Top 10 Microsoft Forms Alternatives in 2025
Discover better form builders with in-depth comparisons, AI features, and FAQs
In this article
- Cheat Sheet Summary
- Introduction
- SuperSurvey
- SurveyMonkey
- Google Forms
- Jotform
- Typeform
- Formstack
- Qualtrics
- Zoho Survey
- SurveySparrow
- Wufoo
- Comparison Table
- FAQs
- References
2-Minute Cheat Sheet
- Top Pick: SuperSurvey – AI-driven survey creation in seconds, world’s largest template library (10,000+), trusted by thousands since 2010, advanced analytics & lightning-fast results.
- Free & Simple: Google Forms – completely free within Google Workspace, ultra-easy interface with real-time collaboration, great for basic questionnaires and quizzes.
- Industry Standard: SurveyMonkey – robust question types and analysis tools, used by 98% of Fortune 500 companies, offers templates and powerful analytics on paid plans.
- Conversational UX: Typeform – interactive one-question-at-a-time design for higher engagement, sleek and modern forms with logic jumps, ideal for feedback and lead forms.
- Enterprise Power: Qualtrics – enterprise-grade survey platform with advanced logic and analytics, a recognized leader in feedback management, best for large-scale professional research.
Microsoft Forms: Great but Not Perfect
Microsoft Forms is part of the Office 365 suite, enabling users to create basic surveys, quizzes, and polls quickly. It’s handy for simple feedback forms or quizzes inside organizations, but it has some significant limitations that drive users to seek alternatives. From limited question types and design options to lack of advanced logic and third-party integrations, Microsoft Forms can feel basic for anyone needing more than the essentials. For instance, you can’t easily collect payments, add extensive branching logic, or deeply customize the branding on Microsoft Forms. If you require features like AI-driven analysis, rich templates, or enterprise-grade analytics, it’s time to explore other solutions.
Luckily, there are many Microsoft Forms competitors in 2025 that cater to a variety of needs. Whether you’re a teacher looking for a fun way to quiz students, a business aiming to gather customer feedback with advanced analytics, or an event organizer needing custom registration forms, there’s a tool better suited for the job. This article breaks down the top 10 Microsoft Forms alternatives – from free form builders to robust survey platforms – highlighting their advantages, drawbacks, and ideal use cases. Read on to find the perfect form tool for your needs and say goodbye to the confines of Microsoft Forms!
1. Microsoft Forms vs SuperSurvey
SuperSurvey is an advanced AI-powered survey platform that outshines Microsoft Forms in almost every aspect. While Microsoft Forms handles basic surveys, SuperSurvey leverages cutting-edge artificial intelligence to help you create surveys in a flash and analyze results with ease. It has been in the game for over 15 years and boasts the world’s largest library of survey templates, so you’re never starting from scratch. Unlike Microsoft Forms’ limited question types and design, SuperSurvey offers a rich array of question formats, extensive branding customization, and seamless integration with other tools. It’s also built for speed and scale – surveys load fast, and the analytics dashboard gives real-time insights far beyond the simple charts of MS Forms.
- Advantages: AI-assisted survey creation and analysis (get suggestions for questions and insights instantly); 10,000+ pre-built templates covering every industry (largest template library available); 15+ years of proven reliability with thousands of businesses as users; advanced logic branching and piping that Microsoft Forms can’t do; in-depth analytics and reporting dashboards; integrations with CRM, email marketing, and other apps for workflow automation.
- Disadvantages: The vast feature set can be a bit overwhelming for absolute beginners used to the simplicity of MS Forms; primarily offered as a cloud service (no on-premises option) – not an issue for most, but those seeking a self-hosted or open-source tool will need a different solution.
- Best suited for: Professionals, educators, and enterprises who want a powerful, AI-driven survey tool that scales from small polls to large research studies. If you need more intelligence, templates, and customization than Microsoft Forms provides – without sacrificing ease of use – SuperSurvey is ideal. It’s great for anyone from HR teams running employee engagement surveys to marketers doing customer research, all while getting faster insights and higher-quality data.
2. Microsoft Forms vs SurveyMonkey
SurveyMonkey is one of the most famous online survey tools and a strong alternative to Microsoft Forms. Both tools let you create surveys, but SurveyMonkey offers far more depth in question types (e.g. Likert scales, matrix grids, ranking questions) and analysis features. Unlike Microsoft Forms, SurveyMonkey provides extensive customization – you can brand surveys with your logo and colors, choose from numerous themes, and utilize skip logic to direct respondents through different paths. It also has a huge user base and community; in fact, SurveyMonkey has paying users in 98% of Fortune 500 companies, reflecting its reputation and trust that go well beyond what MS Forms has achieved.
- Advantages: Extremely versatile with dozens of question types and advanced survey logic; library of expert-written survey templates (150+ templates for various industries) to jump-start your form design; robust analytics including trend analysis, filtering, and statistical significance indication; option to collect responses via web link, email, mobile, or even buy targeted respondent samples via SurveyMonkey’s Audience panel; integrates with lots of third-party apps (Slack, Mailchimp, Salesforce, etc.) to fit into your workflow; enterprise-level security and compliance (SOC2, HIPAA plans) making it suitable for corporate use.
- Disadvantages: The free plan is limited (capped number of questions and responses) – useful for a quick one-off survey but not sufficient for regular use; pricing for advanced plans can get expensive, especially if you need multiple users or advanced features like exporting data to SPSS; the interface, while fairly easy, isn’t as instantly simple as Microsoft Forms for absolute beginners; some users find that in-depth customizations (like complex themes or custom domains) require the highest-tier (Enterprise) plan.
