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Customer experience
8 min read

Customer satisfaction survey software: Top tools & benefits

AskNicely Team
January 25, 2026
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Customer satisfaction survey software: Top tools & benefits

Customer satisfaction rarely breaks down because teams don’t care. It breaks down because businesses don’t have a clear, consistent view of what customers are experiencing across key touchpoints. Without timely feedback, issues go unnoticed, opportunities are missed, and loyalty quietly erodes.

Customer satisfaction survey software solves this by giving teams a reliable way to listen at scale. It helps businesses capture feedback in the moment, track sentiment using metrics like customer satisfaction (CSAT) and net promoter score (NPS), and, most importantly, turn insights into action at the frontline. When feedback flows to the right people at the right time, it becomes a powerful tool for reducing churn, improving retention, and strengthening the overall customer experience (CX).

To help you choose the right platform, we’ve compared the leading customer satisfaction survey software, breaking down where each tool shines and who it’s best suited for:

  • AskNicely
  • Simplesat
  • GetFeedback
  • Qualaroo
  • Survicate
  • Alchemer
  • SmileBack

What is customer satisfaction survey software?

Customer satisfaction survey software tools are comprehensive feedback management platforms that systematically collect customer feedback, measure satisfaction levels through metrics like NPS, CSAT score, and customer effort score (CES), and transform those insights into actionable improvements across the customer journey. 

These platforms are real-time feedback systems that automate survey distribution through email, SMS, and embedded touchpoints. They also provide dashboards and AI-powered analytics that help support teams understand customer sentiment, predict churn, and optimize the user experience through integrated workflows with CRM and help desk systems.

Why invest in customer satisfaction survey software?

The most effective service leaders recognize that having the right customer satisfaction survey software is at the core of creating a competitive advantage through frontline empowerment and customer intelligence.

  • Reduce churn with timely interventions: Real-time feedback and automated notifications identify at-risk customers immediately after negative experiences, enabling support teams to intervene while relationships are salvageable, turning potential defectors into loyal advocates and protecting revenue.

  • Improve frontline performance with coaching and goals: Delivering actionable insights and customer satisfaction metrics directly to service teams (and not just centralized dashboards for the c-suite) enables immediate coaching and workflow optimization that compounds into measurable CSAT score improvements.

  • Use insights to consistently improve experiences: Advanced analytics and AI-powered sentiment analysis help you understand customer needs granularly, benchmark against competitors, and consistently deliver experiences that drive customer loyalty in commoditized markets.

  • Make better decisions with integrated customer journey data: Integration with CRM and market research tools transforms scattered customer interactions into unified customer journey visibility, enabling strategic investments in touchpoints that actually reduce customer effort score and drive satisfaction.

How to choose customer satisfaction survey software

When choosing customer satisfaction survey software, it pays to look past simple survey creation. The right platform doesn’t just collect feedback, it helps teams act on it, close the loop with customers, and drive meaningful improvements across the business. Here are the key criteria to consider:

  • Frontline empowerment and coaching tools: The platform should deliver personalized insights, scorecards, and coaching recommendations directly to individual team members and locations. Look for features like real-time dashboards, leaderboards, and recognition systems that motivate staff to improve customer interactions daily.
  • Real-time feedback collection and action workflows: Evaluate whether the solution captures customer feedback immediately after touchpoints through multiple channels (SMS, email, web) and automatically routes responses to the right teams. The system should enable rapid issue resolution with automated follow-ups and case management capabilities.
  • AI-powered analytics and theme detection: Beyond basic metrics like NPS and CSAT scores, the platform should offer advanced analytics that identify emerging trends, analyze customer sentiment, and surface actionable insights across different segments, locations, and time periods.
  • Seamless integration with existing tech stack: The software must connect with your CRM, help desk, and communication platforms to embed customer insights into daily operations without forcing teams to switch between systems.
  • Goal setting and performance management: Look for dynamic goal-setting capabilities that align team goals to customer feedback, enabling accountability and continuous improvement at every level of your organization.
  • Reputation management and review generation: The platform should automatically prompt satisfied customers to leave public reviews while providing tools to monitor and respond to online sentiment across locations.

