The Microsoft Forms Insider’s Guide
Everything we know about Microsoft Forms in one document: what it costs, its grades, getting a refund, getting help and what else to look at. Read it here, or keep a copy.
Microsoft Forms
The Insider’s Guide
Survey, quiz and poll builder included with Microsoft 365
Every plan, grade, refund rule and rival among form and survey tools, read from Microsoft Forms’s own pages.
Made by Microsoft · checked Oct 5, 2026 · toolgpa.com
Contents
- 01WelcomeWhat it is, who it suits, its grades and the ten things to know first
- 02What it costsEvery plan, the free plan, ways to pay less and how prices have moved
- 03What it doesIts main features, where it runs, what it works with and who makes it
- 04Where it standsIts grades against its category, and whether to keep it or make your own
- 05The alternativesThe tools it is most often weighed against, side by side
- 06Quick answersThe questions people ask about it, each answered in a line or two
- 07About ToolGPAWho made this guide, what else is on the site, and how to cite it
ToolGPA put this guide together from Microsoft Forms’s own pages, its app-store listings and our grades. Every fact in it is on Microsoft Forms’s page too, where it is kept up to date. Checked Oct 5, 2026.
Part 01 · Overview
Welcome
What it is, who it suits, its grades and the ten things to know first
2.6
GPA, above 19 of the 30 other form and survey tools we grade
Microsoft Forms is Microsoft's browser-based tool for surveys, quizzes and polls. It is available to anyone with a Microsoft account and is included in Microsoft 365 business, enterprise and education plans rather than sold on its own. Responses are charted in real time and can be exported to Excel, and Copilot can draft and analyze forms for accounts that hold a Copilot license.
To get you started, here are 9 things to know about Microsoft Forms, taken from its own pages and our grades.
Open it in a browser, build the form, share a short URL or a QR code.
- 1
Best for surveys and quizzes inside Microsoft 365
Microsoft Forms comes with Microsoft 365 and covers surveys, quizzes and quick polls in Teams or PowerPoint, with answers charted and exported to Excel.
- 2
Paid plans start at $5.40 a month for each person
As its pricing page puts it: $5.40 per user / month, paid yearly (Business Basic without Teams; $7.00 with Teams).
- 3
There is a free plan
Free with a personal Microsoft account: up to 400 forms and 200 questions per form, with each form or quiz limited to 200 responses (1,000 on paid personal accounts).
- 4
It runs on Web
Web.
- 5
Surveys, quizzes and polls
Build surveys, quizzes and polls in a browser. Branching questions collect more detailed information by sending respondents to different follow-ups.
- 6
Real-time charts and Excel export
Responses appear in real-time charts and automatically generated reports, and can be exported to Excel for custom analysis.
- 7
Copilot in Forms
With a Microsoft 365 account and a Copilot license, Copilot drafts a form from a prompt, suggests refinements and summarizes results into key findings.
- 8
A 2.6 GPA, above 19 of 30
That is against the other form and survey tools we grade, on value, the free plan, features, ease of use and platforms.
- 9
Keep it
The plain part of Microsoft Forms you could make: forms, surveys and reports. What surrounds it you could not. The 3 things listed below take a company, not a weekend.
Microsoft Forms at a glance
- Pricing
- Free plan, from $5.40 per user / month, paid yearly (Business Basic without Teams; $7.00 with Teams)
- Free plan
- Yes
- Free trial
- One-month free trial of Microsoft 365 business plans; a credit card is required and it converts to a paid subscription
- Runs on
- Web
- Made by
- Microsoft
- Category
- Forms & Surveys
- Our grade
- 2.6 GPA, good
The report card
Best for surveys and quizzes inside Microsoft 365
Microsoft Forms comes with Microsoft 365 and covers surveys, quizzes and quick polls in Teams or PowerPoint, with answers charted and exported to Excel. It stays basic: Microsoft points to another product for heavier branding and analysis, free personal accounts stop at 200 responses a form, there's no API on record, and the paid version only comes inside Microsoft 365, whose trial needs a credit card.
