Last Updated on June 1, 2023 by Ewen Finser
SurveyMonkey is one of the most popular online survey tools for businesses, entrepreneurs, and digital marketers. Like SurveySparrow, it is a web app that provides you with an easy-to-use interface to create surveys and analyze results.
With all the different free alternatives available, many wonder if it’s worth paying for SurveyMonkey. Can SurveySparrow be a good substitute?
Bottom Line Up Front
SurveyMonkey is better for professional survey creators who need advanced project management features. SurveyMonkey does have a free plan available, but it’s not as widely accepted or supported among survey organizations.
Main Differences Between SurveySparrow vs SurveyMonkey
The main differences between SurveySparrow vs SurveyMonkey are:
- SurveySparrow is a freemium tool that offers varying levels of subscriptions and price points, whereas SurveyMonkey only offers paid subscriptions.
- SurveySparrow is a web app, whereas SurveyMonkey is a desktop app.
- SurveyMonkey has more flexible options for data analysis including making graphs and charts and exporting to Excel, whereas SurveySparrow does not.
- SurveyMonkey has several additional features including customer satisfaction surveys, polls, and quizzes, whereas SurveySparrow does not.
SurveySparrow Overview
SurveySparrow is a web app that allows you to create surveys, forms, and polls. It also contains tools for building visualizations with its data, but you can’t create any charts or graphs. You have the option of exporting results to Excel, but this doesn’t work very well by saving all your responses in one contiguous block of data.
SurveySparrow Features
SuveySparrow’s features are comprehensive. They offer a good range of tools at a reasonable price. Basic features include:
- Surveys (Open-ended, multiple-choice, scale)
- Forms
- Reports
- Dashboards
- Analytics
SurveySparrow Design
The SurveySparrow dashboard is easy to navigate and use. It has a good design and format, making it painless to create your survey from scratch or edit an existing one. The tool comes with additional features such as multi-page surveys, image/video uploads, unlimited response tracking, and filters.
Question Types
SurveySparrow allows you to create surveys with a good range of question types. These include:
- Text input
- Rating scales
- Multiple choice questions (single select, multiple select, and scale)
- Chart/graphs based on existing data sets
- Numerical input (open-ended and multiple-choice)
The free version allows you to create surveys with up to 12 response options. Paid plans allow you to add more response options.
Length of Questions
SurveySparrow doesn’t limit the length of your questions, but they do limit how long the survey can be and how many questions you’re allowed to include. The free version allows you to create surveys with up to 50 questions and 10 pages. Paid plans allow more pages and questions.
Targeting and Audience
SurveySparrow allows you to target your surveys based on a wide range of demographics including:
- Age, income, location, education level, employment status, marital status, presence of children in the household
- Gender (for multiple-choice questions only)
- Interests
- Lifestyle, activities, and hobbies
- Psychographics (for open-ended questions only)
SurveySparry Analytics
SurveySparrow allows you to import and view your survey results in a spreadsheet with unlimited responses. You can export data as a CSV file, but the data is all saved in one block that is difficult to work with. You can’t create graphs or charts, but you can create summary sections based on existing data sets such as count, mean, and standard deviation.
SurveySparrow Subscriptions
SurveySparrow offers a freemium model as well as multiple paid levels. The free account includes unlimited responses and surveys, but does not allow for form editing or exporting to Excel.
For full access to SurveySparrow’s features, you will need the Business plan at $25/month. This allows you to edit forms, export to Excel, and add image/video uploads. If you need more features such as customer surveys or quizzes, then the Pro plan at $50/month is your best bet.
Customer Support
SurveySparrow offers support through email and over the phone. They also have a Help page with articles and FAQs that should answer most of your questions.
Who is SurveySparrow for?
Anyone with a business or freelance client who needs to create a survey will benefit from using SurveySparrow. If you need the ability to make any form changes, export data, or add images and polls, then go for the Pro plan.
SurveySparrow Pros
- Free plan allows for limited testing
- Multiple-choice questions can be single select, multiple select, or scale
SurveySparrow Cons
- Data cannot be exported in a way that is easily opened or analyzed in Excel
- No customer satisfaction surveys or quizzes
SurveyMonkey Overview
SurveyMonkey is a web and desktop app that allows you to create and send surveys, forms, quizzes, and polls. It also contains tools for building visualizations with its data.
You can easily create graphs and charts by uploading your Excel or CSV files or by creating them in the tool itself. SurveyMonkey has a much larger range of features and tools, depending on your subscription level.
SurveyMonkey Features
While SurveySparrow offers a good range of tools at a reasonable price, SurveyMonkey is the opposite end of the spectrum with its multiple levels offering different additional features depending on which plan you purchase. It also comes with a free plan, but it’s fairly limited.
