Best Microsoft Forms alternative

Microsoft Forms is one of the most popular form builders, especially as part of Microsoft 365. However, the lack of a free tier, integrations, and vendor lock-in has led many to seek an open-source alternative to Microsoft Forms.

Why users want an MS Forms alternative:

When users are looking for MS Forms as an option for their surveys or feedback forms, here are a few problems that come with it:

• Vendor lock-in: MS Forms locks you into the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. Even though MS Forms integrates well into the Microsoft ecosystem, they don’t provide smooth and easy third-party applications.
• No free tier: Even though you get a pretty good offer with all the tools of Microsoft in the MS 365 suite. It doesn’t make sense to buy all that just to create a simple Survey or feedback form.

How will we compare Formbricks with MS Forms?

To understand how Formbricks and MS Forms compare, we will look at the following three aspects:

• Features and functionality
• Data Privacy & Security
• Pricing and Vendor Lock-in

Features & Functionality:

Just like the rest of the Microsoft ecosystem, MS Forms is a solid, feature-rich tool. However, Formbricks brings a fresh, modern perspective to the world of survey and experience management.

Let’s dive deep 👇

Question Types:

Question types are the backbone feature of any survey, forms, or feedback platform. Let's see how both of these compare based on the question types

As we can see, both options are equally good unless you are looking specifically for one or two features here and there.

Additional Features:

There are a few additional features that make MS Forms truly better than a lot of survey and form platforms. But a lot of the features are also missing that are covered in Formbricks.

I would say it’s a tie again. Let’s have a look

Integrations:

Once you have all the data you need, it’s important to have automations and integrations with the third-parties so that you can work with all the data you gathered.

I think Formbricks edges by an inch here. In addition, formbricks provides a very easy-to-integrate API with SDKs that support a variety of frameworks.

Look and Feel:

Most of the time, looks comes down to personal choice. But customizability and in-built templates can still be compared to see which gives a better starting point to develop some beautiful surveys and forms.

Here are some of the forms built with MS Forms:

Similarly, here are some forms built with Formbricks. Even formbricks provide good control over how your forms can look. So that you can control the UI depending on the needs of your application.

Both of them look well polished and give a professional + smooth feel to them. Similarly, both of them provide a lot of templates which can be used as a starting point for your quiz, survey or feedback.

Data Security & Privacy:

In today’s world, data privacy is no longer optional. It’s more like a requirement for every software out there. It is important to keep your users’ data safe. Let’s see how Formbricks compares with MS Forms.

Microsoft Forms Security Overview:

Being a big tech giant, MS Forms has solid data security measures and meets the FERPA and BAA protection standards.

The platform also complies with:

• HIPAA: Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
• GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is a European Union (EU) law designed to protect individuals' data and privacy

However, when using a cloud platform, it’s important to know that your data is with Microsoft. Even though you are data is encrypted at rest and in transit, you are entrusting your data to a third party. Which means you lose all control over your data. Self-hosted platforms like Formbricks can help you avoid problems like these.

Formbricks Security Overview:

Formbricks excels when it comes to data security, offering both cloud-based and self-hosting options for various user needs. Here's a breakdown of the options and their security features:

Cloud Option:

• Comparable to MS Form's cloud-based offering
• Fully CCPA compliant
• As a German company, Formbricks is fully GDPR compliant with strict adherence to Europe's stringent data protection regulations
• SOC2 compliance
• ISO 27001 compliance in the pipeline

Self-Hosting:

• Gives you complete control over your data with the ability to deploy Formbricks on your servers
• Allows for secure deployment of a Formbricks instance behind your firewall, giving an added layer of protection
• Eliminates the need for compliance review because you're not entrusting sensitive info to third-party providers – the data never leaves your servers
• The Community Edition is free forever, and allows self-hosting even for business use cases
• Enterprise Edition self-hosting starts at 99€/month and is paid on usage

I think you can’t go wrong with either one when it comes to privacy and security. But if you want complete control over your data, it makes sense to have a self-hosted platform over a cloud platform.

Pricing & Vendor lock-in:

Pricing & vendor lock-in can be an important consideration.

Let's explore how these platforms compare 👇

Microsoft Forms Pricing Overview:

Pricing for Microsoft Forms can vary depending on your location. But you can say it is fairly cheaper than Formbricks, especially when you also get everything in the Microsoft 365 suite. However, MS Forms doesn’t offer any sort of free tier. Which means even if you want just a few forms, you will need to buy their entire Microsoft 365 plan.

That being said, there are a lot of things you get with their basic plans. But since MS Forms is not a standalone product, you also need to get locked into the ecosystem of Microsoft 365 ( Teams, SharePoint, Excel) for full functionality ).

Formbricks Pricing Overview:

Unlike MS Forms, Formbricks provides a very generous free tier with over 500 responses, unlimited questions, unlimited micro-surveys, unlimited team members, and much [more](link to free tier).

Even though on paid plans Formrbicks might be slightly expensive, it provides a lot more with it without locking you into a specific ecosystem.

If you are already invested in the Microsoft ecosystem, it makes more sense to go ahead with that. But if you are looking for a generous software that can also be self-hosted to give you more control without any vendor-locking, it makes sense to go ahead with Formbricks.

Overall Result: Is Formbricks a good open-source alternative to Microsoft Forms

I think both provide a solid foundation in pretty much all three comparisons. You can’t go wrong picking either one of those, especially when you are looking for a simple survey solution. But in the same case, Formbrick’s free tier provides you with a lot to work on without any commitment.

But if you are concerned about multiple integrations and privacy, Formbricks might be a better choice with all those built-in integrations and complete control over your data.