Do you know or can predict everything?

By everything, we literally mean everything! From knowing whether your friends like your singing (we all think they do!) to predict when the toilet papers need to be bought again. Do you have a concrete & confident answer to everything?

We’re guessing a ‘no’ unless you have some mystical powers, and the best answers you could give are your guesses and speculation. Now, imagine the same in your company. Where would the organization be if crucial decisions are made based on guesswork?

In whatever decisions you’re making, especially at work, quality data is needed. And the most powerful way to collect such data in the 21st century is by using survey software. Yes, a software that can send out questions as a survey, collect & store the answers, and analyze them to find patterns based on which decisions can be made.

We’ve heard a lot about the inability of Pollfish, a DIY survey software, to help organizations make excellent decisions. We’ll talk about why that’s happening while also giving 10 pollfish alternatives that can certainly do the job. Plus, there’s a bonus, too!

Enough with the introduction, then. It’s time we begin. Are you ready?

Here are the Pollfish Alternatives we hyped about:

• SurveySparrow
• Google Forms
• Survs
• Zoho Survey
• Microsoft Forms
• Cognito Forms
• SurveyPlanet
• SurveyLegend
• Pabbly
• FreeOnlineSurveys

Why Require Pollfish Alternatives?

Pollfish is a DIY (Do It Yourself) survey platform that uses organic sampling to collect responses. They call their method Random Device Engagement (RDE) that works on the concept of organic sampling. Here, they have a large pool of mobile consumers that they target using in-app incentive-backed advertisements. This means that a survey ad is shown to a regular user of an app who can choose to take part for a small incentive.

Well, this might sound like a cool way of conducting surveys, but there are clear problems with it. Plus, other critical issues have left businesses with no choice but to look for pollfish alternatives. Let’s see what they are:

Not A Full-service Software

Pollfish is a platform for conducting market research on a pool of mobile consumers. That’s it. That’s what pollfish is all about. Your team needs to select all the different criteria and demographics on their platform, even for market research.

Apart from market research, you won’t find a good reason to continue using their platform. They don’t offer NPS, 360-degree employee feedback, offline surveys, or any other solutions. So if you want to use pollfish for anything other than market research, they’ll send you a big sorry and turn you down.

Incentive-backed Ads

Their incentive-backed survey ads to collect data are a problem in itself. You don’t know how promptly someone is taking the survey because all they think about is the incentive at the end. Plus, apart from knowing a respondent’s age and sex, you get to know nothing. You don’t know if they understand or speak English properly, their educational qualifications, and if they’ve taken a survey multiple times to get more incentives. So, even though pollfish has layers to ensure data quality, it’s still an enormous gamble to pay for.

Inconsistent Customer Support

Pollfish’s customer support team’s knowledge has often been termed inconsistent by their users. Most times, it was found that their support team had very little knowledge of integration options with different survey builders and software. And in time of need, they delayed in giving a concrete solution. But, of course, you don’t want such customer support, do you?

Unrealistic Promises

Pollfish claims to have over 550 million mobile consumers as their target group, but how many are qualified enough to participate in market research? They do not know about that. Also, they claim that you can complete a survey and get the data in just 15 minutes, which is far from what happens. Despite having data quality checks, the data received is pretty generic and far from the expected quality many a time. So, looking for pollfish alternatives becomes more vital for businesses once they realize Pollfish’s claims are not turning into reality.

Poor User Experience

We’ve read about how their user experience while conducting a survey is from the 1990s! As much as they’ve focused on using artificial intelligence, a bit could’ve been given to user experience, too.

Gets Very Expensive Quickly

The price for conducting market research with Pollfish increases quickly as soon as a few features or demographic criteria are added. To be honest, their pricing is already high with just basic elements, and it goes up further on more additions. Not a software option for businesses working on a defined survey budget.

10 Free (Almost!) Pollfish Alternatives In 2023

We’ve now addressed the question of why there’s a need for pollfish alternatives. With that out of the way, let’s have a look at 10 free or almost free survey software alternatives to use in place of pollfish.

#1 SurveySparrow

Last but not least, if you want your survey campaigns to stand out and deliver intended results, there’s no better option than SurveySparrow. It’s one of those pollfish alternatives that have multiple solutions to solve your varying problems, be it customer feedback surveys, NPS, employee 360-degree feedback, or offline surveys. Plus, they have a chatbot to offer, too!

You need to pick the right solution for your business needs, and that’s it. SurveySparrow would do the rest, and you’ll not be disappointed. We can assure you here. Their basic plan starts from $19 per month, and the price varies based on the solution you’re choosing.

