Point any HTML form at one endpoint. 500 free submissions — no card, no time limit — and unlimited forms.
Create free accountAt-a-glance comparison table
| Feature | Google Forms | Typeform | Splitforms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free responses/month | Unlimited | 10 | 500 |
| Cheapest paid plan | $0 (free) | $39/mo ($28/mo billed yearly) | $5/mo Pro |
| Lives on your domain | No (Google URL) | iframe only | Yes |
| Custom CSS / branding | Limited | Paid plans only | Full |
| Spam protection | None | reCAPTCHA available | Honeypot + rule-based scoring |
| Webhooks | Apps Script | Paid plans | Paid plans, signed |
| Email notifications | Manual setup | Yes | Yes, free on every plan |
| Integrations | Sheets native; else Apps Script | Slack, HubSpot, Zapier | 15 integrations + webhooks from $5/mo |
| Conditional logic | Section jumps (free) | Yes (listed from Basic) | Show-if logic and steps in the builder (free) |
| 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.
- 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 $39/month ($28/month billed yearly) for 100 responses. Plus is $79/month for 1,000; Business is $129/month for 10,000.
- 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 first. You can design the form in your own HTML/React/Vue/Astro, or drag it together in the dashboard builder (multi-step and show-if logic included) and paste the snippet. Either way, 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.
- 500 free submissions, no time limit. No credit card. The Pro plan is $5/month for 5,000 submissions.
- Spam filtering layered. Honeypot + time-trap + rate limits + rule-based content scoring built-in. No CAPTCHA needed for most sites.
- Signed webhooks on paid plans. Slack, Discord, Zapier, your own server — Signed with HMAC-SHA256 (sha256= signature header); 8-second timeout; one automatic retry after about 2 seconds on network errors, timeouts and 5xx responses (4xx is not retried); delivery log in the dashboard. Paid plans (Pro and Annual). Testable at /webhook-tester before you go live.
- 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, one-question-at-a-time UX. The dashboard builder does multi-step pages and show-if logic; anything beyond that you build yourself.
- File uploads require Storage setup. splitforms supports multipart uploads after Storage is connected; text-only forms work without storage.
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 $28/month or more.
Decision matrix by use case
The three-line version first: internal surveys and quizzes → Google Forms (free, unlimited, Sheets-native, and nobody internal cares about branding). Branded conversational lead-gen → Typeform (the one-question-at-a-time UX is the product). Developer-owned website forms → splitforms (the form is your own HTML on your own domain; the backend costs $0 for 500 submissions total). The full matrix:
| 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 | 500 total, no time limit |
| Entry paid | n/a | $39/mo ($28 yearly) · 100 resp | $5/mo · 5,000 resp |
| Mid tier | n/a | $79/mo ($56 yearly) · 1,000 resp | $49/yr Annual · 15,000/mo |
| $/1,000 submissions | $0 | $56 (Plus, billed yearly, at full use) | $1 (Pro) · $0.27 (Annual) |
For a typical small business website that gets 100–500 contact-form submissions per month, Splitforms is the lowest-cost option of the three that runs on your own domain — free to start, then $5/mo Pro or $49/year Annual. 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 its layered, rule-based spam filter handle it.
Next steps and where to get help
- Try splitforms free at /login.
- Side-by-side: vs Typeform, vs Google Forms, vs Jotform, Formspree alternative, Web3Forms alternative.
- Skip the form builder entirely with a free HTML contact form template that lives on your own domain.
- Framework starters: Next.js, React, Astro.
- Docs and API: /docs, /api-reference.
- Plan, security, deliverability: /faq.
FAQ
Is Google Forms or Typeform better for a business website?
Typeform, if the choice is strictly between those two — it looks professional and matches your brand on paid plans, while Google Forms always looks like a Google product. But for a form on a website you control, both share the same weakness: they're iframes or off-site links. A form backend like splitforms puts the form directly in your page's HTML with your own styling, which is what a business website usually actually needs.
What does Typeform cost in 2026?
The Free plan allows 10 responses a month. Basic is $39 per month, or $28 per month billed yearly, for 100 responses; Plus is $79 per month, or $56 per month billed yearly, for 1,000; Business is $129 per month, or $91 per month billed yearly, for 10,000 (plan cards on typeform.com/pricing, checked 2026-11-01). Webhooks start on Basic and branding removal on Plus. SplitForms covers 500 submissions total on Free and 5,000 submissions per month on Pro at $5 per month.
Can I embed Google Forms without the Google branding?
No. The embed is an iframe of the Google-hosted form, and the Google look — fonts, layout, footer — comes with it. There's no CSS access and no white-label option at any Workspace tier. If branding matters, the fix is structural: build the form in your own HTML and send submissions to a backend like splitforms, so there's nothing to de-brand.
What is the cheapest of the three?
Google Forms is the cheapest in absolute terms — free forever with unlimited responses. Among the two you'd actually put on a business website, splitforms is far cheaper than Typeform: 500 free submissions total versus 10 a month, and $5 per month for 5,000 versus Typeform Basic at $39 per month ($28 per month billed yearly) for 100. Email notifications are free on every splitforms plan, and the $49 per year Annual plan covers 15,000 per month.
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 allows 10 responses a month, shared by every form on the account, according to Typeform's community team. After that, Basic is $39 per month, or $28 per month billed yearly, for 100 responses. 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, time-trap, rate limits + rule-based content scoring) is on by default; Typeform leaves that to you. (3) Webhooks are HMAC-signed and included on paid plans (from $5/month Pro); on Typeform, webhooks are gated to higher-tier plans.
How does splitforms handle the things Typeform makes easy (logic jumps, multi-step)?
Multi-step pages and show-if conditional logic are built into the splitforms dashboard builder, free on every plan, and embed as one snippet. Typeform-style logic jumps, calculations and the one-question-at-a-time flow are not; for those you write the steps in your own code and post the final step to splitforms.
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 the alternatives pages (e.g. /alternatives/typeform-alternative and /alternatives/google-forms-alternative) for one-on-one comparisons.