How we make this list: we compare pricing pages, product documentation and public user reviews. Rankite is independent; if a vendor ever pays for a featured spot, that listing is clearly labeled Partner.
Key takeaways
- Surveys and reviews are different jobs. For surveys, shortlist SurveyMonkey, Typeform, QuestionPro ($99/user/month, Advanced) and free SurveySparrow. For reviews, look at Trustpilot (from $99/month per domain), Birdeye, Podium and NiceJob.
- Five tools here have genuinely useful free tiers: SurveyMonkey (Basic), Typeform (free plan), Contentsquare (free plan with 200k sessions/month), QuestionPro (Essentials) and SurveySparrow (free plan).
- Qualtrics, Birdeye and Podium publish no prices; expect an enterprise-style sales process with all three.
- Hotjar no longer exists as a standalone product. It merged into Contentsquare, which is now the signup point.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|
 Qualtrics | Enterprises and research teams running serious CX programs | See website (quote-based) | Yes (free account, limited, per vendor) |
 SurveyMonkey | Small businesses running their first feedback surveys | See website | Yes (Basic free plan) |
 Typeform | Brands that want surveys people actually finish | $39/month (Basic; $28/month billed annually) | Yes (free plan) |
 Contentsquare (formerly Hotjar) | Website owners who want behavior data plus feedback in one place | See website (quote-based) | Yes (free plan with 200,000 sessions/month, per vendor) |
 Birdeye | Multi-location businesses managing reviews across dozens of sites | See website (quote-based) | No |
 Podium | Local service businesses that live on Google reviews | See website (quote-based) | No |
 Trustpilot | Ecommerce brands that want reviews buyers already trust | From $99/month per domain (billed annually) | No free plan advertised |
 QuestionPro | Teams that want serious survey features without enterprise prices | $99/user/month (Advanced, billed annually) | Yes (Essentials free plan: 1 user, 200 responses per survey) |
 SurveySparrow | Small businesses that want conversational surveys with automation | See website | Yes (free plan: 3 surveys, 10 questions each, 50 responses/month) |
 NiceJob | Home-service and local businesses automating review requests | See website | Free trial (14 days, no credit card required) |
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
The best customer feedback software
Here is an uncomfortable truth about the best customer feedback software: the tool matters less than whether you ask at all. Most businesses collect zero structured feedback, then buy an expensive platform and use it to send one survey a year. Do the opposite. Start with a free plan, ask customers one good question after every purchase, read every answer for a month, and only then pay for more. The ten tools below are ranked by how well they fit real small and mid-sized businesses, not by how impressive their enterprise demos are.
#1
Qualtrics
Best for: Enterprises and research teams running serious CX programs
Visit qualtrics.com
Starting priceSee website (quote-based)
Free planYes (free account, limited, per vendor)
Start with the elephant in the room. Qualtrics is the reference platform for experience management: surveys, digital feedback, call and chat analysis, and employee experience programs on one system. Its text analytics can chew through thousands of open-ended answers and surface themes a human team would take weeks to find. The company now bundles its AI suites by interaction volume rather than seats.
None of that is aimed at you if you run a 20-person company. Qualtrics does not publish prices, does not sell self-serve plans worth mentioning, and its onboarding assumes you have a research team. The limited free account is fine for learning the interface. For production use, every other tool on this list will be cheaper and faster to deploy. Include Qualtrics on your shortlist only if you are buying for a large organization with a real CX program.
What we like- The deepest research toolkit in the category, with AI text analysis and 100-plus question types
- Broad integrations with CRM, helpdesk and analytics stacks
- Trusted by most of the Fortune 100
Watch out for- No published pricing and a sales-led buying process
- Far more than a small business needs, and priced like it
Starting priceSee website
Free planYes (Basic free plan)
The name everyone already knows. SurveyMonkey has been collecting feedback since 1999, and the product shows it: building a survey takes minutes, the question library covers everything from NPS to employee engagement, and 260,000-plus organizations use it. The Basic free plan lets you start collecting answers today, and the pricing page confirms paid Individual and Team plans with response allowances from 1,000 per month up to custom enterprise limits.
The honest complaint is pricing opacity for a product this mainstream. The plans are real and published, but the dollar figures do not render in a plain text read of the pricing page, so confirm numbers on the live page before budgeting. Response caps matter too: lower tiers throttle how many answers you can collect. For a first feedback program, though, nothing beats the combination of a free start and a builder your whole team already understands.
