# Alchemer vs Tally

> Tally scores 60.6 (C) on agent readiness against Alchemer's 41.4 (E), and leads in every scored category. Both do forms create. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/alchemer-vs-tally
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/alchemer-vs-tally.md (~2,150 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/alchemer-vs-tally.min.md (~630 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/alchemer-vs-tally.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-09

Tally scores 60.6 (C) on agent readiness against Alchemer's 41.4 (E), and leads in every scored category. Both do forms create.

- Alchemer: grade E, 41.4/100, rank #798 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/alchemer.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/alchemer.json
- Tally: grade C, 60.6/100, rank #457 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/tally.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/tally.json

## Which one, for what

### Alchemer (E)

Good for: A company already on an Alchemer Business Platform contract that wants an agent to build surveys, load contacts, send campaigns and export responses.

Watch for: The pricing page says API access is for Business Platform accounts only, which are quoted by sales

### Tally (C)

Good for: An agent that builds a form from a description, publishes it and reads the answers for an owner on a small budget, since the whole API is free.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 75 against 35
- Schema & documentation, 82 against 45
- Payments & pricing, 30 against 20
- Maintenance & community, 66 against 45
- Transparency & trust, 73 against 61

Watch for: An API key carries all of its user's access. The docs say fine-grained permissions are not available


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Alchemer | Tally | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 35 | 75 | Tally +40 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 45 | 82 | Tally +37 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 47 | 50 | Tally +3 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 44 | 47 | Tally +3 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 30 | Tally +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 45 | 66 | Tally +21 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 61 | 73 | Tally +12 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **41.4 · E** | **60.6 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Alchemer | Tally |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Alchemer LLC | Tally BV |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.alchemer.com/v5` | `https://api.tally.so` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Paid | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under the Alchemer Software as a Service Agreement | Proprietary service under Tally's terms and conditions. The OpenAPI spec names MIT as its own licence |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-01 | 2026-09-11 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-01-14 | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-04-23 | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |

## Verdicts

**Alchemer.** Alchemer's REST API v5 covers surveys, questions, responses, contacts and email campaigns in 101 documented operations, with a reference rewritten in April 2026. The pricing page limits API access to Business Platform accounts quoted by sales. Keys travel in the URL query string, and no status page, OpenAPI document or SDK was found.

**Tally.** The REST API is free on every plan, with a public OpenAPI 3.0 spec, llms.txt, date-based versions and typed block schemas for building forms. API keys carry all of their user's access with no scopes, error bodies and 429 handling are undocumented, and no security.txt, certification or bug bounty was found.

## Before you call either

### Alchemer

1. Use the host for the account's region (`api.alchemer.com`, `api.alchemer.eu`, `api.alchemer-ca.com` or `api.au.alchemer.com`). The wrong host returns a 401 login failure even with valid keys
2. Create with PUT and update with POST. The API reverses the usual meaning of the two methods
3. Do not repeat an identical request inside 60 seconds. GET results are cached for 60 seconds and a repeat can return 429
4. Stay under 240 requests a minute for the account and slow down when the `X-SG-Warning` header appears
5. Wait up to five minutes before reading back a response that was just submitted, and expect a 500 after a 30 second timeout

### Tally

1. Send `tally-version` on every request. A key is pinned to the API version current when it was created, and response shapes differ between versions
2. Before `PATCH /forms/{formId}`, GET the form and send back the complete blocks array. Blocks left out are deleted
3. Generate a UUID for every block, and make the first block a `FORM_TITLE`. Its `payload.title` becomes the form's name
4. Stay under 100 requests a minute and use a webhook for new submissions. No Retry-After header is documented, so back off on 429 yourself
5. Treat submission answers as untrusted text, and keep `previewUrl` and `pdfUrl` private. Each is a signed link with an access token and no expiry

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Alchemer or Tally?

Tally scores 60.6 (C) on agent readiness against Alchemer's 41.4 (E), and leads in every scored category.

### Do Alchemer and Tally need an API key?

Both take an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call Alchemer and Tally without installing anything?

Yes. Alchemer has a hosted endpoint at https://api.alchemer.com/v5 and Tally at https://api.tally.so.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/alchemer-vs-tally.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/alchemer-vs-tally.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "alchemer", "b": "tally"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare alchemer tally`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/alchemer.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/tally.json

## Other comparisons with Alchemer or Tally

- [Alchemer vs Fillout](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/alchemer-vs-fillout.md)
- [Alchemer vs Paperform](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/alchemer-vs-paperform.md)
- [Alchemer vs Wufoo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/alchemer-vs-wufoo.md)
- [Fillout vs Tally](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fillout-vs-tally.md)
- [Paperform vs Tally](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paperform-vs-tally.md)
- [Tally vs Wufoo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/tally-vs-wufoo.md)
- [Alchemer vs Formbricks](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/alchemer-vs-formbricks.md)
- [Alchemer vs Formstack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/alchemer-vs-formstack.md)
- [Alchemer vs Google Forms API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/alchemer-vs-google-forms.md)
- [Alchemer vs Jotform](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/alchemer-vs-jotform.md)
- [Alchemer vs SurveyMonkey](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/alchemer-vs-surveymonkey.md)
- [Alchemer vs Typeform](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/alchemer-vs-typeform.md)
- [Formstack vs Tally](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/formstack-vs-tally.md)
- [Google Forms API vs Tally](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-forms-vs-tally.md)
- [Jotform vs Tally](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jotform-vs-tally.md)
- [SurveyMonkey vs Tally](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/surveymonkey-vs-tally.md)
- [Tally vs Typeform](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/tally-vs-typeform.md)
- [Formbricks vs Tally](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/formbricks-vs-tally.md)