When your team is truly engaged, you feel it instantly — people bring energy, ideas, and ownership you could never force with rules or perks. When they’re not, you feel that too: work slows down, morale dips, and your best people quietly start looking elsewhere.

Gallup’s 2025 report shows only 23% of employees feel engaged at work, which means most teams are running nowhere near their full potential.​

This blog is your practical guide to fixing that. You’ll learn what employee engagement surveys are, the main types to use, how to ask the right questions, and how to pick the best survey vendor in 2025 so you can make confident, data-backed, people-first decisions.

What is an Employee Engagement Survey?

Employee engagement surveys (also called staff engagement surveys) go beyond basic satisfaction to measure motivation, commitment, and willingness to put in extra effort. They help leaders see what’s working, what is not, and where to act to improve performance and culture.​

Workplace feedback has evolved from one-off annual reviews to regular pulse surveys and continuous feedback. This shift gives organizations faster, more accurate insight into how staff are feeling, so they can respond sooner.​

To see how different methods fit together, here’s a simple guide on [how to measure employee engagement].

Spot disengagement before it costs you talent. ThriveSparrow delivers ready-to-launch pulse surveys in 2 minutes and insights you can act on today.

19 Best Employee Survey Vendors of 2025

Platform Starting Price G2 Rating
1. ThriveSparrow $3/employee/month 4.5
2. 15Five $4/month/user 4.6
3. Lattice $4/person/month 4.7
4. Culture Amp Pricing upon request 4.5
5. Qualtrics Pricing upon request 4.4
6. Officevibe $3.50/person/month 4.3
7. Workday Pricing upon request 4.0
8. Vantage Circle Pricing upon request 4.7
9. Achievers Pricing upon request 4.7
10. BambooHR Pricing upon request 4.4
11. Trakstar Pricing upon request 4.3
12. CultureMonkey Pricing upon request 4.7
13. Sparkbay $5/user/month 5
14. Leapsome Pricing upon request 4.8
15. ClearCompany Pricing upon request 4.6
16. WorkProud Pricing upon request 4.6
17. Viva Glint $2/user/month 4.6
18. Quantum Workplace Pricing upon request 4.4
19. People Element Pricing upon request 4.7

1. ThriveSparrow

If you’re looking for an employee survey platform that helps you truly understand and improve engagement, ThriveSparrow is a great choice for teams of all sizes. Its anonymous feedback, visual heatmaps, and detailed reports make it easy to identify low‑engagement areas and turn survey results into actionable plans for leaders.

G2 Rating: 4.6

Key Features

  • Customizable surveys: Launch pulse, wellness, or eNPS surveys fast with templates and flexible questions.
  • Anonymous feedback & analytics: Use privacy controls, heatmaps, and trend tracking to spot engagement issues and monitor progress.
  • AI-driven sentiment insights: Turn open-text feedback into clear themes and actionable insights.
  • Dynamic reports: Share visual, easy-to-read reports or export data for quick decisions.
  • Multi-channel reach: Distribute via email, text, QR codes, Slack, or Google Workspace.

Pros

  • Highly customizable and aligns with company culture.
  • Real-time feedback keeps managers informed.
  • Strong analytics with user-friendly dashboards.

Cons

  • Limited integrations and APIs.
  • Best for small to mid-sized firms.
  • Restricted support hours and languages for global teams.

Pricing

  • Engage: $3/month/employee
  • Kudos: $2/month/employee
  • Performance: $5/month/employee
  • Goals [OKRs]: $3/month/employee
ThriveSparrow-customer-testimonial

Ready to take the next step? Sign up for a 14-day free trial—no credit card needed!

2. 15Five

15Five landing page

The best feature of 15Five is it’s pulse surveys, which provide quick insights into employee sentiments. These surveys let you gather employee feedback continuously so don't have to wait an entire quarter to gather it. The application's goal-tracking feature is also highly regarded by many users.

G2 Rating: 4.6

Pros

  • They have pretty affordable plans
  • Easy to set OKRs, visions, and goals
  • Plenty of employee engagement assessment tools
  • One-on-one meeting tools

Cons

  • They have mixed reviews from employee users
  • The number of emails and notifications can be a bit overwhelming
  • Core HR features are unavailable

Pricing

  • Engage: $4/month per user
  • Perform: $10/month per user
  • Total Platform: $16/month per user
  • Transform: Contact for pricing

3. Lattice

A screenshot of Lattice's Engagement Page

Apart from providing 360-degree feedback loops, this employee engagement survey vendor also offers customized development plans for employees. Lattice makes sure that actionable steps are taken to improve the current situation of the workforce. 

