"Customer feedback tool" covers two different jobs. Survey and voice-of-customer tools, such as Typeform, SurveyMonkey, Hotjar and Qualtrics, ask customers questions you choose and measure the answers. Feedback boards, such as Canny, Featurebase, Frill, Nolt, UserVoice, Productboard and Looph, collect the requests customers volunteer and rank them by votes. Pick a survey tool to measure how customers feel; pick a board to decide what to build. We make Looph, a feedback board, so it is marked as ours below. Every figure was read on the vendor's own pages, and each table cites its sources.
Two kinds of customer feedback tool
The difference is who starts the conversation. A survey goes out when you send it, asks the questions you wrote and returns answers you analyse, which makes it the right tool for scores you track over time, such as NPS or satisfaction after support. A feedback board is always open: customers post a request when they hit the problem, other customers vote on it, and the board ranks requests by how many people want them.
Because a board collects requests rather than ratings, it can also close the loop: when a request ships, everyone who voted can be told. A survey score cannot do that, because nobody asked for anything specific.
Feedback boards compared
Feedback boards collect what customers volunteer: requests they post, vote on and follow until they ship. Starting price is the cheapest paid plan with the billing basis the vendor states.
| Tool | Starting price | Pricing model | Free plan | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canny | $79/mo billed annually ($99 monthly), Pro | Tracked-user based | Free forever, 25 tracked users, 5 managers | Canny pricing |
| Featurebase | $29/seat/mo billed yearly (Growth) | Per seat per month billed yearly | Yes, 1 seat | Featurebase pricing |
| Frill | $22/mo billed yearly ($25 monthly), Startup | Flat monthly tiers | No; 14-day trial | Frill pricing |
| Nolt | $29/mo billed annually ($39 monthly), Essential | Flat monthly tiers | No; 10-day trial of Pro | Nolt pricing |
| UserVoice | Not published | Quote-only | No; a trial is set up after a demo | UserVoice pricing |
| Productboard | Not published | Per maker | No; no free plan or self-serve trial is listed | Productboard pricing |
| Looph (ours) | $19/mo, or $190/yr billed yearly, Starter | Per-workspace tiers; members free, admin seats and tracked voters capped by plan (no caps on Business) | Yes: 1 public board, 100 tracked voters | See flat pricing |
1. Canny: the established board, billed by tracked users
Canny pulls feedback in from tools such as Intercom, Gong and Slack, deduplicates it and lets customers vote on a public board with a roadmap and changelog. Everyone who posts, votes or comments counts as a tracked user, which is what the price follows.
- Starting price
- $79/mo billed annually ($99 monthly), Pro
- Free plan
- Free forever, 25 tracked users, 5 managers
Read next: Looph vs Canny
Source: Canny pricing
2. Featurebase: feedback boards inside a support suite
Featurebase pairs feedback boards, a roadmap and a changelog with a shared inbox, live chat and an AI support agent. Paid plans are priced per seat, with AI resolutions charged per use on top.
- Starting price
- $29/seat/mo billed yearly (Growth)
- Free plan
- Yes, 1 seat
Read next: Looph vs Featurebase
Source: Featurebase pricing
3. Frill: a flat-priced idea board for small teams
Frill runs an embeddable idea board with voting, a roadmap and announcements at a flat price per tier, with unlimited admins and tracked users. The entry plan caps active ideas at 50.
- Starting price
- $22/mo billed yearly ($25 monthly), Startup
- Free plan
- No; 14-day trial
Read next: Looph vs Frill
Source: Frill pricing
4. Nolt: a quick board for one product
Nolt gets a voting board and roadmap running quickly, with anonymous voting and vote-on-behalf available, at a flat price per tier. Each tier allows a fixed number of boards.
- Starting price
- $29/mo billed annually ($39 monthly), Essential
- Free plan
- No; 10-day trial of Pro
Read next: Looph vs Nolt
Sources: Nolt pricing, Nolt changelog
5. UserVoice: enterprise feedback programmes on a quote
UserVoice links every vote to the account behind it and weights requests by revenue. It publishes no prices; plans are based on feedback volume, tools and integrations, and a trial is set up after a demo.
- Starting price
- Not published
- Free plan
- No; a trial is set up after a demo
Read next: Looph vs UserVoice
Source: UserVoice pricing
6. Productboard: a planning suite with a customer portal
Productboard is built for internal prioritisation, with a customer portal where visitors rate how important an item is. It now publishes no plan prices: Business is sold through a demo and Enterprise through sales.
