Online forms have become integral to so many different business operations and functions. Whether you’re creating a lead generation campaign or working on an HR initiative, forms are central to collecting and aggregating data.
Thankfully, there are plenty of online form builders currently on the market to choose from. The only downside is that with all the choices, it may be hard to decide exactly which one is best for you.
Two popular options to consider are Jotform and Google Forms. Both of these can do a great job when it comes to creating forms, but each one excels for different use cases.
Below, we’ll compare Jotform and Google Forms so you can decide which one of these online form builders is best for your next project.
What is Jotform?
Jotform is an established online form builder that prides itself on offering an extensive array of ready-to-use templates along with an intuitive interface.
Since its founding in 2006, Jotform has evolved to become much more than a simple form builder. Jotform can now handle extensive payment integrations, widgets for extending functionality, and analytic features to help you work with the data you collect.
Overall, Jotform is a robust form builder that is very approachable for new users but also has advanced features for users who demand more from their forms and data projects.
Features
Jotform has no shortage of great features that range from basic to more advanced. Below, we’ve compiled the key features we believe set Jotform apart from other form builders.
Templates
The templates included with Jotform are probably the biggest standout feature. Currently, there are over 10,000 templates and they are categorized by use case, industry, design, and many other criteria.
Each template can also be customized if needed. If you prefer to use templates or would rather not have to design templates from scratch, you’ll be more than happy with the selection.
This is one of Jotform’s greatest strengths over competitors like Google Forms.
Widgets
Widgets within Jotform allow you to add extra functions to your forms. Some of these functions impact the form and the user, while others work behind the scenes to automate or streamline certain processes.
For example, you can quickly add email verification to your forms using a simple widget. There are over 50 free widgets within Jotform and more are added from time to time.
Payments
Jotform has extensive payment integration options so you can accept payments directly inside your forms. There are integrations for aggregate payment services like Square or Stripe as well as integrations for individual merchant accounts using a gateway such as Authorize.net.
Conditional Logic Tools
Jotform has advanced features for implementing conditional logic operations within forms. This allows the creation of dynamic forms that adjust or add new fields as data is entered by the user.
Conditional logic also lets you ensure that forms are filled out correctly before the user moves on to the next step or submits the form.
Data & Analytics
For those collecting a large number of forms, Jotform has built-in analytics to quickly gain insights into your form submissions.
The analytics built into Jotform are rather strong and for most users, you won’t need third-party tools to make use of your form data.
There are even visualization tools to create graphs and dashboards based on the forms or data fields you’ve chosen to display.
Integrations
While Jotform has many functions built right into the platform, there are also plenty of integrations with popular business software apps you already use. Everything from CRMs to collaboration tools can be integrated with Jotform.
Collaboration & Form Reminders
Jotform includes collaboration tools so users and guests can view, edit, and annotate forms as they are being created. This is perfect when forms need to be approved before being sent out or if different departments are involved in creating a single form.
It’s important to note that for collaborators to have full access, they will need a separate paid user account. Guests can be assigned to collaborate but they have limited access to the form editing and creation tools.
Pricing
Starter plan – $0/month
- 5 forms
- 100 submissions per month
- 100 MB of storage
- 1,000 form views per month
Bronze Plan – $34/month
- 25 forms
- 1,000 submissions per form
- 1 GB of storage
- 10,000 form views
- 10 signed documents
- 10 monthly payments
Silver Plan – $39/month
- 50 forms
- 2,500 submissions per form
- 10 GB of storage
- 100,000 form views
- 100 signed documents
- 100 monthly payments
Gold Plan – $99/month
- 100 forms
- 10,000 submissions per form
- 100 GB of storage
- 1,00,000 form views
- 1,000 signed documents
- 1,000 monthly payments
What is Google Forms?
Google Forms is likely one of the form builders that almost everyone is familiar with. You’ve likely used it at least once for filling out a form.
Google Forms is a solid form builder and its main advantage is how well it integrates with other Google services like Google Sheets. It’s also free to use with no limitations on the number of forms you can create or accept.
The main drawback of Google Forms is that it is limited in the amount of customization you can do. This is especially true when it comes to the look of the forms.
Google Forms are rather utilitarian and lack any ability to add your own branding or flair. For marketing purposes, this may be a deal breaker.
But for simple form creation with zero cost, Google Forms gets the job done quite nicely.
Features
Despite being a free tool, Google Forms has some great features and is easy to use like many other free Google services.
Below are the standout features that Google Forms brings to the table.
Templates
Google Forms does have templates to help you get started, but it’s limited to only 17. You can modify these as needed or simply create one from scratch.
Since Google Forms is a no-frills form builder, you can easily start one from scratch if they don’t offer a template for what you need.
Forms all follow the same structure and no design skills or design elements are needed to create forms.
