Google Forms vs. SurveyMonkey

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Google Forms
Score 8.9 out of 10
N/A
Google Forms is an app for creating forms and surveys, and is part of Google Apps for Work. The product focuses on ease of use; the interface is similar to a document editor, with drop down lists of options and drag and drop question re-ordering. Users can embed images and video into surveys. Users can also program the question flow with custom logic. Google sends users basic summaries of the survey results automatically, or users can export the raw survey results data and analyze it via…N/A
SurveyMonkey
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
SurveyMonkey provides free, customizable surveys, and a suite of paid, back-end programs that include data analysis, sample selection, bias elimination, and data representation tools. SurveyMonkey also offers large-scale, enterprise options for companies interested in data analysis, brand management, and consumer focused marketing.
$25
per month (billed annually) per user (starting at 3 users)
Pricing
Google FormsSurveyMonkey
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Team Advantage
$25
per month (billed annually) per user (starting at 3 users)
Team Premier
$75
per month (billed annually) per user (starting at 3 users)
Standard Monthly
$99
per month
Individual Plan - Advantage Annual
$468
per year
Individual Plan - Premier Annual
$1,428
per year
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Google FormsSurveyMonkey
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Google FormsSurveyMonkey
Considered Both Products
Google Forms
Chose Google Forms
SurveyMonkey works well for serious surveys, but it would be too difficult and expensive to use it for every small event. QuestionPro Live Polls is also good, but it is primarily used during specific events, such as Zoom webinars, to collect questions from participants. Google …
Chose Google Forms
They are pretty similar, but Google Forms is better from a cost perspective. They are both simple to use and are great options for creating + sending out surveys.
Chose Google Forms
I haven't used that many other form applications before unless they were standalone applications like Microsoft Word. I used this program, and it was ok, but it requires a paid subscription, and someone renews it yearly. This can be too complicated for some users, such as older …
Chose Google Forms
Cognito forms are really great because of the high degree of customisation that can be done. You can seriously build some amazing workflows using them which we do use for more intricate projects
Chose Google Forms
I think that the Google version of forms is easier to use for both those making the forms and those filling them in than it's Microsoft equivalent. Google's products are more widely used and understood by the public, and they function at a higher level.
Chose Google Forms
JotForm is good too and gives theming & CSS priority. However, I don't think the theme is important in forms, we chose Google Forms because we needed simplicity.
Chose Google Forms
For strictly forms with data driven insights Google forms is the most efficient and hands down easiest choice to go with. It offers a ton of vast and robust features that helps with integrations and many more.
Chose Google Forms
Google Forms is easy to use and affordable. The biggest benefit, however, is that our organization already uses other Google products heavily. Because of this Google Forms was our top choice. Some smaller departments in our organization still use other solutions, such as …
Chose Google Forms
Google Forms is a much more basic tool for collecting feedback. It's better for small events or very basic responses. Survey Monkey is better for getting in-depth insights into data, including insights trends and a better presentation of the data in exportable graphs. But …
Chose Google Forms
I selected Google Forms because of its efficient and quick customer service. I had used other platforms earlier and had trouble connecting with their team for issues.
Chose Google Forms
Google Forms is great because it is free and easy to use. Formative has great features because it is able to give live feedback of responses and it has multiple question types but it is also expensive to subscribe to. Google Forms is very powerful because, in addition to the …
Chose Google Forms
I have been using Google Forms since it started in 2008. I have never explored other alternatives for creating surveys. I like the intuitive design and the visual output of data in charts and graphs. It's easy to share the survey with others. Google Forms embed seamlessly in …
Chose Google Forms
Personally, I never use other products to conduct surveys other than Google Forms, because I think Google Forms is very comfortable and easy to use.
Chose Google Forms
Although both platforms offer similar functionalities, Google Form has a personal advantage and it is the impeccable integration with the different applications of the Google suite, this allows to make use of all of them in a transparent way, which in the work environment …
Chose Google Forms
We use Google Forms now instead of Survey Monkey. The question types are fairly similar and both are easy to use but Google Forms is definitely a "lighter" survey tool than Survey Monkey. It fits our day-to-day needs as we don't do robust surveys requiring large amounts of …
Chose Google Forms
We have also used FormAssembly, which is far more advanced with security, analytics, and functionality, but is also more expensive and takes a greater resource investment to train others to use. While FormAssembly can provide a lot more features, and is definitely the better …
Chose Google Forms
I use both SurveyMonkey and Google Forms. Google Forms are nice for quick and simple everyday information collecting. SurveyMonkey is used for a more robust detailed information collecting where I can dive into analytics/results in a more detailed manner.
Chose Google Forms
Google Forms is more basic than Typeform in terms of design style options and flexibility, but it has an easier-to-use interface. It is slightly less robust in terms of logic and crowd-sourced responses than SurveyMonkey. In general, it's a good option for generating a quick, …
Chose Google Forms
Google Forms definitely isn't as robust as some of the more professional tools out there. However, in my experience, I usually don't need a robust survey tool. I just need to quickly set up a survey or screener. In addition, I love how simple it is to add collaborators to …
