§ 01
Short answer: which one should you pick?
splitforms is the better fit for almost any developer. The free tier is 10x larger (1,000 vs 100 submissions/month), the Pro plan is roughly 6x cheaper at the same submission volume ($5 for 5,000 vs $30 for 5,000), and the API and webhook surface is more modern. There's also a $59 4-Year plan that takes recurring billing off the table entirely.
Formcarry has a real niche with marketing teams that want a built-in autoresponder UI and don't have transactional email infrastructure (Resend, Postmark, Loops) set up elsewhere. Most developers do have transactional email — for password resets, receipts, or notifications — and would rather drive their autoresponder from there. If that's you, splitforms is the simpler, cheaper architecture.
§ 02
Why developers switch from Formcarry to splitforms
The most common trigger is the price gap. Formcarry charges $30/mo for 5,000 submissions; splitforms charges $5/mo for the same volume. Over four years, that's roughly $1,440 vs $240 on the recurring plan, or $59 once on the 4-Year plan — a structural difference that's hard to justify staying on Formcarry for.
The second trigger is webhook reliability. Formcarry has historical reports of dropped webhook events with limited retry visibility. splitforms ships idempotent delivery with exponential backoff, signed payloads, and a dead-letter view in the dashboard so you can inspect and re-deliver failures.
The third trigger is spam. Formcarry's CAPTCHA puts friction on every submission, including legitimate users. splitforms uses an AI classifier on top of honeypot, which is accurate enough that you can drop CAPTCHA and let real users through without an image puzzle.
§ 03
Formcarry vs splitforms: feature comparison
Free tier: splitforms 1,000 submissions/month; Formcarry 100 submissions/month.
5,000-submission tier: splitforms $5/mo; Formcarry $30/mo. Roughly 6x cheaper for the same volume.
Webhooks: splitforms includes signed webhooks with retries and a dead-letter view on every plan. Formcarry's webhooks are functional but the observability surface is thinner.
Spam protection: splitforms uses AI classification plus honeypot — no user friction. Formcarry uses honeypot plus CAPTCHA — friction on every submit.
Deliverability: splitforms uses dedicated SMTP with SPF/DKIM. Formcarry uses standard hosted infrastructure.
Autoresponder: Formcarry has a built-in template editor for the email sent back to the submitter. splitforms drives autoresponders via webhook to a transactional email service (Resend, Postmark) — better deliverability and full branding control, slightly more setup.
API: splitforms ships an open REST API and MCP server on every plan. Formcarry's API is more limited.
§ 04
Common Formcarry issues splitforms solves
"$30/mo for 5,000 submissions is more than I want to pay." splitforms is $5/mo for the same volume.
"My CAPTCHA is annoying legitimate users." splitforms uses an AI classifier that's accurate enough you can drop CAPTCHA entirely.
"A webhook event went missing and I can't tell which one." splitforms ships a dead-letter view: every failed webhook is inspectable and re-deliverable from the dashboard.
"I want my autoresponder email to come from my own domain, not the form vendor." splitforms drives autoresponders via webhook to your own transactional email service (Resend, Postmark) — emails come from your verified domain.
"I want to expose form data to a Claude or Cursor agent." splitforms ships an MCP server natively.
§ 05
The autoresponder question, in detail
If the autoresponder is the only reason you're considering Formcarry, it's worth asking: do you want this email to come from your form vendor, or from your own domain? Formcarry's autoresponder sends through their infrastructure, which means deliverability and branding are coupled to them. A webhook-driven autoresponder via Resend or Postmark sends through your own verified domain — better deliverability, full branding control, real unsubscribe handling, and an email-template surface you actually own.
splitforms makes the webhook side trivial: configure the webhook URL once, point it at your transactional email service, and trigger a templated email. For any team that already has transactional email set up (or will soon), this is the cleaner long-term architecture. The setup is two extra lines of glue code and you get a real email service in the bargain.
§ 06
splitforms advantages at a glance
Five things make the difference in practice. First, pricing — 5x larger free tier and 6x cheaper at the 5,000-submission Pro tier. Second, webhook reliability — signed payloads, retries with exponential backoff, dead-letter view. Third, spam handling — AI classifier on top of honeypot, no CAPTCHA friction. Fourth, deliverability — dedicated SMTP, SPF/DKIM, maintained sender reputation. Fifth, the 4-Year plan — $59 once for 48 months at 15,000 submissions/month, no recurring billing.
Plus the modern API surface: open REST API on every plan, MCP server for AI agents, signed webhooks, idempotency keys, and a dashboard tuned for fast inspection. The form backend most developers actually want.
§ 07
How to migrate from Formcarry to splitforms
Step 1: sign up at splitforms.com for a free access key (no credit card). Step 2: change your form's action attribute from `https://formcarry.com/s/YOUR_ID` to `https://splitforms.com/api/submit/YOUR_KEY`. Step 3: test a submission and confirm it lands in the dashboard.
If you were using Formcarry's autoresponder, the splitforms equivalent is a webhook — point splitforms at a transactional email service (Resend, Postmark) and trigger a templated email from there. It's two more lines of setup, but you get a real email service in the bargain. If you were using Formcarry's CAPTCHA, you can drop it entirely on splitforms; the AI classifier handles spam without user friction.
§ 08
Frequently asked questions
Is splitforms a viable Formcarry alternative? Yes. Every core capability — POST endpoint, dashboard, webhooks, file uploads, spam filtering, custom redirects, CC recipients — is covered, with a larger free tier and cheaper paid tiers.
What about the autoresponder? splitforms drives autoresponders via webhook to a transactional email service like Resend or Postmark, which sends through your own verified domain. Better deliverability, full branding control.
Will my CAPTCHA still work? You don't need it. splitforms uses an AI spam classifier that's accurate enough you can drop CAPTCHA and stop adding friction to legitimate users.
Are webhooks reliable? Yes — signed payloads, retries with exponential backoff, dead-letter view in the dashboard for inspection and re-delivery.
Is there a per-form limit? No. Unlimited forms on every plan including free.
Does splitforms have a one-time payment plan? Yes — $59 for the 4-Year plan at 15,000 submissions/month for 48 months.
