Point any HTML form at one endpoint. 500 free submissions — no card, no time limit — and unlimited forms.
Create free accountDisclosure: splitforms publishes this comparison and is one of the tools in it. Prices were checked on the date in the sources box; plans change, so confirm on each vendor's pricing page. There is no overall ranking: JotForm is the baseline, the others are listed alphabetically, and each pick names the use case it wins. Most tools here are no-code builders; splitforms is a backend for your own HTML, so it only fits if you write the form markup.
How do the JotForm alternatives compare?
JotForm is the baseline row; the alternatives follow alphabetically. The columns are the four things that most often push people off JotForm: the free submission cap, file-upload storage, payment-field support, and whether a HIPAA tier exists at a price you can accept. splitforms is a backend rather than a builder, so its row compares plan limits, not builder features.
| Tool | Free submission cap | File uploads | Payment fields | HIPAA | Cheapest paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JotForm (baseline) | 100/mo, 5 forms | 100 MB free, 1 GB Bronze | Native widgets (PayPal, Square) | Yes — Gold, $129/mo ($99/mo yearly) | $39/mo Bronze, $34/mo yearly (1,000/mo) |
| Cognito Forms | See pricing page | Yes | Yes (paid tiers) | — | $19/mo Pro |
| Formspree | 50/mo | Paid plans | — | No | $15/mo, or $10/mo yearly (200/mo) |
| Formstack | None (trial) | Yes | Yes | Yes (add-on) | $50/mo Starter |
| Google Forms | Unlimited | Via Drive, sign-in required | — | Via Workspace BAA | Workspace $12/user/mo |
| Paperform | None (trial) | Yes | Native (Stripe, Square, Braintree) | — | $29/mo Essentials |
| splitforms | 500 total, unlimited forms | Paid plans, 5 files × 5 MB | Pair with Stripe Checkout | No BAA | $5/mo Pro (5,000/mo) |
| Tally | Unlimited (branded) | Yes | Stripe, every plan (no recurring) | No | $29/mo Pro ($24/mo yearly) |
| Typeform | 10/mo | Yes (question type) | Payment fields on paid plans | No | $39/mo Basic ($28/mo yearly, 100/mo) |
| Wufoo | 100/mo, 5 forms | Paid tiers | Paid tiers | — | $19/mo Starter |
For a deeper dive on the cheapest of these head-to-head, see the cheapest form-to-email service guide.
Which JotForm alternative is best for each use case?
Each row names the tool whose published plan or feature wins that use case:
| Your situation | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Complex workflows, signatures, PDFs | JotForm | The widest widget library of the tools here |
| Free no-code builder | Tally | Unlimited responses and forms on Free, with branding |
| Calculations and repeating sections | Cognito Forms | Logic and calculations at $19/month Pro |
| HIPAA or enterprise compliance | JotForm Gold or Formstack | Gold is $129/month; Formstack adds BAA and SOC 2 reports at higher prices |
| Built-in payments without wiring Stripe | Paperform or JotForm | Native payment fields |
| Conversational surveys | Typeform | One-question-at-a-time presentation |
| Internal polls, no budget | Google Forms | Free, saves to Sheets |
| You write your own HTML or React form | splitforms or Formspree | Backends: splitforms is 500 free submissions total, then $5/month for 5,000; Formspree is 50 free a month, then $15/month |
How were these tools compared?
The criteria below apply to builders and backends alike. They are a checklist, not a ranking; which ones matter depends on whether you want a hosted builder or your own markup.
- Cost per 1,000 submissions. Free tier matters; so does the cheapest paid tier. Compare like for like: a builder plan and a backend plan sell different things.
- Free-tier headroom. A cap of 50 or 100 submissions a month is easy to outgrow; unlimited or 500+ gives more room.
- Webhooks on the free tier. Webhooks are how forms talk to Slack, Discord, Zapier, custom backends, and CRMs. We note where they are paywalled.
- Spam protection quality. Honeypot is table stakes. Automatic spam filtering is a plus.