| Subject | Grade | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | A | Free with a personal Microsoft account, and the paid version isn't sold on its own: it rides inside Microsoft 365 from $5.40 per user a month, a fifth of this category's $24 middle, with business email and the Office web apps in the same price. |
| Free plan and trial | C | Free with a personal account for up to 400 forms, but each form or quiz stops at 200 responses, which anything public will hit. The Microsoft 365 trial needs a credit card and converts to a paid plan. |
| Features | C | The basics, and Microsoft admits where they stop: surveys, quizzes, polls with branching, real-time charts and Excel export, but its own pages send you to Dynamics 365 Customer Voice for heavier branding and analysis. Nothing here for payments, signatures or calculations. |
| Ease of use | B | No store rating on record, but if you're on Microsoft 365 there is nothing at all to set up. Open it in a browser, build the form, share a short URL or a QR code. |
| Platforms and integrations | C | Web only, and the connections all stay inside the family: Excel, Teams, Outlook, PowerPoint and Copilot. No API on record, so answers don't easily reach anything that isn't Microsoft's. |
An A is worth 4 points, a B 3, a C 2, a D 1 and an F nothing. The GPA is the average of the five.
Who Microsoft Forms is for
- Fits if your organization already pays for Microsoft 365, since Forms is in the plan
- Works for quick polls in Teams or PowerPoint, classroom quizzes and internal surveys
Who it is not for
- Tight if you're on a free personal account, as each form stops at 200 responses (1,000 on paid personal accounts)
- Not for you if you want Forms by itself, because the paid version only comes inside Microsoft 365, and its trial needs a card
- Too light for heavily branded surveys or deep analysis, which Microsoft sends to Dynamics 365 Customer Voice
- Skip it if answers need to reach apps outside Microsoft 365, as no API is on record and there's no phone app
- Watch out: Copilot features need a Copilot license, and each user is capped at 400 forms of 200 questions
Good to know
Good for
- Organizations that already pay for Microsoft 365
- Classroom quizzes and quick polls in Teams or PowerPoint
- Internal surveys restricted to people inside one organization
Worth knowing
- Forms is not sold on its own; the paid versions come inside Microsoft 365 plans.
- Personal Microsoft accounts are limited to 200 responses per form or quiz when free and 1,000 when paid.
- Each user can create up to 400 forms, with up to 200 questions per form.
- Copilot features need a Copilot license, and Microsoft points to Dynamics 365 Customer Voice for more advanced branding and analysis.
Part 02 · Pricing
What it costs
Every plan, the free plan, ways to pay less and how prices have moved
$5.40
A month to start, for each person. There is a free plan too
Microsoft Forms has a free plan. Paid plans start at $5.40 per user / month, paid yearly (Business Basic without Teams; $7.00 with Teams).
Microsoft account
$0
Forms with a free personal Microsoft account: up to 400 forms, 200 questions per form and 200 responses per form or quiz.
Business Basic (no Teams)
$5.40
per user / month, paid yearly
Microsoft 365 with web and mobile Office apps, business email and 1 TB of storage per user. Forms is included, Microsoft Teams is not.
Business Basic
$7.00
per user / month, paid yearly
The same plan with Microsoft Teams, for up to 300 users. Work accounts can collect up to 5,000,000 responses per form.
Business Standard with Copilot
$23.50
per user / month, paid yearly
Adds desktop versions of the Office apps and Microsoft Copilot in apps such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams.
Business Premium with Copilot
$32.00
per user / month, paid yearly
Adds device security and management, threat protection and sensitive-data protection on top of Standard.
The free plan
Free with a personal Microsoft account: up to 400 forms and 200 questions per form, with each form or quiz limited to 200 responses (1,000 on paid personal accounts).
Trying it first
One-month free trial of Microsoft 365 business plans; a credit card is required and it converts to a paid subscription
Read from microsoft.com on Oct 5, 2026.
