Top 10 Free Survey Tools in 2026 (Lightweight Picks)

At-a-glance comparison

Ten free survey tools tested in May 2026. Response caps, branching logic, and export capability are the three lines that matter most for free-tier users. The table below is sorted by how much value you get without paying — splitforms tops the table because the 1,000 submissions/month cap and free webhooks are unmatched for embedded survey work.

How we picked

Every tool on the list was signed up for fresh on a clean account in April–May 2026, then exercised against the same five-question test survey (a mix of multiple choice, NPS, short text, rating, and a conditional follow-up). The goal was to see what actually works on the free tier — not what the marketing site claims.

The four criteria we scored:

1. Response cap — how many submissions you can collect before the tool throttles or paywalls.
2. Question types — does the free tier include NPS, matrix, file upload, rating?
3. Branching / skip logic — can a respondent skip irrelevant sections?
4. Export and integrations — can you get the raw data out (CSV, Sheets, webhook) on free?

One thing not scored: brand recognition. SurveyMonkey is the household name in surveys but its free tier is the most restrictive of the ten. The list ranks by what you get for free, not by who has the bigger marketing budget. If you want the broader form-vendor landscape, our best free form backend services 2026 guide covers backends instead of UI builders.

1. splitforms — best for embedded / code-driven surveys

splitforms isn't a survey UI builder. It's the backend that receives, validates, spam-filters, and routes form submissions — including survey responses. You write the survey HTML yourself (or use React, Vue, Svelte, Astro — there are framework integration docs for all of them), then point the form's action at https://splitforms.com/api/submit. Responses land in your email, your dashboard, and (free) your webhook endpoint.

Free tier: 1,000 submissions/month, forever, no card. Paid: $5/month Pro (5,000 submissions) or $59 for 4 years. Webhooks: free on every tier (most vendors here paywall this at $20+/month).

What's good. Total control over question types — anything HTML can render. Total control over branching — write it in JavaScript, no plan-tier limits. AI-based spam classification is included free (see the benchmark). CSV export and webhook delivery are unlimited on every tier. You own the data; it goes to your inbox and your endpoints.

What's missing. No drag-drop survey builder. If you want to point-and-click your way to a survey without writing HTML, this is the wrong tool — try Tally or Google Forms below. splitforms assumes you (or your dev) write the markup.

Verdict. If you can write HTML or have a developer who can, splitforms is the most flexible and cheapest way to run customer surveys at scale in 2026. Sign up free takes a minute and you get an access key immediately.

2. Tally — best free no-code branching

Tally is the most generous no-code survey builder on this list. Free tier: unlimited responses, unlimited forms, unlimited branching logic, unlimited question types. That's the kind of free tier most competitors only dream about. The paid plan ($29/month) adds custom domains, removing branding, and some integration polish — but the core survey product is genuinely usable on free.

What's good. Conditional logic on free is the headline feature. No competitor in the no-code category matches it. The editor is fast, the embed code is clean, and the survey UX is closer to Typeform than Google Forms (one-question-at-a-time mode is available).

What's missing. Tally branding appears on free responses. Some integrations (Salesforce, HubSpot) need paid. Webhooks are paid-only — if you want to pipe responses to your own stack, you'll hit the paywall. That's where splitforms beats it for technical teams: webhooks free, no branding (since you build the UI).

Verdict. If you don't want to touch HTML and you need conditional logic, Tally is the right call. See our Tally alternatives piece if you want to compare further.

3. Google Forms — best for casual / internal surveys

Google Forms is the default for a reason: free, no response cap, plugs into Google Sheets, and most respondents are already comfortable with the UX. For internal company surveys, school feedback, or any one-off poll, it's genuinely hard to beat. You can be live in under five minutes.

What's good. Free is free — no cap on responses or questions. Sheets integration is real-time, so you can pivot/chart immediately. Section-based branching (jump-to-section) is included free, which covers maybe 60% of real-world branching use cases. CSV export is one click. The mobile UX is solid.

What's missing. Default styling is dated and screams "Google Form" — which kills trust for customer-facing surveys. No NPS question type natively. No matrix questions. Branching is limited to whole-section jumps (no per-question conditional logic). And the data lives in Google's ecosystem — getting it into your own stack requires Apps Script or a paid Zapier connector.

Verdict. Great for internal/casual use. For customer-facing surveys where brand matters, look at Tally or splitforms-rendered HTML instead. Our Google Forms alternatives for business deep-dive has more.