- HTML/no-code flexibility. Can you bring your own HTML? Can a non-developer build a form? Tools that force you into their builder lose points if you wanted a backend, and vice versa.
- File upload support. Job applications, design briefs, support tickets — almost every business form needs file uploads.
- Migration friction. If you outgrow this tool, can you leave?
JotForm (baseline): the broad incumbent and why people compare it
JotForm has the broadest feature set of the tools here: drag-and-drop UI, a large template library, conditional logic, payment widgets, e-signatures, HIPAA on Gold and PDF generation.
Pricing
- Starter (Free): 100 submissions/month, 5 forms, 100 MB storage
- Bronze: $39/month, or $34/month billed yearly — 1,000 submissions/month, 25 forms
- Silver: $49/month, or $39/month billed yearly — 2,500 submissions/month, 50 forms
- Gold: $129/month, or $99/month billed yearly — HIPAA, 10,000 submissions/month, 100 forms
What's good
The widget library is the widest on this list. If you need a form that calculates an insurance quote, accepts a signature, and routes to a HIPAA-compliant inbox, JotForm does it without code.
What's missing / why people migrate
The 100/month free cap forces an upgrade fast, and Bronze at $39/month is steep for a small business. Submissions live inside JotForm, and forms are typically embedded as iframes. Spam protection is a CAPTCHA field you add yourself (hCaptcha by default, or reCAPTCHA), plus unique-submission checks by cookie or IP and options such as blocking free email addresses.
Verdict
Good for non-developers building complex workflows with payments and signatures. More than a basic contact, lead-capture or job-application form needs; a lighter builder or a backend like splitforms is the simpler route there.
Cognito Forms: logic and calculations
Cognito Forms is a traditional builder with conditional logic and calculation features.
Pricing
- Free: a free plan exists; check its pricing page for current entry limits
- Pro: $19/month — webhooks, custom branding
- Team: $39/month — workflow, multiple users
What's good
Calculations, repeating sections and conditional logic, at a lower entry price than JotForm Bronze.
What's missing
Webhooks paywalled to Pro. Embedding is by iframe.
Verdict
The pick if you need a no-code builder with calculations and want to pay less than JotForm prices.
Formspree: the established form backend
Formspree pioneered the form-to-email backend pattern: write your own HTML, point at a URL, get emails. It is the older, widely used equivalent of splitforms.
Pricing
- Free: 50 submissions/month, 30-day history
- Personal: $15/month, or $10/month billed yearly — 200 submissions/month
- Professional: $30/month, or $20/month billed yearly — 2,000 submissions/month
What's good
Long track record, mature API, broad framework support. If you already have Formspree wired into a complex React app, leaving has a cost.
What's missing
The free tier is 50 submissions a month, against splitforms' 500 free submissions total. Webhooks need a paid plan — splitforms includes them on Pro at $5/month. Personal at $15/month ($10 billed yearly) covers 200 submissions a month; splitforms Pro covers 5,000 for $5. See splitforms vs Formspree and the Formspree migration guide.
Verdict
If you're happy and paying, there is no urgent reason to move. If you're shopping for a backend, compare 50 free submissions a month against splitforms' one-time 500, and the paid plans above.
Formstack: enterprise and healthcare
Formstack targets enterprise: HIPAA, SOC 2, workflow automation, Salesforce integration. The pricing matches.
Pricing
- Trial only: no permanent free tier
- Starter: $50/month — 1,000 submissions
- Teams: $99/month — workflow, HIPAA add-on
What's good
Compliance posture. If your buyer is a hospital procurement officer, Formstack's SOC 2 reports and BAAs are the unlock.
What's missing
No free tier, and pricing assumes an enterprise budget.
Verdict
The right tool for compliance-led buyers; priced for enterprise rather than side projects.
Google Forms: free, unlimited, tied to Google
Google Forms is free, unlimited, and integrates with Sheets out of the box. It's the right tool for internal surveys, school worksheets, and quick polls.
Pricing
- Free: with a Google account, unlimited responses
- Workspace Business: $12/user/month for admin controls and storage — form features stay the same
What's good
Free. Submits straight into Google Sheets. Anyone with a Google account can use it. See Google Forms vs Typeform vs splitforms.
