What this comparison covers (and what it does not)

Search for “Alchemer vs QuestionPro” and the first results are general feature and pricing roundups. This post does not try to replace them. We cannot tell you which platform has the better reporting suite or the friendlier logic builder, and we will not pretend to.

What we can speak to is narrower and specific: what happens when you add spoken answers to an open-ended question on each platform. Voice Capture is a widget that runs on top of a survey you already have, and we have documented setup on both. If your next study will include voice, the differences below are the practical ones.

Disclosure: QuestionPro is a strategic partner of Voice Capture. We have kept the setup facts below the same for both platforms; where we recommend one, we say why.

The shared requirement: custom JavaScript

Voice Capture does not need an integration partnership with the survey platform. It needs the platform to run a small piece of JavaScript in the respondent’s browser. That is true for Alchemer, QuestionPro, FormAssembly and Sawtooth Discover, and it is the reason Typeform and SurveyMonkey are not supported: they strip custom JavaScript from what the respondent sees.

So the first question for either platform is not “which is better?” but “can my account run the script?”

Voice setup at a glance

	Alchemer	QuestionPro
What you need on the account	An account that can add JavaScript Actions and edit the survey’s custom HEAD	Research or Team edition (JavaScript Logic is not exposed on Essentials or Advanced)
Where the code goes	A script in the survey HEAD, plus a JavaScript Action on the question page	One block in Logic → JavaScript Logic → Pre JS
How it finds the question	You set the Alchemer question ID (QID) in the Action	It attaches to the visible open-ended text field on the page
Several voice questions	One Action per question, each with its own QID	One voice-enabled open end per page
Respondent link back to the survey row	Alchemer’s session id merge code	Optional: wire a merge field into `data-session`
Where the transcript lands	The original Alchemer answer field, so it is in the normal export	The original QuestionPro answer field, so it is in the normal export

Alchemer is the platform formerly called SurveyGizmo (renamed in 2020). It is the same product and the same account, so everything here applies if your team still uses the old name.

Alchemer: explicit, per question

Alchemer setup is two steps, and both are explicit. You add the Voice Capture script to the survey, then add a JavaScript Action on the page with the question and set a QID variable to that question’s ID. The widget looks for the Alchemer element whose id contains that number.

The upside is control. You choose exactly which questions get a microphone, and a page can carry more than one. The cost is that a wrong ID fails quietly: the snippet cannot find the question, logs a warning to the browser console and stops. Open the preview with the console visible the first time.

Alchemer also provides a session id merge code, which Voice Capture records alongside each transcript. That makes it straightforward to match a spoken answer to its survey row. The merge code only resolves inside a running response, so test in a live or preview survey, not outside one. The step-by-step is in How to add voice responses to your Alchemer surveys, with the reference on the Alchemer integration page.

QuestionPro: one block that survives questionnaire changes

QuestionPro setup is shorter. One block pasted into Pre JS does both jobs: it loads the widget and attaches it to the visible open-ended text field on the page. There are no question IDs to copy, so nothing to get wrong, and the integration survives someone rewording the question, reordering the page or reusing the survey for the next wave.

The trade-offs mirror Alchemer’s. Because the block picks the field itself, a page with two open ends is ambiguous, and an open end hidden by display logic has nothing to attach to when the code runs. Give each voice-enabled open end its own page, visible from the start.

The one thing to confirm is the edition. JavaScript Logic is a Research and Team feature, and on other editions the block looks correct in the editor and never runs. If you are evaluating QuestionPro for a study that needs voice, confirm the edition before anything else. The walkthrough is How to add voice responses to your QuestionPro surveys, with the reference on the QuestionPro integration page.