G2 Rating: 4.7

Pros

  • The user interface is well-built and quite easy to use
  • Objective performance measurement of employees on a weekly basis
  • Easy to synchronize with any existing HRIS software.

Cons

  • The learning curve is quite steep
  • Linking individual goals to goals of the company can be tricky

Pricing

  • Performance Management + OKRs & Goals $11 person/month
  • Engagement + $4 person/month
  • Grow + $4 person/month
  • Compensation + $6/person/month

4. CultureAmp

A screenshot of Culture Amp's Engagement Page

A unique feature of Culture Amp is its diversity and inclusion metrics, which allow companies to assess levels of diversity and inclusion within their workforce—a topic of increasing relevance.

G2 Rating: 4.5

Pros

  • Has excellent customer support
  • Robust platform with many features to choose from
  • Easy to set up performance management and employee engagement activities

Cons

  • The questionnaires are generic and do not apply to specific situations
  • Setting up the engagement survey can be painful
  • Reporting options are comparatively low

Pricing

All of its three modules, Engage, Perform, and Develop, require you to ask for a quote.

5. Qualtrics

A screenshot of Qualtrics' Engagement Page

If you are frustrated with rigid survey templates, consider Qualtrics for its highly flexible and customizable survey designs, which can save you considerable time.

G2 Rating: 4.4

Pros

  • The data analysis aspect of this vendor is exceptional
  • One of the best survey design software available in the market

Cons

  • The options for customization are quite limited
  • It can sometimes be a bit difficult to insert or remove collaborators
  • Integration of external data can be time-consuming
  • The quality of customer support is inconsistent

Pricing

Qualtrics hasn't included its pricing, so you can request a 1:1 demo with them and enquire about the pricing.

6. Officevibe

A screenshot of Officevibe's Surveys Page

Surveys can be boring sometimes. So Officevibe adds gamification elements to its surveys to make the experience more engaging for users. This approach helps maintain interest and increases the likelihood of completing surveys thoroughly.

G2 Rating: 4.3

Pros

  • Can be quite easily integrated with other software and tools such as CRM, HRIS, and payment gateways
  • Its peer-to-peer recognition feature offers a constructive way to recognize employees and has long-lasting positive effects

Cons

  • The functionality could be improved
  • Integration with Slack can be more difficult than expected

Pricing (Officevibe)

  • Free: US $0/forever
  • Essential: US $3.50/person/month
  • Pro: US $5/person/month

7. Workday

A screenshot of Workday's homepage

No matter how effective your employee engagement platform is, if it is unable to sync with your existing HRIS, then there is no point in proceeding with it. With Workday, you will never have to face such a problem. It provides a unified HR platform where employee engagement surveys seamlessly integrate with other HR functions.

G2 Rating: 4.1

Pros

  • Easy to use and can be customized
  • Great layout and accessibility
  • Good choice for medium to large-size companies

Cons

  • The pricing is not transparent
  • There is no free trial available for the users to try out

Pricing

Workday hasn't included its pricing, so you can request a 1:1 demo with them and enquire about the pricing.

Read more: Workday alternatives

8. Vantage Circle

A screenshot of Vantage Circle Pulse page

For employees to complete engagement surveys in a more honest and enthusiastic manner, Vantage Circle attaches rewards with them. It gives employees an extra incentive; which is a fun way to encourage participation in surveys

G2 Rating: 4.7

Pros

  • Gift card features are segregated based on different categories
  • Provides various offers on online purchases and is very is easy to use

Cons

  • It’s gateway's tracking system is a bit ineffective 
  • Initial setup can be complex and confusing

Pricing

Vantage Circle hasn't included its pricing, so you can request a 1:1 demo with them and enquire about the pricing.

9. Achievers

A screenshot of Achiever's homepage

Achievers understands the importance of peer-to-peer recognition when it comes to employee engagement and makes it a point to promote this feature in their employee engagement platform. 

