Free online survey software can be impressively powerful, allowing you to substantially increase the productivity of your business without dropping a dime. Free survey software generally gives you a freeware version of the program, and while this will work fine for many users, some may find themselves overly restricted by the built-in limitations. When this happens, you should consider switching to a paid version of the software to take your project to the next level. Here are some tips on when to make the switch to paid survey software.LimitationsNearly every free survey software product has some kind of built-in limitation in their freeware versions. For example, SurveyMonkey puts a limit of 100 responses per survey, and 10 surveys per account. Others, such as Zoomerang, put limits on the number of responses allowed. When deciding to switch to paid online survey software, the main consideration is bulk the built-in limitations almost always have to do with the size and scope of your surveys. If you find that your surveys are getting longer, drawing more respondents, or plan on keeping the surveys open for a long period of time, consider upgrading and removing the limitations.AnalyticsSurvey analytic tools allow you to analyze your incoming survey data in order to make sense of the data and utilize it more effectively. However, most free survey software products offer limited or nonexistent analytics. For example, SurveyMonkey lacks the ability to tabulate mean, median, mode, or standard deviation. It also lacks banner tabulations, correlation matrices, or frequency tables. If your survey sample sizes are large enough, and you feel the need to keep a close watch on the particulars of your data, consider upgrading to paid software with advanced survey analytics, such as StatPac.Continuing SupportContinuing support often takes the form of upgrades however, many software companies will only give the latest updates of their software to paying customers. In these cases, the company will likely offer you an older version of their software for free, usually with a one or two version lag. Furthermore, a paid subscription to a survey software company often gets you continuing support in the form of customer service, for on-the-fly help with technical issues. If you are working in a particularly high-stakes area, or need your surveys to be reliable and ready regardless of circumstances, it may well be worth the money to upgrade.