Beyond the script: what QuestionPro adds to a voice study

Setup is a one-time cost. Three things about QuestionPro matter for the rest of the study:

You can build the survey from Claude. With the QuestionPro and Voice Capture connectors both added to Claude, Claude builds the survey, puts each voice question on its own page, creates the Voice Capture project and writes the snippet for each question. The one manual step is pasting each snippet into Pre JS. We do not have an equivalent workflow for Alchemer.
It has its own respondent panel. QuestionPro Audience is a consumer panel recruited and managed by QuestionPro, with B2B and specialty audiences, bought per complete from the same account. Alchemer sources respondents through third-party sample partners: its self-service Survey Audiences currently target US residents only, and its managed Panel Services require an enterprise license and a minimum spend per project.
The transcripts are ready for open-end analysis. Because each transcript is written into the answer field, it sits in the same open-ended question that QuestionPro’s Text AI turns into themes and sentiment, next to the typed answers.

The two companies are also investing in different places. Alchemer’s recent acquisitions and launches lean toward customer experience: Apptentive for in-app mobile feedback (2023), Chatmeter for reviews and reputation (2025), and its Digital and AI feedback-analytics lines. That is a good fit for a CX program. QuestionPro’s recent releases, including its MCP servers and Survey Agent, extend the survey and research platform itself, which is where a market research team spends its time.

What is the same on both

The transcript is a normal answer. It is written into the platform’s own answer field, so it travels with the interview in your usual export. Voice Capture also keeps its own copy of each transcript, which you can export separately.
Typing still works. The respondent can record, play back and re-record, or just type. If a browser refuses microphone access, the widget does not mount and the original text field is left untouched.
Audio is not kept. Voice Capture transcribes the recording and stores the text and response metadata, not the audio file. If your study needs the recording itself, this is not the right tool.
Same pricing. One credit is one transcribed response and credits do not expire. The free trial includes 250 credits; the Essential pack is $99 for 1,000. See pricing.

How to decide if voice is part of the brief

Check JavaScript access first. On Alchemer, confirm you can add JavaScript Actions and edit the HEAD. On QuestionPro, confirm Research or Team. If neither platform clears the bar on your plan, that decides it before features do.
Count the voice questions. Many per page favors Alchemer’s per-question Action. One per page is simple on either.
Think about the next wave. If the questionnaire will change between waves, or several people edit it, QuestionPro’s block has no question IDs to keep in sync. On Alchemer, every reworked or copied question means checking its QID again.
Check whether you also need sample. If the study needs respondents as well as a platform, QuestionPro Audience lets you buy them from the same account, including outside the US.
Decide how you will join data. If you need to match spoken answers to survey rows outside the platform export, Alchemer’s session merge code is built in; on QuestionPro you wire your own merge field before fieldwork.
Pilot one open end. Run voice on a single question in one wave and compare it with the same question in your last wave. Across seven client studies we measured, typed answers averaged 10 words and spoken answers averaged 23 (how we measured this). Your own comparison will be more persuasive than ours.

If you are comparing more platforms than these two, the survey platforms that support voice responses guide covers the full list, including the ones that cannot.

Frequently asked questions

Is Alchemer or QuestionPro better for voice responses?

Both work with Voice Capture because both can run custom JavaScript. For market research studies we recommend QuestionPro (a Voice Capture partner): setup is a single block with no question IDs, it has its own respondent panel, and with Claude you can build the whole voice survey through its connector. It requires the Research or Team edition. Alchemer is the better fit when you need several voice questions on the same page, or when the survey is part of an Alchemer CX program.

Is Alchemer the same as SurveyGizmo?

Yes. SurveyGizmo was renamed Alchemer in 2020. It is the same platform and account, so the Alchemer setup is the SurveyGizmo setup.

Does voice work on the cheaper QuestionPro editions?

No. JavaScript Logic is a Research and Team edition feature, and there is no supported workaround on Essentials or Advanced.

Where do spoken answers appear in my export?

In the same answer field as a typed response, in both platforms. The transcript is written into the original field, so it appears in the normal Alchemer or QuestionPro export.

Do respondents need to install anything?

No. It runs on the browser’s own audio API, with the standard microphone permission prompt.

Try it on one question

The free trial has 250 credits and needs no card, enough to put voice on one real open end in either platform and read the transcripts yourself.

Start Free — 250 Credits, No Card →

Alchemer vs QuestionPro: What Changes for Voice Responses