The best customer satisfaction survey software

Think of choosing customer satisfaction software as the foundational pillar for your CX. The right platform would turn customer sentiment into actionable insights, empowers teams to improve service, and drives long-term loyalty.

Here’s a breakdown of some of the top customer satisfaction tools, their features, use cases, and pricing.

AskNicely

Core capabilities

NPS/CSAT; NiceAI; scorecards; workflows; CRM integrations

Primary use cases

Location consistency; coaching; reputation; retention

Best For

B2C, multi-location with frontline teams

Pros

Easy UI; automation; alerts; frontline coaching

Cons

Features on higher tiers; higher price; B2C focus

Tool Core capabilities Primary use cases Best For Pros Cons
AskNicelyNPS/CSAT; NiceAI; scorecards; workflows; CRM integrationsLocation consistency; coaching; reputation; retentionB2C, multi-location with frontline teamsEasy UI; automation; alerts; frontline coachingFeatures on higher tiers; higher price; B2C focus
Simplesat1-click surveys; logic; email campaigns; alerts; reportingTicket follow-ups; journey surveys; team moraleService orgs with helpdesksFast setup; simple interface; custom brandingLimited analytics; integration issues; pricing
GetFeedbackOmnichannel; AI; workflows; NPS/CSAT/CES; integrationsVoC; product feedback; CX optimizationMid-large enterprisesSalesforce integration; global scale; omnichannelHigh cost; complex interface
QualarooIn-app surveys; sentiment analysis; targeting; 50+ languagesIn-journey feedback; UX testing; real-time insightsTeams needing in-app feedbackNo-code builder; high response rates; targetingResponse caps; pageview limitations
SurvicateMulti-channel; AI insights; dashboards; 40+ integrationsRoadmap planning; journey optimization; personalizationDigital/SaaS product teamsIntuitive; responsive support; comprehensiveResponse limits; escalating costs; complex targeting
Alchemer43 question types; SMS; AI analytics; 400+ integrationsConcept testing; market research; CX optimizationTeams needing research-grade analyticsFlexible; customizable; quick setupEnterprise pricing; overwhelming for beginners
SmileBackCSAT/NPS; one-click; dashboards; PSA integration; Google ReviewsService desk feedback; coaching; reportingMSPs/IT support desksPSA integration; one-click surveys; visibilityLimited integrations; agent-based pricing

What is AskNicely?

AskNicely is a customer experience platform built for service businesses that want to do more than collect reviews — they want to build world-class customer experiences that generate genuine loyalty, organic referrals, and real business growth. By connecting real-time customer feedback to team performance, AskNicely helps businesses improve every interaction that drives satisfaction and repeat business.

AskNicely - Key products and features

  • NiceAI: AskNicely’s generative AI assistant adapts survey questions in real-time, analyzes customer sentiment, and turns even negative feedback into constructive insight.
  • Customer feedback surveys: Collect NPS, CSAT, or 5-star feedback through email, SMS, QR codes, or embedded widgets. Conversational formats keep response rates high and survey fatigue low.
  • Feedback analytics: Real-time dashboards with AI-powered text and sentiment analysis. Automatically track CX performance, generate presentation-ready reports, and share insights across all locations.
  • Automated workflows: Trigger surveys after customer interactions, automate follow-ups, and route issues to the right people before they hit public review sites.
  • Frontline coaching and recognition: Turn customer feedback into teachable moments with coaching playbooks, shoutouts, and recognition tools to celebrate wins and elevate service standards.
  • Performance leaderboards: Motivate teams with transparent CX rankings and goal tracking at the employee, team, and organizational levels.
  • Reputation management: Convert positive feedback into online reviews with one click, driving a 3x increase in review volume while maintaining authenticity.

AskNicely - Key use cases

  • Multi-location service business management: Ensure consistent service quality with centralized feedback tracking and location-based filtering.

