# Best Form Backend in 2026: 6 Free Options Compared A side-by-side comparison of Formspree, Web3Forms, FormSubmit, Netlify Forms, Forminit and Nisuform, covering free plans, pricing, spam protection and data retention. Published 2026-10-28. **Short answer:** the right form backend depends on your traffic, your host and what you need from the free plan. * **Most free submissions:** Web3Forms, with 250 a month and unlimited forms. * **No account at all:** FormSubmit. Your email address goes in the form. * **Your site is on Netlify:** Netlify Forms, free and built in. * **Free file uploads, or 50,000 submissions a month:** Forminit. * **Unlimited forms and chat alerts for free:** Formspree. * **Every submission kept for free, and the lowest paid price:** Nisuform, at $10 a month or $84 a year for 5,000. We make Nisuform, so weigh our pick with that in mind. Every number below comes from each product's own pricing page or docs, checked between October 26 and 28, 2026, and Nisuform gets a "where it falls short" list like the others. A form backend is a URL your form posts to. It accepts each submission, filters spam, stores it and emails you, so a static site, a React app or a site builder can take messages without a server of your own. If that's new to you, [how to add a contact form to a static website without a backend](/blog/html-forms-without-backend) starts from the beginning. This post is about choosing one. All six services do that core job the same way: you change your form's `action`, and submissions start arriving. What separates them is what the free plan keeps, what each step up costs, how they stop spam and how hard they are to leave. ## How we compared them * **The free plan.** Submissions a month, number of forms, and how long submissions are kept. * **Price at real volumes.** What 250, 1,000, 5,000 and 20,000 submissions a month cost. * **Spam protection** you get without paying, and whether it makes visitors solve a CAPTCHA. * **Lock-in.** Whether it only works on one host, and whether you can export your data. * **What goes in your HTML.** A form key, an access key, a host attribute or your email address. Plans change. The prices here are what each pricing page showed in late October 2026, and the [sources](#sources) are at the end. ## The six form backends at a glance | | Free submissions | Free forms | Free history | First paid plan | Any host | | ------------- | ------------------------------ | ------------------------ | ------------------------------ | ------------------------------ | ------------ | | Formspree | 50 a month | Unlimited | 30 days | $15 a month for 200 | Yes | | Web3Forms | 250 a month | Unlimited | 30 days | $149 a year for 10,000 a month | Yes | | FormSubmit | No stated limit | No limit | 30 days | None, it's free | Yes | | Netlify Forms | No limit on credit-based plans | Any form Netlify detects | Kept in your Netlify dashboard | None for forms | Netlify only | | Forminit | 100 a month | 1 | Kept until you delete it | $16 a month for 5,000 | Yes | | Nisuform | 100 a month | 3 | Kept until you delete it | $10 a month for 5,000 | Yes | ## Formspree: the default most tutorials use **Best for:** sites with many small forms, or teams who want Slack and Discord alerts without paying. ```html title="Formspree"
``` Formspree created the category in 2014. It is the endpoint most templates, tutorials and AI coding tools write when you ask for a contact form. **Where it's strong** * Unlimited forms on the free plan. * Slack, Discord, Telegram and WhatsApp alerts on every plan, including Free. * Domain restriction and custom reCAPTCHA on the free plan. * Plans up to 20,000 submissions a month on Business, with custom plans above that. **Where it falls short** * The free plan is 50 submissions a month, archived for 30 days, with no search or export. * Every step up is small. $15 a month covers 200, $30 covers 2,000 and $90 covers 20,000. Billed yearly, that is $120, $240 and $720. * Webhooks and autoresponses start on Professional, at $30 a month. See [Nisuform vs Formspree](/vs/formspree) for the full side by side. ## Web3Forms: the biggest free plan **Best for:** getting the most free submissions across several small sites. ```html title="Web3Forms" ``` Web3Forms has run since 2020. You get an access key by email and put it in a hidden input. **Where it's strong** * 250 submissions a month and unlimited forms, the largest free plan of any service here that needs an account. * Free redirects to your own thank-you page. * hCaptcha on the free plan, with a shared site key. * Pro covers 10,000 submissions a month for $149 a year, with a discounted plan for students, non-profits and early-stage startups by application. **Where it falls short** * The free plan shows 30 days of history. * Turnstile, reCAPTCHA, your own hCaptcha keys and domain restriction need a paid plan, so free forms can be posted to from any site. * File uploads, webhooks, autoresponders and CC addresses need a paid plan too. See [Nisuform vs Web3Forms](/vs/web3forms). ## FormSubmit: no account at all **Best for:** a quick form that only needs to email you. ```html title="FormSubmit" ``` Put your address in the action, submit once, click the confirmation email, and the form works. There is no account and no fee. **Where it's strong** * No account and no price. * Redirects, autoresponses, webhooks, CC addresses and email templates are all free, set with special fields like `_next` and `_autoresponse`. * It says more than 400,000 websites have used it. **Where it falls