Votense vs Microsoft Forms
Microsoft Forms makes surveys and auto-graded quizzes and is part of Microsoft 365, which is its great strength: it sits inside Teams, Excel and school accounts. Votense is a standalone tool focused on what happens around a quiz — exam controls such as random draws, grade bands and held results, live games with a leaderboard, and poll results anyone can watch.
At a glance
Only things that are stable and checkable. Anything that moves — prices, volume limits — is in the dated table below rather than stated here as though it were permanent.
| Votense | Microsoft Forms | |
|---|---|---|
| Auto-graded quiz with points per question | Yes — any points from 0 to 100,000 | Yes |
| Teacher-marked written answers with feedback | Yes | Yes |
| Shuffle questions | Yes, and shuffle answers | Yes |
| Random draw of N questions from a pool | Yes | Check their quiz settings |
| Grade bands (A–F) and a pass mark | Yes | Check their quiz settings |
| Live quiz game with PIN, speed points and leaderboard | Yes — 50 players free | No — Forms is not a live game |
| Public live results page for a poll | Yes — shareable and embeddable | Results are shown to the form owner; check their sharing options |
| Built into Microsoft 365 (Excel, school assignments) | No — a link and a CSV export | Yes — built in |
| Microsoft 365 / school sign-in for respondents | No — anonymous or named by the respondent | Yes |
| Images in questions | No — text only | Yes |
| Post each response to Slack, Discord, Microsoft Teams, Google Chat, Airtable or Notion | Yes, on paid plans | Through Power Automate |
Pricing: Votense vs Microsoft Forms
Microsoft Forms pricing below was read from their own pricing page on 2026-10-03. Prices change without notice, so treat this as a snapshot and check their page before deciding.
Votense
| Plan | Price | Limits |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | 10 surveys, 100 responses per survey |
| Basic | $20/month | 100 surveys, 2000 responses per survey |
| Advanced | $40/month | 200 surveys, 5000 responses per survey, 3 seats |
Response limits are per survey for the life of the survey, not per month. Every survey question type, live results, voting limits, scheduling, webhooks, Telegram delivery, embedding, CSV export and bot protection are on the free plan — every public survey is checked for automated submissions the same way, free or paid; file uploads, password protection, email notifications, your own logo, connected apps (Slack, Discord, Teams, Google Chat, Airtable, Notion), and keeping a submission that fails the bot check for review instead of refusing it are on the paid plans.
All Votense plansMicrosoft Forms
| Plan | Price | Limits |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Forms | Check the page | No standalone price on its page; it links to Microsoft 365 plans and a free trial |
Forms is offered with Microsoft 365 plans and to people who sign in with a Microsoft account. Schools that already have Microsoft 365 Education usually have it at no extra cost — check your plan. Votense has a free plan and flat per-account paid plans.
Microsoft Forms pricing pageOne price for the whole team: Basic is $20 a month flat, not per person.
Billed annually it is $200 a year — $16.67 a month, 17% less than paying monthly. Advanced is $40 a month, or $33.33 a month billed annually.
Basic covers 3 organizations of 2 seats each — 6 seats, which is up to 4 people once you count that you hold a seat in each organization you own. Advanced raises that to 15 seats across 5 organizations, up to 11 people.
Adding someone does not change the bill: the price is the plan, not the head count. Whether that beats a given rival depends on how they charge for seats — check their pricing page, which every comparison here links to, rather than a claim on this one.
When Microsoft Forms is the better choice
Every comparison should have this section. If it does not, you are reading an advert.
Your school runs on Microsoft 365
Students sign in with their school account, responses land in Excel, and quizzes attach to Teams assignments. Votense shares a link into Teams but is not part of that system.
Verified identity
Restricting a quiz to people in your organisation is built into Forms. Votense students type their own name.
Images and maths in questions
Forms supports images in questions; Votense questions are text only.
When Votense is the better choice
Exam settings in one panel
A server-kept timer that submits for the student, shuffled questions and answers, a random draw from a pool, one attempt per person, pass marks, letter grades and results held until you release them.
A live game from the same quiz
Press Host live and the class plays on their phones with a PIN, a countdown and a leaderboard — the same questions, no rebuild.
No Microsoft account needed
Neither you nor your students need Microsoft 365. Anyone with a browser can take the test or join the game.
Moving from Microsoft Forms
Rebuild in the quiz editor
There is no importer. Choice, multiple-answer, text and long-text questions map to multiple choice, multi-select, typed answer and essay; image questions need rewriting.
Set exam mode
Turn on the timer, shuffling, a draw, the pass mark, grades and release timing.
Share to Teams
Use the Share menu to post the link to a Teams channel, Google Classroom or email.
Questions people ask
Is Votense a free alternative to Microsoft Forms quizzes?
For timed, graded quizzes and live games, yes — free for 10 quizzes, polls or surveys with 100 attempts each. If you need Microsoft 365 sign-in, Excel and Teams assignments, Forms fits better.
Can I still use it with Microsoft Teams?
Yes, as a link: the Share menu posts it to Teams. Grades do not flow into Teams assignments; export the gradebook CSV instead.
Does Microsoft Forms have live quiz games?
Forms is a form and quiz builder, not a live game with a PIN and leaderboard. Votense runs both from one quiz.
Checked against the shipped product on 2026-10-03. The Votense limits above come from the same plan table the product enforces, not marketing rounding. What this page says about Microsoft Forms is limited to what they publish; their prices are a snapshot from their own pricing page on 2026-10-03, and where we were not sure of a feature we say to check their documentation rather than guess.
Other comparisons
- vs Google FormsLive results and one-vote-per-person, without a Google account.
- vs DoodleGroup polls and votes with live results — and an honest line on scheduling.
- vs SurveyMonkeyNPS, matrix and ranking surveys at a flat price, not per user.
- vs JotformBuilt for surveys and votes rather than every kind of form.
- vs TypeformLive results and survey scoring, on the free plan.
- vs QualtricsPublished, flat pricing for the surveys most teams actually run.
- vs MentimeterLive polls without a monthly participant cap on the free plan.
- vs Kahoot!Live quizzes with a PIN and leaderboard, free — plus polls and surveys.
- vs ClassMarkerTimed, shuffled, self-marking tests on a free plan — no per-test credits.
- vs WaygroundLive games and timed tests, plus polls and surveys, in one free account.