- Best suited for: Teams and individuals who need a professional survey platform with a proven track record. If you’re running customer satisfaction surveys, market research, or any project where insights are critical, SurveyMonkey is a top choice. It’s perfect for marketers, researchers, and educators who want more power and analysis than MS Forms – for example, using logic to direct respondents to different follow-up questions, or analyzing results across multiple surveys. Small businesses can start on the free tier to gather basic feedback, then upgrade as needs grow.
3. Microsoft Forms vs Google Forms
Google Forms is a popular free alternative that parallels Microsoft Forms in concept – both are simple form builders from tech giants. The key difference is ecosystem: MS Forms lives in Office 365, while Google Forms lives in Google’s world. With Google Forms, anyone with a Google account can create unlimited forms and surveys at no cost. It’s exceptionally easy to use: just add questions, choose answer types (multiple choice, checkboxes, short answer, etc.), and send out the form. Google Forms shines in collaboration: multiple people can edit a form simultaneously in real-time, something Microsoft Forms doesn’t support as fluidly. It also integrates natively with Google Sheets, so responses can feed directly into a spreadsheet for analysis or record-keeping – great for teachers collecting assignments or teams tracking event sign-ups.
- Advantages: Completely free with no subscription hurdles – an accessible choice for anyone on a budget; intuitive interface with drag-and-drop question reordering and basic themes; real-time response tracking and automatic summary graphs for quick insights; allows adding images or YouTube videos to questions (useful for quizzes or visual surveys); simple conditional logic (you can direct users to different sections based on their answers, suitable for basic branching); strong collaboration features (share forms with colleagues to build together, just like a Google Doc).
- Disadvantages: Limited customization and branding – you can’t heavily style a Google Form beyond selecting pre-set colors or themes, which is a drawback for businesses wanting a branded look; fewer question types and options than most other dedicated survey tools (e.g. there’s no matrix table question in Google Forms, whereas Microsoft Forms and others have Likert scales); lacks advanced logic and text piping features found in more sophisticated tools; no built-in integrations beyond Google’s own services (to connect with other apps, you’d need Zapier or similar); while great for simple surveys, it provides minimal analytics – you often have to do deeper analysis in Google Sheets or export data manually.
- Best suited for: Students, educators, and individuals or small organizations that need a quick, no-frills form solution. Google Forms is fantastic for things like event registrations, simple questionnaires, signup sheets, or feedback surveys where design isn’t critical. If you primarily need to gather information internally or from a known group and you value speed and ease over advanced features, Google Forms is ideal. It’s also a top choice for anyone already in the Google ecosystem (using Gmail, Docs, etc.) who wants their form responses neatly organized in a Google Sheet without extra effort.
4. Microsoft Forms vs Jotform
Jotform is a powerful online form builder that offers far greater flexibility than Microsoft Forms. It’s often used for creating lead capture forms, payment forms, registrations, and surveys that need more customization. Where Microsoft Forms is straightforward but limited, Jotform provides a drag-and-drop form editor with an enormous template library (over 10,000 form templates for all kinds of purposes) and hundreds of form widgets to add special fields (like e-signatures, file uploads, appointment schedulers, etc.). Jotform also supports collecting payments directly within forms via dozens of payment gateway integrations – something you cannot do with MS Forms out of the box. Essentially, Jotform turns form building into a feature-rich experience, suitable for complex needs that Microsoft Forms cannot meet (for example, creating a multi-page event registration form with conditional sections and payment collection).
- Advantages: Huge number of pre-designed templates and themes to get started quickly (from contact forms to satisfaction surveys to order forms); easy drag-and-drop customization – you can adjust layouts, add your branding, or insert widgets (like image sliders or terms & conditions checkboxes) in seconds; supports integrations with popular apps like Google Sheets, Dropbox, PayPal/Stripe, CRM systems and more, so form data can flow into your other tools; can embed forms on your website and even customize the form’s CSS for full control over appearance; has a mobile app (Jotform Mobile Forms) allowing offline data collection, which is beyond what MS Forms offers.
- Disadvantages: The generous features come with usage limits – free plan users are limited in number of forms (5), form submissions per month (100), and storage; as your needs grow, the cost can increase significantly for higher-tier plans (especially if you need to remove Jotform branding or use your own domain); very complex forms with lots of widgets might load a bit slower, and using many custom scripts can sometimes affect performance; some advanced capabilities (like adding fully custom JavaScript or using a custom domain for forms) are only available on the Enterprise plan.
- Best suited for: Small businesses, nonprofits, and power users who need highly customizable forms that can do more than just surveys. If you’re running online orders, registrations, or any process where you want the form to match your brand and possibly take payments, Jotform is a great choice. Event coordinators can use it for sign-ups, salespeople for lead forms integrated to CRM, and web developers for embedding interactive forms on sites. Essentially, if Microsoft Forms feels too basic for your project – for example, you need an order form with calculations or a survey with attachments – Jotform will likely meet those requirements with ease.
5. Microsoft Forms vs Typeform
Typeform is an innovative form platform known for its one-question-at-a-time interface, which provides a conversational, engaging experience for respondents. This is a stark contrast to Microsoft Forms’ traditional layout of many questions on one page. By showing only one question at a time – with big, visually pleasing input fields – Typeform makes taking a survey feel more like having a chat. The result is often higher completion rates and a more enjoyable experience for the user. Besides the unique format, Typeform offers solid features like logic jumps (to skip or alter questions based on prior answers) and integrations with tools such as Slack, Google Sheets, and HubSpot. If Microsoft Forms comes off as utilitarian, Typeform comes off as sleek and user-centric, which is why it’s often used for marketing surveys, customer feedback, and lead generation forms where user engagement is key.
