At-a-glance comparison table
| Feature | Google Forms | Typeform | Splitforms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free responses/month | Unlimited | 10 | 1,000 |
| Cheapest paid plan | $0 (free) | $25/mo | $5/mo |
| Lives on your domain | No (Google URL) | iframe only | Yes |
| Custom CSS / branding | Limited | Paid plans only | Full |
| Spam protection | None | Honeypot | Honeypot + AI + IP rep |
| Webhooks | Apps Script | Paid plans | Free, signed |
| Email notifications | Manual setup | Yes | Yes, branded |
| Conditional logic | Yes (free) | Yes (paid) | Use form fields |
| Best for | Internal surveys | Conversational quizzes | Website contact forms |
Google Forms — pros, cons, when to pick
Google Forms is part of Google Workspace. It's free for anyone with a Google account, has unlimited responses, and writes results to a Google Sheet automatically.
Strengths
- Unlimited and free. No response cap, no field cap, no plan upgrades.
- Google Sheets integration is one click. Real-time spreadsheet of every response.
- Conditional sections, response validation, file uploads — all built-in on the free tier.
- Anyone can use it. No coding required — even non-developers can spin up a form in 2 minutes.
Weaknesses
- Lives on Google's domain. Visitors land on
docs.google.com/forms/..., not your site. Disrupts the visitor flow and looks unbranded. - Generic design. You can change a header color and that's it. No CSS, no custom buttons, no native fonts.
- Embedded iframes are awkward. Google's embed code uses an iframe with fixed pixel dimensions — looks bad on mobile, breaks dark mode, can't be styled.
- No spam filtering. If your form gets discovered by bots, you'll see hundreds of garbage rows in your Sheet. There's no built-in honeypot.
- Visitors need to allow Google cookies — privacy regulations (GDPR) make this a footgun.
Pick Google Forms if: internal-only employee survey, school assignment, event RSVP for a small group, or anything where you'd rather not own the data infrastructure.
Typeform — pros, cons, when to pick
Typeform is beautiful conversational forms — one question at a time, animated transitions, polished. It pioneered the "form as conversation" UX.
Strengths
- Best-in-class UX. Conversational forms feel less like data entry and more like a dialogue. Lift conversion 5–15% over traditional forms in their published case studies.
- Logic jumps, calculations, payment fields, video questions. Way past simple forms — closer to interactive apps.
- Strong integrations. Slack, Salesforce, Mailchimp, Zapier — all first-party and reliable.
Weaknesses
- 10 responses/month free is brutal. One Reddit post and your form hits the cap by lunch.
- Cheapest paid plan is $25/month for 100 responses. $50/month for 1,000. $83/month for unlimited.
- Embed-only. Like Google Forms, it's an iframe. You can't put one Typeform field inline next to your other content.
- Branding removal is paid. Even on cheaper paid plans you may keep "Powered by Typeform" in the footer.
Pick Typeform if: a polished customer-onboarding quiz, a paid lead-magnet survey, or a high-touch sales discovery form where conversion lift pays for the seat. Don't use it for "contact us" — it's overkill and overpriced for that.
Splitforms — pros, cons, when to pick
Splitforms is a form backend API, not a form builder. You design the form in your own HTML/React/Vue/Astro. Splitforms handles the submission — emails it to you, saves it to a dashboard, sends webhooks, filters spam.
Strengths
- Forms live on your own domain. Your design, your fonts, your URL. No iframe, no redirect.
- 1,000 submissions/month free, forever. No credit card. The Pro plan is $5/month for 5,000 submissions.
- Spam filtering layered. Honeypot + IP reputation + content classifier built-in. No CAPTCHA needed for most sites.
- Free webhooks. Slack, Discord, Zapier, your own server — signed with HMAC, verified, retried.
- 17+ ready-made templates. Copy-paste HTML for contact, lead-capture, feedback, bookings, RSVP, and more.
- Works with any framework. React, Next.js, Vue, Astro, Svelte, Webflow, WordPress, Carrd — anywhere you can write a form tag.
Weaknesses
- Requires copy-pasting one HTML snippet. Not for users who can't edit their site's HTML.
- No conversational/multi-step UX out of the box. You build that yourself if you need it (it's usually 50 lines of React state).
- No file uploads yet. Coming Q3 2026. For now, file inputs are dropped silently.
Pick Splitforms if: you have your own website, you want a contact form that matches your brand, you don't want to send visitors to docs.google.com, and you want spam protection without paying $25/month.