  • Frontline team coaching: Empower managers to recognize, coach, and motivate employees based on real customer insights.

  • Customer issue resolution: Identify and resolve problems before they turn into public complaints.

  • Review generation: Surface promoters and invite them to share their experiences publicly — achieving up to a 10% increase in Google reviews.

  • CX performance measurement: Track and improve NPS, CSAT, and 5-star ratings with response rates averaging 15%.

AskNicely pricing

Three-tier pricing structure with annual billing:

  • Learn plan: CSAT and NPS surveys, unlimited users, AI-powered surveys, automated workflows, reports, and leaderboards.

  • Grow plan: Everything in Learn plus AI insight reports, real-time TV display, Slack/Teams integration, review requests, and testimonials.

  • Transform plan: Everything in Grow plus in-app surveys, white-label surveys, unlimited API access, CX goals, and frontline coaching.

Talk to the AskNicley sales team to get a quote. 

Why AskNicely wins

AskNicely helps you earn new reviews by transforming your customer experience from the inside out. Instead of pushing all feedback to public forums, AskNicely gives you the insights to solve problems privately, coach teams effectively, and celebrate promoters publicly.

With over 100 integrations, AI-powered analytics, and proven ROI (including a 15% average response rate and a 3x increase in positive reviews), AskNicely delivers measurable CX improvements that drive loyalty, referrals, and growth.

Who they're ideal for

Multi-location service businesses, in pest control, home services, property management, and wellness, that want to:

  • Improve service quality and consistency across teams
  • Retain and motivate frontline staff
  • Turn customer feedback into measurable business growth

Pros of AskNicely

  • Solves problems before they go public: Automatically alerts teams to issues before they hit review sites.

  • Built for frontline coaching: Exclusive tools like report cards, recognition, and coaching playbooks empower staff improvement.

  • Real-time reporting: Live dashboards show current CX performance — no manual report generation required.

  • Automation saves time: Survey distribution, alerts, and reporting run automatically, saving hours of admin each week.

  • Easy implementation: Seamless CRM integrations and intuitive design make rollout fast and frictionless.

Check out the AskNicely customer success stories here. 

What is Simplesat?

Simplesat is a customer feedback management platform that provides one-click CSAT and NPS surveys, designed to help businesses collect feedback and analyze customer satisfaction data while boosting team morale through simple, engaging survey tools.

Simplesat - Key products and features

  • CSAT (customer satisfaction) surveys: Short surveys measuring satisfaction after recent experiences with fun rating icons supporting 2-5 scale ratings embedded directly in helpdesk tickets and email signatures to maximize response rates.

  • NPS surveys: Measures customer loyalty through "likelihood to recommend" questions with 0-10 sliding scales, embedded or sent via email for tracking sentiment over time.

  • Multi-question surveys with conditional logic: Unlimited question types per survey with card-style transitions and real-time answer saving, featuring powerful conditional logic that triggers follow-up questions based on sentiment or comments to keep surveys relevant.

  • Automated email campaigns: Schedule one-time blasts or ongoing automated surveys with personalized content, including follow-up reminders to non-respondents and CRM contact syncing for comprehensive feedback collection.

  • Real-time notifications: Instant email alerts and summaries with configurable preferences, supporting notifications to email groups, Microsoft Teams, and Slack for immediate visibility into customer feedback.

  • Reporting dashboards: Comprehensive visualization and analysis tools tracking trends over time and providing actionable insights for decision-making across the organization.

Simplesat - Key use cases

  • Ticket performance tracking: Automatically collect feedback after solved support tickets to measure agent performance, taking less than 10 minutes to set up and running autonomously for helpdesk teams.

  • Event-based feedback collection: Send personalized surveys at crucial customer journey touchpoints like post-purchase, helping businesses understand and address concerns when feedback is most valuable.

  • Quarterly sentiment monitoring: Automate NPS campaigns to decision-makers who may not interact regularly with support, providing ongoing pulse checks on customer loyalty and satisfaction levels at strategic intervals.