Ways to pay less
Nonprofit
Business Basic free for eligible nonprofits
Microsoft's nonprofit page lists Microsoft 365 Business Basic, which includes Forms, as a grant that is free for up to 300 users, with staff pricing of $3.50 for Business Standard and $5.50 for Business Premium.
Stated on microsoft.comEducation
Office 365 A1 free for eligible schools
Educators and students with an eligible education email address can get Office 365 A1 for free. Microsoft says Forms is available to Office 365 Education customers.
Stated on microsoft.com
Part 03 · Features
What it does
Its main features, where it runs, what it works with and who makes it
1
Place it runs: Web
Survey, quiz and poll builder included with Microsoft 365. Here is what it does, as its own site describes it, and what it covers: AI features, forms, surveys, reports.
Nothing here for payments, signatures or calculations.
- Surveys, quizzes and polls
- Build surveys, quizzes and polls in a browser. Branching questions collect more detailed information by sending respondents to different follow-ups.
- Real-time charts and Excel export
- Responses appear in real-time charts and automatically generated reports, and can be exported to Excel for custom analysis.
- Copilot in Forms
- With a Microsoft 365 account and a Copilot license, Copilot drafts a form from a prompt, suggests refinements and summarizes results into key findings.
- Quizzes for teaching
- Quizzes assess student progress, can carry videos in their questions and export answers to Excel. Forms is available to Office 365 Education customers.
- Polls inside Microsoft 365 apps
- Polls can be created in Teams, Outlook and PowerPoint, with an allowance of 400 polls on top of the 400-form limit.
- Sharing options and themes
- Distribute a form by short URL, QR code, Outlook, Teams or an embedded link, limit it to specific people in an organization, and restyle it with editable themes.
Where it runs
- Web
What it works with
- Excel
- Microsoft Teams
- Outlook
- PowerPoint
- Microsoft 365 Copilot
Microsoft Forms is made by Microsoft.
Part 04 · Standing
Where it stands
Its grades against its category, and whether to keep it or make your own
19/30
Other form and survey tools it is graded above
Microsoft Forms's GPA of 2.6 is higher than 19 of the 30 other form and survey tools we grade, and level with 2.
It stands best on value for money (A, above 28 of 30) and worst on features (C, above 0).
Its paid plans start at $5.40 a month for each person, against a middle price of $21 for the category: 1 of the 30 others that charge start lower.
On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4. Nothing scores higher for less, though at least one tool matches that score at a lower price.
Each grade against the category
Every bar is all 31 form and survey tools we grade, cut by the letter each got. Microsoft Forms’s own letter is outlined.
- AValue for moneyAbove 28 of 30
- CFree plan and trialAbove 1 of 30
- CFeaturesAbove 0 of 30
- BEase of useAbove 25 of 30
- CPlatforms and integrationsAbove 0 of 30
Price against what you get
Each dot is one of 31 form and survey tools. Further left costs less; higher up scores better on features, ease of use and platforms. Microsoft Forms is the marked dot.
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
Keep it, or make your own?
Whether this is something you could build for yourself with an AI app builder, and what you would give up.
Keep it
The plain part of Microsoft Forms you could make: forms, surveys and reports. What surrounds it you could not. The 3 things listed below take a company, not a weekend.
It costs $64.80 a year.
What you could make
- Forms, surveys and reports: an app builder makes these well.
What you could not
- It is priced for each person, which means accounts and billing for a team.
- It plugs into other products, Excel, Microsoft Teams and Outlook among them.
- AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself.
What this rests on. Microsoft Forms’s listing: what it does, where it runs, what it plugs into and what it costs. It is a judgement about the kind of software this is. We have not built a replacement for it, and making your own means looking after it too. How we decide, and every tool’s verdict.
