How to limit responses on a Google Form

Yes, natively since January 2026. In Settings, a published form can close at a set date and time or after a set number of responses. The setting is off by default. Per-option limits are still not supported.

Last reviewed 1 September 2026

Google Forms can now do this natively. Since a January 2026 update a form can close itself at a set date and time, or after a set number of responses. Most guides on the web — including an earlier version of this one — still tell you to install an add-on. That advice is out of date.

The native setting

1. Publish the form. The setting only appears afterwards.
2. Open Settings → Responses.
3. Turn on closing by date and time, by response count, or both.

It is off by default, which is why so many people still believe the feature does not exist. It is available on personal Google accounts as well as Workspace.

What it still cannot do

The native cap is for the form as a whole. There is no per-option limit — the thing most people actually want for a sign-up sheet, where each time slot or workshop takes a fixed number of people and then disappears from the list. Google Forms has never been able to do that, and the January update did not change it. The usual answer remains an add-on such as Choice Eliminator.

Closing at a time versus closing after a count

• A shared deadline — "registration closes Friday at 5pm" — is a date and time.
• A capacity limit — "first 30 people" — is a response count.
• Both is common and allowed: close at 5pm, or when 30 sign up, whichever happens first.

Scale limits worth knowing

Separately from any cap you set, Google Forms itself degrades at volume: the summary view can stop rendering past roughly 50,000 responses, and the Sheets link past roughly 100,000. If you are running something that big, plan to export early rather than relying on the built-in views.