AI-Powered Survey Coding for Researchers
Turn Open-Ended Survey Responses Into Analysis-Ready Data in Minutes
Automatically categorize hundreds or thousands of written responses with AI. Review and refine your categories, uncover key themes, and export structured results directly to Excel, SPSS, or Stata—without hours of manual coding.
- 80 free credits, no credit card required
- Download your coded results
- Pay as you go, or save with a monthly plan
Built for market researchers, academic researchers, and insights teams.
Upload and download in the format you already use
29,000+
Responses Categorized
240+
Hours of Manual Coding Saved*
180+
Researchers Signed Up
*Assumes about 30 seconds to read and code one response by hand.
What Our Users Say
4.8 out of 5 from 6 reviews
Reviews from SurveyCat users, shown with their permission. Reviews left in the app earn free credits, whatever the rating. See all reviews →
80 free credits · No credit card
I’m a…
How It Works
Upload your survey, approve the categories, check the coding, and get percentages, crosstabs and a coded file back. Click through a real example below. Steps marked ★ are included with some monthly plans.
Upload your file and pick the questions to categorize
Any export from SurveyMonkey, Qualtrics, Typeform or Google Forms works. Add a line of context so the AI knows what the survey is about.
| # | Region | Age | ✓ Q1_improveWhat could we improve? | ✓ Q2_like_mostWhat do you like most? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North | 34 | Pricing is steep and support is slow | The interface is so intuitive |
| 2 | South | 28 | Support response times could be faster | Great value, and results are fast |
| 3 | West | 41 | Would love a Salesforce integration | Results come back so fast |
| … | 339 more rows | |||
AI reads the answers and suggests categories
A separate set of categories for each question, based on what people actually wrote.
Q1: What could we improve?
“Pricing is steep for small teams”
“Support response times could be faster”
Q2: What do you like most?
“The interface is so intuitive”
“Great value for the price”
You review and edit the categories. Nothing runs until you approve.
Rename, merge, add or delete categories, or ask the AI to tighten them up.
See the breakdown as soon as it finishes
Every answer is tagged with every category that fits, and you get the share for each one.
Check the coding and fix anything, one answer or a whole group at once
The AI flags the answers it was unsure about so you look there first. Click a category to add or remove it, select a group to recode it in bulk, or work entirely from the keyboard. Every change is logged.
“Honestly the price is fine if support actually answered”
“Waited 3 days for a reply to a billing question”
“Setup took ages and the Zapier connection kept failing”
★ Crosstabs: break down any category by any column
Pick a column (region, age group, NPS group, plan) and see how each group answered, right on the results page.
★ Saved codebooks: the same categories every time
Save your approved categories from the results page. Next quarter, load them in one click, so the numbers line up wave after wave.
1 · Save from results
Your codebooks
Saving under the same name adds a new version.
2 · Reuse next quarter
Same codebook, so you can see the price change landed and support needs attention.
Download your file, in the same format, with a 0/1 column per category
Every original column is kept. Each category adds a column that is 1 when the answer fits it, ready for Excel, SPSS, Stata or your dashboard.
| # | Region | Q1_improve | Q1_improve_cat_pricing | …_cat_customer_support | …_cat_integrations | …_cat_ease_of_use | …_cat_none |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North | Pricing is steep and support is slow | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | South | Support response times could be faster | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | West | Would love a Salesforce integration | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | South | n/a | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| … | 338 more rows, plus the same columns for Q2_like_most | ||||||
Compare plans
Every option includes the full workflow. Monthly plans add included AI suggestions, lower rates and premium tools. Click a feature to see it in the demo above.
| Feature | Free $0 | Credit packs from $25 one-time | Research Starter $100 /month | Research Monthly $200 /month | Best rate Research Pro $500 /month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Credits1 credit = one classified response to one question | 80 to startNo card needed | 850–30,000, never expire1.92¢–2.94¢ each | 4,000 a month2.5¢ each, unused roll over | 10,000 a month2¢ each, unused roll over | 30,000 a month≈1.67¢ each, unused roll over |
| Upload CSV, Excel, SPSS or Stata · review categories · results · check & edit codes · coded download | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 5 creditsper question | 5 creditsper question | ✓Included | ✓Included | ✓Included | |
| 3 creditsper refine | 3 creditsper refine | ✓Included | ✓Included | ✓Included | |
| With Excel export | – | – | – | ✓ | ✓ |
| Versioned, reuse every wave | – | – | – | – | ✓ |
| Get started | Start free | See packs | Choose | Choose | Choose |
See It in Action
A quick walkthrough from upload to download
80 free credits · No credit card
Everything You Need. Nothing You Don't.
