Alexis Kestler
This guide dives deep into the best online form builders to help you create stylish, engaging forms that people actually want to fill out. I‘ll share my perspective as a data analyst on how to choose the right platform based on your business needs and budget. You‘ll get insights into features, use cases, integrations, and pricing to help you select a form builder that empowers you to capture the valuable data you need.
As a fellow business owner, I know you rely on customer and prospect information to understand their needs, qualify leads, and provide excellent service. But let‘s be honest – plain online forms feel like surveys and reinforce perceptions of spammy marketing. Would you eagerly fill out a 5-page form without any context on how the data will be used? Probably not.
That‘s why you need an online form builder that makes it effortless to create stylish, engaging forms people actually enjoy completing. The right platform empowers you to:
- Quickly build forms with drag-and-drop editors and professionally designed templates
- Customize forms to match your brand identity with themes, colors, and logos
- Create interesting forms with multimedia, conditional logic, and interactive elements
- Seamlessly collect payments, files, and signatures to complete transactions
- Integrate form data with your CRM, marketing automation, analytics, and other tools to unify your tech stack
- Understand results with real-time form entry alerts and detailed submission reports
With so many form builders on the market, I know it can feel overwhelming to figure out which solution best fits your needs and budget. As a data analyst, I‘ll share my insights on key factors to evaluate:
Core features: The builder should provide an intuitive editor, templates, submission management, and reporting. Look for drag-and-drop editors, field libraries, distribution options, notifications, and analytics.
Ease of use: It should be simple enough for non-technical users but offer advanced functionality for growth. See how easy it is to customize forms and flows.
Design capabilities: Evaluate available themes, colors, fonts, logos, and multi-page options to match your brand identity.
Interactivity: Interactive elements like multimedia, ratings, and conditional logic boost engagement.
Integrations: Form, CRM, email marketing, and payment platform integrations streamline your tech stack.
Support and reliability: Look for responsive customer support and uptime guarantees.
Pricing and scalability: Consider long-term costs as your needs evolve from basic to advanced features.
Based on my data-driven analysis of these factors, these form builders represent the top solutions across different use cases and budgets.
Jotform – Best Overall Form Builder
Jotform scores very highly across all my evaluation criteria, making it the best overall choice for most use cases.
With over 5 million users globally, Jotform is one of the most widely used and full-featured form builders. It‘s popular because the drag-and-drop editor empowers anyone to quickly build forms or leverage one of 10,000+ professionally designed templates for common needs like:
- Contact forms
- Registration forms
- Order forms
- Application forms
- Surveys
- Quizzes
Jotform also makes forms engaging with multimedia, conditional logic like branching, and interactive elements like star ratings, sliders, and calendars.
For collecting data, Jotform lets you accept payments through Stripe, PayPal, and 50+ other gateways. You can also capture legally binding e-signatures.
Sharing forms is seamless with options to embed via code snippet, generate unique links, create QR codes, or distribute through Facebook.
To manage submissions, you get instant email alerts and can view real-time entries. The detailed reports and analytics help you understand results.
With the Jotform mobile app, you can access and manage your account on the go.
For unifying your tech stack, Jotform integrates with popular tools like PayPal, Stripe, Mailchimp, Dropbox, Slack, and Zapier.
Jotform offers phone, email, and chat support. And they guarantee 99.9% uptime on business plans so you can count on reliability.
For pricing, Jotform offers a free plan for basic usage. Paid plans start at a budget-friendly $8.25/month for core features. That makes Jotform very accessible for small businesses.
According to Jotform, their form builder is used by over 6 million small businesses worldwide, including brands like Facebook, Nike, Buzzfeed, and NBC.
For an easy-to-use form builder with extensive capabilities, Jotform is my top overall recommendation.
Typeform – Best for Conversational Forms
If you want to create conversational forms that engage users, Typeform is an excellent choice.
