HowdyForms vs. Google Forms

Which form tool fits your event workflow?

Google Forms is a strong choice for online surveys, quizzes, and shareable forms. HowdyForms is built for a different moment: in-person lead capture where people are standing at your booth, Wi-Fi may be spotty, and the follow-up list needs to be ready when the event ends.

Download HowdyForms Compare the tools
Choose HowdyForms when You are collecting leads in person

Offline capture, kiosk mode, local organization, CSV export, and no monthly subscription are the center of the workflow.

Choose Google Forms when You are sending a form link online

Web sharing, collaboration, response charts, and Google Sheets workflows matter most.

Quick guide

Two good tools, two different jobs.

Google Forms is a natural fit when you want to publish a form online, share a link, collect responses, and review charts or Sheets. It is simple, familiar, and useful when your audience is already online.

HowdyForms is built around the in-person version of that job: a branded form on your phone or tablet, a visitor-friendly kiosk flow, offline collection, local lead review, notes, tags, ratings, and CSV export when the event is over.

Side by side

Where each tool fits best.

If your form is primarily online, Google Forms is often the simple answer and has no separate app purchase for basic use. If the form is part of a booth, sign-in table, or open house, HowdyForms is tuned for that physical workflow, free to download with a one-time unlock purchase.

Feature HowdyForms Google Forms
Primary strength In-person lead capture at events, booths, open houses, and local sign-in tables. Online surveys, quizzes, internal forms, and shareable web forms.
Internet dependency Designed for offline capture on the device. Best treated as an online form flow for responders. Google also notes that response draft autosave does not work offline.
Responder experience Visitor-facing kiosk flow on your device, with no visitor account required. Published form link that responders open in a browser. Access and email collection depend on the form owner's settings.
Cost model Free to download and try. A one-time $19.99 USD in-app purchase unlocks all features, including photo capture, lead details, CSV export, and backups. No monthly subscription. No separate Google Forms app purchase for basic use with a Google account; organizations may use it through Google Workspace.
Photos A Photo field lets visitors snap a business card, badge, or product with the in-app camera, and you can add up to 3 more photos to any lead. Photos stay on the device and are saved with the lead; they are not read into fields. A file upload question can collect photos, but responders must sign in to a Google Account to answer it.
Follow-up workflow Lead list, ratings, notes, tags, search, and CSV export after the event. Response summaries, charts, CSV download, and optional Google Sheets connection.
Branding Event presentation with form styling, logos, header images, and thank-you screen options. Simple online form presentation with standard Google Forms customization controls.
Best fit You are handing a device to people standing in front of you. You are sending a form link to people online.
HowdyForms benefits

Built for offline, in-person capture.

HowdyForms is for teams that want a polished form experience on a device they control without monthly lead capture software fees. It keeps the capture flow simple for visitors and keeps the follow-up work close to the leads you just collected.

  • Collect leads on a phone or tablet even when the venue Wi-Fi is unreliable.
  • Use kiosk mode and an optional PIN to keep visitors in the form experience.
  • Keep forms, leads, ratings, tags, notes, and backups on the device unless you export or share them.
  • Review leads after the event, qualify them with ratings and notes, then export CSV for follow-up.
  • Brand each form with event-ready colors, fonts, logos, header images, and thank-you screens.
  • Pay once for the app instead of maintaining a monthly lead capture subscription.
Google Forms benefits

Excellent for online form sharing.

Google Forms works well when the task starts with a link. It is especially useful for online surveys, quizzes, response summaries, charts, Google Sheets workflows, and teams already working in Google Workspace.

  • Create online surveys, quizzes, and forms, then send them to others to fill out.
  • Share a published form by link, email, social media, or website embed.
  • Review response summaries with charts or connect responses to Google Sheets.
  • Collaborate with others while building and analyzing forms.
  • Use Google Forms without a separate form-builder app purchase for basic online form workflows.
  • Use the broader Google Workspace ecosystem when your workflow already lives there.
Feature checklist

What is included in each workflow?

A quick look at the features and cost model that matter most for online forms and in-person event capture.

Feature HowdyForms Google Forms
Offline event capture ✓
Kiosk-style booth flow ✓
Photo capture without visitor sign-in ✓
No visitor account required ✓ ✓
No monthly app subscription ✓ ✓
Lead ratings, tags, and notes ✓
CSV export ✓ ✓
Built-in response charts ✓
Google Sheets workflow ✓
Published web form link ✓
Workflow view

The key difference is where the form is used.

Google Forms starts from an online sharing model. HowdyForms starts from a device-in-hand event model, free to download with a one-time unlock purchase.

HowdyForms

Event capture flow

  1. Build and brand the form
  2. Open kiosk mode on your device
  3. Collect leads offline at the booth
  4. Rate, tag, note, search, and export CSV
Google Forms

Online form flow

  1. Create a form
  2. Publish and share the link
  3. Collect online responses
  4. Review charts or Sheets
Bottom line

If your form lives at the booth, choose the booth-first tool.

Use Google Forms when you need a quick online survey or a familiar Google Workspace form. Use HowdyForms when the job is private, in-person lead capture with offline capture, no visitor accounts, and no monthly lead capture subscription.

Download HowdyForms on the App Store Get HowdyForms on Google Play
References

Google Forms source notes

Google Forms details on this page are based on Google's own Help Center articles, reviewed while preparing this comparison.

  1. Google Forms product page: Google's product page presents Forms as part of Google Workspace and offers both Sign in and Try Forms for work paths. Read Google's documentation.
  2. Google Forms overview: Google describes Forms as a tool for creating online surveys, quizzes, and forms, sending them to others, and analyzing responses in real time. Read Google's documentation.
  3. Publishing and sharing: Google documents publishing a form and sharing it with responders by link, email, social media, or website embed. Read Google's documentation.
  4. Responses and Sheets: Google documents viewing and managing responses, collecting email addresses, response summaries, CSV downloads, and response limits. Read Google's documentation.
  5. Autosave and offline note: Google says response progress can be automatically saved as a draft for signed-in users, and also states that autosave does not work offline. Read Google's documentation.
  6. File upload questions: Google's help page on question types says responders can be asked to upload a file, and that to answer this question, responders need to sign in to a Google Account. Read Google's documentation.
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