Zapier Forms lets you build simple forms inside Zapier in a few clicks, and it comes with every Zapier account, the free one included. That is exactly why it tends to be the first choice for anyone who wants surveys or forms inside their existing Zapier workflows. For a contact form, a sign-up or a quick question, it does the job nicely. Every response can fire off a Zap straight away. The moment your form turns into a proper survey, though, the other side shows itself: the fields come from a table, and scales or matrix questions simply are not on the menu. The only place your results are meant to live is that same table. The extra features you get from a dedicated survey tool are not there, because Zapier Forms is built around what happens automatically after someone hits submit. We have taken a close look at empirio.ai and Zapier Forms, and we will be straight with you about what each one does well, where it stops and when to reach for which.
In short: Zapier Forms is a good fit if you already work in Zapier, would rather not add another app and only need very simple forms. empirio.ai is the better alternative if you want modern questionnaires, need a wide set of survey-specific features and want all of your data processed in the EU, above all the answers people give you: customers, colleagues or study participants. And because empirio.ai is an app inside Zapier, you can drop it into your Zaps with its own account just as easily as Zapier Forms.
📌 At a glance
- Zapier Forms: included in every plan, and it uses no Tasks of its own.
- Strong for simple forms, weak once you need deeper survey features.
- Zapier processes the data in the US, with no EU-only storage on offer.
- empirio.ai: more than 20 question types, analysis included, data in the EU.
- The empirio.ai integration in Zapier brings the strengths of both together.
- Questionnaire and EU processing from empirio.ai, automation from Zapier.
We checked prices, limits and privacy details directly with the providers on 15 September 2026. Free plans in particular change their terms often. If you spot anything that no longer holds, drop us a line and we will put it right the same day.
Create a survey for free
With empirio.ai you can create a modern online survey in minutes — with hosting in the EU.
- AI-built survey
- Adjust by drag & drop
- Real-time analysis
Zapier Forms or empirio.ai: which suits you?
The answer comes down to what should happen after someone submits. Both tools collect answers through a web page, both can be embedded, both stay free to use for good, and both kick off a workflow in Zapier. For a simple question or two, either one gets you there.
The differences start with what each is for:
- Zapier Forms is the input side of automation. Until recently it was called Interfaces, and it sits in the menu under Automation, right next to Zaps, Tables and Agents. Answers land in a Zapier table, and from there they flow on into the Zap. A project can be more than a single form: several pages with navigation, a table or Kanban view for visitors, a chatbot, a checklist or a payment field through Stripe.
- empirio.ai is a dedicated survey tool from Germany. More than 20 question types with scales, matrix, ranking and Net Promoter Score, an AI for building and analysis, modern templates and data processed in the EU. As an app in Zapier it takes on the same role as Zapier Forms, only with the toolkit of a survey tool behind it.
| empirio.ai | Zapier Forms | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Surveys and forms that look modern, are easy to fill in and whose data is processed in the EU | Contact requests, sign-ups and quick questions in the same tool where the Zap already runs |
| Strengths | Question types for real surveys, analysis included, AI across the whole workflow, data in the EU, every integration free | Part of every Zapier plan, uses no Tasks, unlimited responses, payments through Stripe, CAPTCHA |
| Weaknesses | Participant allowance per plan, needs its own account | No scales and no matrix questions, no analysis, styling only on a paid plan |
| Languages | ✅ 9 country editions in 6 languages | ❌ no language editions documented |
| EU hosting | ✅ already on the free plan | ❌ servers in the US, EU-only storage expressly not possible |
| Data processing agreement | ✅ already on the free plan | ✅ part of the terms of use, but processing takes place in the US |
| Price | Free, Lite €19, Plus €39, Pro €69 a month | Free; Professional from around €26 a month |
As of September 2026.
Notes:
- empirio.ai: the editor lets you try out features from the paid plans too. The check happens when you publish. Every plan can be cancelled monthly.
- Zapier: the amounts apply to monthly billing. Zapier shows prices in US dollars by default, but you can switch the pricing page to euros. Pay a year up front and, by Zapier's own figures, you save a third.
