David's university gives every student Microsoft 365, so Microsoft Forms is already one click away when he starts the questionnaire for his paper. What makes him look further is the reviewer, who will want to know how he collected the answers and how he checked that respondents took the questions seriously. Before he switches, he wants a fair picture of what each tool does well. Every Microsoft Forms fact here comes from Microsoft's own support pages, checked on 6 November 2026 and listed under Sources.
At a glance
| PingPolls | Microsoft Forms | |
|---|---|---|
| Signing in to build | A PingPolls account | Microsoft 365 school or work credentials, or a Microsoft account |
| Format | One question at a time in a chat-like flow | Questions, which you can group into sections |
| Question types | 16, including opinion scale, rating, NPS, preference ranking, sentiment cards and file upload | Choice, Text, Rating and Date, plus Ranking, Likert, File upload and Net Promoter Score |
| Likert and NPS | Opinion scale for single Likert items and an NPS question; no Likert grid | Likert and Net Promoter Score questions |
| Branching | Logic blocks with AND/OR conditions that can go to a section, set the result, disable submit or update a custom field | Branch to a later question or section, or to the end of the form |
| Response limits | Per team each month: 100 on Free, 2,000 on Pro, 10,000 on Teams | Per form: up to 5,000,000 on work or school accounts, up to 200 on free personal accounts and up to 1,000 on paid personal accounts |
| Spreadsheet | CSV export with no row limit, plus spreadsheet integrations such as Google Sheets | Open in Excel from the responses view |
Two ways of asking the same questions
Microsoft Forms lays out your questions and lets you group them into sections. PingPolls shows one question at a time in a chat-like flow, where each question arrives as a bubble, choices appear as reply chips, and respondents can tap the pencil next to an earlier answer to change it. On a phone the answer field sits just above the keyboard.
This affects the data as well as the look. When questions arrive one by one there are no grids to click straight through, which gives David one less pattern to clean out and explain in his methods.
Scales and comparisons
Microsoft Forms offers the question types many research instruments rely on, including Likert and Net Promoter Score, alongside Ranking, Rating and File upload. PingPolls has an opinion scale for single Likert items, a rating and a Net Promoter Score question, and it asks them one at a time. Microsoft's Likert question puts several statements in one grid, so if your instrument must look like a grid, Microsoft Forms is the closer fit.
PingPolls is also built for comparing options. Preference ranking asks respondents to compare two options at a time (up to 10 options), skips pairs that earlier picks already settle, and gives you a ranked list with scores. Sentiment cards ask for a quick reaction to up to 20 items with an icon pair such as yes or no, and record how long each one took. When David's question is which of several study habits students actually prefer, a pairwise ranking hands him an order and a score for each habit.
Showing the reviewer how answers were checked
Because PingPolls times each this-or-that pick, Certiscore™ turns that time into a signal of how sure the respondent was. It applies to preference ranking and sentiment cards, and it gives David one more quality check to report next to his attention checks. It is not a bot detector, and we do not describe the method as published or peer-reviewed, so read how we analyze answers and agree with your supervisor on how to word it.
PingPolls also runs checks on every form. A hidden honeypot field and a single-use token are always on, reCAPTCHA can be switched on, and each respondent gets one response by default. For open-text questions with AI analysis on, a relevancy check flags answers that do not fit their question or stand out from the rest. The thesis questionnaire guide shows how David puts these together into a methods paragraph.
Branching your sample
Microsoft Forms branching sends respondents from an answer to a later question or section, or to the end of the form, and it only moves forward. PingPolls conditional logic uses IF conditions joined with AND or OR, and each logic block can go to a section, set the next section, set the result, disable submit, or update a calculated custom field. That is handy for screening, because a respondent outside the target group can land on a result page that thanks them and explains why the survey ends there. Logic is free on every plan.
Response limits and getting the data out
Microsoft states its limits per form. A work or school account can collect up to 5,000,000 responses per form, while a free personal account is limited to 200 and a paid personal account to 1,000. PingPolls counts responses per team each month, with 100 on Free, 2,000 on Pro and 10,000 on Teams, and the plans and pricing guide has the details. For a student with a university account and a large sample, Microsoft's limit is clearly roomier.
To analyze the results, Microsoft Forms has Open in Excel in the responses view. In PingPolls the form owner can export responses as a CSV with no row limit, with rankings and sentiment cards written as label: score lines, or send each response to a spreadsheet integration such as Google Sheets.
When Microsoft Forms is the better choice
Microsoft Forms is the better choice when your instrument needs Likert items shown together in one grid, since PingPolls asks one item at a time. It also fits better when you expect a very large sample and have a work or school account, because Microsoft allows up to 5,000,000 responses per form there.
It is also the simpler choice when your university, supervisor and co-authors already share files in Microsoft 365 and you want the results in Excel with one click.
When PingPolls is the better choice
PingPolls fits better when your research question is about preference, because pairwise ranking gives you an order and scores rather than separate ratings. It also fits when the reviewer asks how answers were checked, since Certiscore, duplicate protection and the relevancy check give you concrete steps to report.
It helps too when respondents answer on phones or in another language, since form screens come in 12 languages, and when you want a debrief page after submit that is chosen by logic.
Frequently asked questions
Is PingPolls free for students?
The Free plan is free for everyone and includes unlimited forms, 100 responses a month, logic and custom fields. If your sample is larger, Pro includes 2,000 responses a month.
Does PingPolls have Likert questions?
Yes, one item at a time. An opinion scale takes your scale points and the words under each end, and each answer is exported as a number. PingPolls has no Likert grid, so use Microsoft Forms if your instrument must show the statements together.
Can I cite Certiscore in my paper?
We do not describe Certiscore as published, peer-reviewed or citable. Report it as one more quality check and link the reviewer to how we analyze answers.
Can I open PingPolls data in Excel?
Yes. Export the responses as CSV and open the file in Excel or your statistics package.
Sources
- Microsoft Forms support: create a form with Microsoft Forms, checked on 6 November 2026
- Microsoft Forms support: use branching logic, checked on 6 November 2026
- Microsoft Forms support: form, question, response and character limits, checked on 6 November 2026
- Microsoft Forms support: view results of your form, checked on 6 November 2026