- Advantages: Beautiful, minimalistic design that can be customized with background images, videos, and themes – your forms look polished and on-brand; high engagement – respondents are more likely to complete the form because they focus on one question at a time without seeing a daunting list; supports multimedia in questions (you can have picture choice questions, video-based questions, etc., which MS Forms doesn’t support natively); offers logic jumps and calculations, enabling you to create personalized question paths and even score quizzes or tally costs; integrates with a variety of apps and has webhooks for developers, so collecting and routing data to other systems is straightforward.
- Disadvantages: Pricing can be a barrier – Typeform’s free plan has very tight limits (10 responses per month and 10 questions per form at the time of writing), so most serious usage requires a paid plan, which can be relatively expensive compared to other form tools; not ideal for very long or complex surveys that might be better presented all at once or in sections (the conversational format works best for up to, say, 20 questions – beyond that it can feel tedious); some advanced features common in other tools (like in-depth analytics or certain question types like matrix grids) are not present, as Typeform’s philosophy focuses on simplicity and user experience over feature bloat; forms might load a bit slower than a plain form (due to the dynamic one-by-one interface), which could be an issue for users on slow connections.
- Best suited for: Customer-facing surveys and forms where user experience matters most. Typeform is perfect for things like customer satisfaction surveys, product feedback forms, interactive quizzes, or signup forms that need to make a great impression. Startups and marketers love Typeform for its ability to capture leads in a friendly way, and educators might use it for engaging questionnaires. If you find Microsoft Forms too bland or notice people dropping off your forms, Typeform could be the solution to keep respondents hooked. It’s also a top pick for mobile-responsive surveys – the experience on a smartphone is arguably better than with MS Forms because of Typeform’s scrolling, chat-like flow.
6. Microsoft Forms vs Formstack
Formstack is a powerful form builder and workflow automation platform geared toward businesses, making it a robust alternative to Microsoft Forms for organizations that need more than simple surveys. With Microsoft Forms, what you see is what you get – a basic form and a spreadsheet of responses. Formstack, on the other hand, goes further by allowing you to create complex forms that tie into business processes. For example, you can build a form that not only collects data but also triggers approval workflows, generates documents, or routes information to different team members. It has a drag-and-drop builder like MS Forms, but with many more field types (e.g. e-signature fields, file uploads) and conditional sections to show/hide parts of the form based on input. Formstack also emphasizes integrations and has a collection of productivity tools (like Formstack Documents for document generation and Formstack Sign for e-signatures), which turn it into an all-in-one workplace solution beyond just forms.
- Advantages: Advanced form features such as save-and-resume (let users save progress and continue later), calculated fields, and multi-page forms – far beyond Microsoft Forms’ capabilities; built-in workflow automation where a form submission can notify specific people, trigger an approval or review process, or send data to other systems without manual steps; numerous integrations (native connections with Salesforce, HubSpot, PayPal, etc.) and an open API, enabling form data to flow into CRM, databases, or project management tools seamlessly; strong focus on security and compliance – offers HIPAA-compliant plans for healthcare and encryption options to protect sensitive data; Formstack also includes optimization tools like A/B testing for forms and analytics to pinpoint where users might be dropping off, helping businesses improve their form completion rates.
- Disadvantages: Primarily designed for paid use – Formstack doesn’t really have a free-forever tier (usually it’s a free trial, then paid), so it’s not as accessible for casual or personal use as Microsoft Forms or some others; cost can be significant for full-feature plans, which may include limits on submissions or form quantity, making it most suitable for organizations with a forms budget; because of its breadth, there’s a learning curve to mastering all the features (workflow setup, advanced integrations) – it’s more complex than MS Forms, which might be overkill if all you needed was a basic suggestion box; the form styling options, while good, may require some CSS knowledge to make truly bespoke designs, whereas something like Typeform yields a gorgeous form out of the box.
- Best suited for: Medium to large businesses, or small businesses in regulated industries, that need reliable, secure data collection integrated with their daily operations. If you’re running, say, a multi-step application process (job applications, loan applications, etc.), an internal request system (like IT requests or HR requests), or any scenario where a submission should kick off a series of actions, Formstack is ideal. It’s commonly used by administrative teams, IT departments, and operations managers who need forms to talk to other software (e.g., send a sales lead into Salesforce, or generate a PDF contract from a form entry). In short, for mission-critical forms that do more than just collect data – that’s Formstack’s sweet spot, far beyond the reach of Microsoft Forms.
7. Microsoft Forms vs Qualtrics
Qualtrics is an enterprise-grade survey and experience management platform that dwarfs Microsoft Forms in terms of capabilities. Microsoft Forms is fine for quick polls or quizzes, but Qualtrics is built for deep insights and complex survey research. Originally born in academia (and now used by many universities and Fortune 500 companies), Qualtrics allows you to design intricate surveys with dozens of question types, logic branching, embedded data, and even conjoint analysis or experimental designs. It doesn’t stop at data collection – Qualtrics includes powerful analytical tools, from text sentiment analysis to statistical breakdowns, and can distribute surveys across multiple channels (email, web, mobile, social media) easily. Essentially, using Qualtrics is like moving from a bicycle (MS Forms) to a high-end car for survey-taking – it gets you much further, but it requires more skill to drive and a bigger budget.
