DocuSign vs. Google Forms

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
DocuSign
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
DocuSign supports transactions with document sharing and electronic signature, as well as automated and guided data collection and entry, record updating across disparate systems and payment collection upon agreement, as well as analytics and reporting.
$15
per month
Google Forms
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
Google Forms is an app for creating forms and surveys, and is part of Google Apps for Work. The product focuses on ease of use; the interface is similar to a document editor, with drop down lists of options and drag and drop question re-ordering. Users can embed images and video into surveys. Users can also program the question flow with custom logic. Google sends users basic summaries of the survey results automatically, or users can export the raw survey results data and analyze it via…N/A
Pricing
DocuSignGoogle Forms
Editions & Modules
Personal
$15
per month
Real Starter
$15
per month
DocuSign for Realtors
$35
per month
Standard
$40
per month
Business Pro
$60
per month
Advanced Solutions
Custom Pricing
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
DocuSignGoogle Forms
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
DocuSignGoogle Forms
Considered Both Products
DocuSign
Chose DocuSign
I've worked with documents such as Oracle, Google Forms, and software of that nature. I believe that DocuSign is, has a good reputation and has been reliable for many companies. That's one of the reasons why we have adopted it in our own infrastructure. I believe that compared …
Chose DocuSign
I haven’t used any other alternative to DocuSign yet as it suffices all my requirements for E-signatures.
Google Forms
Chose Google Forms
I have used DocuSign while there are some similarities to Google Forms, DocuSign does not allow for creating custom forms and testing materials. Google Forms [allow] for the creation and sharing of multiple document types. Google Forms also [allow] you to import your own custom …
Features
DocuSignGoogle Forms
Survey Format & Appearance
Comparison of Survey Format & Appearance features of Product A and Product B
DocuSign
-
Ratings
Google Forms
6.6
122 Ratings
19% below category average
Survey templates00 Ratings7.7113 Ratings
Themes00 Ratings6.0111 Ratings
Custom logo/branding00 Ratings6.199 Ratings
Survey Content
Comparison of Survey Content features of Product A and Product B
DocuSign
-
Ratings
Google Forms
8.1
120 Ratings
5% below category average
Changes to live survey00 Ratings9.0114 Ratings
Question design help00 Ratings7.297 Ratings
Multiple question types00 Ratings7.9119 Ratings
Survey Logic
Comparison of Survey Logic features of Product A and Product B
DocuSign
-
Ratings
Google Forms
7.0
109 Ratings
17% below category average
Survey logic flexibility00 Ratings7.0109 Ratings
Survey Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Survey Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
DocuSign
-
Ratings
Google Forms
8.4
121 Ratings
4% above category average
Response tracking00 Ratings8.2119 Ratings
Data export00 Ratings8.1115 Ratings
Standard reports00 Ratings7.9112 Ratings
Custom reports00 Ratings9.285 Ratings
Analytics00 Ratings8.493 Ratings
Survey Administration & Security
Comparison of Survey Administration & Security features of Product A and Product B
DocuSign
-
Ratings
Google Forms
8.1
115 Ratings
6% below category average
Access controls00 Ratings8.0112 Ratings
Compliance00 Ratings8.289 Ratings
Survey Distribution
Comparison of Survey Distribution features of Product A and Product B
DocuSign
-
Ratings
Google Forms
7.7
89 Ratings
5% below category average
Vendor-offered crowdsourcing00 Ratings7.941 Ratings
Respondent restrictions00 Ratings7.687 Ratings
Best Alternatives
DocuSignGoogle Forms
Small Businesses
Foxit eSign
Foxit eSign
Score 9.3 out of 10
Square 9 Softworks
Square 9 Softworks
Score 9.7 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
MSB Docs
MSB Docs
Score 9.4 out of 10
Qualaroo
Qualaroo
Score 6.1 out of 10
Enterprises
Box
Box
Score 8.5 out of 10
Verint Voice of the Customer
Verint Voice of the Customer
Score 9.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
DocuSignGoogle Forms
Likelihood to Recommend
8.5
(161 ratings)
9.7
(116 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.0
(12 ratings)
10.0
(3 ratings)
Usability
8.1
(19 ratings)
9.2
(56 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(3 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Performance
10.0
(2 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(46 ratings)
8.0
(48 ratings)
Online Training
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
10.0
(1 ratings)
3.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
DocuSignGoogle Forms
Likelihood to Recommend
DocuSign
This product is well suited in the use case that I provided before: when it comes to onboarding employees and providing a clear channel for decision making for human resources, this is an excellent tool to accomplish that. I would say the weak points is when you have back and forth communication with users that it might seem a little redundant to have that back and forth communication in that scenario.
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Google
Google Forms is great for simple surveys, such as quick polls, but any logic beyond conditional pages is not supported. Google Forms is best used when the survey participants have and are permitted to use a Google Account to fill out the form; we ran into issues with hospital IT departments. I don't believe there's a better free tool out there than Google Forms, though.
Read full review
Pros
DocuSign
  • Ease of sending the same document out to multiple recipients, at multiple locations, for multiple signatures
  • Quick turnaround - once the recipient signs the document, we receive notification and the document back immediately
  • Can resend, alter, change, and/or add to the email and/or document that is sent out very easily
  • The recipient can save the document after signing, so they too have their own electronic copy for their records
Read full review
Google
  • Live results: When a user completes the form the results are added instantly.
  • Easy to create: Google Forms has a simple interface that allows for a wide range of question types. Google will even try to guess the question type based on the question (but this can be overridden).
  • Answers export to Google Sheets: It is easy to have each response to your form add a row to a Google Sheet, allowing for further analysis or processing.
  • Ability to automatically collect email addresses within a domain: If you have a form that has been shared with users in your domain, you can set it to automatically collect the users' email addresses without them needing to type it in. Makes checking whether all students have completed the form easy.
Read full review
Cons
DocuSign
  • Tracking, particularly when collecting signatures through connected applications, such as an ATS, is not always clean or easily traceable.
  • Formatting documents to handle electronic signature types (signatures, initials, etc.) is not always easy, and highly dependent on the partner's technology.