The weaknesses row sits high up on purpose. A comparison that only finds strengths in its own tool is no comparison at all. If you want to take payments through a form, you are better off with Zapier Forms, because we do not have a Stripe component. And if you regularly gather more than 50 responses a month, empirio.ai will cost you.
What is free with Zapier Forms and empirio.ai?
Both tools stay free to use for good, they just draw the line in different places. Zapier caps the number of pages and stored records, but gives you unlimited responses. empirio.ai caps the number of participants and, in return, opens up almost the full feature set, including EU processing and a data processing agreement.
| On the free plan | empirio.ai | Zapier Forms |
|---|---|---|
| Number of surveys or forms | ✅ unlimited | ✅ unlimited projects, 10 pages per account |
| Questions per survey | ✅ unlimited | 100 fields per table |
| Participants per month | 50 free, 1,000 from Plus | ✅ unlimited, though 2,500 records are stored per account |
| Create without signing up | ❌ account needed, though a first AI draft works without one | ❌ a Zapier account is required |
| Languages | ✅ 9 country editions in 6 languages, free | ❌ no language editions documented |
| EU hosting | ✅ already on the free plan | ❌ not possible |
| Data processing agreement | ✅ already on the free plan | ✅ part of the terms of use, but processing takes place in the US |
| Free highlights | more than 20 question types, AI survey editor, MCP server, QR code | Unlimited responses, CAPTCHA, payments through Stripe |
As of September 2026.
One row is worth a second look, because it catches people out in practice. Responses in Zapier Forms are unlimited, but they are stored in Zapier Tables, and there the free plan counts 2,500 records per account. For a contact form that lasts for years. For a survey with a few thousand replies it is the real limit, sitting in a spot where you would not think to look for it.
The languages row refers to the tool itself, meaning the language you work in. Whether your questionnaire can also be shown in several languages is a separate question, and that one comes up further down in the section on building.
Building a form: what can the two editors do?
This is where the gap between an input field and a questionnaire shows most clearly. With Zapier Forms you create fields that double as columns in a table, from a text box through picklists to a file upload. With empirio.ai you choose question types, and they bring what a survey needs: scales, matrices, rankings.
| Feature | empirio.ai | Zapier Forms |
|---|---|---|
| Question or field types | ✅ more than 20 question types | ✅ 14 field types from the linked table, plus a dedicated file-upload field |
| Scales, matrix, ranking, Net Promoter Score | ✅ free | ❌ not among the documented field types |
| Build a questionnaire with AI | ✅ free | ✅ through Zapier Copilot |
| Conditional logic | ✅ from Lite | ✅ from Professional |
| File uploads | ✅ free | ✅ 5 MB and 3 files free, 10 MB and 100 files from Professional |
| Templates | ✅ more than 90, free | ✅ use-case templates, such as contact and sign-up |
| Custom colours and logo | ✅ from Plus | ✅ from Professional |
| Restrict access | ✅ access restriction from Plus | ✅ password protection from Professional, managed users from Professional |
| Collect payments | ❌ | ✅ through a Stripe component |
| CAPTCHA against spam | ❌ not documented | ✅ on the form on every plan, for the whole project from Professional |
| Multilingual editions | ✅ from Pro, with automatic translation | ❌ not documented |
| Remove the provider logo | ✅ from Pro | ❌ only on the Team plan |
| Own subdomain or domain | ✅ own subdomain, Enterprise | ❌ own domain only on the Team plan |
As of September 2026.
Two rows decide it in practice. The first is scales: if you want to know how satisfied someone is, you need a range from 1 to 10, not a line of text. In Zapier Forms participants type their score as text, and you are left to sort it out afterwards. The second is the logo: the Built on Zapier notice stays put even on the Professional plan and only disappears on the Team plan.
Analysing responses: a table or a proper analysis?
