5 Best Medallia Alternatives for Mid-Market Teams in 2026

Medallia dominates the enterprise customer experience market. Fortune 500 companies, global hotel chains, major airlines, and financial services giants rely on it to capture and analyze customer signals across millions of touchpoints. Its AI capabilities are genuinely impressive. Its platform depth is unmatched at the enterprise tier.

But here is the reality most CX comparison articles skip over: the vast majority of businesses are not enterprises. They are mid-market teams---50 to 500 employees, practical budgets, lean CX departments of one to five people---who need powerful customer feedback tools without the six-figure contracts, 6-month implementations, and dedicated administrator requirements that come with Medallia.

If that sounds like you, this guide is built for your situation. We evaluate five Medallia alternatives through the lens of what mid-market teams actually need: AI-powered analysis, multi-channel collection, transparent pricing, fast setup, and tools that a small team can manage without a certification program.

We build Customer Echo, so we obviously believe it is the strongest option for most mid-market use cases. But we will be honest about where each alternative excels and where it falls short, including our own.

Why Mid-Market Teams Struggle with Medallia

Before evaluating alternatives, it helps to understand specifically why Medallia does not work for mid-market organizations. The problems go beyond “it is too expensive”---though it is definitely that.

The Pricing Problem

Medallia does not publish pricing, and for good reason. Enterprise contracts typically start at $100,000 to $200,000 per year, with large deployments exceeding $500,000 annually. These are not inflated estimates---they are confirmed by G2 reviews, Gartner Peer Insights, and conversations with current and former Medallia customers.

For a mid-market company with a $5,000 to $20,000 annual CX budget, Medallia is not on the table. You could run most mid-market feedback platforms for five to ten years for the cost of a single year of Medallia.

The Complexity Problem

Medallia’s power comes with proportional complexity. The platform requires:

• Dedicated administrators trained in Medallia’s configuration and reporting tools
• Professional services engagements for implementation, typically lasting 3 to 6 months
• Ongoing optimization through Medallia’s consulting team or in-house CX specialists
• Multi-stakeholder governance to manage dashboards, permissions, and program design across divisions

For a mid-market team where the “CX department” is one marketing manager and a part-time analyst, this level of administrative overhead is not just impractical---it actively prevents the platform from delivering value. You end up paying enterprise prices for a tool that only 10% of your team can operate.

The Overkill Problem

Medallia is designed to capture signals from every customer touchpoint across a global organization: surveys, social media, contact center interactions, IoT devices, video analytics, and more. Its Athena AI processes millions of data points to surface trends and predictions.

If you are a 100-person company with three locations and 500 customer interactions per month, you do not need a platform built for millions of data points. You need a tool that collects feedback from your actual channels, analyzes it with AI, and helps your team act on it quickly. The capabilities that make Medallia powerful for enterprise are the same capabilities that make it overwhelming and wasteful for mid-market.

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What to Look for in a Medallia Alternative

The right Medallia alternative for mid-market teams should deliver on four criteria:

1. AI-Powered Analysis (Not Just Data Collection)

The gap Medallia fills at the enterprise level is intelligence---turning raw feedback into automated insights. Your alternative needs to do the same thing at a mid-market scale. Look for NLP-powered sentiment analysis, automatic topic categorization, and trend detection that work without manual tagging or dedicated analysts.

If a platform only collects feedback and dumps it into a dashboard for you to read manually, it is not a Medallia alternative. It is a survey tool.

2. Multi-Channel Collection

Medallia captures signals everywhere. Your alternative does not need to match that breadth, but it should cover the channels your customers actually use. At minimum, evaluate:

• Email and web surveys for digital touchpoints
• QR codes for physical locations (restaurants, retail, healthcare, hospitality)
• Voice feedback for customers who prefer speaking
• SMS for post-interaction follow-ups
• Google Business integration for review management

3. Transparent, Mid-Market Pricing

If a platform requires a sales conversation before you can see pricing, it is probably not built for your budget. Look for published pricing, monthly billing options, and per-location or flat-rate models rather than per-seat enterprise contracts.

4. Fast Setup and Low Administrative Overhead

A tool that takes three months to implement and requires certification to operate is not designed for a lean team. Look for platforms that can be operational in days (or hours) with minimal training required.

