Google Forms vs. Microsoft 365

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
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
Microsoft 365
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) is a Microsoft Cloud subscription service that includes Microsoft Office products (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, and Access). The software can be installed across multiple devices and ensures that users always have the most up-to-date version of the included Office applications.
$5
Per User Per Month
Pricing
Google FormsMicrosoft 365
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Business Basic
$5.00
Per User Per Month
Individual
$5.84
*Per Month
Business - Apps
$8.25
Per User Per Month
Enterprise - F3
$10.00
Per User Per Month
Business Standard
$12.50
Per User Per Month
Business Premium
$20.00
Per User Per Month
Enterprise - E3
$32.00
Per User Per Month
Enterprise - E5
$57.00
Per User Per Month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Google FormsMicrosoft 365
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details*When billed annually.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Google FormsMicrosoft 365
Considered Both Products
Google Forms
Chose Google Forms
I haven't used that many other form applications before unless they were standalone applications like Microsoft Word. I used this program, and it was ok, but it requires a paid subscription, and someone renews it yearly. This can be too complicated for some users, such as older …
Chose Google Forms
I think that the Google version of forms is easier to use for both those making the forms and those filling them in than it's Microsoft equivalent. Google's products are more widely used and understood by the public, and they function at a higher level.
Chose Google Forms
I prefer Google forms to Microsoft Forms (not selectable) because it's significantly easier to use and much smoother to run than Microsoft Forms. It seems easier to incorporate multimedia options within forms which can lead to a more enriching assessment or learning experience …
Microsoft 365
Chose Microsoft 365
Typically I prefer working with companies with Microsoft 365 as their main tool because they're usually a fast growing company with a global presence. I like using it for work because it's easy to collaborate, share, review, comment, reply in any of the tools. The mobile app …
Chose Microsoft 365
Microsoft has serious usability issues compared to Google products. Interfaces are cluttered, unintuitive and not easy to use. Compared to the offline version of the office products, 365 online truly disappoints.
Chose Microsoft 365
While I do like Microsoft, I miss using Google. I think it’s faster and just a little less clunky. However, OneNote and Teams are a huge advantage for the way we use Microsoft products at my school.
Chose Microsoft 365
I like these applications, but Google does them for free. You can't beat that. I still use OneNote frequently, but for most work, Google is a winner here.
Chose Microsoft 365
Google Apps made famous real-time collaborative editing in Google Docs. Now that Office 365 offers Word Online, there is no competition. Google Apps have always been "Microsoft Office-Lite" products, giving very basic functionality. With Office Online apps, it's hard not to see …
Features
Google FormsMicrosoft 365
Survey Format & Appearance
Comparison of Survey Format & Appearance features of Product A and Product B
Google Forms
6.6
122 Ratings
19% below category average
Microsoft 365
-
Ratings
Survey templates7.7113 Ratings00 Ratings
Themes6.0111 Ratings00 Ratings
Custom logo/branding6.199 Ratings00 Ratings
Survey Content
Comparison of Survey Content features of Product A and Product B
Google Forms
8.1
120 Ratings
5% below category average
Microsoft 365
-
Ratings
Changes to live survey9.0114 Ratings00 Ratings
Question design help7.297 Ratings00 Ratings
Multiple question types7.9119 Ratings00 Ratings
Survey Logic
Comparison of Survey Logic features of Product A and Product B
Google Forms
7.0
109 Ratings
17% below category average
Microsoft 365
-
Ratings
Survey logic flexibility7.0109 Ratings00 Ratings
Survey Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Survey Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Google Forms
8.4
121 Ratings
4% above category average
Microsoft 365
-
Ratings
Response tracking8.2119 Ratings00 Ratings
Data export8.1115 Ratings00 Ratings
Standard reports7.9112 Ratings00 Ratings
Custom reports9.285 Ratings00 Ratings
Analytics8.493 Ratings00 Ratings
Survey Administration & Security
Comparison of Survey Administration & Security features of Product A and Product B
Google Forms
8.1
115 Ratings
6% below category average
Microsoft 365
-
Ratings
Access controls8.0112 Ratings00 Ratings
Compliance8.289 Ratings00 Ratings
Survey Distribution
Comparison of Survey Distribution features of Product A and Product B
Google Forms
7.7
89 Ratings
5% below category average
Microsoft 365
-
Ratings
Vendor-offered crowdsourcing7.941 Ratings00 Ratings
Respondent restrictions7.687 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Google FormsMicrosoft 365
Small Businesses
Square 9 Softworks
Square 9 Softworks
Score 9.7 out of 10
Google Workspace
Google Workspace
Score 9.1 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Qualaroo
Qualaroo
Score 6.1 out of 10
Google Workspace
Google Workspace
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
Verint Voice of the Customer
Verint Voice of the Customer
Score 9.3 out of 10
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Score 8.9 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Google FormsMicrosoft 365
Likelihood to Recommend
9.7
(116 ratings)
8.0
(242 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(3 ratings)
9.5
(6 ratings)
Usability
9.2
(56 ratings)
7.7
(13 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.0
(48 ratings)
8.9
(54 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(2 ratings)
Product Scalability
3.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Google FormsMicrosoft 365
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
Microsoft
Microsoft 365 would be well suited for medium to large enterprises. This is where there are several hundreds or thousands of people. Since most everyone has used one of the applications the learning curve would be reduced. Another reason would be the ability to implement security measures to prevent access to sensitive data. This could justify the cost of an Enterprise license.