Part 05 · Alternatives
The alternatives
The tools it is most often weighed against, side by side
Google Forms, SurveyMonkey, Typeform, Jotform and Zoho Forms
The 5 tools Microsoft Forms is most often weighed against, with where each one differs from it.
- 3.2GPA
Google Forms
Free plan · from $7/mo
Form, survey and quiz builder that comes with a Google Account.
- Google Forms also covers templates.
- 2.4GPA
SurveyMonkey
Free plan · from $39/mo
Online survey and form platform with built-in analysis tools.
- Only SurveyMonkey lists iOS and Android apps.
- SurveyMonkey also covers templates.
- 2.4GPA
Typeform
Free plan · from $28/mo
Form, survey and quiz builder with logic, AI and video questions.
- Typeform also covers templates and workflow automation.
- 3.0GPA
Jotform
Free plan · from $34/mo
No-code form builder with payments, e-signatures and workflows.
- Only Jotform lists iOS and Android apps.
- Microsoft Forms also covers surveys and reports.
- Jotform also covers templates, workflow automation, AI agents and app builder.
- 2.8GPA
Zoho Forms
Free plan · from $10/mo
No-code form builder with approvals, payments and mobile apps.
- Only Zoho Forms lists iOS and Android apps.
- Microsoft Forms also covers surveys.
- Zoho Forms also covers templates, workflow automation and no-code.
Part 06 · Questions
Quick answers
The questions people ask about it, each answered in a line or two
15
Questions, each answered in a line or two
The short version of everything above, for when you only need the answer. Each one is told in full in its part of the guide.
Is Microsoft Forms free?
Microsoft Forms has a free plan. Free with a personal Microsoft account: up to 400 forms and 200 questions per form, with each form or quiz limited to 200 responses (1,000 on paid personal accounts).
How much does Microsoft Forms cost?
Microsoft Forms lists 5 plans. Microsoft account: $0.
What platforms does Microsoft Forms work on?
Microsoft Forms is available on Web.
Does Microsoft Forms offer any discounts?
Microsoft Forms publicly lists the following: Business Basic free for eligible nonprofits; Office 365 A1 free for eligible schools.
Does Microsoft Forms have an Android app?
No Android app was listed when its pages were read on Oct 5, 2026. Microsoft Forms is listed for Web.
Does Microsoft Forms have an iPhone app?
No iPhone app was listed when its pages were read on Oct 5, 2026. Microsoft Forms is listed for Web.
Is Microsoft Forms open source?
Microsoft Forms is not described as open source on its own site, as read on Oct 5, 2026.
What does Microsoft Forms integrate with?
Microsoft Forms's listing names Excel, Microsoft Teams, Outlook, PowerPoint and Microsoft 365 Copilot.
Does Microsoft Forms have a student discount?
Office 365 A1 free for eligible schools. Educators and students with an eligible education email address can get Office 365 A1 for free.
Does Microsoft Forms have a free trial?
Yes. One-month free trial of Microsoft 365 business plans; a credit card is required and it converts to a paid subscription.
Who makes Microsoft Forms?
Microsoft Forms is made by Microsoft.
What are the alternatives to Microsoft Forms?
The closest alternatives to Microsoft Forms in our directory are Google Forms, SurveyMonkey, Typeform, Jotform and Zoho Forms.
How does Microsoft Forms compare with other form and survey tools?
Microsoft Forms's GPA of 2.6 is higher than 19 of the 30 other form and survey tools we grade, and level with 2.
Is Microsoft Forms good value for money?
ToolGPA grades Microsoft Forms A for value for money. Its paid plans start at $5.40 a month for each person, against a middle price of $21 for the category: 1 of the 30 others that charge start lower.
Could I make my own version of Microsoft Forms?
The plain part of Microsoft Forms you could make: forms, surveys and reports.
Where this guide comes from
The prices, plans, platforms and features were read from Microsoft Forms’s own pages on Oct 5, 2026, and the grades were given on Oct 10, 2026. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Microsoft's own pages on 5 October 2026. Its pricing page would not load when we went back to check it. Also tested with a demo account on 2026-04-25.