short** * By default, your email address sits in your page source, where scrapers collect addresses for spam. * Email is where submissions live. Its help page says it keeps them for 30 days and doesn't keep uploaded files. * reCAPTCHA is on by default, and FormSubmit advises keeping it on, so visitors may have to solve a challenge. * Being free means there is no plan to upgrade to if you need more control or support. See [Nisuform vs FormSubmit](/vs/formsubmit). ## Netlify Forms: free if Netlify hosts your site **Best for:** plain HTML sites deployed on Netlify that will stay there. ```html title="Netlify Forms" ``` Netlify reads your HTML at deploy time, finds forms with `data-netlify="true"` and handles their submissions itself. **Where it's strong** * Free with no monthly limit on Netlify's credit-based plans since April 2026. * Nothing else to sign up for. Submissions are in the Netlify dashboard you already use, with CSV export. * Email, Slack and webhook notifications at no extra cost. * Akismet spam filtering, plus an optional honeypot and reCAPTCHA 2. **Where it falls short** * It only works on sites Netlify deploys. Move hosts, and your forms stop working. * Forms rendered with JavaScript, like most React, Vue and AI-built forms, aren't in the HTML Netlify reads, so you have to keep a hidden HTML copy with the same fields. * No JSON submissions, and file uploads are one file per field, 8 MB per request. See [Nisuform vs Netlify Forms](/vs/netlify-forms). ## Forminit: free file uploads and the biggest plan **Best for:** forms that collect files, or sites with more than 5,000 submissions a month. ```html title="Forminit" ``` Forminit is Getform under a new name since January 2026, running since 2015. Older tutorials still show `getform.io/f/` URLs. **Where it's strong** * File uploads on the free plan, with 100 MB of storage, and free redirects. * Business covers 50,000 submissions a month for $50, or $594 a year, the largest priced plan in this list. * Submissions are kept until you delete them, and on Pro each form can delete them after 30, 90 or 365 days. * An optional `_gotcha` honeypot and Cloudflare Turnstile support on top of built-in filtering. **Where it falls short** * One form on the free plan. * CSV export, webhooks, integrations and autoresponders need Pro, at $16 a month or $190 a year. * Pro caps you at 10 forms. Unlimited forms means Business at $50 a month. See [Nisuform vs Forminit](/vs/getform). ## Nisuform: every submission kept, the lowest paid price **Best for:** anyone who wants the free plan to keep their submissions, and a cheap first paid step. ```html title="Nisuform" ``` This one is ours. The key in the URL only accepts new submissions, and your form works on any host, with or without JavaScript. **Where it's strong** * The free plan keeps every submission until you delete it, with search and CSV export. * Spam filtering with nothing to set up: a honeypot, a fill-time check, rate limits, and duplicate and link checks. Cloudflare Turnstile, Google reCAPTCHA and allowed websites work on every plan, and spam never counts toward your monthly limit. * Pro is $10 a month or $84 a year for 5,000 submissions and unlimited forms, with file uploads, webhooks, auto-replies, and Slack, Discord, Telegram and Google Sheets. * JSON responses with stable error codes, and a ready-made prompt on each form's **Setup** tab for Cursor, Claude Code or Lovable. **Where it falls short** * The free plan is 100 submissions a month and 3 forms, smaller than Web3Forms, and Formspree's unlimited forms. * Redirects, file uploads and chat alerts are Pro only. Web3Forms and Forminit give you redirects for free, and Formspree gives you chat alerts for free. * Pro tops out at 5,000 submissions a month, with no bigger plan yet. * It is the youngest service on this list, so it has the shortest track record. ## What each one costs at your volume Monthly prices for the four services with paid plans: | Submissions a month | Formspree | Web3Forms | Forminit | Nisuform | | ------------------- | --------- | ----------- | -------- | ----------- | | 50 | Free | Free | Free | Free | | 100 | $15 | Free | Free | Free | | 250 | $30 | Free | $16 | $10 | | 1,000 | $30 | $149 a year | $16 | $10 | | 5,000 | $90 | $149 a year | $16 | $10 | | 10,000 | $90 | $149 a year | $50 | Not offered | | 20,000 | $90 | Agency plan | $50 | Not offered | This assumes one form. If you need more than 1 free form on Forminit, or more than 3 on Nisuform, the Free rows move to the first paid plan. Billed yearly at 5,000 submissions a month, a year costs $720 on Formspree, $190 on Forminit, $149 on Web3Forms and $84 on Nisuform. FormSubmit and Netlify Forms don't charge for submissions at any volume. With FormSubmit you trade that for email only and 30 days of history. With Netlify Forms, you trade it for staying on Netlify. ## Spam protection on the free plan | | Included for free | Needs a paid plan | | ------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | | Formspree | Spam filtering, custom reCAPTCHA, domain restriction | More spam controls on Professional and Business | | Web3Forms | hCaptcha with a shared key, a `botcheck` honeypot | Turnstile, reCAPTCHA, your own hCaptcha keys, domain restriction | | FormSubmit | reCAPTCHA on by default, blocked phrases, honeypots | No paid plan | | Netlify Forms | Akismet, optional honeypot, optional reCAPTCHA 2 | Nothing extra | | Forminit | Built-in filtering, optional `_gotcha` honeypot, Turnstile | Plans not stated on its pricing page | | Nisuform | Honeypot, fill-time check, rate limits, duplicate and link checks, Turnstile, reCAPTCHA, allowed websites | Nothing extra | A CAPTCHA costs you real messages, because some people give up when they see one. Invisible checks like a honeypot and a fill-time check stop most bots without asking visitors to do anything. Domain restriction stops other sites from posting to your endpoint, so a copied key can't be used from someone else's page. [How to add a contact form to a static website without a backend](/blog/html-forms-without-backend#stop-spam-without-a-captcha) goes deeper on each check. ## Questions to ask before you pick 1. **How many submissions will you get?