Surveys · head to head
Medallia vs SurveyCTO
Medallia
Surveys
Enterprise experience management platform for customer, employee and contact centre feedback
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
SurveyCTO
Surveys
Offline field survey platform priced by submissions rather than seats, built for research data quality
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Only SurveyCTO has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: Medallia there is no published pricing and no self-serve tier, so evaluating cost requires a sales process before any real budgeting can happen.; SurveyCTO pricing is by submission volume, forms and storage rather than by users, so a small team running continuous high-volume collection can pay more than a 200-person survey team that runs for six weeks
- They diverge on capability: Medallia covers Multi-channel feedback capture, SurveyCTO covers Offline collection.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Medallia and SurveyCTO actually diverge.
Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Surveys).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Medallia
- Multi-channel feedback capture
- AI text and sentiment analysis
- Role-based reporting
- Contact centre analytics
- Experience orchestration
- Market research tools
Only in SurveyCTO
- Offline collection
- XLSForm authoring
- Automated quality checks
- Audio auditing
- Case management
- Random assignment
- Server region selection
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Medallia
- A retail or hospitality chain that wants customer feedback, digital behaviour and call transcripts unified in one platformnot SurveyCTO
- An enterprise with a dedicated CX team needing role-based dashboards from frontline staff to the executive teamnot SurveyCTO
- A contact centre wanting agent coaching and quality management driven by the same data as customer satisfaction scoresnot SurveyCTO
- A company running employee and customer experience programmes and wanting one vendor across bothnot SurveyCTO
SurveyCTO
- A household survey with 200 enumerators across a country where paying per seat would cost more than the fieldworknot Medallia
- An impact evaluation that needs audio auditing and timing metadata to prove interviews were conducted as reportednot Medallia
- A panel study revisiting the same households annually and needing offline case assignment to find them againnot Medallia
- A statistics unit that must keep data inside a specific region and produce a SOC 2 report for its fundernot Medallia
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Medallia
- There is no published pricing and no self-serve tier, so evaluating cost requires a sales process before any real budgeting can happen.
- Implementation is a project, not a signup, and typically involves data integration and consulting work before the platform produces usable dashboards.
- The breadth of modules means a buyer who only needs a simple survey tool is paying for enterprise infrastructure they will not use.
- Switching away later means re-architecting how feedback is collected across the organisation, which creates real vendor lock-in once rolled out.
- Smaller teams and mid-market companies are effectively priced out, since the platform and its go-to-market are built for large enterprise accounts.
SurveyCTO
- Pricing is by submission volume, forms and storage rather than by users, so a small team running continuous high-volume collection can pay more than a 200-person survey team that runs for six weeks
- Forms are authored in XLSForm spreadsheet syntax, which is precise and versionable but has a real learning curve, and organisations without someone comfortable in it stall at form design
- Overage is charged at 100 US dollars per 1,000 extra submissions, which is easy to trigger on the Basic tier at 5,000 a month and produces surprise invoices during an active field round
- Server region selection only appears on the Pro tier and a custom GDPR data processing agreement only on Advanced, so European data protection requirements push the price to at least 315 and often 630 dollars a month regardless of volume
- It is built for structured research fieldwork, not for business process forms, so it has no dispatch, no invoicing and no formatted document output, and a field service business would be buying the wrong tool
Pricing, plan by plan
Medallia
On request- Medallia Experience Cloud$undefined/year
- No published pricing, sold as a multi-year enterprise contract
- Pricing depends on modules (CX, EX, contact centre, market research)
- Implementation and integration typically charged separately
SurveyCTO
Free- CommunityFree
- Permanent free subscription for testing and training
- 10 forms
- 200 monthly submissions
- Basic$225/month
- Billed annually, 250 USD month to month
- 100 forms
- 10 GB storage
- Pro$315/month
- Billed annually, 350 USD month to month
- 500 forms
- 25 GB storage
- Advanced$630/month
- Billed annually, 700 USD month to month
- Unlimited forms, storage and submissions
- Advanced offline case management
Which should you pick?
Choose Medallia if
- You need multi-channel feedback capture.
- You work on Web, iOS, Android.
- You also want ai text and sentiment analysis.
Choose SurveyCTO if
- You need offline collection.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Android, iOS.
- You also want xlsform authoring.
Questions people ask
- Is Medallia or SurveyCTO better?
- Neither clearly leads. Medallia starts at On request and SurveyCTO at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Medallia or SurveyCTO?
- SurveyCTO has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Medallia and Free for SurveyCTO.
- Does Medallia or SurveyCTO run on more platforms?
- Medallia runs on Web, iOS, Android. SurveyCTO runs on Web, Android, iOS.
- Can I use SurveyCTO for free?
- Yes. SurveyCTO has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Medallia starts at On request.
- What is Medallia best used for?
- Medallia is most often used for a retail or hospitality chain that wants customer feedback, digital behaviour and call transcripts unified in one platform, an enterprise with a dedicated cx team needing role-based dashboards from frontline staff to the executive team, a contact centre wanting agent coaching and quality management driven by the same data as customer satisfaction scores, a company running employee and customer experience programmes and wanting one vendor across both. Of those, a retail or hospitality chain that wants customer feedback, digital behaviour and call transcripts unified in one platform and an enterprise with a dedicated cx team needing role-based dashboards from frontline staff to the executive team are not what SurveyCTO is typically brought in for.
- What can Medallia do that SurveyCTO cannot?
- Medallia covers Multi-channel feedback capture, AI text and sentiment analysis, Role-based reporting, Contact centre analytics. SurveyCTO covers Offline collection, XLSForm authoring, Automated quality checks, Audio auditing.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Medallia: Is there a self-serve or free version?
No. Medallia sells only through direct sales with quoted enterprise contracts; there is no published price list.
SurveyCTO: Do I pay per enumerator?
No. Users and devices are unlimited on every paid tier. You pay for monthly submissions, forms and storage.
Medallia: Can a mid-sized company buy Medallia?
Technically yes, but the sales motion, implementation cost and contract structure are built for large enterprise deployments, not smaller teams.
SurveyCTO: Is there a free version?
Yes, a permanent community subscription with 10 forms, 200 monthly submissions and 200 MB of storage, intended for testing and training rather than production.
Medallia: Does it replace a standalone survey tool?
It can collect surveys, but its value is in unifying multiple feedback channels; a company only needing surveys is better served by a cheaper dedicated tool.
SurveyCTO: What happens if I exceed my submissions?
Extra credits are 100 US dollars per 1,000, with discounts of 20 per cent or more at volume. Plan the tier around your peak field month, not your average.
SurveyCTO: Can I choose where the data is stored?
Only on Pro and above. If data residency matters, budget for at least the Pro tier.
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