Overview

SurveyMonkey is a survey platform for building questionnaires, collecting responses and analyzing results. It suits individuals who need a quick feedback tool and teams that need shared administration or a larger respondent pool. Branching, branding and API access make it more adaptable than a basic form builder, though response quotas and overage charges deserve close attention.

Key features

Survey creation includes logic branching and custom branding, useful when questions should adapt to earlier answers or surveys need to match an organization’s identity. The platform offers more than 400 templates on its homepage and 500+ expert templates in feature details, providing a starting point without requiring every survey to be built from scratch. The free plan allows unlimited surveys but caps each at 10 questions and limits responses, so it is best for short, low-volume work.

Response analytics support review of collected answers. SurveyMonkey Audience reaches more than 335 million people across 130+ countries, which gives teams a way to seek respondents beyond their own contacts. Surveys can also accept payments through Stripe or PayPal. API access is available for teams that need to connect survey workflows to other software.

Free iOS and Android apps support survey creation and checking the latest results. Each user can register up to two devices at a time. Team plans add shared assets, user roles, permissions and consolidated billing; Enterprise adds enhanced governance and security, SSO, regional data centers and Zoom integration. These controls make the higher tiers more relevant to coordinated or security-conscious organizations than to solo users.

Pricing

SurveyMonkey uses a freemium model. Basic is the free option for simple surveys, forms and quizzes, with 10 questions per survey and limited responses. That is enough for lightweight collection, but the response cap makes it a poor fit for ongoing research or larger audiences. Standard Monthly includes 1,000 responses per month; its price is custom pricing.

Advantage Annual is 39.00 USD per year, billed $468 billed annually, and includes 15,000 responses per year. Premier Annual is 139.00 USD per year, billed $1,668 billed annually, and includes 40,000 responses per year. These individual plans raise the annual response allowance, but the available plan details do not describe team administration.

Team Advantage is 30.00 USD per year, starting at 3 users and billed annually, with 50,000 responses per year. Team Premier is 92.00 USD per year, also starting at 3 users and billed annually, with 100,000 responses per year. Team plans charge ₹5.00 for each response beyond the response limit, so teams should estimate volume before choosing a tier. Enterprise requires 5+ users, has a custom response limit and custom pricing.

Paid plans start at $30/user/mo billed annually. Auto-renew is enabled by default, but can be turned off; doing so downgrades the account to free at the end of the billing cycle. Check that transition against any response needs before the renewal date.

Platforms

SurveyMonkey supports Android, iOS and API access. The free mobile apps cover survey creation and checking recent results, while the API is relevant to teams integrating surveys into existing software workflows.

Who it's for

Choose SurveyMonkey for short surveys, branded feedback collection, or team workflows that benefit from shared assets and permissions. Its Audience panel can help organizations reach a broad respondent pool. It is less suitable when response volume is hard to predict, since paid overages apply, or when the free plan’s 10-question and limited-response caps are too restrictive.

Pros and cons

Pros: Branching, branding and analytics cover survey creation through response review; API access and mobile apps support connected and mobile workflows.
Pros: Team tiers include shared assets, roles, permissions and consolidated billing, while Enterprise adds SSO and regional data centers.
Cons: Free surveys are capped at 10 questions and limited responses, restricting larger or more involved projects.
Cons: Paid plans charge ₹5.00 per response above the limit, and auto-renew is on by default.

Alternatives

For grantmaking or awards workflows rather than general survey collection, consider Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT, which offers custom pricing based on organizational needs and may include implementation, training and ongoing support. Foundant CommunitySuite is another paid option with pricing provided after contacting Foundant about organizational needs.

Award Force is a paid awards platform with a Growth plan at 3250.00 USD per year, billed $3,250 USD annually, for up to 10k entries per year and unlimited managers and users. Optimy is a paid program-management alternative with Start from 650.00 EUR per month, including end-to-end program management and a dedicated account manager.

Flexi-Grant offers a paid Flexigrant One plan with an indicative annual subscription, up to 500 applications per year and two admin seats. GivingData is a paid grants platform with quote-based plans. RQ Platform has a Starter plan beginning at 2500.00 USD per year with unlimited users, submissions and reviewers. SmarterSelect is a paid platform with a free trial and a Create plan at 2000.00 USD per year, including 1,000 survey responses per year.

Verdict

SurveyMonkey is a strong fit for individuals and teams that need flexible survey creation, response analysis and, at higher tiers, shared controls or enterprise security. Its branching, API access and Audience panel are the main reasons to choose it. Look elsewhere if response costs need to be predictable without close quota management, or if the free plan’s narrow survey and response limits will not support the work.

	Avela Apply	SurveyMonkey
Free plan	No	No
Free trial	No	No
Paid from	—	—
Open source	No	No
Platforms	Web	Android, api, iOS
Applicant communications	Yes	—
Review workflow	Yes	—
Decision workflow	Yes	—
Enrollment workflow	Yes	—
Document collection	Yes	—
SIS integration	Yes	—
Free plan	—	Yes

Avela Apply vs SurveyMonkey

Avela Apply

SurveyMonkey