Three Popular Online Survey Tools – What They Give For Free

Customers are still looking for free online survey tools. Since I published this post in March 2010, a lot has changed in the world of online survey tools, so it is time to do a comprehensive update. The main change making the prior post obsolete is that Zoomerang, one of the tools in the initial comparison, ceased to exist after being purchased by SurveyMonkey last year (2012).

As we all know, the advent of online survey tools has lowered the cost of data collection and made it easier for many internal market research departments on the client-side to deploy their own online surveys.

 Reduced or non-existent market research budgets continue to be the norm, and since the first publication of this post, clients are still looking for free survey online tools or very cheap solutions to get the job done. When I ask what tools are being used, the most common answers I get are SurveyMonkey, Alchemer (formerly SurveyGizmo), or Qualtrics.

 I started using SurveyMonkey almost 10 years ago when I worked on the client-side and had no budget. Eventually, I had to look for an online survey tool with fewer limitations. For a while, I used VantagePoint, which I then abandoned for Confirmit. The latter is a very advanced tool, but also quite expensive. So my quest continued and then a few years later I stumbled upon Alchemer (formerly SurveyGizmo), which really surprised me with a long list of features I wanted in an online survey tool at a very low cost. At about the same time, I also tested QuestionPro, but found I could get similar capabilities with Alchemer (formerly SurveyGizmo) at a lower price. Since QuestionPro still offers a free version of the tool I decided to include it in this review in lieu of Zoomerang.

 The reason why Qualtrics is not included in this post is that its free version is actually a trial version. You have access to all the features in the tool, but once you use up your allowed number of responses (250) you are forced to upgrade to the paid version. I have had the chance to use Qualtrics on behalf of several clients, and I think it is a terrific tool. It has tons of features, but also a steep price. For more on Qualtrics check the post “Review Of Three Powerful Online Survey Tools“

 There are many online survey tools that offer a free limited version so you can test the tool and have a feel for it. However, not all free versions are equal. Since I still get asked what online survey tools can be used for free, I decided to share this review of three online survey tools that seem to be popular on a set of features that would allow me to create from simple to slightly more advanced surveys.

General Overview
Number of surveys	3	Unlimited	Unlimited
Number of questions	Up to 25/page, 5 pages	10	12
Number of responses	100/survey	100/survey	100/survey
Multi-page surveys
Account users	1	1	1
Question types	8	15	15
Graphic survey templates	22	15	18
Real-time reporting
Data exporting
Never delete data
Supports all languages
Price	Free	Free	Free
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
Drop-down menu
Tables of dropdown menus
Ranking – Table format
Ranking – Drag & Drop
Ranking – Top X# of items
Ranking – Stars
Constant sum
Continuous sum
Instructions/Text
Image
Video
Contact information form
Date format
Survey Formatting
Customizable font family
Customizable font size
Customizable font color
Customizable background colors
Add/Edit Options in Bulk
Add an open textbox so users can add to their own choice
Change orientation of labels and options
Change position of labels
Editable Next, Submit, and Close buttons text
Optional question numbering
Fully Customizable XHTML/CSS templates
Auto-format as currency, percentage, or a whole number
Editable general error message
Change length, height, and width of textbox or table
Editable survey width
Editable survey after deployment
Report Creation Options
Real-time online report
Graphing – Use a bar graph, pie chart or spreadsheet to view answers
Export Data to Excel, CSV
Browse All Responses Individually
Can change titles and internal report values
Clear all responses
Survey Deployment
Send email using survey tool
JavaScript option embed surveys using JavaScript
Embed surveys using an iFrame
Embed surveys into a Webpage
Kiosk Mode
Offline Mode
Post to Social Network (Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin)
Password protection
Set a cutoff date and time
Set maximum response count
Enable IP blocking
Redirect browser
Link to panel providers		Linked to own panel
Incentive Management tool
Other Survey Options
Make questions required
Randomize the answers to your question
Randomize columns
Reorder Questions
Set how many checkboxes someone can check
Pipe in values from answered questions into later questions’ answers
Upload images
Embed external images and media
Min and Max options for numerical answers
Prevent search engines from indexing survey
Thank You page
Add a “Close” button to Thank You page
Back Button Optional
Progress Bar Optional
Add custom variables to each link
Create hidden variables
Compliance with Section 508 guidelines of the Rehabilitation Act
Export survey to PDF
Export survey to Word
Polls
Poll Types	Single choice, Image choice, Ranking		Single choice, Multiple choice, Text Box
Poll result sharing
Vote protection
Poll Widget sizing
3rd Party Integration
Open API access
Salesforce		Via ClickTools
Eventbrite
ExactTarget
FreshBooks
ReadyTalk
MailChimp integration
Affiliate program
Support
Support via email
Support – FAQ, Tutorials
Support – Chat

You can see SurveyGizmo and QuestionPro have many more useful features in their free versions than Alchemer (formerly SurveyGizmo), although a few are missing. Survey deployment capabilities continue to be a weak area for the free version of Alchemer (formerly SurveyGizmo), where SurveyMonkey and QuestionPro do better. For example, in SurveyGizmo’s free version I miss the ability to send survey invitations within the tool (you can do it with a paid subscription), but that can be fixed using MailChimp or any other email distribution system. If you use an external system, be aware that in order to send reminders, you have to download the data to check who answered the survey and then extract those from the reminder list. It is a bit of work, but doable.  

Although Alchemer (formerly SurveyGizmo) and QuestionPro have similar capabilities in basic functions, the latter doesn’t let you download the data without upgrading to a paid subscription, which in my opinion is a big deal breaker since you don’t have access to the raw data to do any analyses you may need. SurveyMonkey has the same limitation.

 As a professional market researcher I usually need very robust tools, so free online survey tools often fall short of providing features needed to develop complex surveys. Notice that none of these 3 free versions offer skip logic, but if you only need to deploy linear surveys without having to skip questions or reroute respondents, and don’t want or can’t spend a dime, I recommend you give Alchemer (formerly SurveyGizmo) a try. If you have some change to spare, I recommend you use one of SurveyGizmo’s paid subscription plans, which don’t require a long-term contract obligation and have many more features at a reasonable price.