G2 Rating: 4.7

Pros

  • Flexible and good at recognition and rewards
  • Well supported
  • Great for sharing recognition
  • Has great features for pulling reports

Cons

  • Difficult to access
  • Session timeouts on the app

Pricing

Achievers hasn't included its pricing, so you can request a 1:1 demo with them and enquire about the pricing.

10. BambooHR

A screenshot of Bamboo HR's homepage

The best feature of BambooHR is that it has an employee self-service portal. The ESS platform makes things much more transparent and reduces the burden of HR managers manifold. BambooHR is also quite easy to link with LMS platforms. 

G2 Rating: 4.4

Pros

  • Easy to manage and learn
  • Submits time-off requests easily
  • Centralizes HR data and announcements
  • User-friendly onboarding

Cons

  • Difficult to find information about candidates
  • Some people had a bad experience with the payroll feature
  • Limited global payroll capabilities

Pricing

  • Essentials: Contact for pricing
  • Advantage: Contact for pricing

11. Trakstar

A screenshot of Trakstar's homepage

The performance feedbacks in Trakstar are continuous in nature, making them a loop. It helps employees get a comprehensive idea of their improvement and it makes it easy for HR managers to track the activities of individual employees. 

G2 Rating: 4.3

Pros

  • Electronic storage of historical data
  • Enhanced reporting features
  • Greater control and oversight from HR

Cons

  • Missing dashboard feature
  • System can sometimes be slow due to heavy traffic
  • Limited integration with Salesforce's higher-level product

Pricing

Trakstar hasn't included its pricing, so you can request a 1:1 demo with them and enquire about the pricing.

12. CultureMonkey

A screenshot of Culture Monkey's homepage

CultureMonkey is one of those engagement vendors that comes with a kanban board that lets you turn feedback into actions. CultureMonkey also sports end-to-end anonymous conversations that lets employees voice their concerns without having to wait for surveys from top management.

G2 Rating: 4.7

Pros

  • Advanced dashboards
  • Customizable reports split by manager level, location, and department
  • Anonymous conversations

Cons

  • Custom surveys occasionally buffer and crash
  • Downloading survey reports takes time

Pricing

CultureMonkey's pricing isn't available, so you'll need to request a demo and ask them for the pricing.

13. Sparkbay

A screenshot of Sparkbay's homepage

Sparkbay's prediction engine helps managers focus on what matters most by continuously monitoring your company's business data and recommending the most impactful actions. Sparkbay uses historical data to predict employees who are least engaged and are more likely to leave.

G2 Rating: 5

Pros

  • Predictive Analytics
  • Dashboards that easy to understand and visualize
  • Excellent and empathetic customer service

Cons

  • Extracting and exporting data is tedious
  • Reports export isn't user-friendly

Pricing

Starts at $5/user/month

14. Leapsome

A screenshot of Leapsome's Engagement Page

Leapsome offers research-backed question banks and lets you understand the sentiment from open-ended answers instantly with Sentiment Analysis. Its analytics lets you connect the dots between engagement drivers and performance.

G2 Rating: 4.8

Pros

  • Research-backed question banks
  • Sentiment Analysis
  • Great UI

Cons

  • A few bugs with peer feedback
  • Confusion with goal-sorting
  • Empty states can leave new users baffled

Pricing

Leapsome hasn't disclosed their pricing, so you'll need to book a demo and ask them for a quote.

15. ClearCompany

A screenshot of ClearCompany's homepage

ClearCompany is a comprehensive talent management platform making its engagement surveys a great addition to the platform. Applicant tracking and performance management systems make it an all-round vendor that maximizes talent management.

G2 Rating: 4.6

Pros

  • User-friendly ATS
  • Patient and understanding customer support
  • Customizable workflows

Cons

  • Issues with candidate management such as duplicate entries and repeated notifications
  • Takes time to load

Pricing

You'll need to request them for the pricing, but their ROI calculator could give you initial clarity.

16. WorkProud

A screenshot of WorkProud's homepage

WorkProud allows employees to share announcements, tips, tricks, and new polls. WorkProud connects reward and recognition programs to the mix therefore creating amazing employee experiences.

G2 Rating: 4.6

Pros

  • Mobile app for field employees
  • Simplified process for specialized and customized gifts
  • Integrates with 200+ HRIS systems

Cons

  • Lack of advanced reporting options
  • Issues with approving and redeeming pending recognition points

Pricing

Pricing isn't available, so you can talk to them and request a quote.

