Google Forms vs Microsoft Forms on iPhone (2026)
Two Utilities, Same Species
Unlike Typeform or Jotform, Microsoft Forms is not trying to out-feature Google Forms — it is Microsoft’s version of the same idea: a free, fast, spreadsheet-backed form tool bundled with the productivity suite. That makes this the most ecosystem-driven choice in the category.
| Google Forms | Microsoft Forms | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, effectively unlimited | Free personal tier; fuller with 365 |
| Spreadsheet home | Google Sheets, native | Excel Online, native |
| Quizzes | Answer keys, auto-grading, Classroom | Answer keys, auto-grading, Teams for Education |
| Sharing lives in | Drive / Gmail / Workspace | Teams / Outlook / 365 |
| Creator on iPhone | Mobile web (third-party native apps exist) | Mobile web / Office app |
| Respondent account needed | No (unless settings require) | No (unless settings require) |
| Branching | Section-based | Question-based |
The Few Real Differences
- Free-tier ceiling. Google Forms’ unlimited collection remains the most generous deal in the category; Microsoft’s free tier carries per-form response caps that most personal users never hit but busy public forms can.
- Excel vs Sheets is the whole ballgame for analysis workflows. Whichever spreadsheet your muscle memory lives in — that’s your form tool. Bridging across (Forms→Excel or MS Forms→Sheets) needs third-party automation and is rarely worth the fragility.
- Education flavors. Google Classroom schools and Teams-for-Education schools each get first-class quiz workflows from their own vendor; Google’s quiz mode is covered in depth in our guide.
- On iPhone, symmetry. Neither vendor ships a first-party iOS creator app — both point phones at a browser. The asymmetry is downstream: Google Forms has a third-party native-app ecosystem to fill that gap, which is the route our own app takes; Microsoft Forms largely does not.
The Decision, Honestly
Workspace shop → Google Forms. 365 shop → Microsoft Forms. Neither → default to Google Forms for the friendlier free ceiling, and see the full alternatives roundup if a specific complaint (design, payments) is driving the search. And if your suite is Google but your workday is an iPhone, that mobile gap is fixable without switching suites.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better, Google Forms or Microsoft Forms?
Almost always the one matching your office suite. Both are competent free form builders with quizzes, branching, and spreadsheet output; neither is dramatically ahead on features. Responses landing in Sheets versus Excel, sign-in via Google versus Microsoft accounts, sharing inside Workspace versus Teams — the ecosystem fit outweighs every feature difference.
Is Microsoft Forms free?
Yes — a personal free tier comes with any Microsoft account, and the fuller version ships inside Microsoft 365 subscriptions. Practical limits (response caps per form, storage) are looser than survey-tool free tiers but tighter than Google Forms' effectively unlimited collection, which remains the most generous free deal in the category.
Does Microsoft Forms work well on iPhone?
For respondents, yes — clean mobile rendering. For creators it is the same story as Google: a mobile browser editor, plus access through the Office/365 mobile apps. Neither company ships a dedicated first-party form-builder app for iOS, so phone-first creators end up in a browser either way.
Which has better quizzes?
Both do self-grading quizzes with answer keys and points, and for education both are genuinely usable. Google's edge is ecosystem: Google Classroom integration and the huge base of schools already on Workspace. In a Teams-for-Education school, Microsoft Forms holds the same home-field advantage.
Can Microsoft Forms responses go into Google Sheets, or vice versa?
Not natively in either direction — each writes to its own spreadsheet (Excel Online or Google Sheets). Bridging requires an automation tool in the middle, which works but adds a failure point. This is exactly why crossing ecosystems for a marginal feature preference rarely pays.
I use Google Forms but my company is on 365 — switch?
For work forms shared with colleagues, switching in makes sense: sign-in, permissions, and Teams sharing all get simpler. For personal and outward-facing forms, there is no need — respondents never need an account for either tool, so your public links work regardless of which suite your employer runs.