Every tool we list gets five grades, A to F, each with its reason, and a GPA that averages them. How each is decided is at toolgpa.com/grades. This guide is ToolGPA’s own work; it is not made, paid for or approved by Microsoft. Prices change, so check microsoft.com before you buy.
- microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/online-surveys-polls-quizzes
- microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/business/microsoft-365-plans-and-pricing
- support.microsoft.com/en-us/forms/who-can-use-microsoft-forms
- support.microsoft.com/en-us/forms/which-platforms-work-with-microsoft-forms
- support.microsoft.com/en-us/forms/is-microsoft-forms-available-for-desktop-and-mobile
- support.microsoft.com/en-us/forms/form-question-response-and-character-limits-in-microsoft-forms
- support.microsoft.com/en-us/forms/welcome-to-copilot-in-forms
- microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/business/nonprofit-plans-and-pricing
- microsoft.com/en-us/education/products/office
Part 07 · About
About ToolGPA
Who made this guide, what else is on the site, and how to cite it
3,189
Tools graded, in 94 categories
ToolGPA grades software the way a school report grades a pupil: five subjects, a letter for each with the reason written beside it, and a GPA that averages them. Prices, plans and platforms are read from each maker’s own pages and dated, so you always know how fresh a figure is.
Every grade, review and ranking on ToolGPA is our own judgement. No company can pay for a grade or change one. Every tool on the site has a guide like this one, free to download and pass on. It all lives at toolgpa.com.
3,189
tools graded
94
categories
426
price changes on record
579
apps priced in 12 countries
What else is on toolgpa.com
- Microsoft Forms, kept up to dateEverything in this guide, with prices and grades as they are todaytoolgpa.com/tools/microsoft-forms
- How grades are givenThe rules behind every letter and every GPAtoolgpa.com/grades
- Value chartsWhat each tool costs against what it scores, for every categorytoolgpa.com/charts
- CompareAny two tools side by side, plan by plantoolgpa.com/compare
- Price changesEvery price rise and cut on record, each with its sourcetoolgpa.com/price-changes
- Prices by countryWhat apps cost on the App Store in 12 countriestoolgpa.com/prices-by-country
- Pay lessEvery public discount: yearly billing, students, nonprofitstoolgpa.com/save
- Keep or makeWhich tools are worth paying for, and which you could build yourselftoolgpa.com/keep-or-make
Scan for the live page
Prices and grades as they are today
Quoting this guide?
Please name ToolGPA and link to the live page, so readers can check the figures for themselves:
ToolGPA, "Microsoft Forms: The Insider's Guide", checked Oct 5, 2026. https://toolgpa.com/tools/microsoft-forms
Know someone choosing between form and survey tools?
Send them this guide: toolgpa.com/tools/microsoft-forms/guide
ToolGPA elsewhere: youtube.com/@toolgpa
See our other guides
The best-graded form and survey tools after Microsoft Forms, each with an Insider's Guide of its own.
- Forms & Surveys Insider's GuideEvery one of the 31 form and survey tools we grade, compared
- Google Forms Insider's GuideForm, survey and quiz builder that comes with a Google Account3.2 GPA
- Jotform Insider's GuideNo-code form builder with payments, e-signatures and workflows3.0 GPA
- Fillout Insider's GuideForm builder with unlimited seats, payments and scheduling2.8 GPA
Choosing software? Every tool graded, every price dated.
Compare tools at toolgpa.com ›Everything in this guide is ToolGPA’s own summary of what Microsoft Forms’s pages, its app-store listings and public reviews said on the dates shown. Grades are our judgement under the rules at toolgpa.com/grades. Every grade, review and ranking on ToolGPA is our own judgement. No company can pay for a grade or change one. Microsoft Forms is a trademark of its owner, and this guide is not made, paid for or approved by Microsoft. Prices and plans change: check microsoft.com before you buy.