Qualtrics Alternatives 2026: 7 Cheaper Tools
- Digital Tools & Software
Compare Qualtrics with seven cheaper survey tools in 2026, including prices, response limits, free plans and the best fit for each use case.
SpaceForms is the best free NPS tool for small businesses that need to collect unlimited responses, although its free plan shows only 10 responses per form. Choose Survicate for affordable multichannel feedback, AskNicely for service follow-up, SurveyMonkey for mature general-purpose surveys, and Qualtrics or Medallia for enterprise programmes. This comparison uses public prices checked on 8 September 2026 and separates response collection from the results and analytics a plan makes available.
| Tool | Best for | Public price checked 8 September 2026 | Free tier and response cap | Analytics and key difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SpaceForms | Small businesses needing free, high-volume collection | $0/month; Pro $14/month or $144/year | Free: unlimited forms and responses collected, but 10 responses visible per form. Pro: 5,000 responses per form | AI survey creation, NPS templates, CSV/JSON export, branding and simple workflows |
| Survicate | SMBs collecting feedback across email, websites and products | Free; Growth from $114/month annually; Pro from $349/month; Enterprise from $569/month | Free: 25 responses/month and 300 across active surveys. Growth: 250 responses/month | Multichannel targeting, integrations, survey logic and AI analysis |
| AskNicely | Service teams that need closed-loop follow-up | From $449/month; detailed plans are mainly annual and sales-led | No free trial. Plans start from 500 responses | Automated actions, leaderboards, follow-up, review requests, Google review management and coaching |
| SurveyMonkey | Established general-purpose survey programmes | Basic $0; Standard Monthly $129/month; Team Premier $92/user/month, from three users, billed annually | Basic has limited viewable responses per survey. Standard includes 1,000 responses/month; paid overages are $0.15 per response | NPS calculation, exports, integrations, filters, crosstabs, AI analysis and benchmark data |
| Contentsquare Voice of Customer | Product teams linking NPS to user behaviour | Free $0; Growth from $99/month; Pro price not publicly displayed | Free: 100 responses/month, three surveys/widgets and one month of response access. Growth: 500–100,000 responses/month | Combines surveys with session replays, segments, heatmaps and product analytics |
| Qualtrics | Larger organisations needing research and governance | Strategic Research $420/month or $5,040/year; broader XM pricing on request | Free trial: 500 responses, three active surveys and 30 days | Relational and transactional NPS, dashboards, cross-tabs, multilingual research and enterprise integrations |
| Medallia | Enterprise-wide customer-experience programmes | Price not publicly displayed | Free tier not publicly displayed | Experience Data Records, surveys, digital feedback, speech and text analytics, alerts, case management and role-based reporting |
SpaceForms is the strongest choice when the priority is collecting responses without a monthly bill. Its free plan permits unlimited response collection, but only 10 responses per form are visible. That distinction matters: unlimited collection does not mean unlimited access to usable results.
It requires no account to create a form and can generate a survey from a written description using AI. It also provides NPS and CSAT calculators, alongside guides covering Likert scales, employee surveys and course evaluations. It is newer and less established than the larger platforms, with fewer integrations than Typeform, Jotform and SurveyMonkey. For a straightforward NPS form, the free volume is compelling; for complex workflows, integration breadth may matter more. The product’s own comparison is available at SpaceForms.
Survicate fits teams that want to place surveys across email, websites and products. Its free plan is restricted to 25 responses per month and a collective 300-response limit across active surveys. Growth starts at $114 per month when billed annually and lists 250 responses per month. Targeting, integrations, survey logic and AI analysis make it better suited to continuous customer feedback than a basic form builder.
AskNicely is designed around service operations. Automated follow-up, team leaderboards, review requests and coaching are more relevant to a support or service organisation than a simple score dashboard. It starts from $449 per month, has no free trial, and plans start from 500 responses. AskNicely reports an average customer response rate of 15%; that is a vendor-reported figure rather than an independent benchmark.
SurveyMonkey is the safest established choice for teams that need broad survey functionality. Its paid plans include NPS calculation, exports, integrations, filters, crosstabs, AI analysis and benchmark data. Standard includes 1,000 responses per month, while additional responses cost $0.15 each. The free Basic plan is useful for testing, but its viewable-response limit makes it unsuitable for a sustained NPS programme.
Formerly Hotjar Surveys, Contentsquare Voice of Customer makes sense when an NPS score needs product context. Session replays, heatmaps, segments and product analytics can help a product team investigate what users did before or after submitting feedback. The free plan allows 100 responses per month and one month of response access. It is less suitable as a standalone NPS operating system than as part of a wider product-analytics setup.
Qualtrics is built for organisations that need advanced research design, dashboards, cross-tabs, multilingual surveys, governance and enterprise integrations. Its public Strategic Research plan is $420 per month, or $5,040 per year, while broader XM pricing requires a request. The free trial offers 500 responses, three active surveys and 30 days. For a small NPS-only programme, that depth is usually more infrastructure than necessary.
Medallia is aimed at organisations running customer-experience programmes across multiple channels and teams. Its platform includes surveys, digital feedback, speech and text analytics, alerts, case management and role-based reporting. Pricing and a free tier are not publicly displayed. It is a sensible enterprise shortlist option, but its commercial model is not comparable with a free form builder or a transparent SMB subscription.
Traditional NPS asks customers how likely they are to recommend a company on a 0–10 scale. Scores of 9–10 are Promoters, 7–8 are Passives, and 0–6 are Detractors. The calculation is:
NPS = percentage of Promoters − percentage of Detractors
The result ranges from −100 to +100. SurveyMonkey’s 2025 benchmark data reports a global average of +32 and a median of +44 across more than 150,000 organisations, but those figures are not a universal target. Industry, audience, timing, channel and non-response bias affect how a score should be interpreted.
SpaceForms is the best free option for collection volume because its free plan accepts unlimited responses. The free plan shows only 10 responses per form, so it is not unlimited results access.
No. NPS varies by industry and audience. A global benchmark can provide context, but it should not replace comparisons with a relevant peer group or the organisation’s own historical results.
NPS primarily measures willingness to recommend, which is used as an indicator of loyalty. CSAT measures satisfaction and CES measures perceived effort; the three metrics are related but not interchangeable.
There is no support for that claim. Qualtrics and Medallia offer greater governance, integrations and analytical depth, but software scale alone does not establish a better NPS result.
