FormSmarts vs Formspree (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, FormSmarts and Formspree share a 2.4 GPA, both have a free plan, and FormSmarts starts cheaper, at $5 a month when paid by the year against $10 a month.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
FormSmarts grades higher on the free plan. Formspree grades higher on value for money. They get the same grade on features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
FormSmarts
Online form builder with PayPal forms, e-signatures and a web API
Formspree
Form backend that handles submissions for any website
Which one is for you
Pick FormSmarts if
- Fits if you want PayPal forms on a yearly price
- Works for people who need a signature on a form
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free, as there are no uploads or payments and embedded forms carry an attribution notice
- Watch out: the API, private forms and editing submissions need Business Max at $360 a year
- Watch out: plans are yearly, with no monthly price shown
- Watch out: the page leaves out several Business tiers and refers larger needs to the vendor
Pick Formspree if
- Fits if you can paste an HTML form and want submissions emailed to you
- Works for small sites that get a few dozen messages a month
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want to build forms with drag and drop, as there is no visual builder
- Tight if you stay free, with 50 submissions a month and a 30-day archive
- Watch out: file uploads, export and search are not on Free, and API access needs Professional
- Pricey if you grow, as submissions are capped at 200, 2,000 and 20,000 across Personal, Professional and Business
How we grade them
| 2.4GPAFormSmartsFair | 2.4GPAFormspreeFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CPro is $60 a year but has no payments or uploads. Business Starter, which adds them, is $120 a year, about $10 a month. | BPersonal is $10 a month billed yearly, inside the cheapest quarter of $14. It allows 200 submissions. |
| Free plan and trial | BFree has unlimited forms and responses and no preset limit, but no uploads, payments or Excel export, and an attribution notice on embeds. | CFree gives unlimited forms but 50 submissions a month, one team member and a 30-day archive, without uploads, export or search. |
| Features | CForms by email and report, PayPal and Stripe, e-signature, uploads and an API. The free plan has no uploads, payments or Excel export. | CSpam protection, storage, plugins, routing rules and an API cover the backend job. There is no visual form builder, and API access needs Professional. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record, and it is a web app where the work is building each form, so it sits at C. | CNo store rating on record. You write the form in HTML or code and point it at Formspree. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, with an API, webhooks and PayPal and Stripe. | BWeb only, with Google Sheets, Trello, Klaviyo, HubSpot and Zendesk, plus an API on Professional. |
| Best for | online forms with PayPal and e-signatures | form handling for any website you code yourself |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: FormSmarts and Formspree. How we grade
Price against what you get
FormSmarts starts at $5 a month when paid by the year and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Formspree starts at $10 a month and scores 2.3.
They score the same, and FormSmarts starts $5 a month lower. Of the other form and survey tools on the chart, 3 score higher than FormSmarts for less, and 8 score higher than Formspree for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- FormSmarts also covers qR codes.
- Formspree also covers transactional email.
At a glance
| FormSmarts | Formspree | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $60 per year | $10 per month, billed annually ($15 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | Unlimited forms and responses, 1 user, 1 email recipient per form, with an attribution notice on embedded forms and no file upload, payments or Excel export. | Unlimited forms, 50 submissions a month, 1 team member, 2 linked emails and a 30-day submission archive. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Syronex | Formspree |
| Price read from | formsmarts.com | formspree.io |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
FormSmarts
- The free plan has no file upload, payments or Excel export, and shows an attribution notice on embedded forms.
- Plans are billed per year; the page shows no monthly price.
- The page omits Business 2/Premier, Business 3 and Business 4 plans for clarity and refers larger needs to the vendor.
- Private forms, editing submissions and the API need Business Max.
Formspree
- There is no visual form builder; forms are written in HTML or code.
- Plans are capped by submissions: 50 on Free, 200 on Personal, 2,000 on Professional and 20,000 on Business.
- File uploads, export and search are not on the Free plan, and API access needs Professional.
- Free plan submissions older than 30 days drop out of the dashboard view.
Key features
FormSmarts
- Embeddable and shareable forms
- Embed a form with an HTML snippet, or share its FormSmarts address, short link or QR code.
- Responses by email and report
- Responses can be emailed, viewed online, downloaded as PDF or exported to Excel or CSV.
- PayPal and Stripe
- Payment forms arrive with Business plans, with subscriptions and recurring payments from Business Plus.
- E-signature and file upload
- File uploads start on Business Starter and electronic signatures on Business Plus.
- Web API and webhooks
- Webhooks start on Business Starter, and the full API on Business Max.
- Mobile-friendly forms
- Forms open in a layout optimized for touch screens when visited on a phone or tablet.
Formspree
- Bring your own form
- Any HTML markup, styles or scripts can post to a Formspree endpoint, including AJAX submission that works cross-origin.
- Spam protection
- Formshield filters spam with machine learning. Higher plans add adjustable sensitivity, custom honeypots and custom spam rules.
- Submission storage and export
- Submissions are stored in a dashboard with search, and paid plans can export all of them as CSV or JSON.
- Plugins and integrations
- Basic plugins send submissions to apps such as Google Sheets and Trello; premium plugins cover Klaviyo, HubSpot and Zendesk.
- Rules engine and routing
- On Business, rules route submissions to different emails, flag spam or change the redirect based on field values.
- API access
- Professional and above can fetch submissions from a JSON HTTP endpoint without logging in.
Plans
FormSmarts
Free$0
per year
Unlimited forms with 1 email recipient per form and an attribution notice on embedded forms.
Pro$60
per year
No branding on embedded forms, up to 60 fields per form and 2 email recipients; stored results are limited to 20,000 records.
Business Starter$120
per year
PayPal and Stripe payments, webhooks, stored results with Excel reporting, 2 MB uploads with 100 MB storage and up to 100 fields.
Business Plus$240
per year
Adds electronic signature, recurring PayPal payments, recipient choice by respondent, up to 4 users and 500 MB of attachment storage.
Business Max$360
per year
Adds the API, auto-responder, private forms, search and editing of submissions, booking forms, 10 users and 1.5 GB of storage.
Formspree
Free$0
Unlimited forms, 50 submissions a month, 30-day archive, basic spam filtering and no file uploads.
Personal$10
per month, billed annually ($15 billed monthly)
200 submissions a month, 1 GB file uploads, unlimited archive, CSV and JSON export, basic plugins.
Professional$20
per month, billed annually ($30 billed monthly)
2,000 submissions a month, 2 team members, 5 GB uploads, API access, autoresponses and premium plugins.
Business$60
per month, billed annually ($90 billed monthly)
20,000 submissions a month, unlimited team members, rules engine, custom email domains and priority support.
CustomCustom
Unlimited submissions for high-volume campaigns, with SLA, onboarding and phone support. Sold through sales.
Ways to pay less
FormSmarts
No public discounts listed.
Formspree
- Annual discount
Yearly billing lowers the monthly rate
Yearly plans cost $120 (Personal), $240 (Professional) or $720 (Business), against $15, $30 and $90 a month when billed monthly.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, FormSmarts or Formspree?
As of Nov 13, 2026, FormSmarts is cheaper to start with: $5 a month when paid by the year, against $10 a month for Formspree. FormSmarts starts at $60 per year, and Formspree starts at $10 per month, billed annually ($15 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, FormSmarts or Formspree?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both FormSmarts and Formspree have a free plan.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.