Refiner vs SurveySparrow (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, SurveySparrow grades higher than Refiner: 2.4 against 1.8 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 6, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
SurveySparrow grades higher on value for money, the free plan and features. They get the same grade on ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Refiner
In-app and website microsurveys for SaaS customer feedback
SurveySparrow
Chat-style survey and customer feedback platform with AI analysis
Which one is for you
Pick Refiner if
- Fits if you run a SaaS app with identified users and want surveys inside it
- Works for product teams that track NPS and product-market fit
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you're small: $149 a month for 5,000 users, rising with more users
- Skip it if you want a free plan, because there isn't one
- Watch out: the API, webhooks and CRM integrations need Growth at $279 a month
- Not for you if you want general or long surveys, as it's built for apps with identified users
Pick SurveySparrow if
- Fits if you want a survey that reads like a chat rather than a form
- Works for customer experience teams running NPS, CSAT and CES surveys
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free: 1 user, 3 active surveys, 10 questions each, 75 responses a quarter and no skip logic or embed
- Pricey if you add people, as Basic and Starter cover 1 user and extra users are $49 each a month
- Pricey if you want your own branding, matrix questions or webhooks, which start at Business at $79 a month billed yearly
- Not for you if you want to pay month by month, since billing is quarterly or yearly only
- Watch out: custom CSS, offline mode, SMS, WhatsApp and Salesforce need Enterprise, and the trial stops at 50 responses
How we grade them
| 1.8GPARefinerWeak | 2.4GPASurveySparrowFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | D$149 a month at 5,000 monthly users billed monthly ($1,490 a year), in the forms category's dearest tenth, and it rises with user count. | C$19 a month billed yearly is a little under this category's $24 middle, and it brings logic, web embeds and payment questions, but only 1 user and 2,500 responses a year. Branding and webhooks mean Business at $79, extra people $49 each, and there's no monthly billing. |
| Free plan and trial | DA free trial with no length stated on the pricing page, and no free plan. | CThe free plan is one of the tightest here: 1 user, 3 active surveys, 10 questions each and 75 responses a quarter, with no skip logic and no web embed. The 14-day trial of Business features needs no card but stops at 50 responses. |
| Features | CSurvey types, templates, user targeting, AI tagging and mobile SDKs. But multilingual surveys, the REST API, webhooks and CRM integrations need Growth, and Essentials caps published surveys at 20. | BIt covers the whole job: chat-style, classic or single-page surveys from 1,000-plus templates, sent by link, email, Slack or Teams, with workflows that turn feedback into tickets from Business, and AI that asks follow-ups and sorts answers into themes. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. Installing the SDK and setting up targeting takes developer time. | CNo store rating on record, and there's a survey to build and a plan's worth of gating to learn around before it does much. The 1,000-plus templates mean you rarely start from nothing. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, iOS and Android SDKs with HubSpot, Braze, Salesforce, Amplitude, Mixpanel, Slack and Zapier. No desktop app. | BWeb plus the SurveySparrow Go app on both phones, which doubles as an offline kiosk, with Slack, Teams, Zapier, Google Sheets, HubSpot and Zendesk wired in. No desktop app, and API access isn't on the free plan. |
| Best for | short in-app NPS and CSAT surveys for SaaS | surveys that feel like a chat |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Refiner and SurveySparrow. How we grade
Price against what you get
Refiner starts at $149 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. SurveySparrow starts at $19 a month and scores 2.7.
SurveySparrow scores higher and starts $130 a month lower. Of the other form and survey tools on the chart, 38 score higher than Refiner for less, and 1 scores higher than SurveySparrow for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- SurveySparrow also covers workflow automation.
At a glance
| Refiner | SurveySparrow | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free plan |
| Starts at | $149 per month for up to 5,000 monthly active users, billed monthly | $19 per month, billed yearly ($39 per month billed quarterly) |
| Free plan | None | 1 user, 3 active surveys, 10 questions per survey, 75 responses per quarter, 1,000 contacts and 200 emails. No display or skip logic, web embed or API access. |
| Free trial | Free trial account with no length stated on the pricing page. | 14-day trial of the Business plan features, no credit card, limited to 50 responses |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Refiner SAS | SurveySparrow Inc. |
| Price read from | refiner.io | surveysparrow.com |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Oct 6, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Refiner
- There is no free plan; the entry price is $149 a month at 5,000 active users and rises with user count.
- Multilingual surveys, REST API, webhooks and CRM and CDP integrations need Growth.
- Essentials caps published surveys at 20 and dashboards at 2.
- It is built for apps with identified users, not for general-purpose forms or long surveys.
SurveySparrow
- The free plan stops at 75 responses per quarter, 3 active surveys and 10 questions per survey, with no display or skip logic.
- Plans are billed quarterly or yearly; the pricing page offers no month-to-month billing.
- Basic and Starter include 1 user and Business 3; additional users are a $49 per user / month add-on.
