Audience research
Part of When to rebuild AI content operations audience research
Tally and QuestionPro for AI content research surveys: free limits, plan prices and response caps
Compare Tally and QuestionPro for AI content research: free plan limits, dollar plan prices, response caps and the data retention control, with a worked yearly cost.
What to take away
- Tally gives unlimited forms and submissions for free within its fair usage guidelines. Pro costs $24 a month and Business $74 a month.
- QuestionPro's free Essentials plan allows 1 user and 200 responses per survey.
- QuestionPro Advanced costs $99 per user a month, billed annually, with 25K responses a year. Team Edition costs $83 per user a month for 5+ users and 100K responses a year.
- Tally Business adds control over data retention, which suits survey data that must be deleted on a schedule.
- Both list prices in US dollars.
Why survey limits matter to AI content operations
Survey data feeds AI-assisted content with audience evidence a model cannot invent. A reader poll can test headlines, topic demand and the questions readers ask before a brief is written. The demand signals from that poll then shape the brief.
Limits decide what a poll can do. A weekly headline test needs many small forms and few seats. A one-off market study needs a large response allowance and analysis. Match the plan to the content decision, as the selection checklist advises.
Roles matter too. The ICO has controller and processor guidance to help decide whether a team acts as controller, processor or joint controller when it uses a survey platform.
Tally: free forms, paid privacy controls
Tally lists unlimited forms and submissions, completely free, as long as the team stays within its fair usage guidelines. Free forms include conditional logic, calculations, file uploads and a custom thank-you page.
The paid plans add control rather than capacity. Pro is $24 a month, with paid yearly billing giving 2 months off. It adds branding removal, custom domains, partial submissions and drop-off analytics, which show where respondents abandon a form. Business is $74 a month and adds data retention control and email verification.
Tally is a Belgium-based (EU) company and stores form data in Europe. Business lets a team automatically delete submissions after a set period. That helps with the storage limitation principle, under which personal data must not be kept longer than it is needed, and with wider data protection duties around survey data.
Tally yearly cost, worked
As illustrative arithmetic, 12 months of Pro at the monthly rate is 12 x $24 = $288. If the yearly option's 2 months off means paying for 10 months, the year costs 10 x $24 = $240. Business over the same period is 12 x $74 = $888. A team that only needs unlimited polls pays $0.
Tally prices by plan, not by seat: Pro lets a team invite unlimited team members to shared workspaces. The free plan has no stated response cap beyond its fair usage guidelines.
QuestionPro: response allowances by plan
QuestionPro lists a free Essentials plan with 1 user and 200 responses per survey. Advanced costs $99 per user a month, billed annually, with 25K responses a year. Team Edition costs $83 per user a month, billed annually, for 5+ users and 100K responses a year.
The Research Suite is aimed at market research professionals and is priced by contacting sales, with custom response pricing. It is not a self-serve plan.
| Plan | Price | Users | Responses |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essentials | Free | 1 | 200 per survey |
| Advanced | $99 per user a month, billed annually | 1 | 25K a year |
| Team Edition | $83 per user a month, billed annually | 5+ | 100K a year |
| Research Suite | Contact sales | 10+ | Custom |
QuestionPro yearly cost, worked
As illustrative arithmetic, three people on Advanced for a year cost 3 x $99 x 12 = $3,564. A team of five on Team Edition costs 5 x $83 x 12 = $4,980, for 100K responses between them.
Matching the tool to the content question
| Content question | Plan to start with | Watch |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly headline poll | Tally free | Fair usage guidelines |
| Reader poll that must be deleted on a schedule | Tally Business | Monthly price of $74 |
| Single study with 200 responses or fewer | QuestionPro Essentials | 200 responses per survey |
| Research programme with 25K responses a year | QuestionPro Advanced | Price per user |
| Several analysts on one study | QuestionPro Team Edition | Minimum of 5 users |
Route results into the operating workflow as structured inputs: preference ranks, theme counts, quoted claims. The audience research guide covers how to move from a population to a question before any form is built, and the pricing models article shows how seat and usage charges combine.
