A research-grade platform whose free Essentials tier is more capable than most: 200 responses per survey, 30 question types and logic included, with no expiry. The problem for a small business is the size of the next step, because Advanced costs $99 per user a month billed annually. That makes it a fine choice if the free tier covers you, or if you genuinely do research and need the advanced question types, panels and statistical analysis; it makes little sense as a mid-range purchase. Its academic and market-research heritage shows in the reporting, which is stronger than the design.
SurveyLegend
A small, design-led survey maker aimed at image-heavy, mobile-friendly questionnaires. Its free Starter plan is unusually generous about collecting (3 surveys, 1,000 responses each, and one logic flow per survey) and unusually strict about getting the data back out: Starter exports zero responses, so results stay inside the app. Pro at $15 a month billed annually raises that to 1,000 exported responses per survey and 10 logic flows. Check the export line before committing, because it is the limit that catches people out rather than the response count.
Crowdsignal
Automattic's polling and survey tool, and the natural one to reach for if your site runs on WordPress, where its polls and ratings embed directly into posts. The free plan is the most generous here for casual use: unlimited surveys, polls and questions with up to 2,500 responses, at the cost of Crowdsignal branding and only limited data export. Premium at $15 a month billed annually lifts the response cap entirely and adds branching logic and a Google Sheets sync. Analysis is basic next to the research platforms, so treat it as a way to ask quick questions of an audience rather than to run a feedback programme.
SurveyPlanet
The outlier on volume: unlimited surveys, unlimited questions and unlimited responses on a free account, with no monthly cap to plan around. The trade is that most of what makes a survey useful afterwards sits behind Pro at $20 a month or $180 a year, including exporting results, question branching, custom themes and images. That makes it a strong pick when you need a lot of simple feedback cheaply and will read the results in the app, and a poor one if you need the raw data in a spreadsheet. Pricing has stayed put for years and bulk licences get steep discounts, which suits a team buying several seats.
Nicereply
A narrow tool rather than a general survey builder: it measures CSAT, CES and NPS straight after support conversations, hooking into Zendesk, Front, Help Scout, Pipedrive and similar, and can put a one-click rating in an agent's email signature. There is no free plan, only a 14-day trial, and Starter is $59 a month billed annually for 100 responses a month and 3 users. It earns its place only if measuring support quality is the actual job; for general-purpose surveys it is the wrong shape and the wrong price.
How we researched this
The twelve rows cover the two free tools most businesses already own, the mainstream paid platforms, three low-cost independents, and Nicereply as a single example of a support-rating tool with no free tier. Alchemer is missing because its pricing page would not show any plans, Sogolytics and Zonka Feedback because they publish only "request pricing", and Qualtrics because it publishes no price at all. Survicate, Retently and Startquestion were set aside because none has a free plan and their entry prices run from $79 to $114 a month. SmartSurvey prices in pounds, and Delighted's pricing page now redirects to Qualtrics.
Every price is worded the way the vendor's own page prints it, so the bases differ (per month, billed annually, per user) and are best read rather than compared as bare numbers. Branching is read from each vendor's plan feature lists; the three blank Branching cells (Zoho Survey, SurveySparrow, Nicereply) are places where the vendor never says which plan it starts on. Typeform's free plan terms appear only in its help center, not on its pricing page. These are September 2026 plan prices and limits, and survey vendors revise both often, so confirm the tier you want is still priced and capped this way before you commit.