Decision matrix by use case
| Use case | Best pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Contact form on a marketing site | Splitforms | Lives on your domain, free, spam-filtered |
| Internal employee survey | Google Forms | Free, unlimited, Sheets-native |
| Customer onboarding quiz | Typeform | Conversational UX lifts conversion |
| Event RSVP, small group | Google Forms | Zero cost, Sheets export |
| Lead-capture for paid ads | Splitforms | Custom branding, fast load, no iframe |
| Job application form | Splitforms (or Typeform) | Splitforms for cost, Typeform if you need fancy UX |
| Newsletter signup | Splitforms | One field, embed inline, hook to ESP via webhook |
| Multi-step product feedback survey | Typeform (or build w/ Splitforms) | Typeform for one-off polish, Splitforms if you reuse logic |
Pricing breakdown 2026
| Plan | Google Forms | Typeform | Splitforms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Unlimited responses | 10/month | 1,000/month |
| Entry paid | n/a | $25/mo · 100 resp | $5/mo · 5,000 resp |
| Mid tier | n/a | $50/mo · 1,000 resp | $59 one-time · 4 years × 15,000/mo |
| $/1,000 submissions | $0 | $50 | $1 |
For a typical small business website that gets 100–500 contact-form submissions per month, Splitforms' free tier is the cheapest competent option. Typeform's 10-response free tier won't even survive a single newsletter mention. Google Forms is free but lives on Google's domain — costs you brand, not money.
Tech support / migration troubleshooting
- Migrating from Google Forms. Export the underlying Google Sheet, recreate the form in your own HTML, and post to splitforms. Field names map 1:1 if you set
nameattributes that match the Sheet headers. - Migrating from Typeform. CSV export keeps the question short-IDs Typeform assigned (q_abc123). Map them to friendlier
nameattributes when you build the splitforms HTML. - Embedding splitforms in WordPress, Webflow, or Carrd. Use a Custom HTML block — splitforms is just a form tag, no plugin needed. See /forms/wordpress and /forms/webflow.
- Visitors complain that the form "feels unbranded" on Google Forms / Typeform. That is the iframe limitation — only splitforms keeps the form on your own domain with your CSS.
- Spam is overwhelming a Google Form. There is no built-in protection. The cleanest fix is to rebuild on splitforms and let the layered classifier filter it.
Next steps and where to get help
- Try splitforms free at /login.
- Side-by-side: vs Typeform, vs Google Forms, vs Jotform.
- Framework starters: Next.js, React, Astro.
- Docs and API: /docs, /api-reference.
- Plan, security, deliverability: /faq.
FAQ
Is Google Forms really free?
Yes. Google Forms is unlimited and free with any Google account. You get unlimited forms, unlimited responses, and Google Sheets export. The trade-off is branding (Google's logo and 'powered by' is unavoidable on free forms) and design — Google Forms looks generic.
What's the catch with Typeform's free plan?
Typeform's free plan caps at 10 responses per form per month and 10 questions per form. After that, you pay $25/month minimum for the Basic plan. The conversational design is beautiful but expensive at scale.
What does Splitforms do that Google Forms can't?
Splitforms lets you embed a form into your own website's design. Google Forms forces visitors to a Google-branded URL or a generic iframe. With Splitforms you keep your branding, your styling, your URL — submissions just route to your inbox via a one-line API call.
Which is best for a portfolio site or static blog?
Splitforms or another form-backend API. You get your existing site's design, no Google branding, no third-party iframe. For a higher-touch survey/quiz experience, Typeform's free 10-response cap is too low for any real use, so Tally or Splitforms with custom CSS wins.
Which is best for internal company surveys?
Google Forms. It integrates with Google Workspace, has built-in section breaks, response validation, and writes to Sheets automatically. Splitforms isn't designed for that — it's a developer's form backend, not a survey tool.
Can I migrate between these?
Field name and submission data exports differ. Google Forms exports to Sheets / Excel. Typeform exports to CSV. Splitforms exports CSV with raw field names — easiest to import elsewhere because field names are preserved exactly as you defined them.
Why pick splitforms over Typeform if budget is not the constraint?
Three reasons. (1) Forms live on your own domain with your own design — no iframe, no third-party brand. (2) Spam protection (honeypot + AI + IP reputation) is on by default; Typeform leaves that to you. (3) Webhooks are signed and free; on Typeform, webhooks are gated to higher-tier plans.
How does splitforms handle the things Typeform makes easy (logic jumps, multi-step)?
splitforms is the backend; you build the UX in your own code. A multi-step form is ~50 lines of React state with the final step posting to splitforms. The trade-off is more upfront code in exchange for full design control and lower per-submission cost.
Where do I get help comparing splitforms with my exact use case?
Read /faq for plan, security, and deliverability questions; /docs and /api-reference for the request contract; or browse /vs/ pages (e.g. /vs/typeform, /vs/google-forms) for one-on-one comparisons.