Decide whether you want to self-host before you compare features. Open-source tools give you ownership and the upkeep that comes with it, developer libraries suit teams building surveys into their own product, form builders suit quick web surveys, and hosted research suites suit teams who want the vendor to run everything.
Do you want your survey data on your own servers, or would you rather someone else ran them? Answer that first. Formbricks now pitches owning your experience data on your own infrastructure, so most people looking for an alternative are either keen on that idea or have found it's more work than they wanted. This list serves both, in no particular order.
Four ways to run surveys and feedback
Open source you can host yourself
OpnForm and LimeSurvey are both open source. You can run either on your own servers, and both offer hosted options if you'd rather not. They're the most direct swap for teams that chose Formbricks for data ownership.
A developer library, not an app
SurveyJS is a developer library, not a hosted app. Your developers embed its survey components in your own product and decide where every response is stored. It's a strong fit for software teams and a poor fit for anyone hoping to log in and start building a survey.
Form builders
Fillout and Jotform are hosted form builders that handle surveys well. They're quick to set up for web surveys, quizzes and feedback forms, and they connect to the tools you already use.
Hosted research and feedback suites
Userback, Sprig, QuestionPro and Qualtrics run everything for you. Some focus on in-product feedback and session replays, some on AI-led research and some on large research programmes across customers and staff.
Owning the data means owning the upkeep
Self-hosting sounds like a simple win: your data, your servers, nobody else involved. The part people miss is that you also own upgrades, backups and security. If a patch comes out on a Friday night, it's your team that applies it. Hosted tools hand that work to the vendor, in exchange for your data living on their systems.
Neither choice is wrong. It depends on who you have and what your rules ask of you. Data protection rules vary by country and sector, so check with your regulator or data protection lead if you collect personal information.
One more thing worth checking: names in this space move. Hotjar's own homepage now says Hotjar is Contentsquare, so check where a tool you remember sits today before you add it to a shortlist.
How the nine survey tools compare
| Tool | How you run it | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Fillout | Form, survey and quiz builder | Sending responses straight to the tools you use |
| Jotform | Online form builder | Forms with logic, payments and workflow automation |
| LimeSurvey | Open-source survey tool | Questionnaires and polls with a choice of server location |
| OpnForm | Open-source form builder | Self-hosting forms and surveys or using an EU cloud |
| Qualtrics | Experience management platform | Large-scale customer and employee feedback programmes |
| QuestionPro | Online survey platform | Market research with many question types and templates |
| Sprig | Enterprise research platform | Product teams letting agents design and analyse surveys |
| SurveyJS | JavaScript survey library | Developers embedding surveys inside their own app |
| Userback | Feedback and in-app survey tool | Collecting feedback, replays and feature requests in-product |
Nine Formbricks alternatives, A to Z
Alphabetical. Every description reflects how the vendor presents its own tool.
Fillout
Best for: Teams building forms, surveys and quizzes who want responses stored where they already work, in what the vendor calls forms that do it all.
Jotform
Best for: Operations teams needing forms with conditional logic, payment collection, reports and workflow automation; a free plan is named on the vendor's site.
LimeSurvey
Best for: Researchers running questionnaires, polls and surveys who want open source and a say over server location; the vendor calls it free, easy and open source.
OpnForm
Best for: Teams wanting a form, survey and workflow builder they can run in the cloud, in the EU or on their own servers, with the vendor promising full control of data.
Qualtrics
Best for: Enterprises running customer and employee feedback at scale, on what the vendor calls an XM data and AI platform for turning understanding into decisions.
QuestionPro
Best for: Market researchers who want many question types, ready-made templates and research tools, with a free plan named on the vendor's site.
Sprig
Best for: Product research teams where, per the vendor, research agents design surveys, adapt to each respondent and analyse the results.
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SurveyJS
Best for: Developers, not marketers: JSON-based survey and form components you embed in your own JavaScript app, under an MIT licence, with full data ownership.
Userback
Best for: SaaS teams collecting feedback through widgets, in-app surveys, session replays and feature portals; a free plan is named on the vendor's site.
Advice for product teams replacing Formbricks
Run one live survey through your shortlist, from building it to sending it to exporting the results, before you commit. The export step catches more teams out than any other: a tool that's lovely to build in can still make it awkward to get your data out in the format your analysts want.
Be honest about who'll maintain a self-hosted tool. If you have engineers who already run your own servers, open source is a fine choice. If you don't, a hosted tool will save you a lot of quiet weekend work. For more options, see my Typeform alternatives and my list of open-source survey tools.
Three paths, depending on who you are
If data ownership matters most
Shortlist the open-source tools and plan who'll handle upgrades, backups and security before you install anything.
If developers own the product
Look at the developer library first, because surveys built into your own app feel native and keep responses inside your own systems.
If you want it running this week
Choose a hosted form builder or feedback suite, send one survey to a small group and check the export before you roll it out.
Do you make survey and feedback software? Tool makers can ask to be considered for a featured place on this list.
Want your tool on this list? Featured spots and reviews here are paid partnerships. Here's how to partner with me.
Frequently asked questions
Should I self-host my survey tool?
Self-host if you have people to handle upgrades, backups and security and you need the data on your own servers. If you don't, a hosted tool hands that work to the vendor.
What's the difference between a survey library and a survey app?
A survey library is code your developers add to your own product. A survey app is a hosted service you log into to build and send surveys without coding.
Can I run in-product surveys without a developer?
Some hosted feedback tools add surveys to your product with a small snippet, which is usually a one-off job for a developer. After that, non-technical teams can create surveys themselves.
Are open-source survey tools really free to run?
The software may be free, but hosting, maintenance and security still take time and servers. Count that work before you decide.
What do data protection rules mean for survey tools?
Rules vary by country and sector. Check where each tool stores responses and ask your regulator or data protection lead what your surveys need.
How do I move old survey responses to a new tool?
Export your responses before you cancel, usually as a spreadsheet file. Most tools won't import another tool's results directly, so keep the export as your archive.