- Advantages: Unmatched flexibility in survey building – supports complex skip logic, display logic, question randomization, survey flow control, and even custom scripting for truly advanced scenarios; library of question types including things like heat maps, drill-down menus, and file upload, far beyond the basics of MS Forms; enterprise-level data analysis and reporting tools – you can create dashboards, run cross-tab analysis, and use Qualtrics iQ (with AI) to do text analysis or statistical analyses on the responses; very strong on distribution and panel management – e.g., send personalized survey emails, manage contact lists, and track response history over time; highly secure and compliant – Qualtrics can be configured for HIPAA, GDPR, FedRAMP, etc., and it’s trusted for sensitive data (many government and healthcare surveys run on Qualtrics); integration options with CRM systems, analytics platforms, and more, plus an API for custom integration.
- Disadvantages: Cost is typically the biggest barrier – Qualtrics is one of the pricier solutions on the market, usually sold via annual licenses to organizations (often running into tens of thousands of dollars for enterprise agreements); not designed for casual users or simple use cases – the interface, while modern, is loaded with options and assumes a level of research savvy, meaning a novice might feel overwhelmed compared to the simplicity of Microsoft Forms; requires training to fully utilize (Qualtrics offers training resources and certifications for this reason); overkill for basic needs – if you just need a quick survey or quiz, Qualtrics will be like using a sledgehammer on a thumbtack.
- Best suited for: Large enterprises, research organizations, universities, and any institution that runs large-scale surveys or feedback programs. If you’re conducting scientific research, extensive customer experience (CX) surveys, employee engagement programs across a big company, or multi-country market research, Qualtrics is often the go-to. It’s ideal for analysts and professionals who need precision and advanced analytics – for example, a consumer insights team studying product feedback in detail, or an academic gathering thousands of responses for a study. For those users, Microsoft Forms isn’t even in the same conversation; Qualtrics provides the depth and reliability they require.
8. Microsoft Forms vs Zoho Survey
Zoho Survey (part of the Zoho business software suite) presents a capable alternative to Microsoft Forms, especially for users who already leverage Zoho’s other applications. In terms of functionality, Zoho Survey is closer to SurveyMonkey’s style than to the pared-down Microsoft Forms. It allows unlimited surveys even on its free plan (with some limits on responses), and offers features like skip logic, piping (carrying forward answers into later questions), and custom themes. The interface is straightforward and user-friendly, not dramatically different from MS Forms, but with more options tucked under the hood. Zoho Survey also benefits from native integration with Zoho CRM, Zoho Analytics, and other tools in the Zoho ecosystem, making it convenient if your organization runs on Zoho. For someone using Microsoft Forms who needs a step up in features without going to an enterprise level, Zoho Survey can be a smooth transition.
- Advantages: Generous offerings even at low cost – for example, Zoho’s free plan allows up to 100 responses per survey with unlimited surveys, which is handy for small projects; supports multilingual surveys out-of-the-box, letting you create one survey in multiple languages to reach a broader audience (Microsoft Forms lacks this capability natively); has templates and question libraries to speed up survey creation; provides real-time reporting and can send you notifications for responses; direct integration with other Zoho apps (CRM, Sheets, etc.) and also offers integrations with Google Sheets and MailChimp among others, to streamline data handling; pricing is relatively affordable compared to some competitors, and you can pay monthly for flexibility.
- Disadvantages: Template designs and customization are somewhat limited – the themes are decent but not as modern or slick as Typeform or even SurveyMonkey (users looking for very polished visuals might find Zoho’s styles a bit plain); not as widely used or supported by third-party integrations as some top players, so you might not find as many external plugins or community-built add-ons; some advanced features like white-labeling (removing Zoho branding) or very large response counts require higher-tier plans; the user community and support resources, while present, are smaller than Microsoft’s, meaning troubleshooting might rely more on official Zoho support for tricky issues.
- Best suited for: Small to mid-sized businesses and freelancers, especially those who already use Zoho products. If you’re managing customer surveys or event feedback and want someone a bit more feature-rich than Microsoft Forms without venturing into expensive territory, Zoho Survey is a good fit. It’s great for cross-functional teams that might use survey data in CRM or in reports — for instance, a customer service team gathering feedback and automatically pushing it into Zoho CRM tickets. Also, organizations with international audiences can benefit from Zoho Survey’s multilingual support. In short, it’s a balanced, moderately advanced tool for everyday survey needs, filling the gap between basic and enterprise solutions.
9. Microsoft Forms vs SurveySparrow
SurveySparrow is a modern survey tool that differentiates itself with chat-like surveys and an emphasis on user experience. If Microsoft Forms feels static and impersonal, SurveySparrow tries to make surveys more conversational. It offers two modes for every survey: “Chat” (which presents one question at a time in a messaging style interface) and “Form” (a more traditional layout). This flexibility means you can engage respondents in a friendly chat format on your website or via a link, which can increase response rates. SurveySparrow also includes features like recurring surveys (for sending out surveys on a schedule, say monthly pulse surveys) and offline surveys (collecting data without internet, then syncing). It’s a relatively new player compared to Microsoft Forms, but it’s gained popularity for its fresh approach to collecting feedback.