What's missing
The form looks like a Google Form — fine for internal use, limited for a brand page. No webhooks without Apps Script glue, and embedding is by iframe.
Verdict
Use it for internal surveys and polls. For customer-facing forms, use a builder with branding control or, if you have your own HTML, a backend like splitforms.
Paperform: design-forward with native payments
Paperform sits between Typeform and JotForm. The forms look like landing pages, the builder is solid, and payments via Stripe/PayPal are native.
Pricing
- Trial only: no permanent free tier
- Essentials: $29/month — 1,000 submissions
- Pro: $59/month — webhooks, calculations
What's good
Visual polish, payment integration, conditional logic. Solid for one-off product order forms or booking pages.
What's missing
No free tier, and webhooks are on Pro ($59/month).
Verdict
Good if you genuinely need a designed form with built-in payments and don't want to wire Stripe yourself. If you have your own HTML, a backend plus Stripe Checkout is the alternative route.
splitforms: a form backend for your own HTML
splitforms (the publisher of this page) is a form-to-email backend service. You write the HTML (or use any framework — Next.js, React, Vue, Svelte, Astro, plain static), point the form's action at https://splitforms.com/api/submit, and accepted submissions are saved to your dashboard before owner notification email is attempted; delivery time and inbox placement depend on provider and recipient settings. No JotForm-style builder, no widget, no iframe.
Pricing (as of 2026-09-29)
- Free: 500 submissions total — no card, no time limit — with smart spam filtering, dashboard storage, and MCP for AI agents
- Pro: $5/month for 5,000 submissions/month, signed webhooks, exports, integrations, retained uploads (5 files × 5 MB), custom SMTP
- Annual: $49/year for 15,000 submissions/month with every Pro feature (about $4.08/month)
Forms are unlimited on every tier, including Free. Full breakdown on the splitforms pricing page.
What's good
Webhooks on Pro at $5/month (Tally includes webhooks on every plan, Free too; Formspree needs its $30/month Professional plan). Smart spam filtering on the free tier — see the spam detection benchmark for numbers. Plays nicely with frameworks: drop the same field names into a Next.js form backend, React backend, Astro, Vue, or Svelte integration. Pro custom SMTP means deliverability is yours to control.
What's missing
The drag-and-drop builder is far simpler than Jotform's — no widgets library, calculations, or approval flows. No HIPAA BAA, and EU data residency is not offered. Payments are a single fixed Stripe amount per form (paid plans), not Jotform's product lists and payment widgets.
Verdict
A fit if you already have (or will write) your own form markup and want a backend for it; pick a builder above if you want a visual form or a hosted link. To try it, get a free access key.
Tally: free no-code builder
Tally markets itself as "the free alternative to Typeform". The unlimited-submission free tier is real and the Notion-style editor is genuinely pleasant.
Pricing
- Free: Unlimited responses, unlimited forms — with Tally branding
- Pro: $29/month, or $24/month billed yearly — custom domains, branding removal, team members, custom CSS
What's good
Unlimited submissions free, no code required. If you don't mind a small "Made with Tally" badge, it's the cheapest no-code option.
What's missing
The form lives on Tally (a tally.so link, a custom domain on Pro, or an iframe embed), not in your own markup. No automatic spam filtering: the only documented tool is a reCAPTCHA v2 block you add yourself. Webhooks, at least, are free on every plan. See best Tally alternatives for a deeper comparison.
Verdict
If you cannot or do not want to write HTML, Tally is the clear pick here: unlimited free responses and free webhooks. If you want your own markup, that is where a backend like splitforms fits instead.
Typeform: conversational forms at a premium
Typeform pioneered the one-question-at-a-time form. It suits long surveys and lead-gen quizzes, and the price reflects the polish.
Pricing
- Free: 10 responses/month
- Basic: $39/month ($28/month billed yearly) — 100 responses
- Plus: $79/month ($56/month billed yearly) — 1,000 responses
What's good
Design quality, logic-jumps, the conversational feel. For NPS surveys, qualification quizzes, and brand-led lead capture, Typeform earns its keep.
