Cognito Forms vs Formdesk (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Cognito Forms if

• Fits if you need order forms that add up the total and take the payment
• Works for small teams who want an approval step after someone submits, on Team at $49 a month billed yearly

Look elsewhere if

• Tight if you're staying free, with 100 entries a month, 100 MB of storage, Cognito branding and no integrations
• Not for you if you need HIPAA or single sign-on on a budget, as both are Enterprise only, at $149 a month billed yearly
• Skip it if you want a phone app, because it's web only
• Pricey if you add people, since Pro covers 1 user and each extra one is $5 a month
• Watch out: the five-plan lineup is labeled a pricing experiment, and in July 2026 Team was $39, not $49

Pick Formdesk if

• Fits if you want a yearly price and EU-based forms
• Works for people who need branching and calculations

Look elsewhere if

• Tight if you want free, as the trial runs 3 months and then stops
• Watch out: on Standard plans forms close when you reach the quota until you upgrade
• Watch out: Standard subscriptions expire after a year and are renewed by hand
• Pricey if you add modules, which cost €110 a year, and prices exclude VAT

Cognito Forms

• The free Individual plan is limited to 1 user and 100 entries a month, carries Cognito Forms branding and has no integrations.
• Pro includes a single user; additional users on paid plans cost $5 per user per month.
• HIPAA compliance and single sign-on are listed only under Enterprise.
• The five-plan lineup shown is labeled a pricing experiment; the July 2026 lineup had no Business plan, with Team at $39 and Enterprise at $129 billed annually.

Formdesk

• There is no permanent free plan; the trial lasts 3 months and does not renew.
• Prices are in euros, excluding VAT.
• On Standard plans, forms close when a quota is reached until you upgrade; Business forms stay open.
• Standard subscriptions expire after a year and are renewed by hand; optional features cost €110 a year extra.

Cognito Forms

Form builder with calculations

Build forms with conditional logic that controls how the form behaves, and use an expression language for calculations. Every plan allows unlimited forms.

Online payments

Take unlimited payments on every plan, with Stripe available from the free plan. PayPal and Square payments are listed among the Team plan's features.

Workflow and approvals

From the Team plan, workflow tasks and links move an entry from submission through review to sign-off. Data lookups arrive at the same tier.

Electronic signatures and save and resume

The Pro plan adds electronic signatures and lets respondents save a form and resume it later. It also removes Cognito Forms branding.

Guest access

Business includes 5 monthly guests and Enterprise 20, for working with people outside the organization. Larger guest tiers start at $25 a month for up to 50.

Integrations, API and webhooks

Paid plans connect to apps such as Airtable, Asana, Box and Calendly, to Zapier, Make and Power Automate, and to the Cognito Forms API and JSON webhooks.

Formdesk

Branching and calculations

Show only relevant fields with dependencies, add calculating fields and split forms across pages.

Validations

Basic and extended validations, field formatting and email verification.

File upload

Respondents can attach files, within the file space of the subscription.

Notifications

Email notification to the owner, an autoresponder to the respondent and a confirmation screen.

Results and statistics

View entries and statistics online, and download results to Excel or other formats.

Workflows and languages

Workflows for approvals and additions, and multilingual forms in the visitor's language.

Cognito Forms

• Individual$0

  1 user, unlimited forms, 100 entries a month and 100 MB of storage, with payments and Cognito Forms branding.

• Pro$19

  per month, billed annually ($24 billed monthly)

  1 user and 2,000 entries a month, with electronic signatures, save and resume, integrations and removable branding.

• Team$49

  per month, billed annually ($62 billed monthly)

  5 users and 10,000 entries a month, with workflow and approvals and data lookups.

• Business$99

  per month, billed annually ($129 billed monthly)

  10 users, 5 guests and 25,000 entries a month, with folder permissions, 1 year of audit log history and 50,000 API requests a month.

• Enterprise$149

  per month, billed annually ($199 billed monthly)

  20 users, 20 guests and unlimited entries, with HIPAA compliance, single sign-on and custom document templates.

Formdesk

• Trial€0

  for 3 months, no renewal

  25 submissions a month, 50 stored results and 5 MB of file space; forms close when a limit is reached.

• Standard Small€65

  per year, for 250 submissions a month

  Unlimited forms, 250 stored results and 25 MB of file space; optional modules cost extra.

• Standard Medium€135

  per year, for 500 submissions a month

  500 stored results and 50 MB of file space.

• Standard Large€335

  per year, for 1,000 submissions a month

  1,500 stored results and 125 MB of file space; Extra Large is €660 a year for 2,000 submissions.

• Business Bronze€1,170

  per year, for 1,000 submissions a month

  All features included, service level agreement, account manager, forms stay open past the quota; Silver is €2,345 a year.

Cognito Forms

• Annual discount

  Lower rates on annual plans

  Billed annually, Pro is $19 per month instead of $24, Team $49 instead of $62, Business $99 instead of $129 and Enterprise $149 instead of $199.

• Nonprofit

  Discounted rates for 501(c)(3) non-profits

  Cognito Forms offers discounted rates on any plan to non-educational, non-governmental organizations that are tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3), on request to its support team.

Formdesk

No public discounts listed.