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Surveys · head to head

Google Forms vs Umami

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
Umami logo

Umami

Marketing

Open source, cookie-free web analytics you can self-host for the cost of a database

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • 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.; Umami there is no cohort analysis, retention curve, session replay or multi-touch attribution, so a marketing team that needs to justify channel spend will still buy a second tool and Umami becomes a supplementary dashboard.
  • They diverge on capability: Google Forms covers Bundled with every Workspace edition, Umami covers Cookie-free tracking.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where Google Forms and Umami differ
AttributeGoogle FormsUmami
Pricing modelIncluded with Google Workspace, not sold separatelyPer month by event count
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWeb, Linux
CategorySurveysMarketing

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), 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 Umami

  • Cookie-free tracking
  • Self-hosting
  • Small tracking script
  • Custom events
  • Funnels and goals
  • Multi-site and teams
  • Public dashboards
  • API access

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 Umami
  • Internal data collection that must land in a Google Sheet for onward analysis without any export stepnot Umami
  • Organisations that want a form tool with zero incremental cost and no procurement conversationnot Umami
  • Simple public surveys where no respondent sign-in is required and no file uploads are involvednot Umami

Umami

  • A developer who wants traffic numbers on a personal or client site without adding a consent bannernot Google Forms
  • An organisation whose legal or procurement team has ruled out sending visitor data to a US advertising companynot Google Forms
  • A high-traffic site where hosted analytics priced by pageview band has become expensive and self-hosting removes the ceiling entirelynot Google Forms
  • A team that wants analytics data in a database they already control so they can query and join it themselvesnot 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.

Umami

  • There is no cohort analysis, retention curve, session replay or multi-touch attribution, so a marketing team that needs to justify channel spend will still buy a second tool and Umami becomes a supplementary dashboard.
  • Self-hosting is only free in licence terms; you own the database, the upgrades, the backups and the query performance at scale, and a busy site's events table grows quickly enough to need real attention.
  • Because it stores no persistent identifier, it cannot follow a user across devices or sessions in any meaningful way, which makes returning-visitor and lifetime-value questions unanswerable by design rather than by omission.
  • Cloud overage is billed per event beyond the plan allowance, so a traffic spike or a badly instrumented custom event can produce a bill materially above the $20 or $200 headline before anyone notices.
  • It is maintained by a small team, so the pace of new capability is modest and enterprise expectations such as SSO, granular role permissions and formal support agreements are limited compared with commercial analytics vendors.

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

Umami

Free
  • Self-hostedFree
    • MIT licensed, no licence fee
    • No event limit imposed by the software
    • Unlimited websites and users
  • Cloud HobbyFree
    • Up to 100,000 events per month
    • 3 websites
    • 6 months data retention
  • Cloud Pro$20/month
    • Up to 1,000,000 events per month
    • Unlimited websites
    • Unlimited team members
  • Cloud Business$200/month
    • Up to 10,000,000 events per month
    • All Pro features
    • Higher volume overage rate

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 Umami if

  • You need cookie-free tracking.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Linux.
  • You also want self-hosting.
Umami review

Questions people ask

Is Google Forms or Umami better?
Neither clearly leads. Google Forms starts at Free and Umami at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Google Forms or Umami?
Google Forms starts at Free and Umami at Free.
Does Google Forms or Umami run on more platforms?
Google Forms runs on Web, iOS, Android. Umami runs on Web, Linux.
Can I use Google Forms for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
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 Umami is typically brought in for.
What can Google Forms do that Umami cannot?
Google Forms covers Bundled with every Workspace edition, Linked Sheets responses, Per-unit external sharing controls, Auto-close. Umami covers Cookie-free tracking, Self-hosting, Small tracking script, Custom events.

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.

Umami: Is Umami really free?

Self-hosted, yes; it is MIT licensed with no event cap. You pay for the server and database. Umami Cloud has a free tier at 100,000 events a month and paid tiers from $20.

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.

Umami: Do I need a cookie consent banner?

For Umami analytics specifically, generally no, because it sets no cookies and stores no personal data. Other tags on your site may still require one.

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.

Umami: Can it replace Google Analytics?

For traffic, referrers and event counts, yes. For attribution modelling, audiences and advertising integration, no.

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.

Umami: What does it need to run?

A container and a PostgreSQL or MySQL database. Most people deploy it on infrastructure they already pay for.

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