  • Team performance management: Use instant notifications to celebrate wins and address negative feedback immediately, maintaining morale while ensuring rapid response to customer concerns.

  • Review generation: Convert positive feedback into authentic testimonials and online reviews, automatically directing satisfied customers to leave reviews on Google and other platforms.

Simplesat pricing

Simplesat offers four pricing tiers:

  • Standard plan: Starting at $109/month (billed annually) or $119/month (monthly). Includes 5 account users (unlimited team members), 1,000 monthly responses, unlimited surveys, and unlimited support agents.

  • Pro plan: Starting at $229/month (billed annually) or $249/month (monthly). Everything in Standard plus 15 account users, 3,000 monthly responses, multi-brand support, and custom CSS.

  • Elite plan: Starting at $459/month (billed annually) or $499/month (monthly). Everything in Pro plus 30 account users, 7,000 monthly responses, and custom email templates.

  • Enterprise plan: Custom pricing. Everything in Elite plus usage-based pricing, directory sync, design and code support, dedicated Customer Success Manager, and enterprise SSO.

  • All plans include a 14-day free trial (no credit card required).

Who they're ideal for

Simplesat is ideal for service-minded businesses across industries, including SaaS companies, e-commerce, retail brands, MSPs, IT services, marketing agencies, financial services, government agencies, and nonprofits. Particularly suited for organizations using helpdesk systems like Zendesk, ConnectWise, or Autotask, wanting to automate feedback collection with minimal setup and needing actionable insights to improve customer support performance.

Pros of Simplesat

  • Easy setup and integration: Quick implementation under 10 minutes with seamless integration into existing helpdesk systems and workflows without requiring technical expertise.

  • Excellent customer support: Highly responsive support team with human agents (never bots) providing helpful assistance, with users valuing dedicated Customer Success Managers and free onboarding guidance.

  • Simple yet powerful: Strikes the right balance between functionality and ease of use, remaining intuitive without overwhelming, while providing robust feedback management features.

  • Customization capabilities: Highly customizable survey questions with branding options, multiple languages, and custom CSS support for engaging surveys matching brand identity across devices.

Cons of Simplesat

What is GetFeedback?

GetFeedback is a customer experience management platform enabling businesses to collect customer feedback across various touchpoints, providing real-time feedback collection through in-app, mobile, and web surveys.

GetFeedback - Key products and features

  • In-app and mobile feedback collection: Captures feedback at the exact moment users engage with products through iOS, Android, and web applications, gathering contextual insights while customers actively use products.

  • Advanced user targeting and segmentation: Targets specific product users at particular touchpoints using Nudge technology, segmenting based on pricing tiers, tenure, trial status, page visits, and activity levels.

  • AI-powered analytics and insights: Utilizes artificial intelligence to uncover problems and opportunities within feedback data, automatically identifying trends and patterns for data-driven decisions.

  • Real-time feedback dashboard: Provides immediate visibility into customer feedback, offering page-level insights and conversion funnel mapping, which enables teams to act on results promptly.

  • Intelligent question branching: Dynamic survey capabilities adapting based on user responses, drilling down on specific needs, uncovering detailed insights about purchase barriers and feature preferences.

GetFeedback - Key use cases

  • Product development and feature prioritization: Helps product teams understand which features customers want most, validates hypotheses, tests prototypes, and makes informed roadmap decisions based on user feedback.

  • Conversion rate optimization: Identifies and removes conversion barriers, understanding what prevents purchases, uncovering user intent on high bounce-rate pages, and optimizing journeys based on real-time insights.

  • Voice of customer programs: Facilitates systematic feedback collection across the customer journey, maintaining continuous dialogue with customers and responding quickly to feedback trends.

  • Customer experience improvement: Measures and enhances satisfaction by capturing contextual feedback at critical touchpoints, identifying pain points, tracking experience metrics, and implementing improvements based on key findings.

GetFeedback pricing

GetFeedback does not publicly list pricing on its website. 

