Microsoft's equivalent of Google Forms is Microsoft Forms. It plays the same role inside Microsoft's ecosystem — build surveys, quizzes, and polls, then collect responses. It's included in most Microsoft 365 plans, needs no installation, and you can start building right away by opening forms.office.com in a browser.
This article focuses on what the equivalent is and how to get started. For a detailed feature-by-feature showdown and how to choose between the two, see Microsoft Forms vs. Google Forms. For step-by-step instructions on rebuilding an existing Google Form as a Microsoft Form, see how to convert a Google Form to a Microsoft Form.
The short answer — what maps to what
| On the Google side | On the Microsoft side (equivalent) |
|---|---|
| Google Forms | Microsoft Forms |
| Google Sheets (response destination) | Excel (auto-exported responses) |
| Google Drive (storage) | OneDrive / SharePoint |
| Looker Studio (visualization) | Power BI |
| Google account (sign-in) | Microsoft account / work or school account |
Almost everything you did in Google Forms has a one-to-one counterpart on the Microsoft side. Microsoft Forms is the form builder itself; Excel and OneDrive handle where the response data lives.
Which plan includes Microsoft Forms? Is it free?
The short version: Microsoft Forms is included in most Microsoft 365 plans, and it also works — with limits — on a free Microsoft account.
| How you access it | Microsoft Forms available? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Free Microsoft account (outlook.com / hotmail, etc.) | Yes | Some feature limits. Aimed at personal use |
| Microsoft 365 Personal / Family | Yes, included | Consumer subscription |
| Microsoft 365 Business (Basic / Standard / Premium) | Yes, included | Used via your work account |
| Microsoft 365 / Office 365 Education | Yes, included | Strong quiz features |
| One-time purchase Office (Office 2021 / 2024, etc.) | Not on its own | Forms is a subscription-linked web service; perpetual licenses don't include it |
The key point: Microsoft Forms is a web service, separate from the desktop Office apps (Word, Excel) you install. Owning a one-time-purchase copy of Office doesn't give you Forms; you sign in with a Microsoft account and use it in the browser.
Even a free account can create basic surveys and tally responses. If you just want to spin up one form as a Google Forms substitute, signing in to
forms.office.comwith a free Microsoft account is the fastest path.
Google Forms to Microsoft Forms feature map
A practical "where's that Google Forms feature in Microsoft Forms?" table.
| What you want to do | Google Forms | Microsoft Forms |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple-choice and text questions | Yes | Yes |
| Required fields | Yes | Yes |
| Branching based on answers | Section-level | Question-level (slightly more flexible) |
| Quizzes (auto-grading) | Yes | Yes (intuitive scoring/answer keys) |
| Responses to a spreadsheet | Google Sheets | Excel (on OneDrive) |
| Charts and summaries | Yes | Yes |
| Real-time co-editing | Yes | Yes (share and edit with colleagues) |
| Live poll during a meeting | No | Yes (inside Teams) |
| Theme / color changes | Yes (limited) | Yes (limited) |
| Custom logo placement / custom domain | No | No |
For everyday survey use, neither tool dominates the other on features. The natural rule of thumb: if you want tight integration with the Microsoft ecosystem (Teams, Excel, SharePoint), choose Microsoft Forms. If your real question is "which one should we pick" broken down feature by feature, that's a different intent — head to Microsoft Forms vs. Google Forms.
Getting started in three steps
- Sign in — Open
forms.office.comin a browser and sign in with a Microsoft account (personal, or work/school). - Create a form — Click "New Form," add a title and questions. Question types include choice, text, rating, and date.
- Share and collect — Use "Collect responses" to generate a share link. Distribute it to anyone who has the link; responses are tallied automatically.
For detailed instructions, see the Microsoft Forms usage guide. If you're already comfortable in Google Forms, comparing it against the Google Forms usage guide makes the mapping easy to grasp.
Practical gotchas (where people trip up)
Gotcha 1: External sharing depends on the default setting
When you use Microsoft Forms with a work or school account, the default is often "only people in my organization can respond." Send that URL to an outside recipient as-is and they'll get a "you can't respond" message. To share externally, switch the setting to "anyone with the link can respond."
The external-sharing trap and how to avoid it is covered in detail in how to let external people respond to a Microsoft Form. Google Forms leans the opposite way — it's closer to "anyone can respond by default" — so this is a classic behavioral difference between the two.
Gotcha 2: Whether responses can be anonymous depends on account type
Depending on your free Microsoft account or organization settings, the respondent's name and email may or may not be recorded. To avoid the "I wanted fully anonymous responses but names got logged" accident, always check the named/anonymous setting when you create the form.
Gotcha 3: Branded forms and custom domains aren't supported in either
Free logo placement, removing the brand footer, and publishing a form on a custom domain are unsupported in both Microsoft Forms and Google Forms. If you need customer-facing forms that match your website's look, that's the point to consider a dedicated tool (below).
Where does Repoan fit?
As covered above, if you want to keep internal surveys, quizzes, and meeting polls inside the Microsoft ecosystem, Microsoft Forms is the strongest pick. It's free to start and integrates tightly with Excel and Teams, so for many cases it's all you need.
That said, these requirements are structurally hard in both Microsoft Forms and Google Forms:
- Running AI theme classification and sentiment analysis on 100+ free-text responses
- Comparing monthly NPS or quarterly CSAT on a trend dashboard
- Brand consistency for customer-facing forms with logos, custom domains, and thank-you pages
- Lead-capture forms with ad integration and conversion tracking
Repoan is an AI survey tool designed around exactly these gaps, and it needs neither Microsoft 365 nor Google Workspace. A hybrid approach — "Microsoft Forms for internal, Repoan for customer-facing, ongoing tracking, and lead capture" — tends to balance cost and impact well. If you're seriously evaluating a replacement, see Microsoft Forms alternative.
FAQ
Q1. Does Microsoft have something like Google Forms?
Yes. Microsoft offers Microsoft Forms, its equivalent of Google Forms for building surveys, quizzes, and polls. You use it in a browser at forms.office.com, and responses are tallied automatically in Excel.
Q2. What is Microsoft's version of Google Forms?
It's Microsoft Forms. Like Google Forms, you build surveys and quizzes with multiple-choice and text questions, then share a link to collect responses. It also adds Microsoft-specific features like live polls inside Teams meetings.
Q3. Is Microsoft Forms free?
With a free Microsoft account (such as an old outlook.com or hotmail address), you can use it for free with some feature limits. If you have a Microsoft 365 subscription (Personal, Business, Education, etc.), more features are included by default.
Q4. Which plans include Microsoft Forms?
It's included in Microsoft 365 Personal / Family, Microsoft 365 Business (Basic / Standard / Premium), and Office 365 Education subscriptions. It is not included with one-time-purchase Office (Office 2021 / 2024); in that case you use the web version via a Microsoft account.
Q5. Can external people respond to a Microsoft Form?
Yes, but with a work or school account the default is often "organization only," so you need to change the share setting to "anyone with the link can respond" to share externally. See how to let external people respond to a Microsoft Form for details.