For Google Forms · no add-on
Limit how many people can pick each option.
Time slots, workshop seats, potluck dishes: set a limit for every choice and it closes itself the moment it’s full. One script in your own Google account. Nobody else ever sees your responses.
Free for one question · No signup · Tested logic
The problem
Google Forms can’t cap a choice.
There’s no setting for “only four people may take Monday 9am”. You find out a slot was oversubscribed after everyone has already booked it, and then you’re emailing people to move them.
The usual fix is a marketplace add-on, which means granting a third party access to your form and every response in it. For a school, a clinic or an HR team, that is often exactly why the answer is no.
How it works
Three steps, about two minutes.
Build your script
Type your question and the limit for each option below. The script is written for you.
Paste it into your form
In your form, open ⋮ → Apps Script and replace the contents of Code.gs.
Run setup once
Approve Google’s permission prompt. From now on, every option closes the moment it’s full.
What people use it for
Anything where each choice has a capacity.
Interview and meeting slots
Each time slot takes a set number of people, then disappears.
Parent-teacher evenings
Ten-minute slots per teacher, booked without a single clash.
Workshops and classes
Cap every session at the size of the room.
Equipment sign-out
One camera, two tripods: never promised twice.
Potlucks and gift lists
Every dish or gift can be claimed exactly once.
Shift rotas and volunteers
Fill each shift with exactly the people it needs.
Free generator
Your script, written for your form.
Free for one multiple-choice question. It runs entirely in your Google account: nothing to install, nothing to sign up for.
It must match character for character. Pasting it from the form is safer than typing.
- In your form, open ⋮ → Apps Script.
- Replace everything in
Code.gswith this script. - Run
setupLimiteronce and approve the prompt.
The free script limits one multiple-choice question. The full script ($7) adds any number of questions, dropdowns and checkboxes, a “— FULL” label mode, auto-closing the form and a one-step restore.
Private by design
Your responses never leave your account.
- No add-on. Nothing from a marketplace, nothing for your IT team to review.
- No third party. The code runs in your own Apps Script project, with your own permissions.
- Nothing to switch off. It’s a file you own, so it can’t stop working because a service changed or shut down.
- Open logic. The counting and limiting code is published and tested, including the edge cases that break most scripts.
The detail most versions get wrong
When the last seat goes, most scripts fail silently.
A Google Forms choice question cannot have zero options. When the final option fills, a naive script tries to write an empty list, the update fails without any error you’d see, and the form keeps taking bookings for slots that are already full.
Form Choice Limiter detects that moment and marks the options as full instead, and the full version can close the form with your own message. Simultaneous submissions are counted one at a time behind a lock. Read the four failure modes →
Pricing
Free for one question. $7 for everything, once.
Free
$0
For a single sign-up question
- One multiple-choice question
- Any number of options, each with its own limit
- Full options are removed from the form
- Safe when two people submit at once
- Handles the last seat without breaking
- Runs in your own Google account
Everything included
Full script
$7 one-time
No subscription, no account, no access to your data
- Every question in the form, as many as you like
- Multiple-choice, checkbox and dropdown questions
- Remove full options, or keep them marked “— FULL”
- Close the form automatically when everything is taken
- Your own closing message
- Restore every option with one command
- Two-minute install guide and troubleshooting
- Use it on all your own forms, forever
Secure checkout by Dodo Payments. The script arrives by email straight away.
Questions
Frequently asked
Can Google Forms limit responses per option on its own?
No. Google Forms can stop the whole form after you close it, and response validation can limit how many boxes one person ticks, but there is no built-in way to say “only four people may choose Monday 9am”. That needs a script or an add-on.
Is this an add-on?
No. It is a short Apps Script file you paste into your own form’s script editor. Nothing is installed from a marketplace, and it keeps working without any outside service.
Can anyone else see my form or responses?
No. The script runs inside your own Google account with your own permissions. No third party, including us, receives your form, your questions or your responses.
What happens when an option fills up?
It is removed from the form straight after the submission that filled it. In the full version you can keep it visible and marked “— FULL” instead, and close the whole form once every option is taken.
What if two people submit at the same moment?
Each submission is processed one at a time behind a lock, so the counts cannot both read “one seat left” and both take it.
What happens when the very last option is taken?
A Google Forms choice question cannot have zero options, which is where most hand-written scripts silently break. This one relabels the options as full instead of emptying the question, and the full version can close the form with your message.
Does it work with checkboxes and dropdowns?
The free script handles one multiple-choice question. The full version handles multiple-choice, checkbox and dropdown questions, as many as you like in one form.
Will it work on a school or work Google account?
Yes, as long as your administrator allows Apps Script, which most Google Workspace accounts do. You will see Google’s standard permission prompt the first time you run setup.
Can I put the options back afterwards?
Yes. The script saves the original list before it changes anything. Running restoreChoices (free script) or restoreAllChoices (full script) puts every option back.
Is $7 a subscription?
No. It is a one-time payment for the script file. Use it on as many of your own forms as you like.
Guides
Step-by-step, for the exact thing you’re setting up.
Limit responses per option in Google Forms
What a working script has to handle, and the four ways a hand-written one fails without telling you.
Read →A time slot sign-up sheet in Google Forms
Interview slots, parent-teacher evenings, appointments: one form, each slot closes when it is taken.
Read →Remove an option once someone picks it
Potluck dishes, gift lists, topic sign-ups: every option can be taken exactly once.
Read →Close a Google Form automatically when it is full
Stop accepting responses after N submissions, or once every option is taken.
Read →Limit checkbox selections in Google Forms
Per-person limits are built in. Per-option capacity is not. Here is how to do both.
Read →A Choice Eliminator alternative without an add-on
The same result from a script in your own Google account, with no third-party access to responses.
Read →Stop over-booking your Google Forms.
Build the free script in a minute, or get every feature for $7, once.