7 Best Employee Pulse Survey Software + Free Options
March 27, 2025
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5 min read
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In this guide, I review 7 software solutions for employee pulse surveys. This list features Engagesoft, our comprehensive employee listening and analytics platform, along with 6 other options you might come across in your search.
Here’s how I evaluate them:
- Engagesoft – Best for actionable insights and AI-driven action planning.
- Lattice – Best for combining feedback, recognition, and career development.
- Paycor – Best for tracking engagement and managing payroll
- Quantum Workplace – Best comprehensive engagement and performance review
- Qualtrics – Best for comprehensive employee experience management
- SurveyMonkey - Best for cheap and fast pulse surveys with basic analytics
- Google Forms - Best free pulse survey tool
As you'll see below, each product has its Pros and cons, and your final choice should depend on what you want to achieve with employee pulse surveys.
However, since there are potentially different definitions of pulse surveys, I’d like to discuss what we think the ideal employee pulse survey should do:
What should an employee engagement pulse survey do?
A good employee engagement pulse survey should achieve three core objectives:
- Track current engagement levels: Employee engagement is dynamic—it can vary across time, departments, and segments. The pulse survey provides a frequent check-in to understand how engaged employees currently feel.
- Measure progress on targeted engagement drivers: After a baseline survey, companies often select key drivers—such as recognition or performance feedback—for focused improvement. The pulse survey should help HR reassess these areas and whether employees perceive meaningful progress.
- Continuously monitor dynamic drivers: Some engagement drivers, especially those tied to immediate managers, are more fluid and responsive to change. Pulse surveys should prioritize tracking these dynamic areas over more stable drivers like compensation or belief in the company’s mission.
Therefore, pulse surveys answer critical questions that drive employee experience and engagement initiatives.
However, this goal is best pursued using employee pulse survey software solutions that offer more than just the basics (e.g., customizable questions and templates, anonymity, etc.), which can be challenging to find.
The challenge of choosing the right employee pulse survey software
Beyond the basic features, the ideal pulse survey software should include the following options:
- It should allow you to analyze engagement variations by demographics, career levels, and even custom groupings—so you're not just tracking averages, but understanding where interventions are most needed.
- It should incorporate AI-powered sentiment and topic analysis to help you process large volumes of comments in real-time, identify recurring concerns, and uncover blind spots that structured questions may miss.
- It should also make it easy to measure how follow-up actions influence future pulse survey results and broader business outcomes.
- It should benchmark your results against industry peers, geographic regions, and your own historical data so you can contextualize performance and set realistic improvement targets.
But when searching for the right survey tool, you’ll come across the following options:
- Comprehensive purpose-built employee engagement software like Engagesoft with pulse survey functionalities as part of a broader suite.
- Experience management software options like Qualtrics. They enable employee pulse surveys and a host of unrelated functions like voice of customer research and digital experience analysis.
- General-purpose survey software SurveyMonkey. They offer quick deployment with minimal commitment but may lack the depth of actionable insights.
What’s the best solution to conduct a reliable employee pulse survey?
Employee Pulse Survey Software Comparison
7 Best Employee Pulse Survey Software in 2025
1. Engagesoft
Best for: Pulse Survey Analytics and Action Planning
Engagesoft makes it easy for organizations to hear the voice of their employees, uncover deep, actionable insights, and turn those insights into meaningful improvements across the workplace.
Unlike other HR tools that simply provide survey templates and leave you to handle setup, distribution, and analysis on your own, Engagesoft takes a different approach. We act as your partner, enabled by software.
From day one, we work with you to handle the entire survey process. We take on the administrative burden of design, distribution, analysis, and follow-up. Not because we enjoy logistics, but because we know that how a survey is run directly affects the quality of the feedback, and the impact of your actions.
Even something as small as when a reminder is sent can make the difference between silence and meaningful participation.
Here’s how Engagesoft helps you conduct an effective employee pulse survey:
Engagesoft key features
- Comprehensive survey management
- AI-powered analytics & Interactive reporting
- Action planning
- Advisory and continuous improvement
Comprehensive survey management
Disengaged employees cost companies billions each year in lost productivity, absenteeism, and turnover.
But what’s even more costly?
Not knowing how to listen to those employees in the first place, which often leads to surface-level fixes like recognition programs that don’t move the needle.
How you manage your employee pulse surveys matters just as much as what you ask. That’s why Engagesoft supports you with a comprehensive survey management process.
We don’t start with templates— we start with you.