17. Microsoft Viva Glint

A screenshot of Microsoft Viva Glint's homepage

Viva Glint correlates employee engagement data with workforce analytics to help you understand how employees feel and how they work. It gives managers and leaders with personalized results and actionable recommendations.

G2 Rating: 4.6

Pros

  • Predictive analytics
  • Comment analytics
  • Smart alerts

Cons

  • Hard to capture anonymous 360-degree feedback for small teams
  • Filters aren't user-friendly

Pricing

  • Microsoft Viva Glint: $2/user/month
  • Microsoft Viva Workplace Analytics and Employee Feedback: $6/user/month
  • Microsoft Viva Suite: $12/user/month

18. Quantum Workplace

A screenshot of Quantum Workplace's homepage

Quantum Workplace's engagement survey works on a scientifically validated e9 model that helps with accurate measurement of employee engagement.

The platform lets you compare your engagement score against industry benchmarks, mostly with companies who've won the 'Great Places to Work' award.

G2 Rating: 4.4

Pros

  • AI-powered discussion starters and action ideas
  • Action library
  • Keyword detection

Cons

  • Requires a more quantifiable rating system other than the 1-5
  • Many tools make the platform hard to use and maneuver

Pricing

You'll need to request a demo and then ask them for the pricing plans.

19. People Element

A screenshot of People Element's homepage

People Element's employee survey platform transforms how you understand and engage with your workforce. It integrates survey solutions with HR insights, and turns your workforce data into actionable intelligence, that significantly enhance workplace satisfaction and engagement.

G2 Rating: 4.7

Pros

  • Easy to slice and dice data and pull reports
  • Flexible reporting system

Cons

  • Clunky software and makes using filter options difficult
  • Non-intuitive user interface and sometimes slow

Pricing

You'll need to request a demo and then ask for a quote.

Why Do You Need an Employee Engagement Survey Vendor?

Choosing the right employee engagement survey vendors is crucial as they bring expertise in crafting and administering surveys tailored to your organizational needs.

A skilled vendor can provide meaningful insights that go beyond basic data collection, helping you understand the deeper sentiments and engagement levels of your employees.

This can lead to more effective interventions and improvements in employee morale and productivity.

Reasons to Work With One

Partnering with a survey provider allows you to benefit from their specialized knowledge in survey methodologies, ensuring your engagement initiatives are accurate and relevant.

These providers can handle the complex logistics of survey distribution and data analysis, allowing you to focus on strategic decision-making based on the insights gained.

Additionally, a few vendors offer benchmarks against industry standards, giving you a clearer perspective on where your organization stands in terms of employee engagement.

Types of Employee Engagement Surveys to Use

Different types of employee or staff engagement surveys serve different purposes, so most organizations need a mix. The key is choosing the right survey type for your goals.​

1. Pulse surveys

Pulse surveys are short, frequent check-ins, usually 5–15 questions.​
They are useful for:

  • Tracking staff mood during change or busy periods
  • Checking progress after new initiatives
  • Catching issues early before they grow​

For sample question ideas, you can use this list of [employee pulse survey questions].

2. Annual or full engagement surveys

Annual surveys are deep-dive assessments that cover leadership, development, recognition, workload, and more.​
They help you:

  • Establish a baseline engagement level
  • Spot big patterns across teams and locations
  • Set long-term goals and priorities​

3. 360-degree feedback surveys

360 surveys collect feedback from peers, managers, and direct reports.​
They are often used to:

  • Support leadership and manager development
  • Give a rounded view of strengths and behavior at work​

4. Specialized surveys

Special-purpose staff surveys give more focused insights.​

  • Onboarding surveys: Ask new hires about their early experience
  • Exit surveys: Understand why people leave
  • Stay-style surveys/interviews: Learn what keeps people and what might make them leave​

5. eNPS (Employee Net Promoter Score) surveys

eNPS surveys ask how likely employees are to recommend the company as a place to work.​
They are:

  • Simple to run and easy to track over time
  • A quick signal of overall engagement and advocacy​.

You can also pull wording ideas from these proven [eNPS questions].

