FreeOnlineSurveys vs Google Forms (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, we pick Google Forms: it is first in our ranking of form and survey tools, and it grades higher too, 3.2 against 2.2.
Checked Oct 9, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Google Forms grades higher on value for money, the free plan and ease of use. They get the same grade on features and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
FreeOnlineSurveys
Free survey, quiz and form maker with paid plans in pounds
Google Forms
Form, survey and quiz builder that comes with a Google Account
Which one is for you
Pick FreeOnlineSurveys if
- Fits if you need a one-off survey or quiz that closes within 14 days
- Works for people who want payments or a calculator inside the same form
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you run a survey longer than 14 days, because free projects stop collecting then
- Pricey if you need exports or cross-tabulation, which are paid
- Watch out: prices are in pounds only, and the paid plans are sold under the Shout name
- Watch out: the inbox feature on paid plans is labelled coming soon
Pick Google Forms if
- Fits if you need a quick poll, sign-up sheet or class quiz and don't want to pay
- Works for teams already in Google Workspace who read answers in Sheets
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you want a phone app, as it only runs in the mobile browser
- Skip it if people without a Google Account need to upload files: uploads need a sign-in and don't work on shared-drive forms
- Too light for order forms, since there's nothing here for payments, signatures or calculated totals
- Watch out: the business version comes only inside Workspace from $7 per user a month, and its 14-day trial needs billing details
- Watch out: Gemini's form drafting is desktop-only, can't build multi-section forms and needs Business Standard or higher
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAFreeOnlineSurveysFair | 3.2GPAGoogle FormsVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CEssentials is £12.99 a month on yearly billing, about $17, which is in the middle of what forms tools charge. Plus is £25 and Business £59. | AFree with a personal Google Account, in a category where the middle paid plan is $24 a month. There's no standalone paid Forms plan: the business version rides inside Workspace from $7 per user a month, Gmail, Drive and Meet included. |
| Free plan and trial | CThe free plan gives unlimited projects and 1,000 responses a month, but each project collects for only 14 days. A survey you leave running will stop. | AFree with an account you almost certainly have, and the listing shows no cap on forms or responses that a normal person would meet. The only paid extra is Gemini drafting a form for you. |
| Features | CSurveys, quizzes, forms, payments and calculators in one place. Exports, cross-tabulation and branding removal need a paid plan, and the inbox feature is marked coming soon. | CIt covers the basics: drag-and-drop questions, logic that skips sections, quizzes with answer keys, live charts and a linked Sheet. The gaps are plain: no payments, no signatures, no calculations, and file uploads force respondents to sign in to Google. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. You build each survey or form yourself. | BNo store rating on record, and there is nothing to set up: no new account, no plan to pick, no install. Open it, add questions, send the link. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, with sharing by link, QR code or embed and connectors for Stripe, Gmail and Outlook. No desktop or phone apps. | BWeb with Google's own plumbing: Sheets, Drive, Apps Script, AppSheet and a Forms API. No dedicated phone app, though. Google's help pages describe using it in a mobile browser instead. |
| Best for | surveys, quizzes and forms on a free plan | quick free forms, polls and quizzes |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: FreeOnlineSurveys and Google Forms. How we grade
Price against what you get
FreeOnlineSurveys starts at about $17.41 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Google Forms starts at $7 a month for each person and scores 2.7.
Google Forms scores higher and starts $10.41 a month lower. Of the other form and survey tools on the chart, 13 score higher than FreeOnlineSurveys for less, and none scores higher than Google Forms for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- FreeOnlineSurveys also covers a/B testing.
- Google Forms also covers templates.
At a glance
| FreeOnlineSurveys | Google Forms | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | £12.99 per month, billed annually (£20 billed monthly) | $7 per user / month with a 1-year commitment (Workspace Business Starter) |
| Free plan | Unlimited surveys, forms and quizzes, 1,000 responses a month, 1 user, with a 14-day collection window per project. | Free with a personal Google Account at forms.google.com. Workspace Essentials Starter, a no-cost edition for work email addresses, also includes Forms. Gemini form drafting needs an eligible paid plan. |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial of paid features, no credit card required | 14-day Google Workspace trial for new customers, limited to 10 users; billing details required |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Problem Free Ltd. | |
| Price read from | freeonlinesurveys.com | knowledge.workspace.google.com |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Oct 9, 2026 |
Worth knowing
FreeOnlineSurveys
- Prices are shown in pounds sterling only; no dollar price was found.
- Free-plan projects stop collecting after a 14-day window, and exports, cross-tabulation and branding removal need a paid plan.
- The inbox feature on paid plans is labelled coming soon.
- The company behind it is UK-based and the pricing page is built around its Shout product.
Google Forms
- There is no standalone paid Forms plan; the business version comes only inside Google Workspace, with Gmail, Drive and Meet.
- Google's help pages describe using Forms in a mobile web browser on Android, iPhone and iPad; no dedicated mobile app is listed.
