Is SurveyMonkey Free? What the Basic Plan Lets You Do

SurveyMonkey is an online survey tool for customer feedback, event surveys and quick polls. Its free Basic plan is a fair way to run a short survey. The limits sit in two places, the number of questions and the number of responses you can view, and the second one is the one that catches small businesses out once a survey takes off.

What SurveyMonkey Basic gives you

• Free survey creation on the Basic plan.
• Up to 10 questions per survey. SurveyMonkey says upgraded plans allow unlimited questions.
• A limited number of viewable responses per survey. Your exact limit is shown when you sign up or log in.
• Quiz scoring and the standard survey basics.
• SurveyMonkey Audience, which SurveyMonkey says lets you use upgraded survey features even on a free plan.

SurveyMonkey Basic vs the upgraded plans

Feature	Basic (free)	Upgraded plans
Questions per survey	Up to 10	Unlimited
Responses you can view	Limited per survey	Higher limits, stated per plan
Custom survey end page without advertising	No	Yes
Carry forward responses	No	Yes
Quizzes with custom feedback	No	Yes, Quizzes Pro

The catch: you can collect more than you can see

SurveyMonkey's plans FAQ explains that Basic lets you view a limited number of responses per survey, even if you collect more. Its plan details add that free users must upgrade to view responses beyond the response limit.

So if you send a customer survey to your whole list and it does well, SurveyMonkey keeps collecting, but you'll only see the first batch of answers unless you upgrade. That's frustrating if you only discover it after the survey has gone out.

A couple of ways to stay inside the free plan:

• Send the survey to a smaller group first, such as recent customers, rather than everyone.
• Keep it to the 10 questions you need, which also makes people more likely to finish it.
• Check your response limit in your account before you send, so you know your number.

What happens if you downgrade

There's a second detail for people who try an upgraded plan and then step back. SurveyMonkey says that if you turn off auto-renew, you're moved to a free plan at the end of your cycle, and any responses over your Basic limit that are older than 365 days are deleted. Export anything you want to keep before that happens.

How to run a free survey on SurveyMonkey

1. Sign up for a free SurveyMonkey account on the Basic plan.
2. Start from a template or a blank survey.
3. Write up to 10 questions, putting the most important ones first.
4. Share the survey with a link or by email to a targeted group.
5. Review the responses you can see, and export them for your records.

Writing good questions matters more than the tool. My survey question swipe file has ready-made questions for customer feedback, so your 10 count.

SurveyMonkey vs a free form builder

If you're hitting the response limit, a form builder can be a better fit for simple surveys, because many count responses differently. My guide to online form builders for business compares tools that handle surveys, feedback and sign-ups.

Who SurveyMonkey Basic suits

Basic suits short, targeted surveys with a modest number of responses, such as feedback from a workshop or a quick poll of your best customers. It's also fine for internal team surveys.

It's a weaker fit for big customer surveys, long questionnaires, or anything where you need to read every response.

Writing a 10-question survey that works

The 10-question limit is a useful discipline. Short surveys get finished. A few rules help you get the most from them:

• Start with the one question you most want answered, so it gets answered even if people drop off.
• Use multiple choice for most questions, and keep one open question for anything you didn't think of.
• Ask about one topic per survey, rather than mixing product feedback with event feedback.
• Finish with a question asking if you can follow up, so you can talk to the people with the most to say.

Sharing results with your team

SurveyMonkey explains that different users have different rights on its team plans. Full Access users can create, send, analyse and share surveys, while Analysts can only view, comment on and analyse surveys shared with them. On the free plan, you're working on your own, so exporting the responses you can see is the simplest way to share them with anyone else.

My verdict: SurveyMonkey is free for small surveys of up to 10 questions. Know your response limit before you send, because collecting answers you can't read is the free plan's biggest trap.

Frequently asked questions

Is SurveyMonkey free to use?

Yes. SurveyMonkey's Basic plan is free. Free users can add up to 10 questions per survey and view a limited number of responses.

How many questions can I ask on free SurveyMonkey?

SurveyMonkey says free users can add up to 10 questions per survey. Upgraded plans allow unlimited questions.

Can I see all my responses on SurveyMonkey Basic?

Not always. SurveyMonkey says Basic lets you view a limited number of responses per survey, even if you collect more, and free users must upgrade to view the rest.

What happens to my responses if I go back to the free plan?

SurveyMonkey says responses over your Basic limit that are older than 365 days are deleted when you're moved to a free plan.

Where can I see my SurveyMonkey response limit?

SurveyMonkey says your response limit is visible when you sign up or log in to your account.

Can I make a quiz on free SurveyMonkey?

SurveyMonkey lists quiz scoring and a results page among its survey basics. Custom feedback for each answer comes with Quizzes Pro on upgraded plans.

Can I use SurveyMonkey Basic for a one-off survey?

Yes. SurveyMonkey says that if you're only planning to send one survey for now, it recommends either the Basic (free) plan or a monthly Standard plan.

Do I need to upgrade to add more than 10 questions on SurveyMonkey?

Yes. SurveyMonkey says free users can add up to 10 questions per survey, while upgraded plans allow as many questions as you need.