How to integrate Google Forms with Stripe
Written by: Melody Ma
Founder, FormPay
Updated: May 24, 2024
Published: May 24, 2024
Google Forms is usually used to collect survey information, but you can also use it to sell items and services, like memberships, tickets for events, donations, baked goods and more. But what if you want to accept credit card payments through Stripe payment processing along with your form orders? It’s not so straightforward in Google Forms to integrate with Stripe. In this article, we show you how you can use Google Forms with Stripe and easier alternatives to use.
Can Google Forms integrate with Stripe?
No, Google Forms does not have a direct integration with Stripe. Unfortunately, you cannot collect credit card payments through Stripe with Google Forms. The best solution is to use the Google Form alternative, FormPay, which has Stripe directly integrated.
However, here are three alternative approaches you can take:
1. Stripe Payment Links
If you’re selling something simple with one price, you can use Stripe Payment Links and add it to the bottom of your Google Forms or in the thank-you confirmation screen once the user submits the form.
Pros:This is a free way to get started quickly if you have one standard charge for all your orders and you have capacity to manually reconcile order payments.
Cons: You’ll have to manually reconcile payments in Stripe done through the payment link. This can pose a problem if people don’t pay or use different identifying information on their order versus their Stripe credit card payment. Further, if you need varying charge amounts or charges that require calculation based on what the user is selecting, you would not be able to use this method at all.
2. Zapier connection for Google Forms and Stripe
One of the most popular Zap template workflows is to create a Stripe Payment Link once someone submits a Google Form response. All you have to do is select the Zap template workflow and follow the steps to connect your Google Forms account and Stripe Payment to Zapier. You can learn more about the Google Forms and Stripe Zap template here.
However, it is important to note that Zapier will just create a unique payment link for you in Stripe for one flat dollar amount. You will still have to manually retrieve the payment link from Stripe and send it to your customer.
Pros: You get a unique payment link per form submission so it could be easier to reconcile who paid with what link even if their form submission and payment information are different.
Cons: This is not a direct integration of Google Form and Stripe. You still have to do manual work to send the uniquely created Stripe payment link to the form respondent once they submit the form. There may be other Zapier recipes to automate this process, but it can become complex for the uninitiated to Zapier. Further, like the previous solution for Stripe Payment Links, you can only charge the same amount for every customer. Lastly, Zapier is not free and can get quite costly. You get a certain number of “tasks” per month which can add up if you have multiple steps.
3. FormPay, the simplest alternative to Google Forms with Stripe integrated
Instead of trying to put together a make-shift solution, we recommend that you use FormPay, an alternative to Google Forms that already has Stripe integrated.
Pros: FormPay is like a beautiful Google Forms that’s designed to help you sell any product and service, automatically calculate charges, and collect credit card payments all in one go. You can customize it with all the fields you need and let you customers check out with all the major credit cards, Google Pay, Apple Pay, CashApp and all the payment options that Stripe has to offer in your region.
Additionally, once your customers pay for their order, both you and the customer will get an auto confirmation email for the order. You’ll also be able to view their order information and get access to the Stripe transaction directly via an order dashboard.
There’s also no setup fees or monthly fees to get started with FormPay.
Con: If you have an existing Google Form setup, you’ll have to set everything up again on FormPay, but it’s quick to do and totally worth it!
Summary
Even though there are no direct integrations between Google Forms and Stripe, there are alternatives you can consider, such as Stripe Payment Links, a Zapier connection or FormPay. Out of all three, FormPay is the most seamless option that’s essentially a better version of Google Forms integrated with Stripe and built for ecommerce.