- Advantages: Conversational UI option that can make taking a survey more interactive and less of a chore, leading to better completion rates; easy to use interface with robust features like skip logic, case management for responses (e.g., you can flag certain responses for follow-up), and NPS (Net Promoter Score) question types for customer feedback; supports integration with tools like Slack, Intercom, Google Analytics, and Zapier, which is useful for automating workflows (for example, get a Slack alert when a new survey response comes in); provides ability to customize surveys extensively – you can white-label the survey URL/domain on paid plans, and the design is fairly flexible; offers insightful reporting with features to filter and compare results, plus accept payments through integrations if needed (great for order forms or paid event registrations).
- Disadvantages: The free plan is limited in responses (often capped at a low number per month), so to use SurveySparrow for anything beyond testing, a paid plan is necessary; while improving, the platform is not as feature-saturated as some older competitors – for instance, it might lack certain question types or advanced analytics that specialized enterprise tools offer; users looking to deeply customize CSS or add very advanced custom code might find it restrictive (SurveySparrow provides theming but not full code control); some features like custom domain or removing branding are only in higher-tier plans, which could be a downside for small businesses on a tight budget; being a newer company, it doesn’t yet have the vast community or support content that Microsoft’s offerings have, although their support team is active and receptive.
- Best suited for: Startups, small to medium businesses, and any scenario where keeping survey respondents engaged is a top priority. SurveySparrow is an excellent choice for customer feedback surveys, employee engagement polls, or website pop-up questionnaires where a conversational touch might yield more answers. It appeals to product managers and UX researchers who want to avoid survey fatigue by making forms feel fun and interactive. If you’ve outgrown the basics of Microsoft Forms and want a tool that gives a modern spin to surveys – without going into enterprise complexity – SurveySparrow hits the sweet spot. It’s especially useful if you plan to embed surveys in apps or websites in chat format, creating an approachable vibe for feedback collection.
10. Microsoft Forms vs Wufoo
Wufoo is a long-standing online form builder that, like Microsoft Forms, focuses on simplicity, but it has been around much longer (since the mid-2000s). Now a part of the SurveyMonkey family, Wufoo provides a drag-and-drop form creator that is very easy to use, making it a quick alternative to Microsoft Forms for basic form needs. With Wufoo you can create contact forms, surveys, registrations, and more with a bit more flexibility than MS Forms – for example, you can embed forms on your website and style them, collect payments via integrations, and use many field types. However, Wufoo’s interface and capabilities have not significantly advanced in recent years, so it feels a bit dated compared to newer tools. If Microsoft Forms’ biggest draw is its simplicity, Wufoo offers a similar ease-of-use while being slightly more feature-rich in some areas (like allowing file uploads or payments), yet it doesn’t venture into the complex survey features of others on this list.
- Advantages: User-friendly form designer that beginners can pick up quickly – you can build a form by selecting field types (text, dropdown, rating, etc.) and arranging them as desired; includes useful field options that MS Forms lacks, such as file upload fields, photo attachments, and payment fields (integrating with Stripe, PayPal, Authorize.net for simple transactions); provides a gallery of form templates for common needs (job application, party RSVP, customer satisfaction, etc.), saving time in setup; offers basic logic rules (called “Field Rules”) to show or hide fields based on answers, enabling more interactive forms than a static MS Form; data can be viewed in Wufoo with simple analytics or exported to Excel/Google Sheets for analysis, and you can get email notifications for new submissions.
- Disadvantages: The interface and form themes appear somewhat outdated by 2025 standards unless you customize the CSS heavily; the free plan is limited to 5 forms and 100 entries per month, which isn’t much if you have many respondents, and higher plans add cost quickly (it may not be cost-effective compared to more modern competitors offering more features for similar price); integration options are relatively limited out-of-the-box (though Zapier can extend this), and it doesn’t have the depth of analytics or question logic that other survey tools have introduced; being owned by SurveyMonkey, there’s some overlap in use-cases – for pure surveys, SurveyMonkey’s own toolset has largely outpaced Wufoo, leaving Wufoo primarily as a forms builder for simple web forms.
- Best suited for: Individuals or small organizations that need to create simple forms to embed in websites or share via link, and value quick setup over cutting-edge features. Wufoo is handy for basic contact forms on a website, simple order forms for a small shop, or event RSVPs – especially if you want the convenience of built-in payment collection or file uploads that Microsoft Forms doesn’t provide. Web designers who need to add a straightforward form to a site might choose Wufoo for its embeddability. If you’re content with a slightly retro look and just need a reliable, easy form builder with more flexibility than MS Forms (but don’t need all the bells and whistles of newer platforms), Wufoo still gets the job done for those scenarios.
