- Google Forms and Microsoft Forms in one table
- What Google Forms does with your answers
- How Microsoft Forms fits a Microsoft 365 office
- The ceiling Microsoft names for its own tool
- Which kind of business suits which form tool
- Plain advice on picking between Google and Microsoft forms
- Frequently asked questions
Google Forms suits businesses that already live in Google Sheets and Drive and want quick surveys and graded quizzes. Microsoft Forms suits teams signed into Microsoft 365 who want results flowing into Excel, OneDrive and Teams. Neither vendor's page names a price for the forms tool itself, so the account your team already uses is the real deciding factor.
These two do the same everyday job. Both build surveys, quizzes and polls, both show responses as they arrive, and both let you add logic so people only see the questions that apply to them. The difference is the office suite wrapped around each one, and that shapes everything from how you sign in to where your answers end up. I've read both companies' own help pages for this comparison and kept to what they say.
Google Forms and Microsoft Forms in one table
| Google Forms | Microsoft Forms | |
|---|---|---|
| How you get in | A Google Account, starting at forms.google.com or from Sheets or Drive | A Microsoft 365 work or school login, or a personal Microsoft account (Hotmail, Live or Outlook.com) |
| Question types | Multiple types on a drag-and-drop editor, including short answer, multiple choice, checkboxes, dropdown and grids | Choice, Text, Rating and Date, plus Ranking, Likert, File upload and Net Promoter Score |
| Logic | Show relevant questions based on previous answers | Branching, set under more settings on each question |
| Where answers go | Live automated charts, with raw data exported to Google Sheets | Live results, with Forms for Excel on OneDrive for work or school |
| Quiz grading | Answer key, points per question and automatic score summaries | Correct answer marks, results per student and a Math option for symbols and formulas |
| AI help with quizzes | Not mentioned on the help pages | Copilot drafts quizzes, with a Microsoft 365 account and a Copilot licence |
| Text limits | None set out in the help pages | Titles up to 90 characters, descriptions up to 1,000 |
| Look and branding | Premade templates, plus theme and font changes | Custom themes; Microsoft points to Dynamics 365 Customer Voice for advanced branding |
What Google Forms does with your answers
Google Docs Editors Help describes the tool simply: create online surveys, quizzes and forms, send them out, then analyse the responses in real time. You can start a blank form at forms.google.com, or begin inside Google Sheets or Drive. Start from Sheets and the answers go straight into a new sheet, which is handy if you're already tracking leads or bookings there.
Sharing is flexible. Google's Workspace page says you can send a form by email, post it on social media or embed it on a website, and you can add collaborators who build and read results with you. It also says files created in Forms are encrypted in transit and at rest, and that signed-in respondents get their progress saved as a draft for 30 days, which helps with long applications.
The quiz side is where Google goes further than most people expect:
- Turn any form into a quiz in Settings, then set an answer key on short answer, multiple choice, checkbox, dropdown and grid questions.
- Give each question its own points value.
- Add feedback to answers as written text or as a YouTube video, so someone who gets it wrong can watch the explanation.
- Read automatic summaries of frequently missed questions, graphs marked with the correct answers, and the average, median and range of scores.
How Microsoft Forms fits a Microsoft 365 office
Microsoft Support puts it this way: with Microsoft Forms you can create surveys, quizzes and polls and see results as they come in. You sign in with a Microsoft 365 work or school account or a personal Microsoft account, and you can also reach it from the Microsoft 365 icons on Office.com. Your form saves itself while you build it.
Its question types lean towards feedback and research: Ranking, Likert, File upload and Net Promoter Score all sit one click away from the basics. For quizzes, there's a Math question option for symbols and formulas, branching under more settings, and rich real-time analytics with results for each student. You can export quiz results to Excel for deeper analysis.
- Copilot can draft quizzes for you, but Microsoft's quiz page says you'll need a Microsoft 365 account and a Copilot licence to use it.
- Forms for Excel only works with OneDrive for work or school and new team sites connected with Microsoft 365 Groups.
- Form titles stop at 90 characters and descriptions at 1,000, so long instructions belong in a section.
The ceiling Microsoft names for its own tool
Here's the detail most comparisons miss. Microsoft's own support page tells anyone who wants more advanced branding, question types and data analysis to try Dynamics 365 Customer Voice. That's a plain signal that Forms is built for quick internal surveys, quizzes and polls, not for heavily branded customer research. Google doesn't name a bigger sibling for Forms in the same way, but its tool covers similar ground: templates, logic, quizzes and export to a spreadsheet.
The other thing worth knowing is that neither vendor's page names a price for the forms tool itself. Your access comes through the account you already hold, a Google Account on one side and a Microsoft 365 or personal Microsoft account on the other. If you need payment collection, heavy branding or complex workflows, my round-up of online form builders for business covers tools built for that, and there's a separate list of Google Forms alternatives if you've outgrown it.
Which kind of business suits which form tool
Google Forms sits comfortably with small businesses, coaches, trainers and agencies that already use Gmail, Drive and Sheets. Customer feedback, event sign-ups, course quizzes and simple order requests all work well, and the YouTube feedback option makes it a quiet favourite for anyone running training.
Microsoft Forms sits comfortably with companies that run on Microsoft 365, where staff already sign in to Teams, Outlook and OneDrive every morning. Staff polls, internal training quizzes, quick Net Promoter Score checks and file collection from colleagues are its home ground. If you're weighing a dedicated survey platform instead, see my list of SurveyMonkey alternatives.
Want AI doing the heavy lifting in your marketing?
I build the systems that handle the boring 80 percent, so you get your week back. Done properly, with the human kept in.
Plain advice on picking between Google and Microsoft forms
Pick Google Forms if your team works in Google Sheets and Drive, or if you want graded quizzes with video feedback. Pick Microsoft Forms if everyone already signs in to Microsoft 365 and you'd like results landing in Excel and OneDrive without extra steps. I'd skip switching suites just for the form builder; the one inside the account you already use will nearly always serve you better.
- Check which account your respondents and colleagues already have.
- Decide where you want the answers to live: a Google Sheet or an Excel workbook.
- Build one real form in your chosen tool and send it to two colleagues before you roll it out.
Picking a form tool is mostly about where you want the answers to end up once people have filled it in. I run AI training and workshops for teams, and help businesses with AI enablement and workflow automation, so the busywork runs itself and people get time back. Most of that work is with SaaS marketing teams and small businesses. Here's how we can work together.
Do you make an online form or survey tool? Tool makers can ask to be considered for a featured place in comparisons like this one.
Want your tool on this list? Featured spots and reviews here are paid partnerships. Here's how to partner with me.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a Microsoft 365 account to use Microsoft Forms?
Not always. Microsoft Support says you can sign in with Microsoft 365 work or school credentials, or with a personal Microsoft account such as Hotmail, Live or Outlook.com.
Can Google Forms grade quizzes automatically?
Yes. Turn on Make this a quiz in Settings, set an answer key and points, and Google shows score summaries including the average, median and range.
Where do Microsoft Forms results go?
You see results as they come in, and you can export quiz results to Excel. Forms for Excel works with OneDrive for work or school and team sites connected with Microsoft 365 Groups.
Does Microsoft Forms have AI?
Copilot can draft quizzes in Microsoft Forms, but Microsoft says you need a Microsoft 365 account and a Copilot licence to use it.
Which one is better for branded customer surveys?
Neither is aimed at heavy branding. Microsoft's own support page points people who want advanced branding, question types and analysis to Dynamics 365 Customer Voice.
