Google Forms has no paid tier. It never has. It's bundled with every Google account, always has been, and for a straightforward survey or RSVP form, it still just works — which is exactly why it remains the default for anyone who hasn't specifically needed something Forms can't do.
Typeform's free plan is the real catch in this comparison: unlimited forms, but only 10 responses a month before you're locked out — a limit tight enough that it functions less as a free tier and more as a demo. To get real response volume and any customization, you're looking at $25/month (Basic, 100 responses), $50 (Plus, 1,000 responses), or $83 (Business, 10,000 responses). Typeform's actual product — the conversational, one-question-at-a-time interface that tests noticeably better for completion rates than a traditional form — is genuinely good. It's just gated behind a price that only makes sense once you know you need it.
Tally is the newer entrant built explicitly as the anti-Typeform: unlimited forms and unlimited responses, completely free, with most of the feature set available at no cost at all. Team workspaces, advanced customization, and custom CSS sit behind Tally Pro ($29/month) or Tally Business ($89/month), but the core product — the part that actually collects your responses — never requires payment.
| Free tier | Where it stops being free | |
|---|---|---|
| Google Forms | everything | never (no paid tier exists) |
| Tally | unlimited forms + responses | team features, custom CSS |
| Typeform | unlimited forms, 10 responses/mo | basically immediately |
For a team running any meaningful volume of survey responses, Tally's model is straightforwardly more predictable and cheaper than Typeform's — you're not counting responses against a monthly cap. Typeform still earns its price for one specific reason: if conversational, high-completion-rate forms are core to your funnel — a lead-gen quiz, an onboarding flow — the design quality difference is real and measurable, not just aesthetic. For everything else, start with Tally or Google Forms and only pay when you hit an actual limitation, not a hypothetical one.