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
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
| Category | Weight this run | Alchemer | Google Forms API | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reliability | 16%20 | 35 | 91 | Google Forms API +56 |
| Performance | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13%16.2 | 45 | 78 | Google Forms API +33 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13%16.2 | 47 | 72 | Google Forms API +25 |
| Security & auth | 14%17.5 | 44 | 66 | Google Forms API +22 |
| Payments & pricing | 10%12.5 | 20 | 35 | Google Forms API +15 |
| Task success | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7%8.8 | 45 | 61 | Google Forms API +16 |
| Transparency & trust | 7%8.8 | 61 | 80 | Google Forms API +19 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 41.4 · E | 70.8 · BB |
Facts side by side
| Fact | Alchemer | Google Forms API |
|---|---|---|
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Alchemer LLC | |
| Hosted endpoint | https://api.alchemer.com/v5 | https://forms.googleapis.com/v1 |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth |
| Pricing | Paid | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under the Alchemer Software as a Service Agreement | Proprietary service under the Google APIs Terms of Service. The client libraries are Apache-2.0 |
| Tools exposed | none | 0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-01 | 2026-09-24 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-01-14 | 2021-11-09 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-04-23 | 2026-10-01 |
| Customer content may train models | yes | yes |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Popularity | none | 32k 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
- Use the host for the account's region (
api.alchemer.com,api.alchemer.eu,api.alchemer-ca.comorapi.au.alchemer.com). The wrong host returns a 401 login failure even with valid keys - Create with PUT and update with POST. The API reverses the usual meaning of the two methods
- Do not repeat an identical request inside 60 seconds. GET results are cached for 60 seconds and a repeat can return 429
- Stay under 240 requests a minute for the account and slow down when the
X-SG-Warningheader appears - 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
- Call forms.create with a title only, then add items with forms.batchUpdate. Any other field in the create body is disallowed
- Publish with forms.setPublishSettings before sharing. Google's notice says forms created through the API after 30 June 2026 start unpublished
- 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
- After a Pub/Sub notification, call forms.responses.list yourself. The message holds only formId, watchId and eventType. Renew each watch within seven days
- 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
- Alchemer vs Fillout
- Alchemer vs Paperform
- Alchemer vs Wufoo
- Fillout vs Google Forms API
- Google Forms API vs Paperform
- Google Forms API vs Wufoo
- Alchemer vs Formbricks
- Alchemer vs Formstack
- Alchemer vs Jotform
- Alchemer vs SurveyMonkey
- Alchemer vs Tally
- Alchemer vs Typeform
- Formstack vs Google Forms API
- Google Forms API vs Jotform
- Google Forms API vs SurveyMonkey
- Google Forms API vs Tally
- Google Forms API vs Typeform
- Formbricks vs Google Forms API
Machine-readable
- This page as Markdown
/compare/alchemer-vs-google-forms.md· slim.min.md· JSON.json(or sendAccept: text/markdown) - Each listing in full
/api/v1/tools/alchemer.json·/api/v1/tools/google-forms.json - From a terminal
anchor compare alchemer google-forms(the CLI) - Over MCP
compare_tools {"a": "alchemer", "b": "google-forms"}at/mcp, no key