Overview

SurveyJS is made by Devsoft Baltic OÜ, founded in 2015 and based in Tallinn, Estonia. Its libraries run in the customer’s application and can connect to any backend or database, so there is no required SurveyJS data service in the middle. That suits organizations with an established stack and control requirements, but leaves storage, access, protection, and regulatory compliance to the customer. SurveyJS says it does not access, process, or store survey data.

Key features

Form library and builder

The free, open-source Form Library renders JSON-based forms in React, Angular, Vue, and plain JavaScript. More than 20 question types, conditional logic, validation, file uploads, multilingual forms, and right-to-left support give developers useful building blocks without requiring a hosted form service. Survey Creator adds a customizable drag-and-drop designer that creates forms and generates their JSON schemas; it requires a commercial license for production use, as do Dashboard and PDF Generator.

Analysis and export

Dashboard turns survey responses into interactive charts, tables, word clouds, and aggregated statistics. PDF Generator creates editable PDF forms and exports submissions to PDF. These tools round out the workflow for teams that need more than rendering, but their commercial licensing means the free library alone does not provide the complete production toolkit.

Integration and control

The libraries exchange data with servers through JSON and can integrate with any backend. Backend examples cover PHP, Node.js, and ASP.NET Core. React, Angular, and Vue have native support; jQuery uses a wrapper around the Vanilla JavaScript version. Full branding control is useful for applications that need their own interface, while the absence of workflow approvals makes SurveyJS a weaker fit when approval routing is central.

Pricing

SurveyJS uses a freemium model: Form Library is free and open source, while production use of Survey Creator, Dashboard, and PDF Generator requires commercial licenses. Commercial developer licenses are required for each developer working with those APIs or implementing their integration, so costs can scale with the team. License holders can contact technical support through the Help Desk or support email.

Commercial plan prices are custom pricing. Essential includes unlimited forms, submissions, and file uploads. Basic and PRO each include unlimited admins, form creators, forms, and questions per form; their renewal plans cover updates and support. Enterprise adds priority support, a technical account manager, priority bug fixes, and integration and code review sessions. Enterprise Renewal includes priority support, a technical account manager, and on-demand releases. The published plan descriptions do not distinguish Basic from PRO by included limits, so buyers should confirm which license matches the products they intend to use. Enterprise is the clear fit for teams that need priority assistance and account-level technical support.

Platforms

SurveyJS is available for web, API, and self-hosted use. Framework support spans React, Angular, Vue, jQuery, and Vanilla JavaScript. Its customer-managed data model gives teams deployment flexibility, but also means they must bring and operate their own backend and storage.

Who it's for

SurveyJS fits product and engineering teams embedding forms into their own applications, especially when framework choice, backend integration, branding, and control of survey data matter. It is less suitable for teams that want a hosted service to manage data storage for them, or need workflow approvals built into the form process.

Pros and cons

Pro: A free, open-source renderer with broad framework support lets teams build forms into existing applications without adopting a SurveyJS backend.
Pro: Customer-managed data storage and full branding control suit teams with established infrastructure and interface requirements.
Con: The visual designer, analytics dashboard, and PDF tools need commercial production licenses, and developer licensing applies per developer.
Con: Customers own backend operations, data protection, and compliance, rather than delegating those responsibilities to a SurveyJS-hosted service.
Con: There is no workflow approval capability.

Alternatives

For a hosted survey option with a free plan, Typeform offers unlimited forms but caps its free tier at 10 responses per month. For a self-hosted alternative, Formbricks has a Hobby plan with one workspace and 250 responses per month, while its Pro plan is $89.00 USD per month. KoboToolbox is another freemium API and web option, with a Starter plan at $21.00 USD per month for private companies, for-profit organizations, and personal use.

LimeSurvey offers a free plan capped at 25 responses per month and one admin, or a Basic plan at $39.00 USD per month. Qualtrics provides an individual free tier with one user, three active surveys, and 500 total responses. SurveyLab has a free tier capped at 50 total responses, with a Starter plan at $49.00 USD per month for 1,000 responses per month. SurveyLegend offers a free-forever Starter plan for one user, three surveys, and 1,000 responses per survey. Alchemer is another freemium alternative.

For category comparisons, see Survey API Software, Form API Software, Form Builder Software, and Survey Software.

Verdict

Choose SurveyJS if your team wants to embed customizable forms in its own application and retain control of the backend and data. The free renderer is a strong foundation; the main reason to look elsewhere is the need for a managed survey service or approval workflows, while production use of the broader design, analysis, and PDF suite also brings per-developer commercial licensing.

	FormBakery	SurveyJS
Free plan	Yes	Yes
Free trial	No	No
Paid from	Free	—
Open source	No	No
Platforms	Web	api, self-hosted, Web
Free plan	Yes	Yes
File uploads	Yes	Yes
Conditional logic	—	Yes
Workflow approvals	—	No
Branding control	—	full

FormBakery vs SurveyJS

FormBakery

SurveyJS