4. Microsoft Forms — best if you're on M365

Microsoft Forms is Google Forms' M365 equivalent. If your company is already paying for Microsoft 365, you have it. The standalone free tier (without M365) is more restricted: 200 responses per form, max 100 forms. With an M365 subscription, those limits effectively disappear.

What's good. Tight integration with Excel, Teams, SharePoint. Quiz mode (auto-grading) is built-in and free. Branching is supported on free, similar to Google Forms' section-jump model. Anonymous responses are toggleable. UX is clean and respondents trust the Microsoft brand.

What's missing. Outside the M365 ecosystem, the 200-responses-per-form cap on the truly-free tier is restrictive. Question types are limited (no matrix, no slider). No webhook integration; data lives in Excel/SharePoint. The standalone free product has been deprioritized — Microsoft pushes the M365 tier hard.

Verdict. Only worth it if you're already on M365 and need to keep data inside that ecosystem. For everything else, Tally or splitforms gives you more flexibility for less money.

5. SurveyPlanet — long surveys, low budget

SurveyPlanet is the dark horse of free survey tools. Free tier includes unlimited surveys, unlimited questions, unlimited responses. The Pro tier ($20/month) adds branching, custom themes, and removing branding — but if all you need is collecting a lot of responses on a lot of questions, the free tier covers it.

What's good. Genuinely unlimited free quotas, which puts it ahead of SurveyMonkey, Typeform, and JotForm by a wide margin. Pre-built question templates for common research scenarios. Clean respondent UX. CSV export on free.

What's missing. Branching/skip logic is locked behind Pro — which limits free to linear surveys. No real-time results dashboard on free (you see aggregate stats but not per-response detail). Integrations are minimal — no native Zapier, no webhooks. Brand recognition is low, which can hurt response rates if you embed externally.

Verdict. Solid for budget-constrained, linear surveys with high volume. If you need branching, look elsewhere.

6. JotForm free — drag-drop with payments support

JotForm is form-builder-first, survey-builder-second, but they handle both. Free tier: 5 forms, 100 monthly submissions, 100 MB storage. It's tighter than the "unlimited" vendors above but more generous than SurveyMonkey or Typeform.

What's good. The drag-drop builder is the most polished on this list — closer to a no-code app builder than a form tool. Native payment integration (Stripe, PayPal) on free. CSV and PDF export. Pre-built templates for hundreds of survey scenarios. The mobile editor actually works on phones.

What's missing. 100 submissions/month is the harshest cap on the "real" survey tools. Conditional logic is paid-only. Branding is on every free form. To get to anything resembling production usage, you're paying $34/month (Bronze) — that's the entire annual splitforms 4-year deal.

Verdict. Good for hobbyist forms with payments. For surveys at any volume, you'll outgrow free fast. See JotForm alternatives 2026 for the broader comparison.

7. Typeform free — beautiful UX, brutal free cap

Typeform pioneered the conversational, one-question-at-a-time survey UX and the brand is strong. The free tier exists mostly to get you hooked: 10 responses per month, 3 questions per form, 1 form active. Past 10 responses, the form stops accepting new ones until next month.

What's good. Best-in-class respondent UX. Pre-built templates are gorgeous. The mobile experience is excellent — higher completion rates than traditional grid surveys. Brand recognition helps response rates on customer-facing surveys.

What's missing. The 10/month cap. That's not a typo. For any real survey you're paying $25/month (Basic) immediately. Branching logic is on paid only. Most integrations are paid. The free tier is a demo.

Verdict. Worth trying for an hour to feel the UX. Then either pay or migrate. If you're already on Typeform and looking for an exit, our migrate from Typeform guide covers the cut-over.

8. SurveyMonkey free — household name, restrictive tier

SurveyMonkey is the legacy enterprise player. Brand recognition is huge — most respondents have filled in a SurveyMonkey before. The free tier is intentionally restrictive to push you to paid: 10 questions per survey, unlimited responses but only the first 40 are visible. Past 40 responses, you can keep collecting but can't view or export the rest without paying.

What's good. The brand. Respondents trust it. Pre-built question libraries for HR, customer satisfaction, NPS, market research. Question types are the most comprehensive of any tool on this list (matrix, ranking, semantic differential, etc.).

What's missing. Export is paywalled on free — you can see the first 40 responses in the dashboard but not download them. Branching/skip logic is paid. The cheapest paid tier ($39/month Advantage) is the most expensive entry-level price on this list. Free tier mostly exists for evaluation.

Verdict. Skip free entirely; either pay or use a more generous free tier. Tally and SurveyPlanet are better free alternatives.

