Online survey software allows a company to poll customers or employees on a wide range of topics. You can design the survey to suit your needs and the online survey provider will handle the details of displaying the survey pages, collecting the data, and reporting the results to you. Most survey software is designed to run on web servers and you have the option of running the survey on the software provider’s servers (ASP model) or running the survey software application on your own servers. Normally the hosted ASP model is less expensive than the stand-alone version.

Most survey software providers provide a free 30-day trial of their software so you can decide if it will fill your needs before you buy. If you decide to go forward with a purchase, online and stand-alone versions of the software cost about the same (in the $500 - $600 range). In many cases this purchase is subscription based and will last one year and allow one user access to create the surveys and view the results.