Who they're ideal for

Small to medium-sized businesses and startups looking for a cost-effective customer feedback solution. Product teams, UX designers, and CX managers who need real-time, contextual insights from users engaging with digital products. Organizations aiming to improve conversion rates and customer satisfaction without significant budget commitments.

Pros of GetFeedback

  • In-product capture: Quick, contextual feedback in web/mobile apps at the moment of behavior.

  • Precise targeting: Segment by plan tier, lifecycle stage, page, or event to ask the right question at the right time.

  • Fast time-to-value: Lightweight setup and modern UI help small teams launch quickly.

  • Clear dashboards: Real-time views and funnel overlays make it easy to spot drop-offs and wins.

  • Entry options: Lower-cost tiers (including free) help startups test and learn before scaling.

Cons of GetFeedback

  • Limited frontline guidance: The platform collects and reports feedback but offers minimal support for helping teams take immediate action.

  • Basic follow-up automation: Personalized follow-ups and automated nudges are not as robust, requiring more manual effort.

  • Manual data interpretation: Dashboards show insights, but identifying trends and actionable items often requires extra analysis.

  • Slower response loop: Real-time alerts are limited, making it harder to address issues as they happen.

  • Integration complexity: Connecting multiple systems or creating custom workflows can require technical setup and additional resources.

  • Not NPS-focused: The platform is survey-general, so programs centered on customer loyalty or Net Promoter Score may need extra configuration.

What is Qualaroo?

Qualaroo is an online survey and customer feedback software enabling businesses to collect insights from website visitors, app users, and customers through targeted surveys and feedback forms, specializing in capturing voice-of-customer data at critical moments to improve customer satisfaction and optimize user experience.

Qualaroo - Key products and features

  • NudgeTM surveys: In-app and website survey tool capturing feedback with higher response rates than email surveys through unobtrusive prompts engaging users while they interact with websites or mobile apps.

  • IBM Watson AI analytics: Powered sentiment analysis automatically categorizes open-text responses into emotional categories and tracks mood metrics with Word Cloud features, instantly displaying key concepts from free-form answers.

  • Advanced user targeting: Sophisticated targeting capabilities allowing surveys based on specific behaviors, demographics, page visits, traffic sources, and custom properties, including location, browser, IP address, cookies, and visitor types.

  • Multi-channel survey deployment: Deploy surveys across websites, mobile apps (iOS and Android), email, and prototypes simultaneously for consistent omnichannel feedback collection across all customer touchpoints.

  • Question branching and skip logic: Creates personalized survey experiences, directing respondents to specific questions based on previous answers, reducing survey fatigue and improving data quality by showing only relevant question types.

  • 50+ language support: Multilingual capabilities supporting over 50 languages, breaking down language barriers for global customer feedback collection without translation limitations.

Qualaroo - Key use cases

  • Customer satisfaction measurement: Track NPS, CSAT, and CES scores to measure customer satisfaction over time with automatic metric calculation and trend analysis through comprehensive reporting dashboards.

  • Exit intent surveys: Understand why visitors leave websites by triggering surveys when exit behavior is detected, identifying friction points and abandonment reasons to reduce bounce rates.

  • UX and product feedback: Collect user insights on design prototypes and product features during development, testing concepts and validating hypotheses based on real user feedback.

  • Conversion rate optimization: Identify drop-off points in the customer journey and understand conversion barriers with targeted feedback helping optimize website and app experiences.

  • Customer insights: Gather contextual feedback at crucial journey moments when experiences are fresh, including post-purchase feedback, feature usage insights, and milestone completion surveys.

Qualaroo pricing

  • Free plan: $0 forever for up to 50 responses, includes 500 email sends and 10,000 pageviews with all premium features.

  • Essentials plan: from $39.99 per month.

  • Business plan: from $99.99 per month.

  • Enterprise plan: from $149.99 per month. 

