Comparison
A free alternative for Forsta-style tabulation
If you have a respondent-level export and need banner tables, significance letters and report-ready output, a free browser tool can cover the tabulation step. Fieldwork, panels and enterprise governance stay on an enterprise platform.
How results are checked
Named statistical review pending. Selected automated reference cases are published on the validation page.Open your data file
CSV, Excel, SPSS, Stata, SAS, R, Parquet, JSON, OpenDocument, Arrow/Feather or SQLite. Files are parsed in the browser before the workspace opens.
Supported files and requirements
- CSV .csv .tsv .txt
- Excel .xlsx .xlsm .xls .xlsb
- SPSS .sav .zsav .por
- Stata .dta
- SAS .sas7bdat .xpt
- R .rds .rdata .rda
- Parquet .parquet
- JSON .json .jsonl .ndjson
- OpenDocument .ods .fods
- Arrow/Feather .arrow .feather .ipc
- SQLite .sqlite .sqlite3 .db
Optional: a matching Qualtrics .qsf file adds question wording.
Use one row per respondent's answers.
Or try a realistic sample
What you get · real output from the sample
| NPS Group | Loyal Customer(A) | New Customer(B) | Prospect(C) | At Risk(D) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Promoter | 56%BCD | 35%D | 26% | 19% |
| Passive | 25% | 30% | 39%AD | 23% |
| Detractor | 19% | 34%A | 35%A | 58%ABC |
| Base n= | 188 | 164 | 140 | 108 |
Enterprise platform vs Crosstabs
| Capability | Enterprise research platform (typical) | Crosstabs |
|---|---|---|
| Questionnaire scripting and fieldwork | Typically included | Not included |
| Panel, sample and quota management | Typically included | Not included |
| Banner tables, tab books and significance letters | Typically included | Included, free |
| Dashboards and scheduled automated delivery | Typically included | Not included; exports XLSX, PDF, PNG and editable PPTX/DOCX |
| User roles, audit and shared cloud projects | Typically included | No accounts or hosted project storage |
| Where respondent data is processed | In the platform's governed environment | In your browser; the file is not uploaded |
Generic comparison of the platform category, not of Forsta's specific features or prices; check the vendor's own documentation for those.
What this is useful for
- Banner tables and tab books from a CSV, Excel, SPSS, Stata, SAS or JSON export
- Column-proportions significance letters across banner columns
- Supported saved survey designs for weighted, design-aware inference
- Ad-hoc cuts for a deck without waiting for a full table run
- XLSX, PDF, PNG and editable PPTX/DOCX output
- Analyses around the tables: cleaning, labels, TURF, penalty, key drivers, NPS, segments
Workflow
Export respondent data
Export respondent-level data from your survey platform as CSV, Excel, SPSS (.sav), Stata, SAS or JSON.
Build tables in the browser
Open the file in the Crosstabs workspace. It is parsed on your device; set rows, banners, bases, filters and tests.
Export the deliverable
Export XLSX, PDF, PNG or editable PPTX/DOCX, and save the project locally as a .ctproj package for the next wave.
What enterprise survey platforms are built for
Forsta and similar enterprise research platforms combine questionnaire scripting, fieldwork, sample and panel management, data processing, tabulation, dashboards and reporting in one governed environment. They are typically used by research teams that run many studies with shared projects, user roles and automated delivery.
This page does not describe Forsta's specific features or prices; check the vendor's own documentation for those.
What a free browser-local tool covers
Crosstabs covers the analysis of data you already have: banner tables and tab books, column-proportions significance letters, multi-select questions, supported saved survey designs for weighted inference, tracker wave checks, and exports to CSV, XLSX, PDF, PNG and editable PPTX/DOCX that can be refreshed when the data changes.
It is free with no account, and the file is processed in your browser rather than uploaded. That makes it practical for a single analyst, a quick ad-hoc cut, or a project where the respondent file should stay on the analyst's machine.
Where an enterprise platform remains the right choice
Choose an enterprise platform when you need questionnaire scripting and fieldwork, panel or sample management, quota control, team governance with roles and audit across many users, shared cloud projects, scheduled or large-scale automated table production, or client-facing dashboards.
Crosstabs does not do these things and is not designed to: it has no accounts, shared workspaces or hosted project storage. Import is limited to 50 MB per file, 1,000,000 respondent rows and 1,000 columns, and run size also depends on the device. Many teams use a browser tool alongside an enterprise platform rather than instead of it.
FAQ
Can Crosstabs replace Forsta?
Not as a whole. Crosstabs covers analysis and reporting of exported respondent data. It does not script surveys, run fieldwork, manage panels or provide team governance. For the tabulation step on an export, it can be a free option.
Which export formats from my survey platform work?
CSV, TSV, TXT, XLSX (the worksheet with the most data), SPSS .sav, Stata .dta, SAS .sas7bdat or .xpt, and JSON or JSON Lines response exports. A .sav export keeps variable and value labels.
Is my data uploaded?
No. Files opened in the workspace are parsed and analyzed in your browser, and the local MCP package for AI clients runs on your machine.
Can a team share Crosstabs projects?
Only by exchanging files. There are no shared workspaces; a project can be exported as a .ctproj package and imported by a colleague as a separate local copy.