Conditional Logic
Despite being free, Google Forms still offers conditional logic. You can’t get as sophisticated as you can with the Jotform logic, but it still works for most form functions like adding additional fields based on answers.
One limitation though is the logic can only be applied to multiple-choice and dropdown fields.
Integrations
Google Forms integrates perfectly with other Google productivity tools. So if you’re a Google Sheets user, you can easily import the data from your forms into a sheet.
But Google Forms also works with over 100 other third-party applications including Microsoft Office and other productivity tools or data analytics.
Google Forms is more limited when it comes to payment integrations. You can access free add-ons from the Workspace Add-On Marketplace. However, these are more of a workaround and are not as fully integrated as Jotform’s payment features.
Question Types
Google Forms includes various question types from simple one-line text entries to paragraph entries and checkboxes.
You can also set rules for each question or field type, such as character limits or character type.
Analytics
Google has built-in analytics so you can view simple graphs and charts when you finish collecting your forms.
These are rather simple graphs and offer fewer options than Jotform, but they will work when you need a quick overview of the data you’re collecting.
To drill down into your data, you can simply transfer it to a Google Sheet with one click and then sort your fields by the criteria of your choice.
Quizzes & Auto Responses
Within Google Forms, you can set up quizzes or tests and the results are shown immediately upon completion. You can also choose to not show the results to the user.
This is great for testing or hiring processes within a company or organization.
Simplicity
Due to the more streamlined nature of Google Forms, there is almost no learning curve when using the platform. You can assign just about any team member in your organization to create a form and they should have no problem regardless of their experience level.
No Cost
Probably the biggest draw of Google Forms is that there is zero cost involved and you get an unlimited number of forms and submissions.
There’s no doubt that Google Forms is the best deal as far as form builders go. If you don’t mind the somewhat bland forms and limited feature set, you probably won’t need to spend any money on a paid form builder.
Pricing
Google Forms is completely free to use. Every free account has 15 GB of storage. If you need more storage, you can add storage to specific Google accounts that use or collect data via Google Forms.
The paid accounts add storage but don’t add specific features to Google Forms.
Basic Plan: $1.99/month
- 100 GB extra storage
- Share with 5 other accounts
Standard Plan: $2.99/month
- 200 GB extra storage
- Share with 5 other accounts
Premium Plan: $9.99
- 2TB extra storage
- Share with 5 other accounts
Jotform vs Google Forms: Comparison
The comparison between these two form builders really comes down to advanced features and whether those are necessary for your projects.
There are plenty of larger organizations that get by just fine using the more simplified forms available from Google Forms.
This can also be the case if your organization just uses the forms internally. For internal forms used in HR or other business operations, the lack of customization with Google Forms is likely far less of a concern.
When these forms are used externally to generate leads or interact with customers, then you may find the advanced features in Jotform are well worth the extra money. You also may want the extended design customization and branding options, which can definitely increase form completion and other conversion metrics.
Another thing to consider is the price. While it’s obvious that Google Forms is the free alternative, it’s more important to understand the form limits when talking about costs.
Google Forms is free but you also get unlimited forms. Jotform and many paid form builders use a tiered system where you pay more per month to increase the number of forms and submissions you can use.
If you’re running a large number of forms and submissions, this can get very expensive. Especially if you have many users creating forms that need access to Jotform.
For example, even with Jotform’s most expensive tier (Gold Plan/$99 per month), you can only create 100 forms and are limited to a single user account.
The only way to access unlimited forms and allow for more users is to get an Enterprise Plan through Jotform. However, the pricing for Enterprise Plans is not public and requires a custom quote from a sales rep.
That’s not to say that Jotorm isn’t worth the money. However, the product is geared toward single users creating a relatively small number of forms per month. It’s not priced for high-volume forms and user accounts.
One workaround is to use a hybrid approach where your business uses both platforms. You can use Google Forms internally and then reserve Jotforms for customer-facing forms or forms that require advanced functionality.
Jotform and Google productivity apps can both integrate each other’s data. So any sharing of data between the two apps is easy.
JotForm Vs Google Forms: Final Verdict
Jotform is clearly the more advanced form builder and includes far more features and capabilities than Google Forms. If you need those advanced features and customization, then your choice is clear.
Jotfrom will give you the ability to take your forms to the next level and use them in much more interesting ways.
However, if all you need is a streamlined form builder for internal data-gathering tasks, Google Forms will more than get the job done. It may not create the best-looking forms, but the platform is rock solid and you can integrate the forms with a host of productivity apps to extend the functionality.
Since Google Forms is free, we always suggest trying it first to find out if it fits your needs. After that, try out Jotform’s Starter Plan which is free and gives you access to 5 forms along with 100 submissions per month.
From there, you can decide if the advanced features of Jotform fit your team’s goals and data-collecting strategy.