Chose Google Forms
Google Forms is easier to use than Qualtrics, but has less robust capabilities, especially in terms of sharing, permissions, survey logic, and reporting features.
I also find Google easier to use than the Microsoft Forms tool, but again Microsoft might have better options in …
Chose Google Forms
Simpler to use and mostly related with an alternative to a robust forms and questionnaire option. Many other tools are not only forms.
Chose Google Forms
SurveyMonkey is great but it costs money to get its full power while Google Forms can do a lot of the same but for free. When it comes to simply surveys/data intake, Google Forms is far easier to use and much cheaper.
SurveyMonkey
Chose SurveyMonkey
I think we were looking for a survey products, so when I think about survey products; SurveyMonkey is the only solution
Chose SurveyMonkey
Outside of creating our own surveys, no other tools have been used outside of SurveyMonkey. I have heard of a few others but would not be able to provide an honest opinion due to my lack of experience working with them.
Chose SurveyMonkey
SurveyMonkey is way better than jotform for surveys, simply because it is a dedicated survey software, whereas Jotform is more general form builder. If a business's sole purpose is to send a survey out and view responses, SurveyMonkey is better than Jotform in every category.
Chose SurveyMonkey
As [I] mentioned in the previous comments, [I believe] there is no comparison. [In my opinion,] SurveyMonkey is a market lagger.
Chose SurveyMonkey
The tool is free, but we selected SurveyMonkey because we were able to easily pull the data and do the analysis.
Chose SurveyMonkey
I have only used this software and have not used others.
Chose SurveyMonkey
In terms of creating surveys and analyzing their results, the main competitor we use is Qualtrics. I think Qualtrics has better features, a more professional environment, and more robust tools. This can also be negative as it can be overwhelming for untrained users. I have …
Chose SurveyMonkey
SurveyMonkey has the most options in terms of available question formats, analysis and participant tracking, and customizability. Google Forms is a more basic interface with fewer options for tracking and analysis, and Typeform is better in terms of design and branding options …
Chose SurveyMonkey
SurveyMonkey offers a better end user and survey building experience. The tools to easily create a fun and engaging survey are easily accessible, easy to understand, and easy to use. You could go as far as to say that a monkey could figure out how to use SurveyMonkey.
Chose SurveyMonkey
I've only built my own in Access, SharePoint, and HTML. I don't like any of them. Plus, anything internal like SharePoint is going to have a network user/time stamp, and that wont increase participation at all.
Chose SurveyMonkey
SurveyMonkey is the least used between Wufoo, Titan Forms, and Google Forms. It is a solid program, however, for our uses the other programs provide additional features such as syncing to our CRM database, accepting Stripe payments, or automatically syncing with my already …
Chose SurveyMonkey
SurveyMonkey is easier to customize and provides much more in depth analytics. SurveyMonkey also provides better templates providing us with a better presentation to our employees. SurveyMonkey also comes with a more trustworthy platform that ensures confidentiality, which is …
Chose SurveyMonkey
SurveyMonkey has more analytic data options than what I found using Google Forms. Otherwise, if you use the Google Suite of products you may find it easier to just use Google Forms. When it comes to our website forms we have switched to JotForm as it has a better display on our …
Chose SurveyMonkey
It's probably above Google Surveys and below the other two. I didn't select SurveyMonkey, the company already had it and I made the decision to get an additional license for my work.
Chose SurveyMonkey
In my opinion, SurveyMonkey is the gold standard. Google Forms and Google Surveys, while being able to connect easily to other Google tools, are not as adept or intuitive as SurveyMonkey is. Google is trying to be all things for all people, and while it does a lot of those …
Chose SurveyMonkey
SurveyMonkey has more than 150 survey templates to choose from that are expert-written ranging from market research product survey, customer satisfaction survey templates, 360-degree employee evaluation, product testing, website feedback and so much more. It has more …
Chose SurveyMonkey
I have used Qualtrics as well. I would say Qualtrics is a more of a higher end survey solution but if your needs are basic survey monkey is probably the better value and easier to get started.
Chose SurveyMonkey
While Google Forms is free, the ability to design and customize forms/surveys would prove to be beneficial to the end user. Google Forms is very limited to multiple editors while SurveyMonkey provides viewing, editing, and commenting to editors. Additionally, the access to 200 …
Chose SurveyMonkey
SurveyMonkey has more professional features, templates and theme options than Google Surveys
Chose SurveyMonkey
From my experience, I honestly think most of these tools are interchangeable, they have very similar functionality and can meet the same needs. I think there are more custom features that help all these tools differentiate themselves, however, my experience with them has been …
Chose SurveyMonkey
I've been using SurveyMonkey for more than 20 years - most of the competitor solutions that I reviewed over 20 years ago don't even exist any longer, or they've been acquired by other firms. SurveyMonkey has stood the test of time, and never given me the need to seek out other …
Chose SurveyMonkey
I like [SurveryMonkey] better because it is a way easier website to use. Very user friendly. The website is very easy to get all the feedback together in one place. The other website I used had a lot of glitches and was different than survey monkey. That website was too much …
Chose SurveyMonkey
We really didn't look at alternatives. The only alternatives we looked at was developing our own surveys, via email and/or baking them directly into our applications, but SurveyMonkey really did all the heavy lifting, so to speak, by providing a one-stop shop for constructing, …
TrustRadius Insights
Google FormsSurveyMonkey
Highlights