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Quick Comparison Table

Platform	Best For	AI Analysis	Multi-Channel	QR Codes	Voice Feedback	Case Management	Starting Price
Customer Echo	AI + multi-channel for SMBs	Advanced (NLP)	Yes (6+ channels)	Built-in	Whisper-powered	Yes	$49/mo
Zonka Feedback	Multi-location + offline	Moderate	Yes (kiosk, tablet, web)	Yes	No	Limited	$49/mo
SurveyMonkey	Simple surveys at scale	Basic	Email, web, social	No	No	No	$25/user/mo
Qualtrics CoreXM	Enterprise features lite	Advanced (add-on)	Email, web, SMS	Limited	No	Yes (CX tier)	~$15,000/yr
AskNicely	NPS-focused service businesses	Moderate	Email, web, SMS	No	No	Limited	$199/mo

Now let us look at each platform in detail.

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1. Customer Echo

Best for: Mid-market teams that need AI-powered feedback intelligence with multi-channel collection

Customer Echo was built to solve the specific problem mid-market teams face when outgrowing basic survey tools but finding enterprise platforms like Medallia impractical. The platform combines AI-powered sentiment analysis with the broadest channel coverage in the mid-market segment---all at a price point that makes the comparison to Medallia almost comical.

What Makes It a Strong Medallia Alternative

Advanced NLP intelligence engine. This is the feature most relevant to teams evaluating Medallia alternatives. Customer Echo’s intelligence engine uses natural language processing to analyze every piece of feedback---text, voice, and structured data---the moment it arrives. It detects sentiment, categorizes by topic, identifies trends, and surfaces anomalies automatically.

When a customer writes “Love the new menu options but the bathroom was disgusting,” the AI correctly separates positive product sentiment from negative facility sentiment, categorizes each into the right topic, and tracks both as trend data points. This is the same type of analysis that Medallia’s Athena AI performs---done at mid-market scale and price.

Six-channel feedback collection. Customer Echo collects feedback through QR codes, web forms, voice recording (with Whisper transcription), SMS, email, and Google Business integration. For businesses operating physical locations, the combination of QR code collection and voice feedback captures in-the-moment responses that email-only tools miss entirely.

Google Business Profile integration. This is a genuinely unique capability. When a customer provides positive feedback, the platform prompts them to share it as a public Google review. Negative feedback gets routed to your internal team for resolution. For businesses where Google reviews directly impact revenue---restaurants, dental practices, hotels, fitness studios---this feature alone can justify the platform.

Built-in case management. Like Medallia’s action management, Customer Echo automatically creates cases from negative feedback, assigns them to the right team members, and tracks resolution. The difference is that Medallia’s case management requires enterprise-level configuration, while Customer Echo’s works out of the box.

5-minute setup. While Medallia requires a multi-month implementation, Customer Echo is designed to be operational in five minutes. Sign up, configure your channels, generate your QR codes, and start collecting. No professional services required.

Where It Falls Short Compared to Medallia

No social media listening. Medallia ingests signals from social media, review sites, and third-party sources automatically. Customer Echo focuses on direct feedback channels (QR, web, voice, SMS, email) plus Google Business. If social media monitoring is a critical requirement, you will need a supplementary tool.

Newer platform. Medallia has been in market since 2001. Customer Echo is newer and does not have the same depth of enterprise case studies, compliance certifications, or large-organization references.

Less suited for complex research. If you need advanced survey methodology---conjoint analysis, MaxDiff, randomized controlled experiments---Customer Echo’s survey capabilities are straightforward rather than research-grade. Medallia (or Qualtrics) handles advanced research better.

Pricing

Starting at $49/month with AI analysis, multi-channel collection, and case management included. No per-user fees. No add-on charges for AI features. View current pricing.

Cost comparison to Medallia: For the cost of one year of Medallia ($100,000+), you could run Customer Echo for over 170 years. That is not a typo.

2. Zonka Feedback

Best for: Multi-location businesses that need offline feedback collection with kiosks and tablets

Zonka Feedback has carved a strong niche in industries where feedback needs to happen at physical touchpoints---hotels, hospitals, airports, restaurants, and retail stores. Its offline capabilities and kiosk mode set it apart from purely digital platforms.

What Makes It a Strong Medallia Alternative

True offline collection. Zonka’s offline mode lets you collect feedback on tablets and kiosks without internet connectivity. Data syncs automatically when the device reconnects. For locations with spotty WiFi---hospital basements, warehouse floors, outdoor venues---this is a genuine operational advantage that most competitors, including Customer Echo, do not match.

Multi-channel breadth. Email, SMS, web, in-app, tablet, kiosk, and QR codes are all supported from a single platform. If you need a dedicated feedback station at a physical location (a tablet mounted near the exit, for example), Zonka handles this natively.

Solid NPS/CSAT/CES tracking. Purpose-built dashboards for standard CX metrics with automated follow-up workflows. The NPS and satisfaction scoring capabilities are functional and well-designed for teams standardized on these metrics.

