How many form responses can you collect for free?
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The Short Answer
- Tally — Tally states "unlimited forms and submissions, completely free, as long as you stay within our fair usage guidelines", and puts branding removal behind its $24 Pro plan.
- Jotform — Jotform's free Starter plan is capped at 100 submissions a month — a real number that appears only inside the JSON driving the pricing widget, not in the visible page.
- Typeform — Typeform states response caps of 100, 1,000 and 10,000 for its paid tiers and no cap at all for the Free plan it links to, with branding removal starting two tiers up.
- Google Forms — Google's Docs help walks through "Download all responses as a CSV file" with no plan attached, and no Google page we read publishes a response cap for Forms at all.
| Product | Best for | From | Free plan | Free-plan responses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tally | Unlimited responses, Tally's name on the form | $24/mo | Yes | Capped or branded |
| Jotform | 100 a month, published in the page source | $34/mo (annual) | Yes | Capped or branded |
| Typeform | Every paid cap published, the free one absent | $28/mo (annual) | Yes | Capped or branded |
| Google Forms | No published cap, and a documented CSV export | $7/mo | Yes | Uncapped, unbranded |
What we checked, and what we did not test
A free form works right up until it doesn’t. The failure mode is specific and bad: responses stop arriving, and the person who filled out your form has no idea it went nowhere. So the number that matters on a free plan is the one that decides when that happens, and next to it, whether your form carries someone else’s name while it collects.
On 6 August 2026 we opened four pricing pages looking for those two facts. Each verdict below quotes what we found. We did not build forms or submit responses.
Only one of the four gives you both, and it is the one with no pricing page. Tally publishes no cap and charges to remove its branding. Jotform publishes a cap of 100 a month and charges to remove its branding. Typeform publishes caps for every tier it sells and none for the tier it gives away.
Google Forms has no plans to gate anything behind. Its help centre documents the export step by step — “Download all responses as a CSV file… click Responses, click More, Download responses (.csv)” — and no Google page we read states a response cap for Forms at all. The product almost everyone has already used turns out to be the one that answers the question, and it answers it in a support article because there is no pricing page for it to answer on.
Unlimited responses, Tally's name on the form
1. Tally — Unlimited responses, Tally's name on the form
Tally is the only free plan here without a number attached, and the only one where the limit is a policy you have to trust rather than a figure you can plan around.
Best for Uncapped free responses, with the vendor's name attached
From $24/mo. Free plan: Free — "Tally gives you unlimited forms and submissions, completely free, as long as you stay within our fair usage guidelines", including payments, signatures, file uploads and conditional logic.
- Pro — $24/mo ("$24 per month"; a "Pay yearly — 2 months off" toggle exists but the page never restates the discounted rate as a figure)
- Business — $74/mo ("$74 per month", with the same unquantified yearly discount)
Tally is the only builder here that does not cap free responses with a number: "Tally gives you unlimited forms and submissions, completely free, as long as you stay within our fair usage guidelines." The condition is a fair-use policy rather than a figure. Branding is the paid half: "Remove Tally branding. Hide all branding and make your forms truly your own" is a Pro feature.
Pros
- Unlimited forms and submissions on the free plan, stated in those words.
- Payments, signatures, file uploads and conditional logic are all included free.
- Pro adds unlimited team members with no stated seat ceiling.
Skip it if
- "Fair usage guidelines" replaces a number, so you cannot know your actual ceiling from the page.
- Removing Tally's branding requires the $24 Pro plan.
- The "2 months off" annual discount is never restated as a price.
100 a month, published in the page source
2. Jotform — 100 a month, published in the page source
Jotform does publish its free cap. It publishes it where the pricing widget reads it, not where you do.
Best for A free cap you can find, if you read the page source
From $34/mo (annual). Free plan: Starter — 100 form submissions a month, 500 total submissions, 5 forms and 1 user, per the plan data embedded in the pricing page; the FAQ adds that "You'll need to switch to a paid plan to increase your limits".
- Bronze — $39/mo, or $34/mo billed annually ($408 a year works out to $34 a month; 1,000 submissions a month)
- Silver — $49/mo, or $39/mo billed annually ($468 a year; 2,500 submissions a month)
- Gold — $129/mo, or $99/mo billed annually ($1,188 a year; 10,000 submissions a month)
- Enterprise — price not shown on the page we opened ("Custom pricing for large organizations" with no figure)
The FAQ states the branding rule plainly: "Keep in mind that your forms and signed documents will include Jotform branding, which can be removed once you have a paid subscription." The free cap of 100 submissions a month is real and published, but only inside the JSON that drives the pricing widget — not as a bullet a visitor would read.
Pros
- Every paid tier states both its price and its exact submission allowance.
- A 30-day full refund policy is published: "we'll issue a full refund".
- Nonprofit and education discounts are stated as percentages rather than "contact us".
Skip it if
- The free plan's 100-submission cap appears only in the page's embedded pricing data, not in visible prose.
- Free forms and signed documents carry Jotform branding that only payment removes.
- The page never states in plain text whether free users can export their own submission data.
Every paid cap published, the free one absent
3. Typeform — Every paid cap published, the free one absent
Typeform is precise about every allowance it charges for and silent about the one it doesn’t.
Best for Paid caps published precisely, free caps not at all
From $28/mo (annual). Free plan: A Free plan is linked — "Still undecided? Try our Free plan then upgrade when you're ready" — with no plan card and no response, question or form limit stated anywhere on the pricing page.
