PublicInput
PublicInput is a comprehensive community engagement software designed for government agencies to centralize public participation, manage resident communications, and analyze feedback to make better data-driven decisions.
SurveyMonkey
SurveyMonkey is a versatile online survey software that helps you capture voices and opinions through customizable forms, automated data analysis, and specialized audience targeting to drive informed decision-making.
Quick Comparison
| Feature | PublicInput | SurveyMonkey |
|---|---|---|
| Website | publicinput.com | surveymonkey.com |
| Pricing Model | Custom | Freemium |
| Starting Price | Custom Pricing | Free |
| FREE Trial | ✘ No free trial | ✘ No free trial |
| Free Plan | ✘ No free plan | ✓ Has free plan |
| Product Demo | ✓ Request demo here | ✓ Request demo here |
| Deployment | ||
| Integrations | ||
| Target Users | ||
| Target Industries | ||
| Customer Count | 0 | 0 |
| Founded Year | 2014 | 1999 |
| Headquarters | Raleigh, USA | San Mateo, USA |
Overview
PublicInput
PublicInput provides you with a unified toolkit to manage every aspect of community engagement from a single dashboard. Instead of juggling separate tools for surveys, email marketing, and meeting management, you can consolidate your efforts to reach more residents and build stronger relationships. You can launch multilingual surveys, host virtual public meetings, and track every interaction in a dedicated resident database.
The platform helps you solve the problem of fragmented data by automatically capturing participant information and sentiment across multiple channels. You can use these insights to generate professional reports for stakeholders and ensure your outreach meets equity requirements. It is specifically built for local, state, and regional government agencies looking to modernize how they listen to and communicate with the public.
SurveyMonkey
SurveyMonkey is a flexible survey platform that helps you gather feedback and transform it into actionable insights. Instead of guessing what your customers or employees think, you can create professional surveys in minutes using a library of pre-written templates and expert-certified questions. You can reach your audience wherever they are—via email, social media, or embedded on your website—and watch your data populate in real-time.
The platform handles everything from simple internal polls to complex market research projects with advanced branching logic and skip patterns. You can analyze your results automatically with built-in reporting tools that highlight trends and sentiment. It scales to fit your needs, offering a free basic version for quick tasks and robust paid plans for teams requiring deep data integration and custom branding.
Overview
PublicInput Features
- Multichannel Surveys Create accessible surveys that residents can complete via web, mobile, text message, or even interactive voice response.
- Resident CRM Build a comprehensive database of your community members to track their interests, participation history, and contact preferences automatically.
- Virtual Meeting Suite Host live public meetings with integrated closed captioning, real-time polling, and automatic recording for those who cannot attend.
- Equity Mapping Visualize where your engagement is coming from on a map to ensure you are reaching underrepresented neighborhoods.
- Email & SMS Marketing Send targeted updates to specific segments of your community to keep them informed about projects that matter to them.
- Automated Reporting Generate visual charts and data summaries instantly to share community sentiment and participation metrics with your leadership team.
SurveyMonkey Features
- Expert Templates. Access over 250 expert-written survey templates so you can start collecting high-quality data without writing questions from scratch.
- Skip Logic. Create a personalized experience for your respondents by showing only relevant questions based on their previous answers.
- Real-time Analytics. Monitor your results as they come in and use automated charts to visualize trends and key insights instantly.
- Custom Branding. Add your own logos, colors, and fonts to your surveys to ensure a consistent and professional look for your brand.
- Multi-channel Distribution. Send your surveys through email, mobile apps, social media, or QR codes to reach your audience on their preferred platforms.
- Sentiment Analysis. Use AI-powered tools to automatically categorize open-ended text responses and understand the emotional tone behind the feedback.
Pricing Comparison
PublicInput Pricing
SurveyMonkey Pricing
- Unlimited surveys
- Up to 10 questions per survey
- Up to 100 responses per survey
- Standard survey templates
- Basic reporting and analysis
- Everything in Basic, plus:
- Unlimited questions
- 15,000 responses per year
- Skip logic and branching
- Data export to PDF, CSV, and XLS
- Custom logo and branding
Pros & Cons
PublicInput
Pros
- Centralizes all engagement data in one accessible location
- Excellent mapping tools for tracking geographic participation
- Saves significant time on manual data entry and reporting
- Strong support for multilingual outreach and accessibility
Cons
- Initial setup requires time to configure complex workflows
- Learning curve for users unfamiliar with CRM systems
- Pricing may be high for very small municipalities
SurveyMonkey
Pros
- Extremely intuitive interface for beginners
- Massive library of pre-built question banks
- Reliable mobile app for managing surveys
- Clean and professional respondent experience
Cons
- Individual plans require annual billing
- Free version has strict response limits
- Advanced logic features have a learning curve