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Research · head to head

SurveySparrow vs Terra

SurveySparrow logo

SurveySparrow

Research

Survey and feedback platform for employee engagement

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: SurveySparrow the free plan allows 75 responses per quarter, 3 active surveys and 10 questions per survey; 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: SurveySparrow covers Survey creation, 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 SurveySparrow and Terra actually diverge.

Attributes where SurveySparrow and Terra differ
AttributeSurveySparrowTerra
Pricing modelusage-basedOpen source, no licence fee
PlatformsWebWeb, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure
Founded2011Unknown

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 SurveySparrow

  • Survey creation
  • Engagement surveys
  • Pulse surveys
  • Analytics dashboard
  • Mobile app
  • Custom templates
  • Action planning
  • Reporting

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.

SurveySparrow

  • Running conversational surveys and NPS programmesnot Terra
  • Collecting employee and customer feedback on a schedulenot Terra
  • Embedding surveys in websites, email and chat channelsnot Terra

Terra

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

Where each one falls short

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

SurveySparrow

  • The free plan allows 75 responses per quarter, 3 active surveys and 10 questions per survey
  • The Basic and Starter plans include a single user; extra users cost $49 per user per month
  • Responses are metered per month and additional responses or API calls require a custom quote from sales
  • Custom branding requires the Business plan
  • CSS customisation, auto translation, Key Driver Analysis and HIPAA compliance are Enterprise only
  • The advertised savings of up to 40 percent require annual billing rather than quarterly

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

SurveySparrow

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Basic surveys
    • Limited questions
    • Standard reports
  • Pro$undefined/month
    • Advanced surveys
    • Unlimited questions
    • Advanced analytics

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 SurveySparrow if

  • You need survey creation.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want engagement surveys.
SurveySparrow 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 SurveySparrow or Terra better?
Neither clearly leads. SurveySparrow 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, SurveySparrow or Terra?
SurveySparrow starts at Free and Terra at Free.
Does SurveySparrow or Terra run on more platforms?
SurveySparrow runs on Web. Terra runs on Web, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure.
Can I use SurveySparrow for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is SurveySparrow best used for?
SurveySparrow is most often used for running conversational surveys and nps programmes, collecting employee and customer feedback on a schedule, embedding surveys in websites, email and chat channels. Of those, running conversational surveys and nps programmes and collecting employee and customer feedback on a schedule are not what Terra is typically brought in for.
What can SurveySparrow do that Terra cannot?
SurveySparrow covers Survey creation, Engagement surveys, Pulse surveys, Analytics dashboard. Terra covers No platform licence fee, Cloud pass-through billing, WDL workflow execution, Notebook environments.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

SurveySparrow: Does SurveySparrow offer a free plan?

Yes, SurveySparrow offers a forever free plan with 3 active surveys, 10 questions per survey, and 75 responses per quarter. No credit card is required to sign up.

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.

SurveySparrow: How much do SurveySparrow's paid plans cost?

SurveySparrow does not publish specific pricing amounts on its website. Basic, Starter, and Business plans are available with varying response limits and user counts. Enterprise requires contacting the company for a custom quote.

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.

SurveySparrow: Can I add more users to my SurveySparrow plan?

Yes, additional users can be added at $49 per month per user beyond what is included in each plan tier.

Source
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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