How to Use Formfacade with Google Forms

What Formfacade does

The Formfacade add-on for Google Forms changes how your form looks. The questions and the responses stay in Google Forms. Formfacade serves a copy of the form in your own colours and layout, on its own link or inside your website.

• Look: your colours, fonts and layout, with no Google Forms styling.
• Embed: the form sits inside your page, with a plugin for WordPress and code for other sites.
• Extras: hidden fields, prefilled answers, a redirect after submit and a custom thank-you message.

Formfacade sells more add-ons under the same name: Sheets Lookup, Assign points, File upload without sign-in, and Email notification.

This guide covers the main one, Formfacade - Embed Google Forms, which is the one people search for. Other kinds of add-on are compared in our guide to Google Forms add-ons.

How to use Formfacade in Google Forms

1. Open your form, click the three dots at the top right, then Get add-ons. Search for Formfacade, click Install and allow access.
2. Click the puzzle-piece icon at the top of the form, choose Formfacade, then Customize this form.
3. Choose Simple changes and click Proceed. The Formfacade editor opens in a new tab.
4. Click the gear icon next to the form title to pick a layout: fit to page, one column or two columns. Click Save.
5. Scroll to the submit section. Choose Redirect to webpage and paste a web address, or write your own thank-you message.
6. Share the Formfacade link, or choose Embed in a webpage and paste the code into your site. Submit a test response.

The new look only shows on the Formfacade link or embed.

Formfacade's own help says to use its share link or embed code to collect responses, not the Google Forms link. Anyone who opens the Google link sees the plain form.

Change the layout, hide fields and redirect after submit

These are the changes most people install Formfacade for. Each is made in the Formfacade editor, not in Google Forms.

Hidden fields are useful on a form you email to known people. Put their email in the link, hide the field, and the response arrives with the address attached.

Is Formfacade free?

No. Its pricing page calls it a paid product with a 7-day free trial. The first 20 responses in the trial are free. After that, Formfacade pricing is per month and counts responses.

Prices come from Formfacade's own pricing page. The response count resets each month, and more responses mean the next plan up. Each plan is for one user, tied to the email that paid. A colleague who edits the same form needs their own plan.

The pricing page lists Formfacade branding under all three plans. So the form stops looking like Google Forms, but it doesn't stop carrying a maker's name.

What that costs on a real form

• A newsletter sign-up with 30 names a month: Basic, $96 a year. Or $16 a month if you'd rather not commit for a year.
• A bakery taking 60 orders a month: past Basic's 50, so Premium at $216 a year.
• A sign-up that goes viral for one week: the monthly cap stops new responses on the Formfacade form. The Google link still works, with Google's look.

Is Formfacade safe?

Formfacade has 3M+ installs and an average rating of 4.6 out of 5 from 930 ratings on the Marketplace. Its website says it is SOC 2 Type II certified and that 5,000+ businesses use it.

Responses never leave Google: they land in your form and its linked sheet as before.

The listing's Permissions tab shows six items. The main one is view and manage your forms in Google Drive. It does not ask for your other Drive files, your Docs or your Sheets, which is narrower than many document add-ons.

Two of the six let it run its own web content inside Google Forms and connect to its own servers. That is how the editor and the hosted form work. On a work or school account, check with your admin first.

Formfacade vs Pretty Forms Designer

Pretty Forms Designer is the other add-on people install to restyle a Google Form. Pretty Forms has a free plan and Formfacade doesn't, which is the biggest difference between them.

Pick Formfacade for embedding in your site and for hidden fields. Pick Pretty Forms Designer for a low-traffic form that needs a second language. Prices come from each maker's own pricing page.

Formfacade not working? Fix common problems

Tips before you rely on it

• Replace every link. Check your website, emails and QR codes, because any old Google link still opens the plain form.
• Count your month. On Basic, a 50-response cap is two busy days for a popular event. Pick the plan by your busiest month, not the average.
• Keep the Google form tidy. Formfacade mirrors it. A question you add in Google Forms appears in the Formfacade version, so re-check the layout after edits.
• Test on a phone. A two-column layout can push labels and boxes apart on a small screen.

Where Formfacade stops

Formfacade exists because a Google Form can't look like your website. The add-on fixes the look, for a monthly fee and a monthly response cap, and only on its own link.

The simplest Formfacade alternative is a form builder with the look built in. In FormNX, pick colours, fonts and a background in the design settings. Embed the form in your site, or open it as a popup.

A calculation field works out a price as people answer. All of that is on the free plan, with unlimited submissions.

Paid plans add your logo and white label, so the form carries your name only. Custom CSS handles exact spacing and buttons. There is no add-on to install and no second link to manage.

To compare the two builders in full, see the Google Forms alternative page. Already have a form to embed? Our free embed tool makes the code.