Alchemer vs SmartSurvey (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Alchemer if

• Fits if you're a researcher who needs conjoint, card sort or heatmap questions
• Works for teams of one to three building long surveys full of branching, with answers going to Salesforce or HubSpot

Look elsewhere if

• Pricey if you just want a contact form, since paid plans start at $315 per user a year
• Pricey if you need advanced logic or file uploads, as those start at $1,075 per user a year
• Not for you if there are more than 3 of you, because that means a custom-priced Platform plan
• Tight if you're staying free, with 3 surveys at a time, 100 responses on each and basic question types
• Watch out: the API and single sign-on are Platform only, and kiosk mode and SPSS export need Full Access

Pick SmartSurvey if

• Fits if you want a free plan to try and a UK-based vendor
• Works for teams that need dashboards and shared reports on Growth

Look elsewhere if

• Pricey if you are one person, with Advanced at GBP 70 a month
• Tight if you stay free, as there are 100 responses a month and no e-mail invites
• Skip it if you need several users on Advanced, as multiple users start on Growth, GBP 100 a user
• Watch out: prices are in pounds and exclude VAT
• Watch out: case management and full white labelling are Scale add-ons

Alchemer

• Professional and Full Access allow at most 3 users; larger teams need a custom-priced Platform plan.
• The pricing page limits API access, single sign-on and security assessments to Platform plans.
• The Free account stops at 3 surveys and 100 responses per survey, with a short list of question types.
• Offline or kiosk mode, SPSS export and the market research question types all require Full Access.

SmartSurvey

• Prices are in pounds sterling and exclude VAT, according to the pricing page.
• Advanced includes a single user; multiple users start on Growth, which is priced per user.
• The free plan has 100 responses a month and no e-mail invitations.
• Case management, reputation management and full white labelling are add-ons on the Scale tier.

Alchemer

43 question types

Alchemer Survey lists 43 question types. File uploads need Professional, and card sort, heatmap and conjoint questions need Full Access.

Logic, piping and merge codes

Survey logic is on every paid license. Multiple conditions, piping and repeating count as advanced logic and start on Professional.

Link, email, SMS and QR distribution

Share a survey by link, QR code or SMS. Sending email campaigns to a contact list from inside Alchemer starts on Professional.

Reports and exports

Paid licenses share reports by URL, download them as PDF, PowerPoint, Excel or Word and export raw data to Excel. SPSS export is Full Access only.

Integration catalog

A catalog of integrations pushes survey data to, or pulls records from, Salesforce, HubSpot, Google Sheets, Tableau and other systems.

AI survey tools

An AI Survey Builder drafts a survey from a plain-language description, and AI Smart Question generates follow-up questions for respondents.

SmartSurvey

Survey and form builder

Create surveys or forms with core question types and 130+ templates; advanced question types and AI building are on the plans listed.

Logic and personalisation

Advanced and above include logic and personalisation, a custom thank-you message and custom branding with a logo and theme.

Analysis

Paid plans include sentiment analysis, trend charts and word clouds; Scale adds thematic analysis of open-text answers.

Dashboards and sharing

Growth adds dashboards, multiple user accounts, permissions and shared templates; Scale lists unlimited dashboards.

Distribution

Send by e-mail, popups, web embed, QR codes, tracking links and offline or kiosk mode; SMS invitations are on Scale.

API and integrations

Growth includes an API and webhooks, with Salesforce and Power BI connections listed among the integrations.

Alchemer

• Free$0

  Up to 3 surveys at a time and 100 responses per survey, with basic question types such as radio buttons, checkboxes, text boxes and ratings.

• Collaborator$315

  per user / year ($55 per user / month billed monthly)

  Unlimited surveys and questions, 75,000 responses a year per account, survey logic, report downloads and email support.

• Professional$1,075

  per user / year ($165 per user / month billed monthly)

  Up to 3 users and 100,000 responses a year, plus advanced logic, email campaigns, file uploads and phone support on annual plans.

• Full Access$1,895

  per user / year ($275 per user / month billed monthly)

  Up to 3 users and 125,000 responses a year, plus market research question types, SPSS export, open-text analysis and offline or kiosk mode.

• Platform PlansCustom

  For more than 3 users: API access, single sign-on, 24/7 support, a customer success manager and feedback collection across other channels.

SmartSurvey

• Basic£0

  1 user, 100 responses per month, core question types and 130+ templates.

• Advanced£70

  per month, billed annually (£840 a year; £90 billed monthly)

  1 user, 30,000 responses and 90,000 e-mail invites a year, logic, custom branding, sentiment and text analysis.

• Growth£100

  per user / month, billed annually (£1,200 a year; £125 billed monthly)

  Priced per user, with 90,000 responses a year, dashboards, user permissions, shared templates, API and webhooks.

• ScaleCustom

  Sold through sales: thematic analysis, auto translate, SMS invitations, hiding the SmartSurvey badge, SSO and HIPAA compliance.

Alchemer

• Annual discount

  Save 43% to 52% with annual billing

  The pricing page marks annual billing as saving 52% on Collaborator ($315 a year against $55 a month), 46% on Professional and 43% on Full Access.

• Nonprofit

  25% off annual plans for non-profits

  Registered non-profit organizations get 25% off annual accounts after entering an EIN or international equivalent at checkout. Monthly accounts are excluded.

SmartSurvey

• Annual discount

  Save with annual billing

  The pricing page says annual billing saves up to 22%: 22% on Advanced and 20% on Growth.

• Education

  Student plan

  The student plan page says its plan starts from £7.50 a month with annual billing, and also lists a free tier.