Surveys · head to head
Microsoft Forms vs SurveyLegend
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
- -
SurveyLegend
Surveys
Swedish survey tool hosted only in Frankfurt, where response limits are counted per survey and export is capped below what you can collect
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- 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.; SurveyLegend every paid tier can collect more responses than it can export, with Pro gathering 5,000 per survey but exporting only 1,000 and Business gathering 20,000 but exporting 10,000, so data you have paid to collect can be stranded inside the product.
- They diverge on capability: Microsoft Forms covers Bundled licensing, SurveyLegend covers Per survey response limits.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Microsoft Forms and SurveyLegend actually diverge.
| Attribute | Microsoft Forms | SurveyLegend |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Included with Microsoft 365, not sold separately | Per month by responses per survey |
Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), 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 Microsoft Forms
- Bundled licensing
- Very high response ceiling
- File upload questions
- Co-authoring
- eDiscovery coverage
- Surveys Agent in Copilot
Only in SurveyLegend
- Per survey response limits
- Frankfurt hosting on every plan
- Image-led question types
- Live analytics
- Conditional logic flows
- REST API and webhooks
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 SurveyLegend
- Education settings where quizzes need automatic grading and results in Excel without procurement approvalnot SurveyLegend
- Quick polls inside Microsoft Teams where the response data should stay in the same tenant as everything elsenot SurveyLegend
- Any case where the deciding factor is that no purchase order is requirednot SurveyLegend
SurveyLegend
- A European organisation that needs survey responses to stay in the EU without paying for an enterprise tier to get itnot Microsoft Forms
- Occasional research where a few surveys each collect a large number of responses, which suits a per-survey quota better than a monthly onenot Microsoft Forms
- Consumer-facing surveys where picture choice and visual scales lift completion rates on phonesnot Microsoft Forms
- Small teams that want a fixed low monthly cost rather than usage-based billingnot 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.
SurveyLegend
- Every paid tier can collect more responses than it can export, with Pro gathering 5,000 per survey but exporting only 1,000 and Business gathering 20,000 but exporting 10,000, so data you have paid to collect can be stranded inside the product.
- The free Starter plan cannot export data at all, only preview it in the live analytics, which makes it a demonstration rather than a usable plan and means any real project starts as a paid one.
- The vendor claims neither SOC 2 nor ISO 27001 nor any third-party audit, and its GDPR page does not disclose hosting location, subprocessors or transfer mechanisms, so an enterprise security review will stall regardless of how good the residency story is.
- The integration list runs to roughly four connectors with no native Zapier, Make, Slack, Teams, HubSpot or Airtable support, so anything beyond Google Sheets or Mailchimp has to be built against the API, which itself is unavailable below the Business tier.
- No seat, collaborator or team permission model is documented anywhere in the pricing, features or user guide, so an organisation that needs several people to share and administer surveys has no described way to do it.
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
SurveyLegend
Free- StarterFree
- Free forever
- 3 surveys, 1,000 responses per survey
- No data export at all
- Pro$15/month
- 170 USD per year billed annually, 19 USD if billed monthly
- 20 surveys, 5,000 responses per survey
- Export capped at 1,000 responses per survey
- Business$25/month
- 300 USD per year billed annually, 39 USD if billed monthly
- Unlimited surveys, 20,000 responses per survey
- Export capped at 10,000 responses per survey
- Legendary$65/month
- 780 USD per year billed annually, 89 USD if billed monthly
- Unlimited surveys, 100,000 responses per survey
- Unlimited data export
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 SurveyLegend if
- You need per survey response limits.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, iOS, Android.
- You also want frankfurt hosting on every plan.
Questions people ask
- Is Microsoft Forms or SurveyLegend better?
- Neither clearly leads. Microsoft Forms starts at Free and SurveyLegend at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Microsoft Forms or SurveyLegend?
- Microsoft Forms starts at Free and SurveyLegend at Free.
- Does Microsoft Forms or SurveyLegend 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?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- 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 SurveyLegend is typically brought in for.
- What can Microsoft Forms do that SurveyLegend cannot?
- Microsoft Forms covers Bundled licensing, Very high response ceiling, File upload questions, Co-authoring. SurveyLegend covers Per survey response limits, Frankfurt hosting on every plan, Image-led question types, Live analytics.
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.
SurveyLegend: Where is my data stored?
In Frankfurt, Germany, on DigitalOcean, on every plan including the free one, with backups also held in Frankfurt. There is no United States transfer and no residency upgrade to buy.
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.
SurveyLegend: What is the catch with the free plan?
You cannot export your data. You can build three surveys, collect a thousand responses each and view the analytics, but getting the raw responses out requires a paid plan.
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.
SurveyLegend: Why does Pro cost 170 USD a year when the page shows 15 USD a month?
The published annual total is 170 USD, which is ten dollars below twelve times the stated monthly-equivalent rate. Both figures are printed on the vendor pricing page.
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.
SurveyLegend: Is it suitable for an enterprise rollout?
Probably not. There is no SOC 2 or ISO 27001 certification, no documented team or permission model, and support is by email with phone access only on the top tier.
Related pages
More on Microsoft Forms
More on SurveyLegend
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