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
- Most small businesses should start with Typeform ($25/month) or Survicate: short surveys, high response rates and pricing a small team can approve without a committee.
- SurveyMonkey ($25/user/month on Team plans) is the safe middle: everyone knows it, it integrates everywhere, and the free plan handles basic surveys.
- Enterprises running voice-of-customer programs choose Qualtrics or Medallia, but both are custom-quoted and need real implementation.
- B2B teams measuring support quality per agent should look at Nicereply and AskNicely before buying a full survey platform.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|
 Qualtrics | Enterprises running full voice-of-customer programs | See website (custom quote) | Yes (free account with limited responses) |
 Medallia | Large companies with omnichannel feedback programs | See website (custom quote) | No |
 SurveyMonkey | Teams that want the familiar, everywhere-integrated survey standard | $25/user/month (Team plans, billed annually) | Yes (Basic plan with 10 questions per survey) |
 Typeform | Businesses that need high response rates from conversational surveys | $25/month (Basic plan, billed annually) | Yes (free plan with 10 responses per month) |
 Survicate | Website and product teams running targeted on-site surveys | See website | Free trial |
 Nicereply | Support teams measuring CSAT per agent | See website | Free trial (14 days) |
 Zonka Feedback | Multi-location businesses collecting on-site and offline feedback | $49/month (Starter plan) | Free trial (14 days) |
 Retently | B2B companies running NPS with account-level insight | See website | Free trial (no permanent free plan) |
 AskNicely | Service businesses coaching frontline staff on customer feedback | See website (custom quote) | No |
Is your product missing or out of date?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 satisfaction software
Here is the uncomfortable truth about satisfaction software: the tool matters less than the survey. A three-question survey sent at the right moment beats a 40-question questionnaire on the best platform ever built. Response rates decide everything, and response rates come from short surveys, good timing and a reason to answer.
That said, the platform decides what you can do with the answers. The nine tools below cover the real market: enterprise voice-of-customer suites, general survey builders, and focused CSAT and NPS products that do one job well. Pick by the size of your operation and the question you actually need answered.
Starting priceSee website (custom quote)
Free planYes (free account with limited responses)
Qualtrics is the platform enterprises buy when satisfaction becomes a company-wide program rather than a survey. It handles every channel, email, web, SMS, in-app and phone, and the analytics go beyond scores into text analytics, driver analysis and churn prediction. If your company runs hundreds of surveys and needs role-based dashboards for every department, this is the standard.
Small and mid-size buyers should be realistic. Pricing is custom and the sales process is enterprise-grade, which means demos, scoping calls and annual contracts. A 50-person company that wants a monthly NPS pulse will pay for ten times the product it needs. Qualtrics earns its price at scale; below that scale, the focused tools below do the job faster and cheaper.
What we like- The deepest survey and analytics platform in the category
- Text analytics and predictive intelligence on higher tiers
- Integrations with Salesforce, ServiceNow and Adobe
Watch out for- Custom pricing with enterprise sales cycles
- Overkill and overpriced for simple CSAT surveys
#2
Medallia
Best for: Large companies with omnichannel feedback programs
Visit medallia.com
Starting priceSee website (custom quote)
Free planNo
Medallia competes with Qualtrics for the enterprise voice-of-customer budget. Its strength is signal breadth: surveys, reviews, social, support transcripts, call recordings and video feedback all flow into one system, and the AI layer summarizes what thousands of customers are saying. Companies with millions of customer interactions use it as the system of record for experience data.
The buying reality matches the enterprise positioning. There is no trial, no starter plan and no price list; everything runs through sales and professional services. Mid-market companies sometimes land on Medallia through a scaled-down package, but the product assumes a dedicated owner and an implementation timeline. If you cannot staff a voice-of-customer program, buy something smaller.
