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Govforms vs. Google Forms

Area Govforms Google Forms
Who it’s for Public‑sector and regulated teams across central government, agencies and local authorities who need production digital services with GOV.UK‑style journeys and strong governance. Individuals and organisations of all sizes that need quick surveys, quizzes and simple data‑capture forms as part of Google Workspace.
Design & UX Native GOV.UK and MOJ Design System components and patterns (start pages, task lists, check‑your‑answers, summary cards and more) so services look and behave like GOV.UK by default. Simple, theme‑based forms with basic branching, page breaks, file uploads and quizzes, but no built‑in GOV.UK Design System styling or patterns.
Security & hosting UK‑hosted platform with UK‑only data residency for live services, cookie‑free analytics and controls designed around UK public‑sector security expectations and assurance processes. Cloud‑native service hosted on Google’s global infrastructure with encryption in transit and at rest and security managed as part of Google Workspace.
Integrations & data Deep Microsoft 365 integration (SharePoint libraries and lists, Dataverse, Power Automate), REST/HTTPS APIs, GOV.UK Notify email and SMS, Ordnance Survey data feeds, PDF generation and carts for complex workflows. Tight integration with Google Sheets for real‑time responses, charts and collaboration, plus add‑ons and Workspace tools for further processing and automation.
Journeys & complexity Built for end‑to‑end transactional services with long, branching journeys, task lists, review and approval workflows, dynamic content via Liquid templates and reusable patterns across many services. Well‑suited to short forms, surveys and quizzes with basic branching (“go to section based on answer”), but not aimed at complex, multi‑service transactional journeys.
Environments & change Separate Prototype, QA and Production environments with one‑click deploy, automatic version history, roll‑back and environment‑specific analytics links for each service. Forms are edited and then shared or embedded when ready; change control is usually managed by copying or editing forms rather than via a dedicated QA → Production pipeline.
Analytics & audit Built‑in, cookie‑free performance analytics with journey‑level, page‑level and field‑level insight, plus submission and action audit trails to support live‑service management and assurance. Basic response charts in Forms and deeper analysis via Google Sheets or external tools; audit history is focused on the underlying form file and Workspace account controls.
Pricing mindset Free while you design and test; once live, simple per‑transaction pricing plus a predictable UK support fee per service, aligned to public‑sector budgeting and procurement. Included in Google accounts and Google Workspace plans, with usage covered by the underlying Google storage and licence model rather than per‑form or per‑submission fees.
Support & expertise UK‑based live‑service support with SLAs, proactive monitoring and optional GDS‑aligned service design, UX, content and integration support for complex government services. Supported through Google’s standard help channels and online documentation as part of Google Workspace, with community resources and partners for broader workflows.