Jotform vs SurveyMonkey

These two overlap less than the search volume suggests. Jotform builds forms that do things; SurveyMonkey runs surveys and tells you what the answers mean. Deciding between them is mostly deciding which of those two sentences describes your problem.

Collecting against analysing

SurveyMonkey's reporting and analysis are built in rather than an export away, and its template library covers most standard research instruments. Respondents recognise the format, which helps completion on a cold list — that recognition is a real asset and not one Jotform has.

Jotform gives you a form that can take a payment, collect a signature, accept a file, let somebody finish it tomorrow, and be HIPAA-enabled for health information. SurveyMonkey does none of those. Jotform scores 5 for logic and 5 for afterSubmit against SurveyMonkey's 4 and 4.

If what you have is a research question, Jotform will collect the answers and leave you to analyse them somewhere else.

How each one limits the free tier

SurveyMonkey's free tier limits the questions per survey rather than the replies you collect, which is an unusual shape and catches people out — you can gather plenty of responses to a survey you were not allowed to finish writing. Paying monthly also costs far more than the annual rate for a smaller allowance.

Jotform's free plan limits volume across several counters at once and includes standard features rather than a reduced set. Free forms carry Jotform branding.

Jotform scores 3 for value against SurveyMonkey's 2. Neither is cheap once you are past the free tier, and SurveyMonkey's monthly pricing is the sharper trap of the two.

SurveyMonkey scores 5 for ease against Jotform's 4, and 4 for looks against Jotform's 3 — its themes are constraining but they are also why nothing you build in it looks broken, which is worth something to anybody without a designer.

Which should you choose?

Choose SurveyMonkey if the output is research and you want cross-tabs without exporting, or if a recognisable survey format will lift your response rate on a cold list.

Choose Jotform if the form is a transaction rather than a question — money, signatures, files, applications — and you will do any analysis elsewhere.