Comparison · checked September 30, 2026
Formwork vs Google Forms: where drafts, logic and save-and-resume differ
Google Forms is the default for a reason. It is quick, it lives inside Google Workspace and it links straight to Sheets. Formwork is built for people who have reached its edges: real branching, versioned publishing, and respondents who can save and resume without a Google login.
| Feature | Formwork | Google Forms |
|---|---|---|
| Building | ||
| Drafts and versions | Every form starts as a draft. Publishing saves an immutable version, and each response stays tied to the version it answered. You can diff and restore. | Forms are published once and later edits reach the live form. If an owner deletes a question or changes an option, respondents' saved drafts lose that answer.The edit help page does not mention version history. |
| Question types | 22 answer types plus 5 content blocks, including ranking, slider, NPS, signature and address. Free covers the basic set; grids, ranking, uploads and signature need Pro. | Short answer, paragraph, multiple choice, checkboxes, dropdown, file upload, linear scale, rating, two grids, date and time, up to 300 items and 75 sections per form. |
| One question at a time | One-question-at-a-time is a form setting called focus mode. It is included from Pro up; Free uses the classic all-questions layout. | Questions are grouped into sections, with up to 75 per form. The help pages we checked describe no dedicated one-question-per-page mode. |
| Themes and branding | Free has 2 theme presets. Pro adds full colours, fonts, cover, logo and badge removal; Team adds custom CSS. There are no custom domains yet. | Theme colours and fonts can be changed, and an organisation-branded theme appears if the Workspace admin makes one available. |
| Logic and quizzes | ||
| Branching | Show or hide any question and route between pages, endings, URLs or a disqualify exit, with AND/OR groups, calculated fields and piping. Pro and up; Free has no logic. | Go to section based on answer works only on multiple choice and dropdown questions, and it needs the form split into sections. |
| Quizzes and grading | Built-in quiz mode with points, partial credit, numeric tolerance, a timer, retry, a manual grading queue and immediate or manual score release. Pro and up. | Answer keys for six question types, points, written or video feedback, and scores released immediately or after manual review. The Summary tab shows frequently missed questions. |
| Collecting | ||
| Save and resume | Respondents get a server-side draft with a resume link and a same-browser cookie, no account needed. Drafts are kept 30 days. Owners can list or purge unfinished responses. On every plan. | Signed-in respondents get an autosaved draft for 30 days, found by reopening the form in the same Google account. Owners can switch it off, and it does not work offline. |
| File uploads | Respondents need no sign-in. Each question sets file type, size and count. Free has uploads off; Pro includes 1 GB of storage and Team 25 GB. | Respondents must sign in to a Google account. Files go to a folder in the owner's Drive. The owner sets file types, count and size. Not available for forms stored in a shared drive. |
| Access and limits | Password, open and close dates, response cap, one response per account or device, and sign-in required, from Pro up. Honeypot and rate limits run on every form; Cloudflare Turnstile is optional. | Limit to 1 response per user, allow response editing, close on a date or after a response limit, or turn off accepting responses. |
| Results | ||
| Analytics | Free shows counts and simple charts. Pro adds a views-to-submits funnel, drop-off per page, device and source split, cross-tabs, saved filters and quiz analysis. | A Summary tab with charts, an individual view, and for quizzes the average, median and range of scores. |
| Exports and response volume | CSV on every plan. XLSX, JSON and a ZIP of uploaded files come with Pro; scheduled email exports and a public results link come with Team. | Download a CSV or link a Google Sheet. From September 2026, each form is capped at 500,000 responses and 1 GB of storage.Google says forms with more than 10,000 to 100,000 responses may slow down. |
| Integrations | ||
| Sheets and other apps | No native app integrations, and no Google Sheets, Slack or Zapier app. You connect tools through webhooks and the REST API. | Responses can be stored in a linked Google Sheet, which fills automatically as answers arrive.For Sheets-first teams this is a real gap in Formwork. |
| Webhooks and API | Signed webhooks (HMAC) with up to six attempts, a delivery log and replay: 3 endpoints on Pro, 25 on Team. REST API with scoped keys: read on Pro, read and write on Team. | The Forms API can create forms, read responses and set up watches for push notifications. |
| Team and data | ||
| Collaboration | Members: 1 on Free and Pro, 10 on Team, unlimited on Enterprise. Owner, editor and viewer roles at workspace and form level; comments, live presence and an audit log on Team. | Invite collaborators who can edit any part of the form, including responses and where they are saved. |
| Data location | No region picker. Respondent IPs are stored only as salted hashes, drafts and trash are purged after 30 days, and accounts can be exported or deleted. No per-form retention setting. | Enterprise Workspace plans list enterprise data regions. |
| Pricing | ||
| Pricing model | Free: 5 live forms and 100 responses a month. Pro $15 a month ($12 billed yearly) for 2,000 responses. Team $39 ($32 yearly) for 10,000 responses and 10 members. Enterprise is custom. | Forms is part of Google Workspace, sold per user. The UK pricing page lists Business Starter at £5.90 and Standard at £11.80 per user per month, with a 14-day trial.We could not confirm the terms of a free personal-account tier from an official Google page. Formwork plan limits are launch defaults. |
The short version
Who should pick which
Pick Google Forms if your team already works in Workspace, you want responses in a live Google Sheet, and branching by section is enough. Pick Formwork if you need conditions on any answer type, quizzes with partial credit and a timer, uploads from people without Google accounts, or a publish step that protects old responses. Formwork's free plan is smaller (100 responses a month) and it has no native Sheets link. Where Google Forms is the better pick: teams that live in Google Workspace, and anyone who wants responses to land in Sheets and Drive with no glue code.
Sources, read on September 30, 2026
- Google Docs Editors Help: Autosave your response progress
- Google Docs Editors Help: Show questions based on answers
- Google Docs Editors Help: Choose a type of question (file upload)
- Google Docs Editors Help: Create and grade quizzes
- Google Docs Editors Help: View and manage form responses
- Google Docs Editors Help: Choose where to save form responses
- Google Docs Editors Help: Edit your form
- Google Docs Editors Help: Publish and share your form
- Google Workspace Learning Center: Tips to customize your forms
- Google Forms API reference
- Google Workspace pricing
- Google Forms product page
Plans, prices and limits change. If something here is out of date, tell us at the contact page and we will fix it.