TrustRadius
Research Team Insight
Published

Google Forms and SurveyMonkey are both entry level survey tools. They offer a mix of free functionality and paid capabilities, and are used across company sizes.

Google Forms is applicable to a broader range of uses, while SurveyMonkey is more specialized. Google Forms can be used for building registration forms, quizzes, and assessments in addition to surveys. In contrast, SurveyMonkey is tailored to more in-depth survey design, distribution, and analysis. 

Features

Google Forms and SurveyMonkey both have strong features tailored for their use cases. 

Google Forms’s free version is very accessible for casual or entry-level users at small volumes. For instance, it is well suited for educational or student-driven academic uses. For businesses, Forms is bundled with the rest of the G Suite. This packaging makes Forms an easy default tool for organizations that have adopted the Google environment. It also includes prebuilt templates for common use cases, which makes the tool more accessible for casual users. 

In contrast, SurveyMonkey stands out for its more in-depth survey capabilities. In particular, users point to its excellent branding and personalization options. These features enable a more professional survey experience. It also offers a wide range of prebuilt question options and the ability to deeply customize questions and logic flows. The greater level of customization allows more intensive users to tailor each survey to their exact needs.

Limitations

While each product have certain strengths, Google Forms and SurveyMonkey also have some tradeoffs.

Google Form’s focus on accessibility across user backgrounds places a ceiling on the depth of functionality and complexity. In particular, reviewers have been limited by Google Forms’s question branching simplicity, and basic dynamic capabilities. The user interface and graphic design is also relatively basic and simplistic. The tool lacks the visual and branding customization found in more complex tools. 

In contrast, SurveyMonkey provides a more intensive survey administration experience, which can be more difficult for less experienced users. For instance, the survey design process is a much more complex process, with less in-process guidance for unfamiliar designers. The UI is also not as user-friendly or intuitive as some other survey tools. 

Pricing

Google Forms is free to use for personal use. It is also included in all Google Suite packages, which are priced at $6/user/month for the Basic plan, $12/user/month for additional cross-suite functionality and security features, and $25/user/month for the Enterpise package that includes additional management and security features. 