What we like- The easiest survey builder here, with 25 years of refinement behind it
- Huge library of templates and pre-written questions
- A free Basic plan for getting started
Watch out for- Paid prices are not shown in the page text of its own pricing page, which renders key figures in scripts
- Response limits on the lower tiers
Starting price$39/month (Basic; $28/month billed annually)
Free planYes (free plan)
Surveys have a completion problem, and Typeform was built to solve it. Instead of a wall of questions, respondents get one beautiful question at a time, which is why the company can credibly claim higher completion rates than traditional forms. The current lineup runs Basic at $39 per month ($28 billed annually), Plus at $79 ($56 annual) and Business at $129 ($91 annual), with 100, 1,000 and 10,000 monthly responses respectively, plus a free plan for light use.
That response math is the whole buying decision. If you survey a few hundred customers a month and care about brand impression, Typeform is worth every dollar. If you blast surveys to a 50,000-person list, the caps will force you into the expensive tiers or a different tool. Video and audio answers, logic jumps and 500-plus integrations round out a product that feels designed, not assembled.
What we like- Conversational one-question-at-a-time design that lifts completion rates
- AI form building and follow-up questions
- Clean analytics with drop-off analysis
Watch out for- Response caps on every tier (100/month on Basic)
- Costs climb fast once you need volume
#4
Contentsquare (formerly Hotjar)
Best for: Website owners who want behavior data plus feedback in one place
Visit contentsquare.com
Starting priceSee website (quote-based)
Free planYes (free plan with 200,000 sessions/month, per vendor)
Sometimes the best feedback is the kind nobody types. Hotjar built its name on showing you what visitors do: heatmaps of where they click, recordings of where they hesitate, and short on-page surveys asking why. In 2024 the Hotjar brand merged into Contentsquare, and hotjar.com now redirects to a signup page for Contentsquare Free, which bundles the old Hotjar toolkit with attention maps, funnels and error monitoring at 200,000 free sessions a month.
Mention the old name once, then forget it: new signups go through Contentsquare. For a small business, the free plan is one of the best deals in this roundup, because you get behavioral insight and survey responses without paying. The paid side is enterprise territory with unpublished pricing. If your feedback questions are mostly about your website, start here before you buy anything.
What we like- Heatmaps, session replay, funnels and surveys in one free plan
- The free tier is far more generous than the old Hotjar one
- No credit card required
Watch out for- Paid pricing is quote-only and aimed at large teams
- The merger means the product is moving upmarket
#5
Birdeye
Best for: Multi-location businesses managing reviews across dozens of sites
Visit birdeye.com
Starting priceSee website (quote-based)
Free planNo
Birdeye stopped being just a review tool a while ago. The current platform pitches "AI coworkers" for multi-location brands: review generation and response, listing optimization, webchat, social publishing and survey campaigns, all tied to a unified customer profile. For a business with ten locations, consolidating that into one dashboard is genuinely valuable, and its G2 rankings in reputation management back the claim.
The price of admission is a sales call. Birdeye publishes no dollar figures, and third-party estimates cluster around a few hundred dollars per location per month, which prices out most single-location shops. If you run one storefront, NiceJob or Podium will do the same job for less. If you run twenty, Birdeye's multi-location tooling is exactly what the cheaper tools cannot do.
What we like- Review generation and monitoring across 200-plus review sites
- Listings management, webchat and social publishing in one dashboard
- Strong fit for franchises, dental groups and home-service chains
Watch out for- No published pricing anywhere on its site
- Entry cost is steep for single-location businesses, per reviewers
#6
Podium
Best for: Local service businesses that live on Google reviews
Visit podium.com
Starting priceSee website (quote-based)
Free planNo
Podium built its name on one trick: texting customers a review link right after the job is done. It worked, because people open texts. The platform has since grown into a full customer interaction suite with webchat, messaging, payments and review management in a single inbox, and its current homepage leads with an "AI Employee" that responds to leads and books appointments 24/7.
That evolution is a double-edged sword. If you want reviews plus always-on lead response, Podium's direction is attractive. If you just want feedback software, you are buying into a bigger, pricier platform than you need, and like Birdeye it publishes no prices. Get the quote in writing, confirm what the AI features cost, and compare the total against NiceJob before signing.
What we like- Text-message review requests with the open rates SMS is famous for
- Unified inbox for texts, webchat and reviews
- Now adds an "AI Employee" that answers leads around the clock
Watch out for- No published pricing
- The pivot toward AI lead management may be more than a feedback buyer wants
Starting priceFrom $99/month per domain (billed annually)
Free planNo free plan advertised
Trustpilot is less a tool than a destination. Shoppers check it the way diners check review scores on a restaurant door, which is why the company can charge real money: plans start from $99 per month per domain billed annually for small businesses (up to $5M revenue, 100 invitations a month), rising through $319 and $799 tiers to custom enterprise. Every plan is a 12-month commitment.