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
Microsoft
  • Chat with teams and the integrations with the other apps, and many more smaller ones, like to-dos, news, and the recent Outlook integration.
  • Easy embedding on SharePoint to broadcast all the content created in the different tools.
  • The office package is still robust with the good things from the past and new additions.
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
Microsoft
  • Forms lack comprehensive features and parameters for detailed questioning for example cannot be directly linked with Power BI
  • Outlook email filters are not handy to use and require more detailing in terms of location past emails
  • Teams requires substantially large amounts of system resources which could be finetuned
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
Microsoft
So far the Microsoft 365 platform provides features and tools that can cater to 100% of present organizations needs considering both technical and business necessities, however most features are not been effectively utilised at present. The current featureset is able to cover for most of the future needs of the business and technical functions.
Read full review
Usability
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.
Read full review
Microsoft
Microsoft 365 is the gold standard for performing project tasks in a professional environment, enabling the quick transfer and exchange of files and ideas for team members who work locally and remotely. Its suite of tools is familiar and has evolved to being cloud based, allowing for files to be updated in real time from near and far.
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
Microsoft
To-date Microsoft 365 platform has offered an amazing uptime and availability percentage per year compared to all other products which provide the stability and overall business resilience of their ecosystem which is a great relief for information technology service entitites which heavy rely on Microsoft offerings as a whole to redeliver their own custom products
Read full review
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
Microsoft
The Microsoft 365 tools expects and demands a substantial amount of system resources to operate at optimal level and even more when integrated with other applications which is a downside, however given that external supporting tech factors such as fibre/broadband speed bandwidth, high speed RAM and ample storage resources are allocated the tools work error free providing robust communication
Read full review
Support Rating
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.
Read full review
Microsoft
Over the past 8 years of using Microsoft 365, I have noticed that they change vendors often. This always leads to a poor experience in the beginning, then levels out after some time for the company to get things worked out. As a customer, it is really frustrating because I don't have time when something isn't working to have them "look into my issue" and get back with me. They have even closed a ticket I specifically told them to keep open. Your applications are only as good as the support.
Read full review
In-Person Training
Google
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
The resellers involved with selling Microsoft products are reluctant to provide in person specialist trainings to consumers due to the fact of costs of economies of scale and is not provided free of charge most of the time. In Person trainings needs to be agreed to at the initiation of projects and implementations for better ROI.
Read full review
Online Training
Google
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
The standard training offered with 3rd part resellers are fairly standard and covers the basic workability however the trainings needs to be specifically customised according to unique requirements of the organizations. for example an MSP would need to master specific communications verticals within Microsoft 365 whereas and online store using Microsoft 365 would needs to master a different set of tools within the suite to get the best ROI post implementation.
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
Microsoft
The Microsoft support partners are more than capable of handling implementations and dealing with unprecedented errors during the implementations. Not part of the implementation though the setup was done with minimum misconfigurations which is evident with present live setup which works fine without any bugs and gaps at present context.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
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
Microsoft
Typically I prefer working with companies with Microsoft 365 as their main tool because they're usually a fast growing company with a global presence. I like using it for work because it's easy to collaborate, share, review, comment, reply in any of the tools. The mobile app for Outlook and Teams are lifesavers when we're constantly traveling and you can join meetings on the mobile Teams to never miss a beat.
Read full review
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Google
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
Microsoft pricing is not very expensive and yet not very cheap as well, and it hovers in between the baseline. The charges are mostly based on the tier level partners who charge based on their individual reputation in the market. Power negotiation will lead to cost effective and attractive pricing
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
Microsoft
Multiple tools within the same platform have been deployed successfully within different functional technical and non technical teams such as Devops, SOC, NOC, Shared services, Managed services, Global Information technology, Cloud operations, Finance, Administration, human resources and all these teams collaborate while maintaining central uniformity in terms of global standards who are dispersed in different geographical locations with ease
Read full review
Professional Services
Google
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
Have not directly obtained professional services from Microsoft but rather obtained specialized services such as implementations and configurations, setting up and integration support with Microsoft authorized suppliers, 3rd parties, and resellers, which has been a pleasant experience. Again the level of delivery quality on professional services is based on the level of hands on exposure of the 3rd party
Read full review
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
Microsoft
  • We have a lot of nonprofit users, so they have a good ROI.
  • I like the constant updates without having to purchase the software repeatedly.
  • I used to purchase each Office (insert year here) often, so the software was up to date and had the newest options and connectors. I think my return on investment would have been much better if Microsoft had updated those versions to keep them current; after all, we did pay for them.
  • Microsoft 365's offering a monthly fee or a discount for a year helps, and you can look at it as a free backup if you have everything set to back up to One Drive. (Cloud-based document filing you can access anywhere ( with an internet connection)—you Can't beat that!)
Read full review
ScreenShots