Nine tools compared on free limits, which scale types they support and whether they calculate the score for you. Plus a reference on every rating scale format and when each one is the right choice.
Free tiers in this category are unusually small. Survicate allows 25 responses a month across one active survey, Typeform 10 a month account-wide, and SurveyMonkey lets you view 25 per survey. Dedicated NPS platforms like Retently and AskNicely have no meaningful free tier at all.
Google Forms is free with no response cap but does not calculate NPS. It renders the 0–10 question; the segmentation, scoring and trend view all happen manually in a spreadsheet.
VoteGenerator calculates NPS automatically from a configurable 0–10 scale, free for 100 responses per questionnaire, with no account required from respondents. It has no closed-loop routing or multi-channel distribution, which is what the dedicated platforms charge for.
Delighted shut down on 30 June 2026. Qualtrics, which owned it, consolidated around its AI-powered XM Suites. If you were a Delighted customer, Retently is the closest pure NPS and CSAT equivalent at a reported $49 a month, Survicate covers multi-channel distribution, and Zonka Feedback has been offering free migration. If you mainly used it to collect a score and view the segmentation, a general survey tool with automatic NPS scoring will do that for considerably less.
"Rating scale" covers several distinct formats, and choosing the wrong one makes results hard to interpret or impossible to benchmark.
The standard NPS scale. Scores 9–10 are Promoters, 7–8 Passives, 0–6 Detractors, and NPS is Promoters percent minus Detractors percent, ranging from −100 to +100. The zero matters: an eleven-point scale starting at zero is the convention, and a 1–10 version is not comparable to published benchmarks.
A ten-point scale without the zero, used for likelihood, agreement and general opinion questions where NPS benchmarking is not the goal. Slightly higher average scores than 0–10 because there is no true zero option.
The most common rating scale in customer and employee feedback. Five points is enough granularity for most decisions and produces less respondent fatigue than ten. Averages are usually reported to one decimal place.
One question rating several attributes on the same scale — service, quality and value each rated separately. Sometimes called a rating grid or rating matrix. More efficient than three separate questions and produces a comparable set of scores.
Agreement statements answered on a symmetric scale, typically Strongly disagree to Strongly agree across five or seven points. Standard in employee engagement and academic research. Each statement counts as its own item.
Faces or symbols instead of numbers. Higher completion rates with non-office and frontline audiences, and useful when literacy or language varies. Harder to benchmark because interpretation is less consistent.
Passives are excluded from the calculation but count toward the total. The result runs from −100 to +100. Any positive score means more Promoters than Detractors; above +30 is generally considered good, above +50 excellent, above +70 world-class. Benchmarks vary considerably by industry, so your own quarter-on-quarter trend is usually more informative than the absolute number.
The important detail is the scale itself. NPS is defined on an eleven-point 0–10 scale, and published benchmarks assume it. A 1–10 version produces slightly higher averages because respondents have no true zero, so those scores are not comparable to industry data.
| Tool | Free tier | Paid from | Scale types | Automatic NPS scoring | Closed-loop routing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VoteGenerator | 100 responses per questionnaire, 3 active | $19/month flat | 1–5 icons, multi-aspect, configurable 0–10 and 1–10 | Yes, automatic | No |
| Survicate | 25 responses/month, 1 active survey | About $114/month billed annually | NPS, CSAT, CES, rating scales | Yes | Via integrations |
| Zonka Feedback | Free tier available* | Not published here | NPS, CSAT, CES, rating scales | Yes | Built in |
| Retently | Not published | About $49/month | NPS, CSAT, CES | Yes | Built in |
| SurveyMonkey | 25 viewable responses per survey | Around $39/month (Team)** | NPS, Likert, star, slider | Yes | Via integrations |
| Typeform | 10 responses/month, account-wide | About $25–28/month billed annually | Opinion scale, rating, NPS templates | Templates only | Via integrations |
| Google Forms | No published cap | Free | Linear scale, multiple choice grid | No, manual in Sheets | No |
| Microsoft Forms | 200 per form (personal account) | Included with Microsoft 365 | Likert, rating | No, manual in Excel | No |
| AskNicely | None | Quote-based, reported from ~$199/month | NPS focused | Yes | Built in |
* Zonka Feedback advertises a free survey maker but does not publish tier limits in a form we could verify.