White-label capabilities. Fully customize the feedback experience with your branding, including custom domains and branded emails. For agencies or franchises managing feedback across multiple brands, this matters.

HIPAA-compliant options. Healthcare organizations that need feedback collection within compliance boundaries will find Zonka’s HIPAA-eligible plans relevant.

Where It Falls Short Compared to Medallia

AI analysis is moderate. Zonka offers text analytics with word clouds, keyword tracking, and basic sentiment indicators. But it does not perform the deep NLP-powered topic modeling, trend prediction, or automated insight generation that Medallia’s Athena AI delivers. If AI analysis is your primary motivation for evaluating Medallia alternatives, Zonka will leave you wanting more.

No voice feedback. Zonka collects text-based feedback through multiple channels but does not offer voice recording or transcription. Customers who prefer speaking their feedback need a different solution.

Google Business integration is limited. Zonka does not offer the same depth of Google review routing that Customer Echo provides. If improving your Google ratings is a priority, Zonka is not the strongest option.

Interface can feel dated. The platform is functional but not as polished as newer tools. The learning curve is moderate, and some users report that dashboard customization requires more effort than expected.

Pricing

Starting at $49/month for the Starter plan. Professional plans with advanced features range from $99 to $199/month. Enterprise pricing is custom.

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3. SurveyMonkey

Best for: Teams that need a familiar, trusted survey tool with a massive template library

SurveyMonkey is the most recognized name in online surveys. It has been around since 1999, and its template library and brand recognition give it advantages that no newer platform can replicate. For a deeper comparison, see our Customer Echo vs. SurveyMonkey breakdown, or read our detailed SurveyMonkey vs. Customer Echo analysis.

What Makes It a Medallia Alternative (Sort Of)

Let us be upfront: SurveyMonkey is not a true Medallia alternative. It is a survey tool, not an experience management platform. But many mid-market teams evaluating Medallia are really looking for “a way to collect and understand customer feedback,” and SurveyMonkey handles the collection part well.

Massive template library. Over 250 pre-built templates for every survey type imaginable. If you need a customer satisfaction survey up and running in 10 minutes, SurveyMonkey’s templates make it almost effortless.

Brand recognition. Recipients trust the SurveyMonkey name, which can improve response rates, especially for external surveys sent to clients, partners, or stakeholders.

Simple collaboration. Share surveys with team members, assign editing roles, and collaborate without friction. The interface is familiar enough that most team members need zero training.

Decent analytics for surveys. Cross-tabulation, filtering, trend analysis, and exportable reports cover the basics for teams with straightforward analysis needs.

Where It Falls Short Compared to Medallia

Limited AI analysis. SurveyMonkey offers basic text analysis with word frequency counts and simple sentiment indicators. It does not come close to Medallia’s AI capabilities, and even Customer Echo’s intelligence engine significantly outperforms it for automated insight generation.

No QR code or voice feedback. SurveyMonkey is a web survey tool. If you need to collect feedback at physical locations or through voice recording, you will need additional tools.

No case management. When negative feedback comes in, SurveyMonkey does not route it, assign it, or track resolution. You need external tools (helpdesk, project management, email) to close the loop.

No Google Business integration. If local search visibility and Google reviews matter to your business, SurveyMonkey has no relevant capability.

Per-user pricing. SurveyMonkey charges per user on team plans ($25 to $75/user/month). A five-person team on Team Premier pays $375/month---almost 8x Customer Echo’s starting price for significantly fewer capabilities.

Pricing

Free tier available (severely limited: 10 questions, 40 responses). Individual plans start at $39/month. Team Advantage starts at $25/user/month. Team Premier at $75/user/month. Annual billing required for team plans.

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4. Qualtrics CoreXM

Best for: Mid-market teams that want enterprise survey methodology without the full Qualtrics price tag

Qualtrics is Medallia’s primary competitor at the enterprise level. But its CoreXM product---the survey and research core---is available at a lower price point than the full XM platform and offers capabilities that mid-market research teams may find compelling. For a full pricing breakdown, see our Qualtrics pricing analysis.

What Makes It a Strong Medallia Alternative

Best-in-class survey methodology. If you need advanced question types, conjoint analysis, MaxDiff, complex branching logic, quota management, and randomization, Qualtrics CoreXM is unmatched. No other platform on this list comes close for pure survey design sophistication.

Text iQ (as an add-on). Qualtrics’ AI-powered text analysis is genuinely strong. It performs topic modeling, sentiment detection, and automated categorization at a level comparable to Medallia’s Athena AI. The caveat is that it is typically sold as an add-on, pushing costs higher than the base license.

