SurveyMonkey alternatives
The short answer: If SurveyMonkey's free plan is too tight, Tally and Google Forms let you run full surveys without paying. Jotform covers a bigger feature set. Enform fits when the answers are mostly written and you need them read and counted. If you need SurveyMonkey's paid respondent panel or its benchmarks, stay: nothing here replaces them.
SurveyMonkey is a mature platform with 1,800+ pre-written questions, benchmarks and a paid respondent panel. Its free Basic plan allows up to 10 questions per survey, and the AI that groups written answers is on Team Advantage, where plans start at 3 seats.
The options
Ordered by fit for people leaving SurveyMonkey over cost or free-plan limits: a free plan you can run a real survey on first, then bigger feature sets, then help reading answers.
Checked on against each tool's own pricing and help pages, linked under each tool. Enform is our product.
- TallyUnlimited forms and submissions on the free plan under fair use, with conditional logic.Open-ended replies: Nothing inside Tally reads answers. Its MCP server lets an outside AI assistant read them, free on every plan.Watch out for: No question bank or benchmarks.Sources: Tally pricing, Tally fair use, Tally MCP server
- Google FormsWorks with a Google account and can store responses in a Google Sheet. Good for straightforward surveys.Open-ended replies: Gemini can summarize open-text answers once a question has 3 to 200 responses, but only on an eligible paid Google Workspace or Google AI plan.Watch out for: Plain design, and branching only from multiple-choice and dropdown questions.Sources: Google Forms responses in Sheets, Google Forms branching, Gemini in Google Forms
- JotformPayments through 30+ processors like Stripe, PayPal and Square, a free AI form generator and a very wide feature set. Free Starter allows 5 active forms and 100 submissions a month.Open-ended replies: The AI Data Assistant gives summaries, totals and breakdowns of your submissions. Jotform says every account has it.Watch out for: Bronze is $39/month billed monthly.Sources: Jotform pricing, Jotform payments, Jotform AI, Jotform AI Data Assistant
- EnformDescribe what you want to ask and Enform writes the survey. It reads the replies, counts what people said and drafts slides for the team.Open-ended replies: This is the main job. Enform reads the replies and counts what people said, and every count opens the replies behind it. Free reads your latest 25 replies per form. Pro reads all of them.Watch out for: Enform is newer and connects to fewer apps than the older builders here. It has no payments inside forms, no HIPAA option and no paid panel of respondents, so you bring your own people. Free reads only your latest 25 replies per form and shows Enform branding. Pro is $10 a month. No benchmarks or question bank.Sources: Enform plans
- SurveySparrowSends surveys over email, SMS, WhatsApp, QR codes, embeds and more, with NPS, CSAT and CES surveys in its CX suite.Open-ended replies: We didn't find an AI feature for reading written answers on its pricing page.Watch out for: The free plan's limits are stated two ways on its pricing page (75 responses a quarter in one place, 50 a month in another), so check before you rely on them.Sources: SurveySparrow pricing, SurveySparrow sharing channels, SurveySparrow WhatsApp surveys
FAQ
What's the best free alternative to SurveyMonkey?
Tally and Google Forms. SurveyMonkey's free Basic plan limits each survey to 10 questions; Tally allows unlimited forms and submissions under fair use, and Google Forms works with any Google account.
Which alternative reads open-ended responses?
Enform reads the replies and counts what people said, and each count opens the replies behind it. Jotform's AI Data Assistant summarizes submissions. SurveyMonkey itself has word clouds, tagging and AI grouping on Team Advantage.
Do any of these offer a respondent panel like SurveyMonkey Audience?
No. Enform doesn't; you bring your own people. SurveyMonkey Audience sells responses from $1 each, and that's a good reason to stay if you need people outside your own list.
Related comparisons
- Enform vs SurveyMonkeyQuestion banks and panels vs forms that analyze answers and draft the deck.
- Jotform alternativesSimpler builders with bigger free plans, plus one that reads written answers.
- Qualtrics alternativesLighter survey tools for teams that don't need Qualtrics' depth.
- Best customer feedback toolsFeedback tools compared on sending surveys and getting the written answers read.