FormsBat vs Google Forms
Google Forms is free with a Google account and works neatly with Google Sheets. FormsBat builds forms and surveys whose answers fill a PDF or Word document that can go straight to e-signature. Here is how they differ.
Updated by the FormsBat team
The short answer
Choose Google Forms if you want a free, familiar form builder and your team already lives in Google Workspace. It is free with a Google account, sends responses into Google Sheets, has quizzes, and supports sections with branching based on answers. For a quick internal poll or a classroom quiz it is hard to beat.
Choose FormsBat if each response needs to turn into a document. FormsBat can fill your own Word template or PDF with every response, including photos people upload, save it to Drive, email it to the respondent and send it for e-signature with a sealed PDF at the end. It also gives you more control over how the form looks, with 8 themes, your own fonts, logo, cover, images and video, or your own HTML and CSS.
Google Forms does not itself fill your own Word or PDF templates or collect sealed e-signatures; you need add ons or other tools for that. FormsBat is a newer, smaller product, and it has no live link to Google Sheets. Many people will be happy with either; the deciding question is usually whether you need a document at the end.
FormsBat vs Google Forms: side by side
| Feature | FormsBat | Google Forms |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free plan, Pro $4 a month | Free with a Google account |
| Question types | 18, including picture choice, file upload, drawn signature, initials, address and NPS scale | The common types, including file upload and linear scale |
| Conditional logic | Show or skip questions and whole pages | Go to section based on answer |
| Pages and progress bar | Yes | Sections, with an optional progress bar |
| One question at a time layout | Yes | Check Google's site |
| Quizzes with grading | Yes, with scoring and different endings | Yes |
| Calculations and payments | Calculations, and payments through Stripe | Check Google's site |
| Themes and branding | 8 themes, accent colour, fonts, logo, cover, images and video, dark mode, or your own HTML and CSS | Header image, colours and a few fonts |
| Fill your own Word or PDF template with each response | Yes, on Pro | Not without add ons |
| Built in PDF of each response | Yes, 5 designs, on every plan | Not without add ons |
| E-signature with sealed PDF and certificate | Yes, 3 envelopes a month free, unlimited on Pro | Not without add ons |
| Responses export | CSV and Excel | Google Sheets and CSV |
| Save and resume, offline | Yes | Check Google's site |
| Summary charts | Yes, including NPS | Yes |
| Embed and QR code | Self resizing embed, popup, slider and QR code | Embed code |
| Custom domain | On Pro, and it can be set per form | Check Google's site |
| API and webhooks | REST API, signed webhooks, MCP tools | Google Forms API |
Competitor details are based on Google's public pages at the time of writing and can change. Check Google's site for current features and limits.
Choose FormsBat if
- Choose FormsBat if every response should become a PDF or Word document, such as an application summary, an intake record or a certificate.
- Choose FormsBat if people need to sign the result, like a consent form, a waiver or a rental application.
- Choose FormsBat if you want your form to look like your brand, with your own fonts, logo, cover and dark mode.
- Choose FormsBat if you want NPS calculated for you in the summary view.
- Choose FormsBat if you prefer not to run your forms through a Google account.
Choose Google Forms if
- you want a completely free tool and the table of answers is all you need.
- you want quizzes that sit next to Google Classroom and Sheets.
- your responses should land in a live Google Sheet that others are already working in.
- your organisation already uses Google Workspace and wants everything in one place.
Documents from every response: the main difference
Google Forms is built around collecting answers into a table. That works well when the table is the end result. Many forms, though, are really the first step towards a document: a job application that should be filed as a PDF, a client intake that becomes a record, a consent form that needs a signature.
In FormsBat, each response can create a document automatically. You can use the built in answers document in one of 5 designs on any plan. On Pro you can use your own Word template, with {{placeholders}} for answers and {{#if}} blocks for parts that only appear sometimes, or your own fillable or flat PDF. Documents are saved to Drive in a folder for the form and can be emailed to the respondent. See document templates for how it works.
Signatures
Google Forms has no built in signature step. FormsBat has two. A drawn signature question captures a signature as part of the answers. For anything more formal, turn on e-sign: the generated document goes to the respondent, and optionally to you and fixed signers, with signature fields placed at the {{signature}} spots in your template. The respondent can sign straight from the thank you screen, and you get a sealed PDF with a certificate.
The Free plan includes 3 signature envelopes a month and Pro is unlimited. Read more on e-sign from forms.
Building the form
Both tools are easy to learn. Google Forms keeps things deliberately simple. FormsBat offers 18 question types, including picture choice, address, drawn signature and a linear scale that can be set up as NPS, plus images and video in the form. Questions can sit side by side, in sections and pages with a progress bar, or one at a time. Conditional logic can show or skip single questions or whole pages, calculations can add up totals, quizzes can score answers and show different endings, and forms can take a payment through Stripe.
FormsBat also has over 100 templates in the template gallery, covering applications, consent forms, waivers, surveys and more, and Create a form with AI, which drafts a form from a short description using AI credits.
What Google Forms does better
Google Forms is free with a Google account, which makes it an easy default for everyday forms. Its link with Google Sheets is excellent, its quiz mode is widely used in schools alongside Google Classroom, and it has the reliability and scale of Google behind it. If you already share files in Google Drive, it fits right in.
FormsBat's Free plan gives you unlimited forms and 1,000 responses a month, with FormsBat branding. Pro removes the branding and raises that to 10,000 responses a month for $4 a month. See the form builder page for the full feature list.
Sharing and spam
Both tools give you a link and an embed. FormsBat adds an embed that resizes itself to fit your page, a popup and a slider, a QR code for print, your own domain on Pro, and built in spam protection with a honeypot field, a minimum fill time and a rate limit. Respondents can save and finish later, and answers made without a connection are sent when it comes back. Form analytics are counted by FormsBat itself, with no cookies and no third party trackers. Developers can use the REST API at /api/v1/forms, signed webhooks and MCP tools; see the developers page.
Frequently asked questions
Is FormsBat a free alternative to Google Forms?
FormsBat has a Free plan with unlimited forms, 1,000 responses a month and FormsBat branding. Google Forms is free with a Google account. If you need documents or signatures from responses, FormsBat covers that on the Free plan with the built in answers document and 3 envelopes a month.
Can Google Forms create a PDF from each response?
Not on its own. People usually use add ons or other tools to turn responses into documents. FormsBat does it for every response, with a built in design or your own Word or PDF template on Pro.
Can I collect signatures with Google Forms?
Google Forms does not include a signature question or a sealed e-signature step without add ons. FormsBat has a drawn signature question and full e-signature on the generated document.
Does FormsBat connect to Google Sheets?
There is no live Google Sheets link. You can export responses to CSV or Excel, or use the REST API and signed webhooks to send them anywhere.
Does FormsBat have quizzes?
Yes. Quizzes can score answers and show a different ending for each result. Google Forms is still a natural fit if your class already works in Google Classroom.
Can I move a Google Form to FormsBat?
There is no automatic import. Most forms are quick to rebuild from one of the templates or with Create a form with AI.
Keep comparing
Turn every response into a document
Build a form free, fill your own Word or PDF template with each response and send it for e-signature. Pro is $4 a month for no branding and 10,000 responses a month.