** SurveyMonkey pricing varies considerably between sources and regions; the Team figure is one report and their Basic plan lets you view 25 responses per survey. Where a vendor does not publish a figure we have marked it unverified rather than estimating. All details from vendor pages and independent 2026 sources.
Most rating questionnaires are variations on a handful of established forms, so starting from a template beats starting from a blank question.
VoteGenerator ships 120+ editable templates, of which the rating and satisfaction set covers NPS, customer satisfaction (CSAT), post-purchase feedback, customer churn, client satisfaction, service rating, restaurant feedback, retail customer, hotel guest satisfaction, spa and wellness feedback, gym and fitness class, patient satisfaction, dental patient satisfaction, patient discharge, course evaluation and speaker evaluation. Every question is editable and every template is on the free plan.
By comparison, Google Forms and Microsoft Forms offer general templates with no rating-specific set, Tally has none, and the dedicated NPS platforms provide NPS and CSAT forms but nothing outside customer experience.
Shareable link — the simplest route, and the only one that works for every tool here.
QR code — for collecting ratings in person: on a receipt, at a counter, on a table card, after an appointment. VoteGenerator generates one automatically; Google Forms needs a Marketplace add-on.
Website embed — placing the rating question directly on a page rather than linking away from it. VoteGenerator embeds on any site, with the VoteGenerator badge removed on Pro and white-label embeds with your own branding on Business, so a customer-facing satisfaction survey carries your identity rather than a vendor's. Survicate and the dedicated platforms specialise in in-app and on-site widgets triggered by behaviour, which is a step beyond a static embed.
Recurring delivery — VoteGenerator schedules repeating questionnaires through its Slack app on a timezone-aware schedule, useful for a monthly internal pulse. For customer-facing NPS on a cadence with throttling, that is what the dedicated platforms are built for.
Results appear on a real-time dashboard as responses arrive, with rating results shown as live charts and distribution breakdowns, and response timeline analytics on Pro showing how scores move week to week.
This is the honest dividing line, and it is worth understanding before paying $49 to $199 a month.
Closed-loop workflows. Routing a detractor response automatically to Slack, a CRM or a named person so someone actually follows up. Zonka Feedback, Retently and AskNicely build this in; general survey tools rely on integrations or nothing at all. VoteGenerator does not have this.
Multi-channel distribution. The same survey delivered by email, SMS, in-app widget and mobile, with results consolidated. Survicate is built around this.
Survey throttling. Ensuring the same customer is not asked again inside a set cool-down period — typically 90 days for SaaS relationship NPS.
Verbatim analysis. AI grouping of open-text comments by topic and sentiment. As one vendor puts it, the score is the thermometer and the comments are the diagnosis.
Industry benchmarking. Comparing your score against sector data rather than only your own history.
If NPS is a running programme with someone accountable for following up, those features are the product and a survey tool is not a substitute. If you want to measure a score, see the segmentation and track your own trend, a survey tool does that for a fraction of the price.
It does: automatic NPS scoring with Promoter, Passive and Detractor segmentation from a configurable 0–10 scale question; 1–10 and other numeric ranges for opinion and likelihood questions; a separate Rating Scale poll type fixed at 1–5 with star, heart, thumb, fire or smiley icons; multi-aspect rating grids where one question scores several attributes; multi-question surveys combining a rating with an open-text follow-up; 120+ editable templates including NPS, CSAT, service rating and patient satisfaction; live results as rating charts on a real-time dashboard; QR code sharing; website embedding with white-label branding on Business; optional server-side Anonymous Mode; and CSV export on paid plans. It requires no account from you or from respondents, and costs $19 a month flat regardless of volume.
It does not: route detractors to Slack or a CRM, distribute by SMS or in-app widget, throttle repeat contacts, analyse open-text verbatims with AI, or benchmark against industry data. Response timeline analytics on the Pro plan show how scores move over time, but that is trend tracking rather than driver analysis.
The honest summary: it is a survey tool that scores NPS properly, not an NPS platform.
0–10 scale, automatic Promoter and Detractor segmentation, no account for you or your customers.
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