What's missing
The free tier is 10 responses a month, so it works as a trial. If the conversational UI isn't the point, a cheaper tool covers more. See migrate from Typeform for the switch playbook.
Verdict
Use Typeform when the form is the experience. For a contact form on a page you control, a backend like splitforms costs less.
Wufoo: the legacy SurveyMonkey builder
Wufoo is owned by SurveyMonkey. It remains a working builder with a simple pricing ladder.
Pricing
- Free: 100 entries/month, 5 forms
- Starter: $19/month — 1,000 entries
- Professional: $39/month
What's good
Reliable. If you're already on it, no urgent reason to leave.
What's missing
Webhooks are gated to higher tiers and there is no automatic spam filtering.
Verdict
Fine if you are already on it; for new projects, compare it with Tally and Cognito Forms first.
When is splitforms not the right choice?
- You want a visual builder or hosted form link. splitforms is a backend for your own HTML or React form; JotForm, Tally, Cognito Forms and Typeform host the form for you.
- You need HIPAA. There is no BAA; JotForm Gold or Formstack are the options here.
- You need calculations, e-signatures, PDFs or native payment widgets. The builder is basic and payments are a single fixed Stripe amount per form.
- You want free webhooks. Tally includes them on Free; in splitforms they need Pro.
- You need EU data residency. It is not offered.
Which JotForm alternative should you actually pick?
Use this decision tree:
- You can write HTML (or use a framework) and only need a backend: splitforms (500 free submissions total, Pro $5/month with webhooks, Annual $49/year) or Formspree.
- You don't want to touch HTML and want it free: Tally. Unlimited free with branding.
- You need a drag-and-drop builder with calculations: Cognito Forms ($19/month).
- You need HIPAA compliance: JotForm Gold ($129/month) or Formstack with the BAA add-on.
- You need a beautiful conversational form (NPS, brand survey): Typeform if budget is no object, otherwise Tally.
- You need built-in payments and don't want to wire Stripe: Paperform or JotForm.
- Internal Google-only surveys: Google Forms.
- You're on Formspree and want to compare backends: see the migration guide for what changes.
For side-by-side pages see splitforms vs JotForm, splitforms vs Typeform, and splitforms vs Tally.
The switching cost: what JotForm actually lets you take with you
Before you cancel, know what exports out of JotForm — and what doesn't:
- Submissions: yes. Each form's Submissions view downloads to CSV or Excel. Do this per form, before canceling — history doesn't transfer to any competitor.
- Form structure: no. There's no portable export of the form itself. You rebuild the fields in the new tool — plain HTML for splitforms, the builder UI for Tally or Cognito Forms. Keep field names identical so records stay consistent.
- Uploaded files: download them first. Files attached to submissions live in JotForm's storage; pull anything you need while the account is active.
- Bundled workflows: replan them. PDF generation, approval flows, and e-signatures are JotForm features, not data — on a backend like splitforms, the equivalents run via webhooks to dedicated services.
How to switch from JotForm to splitforms (5 minutes)
The simple version: get an access key, paste the HTML, redeploy.
- Sign up. Go to splitforms.com/login, paste the magic code from your inbox, copy the access key from the dashboard.
- Export JotForm submissions. JotForm dashboard → your form → Submissions → Download as CSV. Save a copy for your records.
- Replace the embed. JotForm forms are usually embedded as an iframe. Replace the iframe with a plain HTML form pointing at splitforms:
<form action="https://splitforms.com/api/submit" method="POST">
<input type="hidden" name="access_key" value="YOUR_ACCESS_KEY" />
<input type="text" name="name" required />
<input type="email" name="email" required />
<textarea name="message" required></textarea>
<input type="checkbox" name="botcheck" style="display:none" tabindex="-1" />
<button type="submit">Send</button>
</form>For framework users: drop the same field names into your Next.js, React, or Astro form component. Grab a starter at /free-contact-form. Full request/response shape is in /docs and /api-reference. If something silently fails, run through the contact form not working checklist or check /faq. Browse more comparisons at /blog.