9. QuestionPro free — academic / research focus

QuestionPro is the research-focused competitor — heavily used in academia and market research. The free tier: unlimited surveys but 10 questions max per survey, 100 responses/month. The paid tier ($99/month Advanced) is the second-most-expensive on this list; QuestionPro's real money is in the enterprise tier.

What's good. Advanced statistics built in (chi-square, t-tests, regression) — rare among free tools and useful for academic researchers. Comprehensive question type library. Multi-language support is genuinely good. Mobile SDK for embedding surveys in your own apps (paid).

What's missing. 100 responses/month is restrictive. Branching is paid-only. The UI feels enterprise-y — slower and clunkier than Tally or Typeform. Integrations are paid-tier. Brand is weak outside academia, which can hurt response rates on consumer surveys.

Verdict. Worth it only if you specifically need built-in statistical analysis. For general customer surveys, the response cap and paid-only branching are dealbreakers.

10. Crowdsignal — only if you live on WordPress.com

Crowdsignal (formerly Polldaddy) is Automattic's survey product. It ships built into WordPress.com and Jetpack, which is the only real reason to use it in 2026. The standalone product hasn't seen meaningful updates in years; the dashboard feels frozen in time.

What's good. Native WordPress.com / Jetpack integration is seamless — surveys embed in posts with a shortcode and work out of the box. Free tier includes unlimited basic polls and surveys. CSV export on free.

What's missing. Branching is paid-only. The UI looks ten years old. Modern integrations (Slack, Zapier) are missing or clunky. Active development seems to have stalled — the public roadmap hasn't had a meaningful update in 24 months. Outside the WordPress.com ecosystem, there's no reason to choose this over Tally or splitforms.

Verdict. Avoid unless you're embedded in WordPress.com and need zero-config survey embeds.

Which one should you actually pick?

Decision tree by use case:

• I'm a dev / technical team building embedded surveys. Use splitforms. Build the survey UI in whatever stack you use (React, Vue, Svelte, plain HTML), point it at splitforms.com/api/submit, get responses in email + webhook. Full control, 1,000/month free. Start here.
• I'm non-technical and need branching/skip logic. Use Tally. Best free no-code option for conditional surveys.
• I need internal company / school surveys, fast. Use Google Forms or Microsoft Forms depending on which ecosystem you already pay for.
• I need to run long, linear surveys with high volume on zero budget. Use SurveyPlanet (unlimited everything, no branching).
• I need beautiful conversational UX and budget for $25/month. Use Typeform paid.
• I need built-in statistical analysis for academic research. Use QuestionPro if 100 responses/month is enough, otherwise pay.

If you're still torn between code-driven (splitforms) and no-code (Tally), the honest test is: do you have a developer on the team, even a part-time one? If yes, splitforms gives you ten times the flexibility and stays free as you scale. If no, Tally is the right answer — until you outgrow it.

How to switch / set up a splitforms survey in 5 minutes

If you're sold on the embedded approach, here's the entire setup. Sign up at splitforms.com/login, copy your access key, and drop this HTML on your page:

<form action="https://splitforms.com/api/submit" method="POST">
  <input type="hidden" name="access_key" value="YOUR_ACCESS_KEY" />
  <input type="hidden" name="subject" value="New customer survey response" />

  <label>How likely are you to recommend us? (1–10)</label>
  <input type="number" name="nps" min="1" max="10" required />

  <label>What's the one thing we could improve?</label>
  <textarea name="improvement" required></textarea>

  <label>Your email (optional)</label>
  <input type="email" name="email" />

  <input type="checkbox" name="botcheck" style="display:none" tabindex="-1" />
  <button type="submit">Submit</button>
</form>

That's a working NPS-style survey. Responses land in your inbox within seconds and in your dashboard. To pipe them to a database or analytics tool, add a free webhook in the dashboard — full schema is in the API reference. For frameworks, see Next.js, Astro, or Svelte docs.

Migrating from a hosted survey vendor? The cutover playbook in migrate from Typeform and migrate from Formspree generalizes — export the historical CSV, swap the form's action URL, recreate webhooks. About five minutes per form.

Related reading

• Best free form backend services 2026 — if you're building the UI yourself.
• Top 10 free form builders 2026 — for general-purpose forms, not just surveys.
• Google Forms vs Typeform vs splitforms — head-to-head on the three big names.
• splitforms vs Typeform, splitforms vs Tally, splitforms vs JotForm.
• Free HTML contact form template — survey-ready scaffold.
• FAQ for plan, security, and data residency. Browse all posts.

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