Through collaborative workshops and conversations, we learn what matters in your context. Then we design survey questions that assess:
- Drivers of engagement — how employees feel about their roles, the organization, and the value they bring
- States of engagement — the emotional and cognitive connection employees have to their work, linked to outcomes like retention, well-being, and productivity.
This two-pronged approach helps you build baseline metrics for employee NPS, energy, and commitment—so you’re not just measuring sentiment, but understanding the forces behind it.
Learn more about Engagesoft’s Engagement model.
Once the survey design is aligned, your HR team can use Engagesoft to:
- Set a calendar of recurring pulse surveys
- Rotate question sets to avoid fatigue
- Choose the right cadence based on what’s being measured (e.g., monthly for fast-changing factors like management shifts; quarterly for more stable ones)
That way, you’re not just guessing frequency, but listening to employees based on processes that follow the science of employee engagement.
To boost participation and trust, Engagesoft handles:
- A communication plan that explains the survey’s purpose, benefits, and timeline
- Motivational materials to drive employee buy-in
- Automated reminders to non-responders
- Direct integration with your HR systems or simple file upload options.
- Testing and validation before launch to ensure clarity and consistency
This saves hours of internal coordination and avoids the pitfalls of poor communication that can tank participation rates.
The bottom line?
Our science-based pulse survey design process enables you to get higher-quality insights with less lift, more confident action planning, and a real path to improving culture.
AI-powered analytics & interactive reporting
Most platforms make you analyze employee feedback yourself—pulling reports, filtering data, and trying to draw conclusions manually. Engagesoft eliminates that burden.
Our AI works behind the scenes to analyze your survey data, uncover what matters most, and deliver it through real-time dashboards anyone can understand and act on.
Here’s how it works:
Overall index
First, you'll get a real-time view of your engagement score and eNPS, along with benchmarks showing how you compare to organizations in your region.
You'll also receive alerts on how key engagement drivers are trending over time to identify shifts early and take action instantly.
Track the impact of your efforts
With Impact Analysis, you’ll see how your HR initiatives are influencing engagement in real-time.
Whether you're rolling out training programs or improving work-life balance, Engagesoft ranks the factors that matter most—so you know what’s working and where to invest next.
Learn more about Engagesoft’s Impact Analysis.
Zoom in by team or org chart
The Org Chart view shows how engaged or disengaged each team is, helping leaders take ownership of their areas.
You can also drill down into historical engagement scores and see which factors are lifting—or dragging—team morale.
Explore Engagesoft’s Organizational Chart Analysis.
Spot issues early with heatmaps
Engagesof’s color-coded heat maps give you a quick visual read on how engagement levels differ across roles, departments, or regions.
By comparing these insights to benchmarks, you can catch emerging problems before they escalate—and double down on what’s working.
“The color-coded dashboards and heatmaps help us identify priorities across segments. Now we can focus our efforts precisely based on survey findings rather than assumptions.”
– Rita Salsaa, Corporate HR Leader
Optimiza
Connect engagement to performance
With Engagement vs. Performance Analysis, you can map engagement levels against how teams are performing. This helps you:
- Understand what’s driving your top performers.
- Identify disengaged teams at risk of underperforming.
- Focus your efforts where they’ll have the biggest impact.
Get alerted before issues spread
Instead of sifting through endless reports, Diagnostic Alerts notify you when engagement drops or patterns shift.
These alerts are based on historical trends, so you know when to investigate and deploy follow-up surveys to dig deeper.
This way, Engagesoft enables you to move from feedback to insight to action—faster, more confidently, and with full organizational alignment.
Action planning
Engagesoft’s Action Planning system provides a centralized way to document, assign, and monitor engagement-driven initiatives, so no insight goes to waste and no action falls through the cracks.
This is how it helps:
Track all action items in one place
The Action Plans dashboard gives you a real-time view of every active initiative, clearly categorized by progress:
- All Action Plans – An overview of every initiative across the organization
- On Schedule – Plans you’re currently tracking toward their goals
- Overdue – Past-due items that need follow-up
- Completed / Canceled – Historical record of actions taken (and why)
This makes it easy for HR teams, managers, and executives to see what’s happening, what’s stalled, and what’s next.
Clear assignments and accountability
Another unique option is that every action plan is tied to the feedback that prompted it, whether it’s a team’s low sense of contribution or a department’s request for recognition.