SurveyMonkey has two pricing systems, one for personal plans and one for business plans. Personal plans are either $32/month or $99/month for additional functions like A/B testing, custom variables, and payments. The Business Plans system has three tiers. The Team Advantage, at $25/user/month, includes all of the Personal Plans features for 3+ users. Team Premier, at $79.95/user/month, includes additional analysis, white labelling, and logic functions. The Enterprise tier, which is priced by quote from the vendor, includes more customization, security features, and management capabilities. 

Features
Google FormsSurveyMonkey
Survey Format & Appearance
Comparison of Survey Format & Appearance features of Product A and Product B
Google Forms
7.9
Ratings
1% below category average
SurveyMonkey
8.6
Ratings
8% above category average
Survey templates8.70 Ratings9.10 Ratings
Themes7.00 Ratings6.70 Ratings
Custom logo/branding8.00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Survey Content
Comparison of Survey Content features of Product A and Product B
Google Forms
9.4
Ratings
10% above category average
SurveyMonkey
8.6
Ratings
1% above category average
Changes to live survey10.00 Ratings7.40 Ratings
Question design help9.00 Ratings9.10 Ratings
Multiple question types9.20 Ratings9.10 Ratings
Survey Logic
Comparison of Survey Logic features of Product A and Product B
Google Forms
8.5
Ratings
3% above category average
SurveyMonkey
8.4
Ratings
2% above category average
Survey logic flexibility8.50 Ratings8.40 Ratings
Survey Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Survey Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Google Forms
9.1
Ratings
11% above category average
SurveyMonkey
10.0
Ratings
20% above category average
Response tracking8.90 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Data export9.00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Standard reports8.80 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Custom reports9.50 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Analytics9.30 Ratings9.90 Ratings
Survey Administration & Security
Comparison of Survey Administration & Security features of Product A and Product B
Google Forms
9.9
Ratings
13% above category average
SurveyMonkey
10.0
Ratings
14% above category average
Access controls9.80 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Compliance10.00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Survey Distribution
Comparison of Survey Distribution features of Product A and Product B
Google Forms
9.1
Ratings
10% above category average
SurveyMonkey
9.9
Ratings
19% above category average
Vendor-offered crowdsourcing9.00 Ratings9.90 Ratings
Respondent restrictions9.30 Ratings10.00 Ratings
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User Ratings
Google FormsSurveyMonkey
Likelihood to Recommend
10.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.8
(0 ratings)
9.9
(0 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Performance
10.0
(0 ratings)
6.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.0
(0 ratings)
9.4
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
3.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Google FormsSurveyMonkey
Likelihood to Recommend
Appropriate Scenarios
  • Data collection
  • Formative assessment
  • Survey/questionnaire
  • File uploads (Can be limited to particular sizes or file types).
Inappropriate Scenarios
  • Lessons where you need instant feedback to answers rather than waiting for the whole form to be completed.
  • File Uploads where not all of the users have Google accounts.
Read full review
SurveyMonkey really excels in the survey design aspect of the surveying process. They have so many different question types that you can use to create your questions. The analytics and reporting are basic but ok for those wanting simple insights into their survey answers. Their free plan should suffice for any business that needs the fundamentals of surveying - i.e. survey builder, sharing, and viewing answers.
Read full review
Pros
  • Capture of information from clients and/or consultants for real-time analysis.
  • Knowledge evaluation for our work team, the predefined templates allow the creation of tests and knowledge tests that are very didactic and easy to grade.
  • The acquired data is cleanly integrated with google spreadsheets allowing for fast and accurate analysis.
  • The form completion notifications are customizable and do their job well.
Read full review
  • SurveyMonkey's survey programming features are extremely intuitive. Someone who has never used it before can, with little direction or training, easily set up a simple - or comprehensive - survey in a matter of minutes.
  • Real-time reporting and analytics tools are extremely helpful to keep everyone involved informed on an ongoing basis.
  • Virtually any kind of question or answer format can be programmed into your SurveyMonkey survey.
Read full review
Cons
  • Edit view limits the questions as seen by viewers. The view function is nice to toggle between to see what the question will look like, but the edit view of some questions (like checkboxes) is confusing for the editor.
  • It would be wonderful to be able to assign responses to go to specific users. The user needs to go into the responses section and select the option to receive notifications, versus the owner of the form being able to do that.
  • Having a dependency feature for questions (in addition to sections) would be very helpful, so that if a question is answered a certain way, another question appears.
Read full review
  • I think it's becoming pushed to the back-burner as more survey sites come out - it needs to come up with something to keep it more relevant as other survey sites are being more widely used.