That recognition cuts both ways. A strong TrustScore on a product page is social proof you cannot buy elsewhere, and Trustpilot's integrations push invitations into your order flow automatically. But the reviews belong to the platform; leave and the asset stays behind. Small businesses should also note the starting plan caps invitations at 100 a month. If your volume is higher, price the $319 tier. For pure private feedback, pick a survey tool instead.
What we like- The review brand consumers recognize, with 400 million-plus reviews on the platform
- Widgets, TrustScore badges and ad assets that lift conversion
- Invitation tools built for ecommerce flows
Watch out for- Per-domain pricing multiplies fast for multi-brand businesses
- Your reviews live on Trustpilot's platform, not yours
#8
QuestionPro
Best for: Teams that want serious survey features without enterprise prices
Visit questionpro.com
Starting price$99/user/month (Advanced, billed annually)
Free planYes (Essentials free plan: 1 user, 200 responses per survey)
The budget pick that punches above its price. QuestionPro's Essentials plan is free for one user with 200 responses per survey, which covers a lot of small-business feedback programs at zero cost. Step up to Advanced at $99 per user per month billed annually and you get 25,000 responses a year, branding, and a free 10-day trial; Team Edition drops the per-user rate to $83 for five or more users.
The trade is polish. Building surveys in QuestionPro feels more functional than delightful, and the product's heart is clearly in research and CX programs rather than pretty forms. That is fine if your priority is capability per dollar: NPS, conjoint analysis, communities and panel management live here at prices Qualtrics would laugh at. For teams that outgrow SurveyMonkey's depth but cannot justify Qualtrics, this is the landing spot.
What we like- The free Essentials plan is genuinely usable, with 200 responses per survey
- Dedicated CX and employee-experience modules
- Strong security credentials including ISO 27001 and HIPAA
Watch out for- The interface feels less polished than Typeform or SurveyMonkey
- $99 per user per month adds up once the team grows
#9
SurveySparrow
Best for: Small businesses that want conversational surveys with automation
Visit surveysparrow.com
Starting priceSee website
Free planYes (free plan: 3 surveys, 10 questions each, 50 responses/month)
The youngest company on this list, and it shows in the product's feel. SurveySparrow turns surveys into chat conversations, adds AI follow-up questions that dig into vague answers, and wraps it in automation: recurring surveys, ticket creation from detractor responses, and integrations with the usual CRM suspects. The free plan gives you three surveys with ten questions each and 50 responses a month after a 14-day trial of the paid features.
It is a strong answer to the question "what would Typeform look like if it were built for CX teams." The catch is pricing transparency: the paid figures do not appear in a plain read of the pricing page, so check the live page before you commit. For a small business that wants modern, mobile-first surveys without paying from day one, SurveySparrow deserves a trial alongside Typeform.
What we like- Chat-like conversational surveys that feel modern on mobile
- A real free plan, not just a trial
- NPS, 360 assessments and offline surveys included
Watch out for- Paid prices do not render in a text read of its pricing page, so confirm on the live page
- Advanced automation sits on higher tiers
Starting priceSee website
Free planFree trial (14 days, no credit card required)
If you run a service business, this one was built for you. NiceJob connects to tools like Jobber, Housecall Pro and QuickBooks, detects when a job wraps up, and automatically texts or emails the customer a review request, following up if they do not respond. The higher tier adds referrals, repeat-booking campaigns and AI-drafted review replies. Pricing is published on its own page in USD with Starter and Pro plans, a 14-day free trial that needs no credit card, and no contracts.
The focus is the limitation. NiceJob thinks in jobs, technicians and repeat bookings; a SaaS company or online store will find the model awkward. But for plumbers, cleaners, landscapers and contractors, it automates the single most valuable feedback habit there is: asking every happy customer for a public review. Few tools on this list are that precisely aimed at their buyer.
What we like- Automated review requests by text and email timed to job completion
- Published pricing in USD with no contracts
- Integrations with Jobber, QuickBooks and Square
Watch out for- Built for service businesses, so ecommerce and SaaS fit is weaker
- No permanent free plan
Customer feedback splits into two jobs, and most buyers confuse them. Survey tools (Qualtrics, SurveyMonkey, Typeform, QuestionPro, SurveySparrow) collect private answers to your questions: satisfaction scores, NPS, product feedback. You own the data and nobody else sees it. Review tools (Trustpilot, Birdeye, Podium, NiceJob) collect public proof: star ratings on Google, Facebook or a review platform that future buyers will read.
