# Microsoft Forms — Forms & Surveys

Microsoft Forms by Microsoft Corporation holds a panel rating of 2/5 from 6 AI judges (category median 3/5), as of 2026-10-29. Provenance: Rest of world; sovereignty: not determined.

- Vendor: Microsoft Corporation (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office365/servicedescriptions/microsoft-forms-service-description)
- Category: [Forms & Surveys](https://whats-best.ai/software/forms-and-surveys.md)
- Provenance (editorial classification): Rest of world
- Canonical page: https://whats-best.ai/software/forms-and-surveys/microsoft-forms
- Alternatives: https://whats-best.ai/software/forms-and-surveys/microsoft-forms/alternatives ([markdown](https://whats-best.ai/software/forms-and-surveys/microsoft-forms/alternatives.md))
- Data as of: 2026-11-04 · evaluated 2026-10-29 · oldest source captured 2026-10-28

**AI-generated.** Every score, rationale and verdict here is written by a panel of AI judges from public evidence — an analysis, not a hands-on test. Every fact quotes the vendor page it was read from. No score can be bought. How scores are made: https://whats-best.ai/methodology

## At a glance

- Vendor: Microsoft Corporation
- Headquarters: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 1 Nov 2026
- Data hosting: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 1 Nov 2026
- Free plan: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 1 Nov 2026

## The panel's verdict

Microsoft Forms is a survey, quiz, poll and questionnaire builder bundled with a list of Microsoft 365 and Office 365 plans and available with a Microsoft account. The bench scored it strongest on collection and workflows, where anonymous and external sharing, embedding in SharePoint, Teams and PowerPoint, email notifications and Power Automate workflows are documented. Hosting and sovereignty each scored a flat 4, resting on EU Data Boundary documentation that names EU and EFTA countries and the European datacenters for Microsoft 365 tenants signed up in the region, while acknowledging limited circumstances where data continues to be transferred outside it. Analysis and reporting scored 3–4, the low point: beyond real-time results, word clouds and Excel export, we found no public information on filters, cross-tabulation or standard scores such as NPS, so deeper analysis starts in a spreadsheet. Judges did not meaningfully split: no scored criterion spans more than a single point, and the market researcher scored analysis 3 while others scored 4. Pricing transparency scored 2–3; no prices or response limits appear on the captured pages.

**Speaks for it:**
- Branching logic, multilingual forms and auto-graded quizzes are documented across the listed plans
- Distribution covers anonymous and external sharing, embedding in SharePoint, Teams and PowerPoint, and email notifications
- Automated workflows through Power Automate carry responses onward, with export to Excel
- The EU Data Boundary documentation names EU and EFTA countries and the datacenter countries used, for Microsoft 365 tenants signed up in the region
- A data protection addendum is downloadable and GDPR compliance is stated since May 2018

**Held against it:**
- Branding customization is limited to changing the image
- We found no public information on filters, cross-tabulation or standard scores such as NPS, with export documented to Excel
- We found no public information on retention with automatic deletion, encryption of responses, or per-respondent access and erasure tools
- Names of people in your organisation are recorded by default until an administrator changes that setting
- Transfers outside the EU Data Boundary continue in limited documented circumstances, and Multi-Geo customers are not in scope

**Best for:**
- You already run on Microsoft 365 and want quick surveys, registrations and knowledge checks distributed through Teams and SharePoint
- You need responses flowing automatically into Excel or Power Automate workflows without adding another tool
- Your procurement wants a documented EU residency commitment, with Microsoft 365 tenants signed up in the EU or EFTA served from datacenters in named European countries
- You want a no-cost entry point through a personal Microsoft account (Hotmail, Live or Outlook.com)

**Avoid if:**
- You need in-tool cross-tabulation, filters or NPS-style scores — the documented analytics are real-time results, response summaries, word clouds and Excel export
- Your branding needs go beyond changing the image, the documented limit of customization
- Your tenant has purchased Multi-Geo Capabilities, which the EU Data Boundary documentation excludes from its scope
- You run anonymous collections and cannot ensure an administrator unchecks the default that records the names of people in your organisation