- Starting price
- Not published
- Free plan
- No; no free plan or self-serve trial is listed
Read next: Looph vs Productboard
Source: Productboard pricing
7. Looph (our product): free members, and every voter told
Disclosure: Looph is ours. It is a feedback board with voting, a public roadmap and a changelog, priced per workspace with published prices on every tier. Members are free on every plan; admin seats and tracked voters are capped by plan, with no caps on Business. It notifies everyone who voted when their request ships. It is younger than the other boards here and has a smaller integration catalogue.
- Starting price
- $19/mo, or $190/yr billed yearly, Starter
- Free plan
- Yes: 1 public board, 100 tracked voters
Read next: See flat pricing · Compare the tools
Survey and voice-of-customer tools compared
Survey tools collect answers to questions you choose to ask. We compare how each one charges rather than a price: SurveyMonkey shows prices in the reader's local currency, and Qualtrics publishes none, so check the live page for the price in your currency.
| Tool | What it collects | Pricing basis | Free plan | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Typeform | Conversational forms and surveys | Tiers set by monthly responses and users (Basic: 100 responses a month, 1 user); Enterprise is custom | Yes | Typeform pricing |
| SurveyMonkey | Surveys, forms and NPS, with a paid research panel | Individual plans by response allowance (1,000 a month on Standard Monthly, a yearly allowance on the annual plans); team plans per user from 3 users, billed annually, with extra responses charged | Yes: Basic, 1 user, 10 questions per survey | SurveyMonkey pricing |
| Hotjar (Contentsquare) | On-site surveys alongside session replays and heatmaps | Tiers set by monthly sessions; every plan includes surveys | Yes | Contentsquare pricing |
| Qualtrics | Enterprise experience-management programmes | Quote-only; priced on planned usage | Not listed on the pricing page | Qualtrics pricing |
8. Typeform: conversational forms
Typeform collects conversational forms and surveys. Pricing basis: tiers set by monthly responses and users (Basic: 100 responses a month, 1 user); Enterprise is custom.
- Free plan
- Yes
Source: Typeform pricing
9. SurveyMonkey: surveys at any scale
SurveyMonkey collects surveys, forms and NPS, with a paid research panel. Pricing basis: individual plans by response allowance (1,000 a month on Standard Monthly, a yearly allowance on the annual plans); team plans per user from 3 users, billed annually, with extra responses charged.
- Free plan
- Yes: Basic, 1 user, 10 questions per survey
Source: SurveyMonkey pricing
10. Hotjar (Contentsquare): on-site surveys beside session replays
Hotjar (Contentsquare) collects on-site surveys alongside session replays and heatmaps. Pricing basis: tiers set by monthly sessions; every plan includes surveys.
- Free plan
- Yes
Source: Contentsquare pricing
11. Qualtrics: enterprise experience management
Qualtrics collects enterprise experience-management programmes. Pricing basis: quote-only; priced on planned usage.
- Free plan
- Not listed on the pricing page
Source: Qualtrics pricing
How to choose a customer feedback tool
Start with the question you need answered. How satisfied are customers, and is that changing? Use a survey tool. What should we build next, and who wants it? Use a feedback board. Many teams run one of each.
Then compare the bill at your real size: boards differ in whether they charge for team seats, for tracked customers or neither, and survey tools in how many responses each plan includes.
How we chose these tools
The boards are the six we keep verified comparison records for, plus Looph. The survey tools are four widely used options covering general surveys, on-site surveys and enterprise programmes. The list is not exhaustive: Google Forms, Jotform and Medallia also collect feedback and are not reviewed here.
Read next: How we research our comparisons
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a survey tool and a feedback board?
A survey tool asks customers questions you chose, at a moment you chose, and gives you answers to analyse. A feedback board collects what customers volunteer, whenever they think of it, and lets other customers vote on it, so you see which requests matter to the most people. Surveys measure how customers feel; boards tell you what they want built.
Which customer feedback tools have a free plan?
Among feedback boards, Canny, Featurebase and Looph have free plans; Frill, Nolt and UserVoice offer trials, and Productboard lists neither. Among survey tools, Typeform, SurveyMonkey and Hotjar have free plans, and Qualtrics lists none.
Do I need both kinds?
Many teams end up with both: a survey tool for NPS or satisfaction scores, and a board for feature requests. If you can only start with one and your question is what to build next, start with the board, because a score tells you sentiment moved without telling you which request would move it back.