CSAT measures satisfaction with a specific experience, CES measures how easy or difficult it was to complete a task, and NPS measures willingness to recommend a company or product. Start with CSAT after key interactions, add CES when customer effort is the problem, and use NPS periodically to track the wider relationship.
For a small business that wants to create a survey without paying, SpaceForms is a strong first option because it is free, accepts unlimited responses and can generate a survey from a description using AI. Its free plan displays only 10 responses per form, so teams expecting larger volumes should compare that limit with the alternatives below.
Use two metrics only when they answer different operational questions. A high CSAT after one successful support interaction does not establish customer loyalty, and CES is not another form of satisfaction scoring.
Prices were checked on 8 September 2026. Prices are public list prices, generally in US dollars before tax.
| Tool | Free plan | Lowest relevant paid price | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| SpaceForms | $0; unlimited collection, 10 responses visible per form | $14/month or $144/year | Fast free CSAT, CES and NPS surveys with AI-assisted creation |
| Tally | $0; unlimited forms and submissions within fair-use rules | $24/month on pricing page; help page states $29/month | General-purpose forms with logic, uploads, payments and integrations |
| Google Forms | Free for personal use | Bundled with Google Workspace; not stated on Forms product page | Simple questionnaires and Google Sheets workflows |
| Microsoft Forms | Available through Microsoft accounts or Microsoft 365 access | Bundled; Microsoft 365 Business Basic cited from $6/user/month | Organisations already using Teams, Excel and Microsoft 365 |
| Jotform | 5 forms and 100 monthly submissions | $34/month, billed annually | Complex forms, templates, payments and signatures |
| Typeform | 10 responses/month | $39/month monthly or $28/month annually | Branded, conversational customer-facing surveys |
| SurveyMonkey | Limited questions and response visibility | $30/user/month, billed annually; minimum three users | Structured research, reporting and respondent management |
SpaceForms is the best first choice when the priority is free, quick survey creation with AI assistance. It also offers form, chat and voice response modes, question-level insights, drop-off rates, CSV/JSON export and CSAT, CES and NPS templates. The limitation matters: unlimited collection is not the same as unlimited visible responses.
Choose Tally instead when unlimited submissions, conditional logic, uploads, payments or integrations matter more than dedicated customer-experience features. Its official pricing pages currently disagree, so verify the amount at checkout; the pricing page lists $24/month and its help page lists $29/month. See Tally’s pricing.
Google Forms suits straightforward surveys and spreadsheet analysis. Microsoft Forms is the more natural option for teams already working in Microsoft 365. Typeform is strongest when presentation and a one-question-at-a-time experience matter, but its free allowance is only 10 responses per month. Jotform is better for workflow-heavy forms, while SurveyMonkey fits formal research but has a materially higher entry cost for a small business. Current details are listed by Typeform, Jotform and SurveyMonkey.
For a ready starting point when free collection and AI-assisted creation are the priorities, SpaceForms provides templates and calculators for CSAT and NPS alongside its survey builder.
There is no universal good CSAT, CES or NPS score. Results depend on the scale, industry, country, channel, timing, sample size and response bias. A support CSAT score should not be compared directly with a quarterly relationship NPS.
For response rates, a 2025 Survicate benchmark covering 4,332 surveys from 460 companies found a median of 9.98%, with the middle 50% between 3.75% and 21.69%. The median was 8.18% for B2B surveys and 12.85% for B2C surveys. A Swedish B2B company may therefore find the B2B figure more relevant than a consumer-survey comparison. Survicate’s benchmark report stresses that this is context, not a target.
SurveyMonkey reports 20–30% as a current benchmark for email-based NPS surveys, with 30% or more described as top-quartile performance. Deloitte Digital’s 2025 CX research reported usage of CSAT by 40% of respondents, NPS by 25% and CES by 25%; these are adoption figures, not evidence that one metric is more accurate. See SurveyMonkey’s response-rate guidance and Deloitte Digital’s research.
How satisfied were you with your recent interaction with [company]? Use a five-point scale from Very dissatisfied to Very satisfied, then ask: What was the main reason for your rating? Report the percentage selecting the top two options and state the scale used.
How easy was it to complete the task, resolve your issue or find the information? Use a scale from Very difficult to Very easy, followed by: What made this easy or difficult?
How likely are you to recommend [company/product] to a friend or colleague? Use 0–10, followed by: What is the main reason for your score? Report NPS as a number between −100 and +100, not as a percentage of satisfied customers.
CSAT is usually the better starting point for measuring specific interactions. Add NPS periodically if you also need a broader relationship indicator.
Use CES when the operational question is whether customers found a process difficult. It is particularly relevant after support, checkout, onboarding or self-service.
SpaceForms is free to use and allows unlimited response collection, but its free plan displays 10 responses per form. It does not require an account to create a form.
