MakeFormsvsGoogle Forms

Google Forms is free.
That's all it is.

Google Forms costs nothing and does the basics. But it is not HIPAA compliant, it shows Google branding, it cannot run on your domain, and Google processes your data. This page covers what you give up when you use Google Forms — and when those trade-offs matter.

Try MakeForms freeSee full comparison →
Internal surveys, simple data collection, no compliance
→ Google Forms is fine here
Healthcare, NGOs, any PHI or sensitive data
→ MakeForms — Google Forms is not HIPAA compliant
Client-facing forms, branded experiences, custom domains
→ MakeForms from $29/mo
!
Healthcare teams: Google explicitly excludes Google Forms from their HIPAA Business Associate Agreement. Collecting any PHI via Google Forms is a compliance violation. See details below.
HIPAA compliance
MakeForms✓ From $69/mo
Google Forms✗ Explicitly excluded
Data ownership
MakeFormsYours. Always.
Google FormsGoogle processes it
Custom domain
MakeForms✓ All paid plans
Google Forms✗ Locked to Google
Remove platform branding
MakeForms✓ All paid plans
Google Forms✗ Always Google-branded
Full comparison

Feature by feature.
Nothing hidden.

Google Forms claims are sourced from Google's official documentation and Workspace terms. Where both platforms have a feature, both get a tick.

FeatureMakeFormsGoogle Forms
Pricing
Free plan available
✓
Unlimited forms
✓
Completely free
Entry paid plan
$29/mo
Unlimited submissions
Free (via Google Workspace)
From $6/user/mo for Workspace
Compliance & Privacy
HIPAA BAA
✓
From Pro ($69/mo)
✗ Explicitly excluded from BAA
Source: Google Workspace HIPAA Implementation Guide
GDPR compliance
✓
Partial
Data still processed by Google
Canadian data residency (PIPEDA / PHIPA)
✓
From Pro
✗
Australian data residency
✓
From Pro
✗
Singapore data residency
✓
From Pro
✗
SOC 2 Type II
✓✓
Google Workspace
ISO 27001
✓✓
Google Workspace
Data processed / scanned by provider
No — your data stays yours
Yes — Google processes form data
Source: Google Terms of Service
OTP / mobile number verification
✓✗
Branding & Hosting
Remove platform branding
✓
All paid plans
✗
Always shows Google branding
Custom domain hosting
✓✗
Hosted on forms.google.com only
Custom form themes and branding
✓
Basic color/header only
Form Types & Features
Conversational (one at a time) forms
✓✗
Step forms (multi-page)
✓
Sections only (no true steps)
All-fields-at-once forms
✓✓
Conditional logic
✓
Advanced — multiple conditions and actions
Basic — section branching only
Calculator / calculated fields
✓✗
Multi-language (single form, multiple languages)
✓✗
Fill form directly within email (AMP)
✓✗
Payment collection
✓
Stripe, PayPal
✗
E-signatures
✓✗
Document / PDF generation from form
✓✗
Requires third-party add-ons
Concierge — forms built by our team
✓
Yearly plans
✗
Team Access
Multi-user access with role permissions
✓
From Pro ($69/mo)
Via Google Workspace only
Integrations
Google Sheets sync
✓✓
Native
Salesforce
✓
Via Zapier only
Keragon (HIPAA-compliant healthcare automation)
✓✗
Zapier / Make
✓✓
Ready to move off Google Forms? Start free — your first form live in minutes.
Start for free
Three things worth understanding

Where "free" stops
being enough.

Three Google Forms limitations that matter — shown side-by-side with what MakeForms does instead.