## Scores by judge and criterion

Scores out of 5, each judge scoring independently against the published rubric (v1). "n/r" = not rated: the vendor publishes no price, or the judge found no public information on that criterion.

| Criterion | The Market Researcher | The Operations Manager | The HR Lead | The Academic Researcher | The Data Protection Officer | The Skeptic |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Form & survey building | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 |
| Distribution, response collection & workflows | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2.5/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2.5/5 |
| Survey analysis & reporting | 1.5/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 |
| Consent, GDPR & respondent data | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 |
| Hosting choice, teams & portability | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 |
| European sovereignty | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 |
| Pricing transparency | n/r | n/r | n/r | n/r | n/r | n/r |
| **Weighted verdict** | **2/5** | **2/5** | **2/5** | **2/5** | **2/5** | **2/5** |

### The judges

- **The Market Researcher** (v1.0): Runs customer and brand studies for a mid-sized consumer-goods company, three waves a year in four languages. Wants logic and quotas that keep the sample clean, invitations with reminders, cross-tabs and NPS without exporting to a spreadsheet first, and open answers grouped into themes before the board meeting.
- **The Operations Manager** (v1.0): Replaces paper and PDF forms at a service company: event registrations, supplier onboarding, damage reports with photos, order requests with a payment. Wants forms a colleague can build without IT, file uploads, a submission that lands in the right inbox and the CRM or spreadsheet without copy and paste, and a price that does not jump when the response count does.
- **The HR Lead** (v1.0): Runs the yearly engagement survey and pulse checks for a German company of six hundred, with the works council reading every question. Wants anonymity that is real and stated, results hidden below a minimum group size, reports per department that managers can read, and answers that are deleted when the agreement with the works council says so.
- **The Academic Researcher** (v1.0): Runs questionnaire studies at a European university and has to satisfy the ethics board before the first respondent sees a question. Wants complex branching, randomisation and validated scales, an informed-consent page that is part of the instrument, exports to SPSS and R with labels intact, and a licence the faculty can host or at least keep in the EU.
- **The Data Protection Officer** (v1.0): Signs off every form tool a department wants to use and has found health data in a feedback form before. Wants a data processing agreement and a subprocessor list on the vendor's own pages, consent fields and an anonymous mode that drops IP addresses, retention periods that delete on their own, EU hosting the customer can choose, and roles that keep responses away from people who do not need them.
- **The Skeptic** (v1.0): Has seen a "free form builder" put its logo on every customer survey and charge per response the month the campaign worked. Reads "GDPR compliant" with no data processing agreement behind it, "anonymous" surveys that still log IP addresses, "EU hosting" on the enterprise plan only, and AI analysis features with no word on where the answers go — and asks whether the responses can leave with the customer.

## European sovereignty — proven facts

Built only from facts on the vendor's own pages; a dimension we could not prove is left open, never scored as zero. Headline: not determined.

| Dimension | Finding | Points | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal entity | Not determined | — | — |
| Hosting location | Not determined | — | — |
| Hosting options | Not determined | — | — |
| Open source | Not determined | — | — |
| Data processing agreement | Not determined | — | — |
| Transfer impact assessment | Not determined | — | — |

## Key facts

Each fact is the vendor's own statement, cited to the source page it was read from ([S*n*] → Sources).

**Compliance**
- Customer data definition: Customer Data defined per Microsoft Product Terms; excludes Professional Services Data [S4]
- DPA addendum status: DPA is an addendum to the Product Terms site (and formerly OST); current and archived editions downloadable [S5]
- DPA scope: Data processing and security terms for subscribed Products are defined in the Microsoft Online Services Data Protection Addendum (DPA) [S5]
- Footnote external sharing: External sharing is not available for GCC High and DoD environments [S1]
- GDPR ferpa baa: yes · yes · 2018-05 [S1]
- Log pseudonymization required: yes [S4]
- Pseudonymization techniques: encryption · masking · tokenization · data blurring [S4]

