Surveys · head to head
Medallia vs Microsoft Forms
Medallia
Surveys
Enterprise experience management platform for customer, employee and contact centre feedback
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
Microsoft Forms
Surveys
Survey tool bundled into Microsoft 365 with no standalone price, where the real constraints are tenant policy, residency and admin visibility
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Only Microsoft Forms has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: Medallia there is no published pricing and no self-serve tier, so evaluating cost requires a sales process before any real budgeting can happen.; Microsoft Forms the Advanced Data Residency add-on explicitly does not cover Microsoft Forms, so a tenant that has paid for regional residency still has its survey responses provisioned according to best-effort guidance rather than a contractual commitment.
- They diverge on capability: Medallia covers Multi-channel feedback capture, Microsoft Forms covers Bundled licensing.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Medallia and Microsoft Forms actually diverge.
| Attribute | Medallia | Microsoft Forms |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | On request | Free |
| Pricing model | quote | Included with Microsoft 365, not sold separately |
| Free tier | No | Yes |
Identical on both: platforms (Web, iOS, Android), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Surveys).
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 Medallia
- Multi-channel feedback capture
- AI text and sentiment analysis
- Role-based reporting
- Contact centre analytics
- Experience orchestration
- Market research tools
Only in Microsoft Forms
- Bundled licensing
- Very high response ceiling
- File upload questions
- Co-authoring
- eDiscovery coverage
- Surveys Agent in Copilot
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Medallia
- A retail or hospitality chain that wants customer feedback, digital behaviour and call transcripts unified in one platformnot Microsoft Forms
- An enterprise with a dedicated CX team needing role-based dashboards from frontline staff to the executive teamnot Microsoft Forms
- A contact centre wanting agent coaching and quality management driven by the same data as customer satisfaction scoresnot Microsoft Forms
- A company running employee and customer experience programmes and wanting one vendor across bothnot Microsoft Forms
Microsoft Forms
- Internal surveys and quizzes inside an organisation that already pays for Microsoft 365 and does not want a second vendor contractnot Medallia
- Education settings where quizzes need automatic grading and results in Excel without procurement approvalnot Medallia
- Quick polls inside Microsoft Teams where the response data should stay in the same tenant as everything elsenot Medallia
- Any case where the deciding factor is that no purchase order is requirednot Medallia
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Medallia
- There is no published pricing and no self-serve tier, so evaluating cost requires a sales process before any real budgeting can happen.
- Implementation is a project, not a signup, and typically involves data integration and consulting work before the platform produces usable dashboards.
- The breadth of modules means a buyer who only needs a simple survey tool is paying for enterprise infrastructure they will not use.
- Switching away later means re-architecting how feedback is collected across the organisation, which creates real vendor lock-in once rolled out.
- Smaller teams and mid-market companies are effectively priced out, since the platform and its go-to-market are built for large enterprise accounts.
Microsoft Forms
- The Advanced Data Residency add-on explicitly does not cover Microsoft Forms, so a tenant that has paid for regional residency still has its survey responses provisioned according to best-effort guidance rather than a contractual commitment.
- Above 50,000 responses a form degrades sharply: only CSV export continues to work, while summary charts, viewing individual responses, printing, shared summary links and manual quiz grading all stop.
- Forms belonging to an account that is hard deleted, or deleted more than thirty days earlier, are not recoverable at all, so an unmanaged leaver process destroys survey data silently.
- The administrator settings that govern external sharing, template sharing and result summary sharing are only available to education and Microsoft 365 Apps for business customers, leaving many commercial tenants without the controls the documentation describes.
- A summary sharing link that has already been created continues to work for anyone inside or outside the organisation even after the form is restricted, so tightening permissions does not close an existing leak unless the link is deleted explicitly.
Pricing, plan by plan
Medallia
On request- Medallia Experience Cloud$undefined/year
- No published pricing, sold as a multi-year enterprise contract
- Pricing depends on modules (CX, EX, contact centre, market research)
- Implementation and integration typically charged separately
Microsoft Forms
Free- Free consumer Microsoft accountFree
- 200 responses per form
- 400 forms per account, including the recycle bin
- 200 questions per form
- Paid consumer Microsoft account$undefined/year
- Included in the subscription price, not sold separately
- 1,000 responses per form
- 400 forms per account
- Microsoft 365 work or school licence$undefined/year
- Included in the subscription price, not sold separately
- 5,000,000 responses per form
- Included in Business Basic, Standard, Premium, Office 365 E1, E3, E5 and Microsoft 365 F3
- Government GCC High and DoD$undefined/year
- Included in the subscription price, not sold separately
- 50,000 responses per form
- No email notification, video insert, Bing image search or phishing protection
Which should you pick?
Choose Medallia if
- You need multi-channel feedback capture.
- You work on Web, iOS, Android.
- You also want ai text and sentiment analysis.
Choose Microsoft Forms if
- You need bundled licensing.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, iOS, Android.
- You also want very high response ceiling.
Questions people ask
- Is Medallia or Microsoft Forms better?
- Neither clearly leads. Medallia starts at On request and Microsoft Forms at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Medallia or Microsoft Forms?
- Microsoft Forms has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Medallia and Free for Microsoft Forms.
- Does Medallia or Microsoft Forms run on more platforms?
- Both run on Web, iOS, Android, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
- Can I use Microsoft Forms for free?
- Yes. Microsoft Forms has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Medallia starts at On request.
- What is Medallia best used for?
- Medallia is most often used for a retail or hospitality chain that wants customer feedback, digital behaviour and call transcripts unified in one platform, an enterprise with a dedicated cx team needing role-based dashboards from frontline staff to the executive team, a contact centre wanting agent coaching and quality management driven by the same data as customer satisfaction scores, a company running employee and customer experience programmes and wanting one vendor across both. Of those, a retail or hospitality chain that wants customer feedback, digital behaviour and call transcripts unified in one platform and an enterprise with a dedicated cx team needing role-based dashboards from frontline staff to the executive team are not what Microsoft Forms is typically brought in for.
- What can Medallia do that Microsoft Forms cannot?
- Medallia covers Multi-channel feedback capture, AI text and sentiment analysis, Role-based reporting, Contact centre analytics. Microsoft Forms covers Bundled licensing, Very high response ceiling, File upload questions, Co-authoring.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Medallia: Is there a self-serve or free version?
No. Medallia sells only through direct sales with quoted enterprise contracts; there is no published price list.
Microsoft Forms: Can I buy Microsoft Forms on its own?
No. It exists only as a service plan inside Microsoft 365, Office 365 and education or government SKUs, or free with a consumer Microsoft account. There is no standalone product to purchase.
Medallia: Can a mid-sized company buy Medallia?
Technically yes, but the sales motion, implementation cost and contract structure are built for large enterprise deployments, not smaller teams.
Microsoft Forms: Where are responses stored?
In the United States for most tenants, in the EU and EFTA region for EU tenants, and in Australia only for Forms provisioned after October 2022. Microsoft states this is guidance, not a residency commitment.
Medallia: Does it replace a standalone survey tool?
It can collect surveys, but its value is in unifying multiple feedback channels; a company only needing surveys is better served by a cheaper dedicated tool.
Microsoft Forms: Can an administrator read someone else responses?
Not while that user account is active; ownership transfer is refused. Yes once the account is disabled or deleted, and yes through premium eDiscovery, which is still labelled preview.
Microsoft Forms: How do I turn Forms off for the organisation?
Disable both the Microsoft Forms and the Office Hive enterprise applications in Entra ID, or clear the Forms checkbox per user. Both applications must be disabled for it to take effect.
Related pages
More on Microsoft Forms
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