While Typeform lacks some advanced functionality compared to Jotform, its specialty is building highly interactive, media-rich forms perfect for lead capture and market research.
The conversational interfaces make it feel more like a quiz or guide than a stale form. You can quickly build forms using their professionally designed templates that incorporate:
- Interactive introduction screens
- Conversational text and graphics
- Logical branching based on user responses
- Multimedia like videos and gifs
It‘s incredibly easy to customize the look and feel of forms with Typeform‘s library of fonts, colors, backgrounds, and icons.
You can also add conditional logic, multi-page flows, and payment integrations. Usage reports provide insights into drop-off rates and completion times to improve form performance.
Forms are easily shared via links, embeds, email, chat, and social media.
For unifying data, Typeform connects with popular tools like Mailchimp, Slack, Dropbox, HubSpot, and 100+ more through Zapier.
Typeform offers phone, email, and chat support. They claim 99.9% uptime on paid plans.
Pricing starts with a free plan for core features. Paid plans range from $35 – $59 per month.
User testimonials highlight the ability to create polished, professional forms in minutes compared to days with other platforms.
For rapidly building conversational forms that engage users, Typeform is my top recommendation. It‘s ideal if you value ease of use over advanced functionality.
Wufoo – Most User-Friendly Form Builder
If you want a form builder universally recognized as incredibly easy to use, Wufoo is a top choice.
Wufoo is a longstanding, popular form builder with an intuitive drag-and-drop editor that makes it simple for anyone to quickly build forms.
You can select from 650+ professionally designed templates for every use case including:
- Contact forms
- Event registrations
- Online orders
- Job applications
- Customer feedback
- Online polls
Wufoo allows you to completely customize forms to match your brand. You can apply themes, adjust colors, add your logo, and modify backgrounds.
To make forms engaging, you can enable multimedia, add scoring or star ratings, and create multi-page forms with conditional logic.
Wufoo also lets you seamlessly collect payments, files, and e-signatures. You can distribute forms via links, embed codes, or email.
The real-time dashboard lets you view form entries instantly. Detailed reports and stats help you analyze performance.
For unifying your tech stack, Wufoo integrates with 1,000+ apps including Salesforce, MailChimp, Slack, Google Analytics and more.
Wufoo offers 24/7 email support and achieves 99.95% claimed uptime on paid plans.
Pricing ranges from free to $199/month based on usage factors.
According to GetApp, 91% of reviewers rate Wufoo 4 stars or higher for ease of use.
For a form builder that virtually anyone can use while still providing robust features, Wufoo is my top recommendation. It‘s ideal if simplicity is your top priority.
Formstack – Best for Advanced Form Workflows
Formstack is the form builder I recommend if you need advanced features to support complex workflows with conditional logic, partial submissions, multi-page forms, and numerous integrations.
While Formstack has a steeper learning curve, it‘s incredibly powerful. The drag-and-drop builder makes it easy to create forms with just about any field you can imagine from over 50 categories.
You can accept payments, e-signatures, and file uploads right within forms. Conditional logic enables you to branch forms based on user responses.
Sharing options include links, embeds, QR codes, and social media. You can distribute forms publicly or restrict them to authorized users only.
Real-time alerts notify you of form entries. The reporting dashboards display metrics-driven insights on submissions, conversion rates, and more. You can drill into response details.
For integrations, Formstack connects with 40+ platforms including Salesforce, Oracle, Quickbooks, Slack, Zendesk, and Marketo.
Formstack offers 24/7 email and chat support. They guarantee 99.99% uptime outside of scheduled maintenance.
Pricing ranges from $14.99 – $199 per month based on usage factors like forms, fields, and responses.
According to reviewers, Formstack cuts down the time it takes to create complex forms with conditional logic from days to just minutes.
If you need enterprise-level form building capabilities, Formstack is my top recommendation. The advanced features make it ideal for complex workflows.
SurveyJS – Best for Market Research Surveys
For really dialing in on market research surveys, SurveyJS is my recommendation.