You’ll see:
- What the action is (e.g., “Enhancing performance feedback for Business Development”)
- Why it matters (linked to a theme like “employee’s sense of contribution”)
- Who’s responsible (assigned owners)
- When it’s due (clearly marked due dates and status tags)
This structure helps ensure that each initiative has a clear owner, a rationale, and a timeline—turning vague recommendations into operational priorities.
Bottom line: Engagesoft takes the confusion and delays out of what to do after a survey. Instead of scattered notes and spreadsheets, you have a trackable, transparent process that holds teams accountable and helps HR drive real change at scale.
Advisory and continuous improvement
Engagesoft’s advisory model ensures your team has a repeatable process for turning feedback into measurable progress.
After the survey, you’ll have the guidance and tools to refine your efforts, learn from what works, and keep your engagement strategy aligned with business goals over time.
Here’s how we support you beyond the survey:
- Receive narrative-driven reports that help easily get buy-in from internal stakeholders.
- We’ll provide recurring check-ins that track the status and effectiveness of your action plans, helping your team stay accountable and adapt strategies as needed.
- When deeper exploration is needed, we’ll help you deploy short, topic-specific diagnostics—so you can stay proactive and resolve emerging issues early.
That way, you’re not just collecting feedback—you’re building a clear, data-driven path to stronger engagement, smarter decisions, and measurable progress across every level of your organization.
Pros
- Your employees' feedback is kept anonymous, encouraging honest responses
- The survey questions are built on a research-backed methodology, ensuring reliable data
- Creating customized action plans based on survey results is a built-in feature
- You can benefit from expert guidance and advisory services throughout the pulse survey process
Cons
- Customization may take some time during setup.
Pricing
Engagesoft provides custom pricing tailored to company size and needs, which includes:
- Unlimited access for HR and managers
- Unlimited pulse, baseline, and custom surveys
- Full coverage of the employee experience
- A complete library of organizational health surveys
- End-to-end support—from onboarding to post-survey analysis
Ready to listen, learn, and act? Explore Engagesoft or book a demo to see it in action.
2. Lattice
Lattice integrates pulse surveys with broader engagement analytics, performance reviews, and continuous feedback mechanisms, providing organizations with a holistic view of their workforce.
The platform simplifies the pulse survey process by offering customizable templates, and automated scheduling features, and ensuring a consistent cadence of feedback collection without manual intervention.
How Lattice helps with Employee Pulse survey:
- Engagement benchmark
- AI-powered insight
- Life Cycle Analysis
- Collaborative feedback management
Pros
- Lattice integrates pulse surveys with other performance management features.
- Create custom pulse surveys based on specific needs and organizational culture.
- Lattice is generally praised for its intuitive and clean interface.
Cons
- Higher pricing compared to simpler survey tools.
- It may be overly complex for organizations needing only basic pulse survey functionality.
Pricing
- Engagement and Grow plans start at $4/user/month
- Performance Management and OKRs plans at $8/user/month
- Combined Performance + OKRs at $11/user/month
- Custom pricing for enterprise; full cost may range from $8–$22/user/month
3. Paycor
Paycor is a Human Capital Management (HCM) software company that offers a comprehensive HR platform designed to manage every aspect of people management, from recruiting and onboarding to payroll, career development, and retention.
It offers single-question pulse surveys, 15-question engagement surveys, and benefits surveys. You can also build surveys from scratch and choose whether they are confidential or non-confidential, so that employees are aware of the option before participating.
How Paycor helps with Employee Pulse survey
- Survey Templates
- Mobile access
- Custom filters
- Dashboard Insights
- Optional confidential responses
Pros
- Integrated into a broader HCM platform for unified HR management
- Real-time insights with executive reporting features
- Customizable templates and confidential survey options
- Natural language processing for feedback analysis
Cons
- No transparent pricing; requires contacting sales
- May lack depth in pulse survey-specific features compared to dedicated tools
Pricing
- Contact Paycor for pricing.
4. Quantum Workplace
Quantum Workplace offers a comprehensive suite of features designed to support the full employee experience. These include engagement, pulse, and lifecycle surveys; goal setting and tracking; employee recognition programs, and more.
Its smart segmentation tool simplifies survey distribution by suggesting participant lists, while a built-in question library lets users save, reuse, and standardize questions across surveys.
How Quantum Workplace helps with Employee Pulse surveys
- Question templates
- Custom pulse survey questions
- Smart segmentation
- Personalized homepage
- Real-time analytics
Pros
- All-in-one engagement and performance platform
- Easy survey creation with smart segmentation and templates
- Real-time analytics and interactive visualizations
- Focus on action planning and flexible access (desktop, mobile, kiosk)
Cons
- Organizations with large employee counts might struggle to scale pulse surveys with Quantum Workplace’s pricing.
