Forms & Surveys · head-to-head
Qualtrics vs SurveyMonkey
As of 29 Oct 2026, the panel rates Qualtrics 1.5/5 and SurveyMonkey 3/5 in Forms & Surveys. Weighted by what each judge cares about, 0 of the 6 judges pick Qualtrics and 6 pick SurveyMonkey. SurveyMonkey scores higher on 6 of 6 criteria (Form & survey building, Survey analysis & reporting, European sovereignty, plus 3 more). Provenance — Qualtrics: Rest of world; SurveyMonkey: Rest of world. Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: how scores are made.
The short answer
SurveyMonkey's means lead form building (6.8 vs 2.3), collection and workflows (6.3 vs 3.0), analysis and reporting (7.0 vs 2.5), hosting and administration (6.7 vs 3.3), sovereignty (5.7 vs 1.8) and pricing transparency (6.2 vs 0.8), with 0 judges leaning Qualtrics and 6 leaning SurveyMonkey. The split is consent and data protection: 6.0 vs 4.8, 4 ties, 2 judges lean SurveyMonkey; Qualtrics' verdict credits five of six judges at 5-6 for consent building, GDPR erasure and redaction of sensitive data. Qualtrics' weighted totals run 0 — the data protection officer scored zero on each criterion — to 4.2; SurveyMonkey's run 6.0 to 6.7. No prices appear on any captured Qualtrics page; SurveyMonkey publishes Team Advantage at €30 and Team Premier at €75 per user per month, Enterprise at "Get a demo". Sovereignty attributes: Qualtrics — US jurisdiction, ownership, residency and subprocessors unknown; SurveyMonkey — Irish entity, US-default residency, US CLOUD Act exposure.
Choose Qualtrics if
- You need GDPR erasure that deletes personal data from survey responses, tickets and contacts — Qualtrics' consent verdict drew 5-6 from five of six judges, and 4 judges tied the two products on consent and data protection.
- You need redaction of sensitive data and customer control over what is collected, retained and deleted — both credited in Qualtrics' consent verdict, its strongest criterion (mean 4.8).
- You need documented consent-form building — the consent bench gave Qualtrics 5-6 from five of six judges.
- You need single sign-on with multi-factor authentication, bring-your-own-key encryption and project approval workflows — Qualtrics documents these, with hosting and administration scores clustered at 4.
Choose SurveyMonkey if
- You need crosstabs with statistical significance, AI sentiment and thematic analysis, password-protected or SSO-enforced dashboards and SPSS export — analysis and reporting scored 7 to 7 (mean 7.0 vs 2.5), with 6 judges leaning SurveyMonkey.
- You need published team prices before buying — Team Advantage €30 per user per month and Team Premier €75 per user per month, from 3 users billed annually; pricing transparency leans 6 judges to 0 (6.2 vs 0.8).
- You need form building and collection depth — means 6.8 vs 2.3 and 6.3 vs 3.0, with 6 judges leaning SurveyMonkey on each.
- You need an Irish contracting entity, a published subprocessor list and an online DPA with standard contractual clauses — sovereignty leans 6 judges to 0 (5.7 vs 1.8), though the EU data centre is Enterprise-only.
- You need hosting and administration strength — mean 6.7 vs 3.3, with 6 judges leaning SurveyMonkey.
Read this comparison as one judge. Each weighs the same scores by what they care about.
The bench's picks
Same scores, different priorities: each judge's weighting applied to both products. The split is the finding.
- The Market Researcher Qualtrics SurveyMonkey picks SurveyMonkey
- The Operations Manager Qualtrics SurveyMonkey picks SurveyMonkey
- The HR Lead Qualtrics SurveyMonkey picks SurveyMonkey
- The Academic Researcher Qualtrics SurveyMonkey picks SurveyMonkey
- The Data Protection Officer Qualtrics SurveyMonkey picks SurveyMonkey
- The Skeptic Qualtrics SurveyMonkey picks SurveyMonkey
Criterion by criterion
| Criterion | Qualtrics | SurveyMonkey |
|---|---|---|
| Form & survey building | 1 of 5 | 3.5 of 5 |
| Distribution, response collection & workflows | 1.5 of 5 | 3 of 5 |
| Survey analysis & reporting | 1.5 of 5 | 3.5 of 5 |
| Consent, GDPR & respondent data | 2.5 of 5 | 3 of 5 |
| Hosting choice, teams & portability | 1.5 of 5 | 3.5 of 5 |
| European sovereignty | 1 of 5 | 3 of 5 |
| Criterion | Qualtrics | SurveyMonkey | The bench leans |
|---|---|---|---|
| Form & survey building | SurveyMonkey, 6 of 6 judges | ||
| Distribution, response collection & workflows | SurveyMonkey, 6 of 6 judges | ||
| Survey analysis & reporting | SurveyMonkey, 6 of 6 judges | ||
| Consent, GDPR & respondent data | SurveyMonkey, 2 of 6 judges | ||
| Hosting choice, teams & portability | SurveyMonkey, 6 of 6 judges | ||
| European sovereignty | SurveyMonkey, 6 of 6 judges | ||
| Pricing transparency | no published price | not comparable |
Stars show the bench average per criterion; the lean counts which product each judge scored higher. Open a judge's tab for their reasoning on both sides.
Sovereignty, side by side
| Dimension | Qualtrics | SurveyMonkey |
|---|---|---|
| Legal entity | Not determined | Not determined |
| Hosting location | Not determined | Not determined |
| Hosting options | Not determined | Not determined |
| Open source | Not determined | Not determined |
| Data processing agreement | Not determined | Not determined |
| Transfer impact assessment | Not determined | Not determined |
Facts, side by side
Only facts both products carry under the same definition — anything else would not be a fair row.
Questions about Qualtrics and SurveyMonkey
Which is better, Qualtrics or SurveyMonkey?
As of 29 Oct 2026, the panel rates SurveyMonkey higher: 3/5 against 1.5/5. Weighted by what each judge cares about, 0 of the 6 judges pick Qualtrics and 6 pick SurveyMonkey. Which one fits depends on the criteria that matter to you; the table on this page shows both side by side, and each judge’s reading has its own page. Both were scored by the same AI bench under the same rubric, from public evidence only, as the methodology describes.
Is Qualtrics or SurveyMonkey European?
Qualtrics is not European by provenance (Rest of world). SurveyMonkey is not European by provenance (Rest of world). Provenance is read from each company’s own legal pages: who builds it and who owns it.