Who they're ideal for

Qualaroo is ideal for businesses of all sizes looking to improve customer experience through data-driven insights, particularly startups and established companies with websites or mobile apps seeking to understand user behavior, optimize conversion rates, and measure customer satisfaction. Suits UX researchers, product managers, marketing teams, and customer experience professionals needing feedback without requiring technical expertise.

Pros of Qualaroo

  • Easy to use interface: Platform requires no coding knowledge, allowing survey creation in minutes with flexible design options and pre-built survey templates.

  • High response rates: In-app NudgeTM surveys achieve 10x higher response rates compared to email surveys by engaging users at the right moment.
  • Powerful analytics: IBM Watson integration provides valuable sentiment analysis and automated categorization of responses, extracting actionable insights quickly.

  • Flexible and customizable: Extensive branding options, multiple question types, and advanced targeting capabilities allow highly personalized survey experiences.

Cons of Qualaroo

What is Survicate?

Survicate is a customer feedback and survey software designed to help businesses collect in-the-moment insights from website visitors, app users, and customers. It focuses on capturing contextual feedback through digital touchpoints, enabling teams to understand customer sentiment and identify friction points across the customer journey.

Survicate – Key products and features

  • Website and mobile surveys: Collect feedback directly from website visitors and mobile app users using pop-up, embedded, and in-app surveys that trigger based on user behavior or timing.

  • Pre-built survey templates: Includes ready-to-use templates for customer satisfaction (CSAT), Net Promoter Score (NPS), product feedback, and customer experience surveys, helping teams launch quickly without starting from scratch.

  • Real-time feedback collection: Captures responses as customers interact with digital experiences, allowing teams to spot issues early and respond while feedback is still relevant.

  • Advanced reporting and segmentation: Provides reporting dashboards with response filtering and segmentation based on survey answers, user attributes, and behaviors to surface trends and insights.

  • Integrations: Connects with CRM systems, email marketing tools, analytics platforms, and other business software to centralize feedback and support follow-up workflows.

Survicate – Key use cases

  • Customer satisfaction tracking: Measure CSAT and NPS across digital touchpoints to understand how customers feel at key moments in their journey.

  • Product and UX feedback: Gather feedback on product features, usability, and website experience to inform optimization and product decisions.

  • Website optimization: Identify friction points and understand user sentiment on specific pages to improve conversions and reduce drop-off.

  • Marketing insights: Collect feedback on campaigns, messaging, and content performance to better align marketing efforts with customer expectations.

Survicate pricing

Paid plans: Plans start at $79 per month, including features such as integrations, unlimited surveys, and reporting capabilities.

Enterprise options: Custom pricing is available for larger teams or businesses with advanced requirements.

Who they’re ideal for

Survicate is best suited to small and mid-sized businesses, particularly in e-commerce, SaaS, and digital marketing—that want to collect fast, contextual feedback from digital channels without heavy setup or complexity.

Pros of Survicate

  • Easy to use: Simple, intuitive interface that makes it easy to launch surveys quickly.

  • Real-time feedback: Captures responses instantly, helping teams act on issues faster.

  • Strong integrations: Works well with popular CRM and marketing platforms to support feedback-driven workflows.

Cons of Survicate

  • Limited advanced analytics: Reporting and analysis features may feel basic compared to more enterprise-focused platforms.

  • Less customization: Some users note restrictions in reporting and dashboard customization.

  • Customer support feedback: A number of users report inconsistent customer support experiences.

What is Alchemer?

Alchemer is a user-friendly customer feedback and experience management platform that enables organizations to collect feedback and take action on data across multiple channels. The survey platform provides survey software, digital experience management, and AI-powered text analytics, enabling businesses to understand and optimize customer experiences without the steep learning curve associated with enterprise alternatives.

Alchemer - Key products and features

  • Alchemer Survey: Comprehensive survey builder with 40+ question types, advanced logic, branching, and multi-channel distribution. Supports everything from simple polls to complex market research with multilingual surveys, custom branding, templates, and a real-time reporting dashboard.