- Custom branding and webhooks start at Business; custom CSS, offline mode, SMS, WhatsApp and Salesforce need Enterprise.
Key features
Refiner
- Survey types
- In-app surveys for web and mobile, website popup surveys, email surveys and shareable survey pages.
- Ready templates
- NPS, CSAT, CES and product-market-fit templates, plus survey logic, banner images and video questions.
- User targeting
- Target by user traits on Essentials; behavior-based segments and tracked-event triggers are on Growth.
- Reporting and AI tagging
- Dashboards, NPS and CSAT charts and AI response tagging. Essentials allows 2 dashboards; Growth allows unlimited.
- Mobile SDKs
- Native iOS and Android SDKs, with React Native and Flutter listed in the feature comparison.
- Integrations
- Sync data with tools such as HubSpot, Braze, Amplitude, Mixpanel and Slack; Claude, ChatGPT and MCP access are on Essentials.
SurveySparrow
- Chat, classic and single-page surveys
- Every plan can build a survey as a chat-style conversation, a classic survey or a single page, starting from more than 1,000 templates.
- Logic and question types
- Display and skip logic start on Basic. Matrix, rank order and constant sum questions need Business, and heatmap questions are Enterprise only.
- Distribution channels
- Share by link, email, Slack or Microsoft Teams on any plan. Web embeds and QR codes start on Basic; SMS, WhatsApp and the mobile SDK are Enterprise.
- Workflows and ticketing
- From Business, custom workflows and webhooks act on responses, and feedback can be turned into tickets with assignment rules and SLA settings.
- AI follow-ups and analysis
- Echo agents ask respondents follow-up questions, and CogniVue groups feedback into themes and sentiment. Key driver analysis is listed under Enterprise.
- SurveySparrow Go mobile app
- A companion app for Android and iOS that creates, shares and tracks surveys from a phone and can run as an offline survey kiosk.
Plans
Refiner
Essentials$149
per month for 5,000 users, billed monthly ($1,490 billed yearly)
Unlimited responses and team members, all survey types, AI tagging. $179 a month at 10,000 users.
Growth$279
per month for 5,000 users, billed monthly ($2,790 billed yearly)
Adds event tracking, multilingual surveys, CRM, CDP and analytics integrations, REST API. $325 a month at 10,000 users.
EnterpriseCustom
Custom data volumes, security and governance, procurement terms and dedicated customer success; sold through sales.
SurveySparrow
Free$0
1 user, 3 active surveys, 10 questions per survey and 75 responses per quarter, shared by link, email, Slack or Microsoft Teams.
Basic$19
per month, billed yearly; $39 per month billed quarterly
1 user and 2,500 responses a year (600 a quarter on quarterly billing), with display and skip logic, web embed, QR codes and payment questions.
Starter$39
per month, billed yearly; $59 per month billed quarterly
1 user and 15,000 responses a year (3,600 a quarter on quarterly billing), plus email embed, manual translation, redirects and HubSpot.
Business$79
per month, billed yearly; $149 per month billed quarterly
3 users and 36,000 responses a year (9,000 a quarter on quarterly billing), plus custom branding, matrix questions, custom workflows and webhooks.
EnterpriseCustom
3 or more users with custom limits, custom CSS, auto-translation, offline mode, SMS and WhatsApp distribution, audit logs and HIPAA compliance.
Ways to pay less
Refiner
- Annual discount
Save 17% with annual billing
Refiner's pricing page shows a 17% saving on annual billing: $1,490 a year for Essentials at 5,000 users versus $149 a month.
SurveySparrow
- Annual discount
Lower monthly rate with yearly billing
Billed yearly, Basic is $19 per month against $39 billed quarterly, Starter $39 against $59 and Business $79 against $149. Response allowances differ between the two terms.
- Other savings
CX Day Sale: 25% off yearly Starter and Business
The pricing page shows the yearly Starter and Business prices reduced by 25% during a CX Day Sale. The page's sale data gives an end date of October 9, 2026.
- Startups
$2,000 of credit for $500 for startups
Registered startups up to two years old with 50 or fewer employees can buy $2,000 of credit for $500. Credits expire after 18 months and do not cover Enterprise plans.
- Education
50% off for students
The pricing page advertises 50% off for students under SurveySparrow for Education, arranged by contacting the company.
- Nonprofit
15% off for NGOs
The pricing page advertises 15% off for non-profit organizations, arranged by contacting the company.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Refiner or SurveySparrow?
As of Nov 13, 2026, SurveySparrow is cheaper to start with: $19 a month, against $149 a month for Refiner. Refiner starts at $149 per month for up to 5,000 monthly active users, billed monthly, and SurveySparrow starts at $19 per month, billed yearly ($39 per month billed quarterly).
Which has a free plan, Refiner or SurveySparrow?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only SurveySparrow has a free plan. Refiner does not, though it has a free trial.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.