  • It is not convenient to have to use DocuSign as a stand alone product if the signatures are required for 3rd party applications. It definitely excels on its own, but the scope of that usage, at least for us, is slim.
Read full review
Google
  • Sometimes finding the output -- a Google Sheet with all responses-- is a little difficult. It's also sometimes confusing to figure out how to get back into the Google Form Survey itself.
  • As always, sharing among an institutional Google account and your personal Google account can be frustrating. You have to make a copy and can't share across the two different accounts very easily.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
DocuSign
I can't imagine doing business without DocuSign now. I would never want to go back to the way we used to do things. The "new way" is "the way" is "the right way." We can honestly be proud of a "one right way" process and not have to suffer through "5 ways for 5 days."
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Google
I will definitely renew my use of Google Forms because I really like the ease of use and the number of tools that Google forms provide. I also love that I can administer a test in real-time and get results in a timely manner
Read full review
Usability
DocuSign
Generally user-friendly once you have command of the basics, but also has a lot of nuances that can make it difficult to train others on. DocuSign University is a helpful tool, but understandably a lot of content to get through to become a well-versed user. A lot of different functionalities but only a few I use on a weekly basis.
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Google
Overall ease of use for staff, volunteers, and adult learners, and easy to get reports and to share reports via Sheets. As a free tool, it does more than expected. Easy to change the look and brand it to your organization, or just make it more fun, depending on what you want to use it for.
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Reliability and Availability
DocuSign
It does not go down. I have had zero issues with DocuSign, approaching 4 years.
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Google
In the years I've used GoogleForms I've never ran into any issues with the reliability or availability. Google is a gigantic company with essentially limitless resources which makes it very easy to trust that I will continue to be able to enjoy the same reliability I've come to know and expect from GoogleForms
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Performance
DocuSign
Everything loads quickly. Reports are generated in a reasonable time. No noticeable difference in integrated software processing speeds.
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Google
One of the things that comes as a benefit of the lack to create complex logic branching and truly custom design is that there isn't lot of room to bog down the software. GoogleForms has always loaded just as fast as my internet service and device would allow it. I'm not sure about front end integrations or integrations into the form itself, as I've never explored it, but on the backend, I've never had any issues with integrations channeling from GoogleForms from the GoogleForms's end of things.
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Support Rating
DocuSign
I'd give them a 10, but there has been 1 or 2 small cases that seemed to fall to the wayside, but I was able to call them up and get them resolved. We were having a bad implementation night (after midnight) and we needed assistance from Docusign. They were able to get an engineer to help us in the early morning hours
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Google
We haven't used much official support for Google Forms. However, because it is so widely used, there are a ton of articles and guides available online to help administrators of varying technical abilities to work through problems that arise. Additionally, Google provides an official support forum where there are discussions with other users as well as Google developers that can help address issues if needed.
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Online Training
DocuSign
Docusign is super easy to use, and apart from a few administration details, there was really nothing to train on. Post implementation, there were issues with configuration of auto-filled documents with the integrating 3rd party. That training required some time, because the DocuSign expert took the time to walk me through the 3rd party's configuration (how often does that happen?) so I could see how DocuSign should be best used to overcome weaknesses in the 3rd party platform. 10/10 expert care.
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Google
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
DocuSign
Until you get the hang of it, I recommend doing several internal tests before sending a document to a client. As I mentioned earlier, you have to go through a bit of trial and error at first to verify that the workflow works as expected.
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Google
Google Forms doesn't really require "implementation": simply log into GDrive and create a survey! You can configure settings per survey to, for example, automatically write responses to a GSheet.
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Alternatives Considered
DocuSign
There has never been anything that we could really compare to Docusign. We have tried sending documents in a PDF version, but that was not nearly as efficient. DocuSign saves your signature in the system and uses that as it goes through your documents.
Read full review
Google
Although both platforms offer similar functionalities, Google Form has a personal advantage and it is the impeccable integration with the different applications of the Google suite, this allows to make use of all of them in a transparent way, which in the work environment allows to perform work efficiently and without affecting the quality of it.
Read full review
Scalability
DocuSign
In my years of using DocuSign, I have never had an outage. I haven't even encountered a bug.
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Google
GoogleForms lacks the ability for complex logic branching and the ability to truly design it in a custom manner. It's pretty obvious when you land on a GoogleForm that it is in fact a GoogleForm. This rating solely reflects the lack of flexibility which in turn makes it something that wouldn't usually be scaled. That being said, if needing to scale a simple solution, GoogleForms would be up for the job.
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Return on Investment
DocuSign
  • Less paper use, faster signature times, less time standing at the printer/scanner to send documents to yourself
  • Security over your signature! Security over your company's signature and authorization to approve projects, cash flow etc
  • Love audit trails and the seamless tracking of the status of the document
Read full review
Google
  • High positive impact and return of investment; easy to use and seamlessly integrated with current Google Drive and Suite
  • Ability to create surveys on demand and quickly, saving time and energy
  • Easy to train others in using Google Forms so that there is not a bottleneck of knowledge
Read full review
ScreenShots

DocuSign Screenshots

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