Formbricks vs Google Forms
Both are alternatives to Typeform. Here's how they stack up — verified facts, no spin.
Also searched as Google Forms vs Formbricks — same comparison, one verdict.
Formbricks is open source (Open core (AGPL-3.0 core; enterprise features commercially licensed)) and Google Forms is not (Proprietary (free with a Google account)) — so the real question is whether you want to own the forms & surveys stack or rent it.
Formbricks
TOP PICKSelf-hosted surveys built for privacy-first teams.
Formbricks is an open survey and experience platform designed to be self-hosted: link surveys, in-app surveys triggered by user behaviour, and website surveys, with responses resting on your own infrastructure. That last point is the reason to choose it — for GDPR-sensitive work, form responses never leaving your servers turns a compliance conversation into a non-event. Around 12.7k stars, actively developed, with a paid cloud for teams who would rather not host. The licence is an open core with some enterprise features commercially licensed, so check which side of the line the feature you need falls on.
Google Forms
Free, adequate, and the honest answer more often than people admit.
Google Forms collects responses into a spreadsheet, handles basic logic, and costs nothing. It is not conversational, the design options are thin, and it looks like what it is. Included because a significant share of Typeform subscriptions exist for forms that Google Forms would have handled perfectly — an internal survey, an event signup, a feedback box — and recommending an open alternative for a job that needs no tool at all would be padding this page rather than helping. If your form has fewer than ten questions and no brand requirement, start here.
Side by side
6 points of comparison, every one read from a verified field. Green marks the side that wins a row outright. A dash means we do not hold that fact — never that it is zero.
| Formbricks | Google Forms | |
|---|---|---|
| Sovereignty ScoreOur transparent 0–100 composite for data ownership and exit cost. | 90 | 22 |
| Open source | Yes | No |
| Self-hostable | Yes | No |
| Local-first data | Yes | No |
| License | Open core (AGPL-3.0 core; enterprise features commercially licensed) | Proprietary (free with a Google account) |
| Pricing | Free and open source to self-host. Paid cloud and enterprise tiers. | Free with any Google account. Included with Workspace. |
Formbricks is Macrostack's recommended Typeform alternative, so it's our pick here.
Weighing both against staying on Typeform? Is Typeform free? What it actually costs →
Formbricks
Strengths
- +Responses never leave your infrastructure — the compliance answer
- +In-app and website surveys, not just link forms
- +No per-response pricing; a successful survey costs nothing extra
- +Modern interface and active development
Trade-offs
- −Some enterprise features are commercially licensed
- −You now run a service, with the upgrades and backups that implies
- −Smaller integration catalogue than Typeform
- −Conversational polish is close but not identical
Google Forms
Strengths
- +Free, unlimited, and already available to nearly everyone
- +Responses land directly in Sheets for analysis
- +Zero learning curve — most people have used it already
- +Fine for internal surveys, signups and feedback
Trade-offs
- −Google holds the responses, which is the objection this page exists for
- −Dated presentation with limited branding
- −Basic conditional logic only
- −Not appropriate for anything customer-facing where design matters
Which one fits you
The trade-offs above, turned into a decision. Find the line that describes your team.
Choose Formbricks
if you want the source and the option to fork it, and you would rather run it on your own hardware, and your data should stay on machines you control.
Choose Google Forms
if free, unlimited, and already available to nearly everyone.
Neither, yet
if both carry a real cost you should weigh first — some enterprise features are commercially licensed, and google holds the responses, which is the objection this page exists for. If either of those is a dealbreaker for your team, the shortlist is wrong rather than the choice.
Formbricks vs Google Forms — common questions
Is Formbricks a better fit than Google Forms for forms & surveys?
It depends on what you are optimising for, and the honest split is this: Formbricks scores 90 to Google Forms's 22 on data ownership and exit cost, so it is the safer choice if you care about being able to leave. Google Forms earns its place on a different axis — free, unlimited, and already available to nearly everyone. Neither is a wrong answer for every team; the table above is the actual comparison.
What happens if we want to switch later?
Formbricks keeps its data local or in open formats, so leaving is an export rather than a negotiation. Google Forms keeps your data on its own infrastructure, which is the part to plan for: confirm the export path before you commit, not when you are already trying to leave.
Can I self-host Formbricks?
Formbricks can be self-hosted; Google Forms cannot, so it stays on the vendor's infrastructure whatever you do.
Are Formbricks and Google Forms both alternatives to Typeform?
Yes — both appear in our Typeform comparison, which is why they are worth putting side by side. People usually arrive here already having decided to move off Typeform and now choosing between the two replacements, which is a narrower and much easier question.
Related alternative guides
Facts verified 2026-08-07. Licenses and pricing change — spotted something out of date? That's a correction we want.