Enterprise compliance. SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA, FedRAMP, GDPR, and ISO 27001. If your compliance requirements are extensive, Qualtrics checks every box. For our detailed comparison, visit Customer Echo vs. Qualtrics.

Statistical analysis. Stats iQ provides regression analysis, significance testing, and statistical modeling that go far beyond what any other platform on this list offers. For teams with quantitative research needs, this is a meaningful differentiator.

Where It Falls Short Compared to Medallia

Missing multi-signal capture. Medallia ingests feedback from surveys, social media, contact centers, review sites, and IoT devices. Qualtrics CoreXM is primarily a survey tool. Capturing non-survey signals requires additional Qualtrics products (Digital CX, XM Discover) at significant additional cost.

No native QR code or voice feedback. Like SurveyMonkey, Qualtrics CoreXM is a digital survey tool. Physical location feedback through QR codes and voice recording are not part of the core offering.

Implementation timeline. Even CoreXM requires weeks to set up properly. For organizations used to Medallia’s multi-month deployments, this may feel fast. For mid-market teams used to signing up and getting started the same day, it feels slow.

AI features are add-ons. Text iQ and Stats iQ---the capabilities that bring Qualtrics closest to Medallia’s intelligence---are not included in the base CoreXM license. Budget for an additional $5,000 to $15,000 per year for each.

Pricing

CoreXM contracts typically start around $15,000 to $40,000/year. With Text iQ and Stats iQ add-ons, expect $25,000 to $60,000/year. Annual contracts only, no monthly billing.

Cost comparison to Medallia: CoreXM is significantly cheaper than Medallia but still 25x to 100x more expensive than mid-market alternatives like Customer Echo. Whether the advanced methodology justifies that premium depends entirely on your research needs.

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5. AskNicely

Best for: Service businesses that have standardized on NPS as their primary CX metric

AskNicely does one thing with deep focus: Net Promoter Score measurement and management for service businesses. If NPS is the metric your organization lives and dies by, and your business model involves frontline employees delivering customer experiences (property management, home services, financial advising, healthcare), AskNicely is purpose-built for your world.

What Makes It a Strong Medallia Alternative

Deep NPS specialization. AskNicely is the most focused NPS platform on the market. Automated NPS surveys, trend tracking by segment, time period, and location, industry benchmarking, and NPS-driven workflow automation are all first-class features.

Frontline employee engagement. This is AskNicely’s unique differentiator. The mobile app shows individual frontline workers their personal NPS scores and customer feedback in real time. Service technicians, property managers, financial advisors, and hospitality staff see directly how their customers rate them, creating accountability and motivation at the individual level.

Automated NPS workflows. Promoters automatically receive referral requests or review prompts. Passives get engagement campaigns. Detractors are routed to service recovery workflows. This closed-loop automation is similar to what Medallia offers for NPS programs but at a fraction of the complexity.

Industry benchmarking. Compare your NPS against industry averages to contextualize your performance. Knowing you have an NPS of 45 is useful. Knowing the industry average is 32 makes it meaningful.

Where It Falls Short Compared to Medallia

NPS-centric by design. If you need CSAT, CES, open-ended feedback analysis, or custom survey frameworks beyond NPS, AskNicely is less flexible. Medallia---and most other platforms on this list---handle multiple metric types natively.

Limited collection channels. AskNicely distributes surveys via email and SMS. There are no QR codes, no voice feedback, no web widgets, and no kiosk mode. For businesses with physical locations, this is a significant gap.

No Google Business integration. AskNicely does not route feedback to Google Business or manage public reviews. If your NPS program is partly about improving your public online reputation, you will need a supplementary tool.

AI analysis is moderate. AskNicely provides text analytics and theme detection for NPS follow-up comments, but the analysis depth does not approach what Customer Echo’s intelligence engine or Qualtrics’ Text iQ delivers.

Expensive for the scope. Starting at $199/month, AskNicely costs 4x what Customer Echo charges while offering a narrower feature set. The premium is justified if frontline employee engagement is your primary goal, but not if you need broad feedback intelligence.

Pricing

Starting at $199/month. Custom pricing for larger deployments. No free tier.

How to Choose the Right Medallia Alternative

Choosing the right platform depends on three factors: your primary use case, your team size, and your budget. Here is a decision framework that cuts through the noise.