**Hosting**
- Countries: EU · EFTA · Austria · Belgium · Bulgaria · Croatia · Cyprus · Czechia · Denmark · Estonia · Finland · France · Germany · Greece · Hungary · Ireland · Italy · Latvia · Lithuania · Luxembourg · Malta · Netherlands · Poland · Portugal · Roman… [S4]
- Datacenter locations: Austria · Belgium · Denmark · Finland · France · Germany · Greece · Ireland · Italy · Netherlands · Norway · Poland · Spain · Sweden · Switzerland [S4]

**Legal**
- Reference terms: EU Data Boundary Services identified in Microsoft Product Terms [S4]

**Pricing**
- Available plans: Microsoft 365 business basic · Microsoft 365 business standard · Microsoft 365 business premium · Microsoft 365 A3/A5 · Microsoft 365 E3/E5 · Office 365 A1/A3/A5 · Office 365 E1/E3/E5 · Microsoft 365/Office 365 F3 · OneDrive for Business P… [S1]
- Eligibility: Office 365 Education · Microsoft 365 Apps for business · Microsoft account (Hotmail, Live, or Outlook.com) [S2]
- Microsoft account: Office 365 Education customers · Microsoft 365 Apps for business customers · users with a Microsoft account · yes [S1]

**Product**
- Access: web browser · mobile device · yes [S2]
- Admin availability: https://admin.microsoft.com · Office 365 Education · Microsoft 365 Apps for business [S3]
- Admin settings: yes [S2]
- Analytics: yes [S1]
- Analytics export: yes · yes · yes [S2]
- Anonymous sharing: Forms can be shared anonymously · yes · yes · Yes2 · yes [S1]
- Azure configuration: Azure regional services deployed in EU Data Boundary regions are in-scope [S4]
- Azure resource manager configuration: Azure Resource Manager must be configured to EU Data Boundary for Professional Services Data [S4]
- Bing image search: Insert a picture and Bing image search · yes · yes · no · yes [S1]
- Bing youtube setting: allow adding Bing images and YouTube videos to surveys [S3]
- Branching: Add logic to questions using branching · yes · yes · yes · yes [S1]
- Branding limited: Add customization and branding · The user can only change the image. [S1]
- Capabilities: create surveys, quizzes, polls, and other types of forms [S2]
- Co authoring: Co-author or collaborate on a form · yes · yes · Yes2 · yes [S1]
- Core features: Complete a form and submit responses · yes · yes · Yes2 · yes [S1]
- Core purpose: Create custom knowledge checks, surveys, polls, questionnaires, registrations; respondents use any web browser or mobile device [S1]
- Create in onedrive excel onenote: Create Forms in OneDrive, Excel, and OneNote · yes · yes · no · yes [S1]
- Disabled effect: Disabling license hides Forms tile in Microsoft 365 app launcher and homepage and prevents use [S3]
- Duplicate forms: Copy existing form to create duplicate forms · yes · yes · yes · yes [S1]
- Dynamics power platform configuration: Dynamics 365 and Power Platform scoping requirements [S4]
- Ediscovery: yes [S2]
- Ediscovery: yes [S3]
- Embedding: Embed Forms on other portals (including SharePoint, OneNote, Sway, PowerPoint, Teams Tab) · yes · yes · no · yes [S1]
- Excel export: yes [S1]
- External sharing: Forms can be sent externally (outside of an organization) · yes · yes · Yes2 · yes [S1]
- External sharing options: 4 · yes [S3]
- External sharing scenarios: collect responses from external people · collaborate on forms with external people · share form as template for duplication · share summary of form results externally [S3]
- Grading: Use knowledge check features (auto grading & commenting, manual grading & commenting) · yes · yes · yes · yes [S1]
- Integration: yes [S2]
- Internal phishing protection: automatic scan of forms within organization for phishing detection [S3]
- Last updated: 2025-02-26 [S4]
- License assignment: yes · yes [S3]
- Math feature: Use math feature in knowledge checks · yes · yes · no · yes [S1]
- Microsoft365 configuration: Microsoft 365 in-scope based on sign-up location in EU or EFTA [S4]
- Microsoft365 multi geo exclusion: Multi-Geo Capabilities customers not in scope [S4]
- Multilingual forms: Create multilingual forms · yes · yes · yes · yes [S1]
- Org restriction: Forms can be restricted to an organization or specific users/groups within the organization · yes · yes · Yes2 · yes [S1]
- Outlook poll requirement: Outlook poll requires 'Send a link to the form and collect responses' option checked [S3]
- Overview: EU Data Boundary stores and processes Customer Data and personal data for Microsoft enterprise online services [S4]
- Phishing review: yes [S2]
- Phishing unblock: yes [S3]
- Power automate workflow: Create an automated workflow for Forms in Power Automate · yes · yes · Yes3 · yes [S1]
- Professional services data: Professional Services Data stored at rest within boundary [S4]
- Quick import: Quick Import · yes · yes · no · yes [S1]
- Real time analytics: Generate response summary and real-time analytics · yes · yes · yes · yes [S1]
- Record names by default: yes [S3]
- Table change notice: Feature table may change without notice [S1]
- Teams assignment quiz: Create and edit a knowledge check directly from a Microsoft Teams assignment · yes · no · no · no [S1]
- Teams meeting polls: Launch Multiple Choice Polls and knowledge checks in Microsoft Teams meetings · yes · yes · Yes3 · yes [S1]
- Teams poll: Creating a poll in Teams · yes · yes · Yes3 · yes [S1]
- Template sharing: Duplicate and share a form as a template · yes · yes · Yes2 · yes [S1]
- Toggle: yes [S2]
- Transfers exception: limited circumstances where data continues to be transferred outside the EU Data Boundary [S4]
- Video insert: Insert a video function · yes · yes · no · yes [S1]
- Word clouds: Analyze responses with word clouds · yes · yes · no · yes [S1]

