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Research · head to head

SurveyMonkey vs Umami

SurveyMonkey logo

SurveyMonkey

Research

Turn feedback into action

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Umami logo

Umami

Marketing

Open source, cookie-free web analytics you can self-host for the cost of a database

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: SurveyMonkey team plans require minimum 3 users as baseline; Umami there is no cohort analysis, retention curve, session replay or multi-touch attribution, so a marketing team that needs to justify channel spend will still buy a second tool and Umami becomes a supplementary dashboard.
  • They diverge on capability: SurveyMonkey covers Survey builder, Umami covers Cookie-free tracking.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which SurveyMonkey and Umami actually diverge.

Attributes where SurveyMonkey and Umami differ
AttributeSurveyMonkeyUmami
Pricing modelsubscriptionPer month by event count
PlatformsWebWeb, Linux
CategoryResearchMarketing
Founded1999Unknown

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

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 Umami

  • Cookie-free tracking
  • Self-hosting
  • Small tracking script
  • Custom events
  • Funnels and goals
  • Multi-site and teams
  • Public dashboards
  • API access

What people use each for

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

SurveyMonkey

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

Umami

  • A developer who wants traffic numbers on a personal or client site without adding a consent bannernot SurveyMonkey
  • An organisation whose legal or procurement team has ruled out sending visitor data to a US advertising companynot SurveyMonkey
  • A high-traffic site where hosted analytics priced by pageview band has become expensive and self-hosting removes the ceiling entirelynot SurveyMonkey
  • A team that wants analytics data in a database they already control so they can query and join it themselvesnot 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

Umami

  • There is no cohort analysis, retention curve, session replay or multi-touch attribution, so a marketing team that needs to justify channel spend will still buy a second tool and Umami becomes a supplementary dashboard.
  • Self-hosting is only free in licence terms; you own the database, the upgrades, the backups and the query performance at scale, and a busy site's events table grows quickly enough to need real attention.
  • Because it stores no persistent identifier, it cannot follow a user across devices or sessions in any meaningful way, which makes returning-visitor and lifetime-value questions unanswerable by design rather than by omission.
  • Cloud overage is billed per event beyond the plan allowance, so a traffic spike or a badly instrumented custom event can produce a bill materially above the $20 or $200 headline before anyone notices.
  • It is maintained by a small team, so the pace of new capability is modest and enterprise expectations such as SSO, granular role permissions and formal support agreements are limited compared with commercial analytics vendors.

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

Umami

Free
  • Self-hostedFree
    • MIT licensed, no licence fee
    • No event limit imposed by the software
    • Unlimited websites and users
  • Cloud HobbyFree
    • Up to 100,000 events per month
    • 3 websites
    • 6 months data retention
  • Cloud Pro$20/month
    • Up to 1,000,000 events per month
    • Unlimited websites
    • Unlimited team members
  • Cloud Business$200/month
    • Up to 10,000,000 events per month
    • All Pro features
    • Higher volume overage rate

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 Umami if

  • You need cookie-free tracking.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Linux.
  • You also want self-hosting.
Umami review

Questions people ask

Is SurveyMonkey or Umami better?
Neither clearly leads. SurveyMonkey starts at Free and Umami at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, SurveyMonkey or Umami?
SurveyMonkey starts at Free and Umami at Free.
Does SurveyMonkey or Umami run on more platforms?
SurveyMonkey runs on Web. Umami runs on Web, Linux.
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 Umami is typically brought in for.
What can SurveyMonkey do that Umami cannot?
SurveyMonkey covers Survey builder, Question bank, Survey logic, Multi-language surveys. Umami covers Cookie-free tracking, Self-hosting, Small tracking script, Custom events.

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
Umami: Is Umami really free?

Self-hosted, yes; it is MIT licensed with no event cap. You pay for the server and database. Umami Cloud has a free tier at 100,000 events a month and paid tiers from $20.

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
Umami: Do I need a cookie consent banner?

For Umami analytics specifically, generally no, because it sets no cookies and stores no personal data. Other tags on your site may still require one.

Umami: Can it replace Google Analytics?

For traffic, referrers and event counts, yes. For attribution modelling, audiences and advertising integration, no.

Umami: What does it need to run?

A container and a PostgreSQL or MySQL database. Most people deploy it on infrastructure they already pay for.

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