Zapier Forms gives you a table, empirio.ai gives you an analysis. That is not a criticism, it is what each is built for: with Zapier your answers land automatically in a linked table, where you can view, filter, search and export them. A component for charts or key figures is not on the list of form components.
| Feature | empirio.ai | Zapier Forms |
|---|---|---|
| View responses one by one | ✅ free | ✅ in the linked table |
| Filter and search | ✅ free | ✅ in the linked table |
| Analysis as a chart | ✅ | ❌ no chart component |
| Analysis tools | ✅ from Plus | ❌ not documented |
| Comparison mode and cross-tabs | ✅ from Plus | ❌ not documented |
| Drop-off rate | ✅ from Plus | ❌ not documented |
| Analyse free text with AI | ✅ from Plus | ✅ through AI fields in the table, from Professional |
| Download the raw data | ✅ CSV, Excel, JSON, SPSS, from Lite | ✅ export from the table |
| Export as a report | ✅ PowerPoint, Word, PDF, PNG, from Plus | ❌ not documented |
| Length of a text answer | no character limit documented | 255 characters in the text field, 10,000 in the long text field |
As of September 2026.
The last row is one of those small things you only notice once the answers are in. A standard text field in Zapier Tables holds 255 characters, about three sentences. If you ask open questions and have not picked the long text field, you get truncated answers. For what you can pull out of open answers, see our piece on open and closed questions.
Create a survey for free
With empirio.ai you can create a modern online survey in minutes — with hosting in the EU.
- AI-built survey
- Adjust by drag & drop
- Real-time analysis
Where does the data sit, in the US or the EU?
Zapier processes the data in the US, empirio.ai in the EU. This is the point where the two differ most clearly. For many organisations it settles the question on its own. Zapier says so openly itself: the data sits on AWS servers in the United States. Asked whether EU-only storage is possible, its own privacy overview says plainly that Zapier does not support it.
That does not mean using it is unlawful. Zapier is certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, the data processing agreement is part of the terms of use and includes the Standard Contractual Clauses, and there is an EU representative in Hamburg. Zapier also names two limits itself: it will not sign third-party contract templates, and health data under HIPAA is out of scope.
| Privacy | empirio.ai | Zapier Forms |
|---|---|---|
| Place of processing | ✅ the EU only | ❌ US, on AWS servers |
| EU-only storage can be chosen | ✅ standard | ❌ expressly not possible |
| Data processing agreement | ✅ created when you register | ✅ part of the terms of use |
| Own contract template possible | not documented | ❌ Zapier does not sign third-party contracts |
| IP addresses with the answers | ✅ not stored | not documented |
| Certifications | Hosting in the EU, two-factor authentication | SOC 2 Type 2, SOC 3, Data Privacy Framework |
As of September 2026, sources: Zapier's privacy overview and data processing agreement, plus the details on our own pages.
As soon as you are surveying not purely for yourself but for a company, a club, a university or a practice, you are processing personal data on someone's behalf. Under UK GDPR that makes you the data controller and your survey tool the processor, which is why a data processing agreement matters. What follows from that is set out in our piece on survey data protection. Whether your particular case calls for EU processing is a call for your organisation's data protection lead, or, at a university, your supervisor, and the ICO offers guidance if you are unsure.
The full feature comparison
The complete side-by-side is in one table: the basics first, then editor, analysis, distribution and privacy, and price at the end. For empirio.ai each row shows the plan a feature starts on, for Zapier Forms the Zapier plan.
