An online suggestion box is a form, page or app where people leave an idea in writing instead of a slip in a box on the wall. Of fifteen tools read on 3 October 2026, four say on their own pages that they store no IP address with a response, and four say the person running the box cannot see who wrote.
Which online suggestion boxes are anonymous?
Suggestion Ox, JellyForm, Free Suggestion Box and Anonymeter say they keep no IP address with a response. Six say in a privacy policy that they collect IP addresses: Ideanote lists the IP address of the people who submit, and Incogneato, Jotform, Connecteam, Google and Microsoft collect it under a policy covering every visitor. The other five say nothing either way.
| Tool | Free plan | Paid from | What its own pages say it records | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suggestion Ox | No | Quoted per organisation | "No information about your web browser, IP address or anything related to your computer or web connection is saved with responses." | policy |
| JellyForm | Not stated | Not stated | "We don't track IP addresses or use cookies on submission forms." | page |
| Free Suggestion Box | Yes | No paid plan stated | "We store the suggestion text and a timestamp. No name, no email address, no IP address." | page |
| Anonymeter | Yes, 3 forms | $9 a month | "Anonymeter stores no IP, no tracking cookie, no respondent identity." | page |
| Incogneato | No, 14 day trial | Not stated | Respondent identities "are obscured and not shared with box owners". Its privacy policy says it collects visitors' IP addresses. | policy |
| WhisperMeter | Yes | No paid plan stated | "Senders are not identified in the message box workflow." | page |
| Ideanote | Yes, 10 users and 250 ideas | Not stated | Lists "End-user IP" among the data it holds on the people who submit. | policy |
| Jotform | Yes | Not stated | Collects IP addresses under a privacy policy covering all its services. | policy |
| Connecteam | Yes, 10 users | $29 a month for 30 users | Collects IP addresses under a privacy policy covering all its services. | policy |
| Google Forms | Yes, with a Google account | Not stated | Records the respondent's email only when the form owner turns on email collection. Google's privacy policy says it collects IP addresses across its services. | help |
| Microsoft Forms | Yes, with a Microsoft account | Not stated | Records the respondent's name unless the form owner turns off "Record name". Microsoft's privacy statement says it collects IP addresses across its services. | help |
| Workhub | Yes | Not stated | Shows the author only "if they posted using their name". | page |
| Vetter | No | Quoted on request | Lets the person submitting choose to stay anonymous each time. | pricing |
| Fliplet | Not stated | Not stated | Its pages do not say. | page |
| CustomInsight | No, 30 day trial | $99 a year | Its pages do not say. | page |
| VoteFirst | No, 14 day trial | $9 a month | A random cookie value with each vote, comment or suggestion from a visitor who is not signed in, and the IP address only when the browser keeps no cookie. No name or email. | how it works |
A privacy policy that says nothing about IP addresses leaves the question open. Where a form setting decides whether names are recorded, as in Google Forms and Microsoft Forms, check that setting before telling anyone the box is anonymous. Promise staff only what the tool's own pages say it does not keep.
What is the free way to run one?
Three routes cost nothing.
A form feeding a spreadsheet. Google Forms and Microsoft Forms both do it in ten minutes. Only the owner sees what came in, so nobody can back an idea already sent, and nobody sees what became of it.
A shared page everybody can edit. Everyone sees every idea. Agreement turns into a pile of comments with no count, and a page nobody owns carries no status on anything.
A free plan on a suggestion box tool. Nine of the fifteen tools above have one, and each caps something: Anonymeter at 3 forms, Ideanote at 10 users and 250 ideas, Connecteam at 10 users.
What should an employee suggestion form ask?
Two questions and an optional name. One line on what should change. A short paragraph on why, or what it costs the team today.
Cap both answers. Forty uncapped titles cannot be read as a list, and an open box invites an essay.
Above the questions, write who reads the suggestions, how often, and where the answers go up. Make the name optional and mean it. Anonymous voting weighs the same trade for a board.
Take the form as a Word document. It has the two questions, the optional name, the line about who reads them, and a back page for whoever empties the box, to delete before printing. Free to copy, change and use commercially, with no attribution.
What should staff be asked to suggest?
Give the box three or four starting categories: equipment, the kitchen or break room, the booking system, the meeting that could be an email. Small repeating annoyances, the printer nobody restocks or the shift swap nobody explained, are seen every day by the people doing the work and rarely by whoever manages the place.
Rotate one themed prompt a month, the physical space one month and one tool or process the next. Add a category for praise of a colleague and one for a safety concern, so neither has to pass as a suggestion.
What keeps people using it?
An answer to every suggestion, including no, with a reason, posted where everyone can see it. A reply sent only to the person who wrote it leaves everyone else who wondered without one. Running a digital suggestion box week to week.
Is VoteFirst right for a staff suggestion box?
VoteFirst has no free plan. It costs $9 a month for one project, or $39 for unlimited projects and the whole team, after a 14 day trial that takes a card at signup. It is built for companies collecting requests from their customers.
The board is public. Anyone with the address can read it, and there is no password or invite list. The owner can switch it so only signed in visitors can vote, comment and suggest, and every new suggestion waits for approval before it appears. If staff suggestions must stay inside the company, an internal tool fits better.