What we like- Captures feedback across every channel including voice and video
- Strong AI summarization of unstructured feedback
- Proven at very large enterprise scale
Watch out for- No self-serve path and no published pricing
- Implementation is a project, not a signup
#3
SurveyMonkey
Best for: Teams that want the familiar, everywhere-integrated survey standard
Visit surveymonkey.com
Starting price$25/user/month (Team plans, billed annually)
Free planYes (Basic plan with 10 questions per survey)
SurveyMonkey is the default for a reason. The template library covers CSAT, NPS, CES and most industry surveys, the question bank keeps beginners from writing leading questions, and the integrations mean results land in your CRM or Slack automatically. For a marketing or CX team that needs a solid survey running this week, it is the fastest path.
The free Basic plan caps surveys at 10 questions and 25 responses per survey on some configurations, which is fine for testing but not for programs. Real CSAT work wants Team plans at $25 per user per month billed annually, where collaboration, logic and better analytics arrive. SurveyMonkey rarely wins on depth against Qualtrics or on response rates against Typeform; it wins on familiarity and speed.
What we like- Templates and question bank that shorten survey design
- Integrations with nearly everything, including Salesforce, HubSpot and Slack
- Respondents need no account and no training
Watch out for- Advanced logic and analytics sit on higher tiers
- Per-user pricing climbs with team size
#4
Typeform
Best for: Businesses that need high response rates from conversational surveys
Visit typeform.com
Starting price$25/month (Basic plan, billed annually)
Free planYes (free plan with 10 responses per month)
Typeform's bet is that surveys feel like conversations, not forms. One question appears at a time, the design is polished, and logic jumps route respondents around irrelevant questions. For customer-facing brands, the completion rates are the selling point: people finish pretty surveys more often than gray grids of radio buttons.
The pricing math needs attention. The free plan's 10 responses per month is a trial in practice, and paid plans start at $25 per month for 100 responses on Basic. Teams running high-volume post-purchase surveys can hit response limits faster than expected, so check the response caps on Plus ($50) and Business ($83) against your volume before committing. For low-volume, high-value feedback, it is excellent.
What we like- One-question-at-a-time format that lifts completion rates
- Attractive design that fits customer-facing brands
- Logic jumps that personalize the survey path
Watch out for- Free plan allows only 10 responses per month
- Per-response pricing pressure on higher tiers
#5
Survicate
Best for: Website and product teams running targeted on-site surveys
Visit survicate.com
Starting priceSee website
Free planFree trial
Survicate's strength is asking at the moment of experience. Surveys trigger on websites and inside products based on behavior, URL or visitor attributes, so the question appears right after the purchase, the onboarding step or the feature use. Email and link surveys cover the follow-up, and a feedback hub collects responses from every touchpoint in one place.
The product fits marketing and product teams more than support operations. Targeting and design are strong; per-agent support scoreboards and frontline coaching are not the focus. Teams that want to understand why visitors bounce, buyers hesitate or users churn will get value fast. Teams measuring support quality per agent should look at Nicereply instead.
What we like- Targeted website, in-product and email surveys with no-code targeting rules
- NPS, CSAT and CES templates ready to launch
- Integrations with HubSpot, Intercom, Salesforce and Slack
Watch out for- Pricing details require checking the site
- Response limits vary by plan
Starting priceSee website
Free planFree trial (14 days)
Nicereply lives inside the support workflow. When an agent closes a ticket in Zendesk, Intercom, Freshdesk or a dozen other helpdesks, the customer gets a one-click CSAT rating, and the score lands on that agent's record. Managers see per-agent trends, CSAT by channel and customer comments tied to specific tickets, which turns "improve satisfaction" into coachable specifics.
The specialization is also the limit. Nicereply is not the tool for product surveys, market research or website feedback; it measures support interactions. Teams that run support on one of the integrated helpdesks get value in days. Everyone else should look at the general survey tools above.