Instead of generic form building, SurveyJS specializes in best practices specifically for surveys. It streamlines creating multi-page surveys optimized for market research.
Researchers can easily build surveys incorporating advanced logic like:
- Randomization of questions and choices
- Quotas
- Context-sensitive questions
- Branching based on responses
- Open text analysis
You get access to dozens of customizable question types from single select to matrix rating scales. Everything you need for effective survey design is available.
Surveys are mobile-friendly and can be distributed via web links, social media, and emails. Real-time results and detailed analytics empower researchers to understand response patterns.
To unify your tech stack, SurveyJS offers API integration and data exports for analyzing results in other tools like Excel.
For pricing, SurveyJS starts at a one-time fee of €495 for a site license. Monthly subscriptions are also available.
User reviews highlight how SurveyJS enables researchers to rapidly build consistent, methodologically sound surveys optimized for high quality data.
For survey research, SurveyJS is my top pick for its robust targeting of effective survey design over generic form building.
Getform – Best Form Builder for Developers
For developers wanting maximum flexibility and control over form building, I recommend Getform.
Getform uses a JSON schema model to fully expose form styling, fields, conditional logic, submissions, and more through code.
While Getform doesn‘t have an intuitive drag-and-drop editor, developers appreciate that they can completely customize every aspect of forms programmatically.
Other features developers will appreciate include:
- Lightweight JSON schema framework
- Create completely custom form templates
- Embed forms via javascript snippets
- Email notifications
- Spam filtering and security
- Partial form submissions
- SCM integration with Github, Bitbucket, etc
Pricing starts with a free plan then scales from $9 to $99 per month for features like unlimited forms, conditional logic, front-end form validation, and CSS customization.
For developers who want total control over form building, Getform provides robust capabilities at affordable pricing tiers.
Key Factors When Choosing a Form Builder:
Based on my extensive experience as a data analyst reviewing form builders, I wanted to recap the key factors you should consider when determining the right platform for your needs:
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Core features – Ensure it includes an intuitive editor, templates, distribution, notifications, and analytics. You want drag-and-drop editing, mobile responsiveness, and reporting.
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Ease of use – It should be simple enough for non-technical users while still providing advanced functionality.
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Design capabilities – Evaluate available themes, colors, fonts, logos, and multimedia to match your brand identity.
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Interactivity – Ratings, quizzes, branching logic, etc make forms engaging and improve data quality.
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Integrations – Look for connections with your other tools like email marketing, payments, and most importantly, your CRM.
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Reliability – Check FORM reviews and test free trials yourself. Uptime guarantees around 99.9% are ideal.
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Support – Knowledgeable technical support is invaluable for solving issues.
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Pricing – Cost can vary widely from $0 to $200+ per month for advanced capabilities.
Selecting the right form builder involves balancing capabilities with ease of use and cost. I hope these insights help you determine the best solution for your needs!
Conclusion
As a fellow business owner, I know first-hand the value of gathering customer and prospect information through online forms. But convincing people to complete clunky, boring forms is impossible.
That‘s why finding the right form builder platform is so important. It empowers you to quickly build stylish, interactive forms that users enjoy completing while capturing the data you need.
In this guide, I‘ve shared my perspective as a data analyst on the best form building solutions across common use cases. The factors I focused on were features, ease of use, design, interactivity, integrations, support, and pricing.
My top overall recommendation is Jotform for providing a fully-featured form builder that‘s affordable and easy to use. I believe it offers tremendous value for small businesses.
I also highlighted specialized top picks like Typeform for conversational forms, Wufoo for usability, Formstack for advanced workflows, SurveyJS for market research, and GetForm for total developer control.
The right form builder ultimately comes down to aligning capabilities with your budget and business needs. I hope these insights help you select a platform that allows you to gather the actionable data you need to better understand and serve your customers. Just remember – make it engaging!
