Is Microsoft Forms anonymous? Pera vs Microsoft Forms for staff

In short

Microsoft Forms can collect anonymous responses, but only if the form owner chooses the right settings.
For organisation-only forms, the key setting is "Record name". Unticked, names aren’t recorded. Ticked, every response carries a name and email.
Even with names off, Microsoft keeps a start and completion time for each response, and warns this can identify people.
For a one-off survey Forms is often enough. For a weekly check-in in a small team, Pera does the scheduling and protects anonymity without relying on settings.

The settings that matter

In Microsoft Forms, Settings, "Who can fill out this form", has three options:

Anyone can respond: anyone with the link can answer, inside or outside your organisation. Microsoft says responses come in without names recorded.
Only people in my organisation can respond: everyone in your organisation can answer. Others can’t, even if they are sent the link.
Specific people in my organisation can respond: only the people or groups you name can answer.

The last two options are only available with a work or school account. Underneath them are two tick boxes: "Record name" and "One response per person".

Organisation-only forms and anonymity

This is where most confusion comes from. Restricting a form to your organisation controls who can answer. It doesn’t by itself mean names are saved. That is controlled by "Record name":

Ticked: each response is saved with the person’s name and email address. Microsoft describes this as collecting responses with personally identifiable information.
Unticked: names aren’t recorded, and names and email addresses aren’t shown in the results or the Excel export.

So an organisation-only form can be anonymous. The catch is that it is the owner’s choice, made in a settings pane staff never see, and it can be changed. People know the form is limited to colleagues, and have to trust that their name isn’t being kept. Many will hold back.

Pera has no setting that records names. Answer links are never stored, only a fingerprint of each one, and when a round closes the key that could connect links to people is deleted. After that, not even Pera can tell who said what. More on the anonymity page.

What Microsoft says can still identify people

Microsoft’s own guidance lists situations where unticking "Record name" isn’t enough:

A question asks for something identifying, such as a name, and people answer it.
The form goes to only a few people, so answers can be matched to them.
People are in different time zones, so the start or completion time of a response can point to who sent it.

On top of that, Forms shows results in real time. In a team of six, you can see an answer arrive and know who just stepped away from a meeting.

Pera is built around these problems. Answers keep the date only, not the time. Nothing is shown until the round closes and at least five people have answered. Comments come in random order, and email addresses and phone numbers in them are removed automatically.

Running it every week

Forms does some of this well. You can send it through Outlook or Teams, set a start and end date, and send reminders from the notification email or the Responses tab. But each form is a single round. To check in weekly, someone has to set up or reopen a form each week, send it, chase it and keep track of which results belong to which week.

Pera emails everyone at the day and time you choose, in your local time, sends one reminder before the round closes, and keeps each week separate. There’s no login and nothing to install. After a round, you write a short note on what you’re doing about it, and it appears in the next email under "From last time". See the product page.

Side by side

	Microsoft Forms	Pera
Cost	Included in Microsoft 365 Apps for business, and available with a personal Microsoft account	Free up to 15 people and one team, then £1.50 per person a month (minimum £29)
Names recorded	Depends on "Who can fill out this form" and "Record name"	Never. There is no setting to turn it on
Who decides	The form owner	Fixed in how Pera is built
Who can answer	Anyone with the link, your organisation, or people you name	People you add, each with their own one-time link. No login
Time of answer	Start and completion time kept for every response	Date only, not the time
Minimum answers before results	None. Results appear in real time	Five, and only after the round closes
Weekly schedule	No. Start and end dates for a single form only	Yes, on the day and time you choose
Reminders	Yes, sent by the owner from the notification email or the Responses tab	One automatic reminder before the round closes
Emails and phone numbers in comments	Kept as typed	Removed automatically
Questions	Any questions you like	One fixed question and an optional comment

Which to use

Microsoft Forms is enough if you already use Microsoft 365, you want a one-off survey with your own questions, the group is large, and staff trust the person running it. Untick "Record name", don’t ask identifying questions, wait until it closes before you look, and tell people how it is set up.

Pera fits better if you want a short check-in every week, your teams are small, or people wouldn’t believe a form run by their manager is anonymous. It asks one question, "How was work this week?", with Good, Okay or Not great and an optional comment. You can’t change the question yet, and there’s no Teams integration, so if you need either, Forms is the better tool.

Pera is free for up to 15 people and one team. After that it is £1.50 per person a month, with a £29 minimum, excluding VAT. See pricing.

Questions

Is Microsoft Forms anonymous?

It can be. If the form is set to "Anyone can respond", names aren’t recorded. If it is set to people in your organisation, it is only anonymous when the owner unticks "Record name". Microsoft also warns that small groups, identifying answers and response times can still give people away.

Can my manager see who filled in a Microsoft Form?

If "Record name" is ticked, yes: each response is saved with the person’s name and email address. If it is unticked, names and emails aren’t shown, but each response still has a start time and completion time.

Does "Only people in my organisation can respond" mean my name is recorded?

Not on its own. It means people have to be in your organisation to respond. Whether names are recorded is controlled by the separate "Record name" box underneath it.

Is Microsoft Forms good enough for an anonymous staff survey?

For a one-off survey of a large group, often yes, if "Record name" is off and you tell staff how it is set up. For small teams or a weekly check-in it is weaker, because results appear in real time and the anonymity depends on settings the owner controls.

Sources

Details of other products come from their own websites and help pages on the date above. Products change, so check the latest before you decide.

Pera vs Microsoft Forms for anonymous employee feedback