Google Forms
Google Forms is explicitly excluded from HIPAA coverage.
Google Workspace offers a HIPAA Business Associate Agreement — but Google Forms is not on the covered services list. Google's own HIPAA Implementation Guide names the covered services, and Google Forms is not among them. This means any Protected Health Information collected through Google Forms is a HIPAA violation, regardless of whether you have a Workspace BAA in place. This is not ambiguous. It is documented by Google.
"Google Forms is not covered under the Google Workspace HIPAA Business Associate Agreement."
— Google Workspace HIPAA Implementation Guide
MakeForms
HIPAA BAA from $69/month. Self-serve.
MakeForms includes HIPAA BAA from the Pro plan at $69/month — no sales call, no Enterprise contract. Healthcare teams can collect patient intake, consent forms, satisfaction surveys, and any PHI in a compliant environment from day one.
  • HIPAA BAA from Pro — $69/mo, self-serve sign-up
  • Canadian data residency (PHIPA) — also from Pro
  • OTP verification — confirm patient identity before submission
  • Keragon integration for HIPAA-compliant automation workflows
Google Forms
Google's product. Google's data.
Google Forms is a free product built by the world's largest advertising company. Google's terms of service allow them to process content submitted through their services. For internal surveys with no sensitive data, this is fine. For client-facing forms, patient data, NGO respondent data, or anything that falls under a privacy regulation, you are handing data to a third party whose business model is built on data. Your data is stored in Google's infrastructure, in regions Google chooses, subject to Google's retention and processing policies.
"When you upload, submit, store, send or receive content to or through our Services, you give Google a worldwide license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify..."
— Google Terms of Service
MakeForms
Privacy-first. Your data. Your region.
MakeForms is built privacy-first. We don't process your respondents' data for any purpose other than delivering your forms. You choose your data residency region — US, EU, Canada, Australia, Singapore, or UK — and your data stays there.
  • 6 data residency regions — pick where your data lives
  • Data is yours — not processed or used by MakeForms
  • No advertising business. No data monetization.
  • SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 certified
Google Forms
Your client sees Google. Not you.
Google Forms cannot be white-labeled. Every form shows Google's branding. Every form URL is forms.google.com or docs.google.com. There is no way to host a Google Form on your own domain, use your logo in the header, or remove the Google wordmark from the footer. For personal use or internal surveys, this is no issue. For any client-facing form, intake form, or branded survey, you are sending respondents to a Google-branded URL on a Google-owned domain.
MakeForms
Your brand. Your domain. No MakeForms logo.
MakeForms removes platform branding on all paid plans and supports custom domain mapping — your forms live at forms.yourcompany.com. Respondents see your brand, your domain, your design. Not ours.
  • Custom domain — forms.yourcompany.com on paid plans
  • Remove MakeForms branding — all paid plans
  • Full custom theming, logo, colors
  • White-label experience for agencies and enterprise clients
The hidden cost of free

Free has a price.
You just don't invoice for it.

Google Forms is free. These are the things you pay with instead.

Compliance exposure
One HIPAA violation can cost between $100 and $50,000 per incident. Using Google Forms for PHI is not a grey area — it's a documented violation. The fine is not free.
Brand credibility
Sending clients, patients, or prospects a forms.google.com link tells them you're using whatever's free. It's not a crisis — but it's a signal. Branded forms on your domain signal professionalism.
Feature workarounds
Calculated fields, conditional logic, PDF generation, OTP verification, payment collection — Google Forms can't do these. The workarounds (add-ons, scripts, Zapier chains) have a real time and maintenance cost.
Start free — no credit card
No compliance risk. No Google branding. No feature gaps. MakeForms from $29/mo.
Try MakeForms freeSee pricing →
The honest verdict

Google Forms is the right call
until it isn't.

Google Forms is a capable, free tool. Here's the honest breakdown of when to use it — and when to move on.

Google Forms
Internal team surveys with no sensitive data
Pulse surveys, event sign-ups, internal feedback, anonymous employee polls — if it's all internal and there's no compliance requirement, Google Forms does the job for free and integrates natively with Google Sheets.
→ Google Forms works here
Google Forms
One-off data collection with no branding requirement
Quick research form, a workshop RSVP, a simple quiz — where speed matters more than presentation and there is zero compliance exposure. Google Forms is fast to set up and free.
→ Google Forms is fine for this
MakeForms
Any form touching patient, client, or sensitive data
Healthcare intake, NGO beneficiary data, consent forms, insurance details — anything with PHI, PII under HIPAA, GDPR, or PIPEDA. Google Forms is not an option here. MakeForms is built for exactly this.
→ MakeForms Pro at $69/mo
MakeForms
Client-facing forms that need to look like your brand
Contact forms, lead gen, onboarding, client intake — anything a prospect or client sees. Google Forms looks like Google. MakeForms looks like you, on your domain, without our logo.
→ MakeForms from $29/mo
MakeForms
Forms that need advanced logic, payments, or documents
Quote builders, application forms, calculators, payment collection, PDF generation, e-signatures — Google Forms cannot do any of this without third-party add-ons and workaround scripts. MakeForms handles all of it natively.
→ MakeForms, all paid plans
MakeForms
Teams with Canadian, Australian, or Singapore data residency requirements
If your data cannot leave a specific region — for PIPEDA, PHIPA, Australian Privacy Act, or PDPA — Google Forms offers no data residency controls. MakeForms supports all three regions from the Pro plan.
→ MakeForms is the only option here
Start free — takes 60 seconds
Switching from Google Forms

Moving takes a few hours.
Not days.