FAQ
Is this comparison biased toward splitforms?
splitforms publishes this page and is one of the tools in it, so read it as a vendor-written comparison. To keep it checkable, there is no overall ranking: JotForm is the baseline, the others are listed alphabetically, each pick names the use case it wins, and a section lists when splitforms is not the right choice. Most tools here are no-code builders and splitforms is a backend for your own HTML, so they are not direct substitutes.
Is JotForm's free plan enough for a small business?
Sometimes, briefly. The Starter plan caps at 100 submissions/month and 5 forms total, with JotForm branding on the form. A single contact form on a quiet site fits; add a quote form or have one busy month and you hit a cap. The next step up is Bronze at $39/month ($34/month billed yearly) for 1,000 submissions. If you can host the form as HTML on your own site, splitforms covers 500 free submissions total with unlimited forms.
What is the lowest-cost JotForm alternative?
It depends on whether you want a builder. Google Forms is free and unlimited, and Tally offers unlimited Free responses under a fair use policy; Tally Pro ($29/month, or $24/month billed yearly) adds branding removal, custom domains and team features. If you have your own HTML form, splitforms Free covers 500 submissions total with unlimited forms, Pro is $5/month for 5,000 submissions a month with signed webhooks, and Annual is $49/year for 15,000 a month. Email notifications are free on every splitforms plan.
Which JotForm alternative supports payments?
Paperform (Stripe, Square, and Braintree native) and Typeform (payment fields on paid plans) are the closest matches to JotForm's payment widgets; Tally's Stripe payment block is free on every plan but doesn't support recurring payments. splitforms doesn't process payments — the standard pattern is to pair the form with Stripe Checkout or a Payment Link: the form captures the lead, Stripe captures the money, and you keep full control of the Stripe account and customer records.
Which JotForm alternative offers HIPAA compliance?
Formstack — HIPAA is core to its enterprise positioning — and Google Forms under a paid Workspace plan with a signed BAA. If you're leaving JotForm on price but still need HIPAA, note that JotForm's own Gold plan at $129/month ($99/month billed yearly) remains one of the cheaper HIPAA-capable form tools. splitforms does not offer a HIPAA BAA, so keep protected health information out of splitforms forms.
How do I export my JotForm submissions before switching?
Open each form in the JotForm dashboard, go to Submissions, and download as CSV or Excel — per form, before canceling, because submission history doesn't transfer to any competitor. The form structure has no portable export: you rebuild the fields in the new tool (plain HTML for splitforms, the builder UI for Tally or Cognito Forms). Keep field names identical so your records stay consistent across the switch.
Is splitforms cheaper than JotForm for the same volume?
On list price, yes, but they sell different things. JotForm Silver at $49/month ($39/month billed yearly) covers 2,500 submissions a month in a hosted builder with widgets and templates. splitforms Pro at $5/month covers 5,000 submissions a month, but you write the form HTML yourself. At higher volume, splitforms Annual is $49/year (about $4.08/month) for 15,000 submissions a month, about $0.27 per 1,000 at full use.
Does splitforms support file uploads like JotForm?
On paid plans, yes. splitforms accepts file uploads via standard multipart/form-data — exactly how plain HTML forms work — with a current limit of 5 files per submission at 5 MB each. JotForm includes 100 MB of total file storage on free and 1 GB on Bronze. For very heavy file workflows (video, large CAD files) host the files on S3 or Cloudflare R2 and submit the URL via the form.
Do these tools all work without writing code?
Most do. JotForm, Tally, Paperform, Wufoo, Cognito Forms, Formstack, Google Forms, and Typeform are all drag-and-drop builders — no code required. splitforms and Formspree are the two opposites: they're form backends, meaning you write the HTML yourself (or use any framework) and the service handles email delivery, spam filtering, and webhooks. If you have a designer or developer on hand, the backend approach gives you more control over markup and UX; the builder approach is faster if you don't.