  • Alchemer Digital: Digital experience management tool captures feedback directly within websites and mobile apps. Enables the collection of real-time feedback at critical touchpoints without disrupting the user experience through customizable widgets.

  • Alchemer Pulse: AI-powered text analytics transforms open-text responses into actionable insights. Analyzes sentiment, identifies trends, and breaks down customer journeys, enabling teams to understand what respondents truly think.

  • Integration capabilities: Connects with 400+ business systems, including Salesforce, Tableau, Microsoft Dynamics, Slack, and Google Sheets. Enables automated workflows and bi-directional data exchange, triggering real-time actions based on feedback collection.

  • Research solutions: On-demand product feedback and market research services, including survey design, project fielding, data processing, custom reporting, and advanced analytics. Designed for marketing teams, product teams, and CX/VOC teams needing expert support.

Alchemer - Key use cases

  • Customer experience management: Automatically send and follow up on customer surveys, measuring satisfaction and identifying improvement areas. Route feedback to appropriate teams for instant visibility and faster issue resolution, improving retention.

  • Market research: Conduct global studies with multi-language surveys and millions of respondents. Create advanced reports with predictable pricing, including unlimited surveys and question types without pay-per-response fees.

  • Product feedback development: Gather real-time customer feedback on new concepts and releases, shortening development cycles. Prioritize roadmap projects based on customer needs, ensuring resources are allocated effectively.

  • Support team optimization: Collect feedback when tickets are closed and automatically create new tickets based on the responses. Identify training opportunities and track the effectiveness of support, improving response times and customer satisfaction metrics.

  • Digital experience improvement: Monitor web and app experiences to identify and prioritize digital improvements. Modernize services based on user feedback, delivering the digital transformation customers expect.

Alchemer Pricing

  • Small Team Plans (Maximum 3 users):
    • Monthly plans:
      • Collaborator: $55/month (75k responses annually)
      • Professional: $165/month (100k responses annually)
      • Full Access: $275/month (125k responses annually)
    • Annual plans:
      • Collaborator: $315/year
      • Professional: $1,075/year
      • Full Access: $1,895/year

  • Business platform: Custom pricing for teams larger than three users, includes a dedicated Customer Success Manager, 24/7 customer support, SSO, and enterprise-grade security features.

  • Additional information:
    • Free trial with full feature access
    • Free plan available with limited features
    • Non-profit discounts with EIN verification
    • API access for business platform accounts

See more on their pricing plans here.

Who they're ideal for

Alchemer suits marketing teams, product teams, CX and VOC teams, and in-house market research teams needing flexible feedback tools and analysis capabilities. The platform serves organizations from small businesses needing basic survey creation to large enterprises requiring advanced integrations, security compliance, and dedicated support. It's particularly suited for businesses wanting quick implementation without lengthy setups, connecting survey data with existing CRM and business systems — one of the best Qualtrics alternatives for cost-conscious teams.

Pros of Alchemer

  • User-friendly interface: The intuitive, drag-and-drop platform requires no coding for most implementations. Teams launch in hours rather than weeks, making it accessible to those without technical backgrounds and an ideal ease of use level for startups.

  • Platform reliability and flexibility: Extremely reliable for daily use with flexible features that adapt to various use cases. Users appreciate handling everything from simple surveys to complex research projects.

  • Time-saving efficiency: Users report 80% less time programming surveys compared to other providers. Intuitive features and survey templates significantly reduce launch time.

  • Comprehensive feature set: Extensive functionality, including numerous question types, integration options, and customization capabilities, eliminates the need for multiple feedback tools.

Cons of Alchemer

  • Pricing scales quickly: Entry-level plans are affordable, but advanced features (AI analytics, enterprise security, large respondent pools) require custom business plans with significantly higher costs.

  • Interface can overwhelm beginners: While powerful, the sheer range of question types and logic options in paid tiers.

  • Limited free plan functionality: The free plan is highly restricted, prompting most teams to upgrade to paid tiers quickly.

  • Occasional performance lag: Users report slower performance when running extensive surveys with complex logic and analytics.

