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Research · head to head

SurveyMonkey vs Terra

SurveyMonkey logo

SurveyMonkey

Research

Turn feedback into action

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Terra logo

Terra

Research

Open biomedical research platform for genomic analysis, priced only by the cloud you consume

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: SurveyMonkey team plans require minimum 3 users as baseline; Terra the absence of a licence fee hides the real cost driver: an idle notebook virtual machine left running overnight, or a workspace bucket full of intermediate workflow outputs, quietly consumes grant money with no vendor invoice to prompt a review.
  • They diverge on capability: SurveyMonkey covers Survey builder, Terra covers No platform licence fee.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which SurveyMonkey and Terra actually diverge.

Attributes where SurveyMonkey and Terra differ
AttributeSurveyMonkeyTerra
Pricing modelsubscriptionOpen source, no licence fee
PlatformsWebWeb, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure
Founded1999Unknown

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Research).

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 SurveyMonkey

  • Survey builder
  • Question bank
  • Survey logic
  • Multi-language surveys
  • Mobile surveys
  • Real-time results
  • Data analysis tools
  • Custom branding

Only in Terra

  • No platform licence fee
  • Cloud pass-through billing
  • WDL workflow execution
  • Notebook environments
  • Controlled-access data
  • Workspace sharing
  • Compliance posture
  • Multi-cloud

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

SurveyMonkey

  • Market research and customer surveysnot Terra
  • Employee feedback and engagement trackingnot Terra
  • Data collection and analysisnot Terra
  • Customer satisfaction and NPS measurementsnot Terra

Terra

  • A genomics lab running whole-genome alignment and variant calling pipelines without provisioning or maintaining a local clusternot SurveyMonkey
  • A consortium sharing controlled-access human data across institutions where the data cannot be copied to each sitenot SurveyMonkey
  • A health system analysing patient genomic data under a HIPAA business associate agreementnot SurveyMonkey
  • A federal or federally funded project needing FedRAMP Moderate authorisation for its analysis environmentnot SurveyMonkey

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

SurveyMonkey

  • Team plans require minimum 3 users as baseline
  • Annual response limits enforced: 50,000 responses/year on Team Advantage, 100,000 on Team Premier
  • Additional responses beyond annual limits charged at AED 0.50 per response
  • Enterprise plan requires custom pricing and minimum 5 users
  • Advanced features like multilingual surveys and phone support require Team Premier tier

Terra

  • The absence of a licence fee hides the real cost driver: an idle notebook virtual machine left running overnight, or a workspace bucket full of intermediate workflow outputs, quietly consumes grant money with no vendor invoice to prompt a review.
  • Cost governance is entirely the customer responsibility, and grant-funded groups without a cloud engineer routinely overspend before anyone reads the Google or Azure bill in enough detail to find the cause.
  • It assumes genuine bioinformatics competence: writing or adapting WDL workflows, managing data tables and debugging failed tasks are all on you, so a wet lab without computational staff cannot use it productively.
  • Feature parity between the Google Cloud and Azure deployments is not identical, so a decision on cloud provider constrains which capabilities and datasets you can reach and is expensive to reverse later.
  • It is a research platform rather than a regulated clinical system: it is not a validated GxP environment and does not carry the qualification package a diagnostic or submission workflow would require, so clinical use needs additional infrastructure and validation you provide yourself.

Pricing, plan by plan

SurveyMonkey

Free
  • Team Advantage$99/month
    • 50,000 responses per year
    • Unlimited surveys and questions
    • 3 user minimum
  • Team Premier$240/month
    • 100,000 responses per year
    • All Team Advantage features
    • White label branding

Terra

Free
  • Terra platformFree
    • No charge for the platform, administration, security controls or frontline support
    • Workspaces, workflow execution and notebook environments included
    • Available on Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure
  • Cloud consumption$undefined/month
    • Google Cloud or Azure charges passed through at cost with no markup
    • Running notebook virtual machines around 0.22 USD per hour, roughly 0.027 USD per hour when paused
    • Storage billed continuously on workspace buckets and intermediate workflow outputs

Which should you pick?

Choose SurveyMonkey if

  • You need survey builder.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want question bank.
SurveyMonkey review

Choose Terra if

  • You need no platform licence fee.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure.
  • You also want cloud pass-through billing.
Terra review

Questions people ask

Is SurveyMonkey or Terra better?
Neither clearly leads. SurveyMonkey starts at Free and Terra at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, SurveyMonkey or Terra?
SurveyMonkey starts at Free and Terra at Free.
Does SurveyMonkey or Terra run on more platforms?
SurveyMonkey runs on Web. Terra runs on Web, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure.
Can I use SurveyMonkey for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is SurveyMonkey best used for?
SurveyMonkey is most often used for market research and customer surveys, employee feedback and engagement tracking, data collection and analysis, customer satisfaction and nps measurements. Of those, market research and customer surveys and employee feedback and engagement tracking are not what Terra is typically brought in for.
What can SurveyMonkey do that Terra cannot?
SurveyMonkey covers Survey builder, Question bank, Survey logic, Multi-language surveys. Terra covers No platform licence fee, Cloud pass-through billing, WDL workflow execution, Notebook environments.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

SurveyMonkey: How much does SurveyMonkey cost?

SurveyMonkey offers team plans starting at AED 99 per user per month for Team Advantage and AED 240 per user per month for Team Premier. Both plans require a minimum of 3 users. Billing can be monthly or annual.

Source
Terra: Is Terra really free?

The platform is. There is no licence fee. Everything you pay is Google Cloud or Azure compute, storage and egress, passed through at cost.

SurveyMonkey: What are SurveyMonkey's overage fees?

SurveyMonkey charges AED 0.50 per additional response on paid plans beyond the annual limit included in each tier.

Source
Terra: What actually drives the bill?

Running virtual machines and stored data. Pausing notebooks drops a virtual machine from about 0.22 to about 0.027 dollars an hour, and deleting intermediate workflow outputs is the other main saving.

Terra: Can I use it with protected health information?

Yes. Terra signs HIPAA business associate agreements and GDPR data processing agreements, and the Azure deployment holds FedRAMP Moderate authorisation.

Terra: Is it validated for clinical or GxP use?

No. It is a research platform. Regulated clinical or submission workflows need validation and controls you build yourself.

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