SurveyMonkey alternatives: 5 free & open-source picks
Curated, verified, and actually free. No trials, no crippled tiers. Star counts and last-activity dates checked by hand, not scraped and forgotten.
Serious survey machinery without the enterprise invoice; self-hosting still means owning the machinery
Typeform's manners, minus the monthly rent
The survey engine that does nearly everything, provided you enjoy administering PHP
Google Forms inside Nextcloud; simple is the feature and the limitation
Forms, surveys, quizzes, and Sheets output; design restraint is compulsory
last updated 2026-08-06 · no votes, no pay-to-list · just what's real
Microsoft FormsThe personal free tier stops at 200 responses per form, so it is a demo with better branding
| tool | license | running it | platforms | stars | active |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Formbricks | open source | self-host, real ops | web, self-hosted | 12,700 | 2026-08 |
| HeyForm | open source | docker to self-host | web, self-hosted | 8,881 | 2026-07 |
| LimeSurvey | open source | self-host, real ops | web, self-hosted | 3,700 | 2026-08 |
| Nextcloud Forms | open source | self-host, real ops | web, self-hosted | 378 | 2026-08 |
| Google Forms | free (closed) | they host it | web | — | — |
People still pay for SurveyMonkey because a basic form is trivial; people pay when the form feeds a dependable business workflow and never loses a response. The recurring cost buys spam control, email delivery, storage, exports, accessibility, conditional logic, and integrations, not just the visible interface. If none of that applies to you, any pick above saves $468 a year.
Is there a free alternative to SurveyMonkey?
Yes: Formbricks, HeyForm, LimeSurvey and 2 more. Every tool on this page is either open source or genuinely free to use long-term: no trials, no crippled tiers.
Should I just build my own SurveyMonkey?
Our verdict is KINDA. The core loop is buildable, but a dependable replacement becomes a real weekend or multi-day project. For SurveyMonkey, run a structured survey, calculate transparent summaries, and export responses. The hard boundary is panel access, benchmarking, templates, advanced logic, and enterprise governance, plus integrations, deliverability, and workflow depth. If you'd rather build, the exact one-shot prompt is free at canivibecodeit.com/surveymonkey.