| Feature | empirio.ai | Zapier Forms |
|---|---|---|
| Number of surveys or forms | ✅ unlimited | ✅ unlimited projects |
| Pages per account | no page allowance | 10 free, 50 from Professional, 150 on the Team plan |
| Questions or fields per form | ✅ unlimited | 100 fields per table, all plans |
| Responses per month | 50 free, 100 from Lite, 1,000 from Plus | ✅ unlimited |
| Stored records | no extra limit, participants are what count | 2,500 free, 100,000 from Professional |
| Question or field types | ✅ more than 20 question types, free | ✅ 14 table field types, plus file uploads |
| Scales, matrix, ranking, NPS | ✅ free | ❌ not among the field types |
| Questionnaire with AI | ✅ free | ✅ through Zapier Copilot |
| File uploads | ✅ free | ✅ 5 MB and 3 files free, 10 MB and 100 files from Professional |
| Templates | ✅ more than 90, free | ✅ use-case templates |
| Embed on your website | ✅ free | ✅ free |
| QR code | ✅ free | ❌ not documented |
| CAPTCHA against spam | ❌ not documented | ✅ on the form on every plan, for the whole project from Professional |
| Collect payments | ❌ | ✅ through Stripe |
| Conditional logic | ✅ from Lite | ✅ from Professional |
| Download the raw data | ✅ CSV, Excel, JSON, SPSS, from Lite | ✅ export from the table |
| Analysis as a chart | ✅ | ❌ no chart component |
| Analysis tools, comparison mode, drop-off rate | ✅ from Plus | ❌ not documented |
| Analyse free text with AI | ✅ from Plus | ✅ through AI fields, from Professional |
| Export as a report | ✅ PowerPoint, Word, PDF, PNG, from Plus | ❌ not documented |
| Custom colours and logo | ✅ from Plus | ✅ from Professional |
| Password protection or access restriction | ✅ from Plus | ✅ from Professional |
| Multilingual editions | ✅ from Pro | ❌ not documented |
| Remove the provider logo | ✅ from Pro | ❌ only on the Team plan |
| Own subdomain or domain | ✅ own subdomain, Enterprise | ❌ own domain only on the Team plan |
| REST API, Webhooks, MCP server | ✅ free | ✅ through the Zapier platform |
| Processing in the EU | ✅ free | ❌ US |
| Data processing agreement | ✅ free | ✅ part of the terms of use |
| Uses Tasks | ❌ the trigger is free | ❌ the form is free |
| Price | Free, Lite €19, Plus €39, Pro €69 a month | Free; Professional from around €26 a month |
As of September 2026, subject to change.
The perfect combination: empirio.ai as a form in your Zap
You do not have to choose between the two at all, because empirio.ai is set up as its own app in Zapier. Instead of building the form in Zapier, you hang your empirio.ai survey at the same spot in the workflow. The Zap looks exactly as it did before, only the first step now reads New Response instead of New Form Submission.
For billing, by the way, that changes nothing. Triggers are always free in Zapier. A Task is only charged for the action that follows. So at this point the two tools cost you precisely the same, which is nothing. The limit lies elsewhere: the free Zapier plan includes a hundred Tasks a month and allows two steps per Zap.
Each side brings what it does best:
- empirio.ai handles the questionnaire. Question types for real surveys, a look that matches your brand, logic jumps, the analysis and processing of the data in the EU.
- Zapier handles everything after that. More than 9,000 apps, from Slack through Google Sheets to HubSpot, plus filters, schedules and multi-step workflows.
In practice it looks like this: a new response pings Slack, adds a row in Google Sheets and creates a task in your CRM. The same survey can even be created and published by a Zap, say for every new course or every finished project. For how to connect the two step by step, see the guide to automating surveys and forms with Zapier. If you would rather work without a Task counter, the same path is open with n8n.
Why empirio.ai instead of Zapier Forms?
Four points make the difference in practice. None of them can be bolted onto Zapier Forms. They concern the questions themselves, the look, the analysis and where the data lives.
If none of these four matters to you, that is a clear answer: stay with Zapier Forms. For everyone else it is worth reading them in order, because most of the time the decision is made on the very first point.
Questionnaire and question types
The biggest difference lies in the questions themselves. Zapier Forms knows 14 field types, and they come from the table behind it: text, number, picklist, date, email address, plus a dedicated file-upload field. For a request that is enough. For a survey it lacks exactly what makes a survey a survey, namely the gradation. empirio.ai brings more than 20 question types, among them scales, matrix questions, rankings and the Net Promoter Score.
