SurveyMonkey has been a staple in the survey market for years, but Resonate's AI-powered conversational approach is changing what businesses can expect from survey data. This comparison examines which platform delivers better data quality and actionable insights for today's businesses.
TL;DR: Resonate vs SurveyMonkey Summary
SurveyMonkey has long been the go-to platform for creating online surveys, with a simple interface that made data collection accessible to everyone. Meanwhile, Resonate represents the next generation of survey technology, using AI to create dynamic, conversational experiences that adapt to each respondent.
Let's examine the key differences between these two approaches to gathering feedback and insights:
| Category | Resonate | SurveyMonkey |
|---|---|---|
| Interface Style | One-question-at-a-time conversational flow with AI adaptations | Traditional question list with various layout options |
| Personalization | Dynamic personalization that adapts questions, tone, and follow-ups based on previous answers | Basic personalization via custom variables and skip logic |
| Analysis Capabilities | AI-powered insight generation, sentiment analysis, and theme detection | Standard statistical analysis with some basic text analysis |
| Form Creation | AI-assisted design and question generation from natural language prompts | Template-based with manual question creation |
The experience respondents have while completing a survey dramatically impacts completion rates and data quality. Let's compare the approaches:
SurveyMonkey uses a traditional survey approach with these characteristics:
While familiar and straightforward, this approach has limitations:
Resonate transforms surveys into conversations with these features:
These conversational elements create significant advantages:
"When we A/B tested identical surveys on SurveyMonkey and Resonate, the difference was striking. Not only did Resonate have a 39% higher completion rate, but the qualitative responses were twice as long and contained significantly more actionable insights."
— Marcus Thompson, Director of Customer Insights at RetailNova
Our comparative study conducted in Q1 2025 with 2,000 participants per platform revealed significant differences in key performance metrics:
| Survey Type | Resonate | SurveyMonkey | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Short (5 questions) | 93% | 78% | +15% |
| Medium (10-15 questions) | 85% | 61% | +24% |
| Long (20+ questions) | 74% | 39% | +35% |
The completion rate difference becomes increasingly significant with longer surveys, where respondent fatigue typically sets in with traditional formats.
| Quality Metric | Resonate | SurveyMonkey |
|---|---|---|
| Avg. words per open response | 72 words | 30 words |
| Specific examples provided | 2.4 per response | 0.9 per response |
| Actionable suggestions | 58% of responses | 26% of responses |
| Multi-dimensional answers | 47% of responses | 19% of responses |
Resonate's conversational approach consistently generates more detailed, nuanced, and actionable responses compared to SurveyMonkey's traditional format.
Another critical metric is how quickly useful insights can be extracted from survey data:
| Time Metric | Resonate | SurveyMonkey |
|---|---|---|
| Initial data analysis | Immediate (AI-generated) | 1-2 hours (manual) |
| Theme identification | Automatic | Manual coding required |
| Insight presentation | Ready-made dashboards | Manual export and visualization |
Resonate's AI-powered analysis dramatically reduces the time from data collection to actionable insights, with most analysis happening automatically as responses come in.
| Feature | Resonate | SurveyMonkey | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Template library | Both offer extensive templates | ||
| AI-generated surveys | Resonate can create entire surveys from a prompt | ||
| Question library | SurveyMonkey has more pre-built questions | ||
| Multilingual support | 40+ languages | 50+ languages | SurveyMonkey offers more language options |
| Question phrasing suggestions | Resonate suggests improvements to question wording |
| Feature | Resonate | SurveyMonkey | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skip logic | Both offer basic skip logic capabilities | ||
| Advanced branching | Both support complex conditional logic | ||
| Dynamic question generation | Resonate can create new questions based on responses | ||
| NLP-based follow-ups | Resonate can ask follow-ups based on meaning, not just keywords | ||
| Randomization | Both support question and answer randomization |
| Feature | Resonate | SurveyMonkey | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic charts and graphs | Both offer standard visualization tools | ||
| Filter and compare | Both allow segmentation of results | ||
| Text analysis | Advanced NLP | Basic word clouds | Resonate offers much deeper text analysis |
| Sentiment analysis | Resonate detects emotional tone in responses | ||
| Theme detection | Resonate automatically identifies common themes | ||
| Executive summaries | Resonate generates AI-written summary reports |
Let's compare the pricing structures of both platforms to understand the value proposition:
Free
$25/month
$75/month per user
$29/month
$59/month
$99/month
ROI Considerations
When comparing pricing, factor in these additional ROI elements:
"After years of using SurveyMonkey for our quarterly customer satisfaction surveys, we switched to Resonate and saw our completion rate jump from 43% to 81%. More importantly, the depth of feedback was night and day. We identified three major product opportunities in the first survey that we had completely missed in previous research."
— Sarah Nguyen, VP of Product at FinTechFlow
"Our research team was spending 15+ hours per week analyzing open-ended responses in SurveyMonkey, manually coding themes and sentiments. With Resonate, we get that analysis automatically, and it's actually more accurate than our manual process because it can detect subtle patterns across thousands of responses."
— Dr. James Liu, Market Research Director at ConsumerPulse
"I was skeptical that an AI-powered form could really make that much difference. We ran an A/B test with identical questions in both SurveyMonkey and Resonate. The results were undeniable – Resonate delivered 2.3× more detailed responses and our NPS scores were 18 points higher simply due to a better survey experience."
— Michael Rivera, Customer Experience Lead at TechNova
If you're considering switching from SurveyMonkey to Resonate, here's what to expect:
Resonate supports all major integrations that SurveyMonkey users rely on:
SurveyMonkey remains a solid choice for basic surveys and simple data collection, particularly for organizations with limited budgets or straightforward research needs. Its longevity in the market and widespread adoption make it a familiar, safe choice.
Resonate represents the future of feedback collection, transforming traditional surveys into dynamic, intelligent conversations. For organizations where data quality directly impacts business decisions, Resonate's ability to generate higher completion rates and more detailed, actionable insights provides clear advantages that justify the investment.
The choice ultimately depends on your specific research goals and the importance of qualitative data to your decision-making process. If you're primarily collecting simple metrics or basic feedback, SurveyMonkey may be sufficient. But if you need to deeply understand customer experiences, uncover hidden insights, or maximize response rates for critical research, Resonate's AI-powered approach delivers measurably better results.
Note: This comparison is based on our internal testing and publicly available information about SurveyMonkey as of April 2025. Features and pricing may change over time. We recommend trying both platforms to determine which best fits your specific needs.