Frequently Asked Questions

Survey Cat is an AI-powered tool that automatically categorizes and analyzes open-ended survey responses. Instead of manually reading through hundreds or thousands of text responses, our AI instantly sorts them into meaningful categories, giving you actionable insights in minutes instead of hours.

Simply upload your CSV or Excel file with survey responses, and we'll help you transform messy text data into clear, categorized insights you can actually use.

Our process is simple and powerful:

• Upload: Upload your survey data as a CSV or Excel file
• Select: Choose which columns contain open-ended responses
• AI Analysis: Our AI reads every response and suggests meaningful categories
• Refine: Review and adjust categories to match your needs
• Categorize: AI automatically sorts all responses into your approved categories
• Download: Get your enhanced dataset with new category columns and percentage breakdowns

Survey Cat is specifically designed for survey analysis, not generic text processing:

• Survey-Specific AI: Trained to understand survey contexts and responses
• Interactive Category Creation: You control and refine the categories
• Credit-Based Pricing: Pay only for what you use, no monthly subscriptions
• Instant Results: Get categorized data in minutes, not days
• Privacy-First: Your data is processed securely and deleted after use

Here's exactly how we handle your data:

• Temporary Processing Your files are processed in secure temporary storage
• Auto-Deletion Original uploads deleted within 30 minutes
• No Permanent Storage Results deleted 1 hour after download
• Session-Based Data tied to your session only, not stored in databases
• Encrypted Transit All data transfers use HTTPS encryption

Absolutely not. We never store your survey data permanently or use it for training:

• Your data is processed temporarily and then completely deleted
• We don't build models or train AI on your specific responses
• Your survey content never leaves our secure processing environment
• We use established AI models (OpenAI) with strict data usage policies

Your survey responses are your intellectual property, and we treat them as such.

Don't worry - we automatically clean up abandoned files to protect your privacy:

• Original uploads: Deleted after 30 minutes (even if processing isn't complete)
• Processed results: Deleted after 1 hour
• Session data: Cleared when you log out or after 1 hour of inactivity

This ensures your data doesn't linger on our servers longer than necessary.

Survey Cat excels with any survey containing open-ended text responses:

• Customer Feedback: "What did you like most about our service?"
• Employee Surveys: "What would improve your work experience?"
• Product Research: "What features are most important to you?"
• Market Research: "Why did you choose this brand?"
• Event Feedback: "What was your favorite part of the conference?"
• Academic Research: Any qualitative survey responses

Our users span many industries and roles:

• Market Researchers: Analyzing customer insights and trends
• HR Professionals: Understanding employee satisfaction and engagement
• Product Managers: Processing user feedback and feature requests
• Customer Success Teams: Categorizing support feedback and testimonials
• Academic Researchers: Analyzing qualitative survey data
• Consultants: Processing client feedback and survey results
• Small Business Owners: Understanding customer needs and preferences

Survey Cat can process surveys of virtually any size:

• Small surveys: 50-100 responses - perfect for small business feedback
• Medium surveys: 500-1,000 responses - typical for employee or customer surveys
• Large surveys: 5,000+ responses - enterprise and research-scale projects

Processing time scales with size, but even large surveys typically complete within 30-60 minutes.

Survey Cat uses a simple, transparent credit system:

• Category Generation: 5 credits per column (one-time)
• Response Classification: 1 credit per response

Example: A 500-response survey with 2 open-ended questions would cost:

• Category generation: 2 columns × 5 credits = 10 credits
• Classification: 500 responses × 2 columns × 1 credit = 1,000 credits
• Total: 1,010 credits (~$2.02)

We offer three pay-as-you-go credit packages — no subscription required:

• $10 — 500 credits (2¢ per response) — great for one-off surveys
• $35 — 2,000 credits (1.75¢ per response) — most popular
• $75 — 5,000 credits (1.5¢ per response) — best value for regular users

Credits never expire, so you can use them at your own pace. See Pricing & Buy Credits

Yes! New users receive 80 free credits when they sign up — enough to test SurveyCat with a real survey at no cost, no credit card required.

