A Google Forms alternative for Iranian users: Porsino or Google Forms?
If you're looking for a “Persian Google Forms” or a Google Forms alternative with Jalali dates and RTL, this page compares them honestly. Google Forms is a good free tool and enough for many jobs; but where you need Jalali dates, national ID validation, tracking codes or serious exams, Porsino was built for exactly that. Building and publishing are free, and the free account gets 50 responses a month; more responses unlock with any monthly, quarterly or yearly plan, and no response is ever lost.
- Free up to 50 responses a month
- Jalali calendar and national ID
- Tracking codes and workflows
Google Forms alternative: feature comparison table
This table puts the two tools' default features side by side, without third-party add-ons. Google Forms is updated constantly; check its current version before making a final decision.
| Subject | Google Forms | Porsino |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free with a Google account | Free up to 50 responses a month |
| RTL and calendar | Accepts Persian text; the date question is Gregorian | RTL from the ground up, Jalali calendar and Persian digits |
| National ID and mobile | A regular expression only checks the shape of the number | Built-in field; national ID is validated with its check digit |
| Province and city | The list has to be built by hand | Built-in province and city field |
| Conditional logic | Go to section based on answers to single-choice and dropdown questions | 24 condition operators, show and hide, make required, jump and calculate — re-checked on the server |
| Exam | Quiz mode with an answer key, automatic scoring and feedback | Question bank, random selection from the bank, server-side timer, anti-cheat, PDF report cards and certificates |
| Tracking codes and workflows | No; it can email a copy of the response to the respondent | Tracking code, tracking page and multi-step approval |
| File upload | Yes; respondents must sign in to a Google account and the file lands in your Google Drive | Yes; no respondent sign-in, with allowed types and size limits |
| One response per person | Requires signing in to a Google account | With cookies and browser fingerprinting, SMS verification or single-use invitations |
| Spreadsheets and integrations | Direct, hassle-free Google Sheets integration | Excel and CSV export that opens cleanly in Persian Excel, Google Sheets, API and webhooks |
| Report | A chart summary for every question | 117 ready-made reports, filters, dashboards and PDF and Word export |
| Data location | Google's servers | The platform's own dedicated server |
RTL, Jalali calendar and Persian digits
You can write Persian questions in Google Forms, but its date question is Gregorian; respondents either convert the date or type it by hand into a text box, and your export becomes an inconsistent column of dates. In Porsino the date, date range and date-time fields are Jalali, and the date field exports as two columns, Jalali and Gregorian.
Digits display in Persian across the interface, but respondents can type numbers with a Persian or English keyboard and both are read correctly. Templates and the respondent page are designed right-to-left from the ground up, not flipped after the fact.
National ID, mobile, province and city
Google Forms doesn't know what a national ID is; with regex validation you can only say “must be ten digits.” On Porsino the national ID field also checks the check digit, so a made-up or mistyped ID is rejected on the spot. The mobile field recognizes Iranian numbers and accepts Persian and English digits alike.
The province and city field comes preloaded with all 31 provinces and their counties, and the cities narrow down after a province is chosen. In exports, province and city are two separate columns, and they're summarized in the “Provincial distribution” report.
Tracking code and approval workflow
After submission, Google Forms can only email a copy of the response to the respondent. On Porsino every response gets a unique code, and respondents follow the status of their request on a public tracking page; if responses go through multi-step approval, the result of each step is shown there too.
Where Google Forms is enough
To be fair: in many situations you don't need to leave Google Forms.
- The form is short and simple and doesn't need Jalali dates, national ID or a tracking code.
- All your respondents have Google accounts and reliable access to Google services.
- Your team runs on Google Workspace and wants responses to land straight in Google Sheets next to the rest of your files.
- A simple class quiz with automatic scoring is enough, and you don't need a question bank, timer or certificates.
If your situation is one of these, keep Google Forms. Porsino is for when the form has to work with Iranian data, tracking, workflows or serious exams.
Step-by-step migration from Google Forms
Review the questions
Usually a few text fields give way to Jalali date, national ID, mobile or province and city.
Start from a template or from scratch
Pick one of 520 ready-made templates or drag and drop fields; rebuild Google Forms' “go to section” with a “jump to page” rule.
Archive your previous responses
Google Forms responses don't transfer to Porsino; export them as CSV before closing the old form.
Swap in the new link
Publish the form and replace the old link with the new short link, QR or iframe code.
Don't delete the old form right away; close it to responses for a few days and put the new link in the closed-form message, so nobody holding the old link gets lost.
Frequently asked questions
Is Porsino a Persian Google Forms?
Porsino is an independent form builder built Persian-first, not a Persian edition of Google Forms. Its core job is the same — building forms and collecting responses — but it also has the Jalali calendar, Iranian fields, tracking codes and a complete exam builder.
Is Porsino free like Google Forms?
Yes. Building and publishing are free, and the free account gets 50 responses a month; more responses unlock with any monthly, quarterly or yearly plan, and no response is ever lost. More advanced features such as online payment or approval workflows also unlock with a plan whenever you need them; all you need to start is an email address.
Can I import my Google Forms directly into Porsino?
No, there's no direct import from Google Forms. Rebuild the questions or start from one of the templates, and archive your previous responses from Google Forms as CSV.
Do respondents need an account to fill in a Porsino form?
No. Respondents just open the link; they don't need to sign in to anything, even to upload a file.
Where is form data kept?
On the platform's own dedicated server. Responses only go somewhere else when you choose to: integrations you switch on (webhooks, Google Sheets, the API) or AI tools such as summarising and analysing responses, which send the text to an AI service for processing. No file or font is loaded from an external CDN either.
Related pages
- Build an online questionnaireThesis questionnaires with Likert scales, matrices, conditional logic and direct SPSS export.
- Online exam builderQuestion bank, server-side timer, anti-cheat, report cards and certificates.
- Build an online surveyCustomer and employee satisfaction surveys with invitations and ready-made reports.
Form-building guides
All posts- Jalali (Persian) Dates in Online Forms: Three Mistakes That Corrupt Your DataThe Jalali calendar is not just a different way of displaying dates. If you do the conversion in the wrong place, your reports end up shifted by a day.2 min read
- Why Users Abandon Forms Halfway (and How to Stop It)Form abandonment has less to do with 'impatient users' than with how many fields you ask for, the order of your questions, and where you show errors.3 min read
- Iranian National ID in Forms: Why Checking for '10 Digits' Isn't EnoughIran's 10-digit national ID has a check digit. If your form only checks the length, 90% of made-up numbers slip through the filter.3 min read
Build your next form on Porsino
Rebuild a short form right here and test it alongside your Google Forms version; the decision is yours.