  • Poor customer service: Some users report slow, unresponsive customer support.

  • Dependence on support for advanced features: Advanced question types require intervention from Alchemer’s programming team, creating delays and bottlenecks for survey deployment.

  • Persistent bugs: The platform has long-standing bugs that remain unresolved over many years, with little concern from support.

What is SmileBack?

SmileBack is customer satisfaction survey software that enables businesses to measure customer satisfaction and improve customer experience through automated feedback collection. The platform specializes in gathering Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) and Net Promoter Score (NPS) metrics to help organizations understand customer sentiment and reduce churn.

What is SmileBack? (Now part of ConnectWise)

SmileBack is a customer feedback and satisfaction survey tool built specifically for managed service providers (MSPs) and IT support teams. It focuses on collecting fast, low-effort feedback after support interactions, helping service-based teams understand customer sentiment and improve service quality without adding complexity to existing workflows.

SmileBack – Key products and features

  • One-click CSAT surveys: Delivers simple, one-click customer satisfaction (CSAT) surveys immediately after support tickets are closed, making it easy for customers to respond and increasing response rates.

  • Automated follow-ups: Automatically triggers follow-up actions when negative feedback is received, enabling teams to address issues quickly and close the loop with dissatisfied customers.

  • Dashboard analytics and reporting: Provides dashboards that track satisfaction trends over time, helping managers monitor performance and identify recurring service issues.

  • PSA integrations: Integrates directly with popular professional services automation (PSA) tools such as ConnectWise, Autotask, and other IT service management platforms to embed feedback into existing IT workflows.

  • Gamification tools: Includes gamification features such as leaderboards and performance scoring to motivate service teams and encourage continuous improvement.

SmileBack – Key use cases

  • IT support satisfaction tracking: Measure customer satisfaction after helpdesk interactions to understand how well support teams are meeting expectations.
  • Service quality improvement: Identify recurring issues in ticket handling, response times, or communication that impact customer satisfaction.
  • Team performance management: Use satisfaction scores and gamification tools to recognize high-performing technicians and improve accountability across teams.
  • Customer retention for MSPs: Monitor sentiment trends to proactively address dissatisfaction and reduce churn in long-term service contracts.

SmileBack pricing

Subscription-based plans: Pricing starts at $88 per month, with tiered options based on business size and usage.

Scalable plans: Larger MSPs and IT service providers can choose higher-tier plans to support additional users and reporting needs.

Who they’re ideal for

SmileBack is ideal for managed service providers (MSPs) and IT support teams that want a simple, purpose-built way to measure customer satisfaction after service interactions. It’s best suited for IT-focused organizations rather than businesses looking for a broad, multi-industry customer experience platform.

Pros of SmileBack

  • Built for IT services: Designed specifically for MSPs and IT teams, with workflows that align closely to service desk operations.


High response rates: One-click surveys reduce friction for customers, leading to higher participation.


Strong PSA integrations: Native integrations with ConnectWise and Autotask make deployment straightforward for IT environments.

Cons of SmileBack

  • Limited industry flexibility: Not designed for non-IT or non-service-based businesses.

  • Basic analytics: Reporting capabilities are more limited compared to enterprise experience management platforms.

  • Survey and reporting limitations: Some users report constraints in survey configuration and reporting depth.

The final verdict: 

When it comes to turning customer feedback into real business impact, AskNicely stands out. Unlike other survey tools that focus solely on collecting responses, AskNicely is built to drive action. Its platform not only captures CSAT and NPS in real time but also delivers insights directly to the teams who can act on them, ensuring issues are addressed before they escalate and positive experiences are amplified. 

With features designed for simplicity, automation, and frontline empowerment, AskNicely helps businesses close the loop with customers, boost loyalty, and create measurable improvements in CX. If your goal is more than just data—if you want feedback that fuels growth—AskNicely is the tool that turns customer voices into meaningful results.

Want to see AskNicely in action. Check out our customer stories here, or book a free demo for yourself here. 

AskNicely Team
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