- File upload questions require respondents to sign in to a Google Account and cannot be used on forms stored in a shared drive.
- Help me create a form is desktop-only, cannot yet build multi-section forms, and needs Business Standard or higher or a Google AI plan.
Key features
FreeOnlineSurveys
- Surveys, quizzes and forms
- One builder with 20-plus question types, logic, themes and a choice of one question per page or several.
- Sharing options
- Share by link, QR code or web embed on every plan; pop-up and slide-out forms and email invitations start on Essentials.
- AI-assisted questions
- AI generation is included at low, medium and high usage levels on Essentials, Plus and Business.
- Reports
- Charts and individual responses are free; cross-tabulation, custom reports, public sharing and PDF or spreadsheet export need a paid plan.
- Contacts
- Paid plans turn form responses into contacts, with lists, segments and prefilled forms.
- Payments and calculators
- Stripe payments and calculators start on Plus.
Google Forms
- Drag-and-drop form editor
- Choose from multiple question types, reorder them by dragging, and add images or videos. File upload questions save submissions to a folder in the owner's Google Drive.
- Answer-based logic
- Show questions based on earlier answers, so each respondent only goes through the sections that apply to them.
- Quizzes with answer keys
- Turn a form into a quiz with point values and answer keys on supported question types, and attach a written or YouTube explanation to an answer.
- Response charts and Google Sheets
- Answers are charted in a Summary tab as they arrive and can be stored in a new or existing Google Sheet for deeper analysis.
- Templates and themes
- Start from premade survey and questionnaire templates, then set colors, images and fonts to match an organization's branding.
- Help me create a form
- Gemini drafts a form from a prompt or from Drive files such as Docs, Sheets, Slides and PDFs. It works on desktop and needs an eligible Workspace or Google AI plan.
Plans
FreeOnlineSurveys
Free$0
1,000 responses a month, 1 user, logic and piping, 14-day collection window.
Essentials£12.99
per month, billed annually (£20 billed monthly)
Unlimited responses and collection time, 1 user, 10,000 contacts, 3,000 email invitations a month, cross-tabulation, exports and 100MB uploads.
Plus£25
per month, billed annually (£45 billed monthly)
3 users, 25,000 contacts, 5,000 invitations a month, Stripe payments, A/B testing, hidden fields, no Shout branding and 3 calculators.
Business£59
per month, billed annually (£99 billed monthly)
5 users, 50,000 contacts, 7,000 invitations a month, custom URL slug, unlimited calculators, priority support and purchase-order payment.
Google Forms
Personal Google Account$0
Forms, surveys and quizzes for personal use, with response charts and a linked Google Sheet.
Business Starter$7
per user / month, 1-year commitment ($8.40 flexible)
Google Workspace with 30 GB pooled storage per user. Gemini in Workspace apps is listed as limited.
Business Standard$14
per user / month, 1-year commitment ($16.80 flexible)
2 TB pooled storage per user. The lowest Business edition that Google lists for Help me create a form.
Business Plus$22
per user / month, 1-year commitment ($26.40 flexible)
5 TB pooled storage per user, plus Vault, eDiscovery and advanced endpoint management.
EnterpriseCustom
No minimum or maximum user count, with data loss prevention and data regions; priced through Google sales.
Ways to pay less
FreeOnlineSurveys
- Annual discount
44% off with yearly billing
The pricing page toggle labels the yearly option as saving 44% against monthly billing.
- Education
Student and school or nonprofit pricing
Verified students pay £2.99 a month billed annually for Essentials features; registered schools and nonprofits pay £12.99 a month billed annually for Plus features.
Google Forms
- Annual discount
Lower rate with a 1-year commitment
Business Starter costs $7 per user per month on the Annual/Fixed-Term Plan versus $8.40 on the Flexible Plan. Standard drops from $16.80 to $14 and Plus from $26.40 to $22.
- Nonprofit
Google Workspace for Nonprofits at $0
Eligible nonprofits get Google Workspace for Nonprofits at $0 per user, or Business Standard at $3.50 and Business Plus at $6.16 per user per month on a 1-year commitment.
- Education
Education Fundamentals at no charge
Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals, which includes Forms, is available at no charge to qualifying institutions.
- By country
Lower price shown to buyers in India
On October 9, 2026 Google's pricing page showed Starter at ₹270 per user / month to a visitor in India, against $7 in the US version, and listed a Base plan at ₹99 that the US version does not show.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, FreeOnlineSurveys or Google Forms?
As of Nov 13, 2026, FreeOnlineSurveys starts at £12.99 per month, billed annually (£20 billed monthly), and Google Forms starts at $7 per user / month with a 1-year commitment (Workspace Business Starter). One is priced for each person and the other is not, so which costs less depends on how many of you use it.
Which has a free plan, FreeOnlineSurveys or Google Forms?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both FreeOnlineSurveys and Google Forms have a free plan.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.