Look and feel
A questionnaire is more likely to be finished when it looks tidy and works well on a phone. empirio.ai comes with more than 90 ready-made templates, plus design options, and from Plus your own colours and logo. With Zapier Forms, custom colours belong to the Professional plan, and the Built on Zapier notice stays even there.
Analysis
After submission the paths part for good. With Zapier Forms you have a table, and everything else happens in a second tool. With empirio.ai the analysis is part of the package: charts, and from Plus analysis tools, comparison mode, the drop-off rate and AI analysis of free text, plus export as PowerPoint, Word or PDF.
Data protection
The last point is where most organisations get stuck. Zapier processes the data in the US and offers no way to store it in the EU only. With empirio.ai the survey data is processed in the EU, and we do not store IP addresses with the answers at all. The data processing agreement is created when you register, with nothing to request and no extra cost.
Your first survey in four steps
A survey comes together in empirio.ai in four steps, and the first takes a minute. In the editor you can also try out features from the paid plans. The check happens when you publish: if your plan does not include a feature you have used, empirio.ai declines to publish and points you to the spot.
- Describe your goal. One sentence is enough, say 'measure satisfaction after a support contact'. The AI survey editor turns it into a first questionnaire. Or start from scratch or with a template.
- Adjust the questions. Reorder by drag and drop, delete anything spare, add from more than 20 question types. What matters here is covered in our piece on building a questionnaire.
- Publish and connect. Share the link, hand it out as a QR code or embed it on your own website. For the workflow in Zapier you authorise your account once and pick New Response as the trigger.
- Analyse the results. Right in the tool with charts, filters and the AI tools, or as an export to Excel, PowerPoint, Word and PDF.
Zapier Forms alternative: what makes empirio.ai stand out?
Six points make the difference in practice. Most of them have no equivalent in Zapier Forms, not even on a paid plan.
- A dedicated survey tool. More than 20 question types with scales, matrix, ranking and Net Promoter Score, plus logic jumps from Lite.
- Modern design and up-to-date templates. More than 90 templates on the free plan, and from Plus your own colours and logo.
- The analysis is part of the deal. Charts for every question, and from Plus analysis tools, comparison mode, the drop-off rate and export as PowerPoint, Word or PDF.
- AI across the whole workflow. The questionnaire grows out of a goal description, the AI analyses free text from Plus, and through the MCP server language models such as Claude or ChatGPT can take the same route.
- Processing in the EU. The data processing agreement is created when you register, and we do not store IP addresses with the answers at all.
- The same role in the Zap. As an app in Zapier, empirio.ai sits exactly where Zapier Forms would, and costs you no Task there either.
Which tool suits which job fits into five rows:
| Your case | The right tool |
|---|---|
| Contact form or sign-up in the middle of a Zap | Zapier Forms |
| Collect a payment right in the form | Zapier Forms |
| Measure and analyse customer feedback | empirio.ai |
| Employee survey with data in the EU | empirio.ai |
| A survey in several languages | empirio.ai |
Conclusion
Zapier Forms is not a weak tool, it is a different one. It belongs to an automation platform and does exactly what it was built to do: collect data that carries on straight away. If you already work in Zapier every day and need a contact form, a sign-up or a quick question, there is no reason to look elsewhere.
But as soon as you need to measure, analyse and report, its advantage ends precisely where a dedicated survey tool begins. Missing scales cannot be replaced, a table is not an analysis, and for many organisations the place of processing is not a matter of taste.
The good news is up above: the two together give you the complete workflow. empirio.ai supplies the questionnaire and the analysis, Zapier distributes the results to the 9,000 apps behind it. Both parts hold up surprisingly well on their free plans.
Where to go next
- Want to connect the two? Automating surveys and forms with Zapier
- Prefer to work without a Task counter? Automating surveys with n8n
- After an overview of every provider? Survey tools compared
- Comparing with the best-known free form builder? Google Forms alternative
- Questions about data protection? Survey data protection
Ready for your survey?
With empirio.ai, an online survey tool from Germany, you create your first survey for free, with AI support and 50 participants a month.