Survey Tools Comparison Table
Here’s a quick side-by-side comparison of all 10 Microsoft Forms alternatives discussed above. This cheat sheet highlights each tool’s key strengths and who they’re ideal for, helping you identify which solution aligns best with your needs at a glance:
Alternative | Key Strengths | Ideal For |
---|---|---|
SuperSurvey (AI-Powered) | AI-generated questions & analysis, 10,000+ templates (largest library), deep customization & logic, fast insights; supersurvey.com | Businesses and power users seeking an intelligent, full-featured survey tool to replace MS Forms (great for advanced needs and large-scale surveys). |
SurveyMonkey (Popular) | Wide variety of question types, strong analytics and reporting, trusted by Fortune 500, robust templates & community support; surveymonkey.com | Organizations and individuals needing a proven, general-purpose survey platform with more depth and branding than Microsoft Forms. |
Google Forms (Free) | Completely free unlimited forms & responses, easy to use, real-time collaboration, auto-sync to Google Sheets; forms.google.com | Anyone who wants a basic, no-cost form solution for simple surveys or data collection, especially within the Google ecosystem. |
Jotform (Flexible) | Drag-and-drop builder with 10k+ templates, supports payments & file uploads, extensive widget library, many integrations; jotform.com | Users who need highly customizable forms (registrations, order forms, etc.) with features beyond surveys, and are willing to use a freemium/paid model. |
Typeform (Conversational) | One-question-at-a-time interface for engaging UX, logic jumps, sleek design options, great on mobile; typeform.com | Marketers, educators, and startups aiming to maximize response rates and user enjoyment in surveys or lead forms (and who have relatively shorter forms). |
Formstack (Workflow) | Advanced forms with workflow automation, e-signatures, conditional approvals, tons of integrations, enterprise-grade security; formstack.com | Companies that need forms tied to business processes (IT requests, applications, etc.), where Microsoft Forms falls short in automation and compliance. |
Qualtrics (Enterprise) | Powerful survey logic & analytics, supports large-scale research, multi-channel distribution, top-tier data security, CX/EX management features; qualtrics.com | Enterprise and research users conducting complex surveys or feedback programs at scale, requiring advanced analysis and reliability. |
Zoho Survey (Affordable) | Easy-to-use survey tool with skip logic & piping, integrates with Zoho suite, multi-lingual support, budget-friendly pricing; zoho.com/survey | Small to mid-size businesses (especially Zoho users) looking for more features than MS Forms without breaking the bank, for customer and employee feedback. |
SurveySparrow (Engaging) | Chat-style surveys option, clean interface with logic, recurring surveys & automation, good integration options; surveysparrow.com | Teams focused on improving response rates through conversational surveys and modern design, for use cases like customer feedback or pulse surveys. |
Wufoo (Simple) | Beginner-friendly form builder, allows file uploads and payments, quick embed on websites, owned by SurveyMonkey; wufoo.com | Individuals or small orgs needing a straightforward form to embed or share (contact forms, simple polls) with a bit more capability (attachments, payments) than Microsoft Forms. |
Below we answer some common questions about Microsoft Forms and its alternatives. Whether you’re wondering about pricing, features, or how these tools compare in specific scenarios, these FAQs cover the key points:
1. Why would I need an alternative to Microsoft Forms?
Microsoft Forms is excellent for quick, simple forms or quizzes, especially within a Microsoft 365 environment, but it has limitations that lead many users to seek alternatives. For one, it offers only basic question types and fairly limited design customization – you can’t heavily brand your forms or use advanced question formats (like matrices or sliding scales beyond what’s provided). Additionally, its conditional logic is rudimentary, and it lacks integrations with non-Microsoft tools (there’s no native way to, say, send form data directly to a CRM or email marketing platform without using Microsoft Power Automate). Alternatives to Microsoft Forms tend to offer richer features: things like AI-powered question suggestions, extensive template libraries, logic branching, multi-page forms, payment collection, and more robust analytics. If you find yourself wanting to do something that Microsoft Forms can’t – such as embed a form on your website with custom styling, collect more than just text answers, or analyze results in depth – it’s a clear sign to try an alternative. In short, while MS Forms is fine for basic needs, you’d need an alternative if you require more professional, customizable, or powerful form capabilities that can grow with your needs.
2. What is the best free alternative to Microsoft Forms?
If you’re looking for a free alternative to Microsoft Forms, Google Forms is often the top choice. Like MS Forms, Google Forms is completely free to use (all you need is a Google account) and imposes no limits on the number of forms or responses. It offers a similarly simple interface, but with the added benefits of Google’s ecosystem – for example, responses can be automatically collected in a Google Sheet for easier data manipulation. Google Forms also allows basic branching logic and has a wide variety of question types (short answer, multiple choice, dropdowns, linear scales, etc.). Another free option is SurveyMonkey’s free plan, which lets you create surveys with up to 10 questions and collect up to 40 responses – this can be sufficient for small one-time surveys and gives you a taste of SurveyMonkey’s more advanced features (like better question types and templates) not present in MS Forms. Zoho Survey also has a free tier that permits unlimited surveys with up to 100 responses each, which could be useful for small-scale efforts. Each of these alternatives can be used at no cost and provide capabilities on par or beyond Microsoft Forms. Keep in mind, however, that free plans may have limitations (branding, fewer features) – for unlimited use with more sophistication without paying a dime, Google Forms remains the go-to option.
3. Can I use Microsoft Forms alternatives with Office 365 and Teams?
Yes, many Microsoft Forms alternatives can work within your Office 365/Teams workflow, although not as natively as Microsoft’s own tool. For instance, even if you use an alternative like SuperSurvey or SurveyMonkey, you can still share the survey links through Microsoft Teams channels or chats. Respondents can click the link and fill out the form in their web browser. Some integrations make this even smoother: Microsoft Teams has connectors and bots for certain services (e.g., there’s a SurveyMonkey Teams integration that allows you to create/publish surveys and collect votes within Teams). Similarly, with tools like Formstack or Zoho, you might use Microsoft Power Automate (Flow) or Zapier to connect those forms to Office 365 products. For example, you could set up a workflow so that whenever someone submits a Formstack form, a message is posted in a Teams channel, or the responses are added to an Excel Online spreadsheet. While Microsoft Forms is the only one directly built into Office apps (like embedding a form in SharePoint or a Quiz in Teams meetings), third-party alternatives usually offer enough integration points (via webhooks, connectors, or APIs) to coexist with Office 365. It may require a bit of initial setup, but once configured, your Office 365 users might not even notice the difference – apart from the enhanced features of the new form tool!
