Surveys · head to head
Microsoft Forms vs REDCap
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
- -
REDCap
Research
Research data capture licensed free to non-profits, and not licensable at all to companies
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Only Microsoft Forms has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: 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.; REDCap a for-profit company cannot hold a licence or self-host REDCap, so a biotech or CRO that liked it at university simply cannot deploy it the same way and must buy a commercially licensed hosted version instead.
- They diverge on capability: Microsoft Forms covers Bundled licensing, REDCap covers Form and survey designer.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Microsoft Forms and REDCap actually diverge.
| Attribute | Microsoft Forms | REDCap |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free | On request |
| Pricing model | Included with Microsoft 365, not sold separately | quote |
| Free tier | Yes | No |
| Platforms | Web, iOS, Android | Web, Linux, Windows |
| Category | Surveys | Research |
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 Microsoft Forms
- Bundled licensing
- Very high response ceiling
- File upload questions
- Co-authoring
- eDiscovery coverage
- Surveys Agent in Copilot
Only in REDCap
- Form and survey designer
- Longitudinal projects
- Data quality rules
- Randomisation
- Audit trail and e-signature
- API and exports
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Microsoft Forms
- Internal surveys and quizzes inside an organisation that already pays for Microsoft 365 and does not want a second vendor contractnot REDCap
- Education settings where quizzes need automatic grading and results in Excel without procurement approvalnot REDCap
- Quick polls inside Microsoft Teams where the response data should stay in the same tenant as everything elsenot REDCap
- Any case where the deciding factor is that no purchase order is requirednot REDCap
REDCap
- An academic research group at an institution that already runs REDCap, where a new study database costs nothing beyond the time to build itnot Microsoft Forms
- A hospital collecting patient reported outcomes where data must stay on institutional infrastructure rather than a vendor cloudnot Microsoft Forms
- An investigator initiated trial that needs randomisation, an audit trail and statistical export without a commercial EDC budgetnot Microsoft Forms
- A multi site academic collaboration where each site can be given scoped access to a single longitudinal projectnot Microsoft Forms
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
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.
REDCap
- A for-profit company cannot hold a licence or self-host REDCap, so a biotech or CRO that liked it at university simply cannot deploy it the same way and must buy a commercially licensed hosted version instead.
- Because each institution hosts its own instance, support, uptime, backup and version currency vary by university, and a researcher has no recourse to Vanderbilt when the local instance is two years out of date.
- It is free of licence fee but not free of cost: the hosting institution carries server, security, patching and support staffing, which is why some institutions charge internal recharges per project.
- Validation for regulated use is the deploying institution responsibility, so an instance is not Part 11 compliant simply because REDCap supports the features; someone locally has to produce and maintain the evidence.
- The interface and reporting are dated compared with commercial survey and EDC tools, and complex logic is built through data dictionary spreadsheets rather than a modern visual builder, which slows non technical study teams.
Pricing, plan by plan
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$undefined/year
- Included in the subscription price, not sold separately
- 50,000 responses per form
- No email notification, video insert, Bing image search or phishing protection
REDCap
On request- REDCap non-profit licence$undefined/year
- No licence fee to non-profit and government institutions that join the consortium
- Institution must install and host it on its own infrastructure
- For-profit organisations may not hold a licence or self-host
Which should you pick?
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.
Choose REDCap if
- You need form and survey designer.
- You work on Web, Linux, Windows.
- You also want longitudinal projects.
Questions people ask
- Is Microsoft Forms or REDCap better?
- Neither clearly leads. Microsoft Forms starts at Free and REDCap at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Microsoft Forms or REDCap?
- Microsoft Forms has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Microsoft Forms and On request for REDCap.
- Does Microsoft Forms or REDCap run on more platforms?
- Microsoft Forms runs on Web, iOS, Android. REDCap runs on Web, Linux, Windows.
- Can I use Microsoft Forms for free?
- Yes. Microsoft Forms has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. REDCap starts at On request.
- What is Microsoft Forms best used for?
- Microsoft Forms is most often used for internal surveys and quizzes inside an organisation that already pays for microsoft 365 and does not want a second vendor contract, education settings where quizzes need automatic grading and results in excel without procurement approval, quick polls inside microsoft teams where the response data should stay in the same tenant as everything else, any case where the deciding factor is that no purchase order is required. Of those, internal surveys and quizzes inside an organisation that already pays for microsoft 365 and does not want a second vendor contract and education settings where quizzes need automatic grading and results in excel without procurement approval are not what REDCap is typically brought in for.
- What can Microsoft Forms do that REDCap cannot?
- Microsoft Forms covers Bundled licensing, Very high response ceiling, File upload questions, Co-authoring. REDCap covers Form and survey designer, Longitudinal projects, Data quality rules, Randomisation.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
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.
REDCap: Is REDCap really free?
The licence is free to non-profit institutions and government organisations that join the consortium, but they must host and support it themselves, so there is real internal cost.
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.
REDCap: Can my company use REDCap?
Not by holding a licence or self-hosting. For-profit organisations must use a separately licensed commercial hosted route.
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.
REDCap: Is REDCap 21 CFR Part 11 compliant?
It has the features to support Part 11 use, but compliance depends on how the hosting institution configures, validates and documents its own instance.
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.
REDCap: Who supports it?
Your local institutional REDCap administrator, not Vanderbilt. Support quality varies by site.
Related pages
More on Microsoft Forms
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