# Sunbeam vs SurveyMonkey

Canonical URL: https://sunbeam.cx/compare/surveymonkey

Sunbeam is free to collect ongoing feedback, with conversational follow-up and built-in analysis, instead of upgrading every time you hit a SurveyMonkey response cap or export paywall.

## The short version

SurveyMonkey is one of the oldest and most widely used survey platforms. It is well-suited to one-off surveys with simple branching logic and basic reporting. The criticism that travels with it (free tier capped at 100 responses across three surveys, data export gated behind paid tiers, sentiment analysis only on the highest plans, static survey logic) is also widely documented.

Sunbeam is a feedback platform rather than a survey tool. The free tier is sized for real ongoing feedback collection, not a 100-response demo. Asklet is a live conversation rather than a static branched form: it asks follow-up questions in response to what the user said. And the platform does not stop at the response. Auto-discovered system models, thematic analysis, and impact scoring turn the feedback into something a product team can act on without a data scientist in the loop.

## Feature comparison

| Feature | Sunbeam | SurveyMonkey |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Conversational widget with voice input | Yes | No |
| Dynamic LLM follow-up at response time | Yes | Static branching only |
| Thematic analysis built in | Yes | Sentiment analysis on highest tier only |
| Auto-discovered system model | Yes | No |
| Impact scoring | Yes | No |
| Cost to collect ongoing feedback | Free, today and forever, no caps | Free tier capped at 100 responses across 3 surveys; paid plans for more |
| Data export on free tier | Yes | No |
| Audience panel for paid respondents | No | Extensive paid panel |

## Verdict

### Choose Sunbeam if

- You want feedback collection to stay free as you scale, not pay every time you hit SurveyMonkey's 100-response cap.
- You want analysis built in, not sentiment as a paid add-on and CSV export gated behind a tier upgrade.
- You want conversational follow-up rather than static branching that is fixed at design time.

### Choose SurveyMonkey if

- You need access to SurveyMonkey's market research panel for paid respondents.
- You are running formal market research surveys with statistical sampling, not customer feedback loops.
- Your organisation is already on a SurveyMonkey enterprise contract.