  • Give more options to customize the look of your survey.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
I will definitely renew my use of Google Forms because I really like the ease of use and the number of tools that Google forms provide. I also love that I can administer a test in real-time and get results in a timely manner
Read full review
Compared to other competitors in the market (including a few I've used internally), if you're looking for a survey application, this one does the job and it's quite inexpensive too. Considering the fact that it comes with a handy mobile application too (on iOS and Android), you also get flexibility thrown in the deal too.
Read full review
Usability
The interface is simple and intuitive. The first time you use Google Forms, it has a built in tutorial that goes through all the basics. Most people can pick up how to use it with minimal support. There are some advanced features that require a bit more work but there are plenty of videos and directions online. Google has a great support section that is easy to follow
Read full review
SurveyMonkey should suffice for most simple use cases to collect responses or feedback from clients. The templates that they offer are helpful as well as the guidance on question formulation. If you just need a stand alone software to distribute and collect surveys, then SurveyMonkey will meet your needs.
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Reliability and Availability
In the years I've used GoogleForms I've never ran into any issues with the reliability or availability. Google is a gigantic company with essentially limitless resources which makes it very easy to trust that I will continue to be able to enjoy the same reliability I've come to know and expect from GoogleForms
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No answers on this topic
Performance
One of the things that comes as a benefit of the lack to create complex logic branching and truly custom design is that there isn't lot of room to bog down the software. GoogleForms has always loaded just as fast as my internet service and device would allow it. I'm not sure about front end integrations or integrations into the form itself, as I've never explored it, but on the backend, I've never had any issues with integrations channeling from GoogleForms from the GoogleForms's end of things.
Read full review
still to many limitations for more complex surveys --skips, filtered questions, etc.
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Support Rating
I have not had to use Google Forms support - it's always worked as expected. However, with other Google products, I've always been able to find a plethora of resources for answering questions or dealing with issues. The benefit of Google is how widely adopted its products are and how robust its support is.
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I haven’t used the support function yet, but I have had colleagues that have and the issues they’ve faced have been resolved super quickly. They also have said the support people they have come in contact with have been extremely friendly. Those two things are what made me choose my rating
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Implementation Rating
No answers on this topic
Implementation not required.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Google Forms is easy to use and affordable. The biggest benefit, however, is that our organization already uses other Google products heavily. Because of this Google Forms was our top choice. Some smaller departments in our organization still use other solutions, such as SurveyMonkey, but as a whole it has been helpful to standardize on a single product.
Read full review
Outside of creating our own surveys, no other tools have been used outside of SurveyMonkey. I have heard of a few others but would not be able to provide an honest opinion due to my lack of experience working with them.
Read full review
Scalability
GoogleForms lacks the ability for complex logic branching and the ability to truly design it in a custom manner. It's pretty obvious when you land on a GoogleForm that it is in fact a GoogleForm. This rating solely reflects the lack of flexibility which in turn makes it something that wouldn't usually be scaled. That being said, if needing to scale a simple solution, GoogleForms would be up for the job.
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
  • Google Forms provides us a vehicle to gauge faculty and student response to our online courses and their features in real time so that we can keep our courses updated for students and faculty who facilitate them.
  • Since Google is free, provides storage space, and provides Shared Drives (at least in our institutional account), using Google Forms helps us manage our data. We support over 400 courses with thousands of sections so Google Forms helps us manage the data coming out of these courses, mostly student and faculty feedback about what is working and what is not.
  • We encourage our faculty to use Google Forms to survey their students for prior knowledge, for interest inventories, and the like. It's incredibly nimble and useful for collecting data quickly and presenting results in easy-to-understand charts and graphs.
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  • SurveyMonkey has a positive impact on our organization by allowing us to gain insight to our team through the 360 evaluations.
  • We have had positive ROI from our client polling questions which have directed new products or services that we offer.
  • The analytics were an awesome way to filter and export responses so that our management team could evaluate the information.
Read full review
ScreenShots