We also offer:

• Academic Discounts: Contact us for educational pricing
• Volume Discounts: Available for enterprise customers
• Non-Profit Rates: Special pricing for qualified organizations

Survey Cat currently supports:

• CSV files (.csv) - Most common export format from survey tools
• Excel files (.xlsx) - Microsoft Excel format

Maximum file size: 20 MB. Most survey files are well under this limit.

Our AI achieves high accuracy through a multi-step process:

• Context Understanding: You provide context for each question
• Interactive Refinement: You review and adjust categories before processing
• Quality Control: AI includes a "none of the above" category for edge cases

Most users find 85-95% accuracy, with the interactive refinement step being key to achieving the best results for your specific data.

Yes. When you upload your file, you choose which columns to analyze. You can select as many open-ended question columns as you like in a single session. SurveyCat processes each question independently — generating separate categories for each one — and your downloaded file gets a new category column added for every question you selected.

SurveyCat works with exported data from any survey platform. If it exports to CSV or Excel, SurveyCat can process it:

• SurveyMonkey — export as CSV from the Analyze tab
• Typeform — export responses as CSV
• Google Forms — download from Google Sheets
• Qualtrics — export as CSV from Data & Analysis
• Microsoft Forms — open in Excel and save as .xlsx
• Alchemer (SurveyGizmo) — CSV export
• Medallia, Delighted, SurveySparrow — CSV export
• Any other platform that exports to CSV or Excel

Yes. You can start a new analysis with the same file at any time. Each new run uses credits, but there is no limit on how many times you can analyze the same dataset. This is useful when:

• You want to try a different category framework
• You realize a category needs to be split after seeing the results
• You are analyzing the same question from a different angle (e.g., topic vs. sentiment)

Yes. SurveyCat uses AI models that support many languages, including Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Dutch, Italian, Japanese, and more. Results in non-English languages are generally very good. English-language surveys typically achieve the highest accuracy, but multilingual datasets are also handled well.

SurveyCat automatically handles responses that fall outside your approved categories by labeling them as "Other" or "None of the above." This ensures every row in your file gets a category label. The proportion of "Other" responses is actually useful data — a high "Other" rate often means there is a common theme the AI missed, and you can re-run with an updated category set.

After classification completes, you click Download and get your original file back with new category columns appended — one per question you analyzed. The file is in the same format you uploaded (CSV or Excel). You can then:

• Open it directly in Excel or Google Sheets and build pivot tables
• Import it into SPSS, R, or Python for statistical analysis
• Drop it into Tableau, Power BI, or your reporting tool
• Share the cleaned, categorized file with your team or client

SurveyCat is designed with privacy by default. All uploaded files are automatically deleted within 30 minutes, and processed results are deleted within 1 hour. Survey data is:

• Never stored permanently
• Never used to train AI models
• Never shared with third parties
• Processed ephemerally (session-only)

This aligns with GDPR data minimization principles and makes SurveyCat suitable for processing responses that contain personal information.

SurveyCat does not currently offer a public API. The tool is designed for upload-and-analyze workflows via the web interface. If you have a high-volume or automated use case that requires programmatic access, contact us at nick@tropicflare.com and we can discuss options.

ChatGPT can help you informally explore a handful of responses, but it has serious limitations for structured survey analysis:

• Scale: You can only paste ~30–50 responses at a time — not hundreds or thousands
• Consistency: Results vary between sessions; you cannot reproduce the same categorization
• Export: No structured CSV/Excel output — you have to manually copy results
• Workflow: No review step, no category approval, no "other" handling

SurveyCat handles full datasets from a file, produces consistent structured output, and gives you a human review step — all in a workflow built specifically for this task.

We're here to help! You can reach us:

• Email Support: nick@tropicflare.com
• Response Time: Usually within 24 hours
• Common Issues: Most questions are answered in this FAQ

We also provide guidance on optimizing your results and getting the most from Survey Cat.