Google Forms are simple by design. Rebuilding them in MakeForms is fast.

1
Create your MakeForms account

Start free. No credit card. Up in under a minute.

2
Rebuild with AI or from scratch

Describe your form to the AI builder — it scaffolds the structure in seconds. Google Forms are usually simple enough to rebuild manually just as fast.

3
Connect your tools and publish

Connect Google Sheets if needed, set up notifications, configure your domain, and publish.

4
Use Concierge if you need it

Yearly Pro and Agency plans include Concierge — our team builds the forms inside your account. Useful if you have many forms or complex workflows.

Start free accountLearn about Concierge →
FAQ

Questions people ask
before switching.

Is Google Forms HIPAA compliant?+

No. Google Forms is explicitly excluded from Google Workspace's HIPAA Business Associate Agreement. Google's own HIPAA Implementation Guide lists the covered services — Google Forms is not on that list. Any Protected Health Information collected via Google Forms is a HIPAA violation, regardless of your Workspace subscription. MakeForms includes HIPAA BAA from the Pro plan at $69/month.

Does Google own data submitted through Google Forms?+

Google's Terms of Service grant them a broad license to process, host, reproduce, and modify content uploaded to their services. For internal, non-sensitive data this is typically acceptable. For client data, patient data, NGO respondent data, or anything under a privacy regulation, this is a meaningful compliance and privacy risk. MakeForms does not process your respondents' data for any purpose beyond delivering your forms.

Can I remove Google branding from Google Forms?+

No. Google Forms always shows Google branding. The form URL is on Google's domain, the header shows Google's logo, and there is no white-label option on any plan. MakeForms removes platform branding on all paid plans and supports custom domain hosting — your forms live at forms.yourcompany.com.

Is MakeForms free like Google Forms?+

MakeForms has a free plan with unlimited forms and core features. Paid plans start at $29/month and include unlimited submissions, custom domain hosting, branding removal, and advanced features. Google Forms is fully free but that comes with significant feature limitations and the data privacy trade-offs described above.

Can Google Forms handle HIPAA patient intake forms?+

No. Google explicitly excludes Google Forms from their HIPAA BAA coverage. Patient intake, consent forms, health history forms, or any form collecting PHI cannot legally use Google Forms. MakeForms supports HIPAA-compliant patient intake and data collection from $69/month — with BAA, Canadian data residency, OTP verification, and Keragon healthcare automation integration.

Does Google Forms support conditional logic?+

Google Forms supports basic section branching — you can send respondents to different sections based on a single answer. It does not support advanced conditional logic with multiple conditions, field-level visibility rules, or complex multi-condition routing. MakeForms supports advanced conditional logic with multiple conditions and actions across fields and sections, without any coding.

Can I verify respondent email or phone in Google Forms?+

No. Google Forms can collect an email address field, but there is no OTP verification — no way to confirm the respondent actually owns the email or phone they entered. MakeForms includes verified submissions, where respondents confirm their email or mobile number with a one-time code before the form submits. Useful for lead qualification, healthcare intake, and any form where data accuracy matters.

Does Google Forms support custom domains?+

No. Google Forms are hosted on forms.google.com or docs.google.com. There is no option to publish on your own domain on any plan. MakeForms supports custom domain mapping on all paid plans — set up forms.yourcompany.com in minutes.

Still have questions? Our team will walk you through it.
Start for free

Try MakeForms.
Free to start.

No credit card. No sales call. Your first form live in minutes. HIPAA, branding, custom domain — whenever you're ready.

Start for free
✓ Free plan available
✓ HIPAA from $69/mo
✓ Custom domain on all paid plans
✓ 6 data residency regions
✓ Your data. Not Google's.