How to Design Effective Engagement Survey Questions

Good engagement survey questions are clear, neutral, and easy to understand. Aim for a mix of rating-scale questions and a few open-ended questions for deeper insight.​

Key principles of good questions

  • Use simple, direct language
  • Avoid leading or biased wording
  • Make one clear point per question​

Full engagement surveys usually work best with 20–50 questions, while pulse surveys should stay between 5–15 questions. This balance keeps response rates high and avoids fatigue.​

Useful question categories

Organize questions into themes so you cover the full experience.​

  • Leadership and management
  • Career growth and development
  • Work-life balance
  • Pay and benefits
  • Culture and values
  • Communication and feedback
  • Job satisfaction and role clarity​

Each category should include questions that reveal whether employees have what they need, feel respected, and see a future at the company. Role clarity questions, for example, help you see if people understand priorities and how their work supports wider goals.​

Advanced question formats

  • Matrix questions: Group similar statements under one scale to save time
  • Ranking questions: Ask employees to order priorities or issues
  • Demographic questions: Capture department, location, or tenure for segmentation, while protecting anonymity​

So now you have a clear idea of how to create effective engagement survey questions and which type of survey to use. Now you need to learn how to pick the right survey vendor.

Here is a quick overview of how to create an employee engagement survey.

Criteria for Selecting the Right Vendor

By this point, we all know there is no one-size-fits-all platform for enhancing employee engagement. It is because each organization has its own culture, vision, and system. That being said, there are some standard criteria that companies can look for while choosing an employee engagement survey vendor. These aspects make sure that you do not go wrong in any area of employee engagement:

  • Customization and options: Make sure that the vendor you choose offers a wide selection of employee engagement tools and the ability to customize them.
  • Learning curve: Even though it takes some time to adapt to a new system, ensure the employee engagement platform is not too hard to master. 
  • Customer support: As some employee engagement platform could be chunky and comprehensive, the need for support is inevitable. Make it a point to check the efficiency of the vendor's customer service and support functions.
  • Cost: Set a budget before you start the search for the right vendor. With a price range in mind, you can narrow down your search to fewer options.
  • Integration: Yet another important thing to look for is the ease of integration with your existing tech stack.
Criteria for selecting the right employee survey vendor

We Hope You were Able to Make an Effective Decision

Selecting the right employee engagement survey vendors requires careful consideration of each platform's features, integration capabilities, and support systems, and we hope this blog gave you all you need.

As you narrow down your choices, make sure the platform you pick aligns with your organization’s unique needs, culture, and priorities. A well-matched vendor won’t just collect feedback—it will empower you to act on it, improve engagement, and drive lasting impact across your teams.

Better engagement starts with better insight. Now you’re one step closer to both.

FAQs

1. What is an Employee Engagement Survey?

An employee engagement survey is a tool used by organizations to assess the engagement and satisfaction of their workforce. These surveys are designed to understand employees' thoughts and sentiment towards their roles, the work environment, and the company.

Using the insights from employee engagement surveys, organizations aim to identify strengths and areas for improvement.

2. How Much Do Employee Engagement Surveys Cost?

The price of an employee engagement survey can be hard to determine as there are various components involved such as the length of the survey and the number of respondents.

3. What Are the Best Employee Engagement Survey Questions?

Engagement surveys are usually scheduled to respondents with each question containing a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 labelled as 'least engaged' to 5 being 'most engaged'. (Likert-scale questions)

But some questions may contain different labels such as

Here are a few simple, yet effective engagement survey questions.

  • How happy are you at work?
  • Your work gives you a sense of personal accomplishment.
  • How likely are you to recommend [company] to your friends and relative? [eNPS question]
  • I am comfortable providing feedback to your direct supervisor.
  • I see myself working here long-term.
  • I often look forward to coming to work.
  • I am overwhelmed at my job.

4. Are Employee Engagement Surveys Worth It?

Employee engagement surveys can help you create, customize, and schedule your engagement surveys when you need, and gives you additional access to its dashboards and reporting capabilities.

5. What is a Good Participation Rate for Employee Engagement Surveys?

The survey participation rate depends on the amount of respondents in the survey. According to WSA, the global response rate for engagement surveys is in the range of 60% to 92%.

In case, the participation rates are low, you could consider:

a. Digitizing surveys for easy accessibility.

b. Explaining the purpose of the survey.

c. Keeping the surveys short and clear.

d. Assuring anonymity and confidentiality of the survey.

Another key tactic is to demonstrate the changes implemented based on the responses collected from previous engagement surveys.