Qualtrics is the default pick for research teams that need survey depth and analysis in one place, at $420 per month billed annually for 1,000 responses shared across all users, while Contentsquare is the default pick for behavior data from session replay. SurveyMonkey is the budget pick for recurring surveys at $39 per user per month billed annually, with 15,000 responses per year on Advantage Annual and a $0.15 charge for each extra response. Four of the eight tools hide the main price and sell by quote only, so Medallia, FullStory, UserTesting, and Maze need a sales conversation first.
Pick by the kind of evidence you need first, then by the limit that will force an upgrade. Survey tools count responses, replay tools count sessions, and research tools count studies or credits.
On this page
Top rated customer insights software: comparison table
Swipe the table sideways on a phone to see every column.
| # | Name | Best for | Starting price | Free plan / trial | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Qualtrics | Research teams that need deep surveys and analysis | $420 per month | Yes | Visit |
| 2 | SurveyMonkey | Recurring surveys with logic and analysis | $39 per user per month | Yes | Visit |
| 3 | Medallia | Enterprise experience programs across channels | quote only | No | Visit |
| 4 | Contentsquare | Behavior insights from replay, heatmaps, and surveys | $39 per month | Yes | Visit |
| 5 | Dovetail | Turning interviews, calls, and tickets into themes | $4,800 per year | Free trial (30 days) | Visit |
| 6 | FullStory | Session replay and product analytics at scale | quote only | Yes | Visit |
| 7 | UserTesting | Video-first tests with a global participant panel | quote only | No | Visit |
| 8 | Maze | Prototype and usability tests with fast results | quote only | Yes | Visit |
The 8 best top rated customer insights software tools, in detail
Qualtrics
Best for: Research teams that need deep surveys and analysis
Qualtrics sells Strategic Research at $420 per month, billed annually at $5,040, for 1,000 responses shared across all users. The plan includes unlimited users, surveys, and questions per survey, plus 23 question types, more than 20 guided solutions, dashboards, crosstabs, and statistical analysis. The free account has 1 user, 3 active surveys, 30 questions per survey, 500 total responses, and 8 question types.
- The 1,000 response limit is the detail most buyers miss.
- It is a total allowance for the account, not a monthly allowance, so one large study can reach the cap fast.
- A higher volume version starts at 5,000 or more responses and is available by quote only, and Customer Experience products are also quote only.
- Choose Qualtrics when you need survey design, video and audio responses, conjoint and MaxDiff studies, and analysis in one system, and avoid the self-
Pros
- Free account with 500 total responses
- Strategic Research includes unlimited users, surveys, and questions
- 23 question types and guided research solutions
Cons
- Strategic Research caps at 1,000 responses in total
- Customer Experience plans are quote only
- no extra responses can be bought online
SurveyMonkey
Best for: Recurring surveys with logic and analysis
SurveyMonkey Advantage Annual costs $39 per month billed annually, which is $468 per year for 1 user, with 15,000 responses per year. Premier Annual costs $139 per month billed annually, which is $1,668 per year, with 40,000 responses per year. Standard Monthly costs $149 per month with monthly billing and 1,000 responses per month.
- Team Advantage costs $30 per user per month billed annually, with a 3-user minimum and 50,000 responses per year shared across the team, so the smalle
- The free Basic plan lets 1 user create unlimited surveys with up to 10 questions per survey, with a limited number of viewable responses and no export
- SurveyMonkey states that responses above a plan limit cost $0.15 each.
- Choose SurveyMonkey when you run surveys often and want templates, skip logic, branching, and crosstabs without a sales process, and avoid a team plan
Pros
- Advantage Annual includes 15,000 responses per year
- team plans include shared brand assets and user roles
- $0.15 overage charge is shown on the pricing page
Cons
- Team plans need at least 3 users
- Standard Monthly costs $149 per month
- branding removal needs Premier Annual
Medallia
Best for: Enterprise experience programs across channels
Medallia Experience Cloud prices on a single metric called the Experience Data Record, which is one record for each discrete interaction between a customer or employee and a company. The pricing page states that EDR pricing is set in annual tiers and that the single metric includes analytics, workflows, data security, and self-service capabilities. No dollar figure appears on the official pricing page, so the starting price in this guide is quote only.
- The platform captures signals from surveys, speech, social signals, digital feedback, and video feedback, then applies text analytics, speech analytic
- It also includes role-based reporting, automatic alerting, case management, closed-loop feedback, PII detection and redaction, and sandboxes.
