Google Forms vs. Hotjar

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Google Forms
Score 8.3 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
Hotjar
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
Hotjar is a conversion rate optimization tool for digital marketers. Features include heatmapping, visual session recording, conversion funnel analytics, form analytics, feedback polls and surveys, and usability testing. The tool is used by digital analysts, UX designers, web developers and product marketers. Hotjar was acquired by Contentsquare September 2021, and is now a Contentsquare brand.
$39
per month 100 daily sessions
Pricing
Google FormsHotjar
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Hotjar Observe - Plus
$39
per month 100 daily sessions
Hotjar Ask - Plus
$59
per month 250 monthly responses
Hotjar Ask - Business
$79
per month Starting from 500 monthly responses
Hotjar Observe - Business
$99
per month Starting from 500 daily sessions
Hotjar Scale - Business
$213
per month Starting from 500 daily sessions
Hotjar Ask - Scale
Contact Sales
per month unlimited volume
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Google FormsHotjar
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsDiscount available for annual pricing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Google FormsHotjar
Features
Google FormsHotjar
Survey Format & Appearance
Comparison of Survey Format & Appearance features of Product A and Product B
Google Forms
6.5
116 Ratings
20% below category average
Hotjar
-
Ratings
Survey templates7.9108 Ratings00 Ratings
Themes5.6106 Ratings00 Ratings
Custom logo/branding6.093 Ratings00 Ratings
Survey Content
Comparison of Survey Content features of Product A and Product B
Google Forms
8.2
114 Ratings
3% below category average
Hotjar
-
Ratings
Changes to live survey9.1108 Ratings00 Ratings
Question design help7.692 Ratings00 Ratings
Multiple question types7.8113 Ratings00 Ratings
Survey Logic
Comparison of Survey Logic features of Product A and Product B
Google Forms
7.0
104 Ratings
16% below category average
Hotjar
-
Ratings
Survey logic flexibility7.0104 Ratings00 Ratings
Survey Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Survey Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Google Forms
8.4
115 Ratings
5% above category average
Hotjar
-
Ratings
Response tracking8.2113 Ratings00 Ratings
Data export8.5109 Ratings00 Ratings
Standard reports7.8107 Ratings00 Ratings
Custom reports9.281 Ratings00 Ratings
Analytics8.288 Ratings00 Ratings
Survey Administration & Security
Comparison of Survey Administration & Security features of Product A and Product B
Google Forms
8.2
109 Ratings
4% below category average
Hotjar
-
Ratings
Access controls8.0106 Ratings00 Ratings
Compliance8.484 Ratings00 Ratings
Survey Distribution
Comparison of Survey Distribution features of Product A and Product B
Google Forms
8.4
83 Ratings
4% above category average
Hotjar
-
Ratings
Vendor-offered crowdsourcing9.037 Ratings00 Ratings
Respondent restrictions7.881 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Google FormsHotjar
Small Businesses
Square 9 Softworks
Square 9 Softworks
Score 9.5 out of 10
Smartlook
Smartlook
Score 8.5 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Square 9 Softworks
Square 9 Softworks
Score 9.5 out of 10
Siteimprove
Siteimprove
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
Verint Voice of the Customer
Verint Voice of the Customer
Score 9.4 out of 10
Contentsquare
Contentsquare
Score 7.6 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Google FormsHotjar
Likelihood to Recommend
9.7
(116 ratings)
10.0
(103 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(3 ratings)
5.1
(2 ratings)
Usability
9.2
(56 ratings)
9.7
(6 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.0
(48 ratings)
9.6
(4 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
3.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Google FormsHotjar
Likelihood to Recommend
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
Contentsquare
Hotjar is good for a first pass at understanding user sentiment or locating potential usability issues. There are features such as "rage clicked" which shows recordings or instances when a user rage clicked or had an issue with your site. Hotjar has also been helpful to launch intercept surveys on mobile, desktop, and app, which not all competitor software allow. Hotjar recordings are fun to watch. "Watching Hotjar like Netflix" is a favorite pastime at work.
Read full review
Pros
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
Contentsquare
  • Heat mapping is great on Hotjar. It is a good place to start when you are looking at the UX & CRO on your website. You can see the % of people clicking on elements on a page, how far they scroll, and mouse movements.
  • Hotjar is great for session recordings. These record the mouse movements, clicks, pages and scrolls of a user in video format. You can watch these to investigate what works well on a site and identify potential roadblocks and bugs.
  • Hotjar is great as it ensures that users details are anonymous; for instance, if you are watching a session recording, you cannot see what a user types in a form field, as Hotjar blanks this out.
  • Hotjar has a poll function, so you can have polls on your website.
Read full review
Cons
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
Contentsquare
  • Hotjar is primarily used for web-based experiences. Not that easy to use on mobile apps.
  • I'd love to see Hotjar integrated with Google Analytics for an even deeper view.
  • Hotjar is primarily used by smaller organizations...pricing can get steep quickly for larger organizations.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
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
Contentsquare
Even though the heat maps and user recordings were useful, our website was significantly slowed down after we installed Hotjar, so much so, that it took over a minute for our blog to load. The data that we gathered was not worth the length that it took our website to load.
Read full review
Usability
Google
Overall, Google Forms is very easy to use, especially for those who are already familiar with other Google products. Typically, we don't have to provide any special training for employees or customers to use Google forms. It works well on desktops or mobile devices, and the standard format for forms is intuitive for end users as well.
Read full review
Contentsquare
So easy and simple to use! Straightforward anyone in the team is able to easily go in and set up anything in Hotjar. The UI is really simple. Whenever you give feedback to Hotjar they continously take on board the feedback and improve the tool.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
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
Read full review
Contentsquare
No answers on this topic
Performance
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.
Read full review
Contentsquare
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Google
To tell the truth I have used Google Forms support very little because the help of the same tool solves most of the questions that arise in the management of this, and when we have needed support has provided timely solution, thanks to this we have excellent references from Google.
Read full review
Contentsquare
Hotjar is a SaaS-based company, and as such has a good support service. Users can quickly submit support tickets through Hotjar's online portal. Enterprise customers get access to additional support members and have SLAs to support their larger, more complex needs. Overall, Hotjar is extremely reliable and I've never had to reach out to customer support.
Read full review
Implementation Rating
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.
Read full review
Contentsquare
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Google
We use Google Forms now instead of Survey Monkey. The question types are fairly similar and both are easy to use but Google Forms is definitely a "lighter" survey tool than Survey Monkey. It fits our day-to-day needs as we don't do robust surveys requiring large amounts of analytics. It would work best to gather information where it can either be an easy answer or exported to Sheets to be further analyzed
Read full review
Contentsquare
HotJar was selected for a few reasons:
  • Video Capture - HotJars video capture of user sessions is nothing short of amazing. It is so useful (not to mention cool) to see, in real time, how users interact with our software. It makes our jobs so much easier and more enjoyable to get this type of d
  • User Surveys - The ease and flexibility of surveys we can make available on our website are an awesome tool to get additional data.
  • Simple implementation - Adding a very small amount of code to our website gives us the ability to use all of HotJars features without having to touch our code again.
Read full review
Scalability
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.
Read full review
Contentsquare
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
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
Contentsquare
  • We have fixed many issues, for example, checkout usability problems with the video recording feature. You can catch bugs and get an overall idea of how a particular page is working.
  • Polls have helped us pair intent with the video sessions, so we can understand better why certain users answered different things. You get greedy and try to ask everything but that won't work. Keep it simple and it will give you small but important insights.
Read full review
ScreenShots