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Surveys · head to head

Google Forms vs Octoboard

Google Forms logo

Google Forms

Surveys

Survey tool bundled with Google Workspace that cannot be disabled separately from Drive and Docs

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
Octoboard logo

Octoboard

Marketing

Low-cost white-label client reporting and dashboards priced per connected client

From
€25/month
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Google Forms has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Google Forms forms has no service toggle of its own and is governed by the Drive and Docs service, so an administrator cannot disable it for an organisational unit without also disabling Docs, Sheets, Slides and Drive for those same users.; Octoboard the interface and documentation are visibly less polished than AgencyAnalytics or Whatagraph, and agencies often spend longer than expected getting a first report to look presentable.
  • They diverge on capability: Google Forms covers Bundled with every Workspace edition, Octoboard covers White-label client portal.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Google Forms and Octoboard actually diverge.

Attributes where Google Forms and Octoboard differ
AttributeGoogle FormsOctoboard
Starting priceFree€25/month
Pricing modelIncluded with Google Workspace, not sold separatelyPer month by connected client count
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWeb
CategorySurveysMarketing

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Google Forms

  • Bundled with every Workspace edition
  • Linked Sheets responses
  • Per-unit external sharing controls
  • Auto-close
  • Gemini assistance
  • Locked mode quizzes

Only in Octoboard

  • White-label client portal
  • Client-based pricing
  • Automated SEO audits
  • Business analytics
  • Scheduled report delivery
  • Data streaming and export

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Google Forms

  • Schools and universities running quizzes and collecting coursework where Workspace is already the standardnot Octoboard
  • Internal data collection that must land in a Google Sheet for onward analysis without any export stepnot Octoboard
  • Organisations that want a form tool with zero incremental cost and no procurement conversationnot Octoboard
  • Simple public surveys where no respondent sign-in is required and no file uploads are involvednot Octoboard

Octoboard

  • A freelancer or two-person agency that needs client-branded reports without a two hundred dollar monthly platform billnot Google Forms
  • An agency that wants white labelling in the entry tier rather than paying to unlock itnot Google Forms
  • A small SEO shop that wants automated site audits and channel reporting from one subscriptionnot Google Forms
  • An agency with a large but shallow client roster where per-client pricing beats per-data-source pricingnot Google Forms

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Google Forms

  • Forms has no service toggle of its own and is governed by the Drive and Docs service, so an administrator cannot disable it for an organisational unit without also disabling Docs, Sheets, Slides and Drive for those same users.
  • Data Regions covers Forms only for data at rest and not during processing, Business Starter gets no data regions at all, and Forms is excluded from client-side encryption and unmentioned in Assured Controls, so the residency guarantees are weaker than for Gmail or Drive.
  • Google Vault has no Forms-specific retention rule, hold or export, reaching forms only as Drive files, which means survey responses are reliably retainable only when they are routed to a linked Google Sheet.
  • Adding a file upload question requires every respondent to sign in to a Google account, which destroys anonymity and excludes anyone without one, and uploaded files consume the form owner personal Drive quota rather than an organisational pool.
  • File uploads are disabled when a form lives in a shared drive, so the ownership pattern that survives a staff departure and the upload feature are mutually exclusive, and a deleted owner Drive files are recoverable for only twenty days.

Octoboard

  • The interface and documentation are visibly less polished than AgencyAnalytics or Whatagraph, and agencies often spend longer than expected getting a first report to look presentable.
  • Connector reliability is the recurring complaint in this price bracket, and a silently stale connection means a client receives a report with wrong numbers before anyone notices.
  • Support is email based with no dedicated onboarding on the entry tiers, so a broken integration during a month-end reporting crunch can sit unresolved for days.
  • Because pricing is per connected client, an agency serving few clients with many channels each pays for capacity it does not use compared with per-source pricing.
  • Data retention and export options are thinner on lower tiers, so leaving Octoboard means losing report history rather than migrating it.

Pricing, plan by plan

Google Forms

Free
  • Personal Google accountFree
    • Free with any personal Google account
    • 300 pieces of content per form, counting questions, descriptions, images and videos
    • 75 sections per form
  • Google Workspace Business Starter$undefined/year
    • Included in the subscription price, not sold separately
    • No data regions coverage at all at this tier
    • Forms governed by the Drive and Docs service toggle
  • Business Standard, Business Plus, Frontline Standard, Education Standard, Enterprise Essentials$undefined/year
    • Included in the subscription price, not sold separately
    • Fundamental data regions, one organisation-wide at-rest policy
    • Forms covered at rest only, not during processing
  • Frontline Plus, Enterprise Plus, or the Data Regions add-on$undefined/year
    • Included in the subscription price, not sold separately
    • Enterprise data regions with per-unit and per-group policies
    • Forms still excluded from client-side encryption and unnamed in Assured Controls

Octoboard

€25/month
  • Agencies$25/month
    • Five connected clients
    • Unlimited users, dashboards and reports
    • White labelling and custom email domain included

Which should you pick?

Choose Google Forms if

  • You need bundled with every workspace edition.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want linked sheets responses.
Google Forms review

Choose Octoboard if

  • You need white-label client portal.
  • You also want client-based pricing.
Octoboard review

Questions people ask

Is Google Forms or Octoboard better?
Neither clearly leads. Google Forms starts at Free and Octoboard at €25/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Google Forms or Octoboard?
Google Forms has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Google Forms and €25/month for Octoboard.
Does Google Forms or Octoboard run on more platforms?
Google Forms runs on Web, iOS, Android. Octoboard runs on Web.
Can I use Google Forms for free?
Yes. Google Forms has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Octoboard starts at €25/month.
What is Google Forms best used for?
Google Forms is most often used for schools and universities running quizzes and collecting coursework where workspace is already the standard, internal data collection that must land in a google sheet for onward analysis without any export step, organisations that want a form tool with zero incremental cost and no procurement conversation, simple public surveys where no respondent sign-in is required and no file uploads are involved. Of those, schools and universities running quizzes and collecting coursework where workspace is already the standard and internal data collection that must land in a google sheet for onward analysis without any export step are not what Octoboard is typically brought in for.
What can Google Forms do that Octoboard cannot?
Google Forms covers Bundled with every Workspace edition, Linked Sheets responses, Per-unit external sharing controls, Auto-close. Octoboard covers White-label client portal, Client-based pricing, Automated SEO audits, Business analytics.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Google Forms: Can I buy Google Forms separately?

No. It is bundled with Drive and the Docs editors in every Workspace edition and is free with a personal Google account. There is no standalone SKU.

Octoboard: Is white labelling an upgrade?

No, it is included from the entry tier along with a custom email sending domain.

Google Forms: How many responses can one form take?

Google publishes no limit. The practical ceiling is the linked Google Sheet at ten million cells. The documented 300 figure is pieces of content per form, not questions and not responses.

Octoboard: How is it priced?

Per connected client per month, roughly five dollars or euros each, with the entry bundle covering five clients.

Google Forms: Can I turn Forms off but keep Drive?

No. Forms is controlled by the Drive and Docs service toggle. You can restrict external sharing of forms per organisational unit, but you cannot disable Forms alone.

Octoboard: Are users charged?

No, users, dashboards and reports are unlimited on all tiers.

Google Forms: Are responses covered by Vault?

Only as Drive files. There is no Forms-specific hold or export, so route responses to a linked Sheet if they need to be retained or produced in discovery.

Octoboard: Does it do SEO audits?

Yes, automated site crawls are built in and can be scheduled into client reports.

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