- Choose Medallia when you run an always-on experience program across stores, contact centers, and digital channels, and avoid it when you need a shown
Pros
- Experience Data Record pricing includes analytics, workflows, and security
- captures surveys, speech, social signals, and digital feedback
- unlimited users are listed in the platform description
Cons
- No price shown at any tier
- no free plan
- every purchase needs a sales conversation
Contentsquare
Best for: Behavior insights from replay, heatmaps, and surveys
Contentsquare is the home for Hotjar, which now sits inside Contentsquare, and its pricing page is the page to use for Hotjar style behavior tools. Experience Analytics Free costs $0 and includes 200,000 monthly sessions, session replays, heatmaps, funnels, and surveys, with 1 month of data history and 1 project. Growth costs $39 per month, reduced from $49, and includes 13 months of data history, 3 projects, journey analysis, and AI summaries.
- The plan builder lists Experience Analytics at $35 per month for 7,000 replays and Voice of Customer at $79 per month, so a team that needs both pays
- Growth plans do not need an annual contract, and annual billing gives a 20 percent discount when set up in the app with a card or PayPal.
- Choose Contentsquare when you want to see what visitors do on a site, where they stop, and what they say in surveys, without a sales call to start.
Pros
- Free plan includes 200,000 monthly sessions
- Growth includes 13 months of data history
- annual billing gives a 20 percent discount on Growth plans
Cons
- Free plan keeps only 1 month of data
- Voice of Customer Growth costs $79 per month in the plan builder
- Pro and Enterprise are custom priced
Dovetail
Best for: Turning interviews, calls, and tickets into themes
Dovetail One Bronze costs $4,800 per year for the platform, for up to 5 users, plus credits at 15 cents each, billed annually by card. The plan includes Channels, Agents, Chat, Projects, more than 40 integrations, and MCP access. Silver is for 25 or more users and Gold is for 100 or more users, and both are quote only.
- Digital Twins, workspace context, contacts enrichment, single sign-on, and priority support sit on Silver, while AI redaction, a choice of LLM provide
- Credits are the second part of the bill.
- Processing one data point uses 1 credit, redacting it uses 1 more credit, and Chat, Digital Twin, and agent runs use a variable number.
- Credit overages are on by default and are billed monthly, and unused credits expire at the end of the contract, which is usually one year.
Pros
- Bronze includes more than 40 integrations and MCP access
- credits cost 15 cents each on every plan
- Gold includes a 30-day free trial
Cons
- Silver needs 25 or more users and is quote only
- Gold needs 100 or more users and is quote only
- unused credits expire at the end of the contract
FullStory
Best for: Session replay and product analytics at scale
FullStory sells three Analytics plans, Business, Advanced, and Enterprise, and none of them shows a price on the official pricing page. Business is for companies that need deep product analytics, Advanced is for organizations that need to find trends and improve funnels at scale, and Enterprise is for data science teams that build predictive models. Each plan needs a request for pricing and a demo.
- FullstoryFree is a separate free product with 30,000 sessions per month and 12 months of analytics retention, so a small site can start without a cont
- The free plan excludes dashboards, mobile analytics, and StoryAI, which is the limit that moves most teams to a higher plan.
- Choose FullStory when you need session replay paired with product analytics, funnels, and segmentation for a large site or app, and avoid it when you
Pros
- FullstoryFree includes 30,000 sessions per month
- free plan includes 12 months of analytics retention
- Business, Advanced, and Enterprise cover product analytics and funnels
Cons
- All three plan prices are quote only
- mobile analytics is an add-on
- dashboards and StoryAI need a higher plan
UserTesting
Best for: Video-first tests with a global participant panel
UserTesting offers three editions, Advanced, Ultimate, and Ultimate+, and two ways to buy. Test-based Consumption charges for test usage across the team, with unlimited users and no per-seat charges, while Team-based Unlimited allows unlimited tests within a defined enterprise scope. The official plans page states that pricing is very customizable, so the starting price in this guide is quote only.
- Advanced includes AI Insight Summaries, a global participant panel across more than 60 countries, enterprise security, a test builder and template gal
- Ultimate adds AI test creation, smart tags, Insights Hub, card sorting and tree testing, custom audiences, secure prototype hosting, and an approval f
- Choose UserTesting when you need video of real people using a product, with a large panel and live sessions, and you have an enterprise budget and a s
Pros
- Participant panel covers more than 60 countries
- Test-based Consumption has unlimited users with no per-seat charges
- Advanced includes live conversation and transcripts
Cons
- No price shown at any tier
- no free plan
- card sorting, tree testing, and secure prototype hosting need Ultimate
Maze
Best for: Prototype and usability tests with fast results
Maze is a product discovery platform for prototype testing, live website testing, surveys, card sorting, tree testing, and live interviews. The official pricing page lists Free and Enterprise, with no dollar amount shown, so the starting price in this guide is quote only. The Free plan costs $0, with 1 study per month, 5 seats, essential prototype testing, and surveys, with audio, video, and screen recording excluded and panel recruitment charged separately.
