Google Forms vs. Submittable

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
Submittable
Score 8.8 out of 10
N/A
Submittable offers tools to launch, measure, and grow social impact programs, locally and globally. From grants and scholarships to awards and CSR programs, Submittable partners with users to make a difference. The vendor states Submittable has supported over 95,000 social impact programs, receiving nearly 20 million applications, and that teams save an average of 12 hours per week and launch in an average of 14 days.
$10,000
per year
Pricing
Google FormsSubmittable
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Google FormsSubmittable
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoYes
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Google FormsSubmittable
Considered Both Products
Google Forms

No answer on this topic

Submittable
Chose Submittable
There is no contest. Google Forms is easy and free, but has severely limited customization options, and 0 review process. I love how I have everything in one platform with Submittable.
Chose Submittable
Submittable vs Google Forms is a no-brainer. Yes, you have to make a profile for Submittable, but it takes only a few minutes. Google Forms doesn't have an intuitive or easy way to sort applications or provide a review process. With Submittable, we can track multiple projects …
Chose Submittable
As a user seeking a seamless form creation experience, I can confidently say that Submittable exceeds all expectations with its diverse range of options and efficient backend processes. From the moment I started using it, I was impressed by the abundance of features and the …
Chose Submittable
When it comes to collecting applications, no one beats Submittable in terms of features and functionality. With other software we used, there were far too many limitations, including having to manually download data, inability to use logic for fields, and no analytics. The …
Chose Submittable
Submittable has so many functionalities which helps me when I need to ask applicants very specific questions or branch applicants off into differing categories. It is simple yet thorough.
Chose Submittable
For the price, Submittable offered the features we need in terms of accepting multiple file types, large files, unlimited submissions and participants, and user-friendly design. Other products may limit files, file types, file sizes, or other components that would not work for …
Features
Google FormsSubmittable
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
Submittable
-
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
Submittable
-
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
Submittable
-
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
Submittable
-
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
Submittable
-
Ratings
Access controls8.0112 Ratings00 Ratings
Compliance8.189 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
Submittable
-
Ratings
Vendor-offered crowdsourcing7.941 Ratings00 Ratings
Respondent restrictions7.687 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Google FormsSubmittable
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Score 9.7 out of 10
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Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Qualaroo
Qualaroo
Score 6.1 out of 10
MIP Fund Accounting
MIP Fund Accounting
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Verint Voice of the Customer
Verint Voice of the Customer
Score 9.3 out of 10
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Score 8.2 out of 10
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User Ratings
Google FormsSubmittable
Likelihood to Recommend
9.7
(116 ratings)
8.7
(82 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(3 ratings)
10.0
(6 ratings)
Usability
9.2
(56 ratings)
7.9
(79 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(3 ratings)
Performance
10.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(3 ratings)
Support Rating
8.0
(48 ratings)
10.0
(5 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
8.1
(2 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(4 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(3 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
-
(0 ratings)
8.3
(4 ratings)
Product Scalability
3.0
(1 ratings)
7.0
(3 ratings)
Professional Services
-
(0 ratings)
9.4
(2 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(3 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(3 ratings)
User Testimonials
Google FormsSubmittable
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
Submittable
Submittable is great for grant management, grantmaking, and scholarship awards. It's a very useful tool also when there are multiple reviewers and committees involved in the assessment of the application. The table feature is helpful, but to download the information in a usable report is a pain. Overall a very useful tool for funding.
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.
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Submittable
  • Form-logic: Allows application forms to adjust based on answers to crucial questions (if-then-else) so that all applications don't have to see extended questions that may not apply to them or their situation.
  • Messaging Platform: This platform allows interactions with applicants or internal review teams to be associated with the specific submission, allowing for an easier, complete view of an application being considered and as an audit trail.
  • Good Voting/Polling Management: It makes it easier to record the latest vote/feedback from assigned team members and allows customization of the vote/feedback review as a form. It also summarizes the votes for easy review in a submissions dashboard view.
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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
Submittable
  • We are some of the earliest users of employee volunteerism, so there have been some things to work out. However, because of that, we've gotten a lot of one-on-one support to help make minor tweaks to the system in a way that works for us.
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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
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Submittable
We use this software annually to help with our grant processes. Without it, I'd be so lost! Our team relies on the data from our past years to sift applications and we try to prioritize those who have applied and been a finalist but perhaps didn't win in years prior
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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.
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Submittable
A submittable requires a great deal of thought to set up. It would be best if you really did an outline and flowcharting. Once you have a detailed plan and set up the system, you have to think of the process that you would manually do step-by-step to deal with the what-ifs; it’s beautiful. The ability to Clone events is invaluable. The onboarding can be complex, but the ease of use afterward is worth it.
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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
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Submittable
We have thankfully never experienced an outage nor been affected by a technology issue on Submittable's side that has delayed our grant process. We have instead been able to distribute over $6M in donated dollars to AAPI small business owners because Submittable is trustworthy and available
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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.
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Submittable
We've had a quick and efficient submittable experience that has always been easy to use. When we need a report it downloads within seconds, even the larger reports are 30 seconds or less to download. Pages are quick to load and reports complete in a more than reasonable time frame
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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.
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Submittable
I think that they are good at answering our questions and solving our problems. We occasionally get reports from applicants about problems the Submittable team has not solved, but I do not know what the applicant has done to get the problem solved.
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In-Person Training
Google
No answers on this topic
Submittable
We have been using this for many years but my memory is that we had a
human walk us through how to use basic features. We also used the
resource library to learn about specific topics or issues as they came
up.
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Online Training
Google
No answers on this topic
Submittable
10/10 because we were able to meet virtually and still get all of our questions answered! Online was effective too because we could easily record the sessions and review them later. Since we had to onboard our reviewers virtually, it was actually convenient that this was the same method we learned how to use the entire program virtually too.
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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.
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Submittable
I would say, provide Submittable as much detailed information on your planned use of the platform and your desires with the platform as possible, and the implementation will be tailored to accommodate your organization with minimal lag time and issues/problems.
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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.
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Submittable
Submittable isn't in the same league as these other platforms. It's trying to get there but it's been a rocky road. Neither customer support nor the account people we've dealt with at Submittable seem particularly knowledgeable about how the product actually works for foundations and can't provide detailed recommendations for how to use the product more effectively. The decision to use Submittable was made before I came on board. We are moving to another platform next year, probably SmartSimple.
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Google
No answers on this topic
Submittable
I wish we could choose our own number of applications we want for the year and have the price be changed because we are in-between buyable numbers and always have to add more applications at the end of the year
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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.
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Submittable
We have been easily able to grow. Not only are we able to process different applications, but Submittable makes it easy to add applications onto our plan. Additionally, their eligibility form before the application does a good job of screening applicants so we do not pay for extra applications.
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Professional Services
Google
No answers on this topic
Submittable
Very professional
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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
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Submittable
  • Time is money! Submittable has eliminated many tasks I used to do manually, thus freeing my time for other work.
  • Decreased support calls and emails from applicants- Our applicants are able to successfully access and apply for our grants.
  • No internal IT support needed to use this platform. That team is able to focus on their larger business projects and needs.
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