Pricing
- $2-$4 per employee per month for engagement surveys (billed annually)
5. Qualtrics
Qualtrics is an experience management software serving customer experience, employee experience, product experience, and market research.
For employee pulse surveys, the platform identifies five critical EX KPIs to potentially measure: Engagement, Experience vs Expectations, Intent to Stay, Inclusion, and Wellbeing, along with 25 drivers of employee experience.
How Qualtrics helps with Employee Pulse survey
- Custom and pre-date pulse survey questions
- Advanced analytics
- Action planning and benchmarking
- Role-specific dashboards
- Automated question cycles
Pros
- It provides a library of over 290 certified survey questions
- Feedback invitations can be automated; weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly
Cons
- It may require complex training due to its comprehensive suite of products.
Pricing
- Contact Qualtrics for pricing
6. SurveyMonkey
SurveyMonkey is a general-purpose survey platform that can be used for conducting employee pulse surveys due to its flexibility and robust feature set. It offers resources and templates for employee engagement surveys, which can be easily adapted to create shorter, more frequent pulse surveys focused on specific topics.
Additionally, SurveyMonkey provides various methods for distributing surveys, including email invitations with scheduling options for reminders and thank you emails, which can be crucial for maximizing participation in pulse surveys.
How SurveyMonkey helps with Employee Pulse surveys
- Custom templates
- Build custom reports and dashboards
- Integration with Tableau and Google Sheets
Pros
- Easy to use with a wide range of customizable templates
- Basic analytics and multiple distribution options
- Affordable for general survey needs
- Strong integration with business tools
Cons
- Not specifically built for pulse surveys
- Lacks advanced employee engagement-focused analytics
Pricing
- $25/user/month (Starting at 3 users, billed annually)
- $75/user/month (Starting at 3 users, billed annually)
- Request an enterprise quote.
8. Google Forms
As a free pulse survey option, Google Forms offers features for quick and effortless survey creation, customization to align with organizational branding or specific needs, and efficient distribution through various methods like email or shareable links.
The tool also enables basic data analysis and visualization through its integration with Google Sheets, allowing users to derive valuable insights from the pulse survey results.
How Google Forms help with Employee Pulse survey
- 10+ premade form templates
- Custom pulse survey form builder
- Multiple question-and-answer types
- Company branding and customization
- Advanced security and data encryption
Pros
- Free and widely accessible
- Integrates with Google Workspace for easy data handling
- Simple and fast to set up and deploy surveys
Cons
- Basic analytics; lacks sentiment analysis or advanced survey logic
- Not built for employee engagement or recurring pulse workflows
Pricing
- Free with a Google account
- Google Workspace Business plans start at $6/user/month
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an employee pulse survey?
An employee pulse survey is a short, frequent check-in with employees to understand how engaged they currently feel. Unlike traditional, longer annual surveys, pulse surveys are designed to be brief and periodic, allowing organizations to gain up-to-date information on employee sentiment without causing survey fatigue.
How long should an employee pulse survey be?
Employee pulse surveys should be brief and frequent to effectively assess employee sentiment without leading to survey fatigue. In terms of length, a pulse survey usually contains a limited number of targeted questions. While there's no strict upper limit, a common guideline is to keep pulse surveys between 5 and 15 questions. This conciseness ensures that employees can complete the survey quickly and are more likely to participate regularly.
What is the objective of employee pulse surveys?
The primary objective of employee pulse surveys is to track current engagement levels, measure progress on targeted engagement drivers, and continuously monitor dynamic engagement drivers. That way, pulse surveys provide up-to-date information on employee sentiment to help answer critical questions that drive employee experience and engagement initiatives forward.
What triggers a quick pulse survey?
A quick pulse survey is often triggered by a specific event, observation, or concern that necessitates a swift understanding of employee sentiment beyond the regular schedule of pulse surveys. For instance, if there has been a leadership change, a quick pulse survey can be deployed to gauge employee reactions and sentiments regarding the developments.
What questions are asked in a pulse survey?
The questions asked in an employee pulse survey are typically targeted and focused on specific areas to gauge employee sentiment without causing survey fatigue. They might touch upon aspects like their level of enthusiasm for their work, their sense of involvement in their tasks, and whether they feel motivated in their role.