Why You’ll Make The Right Choice by Choosing SurveySparrow?

For conducting surveys that can make a difference, the software needs to be powerful, smart, and easy to use at the same time. Adapting surveys based on unique business problems is a major requirement for any efficient online survey software. And this is where SurveySparrow hits the ground running. It’s not just a survey builder, rather a complete solution provider to all your survey needs.

So, here are the reasons why you’ll make the right choice by choosing SurveySparrow as your survey software:

Omnichannel Feedback

With SurveySparrow, you get omnichannel support. Meaning, your surveys will have a presence on every channel. So, you can share them via Facebook, Twitter, embedded options, and scannable QR code. Impressive, isn’t it?

Seamless Survey Experience

With SurveySparrow as your survey software, the respondents will get an experience like no other, that too on multiple devices. With its interactive and beautiful survey templates, you can easily and quickly make the survey-taking experience a highly engaging affair.

Dual Interface

One of the most amazing features of SurveySparrow is its dual interface. It offers two different interfaces, chat-like surveys and conversational forms. You get a messaging experience with the chat-like interface. At the same time, conversational forms provide an informative experience for your survey-takers that brings our better data.

Various Question Types

The survey software has 11 different question types like Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ), open-ended questions, picture choice, rating, opinion scale, matrix type, the famous NPS type, and 4 others! You can use all these in every one of your surveys and blend them based on your survey needs.

Market-Research Tools

This is where the SurveySparrow team has worked extremely hard on. It’s their vision to provide the best tools and analytics options to help you make a well-informed decision. In a business, every decision counts, and that’s where their market research solution is among the best.

You should just sign-up for the 14-day free trial to get all these and more features at your disposal. Explore as much as you want, and then if you decide to join forces, you’ll not get disappointed!

#2 Google Forms

There’s no way we can talk about free pollfish alternatives without including Google forms. This survey software comes with all the crucial features you’ll need, like conditional logic and anonymity. In addition, it has the option for multiple user collaboration. Plus, the entire survey-making & sending process can be completed in a few simple steps if you have the questions ready.

Even when Google forms is a form builder, not a proper survey software, its editor is probably faster and more efficient than most of them. As it recognizes the question type even before you’re done typing it and helps frame it in the best possible manner. And you can ask 11 different types of questions with it. All this without having to pay a single dime. Gold!

#3 Survs

While conducting surveys, data collection is only one part of it. The other two are proper storage and analytics of this data. This is where Survs truly stand out. It’s one of the most advanced pollfish alternatives you’ll find, whose free plan is enough to get you started. Yes, Survs’ free plan lets you collect 100 responses and 5 questions per survey. These numbers might look insignificant at first glance. Still, it’s enough to conduct surveys and start testing some waters with the analytics they offer.

#4 Zoho Survey

Like Survs, the Zoho survey is one of those pollfish alternatives that gives survey-takers the liberty to conduct unlimited surveys in their free plan while asking 10 questions and collecting 100 responses per survey.

We think the Zoho survey is a superb value for money if you go for its premium plan starting at $10.72 per month. The reason for that is their excellent, effective, and simple-to-use features that make a vast difference during the survey creation process. It offers 25 different question types, over 250 survey templates, multiple channel sharing options, pop-up surveys, export as pdf, and other super useful features. And we just talked about the features in their free plan. Imagine what’s there in the paid ones!

#5 Microsoft Forms

Just like a Google account allows the usage of Google forms, a Microsoft account lets you use Microsoft forms. So in terms of features, there’s no separating Microsoft and Google forms. But for analytics, the former one takes the lead because of Excel.

Yes, with Microsoft forms, you can open the collected responses in Excel to see detailed analytics and work on them to find a relevant pattern. Powerful analytics help in the decision-making process, and the guys at Microsoft probably knew that well. A solid free pollfish alternative, we would say.

#6 Cognito Forms

Only a handful of survey software offers most of the crucial survey features in their free plan, and Cognito forms are one of them. From conditional logic to collecting payments through surveys, this pollfish alternative has got it covered for you. They come with a very interactive and easy-to-glide-through interface making the survey creation process simpler. You get to collect 500 responses per month in their free plan, which is great to run some A/B testing while getting started on the surveying process.

#7 SurveyPlanet

If unlimited surveys and responses are what you want in your survey campaigns, SurveyPlanet is one of the best pollfish alternatives you’d find. Apart from this, they have a huge question library, too. So, as soon as you type a keyword, a plethora of relevant questions come up for you to choose from. You also get to customize your surveys as per the brand theme while getting the basic survey features in their free plan. Amazing, aren’t they?