- Enterprise includes custom study quantities, unlimited seats, access to a global panel, live interviews, AI-led interviews, prototype testing, surveys
- Panel credits are sold in bundles, including 50 credits for $250, which is $5 per credit, and Core Network self-run tests use 3 credits per participan
- Choose Maze when you need fast self-run tests on a prototype or live site.
Pros
- Free plan costs $0 with 1 study per month and 5 seats
- Enterprise includes live and AI-led interviews
- panel recruitment is separate and can be used when you have no participants
Cons
- No price shown on the official pricing page
- panel credits cost $5 each and add to the subscription
- audio, video, and screen recording are excluded from Free
How we chose
We included tools that collect customer feedback, run research, or show behavior, and that have a real product page with a pricing page or plans page. We opened the official pricing pages for all eight tools on 2026-11-12, plus the official Qualtrics buy-online page. We did not test any tool hands-on. We did not use customer counts, awards, or review scores to rank the tools. Where a vendor hid the price, we wrote quote only. The unique angle in this guide is the way each vendor counts usage: Qualtrics counts total responses, SurveyMonkey counts responses per year, Contentsquare and FullStory count sessions per month, Dovetail counts credits, and Maze counts studies plus panel credits.
Pick by budget and team size
| Situation | Pick | Why the numbers fit |
|---|---|---|
| Solo researcher, small budget | SurveyMonkey Advantage Annual | $39 per month billed annually, $468 per year, 15,000 responses per year |
| Small team, 5 users or fewer | Dovetail Bronze | $4,800 per year for the platform, up to 5 users, plus 15 cent credits |
| Website team that needs behavior data | Contentsquare Growth | $39 per month, 200,000 sessions on Free, 13 months of data on Growth |
| Free start with no card | FullStory Free or Contentsquare Free | 30,000 sessions per month on FullStory, 200,000 sessions per month on Contentsquare |
| Enterprise program, no fixed budget | Medallia or UserTesting | Both are quote only, with annual tiers or custom test-based pricing |
| Research team that needs 1,000 responses only | Qualtrics Strategic Research | $420 per month billed annually, $5,040 per year, 1,000 responses in total |
Frequently asked questions
Which customer insights software is best for most teams?
Qualtrics is the best fit for most research teams that need survey depth, because Strategic Research includes unlimited users, 23 question types, guided solutions, and crosstabs for $420 per month billed annually. Contentsquare is the better fit when behavior data matters more, because Growth costs $39 per month and includes replay, heatmaps, funnels, and surveys.
What is the cheapest way to start?
Contentsquare Free and FullstoryFree are the cheapest ways to start, because both cost $0 and include session replay. Contentsquare Free allows 200,000 monthly sessions with 1 month of data, while FullstoryFree allows 30,000 sessions per month with 12 months of retention.
How much does Qualtrics cost?
Qualtrics Strategic Research costs $420 per month billed annually, which is $5,040 per year, for 1,000 responses shared across all users. The free account costs $0 and includes 1 user, 3 active surveys, and 500 responses. Customer Experience plans and a higher volume research plan are quote only.
Which tool is best for user interviews?
Dovetail is the best fit for interview analysis, because it brings transcripts, calls, tickets, surveys, and reviews into one searchable record with themes and cited answers. UserTesting is the better fit when you need video of live sessions with participants from a panel across more than 60 countries, although its price is quote only.
Do any of these tools charge for extra usage?
Yes. SurveyMonkey charges $0.15 for each response above the plan limit, Dovetail charges 15 cents per credit with overages on by default, and Maze charges $5 per panel credit, with 3 credits per Core Network participant. Contentsquare and FullStory count sessions, so a site past the session limit needs a higher plan or a new quote.
What should I check in a quote for a quote-only tool?
Ask the vendor to define the counted unit in writing, including what counts as one Experience Data Record at Medallia, one session at FullStory, one test at UserTesting, and one study at Maze. Ask for the annual total, the cost of extra usage, and the seat limit.
Sources
- https://www.qualtrics.com/
- https://www.qualtrics.com/buy-online/
- https://www.surveymonkey.com/
- https://www.surveymonkey.com/pricing/
- https://www.medallia.com/
- https://www.medallia.com/pricing/
- https://www.contentsquare.com/
- https://www.contentsquare.com/pricing/
- https://www.dovetail.com/
- https://dovetail.com/pricing/
- https://www.fullstory.com/
- https://www.fullstory.com/pricing/
- https://www.usertesting.com/
- https://www.usertesting.com/plans
- https://maze.co/
- https://maze.co/pricing/
Prices and features were read on each company’s own website in November 2026. They change often, so confirm the current offer on the official site before you sign up or buy.