Google Forms Add-ons: The Best Ones and What They Cost
Google Forms add-ons are small apps that add missing features, such as a timer, payments or PDFs. To install one:
- Open your form and click the three dots at the top right.
- Click and search the Marketplace.
- Click Install Allow.
Most are free to start and paid after a monthly limit.
What a Google Forms add-on is
A Google Forms add-on is a small app, made by another company, that adds a feature Google Forms doesn't have. Timers, payments, signatures and PDFs all come this way.
Three things are true of every one of them:
- It lives in the editor. You set it up while you build the form. Most also need your computer, not your phone, for that setup.
- It belongs to your Google account. Install it once and it shows up on every form you own.
- It asks for access. Most add-ons can read your forms and responses. Some can read your Drive too.
People also call them Google Forms extensions or plugins. They all come from the same place, the Google Workspace Marketplace.
How to install a Google Forms add-on
- Open your form and click the three dots at the top right.
- Click Get add-ons. The Google Workspace Marketplace opens.
- Search for the add-on and click it.
- Click Install, then Continue, and choose your Google account.
- Read what it wants to access, then click Allow and Done.
- Back in the form, click the puzzle-piece icon at the top to open the add-on.
Step 5 is the one people rush. The permission screen lists everything the add-on can see. "See, edit, create and delete all your Google Drive files" is a lot to hand to a quiz timer.
On a work or school account, installing may be blocked. Your admin decides which add-ons are allowed, so ask them.
The best Google Forms add-ons, by job
These are the add-ons for Google Forms that people install most, grouped by the job they do.
We read the Marketplace listing of each add-on below. Installs and pricing labels are the ones Google shows. Prices come from each maker's own pricing page and can change, so check before you install.
Email notifications
| Add-on | Installs | What it does | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Form Notifications, by Google | 42M+ | Emails you after a set number of responses. Can thank the respondent. | Free |
| Email Notifications for Google Forms | 21M+ | Custom emails to you and the respondent, with rules by answer. | Free with paid features |
| Form Mule | 40M+ | Sends templated emails from the linked Sheet. | Free |
The built-in alert and its limits are covered in our guide to Google Forms email notifications.
PDFs, documents and certificates
| Add-on | Installs | What it does | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Form Publisher | 24M+ | Turns each response into a PDF, Doc or Word file from your template. | Free for 20 submissions a month. $99 a year after that. |
| Document Studio | 6M+ | Documents, invoices and mail merge from responses. | Free with paid features |
| Certify'em | 15M+ | Emails a certificate to people who pass a quiz. | Free for 60 recipients a day. From $7.99 a month. |
Form Publisher is set up step by step in our Form Publisher guide. Certify'em and Autocrat are covered in our guide to Google Forms certificates.
For the built-in ways to get a PDF, see how to save Google Form responses as a PDF.
Timers and proctoring
| Add-on | Installs | What it does | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Extended Forms (listed as Timer + Proctor for Google Forms) | 33M+ | Countdown timer, auto-submit and tab-switch tracking. | Free for 100 responses. Paid plans from about $5 a month. |
| AutoProctor (listed as Timer + Proctor Google Forms) | 33M+ | Timer plus camera and screen proctoring. | Free trial, then paid |
| Timer for Google Forms | 5M+ | A timer for online tests. | Free trial, then paid |
More in how to add a timer to Google Forms.
Response limits and choice limits
| Add-on | Installs | What it does | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| LIMIT IT: Form Response Limiter | 6M+ | Closes the form on a date or at a response count. | Free trial, then paid |
| CAPY: Choice Eliminator | 8M+ | Removes an option, such as a time slot, once it is full. | Free trial, then paid |
| Form Choice Limiter | 6M+ | Limits each choice for sign-ups and bookings. | Free trial, then paid |
| Form Ranger | 49M+ | Fills a question's options from a Google Sheet. | Free |
Older guides call the first job formLimiter, or a form limiter add-on. Closing a form on a date or a response count is now built into Google Forms. See how to limit responses before you install anything for it.
Payments and order forms
| Add-on | Installs | What it does | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Payable Forms | 463K+ | Works out the amount from the answers and takes the payment. | Free at $5 and under. 49 cents up to $50. 1 percent above. |
| Neartail | 523K+ | Order forms with prices, a cart and payment. | 2 to 3 percent of each order |
Your payment provider charges its own fee on top. Payable Forms is set up step by step in our Payable Forms guide, and the free route is in how to accept payments on Google Forms.
Signatures and approvals
| Add-on | Installs | What it does | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Signature in Google Forms by Bolo | 4M+ | A drawn signature on the form. | Free |
| Formesign | 415K+ | Signatures, several signers and a signed document. | 7-day trial. From $18 a month, billed yearly. |
| Form Approvals | 10M+ | Sends each response to approvers by email. | Free for 20 responses a month. $96 a year for up to 100 a month. |
The no-install options are in how to add a signature to Google Forms.