Contentsquare sits in a third seat: behavioral feedback, watching what visitors do rather than asking. Many businesses need one survey tool and one review tool, not one platform that does both badly. Decide which job hurts more right now. If customers never tell you what is wrong, buy the survey tool. If prospects never find social proof, buy the review tool.
How to choose customer feedback software without overbuying
Start with volume, because every vendor prices on it. Count how many survey responses or review invitations you will actually send per month, then read the caps: Typeform Basic allows 100 responses a month, Trustpilot's starter plan allows 100 invitations, SurveySparrow's free plan allows 50 responses. A tool that fits at 200 responses a month can triple in price at 2,000.
Then check the channel. SMS review requests (Podium, Birdeye, NiceJob) get opened; email surveys get ignored more often. If your customers are on their phones, weight the texting tools. If you need deep analysis of open-ended answers, weight Qualtrics or QuestionPro with their text analytics.
Finally, run the free tier for a full month before paying. Five tools here offer one, and a month of real answers will teach you more about your needs than any demo. Pay attention to three things during the trial: response rate, whether anyone on your team actually reads the results, and whether the tool reminds you to follow up with unhappy customers. If the trial does not change a single business decision, the paid plan will not either.
How we chose
We started with the searches buyers actually run: customer feedback software, best survey tools, review management software and NPS software. For each candidate we opened the vendor's own homepage, checked the vendor's pricing page for published prices and free tiers, and compared survey depth, review collection, response limits and company-size fit against public reviews on G2, Capterra and TrustRadius plus practitioner discussion. Where a vendor published no price, we wrote "See website" instead of repeating third-party estimates. Shut-down or merged products were handled directly: Hotjar now redirects to Contentsquare, so we list the current product.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best free customer feedback software?
SurveySparrow, QuestionPro Essentials, SurveyMonkey Basic and Typeform all offer genuinely useful free plans for surveys. For website feedback, Contentsquare's free plan is the most generous in this roundup. None of the review-focused tools (Birdeye, Podium, Trustpilot, NiceJob) offer a permanent free tier.
Should I pick a survey tool or a review tool?
Pick the survey tool if you need private answers to improve your product or service. Pick the review tool if you need public star ratings that win new customers. Most local and ecommerce businesses eventually need both, but start with whichever problem costs you more money today.
What happened to Hotjar?
Hotjar merged into Contentsquare. The hotjar.com homepage now directs new signups to Contentsquare Free, which includes heatmaps, session recordings, funnels and surveys. Existing Hotjar accounts were migrated. If you see Hotjar recommended in older articles, read it as Contentsquare.
How do I get more customers to answer surveys?
Keep it short, ask at the right moment, and use the right channel. One to three questions sent right after a purchase or support interaction beats a 30-question quarterly survey. Text-message requests get far higher open rates than email, which is why Podium, Birdeye and NiceJob lead with SMS.
What is NPS and do I need it?
NPS (Net Promoter Score) asks customers how likely they are to recommend you, on a 0 to 10 scale. It is the most common loyalty metric in small business, and nearly every tool here supports it, including the free plans from SurveySparrow and QuestionPro. You need it if you want one number to track customer loyalty over time.
Can I switch feedback tools later?
Yes, but plan the move. Export your historical responses to CSV before cancelling, because most platforms do not keep your data readable after the subscription ends. For review tools, remember that reviews collected on Trustpilot or Google stay on those platforms; only your invitation history and analytics move with you.
Sources we checked (16)
- https://www.qualtrics.com/
- https://surveymonkey.com/
- https://www.surveymonkey.com/pricing/
- https://www.typeform.com/
- https://typeform.com/pricing/
- https://contentsquare.com/
- https://birdeye.com/
- https://www.podium.com/
- https://business.trustpilot.com/
- https://business.trustpilot.com/pricing/
- https://www.questionpro.com/
- https://www.questionpro.com/pricing/
- https://surveysparrow.com/
- https://surveysparrow.com/pricing/
- https://get.nicejob.com/
- https://get.nicejob.com/pricing/
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
Shihab Mia · Founder, Rankite
Shihab has spent more than a decade helping SaaS and e-commerce brands grow through search. He writes Rankite's software buying guides from pricing pages, documentation and public user reviews. More about Shihab.