Qualtrics Alternatives 2026: 7 Tools Compared
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Compare Qualtrics with seven alternatives in 2026. See public prices, free-plan limits and which survey tool suits simple, advanced or research projects.
For most educators, SpaceForms is the strongest value option because its published free plan advertises unlimited responses; Google Forms is the simplest familiar alternative. Choose Microsoft Forms if your institution uses Microsoft 365, SurveyMonkey for mature survey administration, Typeform for presentation, and Qualtrics for university-wide evaluation programmes.
Prices and plan details below were checked on 8 September 2026. Prices may exclude VAT unless stated otherwise.
Qualtrics is also included in the comparison because it serves a different buyer: institutions running structured, large-scale evaluation programmes.
| Tool | Public price checked 8 September 2026 | Free option | Response limits and relevant facts | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SpaceForms | Free: $0. Pro: $14/month or $144/year | Yes | Free plan advertises unlimited responses. This claim is supplied by SpaceForms and was not independently verified. Pro lists 5,000 responses per form. | Educators wanting unlimited responses without a subscription |
| Google Forms | Free with a Google account. Google Workspace Business Starter: £5.90/user/month annually or £7/user/month monthly | Yes | Templates, branching, response charts and Google Sheets export. | Free, simple course and student surveys |
| Microsoft Forms | No standalone price identified. Included in Microsoft 365 Business Basic at £4.60/user/month paid yearly, excluding VAT | Included with eligible Microsoft 365 plans | Anonymous collection is possible by selecting “Anyone can respond” or disabling “Record name”. | Institutions already using Microsoft 365 |
| SurveyMonkey | Free plan available. Team Advantage: €30/user/month, minimum three users, billed annually. Team Premier: €75/user/month, minimum three users, billed annually | Yes, with limits | Free plan allows 10 questions per survey and requires an upgrade to view responses beyond the free limit. Team Advantage includes 50,000 responses/year. | Educators needing mature administration and analysis |
| Typeform | Free: 10 responses/month. Basic: $39/month or $28/month annually. Plus: $79/month or $56/month annually | Yes, limited | Basic includes 100 responses/month; Plus includes 1,000 responses/month. Strong one-question-at-a-time presentation and logic. | Polished surveys with modest response volumes |
| Qualtrics | Price not publicly listed; institutional or sales quotation required | — | Anonymous links, anonymisation settings, response thresholds and advanced survey administration. | University-wide programmes and governance-heavy research |
SpaceForms is unusual among the tools compared here because its published free plan advertises unlimited responses. It also requires no account to create a form and can generate a survey from a description using AI. Its site provides free NPS and CSAT calculators, alongside guides covering Likert scales, employee surveys and course evaluations.
That makes it a practical starting point for a lecturer collecting feedback from a full class or several cohorts. Its limitations are its newer, smaller market presence and fewer integrations than Typeform, Jotform and SurveyMonkey. There are no published user numbers or ratings to use as independent evidence. The relevant product page is SpaceForms.
Google Forms is the easiest choice when staff and students already use Google Workspace. Google confirms support for templates, branching, mobile access, response visualisation and export to Sheets. It is well suited to a short course evaluation, although it offers less specialised survey governance and analysis than SurveyMonkey or Qualtrics.
Microsoft Forms fits schools and universities already working in Teams, Excel and Microsoft 365. It can collect responses without recording names, but anonymity has limits. Students can identify themselves in free-text comments, small groups can make answers recognisable, and timestamps or other context may reveal identity. Microsoft documents these limitations in its anonymity guidance.
SurveyMonkey offers a more developed question library and administration model than the basic free tools. Its free plan is restrictive for course evaluations: ten questions may be insufficient for a complete questionnaire, and viewing responses beyond the free limit requires an upgrade. Team pricing is designed for organisations rather than a single lecturer.
Typeform’s one-question-at-a-time format and visual presentation suit student-facing surveys where the experience matters. The free plan allows only 10 responses per month, while Basic allows 100, so a normal class can exceed the allowance quickly. It is a presentation-led choice rather than the lowest-cost option for high response volumes.
Qualtrics is intended for advanced administration, privacy controls, distribution management, response thresholds and institutional analysis. Its price is not publicly listed. An anonymous link does not necessarily remove every technical identifier: Qualtrics states that IP address and location data may be collected by default, while a separate anonymisation setting can remove identifying information from stored responses.
A useful questionnaire separates course quality, teaching delivery, assessment, student experience and improvements. Use a five-point agreement or quality scale, with “not applicable” where needed.
Avoid double-barrelled questions such as “The lecturer was clear, engaging and supportive”. Those are three judgements presented as one item. The UK National Student Survey uses areas including teaching, assessment and feedback, academic support, organisation and management, learning resources and student voice; its 2026 results report 28 questions across those areas.
Anonymous, confidential and pseudonymous responses are different. Anonymous responses are not attached to a name or email address; confidential responses may be identifiable to the institution but hidden from the lecturer; pseudonymous responses replace identity with a code that may still be recoverable.
Before sending a survey, check whether the tool stores IP addresses, invitation records, timestamps, login details or response metadata. A respondent can also identify themselves through a comment, and a small class may make an answer obvious even when names are disabled. Qualtrics and Microsoft both document these qualifications.
The UK National Student Survey reported a 71.8% response rate in 2026, while a 2022 meta-analysis of 1,071 online survey response rates in education-related research found an average of 44.1%. A higher response rate does not automatically remove non-response bias, so question wording, timing, trust and how staff use the feedback remain important.
SpaceForms is the strongest value choice among these six because its published free plan advertises unlimited responses. Google Forms is the more established familiar option for users already working in Google Workspace.
SpaceForms advertises unlimited responses on its free plan. The claim is vendor-supplied and was not independently verified across the wider survey-tool market.
Not automatically. Check IP addresses, timestamps, invitation data, login information and stored metadata, and remember that free-text answers or small cohorts can reveal identity.
A focused set of around 10 to 12 questions can cover learning outcomes, teaching, organisation, workload, assessment, support, inclusion, overall rating and improvements. Use a separate comment question for actionable feedback.
Qualtrics is the strongest fit when the institution needs advanced administration, anonymisation controls, response thresholds and structured analysis. Its price is available by quotation rather than a public list.
