Tired of Qualtrics Pricing? Get a Free Alternative

Last month, I sat down with my small business team to figure out how to track customer loyalty and pick our next product feature. We knew we needed voting polls to let customers choose between two app updates, and an NPS score survey to see how likely they were to recommend us. But when we looked at Qualtrics pricing—$1,500+ a year for basic features—we froze. As a startup with a tight budget, that’s money we couldn’t spend on tools. Then a friend told us about SurveyMars, a free tool that does everything we needed (and more) without the crazy price tag. Here’s how it saved us time, money, and headaches.

Why Qualtrics Pricing Isn’t Worth It for Small Teams

Don’t get me wrong—Qualtrics is a solid tool. But for small businesses, entrepreneurs, or even nonprofits, Qualtrics pricing is a non-starter. Their basic plan locks you into annual contracts, charges extra for things like unlimited voting polls, and makes you pay more to access your own NPS score data. We calculated it: just to run two surveys a month, we’d be spending over $100 a month. That’s money we could put toward customer support or product development.

Worse, Qualtrics is overcomplicated. Their dashboard is filled with features we’d never use, and it took me an hour just to figure out how to create a simple poll. We needed something fast, easy, and free—and that’s where SurveyMars came in.

Step 1: Create Voting Polls in 5 Minutes (No Tech Skills Needed)

SurveyMars makes building voting polls so simple, even my intern (who’s never used a survey tool before) did it in 4 minutes. Here’s how:

Pick a Template: Log into SurveyMars (it’s free—no credit card required!) and search for the “Voting Poll” template. It’s pre-built with clear questions, like “Which feature would you like us to launch next?” and space to list your options.

Customize It: Swap out the sample options for your own. We used it to let customers choose between “dark mode” and “offline access” for our app. Add a logo or change the colors to match your brand—SurveyMars has easy drag-and-drop tools for that.

Share It Everywhere: Send the poll via email, text, or post it on social media. SurveyMars gives you a short, shareable link, and you can see results in real time. We watched as votes came in—within 24 hours, we had 120 responses, and “dark mode” won by a landslide. No waiting for spreadsheets or paying extra for data access.

Step 2: Track Your NPS Score for Free (No Qualtrics Price Tag)

Your NPS score (Net Promoter Score) tells you how loyal your customers are—ask “How likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague?” on a scale of 0-10, and you’ll get a number that shows if you’re winning (or losing) customers. With SurveyMars, you don’t need to pay for an expensive tool like Qualtrics to track it:

Use the NPS Template: SurveyMars has a dedicated “NPS Score” template that includes the exact question you need, plus a follow-up: “What’s the main reason for your score?” This helps you understand why customers are happy (or unhappy).

Send It to Your List: We emailed our customer list with the survey, and added a small incentive—10% off their next purchase for completing it. Response rates jumped to 35% (way higher than the industry average of 15%).

See Your Score Instantly: SurveyMars calculates your NPS score for you—no math required. Our score went from 32 to 45 in two months, and the follow-up answers told us customers loved our new chat support. We never would have known that without the survey.

Step 3: Save Time (and Money) Every Month

The best part about SurveyMars? It’s not just free—it’s fast. Before, we’d spend 2 hours creating a poll on Qualtrics (and still get confused by the settings). Now, we build voting polls and NPS score surveys in 10 minutes total. We also save over $1,200 a year compared to Qualtrics pricing—money we used to hire a part-time customer service rep.

Plus, SurveyMars has features Qualtrics charges for: unlimited surveys, real-time results, and even skip logic (so customers only answer questions that apply to them). We used skip logic in our NPS survey—if someone gave us a 9 or 10 (a “Promoter”), we asked if they’d leave a review. If they gave a 0-6 (a “Detractor”), we asked how we could fix their experience. It made our feedback way more actionable.

Ready to Ditch Qualtrics Pricing? Start Today

You don’t need to spend a fortune to run voting polls or track your NPS score. SurveyMars gives you all the tools you need for free, without the complicated setup or annual contracts.

Head to SurveyMars now, grab the voting polls or NPS score template, and see how much time and money you’ll save. Your budget (and your customers) will thank you.