Microsoft Forms alternatives for 2026/27

Microsoft Forms is still a solid choice inside Microsoft 365. However, if you’re looking for more usage capabilities, live audience interaction, or more design control, it may be time to find an alternative tool.

Below we compare 8 options on price, features and fit.

What is Microsoft Forms?

Microsoft Forms is a survey and quiz builder from Microsoft that lets people create forms, polls and quizzes and collect responses online. It's included in Microsoft 365 and works with Teams, Excel and SharePoint, which makes it a common choice for schools and workplaces already on Microsoft tools. Anyone with a personal Microsoft account can use it for free.

Good to know: On a free personal account, a form can collect up to 200 responses, and paid personal accounts get up to 1,000. People usually look for an alternative when they need more responses on a personal account, live audience interaction or more flexible design and logic.

How to choose a Microsoft Forms alternative

Start with the limit that made you look. Below are some of the most important factors to consider when you make your choice.

• Price and free-plan limits: Free plans vary widely, from 10 responses a month on Typeform to unlimited forms and submissions on Tally.
• Response caps: Microsoft Forms stops a free personal account at 200 responses per form, so check whether a tool caps responses per form, per month or per year.
• Live or asynchronous: Forms collect answers over time, while live tools such as Mentimeter show results as people respond in a meeting.
• Ecosystem fit: Google Forms suits Google accounts and Sheets, and Fillout syncs with Airtable and Notion, so match the tool to what your team already uses.
• Logic and design: Branching, calculations and branding removal often sit on paid tiers.
• Privacy and compliance: If you handle health data, check which plan includes HIPAA support. Jotform requires Gold plus a signed BAA, and Cognito Forms requires Enterprise.

Which Microsoft Forms alternative is best?

We compared individual tool features so you don’t have to.

If you want something free

Tally is the strongest free option: its free plan includes unlimited forms and submissions, subject to fair use. Google Forms is also free and publishes no per-form response cap. Fillout has a free plan too, but it caps responses at 1,000 a month.

If you work in Google Workspace

Google Forms is the natural pick: it's free with any Google account and sends responses to Google Sheets. It's the closest counterpart to Microsoft Forms for teams on Google Workspace. For richer logic, branding or payments, look at Jotform or Cognito Forms.

If you want people to respond live in a meeting

Mentimeter is built for the live moment: participants answer from any device and results appear on screen as they come in. Menti Live covers polls, quizzes, word clouds and Q&A. The free plan includes 50 participants a month, plus one session a month with unlimited participants.

If you need anonymous, honest feedback

Menti Form collects anonymous responses and shows them as aggregated results, so people can answer honestly. Respondents don't need an account and answer from any device through a link or QR code. Question logic means each person sees only the questions that apply to them.

If you want forms that feel like a conversation

Typeform shows one question at a time in a conversational layout, built for surveys that should feel less like paperwork. The trade-off is volume: the free plan allows 10 responses a month, and Basic allows 100.

If you need payments or calculations

Cognito Forms has calculations and payment fields built in, including on its free Individual plan, which allows 100 entries a month and applies a 2% payment fee. Jotform is the runner-up, with more than 10,000 templates, though its free plan allows only 10 payment submissions a month.

Best 8 Microsoft Forms alternatives, compared

Prices checked November 2026. Check vendor sites for current pricing.

Mentimeter

• Great for: Live and interactive surveys
• Starting price: Free plan available; paid from $11 - $14/presenter/month (billed annually)

Menti Live

Covers polls, quizzes and word clouds, with results shown as people respond

Explore Live

Menti Form

Creates interactive surveys with multiple question types and anonymous responses

Explore Form

Mentimeter is an audience engagement platform with two ways to ask questions: Menti Live for the moment in the room and Menti Form for surveys people answer on their own time. Respondents don't need an account. The free plan includes 50 participants a month, plus one session a month with unlimited participants.

Where Mentimeter beats Microsoft Forms:

• Results appear on screen live, as participants respond
• Quizzes, word clouds and Q&A sit alongside polls
• Menti AI creates full Mentis and suggests questions
• Integrates with PowerPoint, Microsoft Teams and Zoom

Google Forms

• Great for: Free, simple surveys
• Starting price: Free plan available; free to use with a Google account

Google Forms is a free survey and form builder from Google that lets anyone with a Google account create forms, quizzes and polls and share them by link, email or embed. Responses flow into Google Sheets, and several people can edit a form at the same time. Respondents can fill out a form on any device with an internet connection. Google publishes no per-form response cap, so it suits high-volume surveys.

The trade-off: Google Forms focuses on simple forms, so payments and heavily branded designs usually call for another tool.

