Qualtrics review (2026): is the free plan enough?
Survey and experience research platform with a free account
Black Friday: is there a Qualtrics sale?
Qualtrics report card
Fair · out of 4.0 · graded Nov 12, 2026
Best for a free survey account for research and students
Qualtrics is a survey and experience research platform with a free account of 500 responses and 3 active surveys. The one published paid price is $5,040 a year, and everything above it is quoted through sales.
Who Qualtrics is for
- Fits if you are a student or researcher running a small survey
- Works for universities and large companies already licensed
Who Qualtrics is not for
- Pricey if you outgrow Free, as the one published paid price is $5,040 a year
- Tight if you need more than 500 responses, 3 active surveys or 8 question types
- Watch out: custom look and feel, quotas, dashboards and the workflow engine are not in the free account
- Not for you if you want an easy price check, since other products are quoted through sales
Why Qualtrics gets a 2.2
Five grades, each with its reason. The GPA is their average: an A is 4 points, an F is none.
- DValue for moneyStrategic Research is $420 a month billed annually, $5,040 a year, far above the category's $66 dearest-tenth line.
- BFree plan and trialFree account: 500 responses, 3 active surveys of up to 30 questions and 8 question types with basic logic. A student or one-off project can live on that.
- BFeaturesSurvey builder, templates, distribution, analysis, AI help and connected experience programs cover the whole job. Quotas, dashboards and workflows are not in the free account.
- CEase of useNo store rating on record. A large platform with a learning curve for its reports and programs.
- CPlatforms and integrationsWeb only, and the listing names no integrations or apps.
What these grades rest on. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Qualtrics's own pages on 12 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. How we review and grade.
Make Qualtrics? Put this grade on your site
Paste this where you want the badge. It links here and follows the grade if it changes. About badges
<a href="https://toolgpa.com/tools/qualtrics#review"><img src="https://toolgpa.com/badge/qualtrics.svg" alt="Qualtrics: 2.2 GPA on ToolGPA" width="196" height="56"></a>Where Qualtrics stands among form and survey tools
Qualtrics's GPA of 2.2 is higher than 13 of the 60 other form and survey tools we grade, and level with 10.
It stands best on free plan and trial (B, above 43 of 60) and worst on value for money (D, above 0).
Its paid plans start at $420 a month, against a middle price of $19.50 for the category: 51 of the 51 others that charge start lower.
On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4. 25 tools score higher and cost less.
Each grade against the category
Every bar is all 61 form and survey tools we grade, cut by the letter each got. Qualtrics’s own letter is outlined.
- DValue for moneyAbove 0 of 60, level with 11
- BFree plan and trialAbove 43 of 60, level with 12
- BFeaturesAbove 32 of 60, level with 24
- CEase of useAbove 3 of 60, level with 51
- CPlatforms and integrationsAbove 0 of 60, level with 11
Price against what you get
Each dot is one of 53 form and survey tools. Further left costs less, and higher up scores better on features, ease of use and platforms. Point at a dot to see which tool it is.
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
Keep Qualtrics, or make your own?
Keep it
The plain part of Qualtrics you could make: surveys, forms and reports. What surrounds it you could not. The 3 things listed below take a company, not a weekend.
That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 37 of the 60 other form and survey tools grade higher. It costs $5,040 a year.
What you could make
- Surveys, forms and reports: an app builder makes these well.
What you could not
- Connections that pull numbers from dozens of other services.
- AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself.
- The depth: we grade its features B, which means it covers the whole job.
What this rests on. Qualtrics’s listing: what it does, where it runs, what it plugs into and what it costs. It is a judgement about the kind of software this is. We have not built a replacement for it, and making your own means looking after it too. How we decide, and every tool’s verdict.
What is Qualtrics?
Qualtrics is a survey platform sold for research and experience management, with a limited free account and a paid Strategic Research tier. Its wider platform covers customer and employee experience programs, and most of those products are priced through sales.
Worth knowing
- The free account stops at 500 responses, 3 active surveys and 8 question types.
- The one published paid price is $5,040 a year; other products are quoted through sales.
- Custom look and feel, quotas, dashboards and the workflow engine are not in the free account.
- Many universities hold a full license; the free-account page offers a check by .edu address.
Key features
- Survey builder and templates
- A drag-and-drop builder with 50+ templates. Paid plans offer 23 question types, branching, quotas and 20+ pre-built research solutions.
- Distribution
- Surveys go out by link, email, SMS, website, QR code or mobile app, and paid plans can draw on Qualtrics' integrated panels.
- Analysis and reporting
- Free accounts get reports; paid plans add dashboards, crosstabs, Stats iQ statistical tools, and text, sentiment and topic analysis.
- AI assistance
- A Research Agent guides study design, with AI-assisted analysis and generative summaries of video feedback on paid plans.
- Video and audio feedback
- Paid plans collect video feedback, audio feedback, video diaries, focus groups and interviews inside surveys.
- Connected experience programs
- Surveys sit in the same system as customer and employee experience data, so results can trigger actions across programs.
Qualtrics pricing
As of Nov 12, 2026, Qualtrics has a free plan, and paid plans start at $420 per month, billed annually ($5,040 a year).
- Starts at
- $420 per month, billed annually ($5,040 a year)
- Free plan
- Free account: 500 responses, 3 active surveys of up to 30 questions each, 8 question types and basic skip, display and branch logic.
- Free trial
- 30-day trial of Strategic Research
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 500 responses, 3 active surveys with up to 30 questions each, 8 question types, 50+ templates and reports. |
| Strategic Research | $420per month, billed annually ($5,040 a year) | 23 question types, quotas, response weighting, dashboards, Stats iQ and text analysis, and a workflow engine. |
| Enterprise and XM solutions | Custom | Customer, employee and market research products priced by interactions through a sales request. |
Read from qualtrics.com on Nov 12, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Qualtrics before you buy.
Qualtrics alternatives
- Qualtrics vs SurveyMonkey
Free plan · from $39/mo
- Qualtrics vs Alchemer
Free plan · from $315/yr
- Qualtrics vs QuestionPro
Free plan · from $99/mo
- Qualtrics vs Sogolytics
Free plan · from $66/mo
Common questions
Does Qualtrics have an Android app?
No Android app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 12, 2026. Qualtrics is listed for Web.
Does Qualtrics have an iPhone app?
No iPhone app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 12, 2026. Qualtrics is listed for Web.
Is Qualtrics open source?
Qualtrics is not described as open source on its own site, as read on Nov 12, 2026.
Sources for this page
The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 12, 2026.