- Basic — $39/mo, or $28/mo billed annually · 1 seat (100 responses a month included with a stated maximum of 750; the page's comparison table separately shows $29/$25 for this tier, which does not reconcile with the hero card or the stated annual savings — we record the hero figures and flag the conflict rather than picking a winner)
- Plus — $79/mo, or $56/mo billed annually · 3 seats (1,000 responses a month; the first tier that can "Remove the Typeform footer from your forms")
- Business — $129/mo, or $91/mo billed annually · 5 seats (10,000 responses a month)
- Enterprise — price not shown on the page we opened ("Custom plans … with limitless responses", no published price)
Typeform publishes response caps for every paid tier — 100, 1,000, 10,000 — and none for the Free plan it links to. Branding is clearer: "Remove the Typeform footer from your forms" is a Plus feature, two tiers above free, so the cheapest paid plan does not remove it either.
Pros
- Overage ceilings are published, not just base allowances — Basic's 100 included responses sit under a stated 750 maximum.
- Response export is documented: "Download responses in XLSX or CSV format."
- Seat counts are stated per tier rather than left to a sales call.
Skip it if
- The free plan has no card and no published limits of any kind on the pricing page.
- Branding removal starts at Plus, so paying for Basic still leaves the Typeform footer on your form.
- The page contradicts itself on Basic's price — hero cards say $39/$28 while the comparison table says $29/$25.
No published cap, and a documented CSV export
4. Google Forms — No published cap, and a documented CSV export
Google Forms answers both halves of this question, in a help centre rather than on a pricing page — because it has no pricing page.
Best for No published response cap, and a documented CSV export
From $7/mo. Free plan: Google Forms is free with a personal Google account and no published response, form or question cap; the Workspace pricing page lists Forms only as an included app in its paid business tiers.
- Business Starter — $7/mo · 1 seat (Shown at a promotional $6.30 for the first 20 users, reverting to $7.00 per user per month after 12 months)
- Business Standard — $14/mo · 1 seat (Promotional $12.60 for the first 20 users, reverting to $14.00 per user per month)
- Business Plus — $22/mo · 1 seat ($22 per user per month with no promotional rate shown)
- Enterprise — price not shown on the page we opened ("Contact sales" with no published price)
Google's own Docs Editors help answers the export half step by step: "Download all responses as a CSV file — Open a form in Google Forms. At the top of the form, click Responses. Click More, Download responses (.csv)", alongside "View all responses in a spreadsheet" via "Link to Sheets". No plan is named because the consumer product has none. On the cap half, no Google page we read publishes a response limit for Forms at all.
Pros
- Responses download as CSV in three clicks, documented step by step by Google itself.
- Responses also link straight into Sheets, so the data is workable without an export at all.
- No response, form or question cap is published anywhere we could find.
Skip it if
- There is no Google Forms pricing page, so its terms have to be assembled from a Workspace page and the Docs help centre.
- The absence of a published response cap is not the same as a promise of none — Google states no figure either way.
- Workspace's Starter and Standard prices shown are time-limited promotions that revert after 12 months.
What this means if you are choosing today
For a one-off survey where a few hundred replies would be a good outcome, Google Forms is the only one of the four with no published ceiling and a documented way to take the data out, and it costs nothing at any volume. Tally is the better-looking form and will also not stop on you, with the Tally footer as the price. For anything running continuously — a contact form, an application form — Jotform’s 100 a month is a real ceiling worth knowing before you point traffic at it.
If branding matters, price it properly: Typeform’s footer survives its cheapest paid plan and only disappears at Plus, $56 a month billed annually. That is more than double Tally’s Pro at $24, for the same outcome of having your own name on your own form.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which form builder gives unlimited free responses?
Tally, by its own wording: "Tally gives you unlimited forms and submissions, completely free, as long as you stay within our fair usage guidelines." That is a policy rather than a number, so the ceiling exists and is unstated — but it is the only free plan here without a published cap, and it includes payments, file uploads and conditional logic.
What is Jotform's free submission limit?
100 submissions a month, with 500 total and 5 forms. The figure is genuine and comes from Jotform's own page — but from the plan data embedded in the pricing widget rather than from anything a visitor reads. The FAQ only says "You'll need to switch to a paid plan to increase your limits" without naming the limit.
Can you remove the builder's branding on a free plan?
Not on any of the three that answer. Jotform's FAQ says forms "will include Jotform branding, which can be removed once you have a paid subscription". Tally puts branding removal in Pro at $24 a month. Typeform puts it in Plus at $56 a month billed annually — which means even its cheapest paid plan, Basic, still carries the footer.
Can you export responses from a free Google Form?
Yes, and Google documents the clicks: "Download all responses as a CSV file — Open a form in Google Forms. At the top of the form, click Responses. Click More, Download responses (.csv)", plus "View all responses in a spreadsheet" via Link to Sheets. No plan is named because the consumer product has none. This page first recorded Google Forms as unconfirmed on the strength of the Workspace pricing page, which is the wrong page — the answer is in the Docs Editors help centre.
Did you build forms and submit responses?
No. These verdicts were read on each vendor's own pricing page on 6 August 2026 and are labelled as read, not run. The two things a hands-on test would settle are exactly the two vague ones: where Tally's fair-use ceiling actually sits, and what the free consumer Google Forms allows.
How We Keep This Updated
Prices move and vendors rewrite their plan tables, so every value on this page carries the date we read it. When a page changes, the change lands here rather than being edited away quietly. The procedure is on the methodology page. tell us and we will re-check it.
- 2026-08-06 — Corrected, and the conclusion changed. Google Forms was first recorded as unconfirmed because the Workspace pricing page says nothing about it. Google's Docs Editors help centre documents the CSV export step by step and publishes no response cap, so its verdict is now recorded — and this page no longer concludes that nobody offers both.
- 2026-08-06 — First published. Response caps and branding rules read on each vendor's own pricing page. Typeform's page contradicts itself on Basic's price — hero cards say $39/$28 and the comparison table says $29/$25 — and we record the hero figures with the conflict flagged rather than choosing between them.