Where Google Forms beats Microsoft Forms:

• No published response cap, versus 200 on free personal Microsoft accounts
• Free to use with any Google account
• Responses go straight into Google Sheets
• Several people can co-edit a form in real time

Jotform

• Great for: Feature-rich form building
• Starting price: Free plan available; paid from $34/month flat (billed annually)

Jotform is an online form builder with a drag-and-drop editor and a library of templates. The free Starter plan includes 5 forms and 100 submissions a month, with Jotform branding on forms. Bronze, at $34 a month billed annually, raises that to 25 forms and 1,000 submissions a month and removes branding. HIPAA support needs the Gold plan at $99 a month (billed annually) plus a signed BAA.

The trade-off: Usage limits are the main trade-off, since forms, submissions and storage are all metered.

Where Jotform beats Microsoft Forms:

• Drag-and-drop builder with more than 10,000 templates
• Conditional logic and calculations on every plan, including free
• Payment collection is built in
• Integrates with a wide range of other apps

Typeform

• Great for: Conversational surveys
• Starting price: Free plan available; paid from $28/month flat (billed annually)

Typeform is a form and survey builder known for showing one question at a time in a conversational layout. It supports logic jumps and customizable themes with images and video. The free plan allows 10 responses a month across the account and 10 questions per form, with Typeform branding. Basic costs $28 a month billed annually for 1 user and 100 responses a month, and branding removal starts on Plus at $56 a month (billed annually) with 1,000 responses.

The trade-off: Response caps are the main trade-off. When a plan reaches its monthly limit, the form stops collecting until the next billing cycle.

Where Typeform beats Microsoft Forms:

• One-question-at-a-time layout that reads like a conversation
• Logic jumps tailor each respondent's path
• Customizable themes with images and video

SurveyMonkey

• Great for: In-depth survey research
• Starting price: Free plan available; paid from $30 for 3 users/month (billed annually)

SurveyMonkey is an online survey platform for collecting and analyzing feedback, with a wide range of question types and templates. Paid plans add skip logic, real-time results with visualizations, data export and custom branding. The free Basic plan is limited to 10 questions per survey and a small number of viewable responses.

Team Advantage starts at $30 per user per month billed annually, with a 3-user minimum and 50,000 responses a year. Team Premier increases response limit to 100,000, and Enterprise allows for custom response limits, with a 5-user minimum.

The trade off: Paid plans can include a fixed response allowance, with extra responses billed at $0.15 each, so high-volume surveys can cost more depending on usage needs.

Where SurveyMonkey beats Microsoft Forms:

• Built-in analytics with real-time results and visualizations
• Skip logic and a wide range of question types
• Data export and custom branding is available on paid plans
• Integrates with third-party apps

Tally

• Great for: Free, unlimited forms
• Starting price: Free plan available; paid from $24/month (billed annually) for Tally Pro

Tally is a form builder with a block-based editor that works like typing in a document. Its free plan includes unlimited forms and submissions, subject to fair use, plus conditional logic, calculated field and file uploads. Tally Pro costs $29 a month or $290 a year and adds team workspaces, custom domains, custom CSS and branding removal.

The trade-off:: Tally branding appears on free forms, and most customization sits behind Pro.

Where Tally beats Microsoft Forms:

• Unlimited forms and submissions on the free plan
• Free plan includes logic, calculated fields and file uploads
• Features a document-style editor that is quick to learn

Fillout

• Great for: Forms connected to databases
• Starting price: Free plan available; paid from $15/month flat (billed annually)

Fillout is a form builder that syncs responses with tools such as Airtable, Notion and Google Sheets. Its free plan includes unlimited forms, unlimited seats and 1,000 responses a month, along with conditional logic, payments and PDF generation.

The trade-off: Branding removal starts on Pro at $40 a month, and unlimited responses require Business at $75 a month (billed annually).

Where Fillout beats Microsoft Forms:

• Free plan includes 1,000 responses a month with unlimited seats
• Syncs with Airtable, Notion and Google Sheets
• Includes flat pricing with no per-seat charges

Cognito Forms

• Great for: Calculations and payments
• Starting price: Free plan available; paid from $19/month for 2 users (billed annually)

Cognito Forms is an online form builder with conditional logic, calculations and payment fields. Its free Individual plan covers 1 user, with unlimited forms and 100 entries a month and payments available (a 2% fee applies). Pro costs $19 a month (billed annually) for 2 users and 2,000 entries a month, and Team costs $39 a month (billed annually) for 5 users and 10,000 entries.

The trade-off: HIPAA support is only on the Enterprise plan at $129 a month (billed annually), a large jump for teams that handle health data.

Where Cognito Forms beats Microsoft Forms:

• Payments and calculations available on the free plan
• Conditional logic on every plan
• Team plan allows 10,000 entries a month for 5 users

The best alternative to Microsoft Forms depends on the job. Mentimeter is best for live polls and interactive surveys, Google Forms for free everyday forms, Tally for unlimited free responses and Typeform for conversational surveys. Match the tool to your response volume, your ecosystem and whether you need live interaction.

Ready to get started? You can create a Menti for free below.