What we like- CSAT, NPS and CES surveys triggered from helpdesk tickets
- Per-agent scoreboards that make coaching concrete
- One-click surveys inside the ticket reply
Watch out for- Built for support workflows, weak for general surveys
- Pricing requires a quote or site check
#7
Zonka Feedback
Best for: Multi-location businesses collecting on-site and offline feedback
Visit zonkafeedback.com
Starting price$49/month (Starter plan)
Free planFree trial (14 days)
Zonka Feedback is built for businesses with physical locations. Restaurants, clinics, retail stores and hotels run surveys on tablets or kiosks, including offline when the wifi drops, and headquarters compares CSAT across locations in one dashboard. That multi-location reporting is the feature the general survey tools handle poorly.
Single-location businesses and pure digital products will find simpler tools cheaper. Zonka's value appears when you manage five or fifty locations and need to know which one is slipping. The $49 Starter plan covers the basics; multi-location rollouts realistically want Growth, so price the actual deployment before deciding.
What we like- Kiosk, tablet and offline survey modes for physical locations
- Multi-location reporting that compares stores or clinics
- CX metrics plus workflow automation on higher tiers
Watch out for- Overkill for single-location or purely digital businesses
- Some advanced features need the Growth tier
#8
Retently
Best for: B2B companies running NPS with account-level insight
Visit retently.com
Starting priceSee website
Free planFree trial (no permanent free plan)
Retently is NPS software for B2B. Surveys go out by email or in-app, responses attach to accounts in HubSpot or Salesforce, and the platform automates the follow-up: detractors get a save campaign, promoters get asked for a review. For SaaS and service companies where a handful of accounts drive revenue, account-level NPS is more actionable than an aggregate score.
The focus is deliberate and narrow. Teams running CSAT after support tickets or CES after onboarding will find Retently thin outside NPS. B2B companies that live and die by net revenue retention, and want NPS wired into the CRM with automated plays, are the right buyers.
What we like- NPS surveys tied to accounts and contacts in your CRM
- Automated follow-up campaigns for detractors and promoters
- Review generation that turns promoters into public reviews
Watch out for- NPS-centric, weaker for CSAT or CES programs
- Pricing not published
#9
AskNicely
Best for: Service businesses coaching frontline staff on customer feedback
Visit asknicely.com
Starting priceSee website (custom quote)
Free planNo
AskNicely's insight is that frontline staff change satisfaction more than dashboards do. The platform sends each employee their own feedback daily, with coaching prompts and recognition when scores rise. Franchises, home services and retail chains use it to make customer feedback part of the frontline routine rather than a monthly report nobody reads.
That positioning comes with enterprise-style buying: custom quotes and a sales process, no self-serve starter. The product also assumes you have frontline staff to coach; office teams running digital surveys get little from it. For multi-unit service brands, though, the frontline coaching loop is a genuine differentiator.
What we like- Daily feedback digests sent to individual staff members
- Coaching workflows built around frontline scores
- Strong fit for franchises and multi-unit service brands
Watch out for- Custom pricing with a sales process
- Narrower than general survey platforms
What to measure before you buy software
Software cannot fix a measurement problem. Before comparing tools, decide what you are actually tracking, because the metric picks the tool.
CSAT (customer satisfaction score) answers "how satisfied were you with this interaction." It is transactional: one support ticket, one delivery, one visit. Measure it right after the event, keep the survey to one or two questions, and use Nicereply, Survicate or Zonka Feedback depending on the channel.
NPS (net promoter score) answers "how likely are you to recommend us." It is relational: the whole brand, measured quarterly or after onboarding milestones. Survicate, Retently and AskNicely all run NPS well; pick by whether you need account-level B2B insight (Retently) or frontline coaching (AskNicely).
CES (customer effort score) answers "how easy was it to resolve your issue." It predicts loyalty better than CSAT in support contexts. Most tools on this list support CES questions; Nicereply and the general survey builders cover it.