4. Which Microsoft Forms alternative is best for enterprise use?
For enterprise use, where requirements include advanced features, security, compliance, and scalability, the leading alternatives to consider are Qualtrics, Formstack, and SurveyMonkey Enterprise. Qualtrics is often regarded as the gold standard for enterprise surveys and research – it’s used by large corporations and comes packed with enterprise-level capabilities (complex logic, integrations with enterprise systems, robust analytics, and strict security protocols). It’s also consistently rated as a leader in customer and employee experience management tools. Formstack, on the other hand, is excellent for enterprises that need form workflows integrated into business processes; for example, an enterprise might use Formstack for internal forms that require multi-step approvals or tie into databases. It offers enterprise plans with HIPAA compliance, audit trails, and role-based access control, which big organizations need. SurveyMonkey Enterprise is the souped-up version of SurveyMonkey tailored for enterprises – it includes centralized admin control, collaboration features, enhanced security, and integration with tools like Salesforce. Other notable mentions: Alchemer (formerly SurveyGizmo) offers enterprise solutions and is quite flexible for integration into various business systems, and Qualtrics’ competitor Medallia (less for forms, more for experience management) is used in large-scale deployments as well. Ultimately, the “best” depends on the specific enterprise needs – for general broad surveys Qualtrics often wins, for workflow and data collection Formstack is great, and for widespread team use with easy UI SurveyMonkey Enterprise is a strong choice. What they all share is far more power and configurability than Microsoft Forms, which is not designed for heavy enterprise deployment beyond basic tasks.
5. Are there form builders with AI features like SuperSurvey, and how do they help?
Yes, a few modern form builders are starting to incorporate AI features, and SuperSurvey is a prime example of this trend. AI in survey tools can assist in multiple ways. First, AI-driven survey creation can help you generate questions or entire survey drafts based on your goals – for instance, you might input “Customer satisfaction survey for an e-commerce store” and the AI suggests relevant questions, saving time and ensuring you don’t forget important topics. SuperSurvey offers this kind of AI-guided creation, which is great if you’re not a survey expert but want to build a professional questionnaire quickly. Second, AI can help in analysis: after responses are in, AI algorithms can detect patterns or sentiments (for example, analyzing open-ended text responses to gauge overall sentiment or highlight common themes). This goes beyond Microsoft Forms, which only provides basic charts. Apart from SuperSurvey, Typeform has introduced some AI-driven tools (they had an experiment with an “AI quiz generator”), and SurveyMonkey has features like sentiment analysis for open text and predictive insights that could be considered AI-driven. Qualtrics also uses AI in their Text iQ and Stats iQ to help analyze open-ended feedback and run statistical analysis with guidance. These features help users by automating the more tedious or complex parts of survey design and analysis. In summary, AI features in form builders can improve question quality, optimize survey length (by predicting which questions provide value), and extract insights from results that you might miss on your own. If these are appealing to you, choosing an AI-augmented survey tool like SuperSurvey can significantly enhance your form-building process and the quality of your data insights.
6. How do these alternatives handle data privacy and security compared to Microsoft Forms?
Data privacy and security are crucial considerations when choosing a forms or survey platform, and most top Microsoft Forms alternatives take it very seriously – often providing even more control and compliance options than Microsoft Forms. Microsoft Forms itself is covered under Office 365’s compliance umbrella, meaning data is stored securely in Microsoft’s cloud and is compliant with standards like GDPR and HIPAA (when used under appropriate enterprise agreements). Alternatives often match or exceed these protections. For example, Qualtrics offers data centers in multiple regions, is GDPR compliant, and can be configured for HIPAA, FedRAMP (for US government use), etc., which is why it’s trusted by governments and healthcare organizations. Formstack emphasizes its security features – encryption of data at rest and in transit, optional password protection for forms, audit logging, and they have specific HIPAA-compliant plans. SurveyMonkey in its enterprise version provides advanced security controls like SSO (single sign-on) and compliance with ISO 27001. Zoho Survey, Jotform, and others similarly offer GDPR compliance and often give options to choose data storage regions or enable encryption. In comparison, Microsoft Forms is secure for general use but doesn’t give end-users a lot of fine-grained control (it’s either in Microsoft’s cloud, or not at all). One thing to note: if you use a third-party alternative, you should review their privacy policy and compliance offerings – for instance, free versions of tools might not come with a Data Processing Addendum needed for GDPR, whereas paid plans might. Overall, the major alternatives have strong security track records. If your organization has strict requirements, look for keywords like “ISO 27001 certified, SOC 2 compliance, GDPR, HIPAA, data encryption, single sign-on” in the alternative’s documentation. Chances are you’ll find that the leading tools have provisions for these, allowing them to meet or exceed the privacy/security stance of Microsoft Forms when configured properly.