Design, embedding and building faster
| Add-on | Installs | What it does | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Formfacade | 3M+ | Embeds the form in your site with your own look. Set up in our Formfacade guide. | 7-day trial. From $8 a month. |
| Pretty Forms Designer | 1M+ | Styles, layouts and several languages. See our guide to changing the language in Google Forms. | Free with paid features |
| Form Builder, by Jivrus | 11M+ | Imports questions from Docs, Sheets, PDFs and Word files. | Free with paid features |
| Automagical Forms | 34M+ | Turns a PDF, Doc or Slides file into a form. | Free with paid features |
The header, fonts and colours need no add-on. See Google Forms header image size.
What Google Forms add-ons really cost
Few add-ons are free the way Google Forms is free. We opened 71 listings. Only 15 said "Free of charge", and 48 were free to start and paid after that.
Every listing shows its pricing label under Additional information. Read it before you install.
| Label on the listing | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| Free of charge | No paid plan. Often made by a school project or by Google. |
| Free of charge with paid features | A free tier with a monthly cap, such as 20 documents. You pay to go past it. |
| Free of charge trial | A short trial, often 7 days. Then it stops until you pay. |
The Marketplace search also has a Price filter with three options: Any, Free of charge and Paid. Set it to Free of charge to narrow the list, then still read each listing's label.
Example: one form, three add-ons
Say a small business wants a signed request form that makes a PDF and goes to a manager for approval. With add-ons, that takes:
| Job | Add-on | Paid plan |
|---|---|---|
| Signature | Formesign | $18 a month, billed yearly |
| PDF of each request | Form Publisher | $99 a year |
| Manager approval | Form Approvals | $96 a year |
That is three installs, three permission screens and about $411 a year. The free tiers help for a while: 20 documents and 20 approvals a month.
What no longer needs an add-on
Older lists still send you to an add-on for jobs Google Forms now does itself.
| Job | Where it is now |
|---|---|
| Close the form on a date or at a response count | Built in since January 2026. See how to close a Google Form. |
| An email to you for each new response | Responses tab, three dots, Get email notifications for new responses. |
| One response per person | Settings, Responses. It makes people sign in to Google. |
| Grade a quiz | Settings, Make this a quiz. See how to make a quiz. |
| Check an answer's format | Response validation on the question. |
| A header image, fonts and colours | The Customize theme palette icon. |
How to remove an add-on from Google Forms
- Open a form and click the three dots at the top right.
- Click Get add-ons to open the Marketplace.
- Click the gear icon, then Manage apps.
- Find the add-on, open its options and click Uninstall.
Then check one more place. Open your Google Account, go to Security and look at your connections to third-party apps. If the add-on is still listed, remove its access there too.
Fix common problems with add-ons
| What happened | How to fix it |
|---|---|
| There is no Get add-ons in the menu | You opened the form as a respondent, or you are on a phone. Open the editor on a computer. |
| Installing is blocked | A work or school admin controls add-ons. Ask them to allow it. |
| The add-on is installed but you can't find it | Click the puzzle-piece icon at the top of the editor. |
| It worked, then stopped | The free tier ran out, or its access was removed. Open it and sign in again. |
| A collaborator can't use it | Add-ons belong to an account. Each editor installs their own. |
| Emails or PDFs stopped mid-month | You hit the monthly cap. It resets next month, or you upgrade. |
Tips before you install
- Check the installs and the last update. Millions of installs and a recent update mean someone still maintains it.
- Test the free tier on a copy of your form. A cap that runs out during a live event is worse than no add-on.
- Install as few as you can. Each one is another company that can read your responses.
- Note which form uses which add-on. You will need the list when one breaks.
Add-ons, or one form builder that has them built in
Every add-on fixes one missing feature and brings its own bill, monthly cap and permission screen. By the third one, you're managing add-ons instead of a form.
| What you want | Google Forms | FormNX |
|---|---|---|
| An email to you on each response | Yes, a plain one | Yes |
| A custom email to the respondent | Add-on | Yes, on paid plans |
| A PDF for every response | Add-on | Yes, on paid plans |
| Countdown timer | Add-on | Yes, on paid plans |
| Close on a date or a response count | Yes | Yes |
| Signature field | Add-on | Yes |
| Card payment and an order total | Add-on | Yes |
| Your own branding on the form | Add-on | Yes, on paid plans |
| A limit on each choice, such as time slots | Add-on | Coming soon |
| Approval workflow | Add-on | Coming soon |
In FormNX these are settings, not installs. The signature field, Stripe payments, calculation fields and response limits are on the free plan.
The timer, PDF on submission, emails to the respondent and white label are on paid plans. Need choice limits or approvals? Request them on our feature board. We build what customers ask for most.
One form, nothing to install
Signature, payment, order total and response limit sit in the same builder. One login and one set of permissions.
Try FormNX freeFree plan available. Timer, PDF on submission and white label are on paid plans.
To compare the two builders in full, see the Google Forms alternative page.
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