Free Plan Features
The free account includes only the most basic of features – surveys, forms, and reports. You can create one question per survey or form, up to 10 questions total. The ability to export your results is not available in the free plan version of SurveyMonkey.
Paid Subscription Features
The cheapest subscription is the Plus plan at $24/month. This will give you access to over 100 question types, 20 active projects, and up to 50 responses per month. The Plus plan also gives you customer surveys and the ability to send your survey via text message in addition to a slew of other tools such as polls, quizzes, and insights reports.
SurveyMonkey Design
SurveyMonkey offers a design studio for those who need specific branding, layouts, and styles to match their business. With this feature, you can create your survey once and send it out multiple times with the same branding and layout each time.
Question Types
SurveyMonkey offers a wide range of question types for creating the surveys you need.
- Multiple choice
- Text/open-ended responses can be single line or multi-paragraph
- Scale/Likert scale questions
- Chart and graph based on your data set provided you have a paid subscription level
- Numerical input – open-ended and multiple choice
- File upload
- Mathematical logic
Length of Questions
SurveyMonkey allows for up to 200 questions per survey, depending on the paid subscription plan you purchase.
Targeting and Audience
SurveyMonkey allows you to target your surveys to specific audiences. You can find your audience by location, age, gender, or interest. If you want to narrow down by more than one of these criteria, then the survey must be created for each separate audience.
SurveyMonkey Analytics
SurveyMonkey allows you to view your analytics data for each survey you create. You can see how many people have taken the survey, completed it, and seen individual questions. Results are organized by a question, not by respondent. Survey results are stored indefinitely so that you can go back and look at them whenever you want.
SurveyMonkey Subscriptions
SurveyMonkey offers a freemium model as well as multiple paid levels. The free account includes a limited number of tools, but you can upgrade to the Plus plan for $24/month to unlock all their features and have access to over 100 question types, 20 active projects, and up to 50 responses per month.
Who is SurveyMonkey for?
SurveyMonkey has a very wide range of tools and features depending on which subscription you get. It’s best for someone who needs more than the basic functionality of SurveySparrow like graphs or charts, customer surveys, or codes that require unique URLs. It’s also good for someone looking to pay monthly, rather than all at once.
SurveyMonkey Pros
- Lots of tools and features for each plan
- Different user levels with different pricing options
- No long-term commitment – you can cancel anytime
SurveyMonkey Cons
- No free version available to try out before purchasing – requires a paid subscription fee
- Good only for targeted surveying and reporting, not open-ended questions
- No export tool available
FAQs
Question: How Many Questions Can I Add?
Answer: SurveyMonkey offers a free plan with 1 question and three other paid levels. The cheapest is the Plus level at $24/month and it’ll give you access to over 100 question types, 20 active projects, and up to 50 responses per month.
SurveySparrow allows up to 10 questions. It offers two paid levels, which you can find on their pricing page.
Question: Are there Any Differences in Who Can Take the Survey?
Answer: SurveyMonkey allows users to send surveys to specific audiences based on their location, age, gender, or interests. If you want to narrow down by more than one criteria then the survey must be created for each separate audience.
SurveySparrow allows you to target users based on their email address or phone number. You can also allow anyone with the link to take the survey, which means that it’s not restricted to people in your existing contact list.
Question: How Long Can Each Survey Be?
Answer: SurveyMonkey does not have a limit on how long your surveys are. You can have as many questions or as much text as you’d like, but only three active projects at a time.
SurveySparrow has no limit on how long your questions can be, but they do charge more for extra questions.
Question: Which is Best for Personalized Surveys?
Answer: SurveyMonkey allows you to target users based on their email address or phone number. You can also allow anyone with the link to take the survey, which means that it’s not restricted to people in your existing contact list.
SurveySparrow allows you to invite certain individuals by their email address, phone number, name, or company.
Question: Which has the Best Survey Reports?
Answer: Both SurveyMonkey and SurveySparrow allow you to see your results in easy-to-read tables and graphs. SurveyMonkey offers more types of graphs like bar charts or pie charts while SurveySparrow limits your choices to line graphs and bar graphs. SurveyMonkey also allows you to see your results by question, not just overall.
Final Thoughts
Whether you’re looking for a survey tool or someone to complete your surveys, either option is good. SurveyMonkey offers more options overall with the Plus account, while SurveySparrow is simpler but more affordable. SurveyMonkey is better for more in-depth surveys with several options. SurveySparrow is good for quick surveys with a limited number of choices.
It really depends on what you intend to do when creating your survey, but if you choose wisely according to your requirements, either one will meet your needs!