#8 SurveyLegend

SurveyLegend is again one of the best pollfish alternatives you’ll find, as just as SurveyPlanet, they, too, offer unlimited surveys and responses in their free plans along with all the features to make your survey campaign a success. Its analytics might not be the best and most powerful, for which you can go with their paid plans starting from $15 per month—total value for money.

#9 Pabbly

Pabbly is another great pollfish alternative. It’s a business management bundle equipped with functionalities ranging from email marketing to surveys. You get to use all these starting from their smallest plans. Talking just about its form builder, it has a drag and drops feature that lets you create a form or survey in a matter of minutes. Custom branding, conditional logic, autoresponder, integrated payment options, and self-hosting – You get all this with the most basic plan of Pabbly, starting from $15.

Not a free pollfish alternative, but with its massive options and solutions, paying $15 is as good as paying nothing for it.

#10 FreeOnlineSurveys

In its free version, FreeOnlineSurveys lets you collect 1000 responses but gives you the power of artificial intelligence to design & send engaging questions and surveys. Also, you name the feature you want, and this pollfish alternative has it, starting from conditional logic to text piping. Their business plan starts from $12.99 per month, which gives more powerful analytics and design capabilities.

Now, you’ve patiently read till here, and it’s time we reward you with a bonus before wrapping up. This bonus would help you massively in choosing the right survey software.

Here you go, then. It’s all yours.

Bonus: Questions to Ask Before Choosing a Survey Software

Surveys do a lot more work than just one. They help you create better relationships with your employees and customers while also finding areas for improvement and contributing to a business’ growth. Since we’ve discussed different pollfish alternatives, it becomes fitting to give questions that would help you choose the right survey software if you & your teams choose to answer them honestly. Here you go.

What do you want to achieve using the software?

This is where you and your teams need to sit down and define goals that your survey software should achieve. These goals can be anything from more website sign-ups to a consistent increase in revenue year on year. The important part is to set the goal because without that; there’s no way to track the survey software’s ROI. And you don’t want that, do you?

Is the survey software quick and efficient in conducting surveys?

Once you’ve set the goal for survey software, this is the next question to ask. And to get an answer, you or your teams actually need to sign-up for one of the shortlisted software and start using it under the free-trial plan. The reason behind this testing is to check if the surveys are being conducted quickly and efficiently, with close to zero errors, as errors in your survey campaign would hurt the brand image in the eyes of your target group, which is not what you want.

Is the software equipped with the needed features?

If you’re thinking of investing in survey software, you must ensure it has all the needed features. So, if your software doesn’t offer ready-made survey questions, targeted questioning, real-time data reporting, decent analytics, and features like piping and multiple user collaboration, look at a different option.

How powerful is the analytics of the software?

We’ve already said that conducting surveys and collecting data is only half the job done. The other half includes quality data storage and analytics. Yes, analytics is supremely important because, without it, there’s no point in conducting surveys. You and your team should be able to make tough calls using the patterns observed during analysis; hence go with survey software that doesn’t compromise here and at least provides decent data analytics capabilities.

Does the survey software look appealing?

Humans are visual creatures, and if a survey software doesn’t have an attractive appearance, people won’t give much heed to its surveys as one of the first goals of your survey campaigns is to influence people to take surveys properly. If your survey software can create clean, attractive surveys that are simple to take, the respondents would love it. And you want that, right?

Is the software offering automation?

According to HubSpot’s 2021 State of Marketing report, 68% of businesses globally use automation. Looking at the way marketing automation is gaining popularity, you must use survey software that at least offers automation features like recurring surveys and easy integration. Your surveys would perform much better that way. So, ask this question.

Is the software offering full-service solutions?

Upon asking this question, you’ll find whether the survey software of your choice is a DIY platform like pollfish or an omnichannel survey solution provider like SurveySparrow!

How good is the survey software’s customer support?

You can’t ignore the support side of things while choosing survey software. Because when issues arise in the middle of a survey campaign, only a proactive customer support team can save the day for you. This question is a must-ask, then.

Choose The Right One!

You’ve come this far, which means you know why looking for Pollfish alternatives is necessary, what are some alternatives you can rely on, why SurveySparrow can be a perfect choice, plus this highly informative bonus! Educating you on this was our primary goal here. Yours should be to use every bit of this gathered knowledge and take the right decision based on your business’ survey needs.

We get that there’s no one-size-fits-all here, which is why we want you to assess all the alternatives and pick the one that helps your company get the right growth. We’re rooting for you to do that. In case you need us with anything, we’re here 24/7. Contact us with no second thoughts. Ciao.

Kate Williams

Content Marketer at SurveySparrow