Point any HTML form at one endpoint. 500 free submissions — no card, no time limit — and unlimited forms.
Create free accountFormspree is one of the most popular form backend services on the web. It's reliable, well-documented, and easy to set up. But there's one problem that every Formspree user eventually hits: the free tier is too small. At 50 submissions per month, you can't get through a normal month of contact form traffic without hitting the wall. And when you do, you don't lose the submissions, but you do stop getting notified about them: Formspree stops sending emails and running plugins until you upgrade and reprocess what it held back. This article breaks down exactly why Formspree's limits are a problem and what to use instead.
The form backend with a real free tier
500 free submissions total, with owner email notifications on every plan.
What happens next ⚡
- 📥Submission received — stored in your searchable dashboard
- 📧Email notification — delivered to your inbox instantly
- 🛡️Spam filtered — rule-based content filter + honeypot, no CAPTCHA
- 🔗Webhook fired — optional: forward to Slack, Discord, Sheets
- ↩️User redirected — to your thank-you page
500 free submissions total · No credit card
The 50-submission problem
Formspree's Free plan allows 50 submissions per month (the full rules, including history and usage alerts, are in our Formspree free plan limits guide). Here's what that looks like in practice:
- ~1.6 submissions per day. If even two people fill out your contact form on a Tuesday, you're behind schedule.
- Unlimited forms, limited submissions. Formspree doesn't cap how many forms you create, so a contact form, a newsletter signup, and a lead capture form can add up fast against the same monthly limit.
- It's a monthly allowance. It resets each month rather than accumulating, so a quiet January doesn't help you in March.
- 30-day history on Free. Paid plans keep an unlimited archive; Free keeps 30 days.
A busy contact form can use 50 submissions in a few weeks. Here is what Formspree's over-limit help article says happens next:
- The form keeps working. Visitors can still submit.
- You stop getting emails and plugin runs. New submissions are saved to an Over Limit folder instead of your inbox, and neither notification emails nor plugins run for them. Formspree does email you when over-limit submissions start arriving.
- The folder shows previews only, on every plan: the first few characters of each field, email addresses cut to the first letter and domain, and file uploads hidden. No search or export there.
- Reading them in full means upgrading. You make room in your monthly limit (upgrading if needed), then reprocess the submissions, which moves them to your inbox and runs emails and plugins. Each one counts against that month once reprocessed.
That's better than losing data, but a Free form that crosses its cap goes quiet: the lead is saved, and you won't see it unless you check the dashboard or pay to reprocess it.
The paid plan math (it adds up)
When you need more than Formspree's 50 free submissions/month, its current published pricing lists Personal at $10/month billed yearly ($15 month to month) for 200 submissions/month. Every tier, from Personal to Business, is on our Formspree pricing page. Here's how to compare the trade-offs:
| Usage | Formspree cost | splitforms cost | Annual savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50 subs/mo | $0 (free) | $0 (free) | $0 — 500 free to start |
| 500 subs/mo | $20/mo Professional (billed yearly) | $5/mo Pro (after your first 500 free) | $180/year |
| 2,000 subs/mo | $20/mo Professional (billed yearly) | $5/mo Pro | $180/year |
| 5,000 subs/mo | $60/mo Business (billed yearly) | $5/mo Pro | $660/year |
| 15,000 subs/mo | $60/mo Business (billed yearly) | $49/year Annual (~$4.08/mo) | $671/year |
The real cost story is the $49/year Annual plan: one yearly payment covers up to 15,000 submissions a month — about $0.27 per 1,000 submissions at full use. Month-to-month, Pro is $5 for 5,000 submissions, a volume that needs Formspree's $60/month (billed yearly) Business plan.
Features locked behind paid tiers
Beyond the submission limits, Formspree gates several features by plan. Here is where each starts, per its plans page, next to splitforms:
| Feature | Formspree | splitforms |
|---|---|---|
| Free submissions | 50/mo | 500 total |
| Webhooks | Professional: $20/mo billed yearly ($30 monthly) | $5/mo (Pro) |
| Basic spam filtering | Every plan (Formshield) | Every plan, including free (rule-based) |
| Custom redirect | Personal and up ($10/mo billed yearly) | Free |
| Autoresponders | Professional and up | Paid plans ($5/mo Pro) |
| Extra notification recipients | 2 linked emails on Free, unlimited from Personal | CC/BCC on paid plans ($5/mo Pro) |
| File uploads | Personal and up (1 GB) | Paid plans ($5/mo Pro) |
Spam and your quota
Every Formspree plan includes basic spam filtering. Formspree describes its Formshield filter as a machine learning model trained on millions of form submissions, and advanced spam control (sensitivity settings and category classifiers) starts on Professional. Its documentation doesn't say whether flagged spam counts toward your monthly limit, so on a 50-submission plan it's worth checking your Spam folder and usage emails.
splitforms' rule-based spam scoring filters bots before they count against your submission quota. Spam submissions are quarantined in the dashboard, not delivered to your inbox, and they don't count toward your limit.
What to use instead
splitforms is the most direct Formspree replacement — same workflow (point form action at an endpoint), better pricing, more features:
- 500 free submissions — no card, no time limit
- Pro $5/month — 5,000 submissions, unlimited forms, webhooks, CC/BCC, priority support, all paid features
- Annual $49/year — 15,000 submissions/month, every Pro feature
- Automatic spam filtering on every plan, including free
- No credit card required for signup
The endpoint is https://splitforms.com/api/submit. The workflow is identical to Formspree — just change the action URL and add your access key.
How to switch (5 minutes)
<!-- BEFORE: Formspree -->
<form action="https://formspree.io/f/your-id" method="POST">
<!-- AFTER: splitforms -->
<form action="https://splitforms.com/api/submit" method="POST">
<input type="hidden" name="access_key" value="YOUR_ACCESS_KEY">Field names stay identical. Your name, email, message fields all work the same. See the full migration guide for webhook changes, field mapping, and troubleshooting.
FAQ
How many submissions does Formspree's free tier actually allow?
Formspree's free tier allows 50 submissions per month across the account. SplitForms instead gives 500 submissions with no time limit — a total rather than a monthly allowance, so the two are not directly equivalent. See each provider's pricing page for current terms.
What happens when I hit Formspree's 50-submission limit?
According to Formspree's over-limit help article, the form keeps accepting submissions, but Formspree stops sending notification emails and running plugins for them. They go to an Over Limit folder that shows only short previews (email addresses are cut down to the first letter and domain, file uploads are hidden). To read one in full you need room in your monthly limit, then reprocess it, which moves it to your inbox and runs emails and plugins. Formspree emails you when over-limit submissions start arriving.
Is Formspree bad for production sites?
Formspree is reliable software — the issue isn't uptime or bugs, it's whether its limits and workflow match your needs. Its current pricing lists Personal at $10/month billed yearly ($15 month to month) for 200 submissions and Professional at $20/month billed yearly ($30 monthly) for 2,000. Compare its current limits with SplitForms' free allowance and paid plans before switching.
Can I use splitforms instead of Formspree for free?
Yes. splitforms free tier covers 500 submissions total with unlimited forms, automatic spam filtering, email notifications, and a searchable dashboard. No credit card required, no time limit. If you need more, Pro is $5/month for 5,000 submissions and unlimited forms.
How hard is it to migrate from Formspree to splitforms?
About 5 minutes per form. Change the action URL from formspree.io/f/xxx to splitforms.com/api/submit, add a hidden access_key field, and you're done. Field names stay identical. See our full migration guide at /blog/migrate-from-formspree.