**Support**
- Message center: Upcoming changes and announcements communicated via Message Center [S1]

## Questions

### Is Microsoft Forms European?

No. whats-best.ai classifies Microsoft Forms as Rest of world.

### Where does Microsoft Forms store data?

Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 1 Nov 2026.

### Does Microsoft Forms have a free plan?

Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 1 Nov 2026.

### What are the best alternatives to Microsoft Forms?

As of 3 Nov 2026, the panel rates [Formbricks (4/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/forms-and-surveys/formbricks), [easyfeedback (3.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/forms-and-surveys/easyfeedback) and [Netigate (3.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/forms-and-surveys/netigate) highest among the other 19 Forms & Surveys products evaluated. Ratings that look equal are rounded to half stars; the order uses the unrounded rating, then the name. The highest-rated European alternative is [Formbricks](https://whats-best.ai/software/forms-and-surveys/formbricks) (EU-Made). Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: [how scores are made](https://whats-best.ai/methodology#ordering). The full list, with European products first: [Microsoft Forms alternatives](https://whats-best.ai/software/forms-and-surveys/microsoft-forms/alternatives).

## What this page leaves out

- 5 compliance facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 3 sovereignty dimensions could not be confirmed on the vendor’s own pages and are shown as unknown.
- 6 of the readings below were written against an earlier fact sheet — a fact has been corrected, added or pulled since. Until the panel next runs on this product you are reading the older judgement.

## Sources

- [S1] Service description (features and plan availability): https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office365/servicedescriptions/microsoft-forms-service-description (checked 2026-10-28)
- [S2] Product documentation (admin overview): https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-forms/ (checked 2026-10-28)
- [S3] Administrator settings documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-forms/administrator-settings-microsoft-forms (checked 2026-10-28)
- [S4] EU Data Boundary documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/privacy/eudb/eu-data-boundary-learn (checked 2026-10-28)
- [S5] Data protection addendum: https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/docs/view/Microsoft-Products-and-Services-Data-Protection-Addendum-DPA (checked 2026-10-28)
- [S6] Privacy policy: https://www.microsoft.com/de-de/privacy/privacystatement (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S7] Security / trust page — found from the homepage: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/compliance/regulatory/gdpr-dsr-Office365 (checked 2026-11-01)

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Cite as: whats-best.ai, "Microsoft Forms — Forms & Surveys", AI panel analysis, as of 2026-11-04. https://whats-best.ai/software/forms-and-surveys/microsoft-forms

Corrections: https://whats-best.ai/correct/1113?target=page