Built for researchers, analysts, HR teams, and anyone who regularly deals with written survey data.
Hours of work in minutes
What used to take a full day of manual reading and tagging now runs in the background while you do something else.
AI reads and groups responses
The AI reads every response, identifies common themes, and suggests categories — you review and approve before anything is classified.
Human QA built in
Answers the AI was unsure about are flagged for review. Recode one answer or a whole group in bulk, from the mouse or the keyboard, and export a review log of AI codes vs. your final codes.
CSV, Excel, SPSS or Stata
Export from SurveyMonkey, Typeform, Qualtrics or Google Forms — or upload SPSS and Stata files directly. Variable labels, value labels and missing codes come back intact.
Download analysis-ready data
Your original file comes back with a 0/1 column for each category (an answer can fit several). Drop it straight into Excel, SPSS, Stata or your reporting tool.
Your data is deleted after processing
Uploads are deleted within 30 minutes and results within an hour. Your respondents' answers are never stored in our database or used to train AI.
Built for Coding You Can Defend
AI does the first pass. Your coders keep control of the codeframe, check the codes, and hand over a file and an audit trail the client can trust.
Your codeframe, approved first
Start from AI suggestions or type in the client’s codeframe. Nothing is coded until a researcher approves it.
QA on every run
Low-confidence answers are flagged. Recode individually or in bulk, then download a review log with the share of answers kept as coded.
Your data file, untouched
SPSS, Stata, Excel or CSV comes back in the same format, with variable labels, value labels and missing codes intact.
Consistent across waves
Saved, versioned codebooks and stable variable names keep trackers comparable. Last wave’s syntax runs on this wave’s file.
Crosstabs on the results page
Break every code down by region, segment or NPS group, on a base of people who answered, with an Excel export.
Nothing kept, nothing trained
Response text is never stored in our database. Uploads are deleted within 30 minutes and results within an hour, and responses aren’t used to train AI.
How SurveyCat Compares
The speed of enterprise AI at a fraction of the cost. Pay as you go with credit packs from $25, or save with a monthly plan from $100.
| Feature |
SurveyCat
AI-Powered
|
Manual Coding
(Excel, spreadsheets)
|
Enterprise Software
(Qualtrics, NVivo)
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Time per 500 responses | A few minutes | 6–8 hours | 2–4 hours |
| Cost (850 credits) | $25 | Free (but your time isn't) | $1,500–$3,000+/year |
| AI Categorization | ✓ | ✗ | Limited |
| Accuracy | 85–95% agreement with human coders* | Varies (fatigue & inconsistency) | Varies by tool |
| Review & edit codes after coding | ✓ Flags, bulk recoding, review log | Every answer by hand | Varies by tool |
| SPSS & Stata in, same format out | ✓ Labels kept | Manual | Varies by tool |
| Setup Time | 2 minutes | Immediate | Days / weeks |
| No annual contract | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Export to CSV / Excel | ✓ | Manual | ✓ |
*Accuracy is typically 85–95% agreement with human coders, depending on how clear your categories are. Competitor pricing as of November 2026.
vs. Doing It Manually
Spreadsheets are free, but your time isn't. Manual coding 500 responses takes a full day — and fatigue makes it inconsistent. SurveyCat does it in minutes, the same way every time.
vs. Enterprise Software
NVivo and Qualtrics cost roughly $1,500 to $3,000+ per year and take weeks to learn. SurveyCat starts at $25 for 850 credits, works immediately, and requires zero training.
The Sweet Spot
SurveyCat is designed for people who run surveys regularly and need reliable results fast — without the enterprise price tag or the manual grind.
How Much Will It Cost?
Enter your survey size and we'll calculate it exactly.
Total responses to categorize
100
Running surveys like this every month?
—
One-off project
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Every account starts with 80 free credits — no credit card needed. See the full category breakdown and download the labelled file, free.
Monthly plans from $100, cancel any time · Credit packs from $25, never expire · Compare plans
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