How often can one person answer my survey?

How often a single person can respond to a survey is decided in one place: the Schedule tab of that survey. The Survey recurrence field and the Multiple answers allowed checkbox are two views of the same setting, which is why you can use one or the other, but never both at once.

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Where the setting lives

Open your survey and switch to the Schedule tab. Under Survey recurrence you choose how often the survey runs:

• Doesn’t repeat
• Weekly
• Bi-Weekly
• Monthly

If — and only if — you select Doesn’t repeat, a checkbox appears underneath: Multiple answers allowed.

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The three possible settings

Between the recurrence and the checkbox there are exactly three outcomes:

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Recurring surveys: one answer per cycle

If you pick Weekly, Bi-Weekly or Monthly, the survey runs in cycles. Every participant can submit exactly one response per cycle. Once the next cycle begins, the same person can answer again — and their new response counts towards the new cycle, not the previous one. A second response within the same cycle is not possible. If someone opens the survey link again after they have already answered, they see the message Survey not available rather than the questionnaire.

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Surveys without recurrence

If you pick Doesn’t repeat, the survey does not run in cycles at all — it simply stays open until it is deactivated or reaches its expiration date. Here the Multiple answers allowed checkbox decides what happens:

• Checkbox off — each person answers once. After submitting, the survey link no longer works for them.
• Checkbox on — the same person can answer as many times as they want while the survey is open. This is the right choice for a permanently available feedback channel, such as an idea box or an onboarding survey that new joiners fill in whenever they arrive.

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Why the two cannot be combined

A cycle already answers the question “how often may someone respond” — namely once per cycle. Allowing unlimited responses on top of that would leave the cycle with nothing to define, and responses could no longer be attributed to a particular period. For that reason Honestly treats recurrence and multiple answers as a single setting: choosing one rules out the other. If you need both regular intervals and repeated participation within an interval, run the survey without recurrence and with Multiple answers allowed, and evaluate the results per time period on your dashboard instead.

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Which option should I choose?

• Choose a recurrence if you want a regular reading of the mood in your organisation and want to compare cycles with one another. Because every cycle covers the same span of time, the results are directly comparable and trends become visible.
• Choose no recurrence with multiple answers if feedback should be possible at any time and you do not need a comparison between fixed periods — for example a continuously open channel for suggestions.
• Choose no recurrence without multiple answers for a one-off survey where every person is meant to have exactly one voice, such as an annual employee survey.

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Changing the setting later

The schedule cannot be edited while a survey is active. To switch between a recurrence and multiple answers, deactivate the survey first, change the setting on the Schedule tab, and activate it again. These articles may also be of interest to you:

• How do I create a new survey?
• How do I plan and set up monthly surveys?
• How do I (de)activate a survey?
• How can I reopen a survey?
• How can I manage my existing surveys and what information can I see?