7. Do any Microsoft Forms alternatives allow collecting payments within forms?
Yes – several alternatives to Microsoft Forms enable you to collect payments directly through your forms or surveys, a feature Microsoft Forms does not natively support. Jotform is a standout in this regard: it integrates with 30+ payment gateways (PayPal, Stripe, Square, Authorize.net, etc.), allowing you to create order forms, donation forms, event registrations with fees, and so on. You can set products, quantities, prices, and the user can pay right within the form securely. Wufoo also supports payment field integration with popular gateways, effectively letting you attach a payment to any form submission. Typeform offers a Payments block (via Stripe) on their paid plans, so you can accept payments in a Typeform as part of a survey or registration flow. Formstack has payment integrations as well, which is useful for businesses processing transactions alongside form submissions. Even Google Forms can indirectly handle payments by combining with Google’s native tools (for instance, you could use Google Forms for signup and include a link to a PayPal or Google Pay, but it’s not the same as an integrated field). So if your use case involves selling something or collecting fees – for example, a conference registration form with an attendance fee – an alternative like Jotform would let you do it all in one go. These payments are processed through the secure gateways, meaning the form tool doesn’t store credit card info; it just facilitates the transaction. Always ensure you use SSL (https) links for your forms (most form providers enforce this nowadays) so that all data, including payment data, is encrypted during transit. In summary, if payment collection is needed, look to the likes of Jotform, Wufoo, Typeform, or Formstack rather than Microsoft Forms, and you’ll find robust solutions to handle transactions directly in your forms.
8. How do the response limits compare? Microsoft Forms vs others
Microsoft Forms allows up to 5 million responses per form for Office 365 work or school accounts (and up to 200 responses for personal Microsoft accounts). This limit is actually quite high for most normal use cases. Most Microsoft Forms alternatives do not impose such high caps by default – instead, they often tie response limits to pricing plans. For example, Google Forms effectively has no hard response limit (your only limitation might be the size of a Google Sheet if you use one, which can handle millions of rows). SurveyMonkey on a free plan caps you at 40 responses per survey; paid plans remove most limits (SurveyMonkey can handle very large volumes of responses on paid tiers, but extremely high volumes might require an enterprise plan). Typeform will count each response and has caps depending on plan (e.g., 100 responses/month on basic paid, higher on higher plans). Zoho Survey has limits like 100 responses on free, then higher quotas on paid. Qualtrics typically doesn’t limit responses in the traditional sense for their enterprise clients (it’s usually limited by who you send to, i.e., panel sizes, etc., but Qualtrics can easily manage millions of responses given its enterprise nature). The key difference is that Microsoft Forms includes huge response allowances within even a standard subscription, whereas with third-party tools you might have to pay for higher tiers to collect thousands or millions of responses. That said, hitting millions of responses is rare – if you anticipate that, you’re likely a large organization or running a viral survey, in which case investing in a robust platform like Qualtrics or SurveyMonkey Enterprise (or sticking with MS Forms just for the capacity) could be worth considering. In summary, for typical use (hundreds or a few thousand responses), any alternative will do fine as long as you’re on an appropriate plan; for very high volumes, check the provider’s policy: some, like Google Forms, essentially allow it free, others may require an enterprise arrangement for unlimited collection.
9. Can I migrate my existing Microsoft Forms to an alternative platform?
There isn’t a one-click “export from Microsoft Forms and import to another platform” feature available, but migrating is still quite feasible with a bit of manual effort (or some third-party help). The simplest method is to recreate the form on the new platform: since most surveys aren’t too lengthy, you can open your Microsoft Form in one window and build a corresponding form in the alternative tool by copying over the questions and options. If you have a lot of forms or they are very complex, this can be time-consuming. Some services provide migration assistance – for example, Jotform has advertised tools to import forms from other platforms (they have an import tool for Google Forms, and sometimes support can assist with MS Forms). Another approach: export the data from Microsoft Forms (you can export responses to Excel) and then import that data into the new tool if you need the response history carried over. Not all platforms allow importing past responses, but some enterprise ones like Qualtrics do allow data import so you can keep historical records in one place. Also, note that Microsoft Forms API (via Graph API) exists, so a developer could potentially write a script to extract form structure and push it to another platform’s API, but that’s typically overkill for most users. In practice, most people migrating simply rebuild their forms one by one. The upside is, during that process, you can take the opportunity to improve them using the new platform’s features! In summary, while there’s no direct migration button, with a bit of elbow grease you can move your forms over. If you have dozens of forms, you might prioritize the actively used ones for immediate migration. And if needed, run Microsoft Forms and the new platform in parallel for a little while – gradually shifting new responses to the new tool – to ensure a smooth transition without data loss.
10. Which Microsoft Forms alternative is easiest to use for a non-technical person?
For a non-technical person who found Microsoft Forms easy, the good news is many alternatives are also very user-friendly. Google Forms is arguably the easiest drop-in replacement – its interface is clean and straightforward, and if you used MS Forms, Google Forms will feel very similar (some even say it’s simpler). Wufoo is another simple tool; it was designed for ease of use from the ground up, and non-technical users have been creating forms with Wufoo for years without issues. SurveyMonkey is fairly intuitive too – while it has more features, the basic survey creation doesn’t require any technical skill and the platform guides you through each step (plus it has lots of help text and templates). Typeform, despite its unique style, is also quite easy to use in building forms; its builder is visual and newbie-friendly, though one might need a short adjustment to the one-question format. Jotform, while extremely capable, is designed with a drag-and-drop editor, so non-tech users can still navigate it easily – you just might not use all the advanced options. If we consider AI assistance, SuperSurvey’s AI survey builder could actually make life easier for a non-technical user by suggesting questions, meaning you don’t even have to come up with all the content yourself. In general, all the tools listed in this article are made for end-users (you don’t need programming). The differences will be in how cluttered or overwhelming the interface feels. So, if simplicity is the top priority, start with Google Forms or SurveyMonkey. If you want simplicity plus a modern look, Typeform could be a good choice. And if you stick within the free/basic features of any platform, you’ll likely find it’s just as easy as Microsoft Forms, but with a bit of practice you have the option to tap into more features when you’re ready.