The common mistake is measuring all three with long surveys. Pick one primary metric per touchpoint, ask it in under a minute, and let the software handle the trending. Response rate beats questionnaire depth every time.
Response rates are the real feature comparison
Vendors compete on analytics, but the binding constraint is how many customers answer. Industry surveys consistently show email survey response rates in the single digits to low teens unless the survey is short and well-timed. Every design choice should serve the response rate.
Short beats long. One-question CSAT and NPS surveys from Survicate and Nicereply routinely outperform 10-question questionnaires. If your survey takes more than a minute, expect completion to fall off.
Timing beats blasting. Surveys triggered by events, a closed ticket, a delivered order, a finished appointment, get answered. Monthly batch blasts get ignored. This is why integrations matter: the tool must fire the survey from your helpdesk, CRM or POS automatically.
Channel matters. SMS and in-app surveys outperform email on response rates, which is why Survicate and Zonka Feedback push beyond email. Kiosk and tablet modes win in physical locations where email addresses are unreliable.
When vendors demo analytics, ask for their customers' median response rates instead. A beautiful dashboard on a 3 percent response rate is a decoration.
How we chose
We started with the terms buyers search: customer satisfaction software, CSAT software, NPS platform and voice of customer tools. For each candidate we opened the vendor's pricing page, confirmed the product measures satisfaction rather than being a generic form builder, and checked public reviews on G2, Capterra and Reddit for how surveys perform in practice. We compared survey channels, CRM and helpdesk integrations, reporting depth and which company sizes each tool fits. Where a price could not be verified on the vendor's own page, we wrote "See website" instead of guessing.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between CSAT, NPS and CES?
CSAT measures satisfaction with a single interaction, like a support ticket. NPS measures likelihood to recommend the whole brand, usually quarterly. CES measures how easy something was to do, like resolving an issue. Use CSAT per transaction, NPS per relationship and CES where effort predicts churn.
How much does customer satisfaction software cost?
It ranges widely. Focused tools like Typeform start at $25 per month and Zonka Feedback at $49 per month. SurveyMonkey Team plans run $25 per user per month. Enterprise platforms Qualtrics, Medallia and AskNicely are custom-quoted and typically run into five figures annually. Start with the metric you need, then buy the cheapest tool that measures it well.
What is a good survey response rate?
For short triggered surveys, 20 to 40 percent is achievable; one-question email surveys often land in that range. Long questionnaires sent by batch email commonly fall below 10 percent. If your response rate is under 10 percent, shorten the survey and trigger it from an event before blaming the tool.
Can I run NPS surveys with a free tool?
Yes, for small volumes. SurveyMonkey's free Basic plan and Typeform's free plan both handle NPS questions with tight response limits. Survicate offers a trial. Free plans work for testing; a real ongoing program with automated triggering needs a paid plan.
Do I need Qualtrics or Medallia, or is SurveyMonkey enough?
SurveyMonkey is enough if you run surveys and read the results yourself. Qualtrics and Medallia earn their price when satisfaction becomes a program: multiple departments, thousands of responses, text analytics, and dashboards for people who never open the survey tool. Under roughly 500 employees, the focused tools usually deliver more value per dollar.
How do I get customers to actually answer surveys?
Keep it under a minute, trigger it right after the interaction, and tell them what changed because of past feedback. One-question surveys outperform long ones, event-triggered surveys outperform batch blasts, and closing the loop ("you asked, we fixed") lifts future response rates more than any incentive.
Sources we checked (11)
- https://www.qualtrics.com/pricing/
- https://medallia.com
- https://surveymonkey.com/pricing/
- https://typeform.com/pricing/
- https://survicate.com/pricing/
- https://nicereply.com/pricing/
- https://zonkafeedback.com/pricing/
- https://retently.com/pricing/
- https://www.asknicely.com/pricing/
- https://www.g2.com/categories/customer-satisfaction
- https://www.capterra.com/customer-experience-software/
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.