Start with Your Primary Use Case

“We need to understand what customers are saying without reading every response.” You need AI-powered analysis. Customer Echo’s intelligence engine or Qualtrics’ Text iQ are the strongest options. Customer Echo costs $49/month. Qualtrics Text iQ requires a $15,000+ annual commitment plus add-on fees.

“We operate physical locations and need feedback where customers are.” You need QR code collection and ideally voice feedback. Customer Echo and Zonka Feedback are the strongest here. Customer Echo adds AI analysis and Google Business integration. Zonka adds offline kiosk mode.

“We just need better surveys than what we have now.” SurveyMonkey is the pragmatic choice. It is not a Medallia alternative in any meaningful sense, but if surveys are truly all you need, it does them well. Read our in-depth SurveyMonkey comparison for more context.

“NPS is our only metric and frontline engagement matters.” AskNicely is purpose-built for this exact scenario. Accept the higher price for the specialized functionality.

“We need advanced research methodology and statistical analysis.” Qualtrics CoreXM is the answer. Budget accordingly ($25,000+ per year with add-ons) and accept the implementation timeline.

Match Your Team Size to the Platform

Team Size	Best Fit
1-3 people	Customer Echo (AI does the analysis your small team cannot)
3-10 people	Customer Echo or Zonka Feedback (manageable platforms with team features)
10-25 people	Customer Echo, Qualtrics CoreXM, or AskNicely (depending on use case)
25+ people	Qualtrics CoreXM or re-evaluate whether Medallia itself is the right call

Set a Realistic Budget

Annual Budget	Realistic Options
Under $1,000	SurveyMonkey (individual), Customer Echo Starter
$1,000 - $5,000	Customer Echo, Zonka Feedback, SurveyMonkey (team)
$5,000 - $15,000	Customer Echo (professional), Zonka Feedback (enterprise), AskNicely
$15,000 - $50,000	Qualtrics CoreXM, AskNicely (enterprise)
$50,000+	Qualtrics full platform, or reconsider Medallia

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The Bigger Picture: What Mid-Market CX Actually Needs

Here is a perspective most Medallia alternative articles miss. The reason mid-market teams evaluate Medallia in the first place is not because they need enterprise technology. It is because they need the outcome that enterprise technology promises: understanding what customers think and acting on it faster than competitors.

That outcome does not require a $200,000 platform. It requires:

1. Collecting feedback from every channel where customers interact with your business. QR codes at physical locations. Web forms on your site. Voice recording for customers who prefer speaking. SMS for post-interaction follow-ups. Email for scheduled surveys.

2. AI analysis that eliminates manual review. When 300 pieces of feedback arrive this month, your team should not be reading each one. AI should categorize them, detect sentiment, identify trends, and flag anomalies automatically.

3. Case management that closes the loop. Negative feedback should trigger a trackable follow-up, not sit in a dashboard unread.

4. Google Business integration that turns feedback into public reputation. Happy customers should become Google reviewers. Unhappy customers should become resolved cases.

5. NPS, CSAT, and CES scoring that tracks over time. Standard metrics with automated calculation and trend visualization give you the benchmarks leadership expects.

Customer Echo delivers all five of these capabilities starting at $49/month. Medallia delivers them starting at $100,000/year. The intelligence quality is comparable for mid-market feedback volumes. The price difference is not.

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The Bottom Line

Medallia is a world-class enterprise platform that has earned its position at the top of the CX market. If you are a global organization with thousands of employees, millions of customer interactions, and a dedicated CX team with a six-figure budget, Medallia deserves serious evaluation.

For everyone else---and that is most of the businesses reading this article---Medallia is the wrong tool. Not because it is bad, but because it is designed for a scale and complexity that mid-market teams do not have and do not need.

Customer Echo is our recommendation for most mid-market teams evaluating Medallia alternatives. It delivers AI-powered sentiment analysis, multi-channel collection (including QR codes and voice), Google Business integration, and case management at a price point ($49/month) that makes enterprise-grade customer intelligence accessible to businesses of any size.

Zonka Feedback is the strongest alternative if offline kiosk and tablet collection is a hard requirement. SurveyMonkey is the right choice if you genuinely just need surveys. Qualtrics CoreXM fills the gap if you need advanced research methodology. AskNicely is purpose-built for NPS-driven service businesses.

The best way to choose is not to read another comparison article---it is to start a free trial, send real feedback requests to real customers, and evaluate the insights each platform delivers. The tool that produces the most actionable intelligence with the least manual effort is the right one for your team.

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Looking for guidance on switching from Medallia or evaluating mid-market feedback platforms? We are happy to walk you through how Customer Echo compares for your specific use case---even if we end up recommending a different tool. Schedule a demo and let us help you find the right fit.