Head to head · Forms create · October 2026 research run

Alchemer vs Google Forms API

Google Forms API scores 70.8 (BB) on agent readiness against Alchemer's 41.4 (E), and leads in every scored category. Both do forms create.

Which one, for what

Alchemer E

Good for A company already on an Alchemer Business Platform contract that wants an agent to build surveys, load contacts, send campaigns and export responses.

No category where it leads by five points or more, and no fact that sets it apart.

Watch for

The pricing page says API access is for Business Platform accounts only, which are quoted by sales

Google Forms API BB

Good for Agents that build forms and quizzes in a Google account and read the answers back, where people already use Google Forms.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 91 against 35
  • Schema & documentation, 78 against 45
  • Agent ergonomics, 72 against 47
  • Security & auth, 66 against 44
  • Payments & pricing, 35 against 20
  • Maintenance & community, 61 against 45
  • Transparency & trust, 80 against 61

Also in its favour

  • Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better

Watch for

Push notifications go only to a Cloud Pub/Sub topic in the caller's project, which needs Cloud billing, and they carry no form or response data

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runAlchemerGoogle Forms APIEdge
Reliability16%203591Google Forms API +56
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.24578Google Forms API +33
Agent ergonomics13%16.24772Google Forms API +25
Security & auth14%17.54466Google Forms API +22
Payments & pricing10%12.52035Google Forms API +15
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.84561Google Forms API +16
Transparency & trust7%8.86180Google Forms API +19
Negative events≤1500
Total41.4 · E70.8 · BB

Facts side by side

FactAlchemerGoogle Forms API
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorAlchemer LLCGoogle
Hosted endpointhttps://api.alchemer.com/v5https://forms.googleapis.com/v1
TransportsHTTPHTTP
AuthOAuth or keyOAuth
PricingPaidFree
x402nono
LicenceProprietary service under the Alchemer Software as a Service AgreementProprietary service under the Google APIs Terms of Service. The client libraries are Apache-2.0
Tools exposednone0
Read-only variant documentednoyes
llms.txtyesno
Last release2026-10-012026-09-24
Terms last updated2026-01-142021-11-09
Privacy policy last updated2026-04-232026-10-01
Customer content may train modelsyesyes
Terms restrict automated accessnot found in the textyes
Terms restrict benchmarkingyesnot found in the text
Terms or service can change without noticenot found in the textnot found in the text
Arbitration or class-action waivernot found in the textnot found in the text
Popularitynone32k npm/wk

Verdicts

Alchemer

Alchemer's REST API v5 covers surveys, questions, responses, contacts and email campaigns in 101 documented operations, with a reference rewritten in April 2026. The pricing page limits API access to Business Platform accounts quoted by sales. Keys travel in the URL query string, and no status page, OpenAPI document or SDK was found.

Google Forms API

Six OAuth scopes separate form structure from responses, and batchUpdate applies a batch atomically with a revision check. Notifications go only to a Cloud Pub/Sub topic and carry no response data, the API can't list forms or create file upload questions, and the release notes were last updated on 8 April 2025.

Before you call either

Alchemer

  1. Use the host for the account's region (api.alchemer.com, api.alchemer.eu, api.alchemer-ca.com or api.au.alchemer.com). The wrong host returns a 401 login failure even with valid keys
  2. Create with PUT and update with POST. The API reverses the usual meaning of the two methods
  3. Do not repeat an identical request inside 60 seconds. GET results are cached for 60 seconds and a repeat can return 429
  4. Stay under 240 requests a minute for the account and slow down when the X-SG-Warning header appears
  5. Wait up to five minutes before reading back a response that was just submitted, and expect a 500 after a 30 second timeout

Google Forms API

  1. Call forms.create with a title only, then add items with forms.batchUpdate. Any other field in the create body is disallowed
  2. Publish with forms.setPublishSettings before sharing. Google's notice says forms created through the API after 30 June 2026 start unpublished
  3. Pass pageSize on forms.responses.list. With none set a page can hold up to 5,000 responses. Use filter=timestamp > N to fetch only new ones
  4. After a Pub/Sub notification, call forms.responses.list yourself. The message holds only formId, watchId and eventType. Renew each watch within seven days
  5. Send writeControl.requiredRevisionId on forms.batchUpdate, and read the form before retrying a timed-out forms.create, which has no idempotency key

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Alchemer or Google Forms API?

Google Forms API scores 70.8 (BB) on agent readiness against Alchemer's 41.4 (E), and leads in every scored category.

Do Alchemer and Google Forms API need an API key?

Alchemer takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Google Forms API uses an OAuth sign-in.

Can an agent call Alchemer and Google Forms API without installing anything?

Yes. Alchemer has a hosted endpoint at https://api.alchemer.com/v5 and Google Forms API at https://forms.googleapis.com/v1.

Other comparisons with Alchemer or Google Forms API

Machine-readable

For companies

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