** A portfolio contact form might get 20 a month. A busy landing page can pass 200. Look at the step after the free plan, not just the free plan. 2. **Do you need old submissions?** The free plans of Formspree, Web3Forms and FormSubmit keep 30 days of history. If the only copy of a lead is an email that landed in spam, it is gone. 3. **What ends up in your HTML?** A form key or access key is meant to be public. An email address in the action is readable by anyone. 4. **Are you tied to your host?** Netlify Forms stops working if your site moves. The other five work on any host. 5. **Is the form rendered by JavaScript?** React, Vue, Svelte and AI app builders work with any endpoint-based service. Netlify Forms needs a hidden HTML copy. 6. **Can you get your data out?** CSV export is free on Nisuform and Netlify Forms, starts on Personal at Formspree and on Pro at Forminit. ## Switching later is a one-line change Every service here takes a normal HTML form post, so you can move a form between them later. Keep it plain, give every field a `name`, and keep the service-specific parts to the `action` and a couple of special fields: ```html title="contact.html"
``` `_gotcha` is the honeypot name on Formspree, Forminit and Nisuform. To move to Web3Forms, change the action and add the `access_key` input. For FormSubmit, put your address in the action. For Netlify Forms, replace the action with `name` and `data-netlify="true"`. If you build with React, [the React contact form guide](/blog/react-contact-form) has a `useActionState` version of the same form that works with any of these services. ## Which to choose Pick the service whose free plan covers your traffic and whose first paid plan you would pay for. If you want every submission kept and searchable on the free plan, and 5,000 a month for $10 after that, try [Nisuform](https://nisuform.com). ## Sources * [Formspree plans](https://formspree.io/plans), checked October 28, 2026 * [Web3Forms pricing](https://web3forms.com/pricing), [Pro features](https://docs.web3forms.com/getting-started/pro-features) and [hCaptcha](https://docs.web3forms.com/getting-started/customizations/spam-protection/hcaptcha), checked October 26 to 28, 2026 * [FormSubmit](https://formsubmit.co/) and [FormSubmit help](https://formsubmit.co/help), checked October 28, 2026 * [Netlify Forms setup](https://docs.netlify.com/manage/forms/setup/), [submissions](https://docs.netlify.com/manage/forms/submissions/) and [spam filters](https://docs.netlify.com/manage/forms/spam-filters/), and [Netlify pricing updates, April 2026](https://www.netlify.com/changelog/2026-04-14-pricing-updates-april-2026/) * [Forminit pricing](https://forminit.com/pricing), [honeypot](https://forminit.com/docs/honeypot/) and [Turnstile](https://forminit.com/blog/cloudflare-turnstile-captcha/), checked October 28, 2026 * [Nisuform pricing](/pricing) and [limits](/docs/reference/limits) ## Frequently asked questions ### What is the best free form backend? It depends on what you need from the free plan. Web3Forms has the most free submissions of the services that need an account, 250 a month with unlimited forms, but only 30 days of history. Formspree has unlimited free forms and free Slack and Discord alerts, but only 50 submissions a month. Nisuform keeps every submission on its free plan with search and CSV export, at 100 a month and 3 forms. Netlify Forms is free with no monthly limit if Netlify hosts your site, and FormSubmit needs no account at all. ### Is Formspree still free in 2026? Yes. Formspree's free plan includes 50 submissions a month and unlimited forms, with Slack, Discord and Telegram alerts and domain restriction. Submissions are archived for 30 days, and search, CSV export and file uploads start on the Personal plan at $15 a month or $120 a year. ### What is the cheapest form backend for 5,000 submissions a month? Of the paid plans compared here, Nisuform Pro is the lowest, at $10 a month or $84 a year. Forminit Pro is $16 a month or $190 a year, Web3Forms Pro is $149 a year and covers 10,000, and Formspree needs its Business plan at $90 a month. Netlify Forms and FormSubmit are free at any volume, but Netlify Forms only works on sites Netlify hosts, and FormSubmit only sends email and keeps submissions for 30 days. ### Do I need a form backend if my site is on Netlify? Usually not. Netlify Forms is free with no monthly limit on Netlify's credit-based plans and only needs a data-netlify attribute. A separate form backend makes sense if you might move hosts, if your forms are rendered with JavaScript and you don't want to keep a hidden HTML copy for Netlify to detect, or if you want to send JSON. ### What happened to Getform? Getform was renamed Forminit in January 2026. Forminit describes itself as the same form backend, running since 2015. New forms use forminit.com/f/ endpoints, while older tutorials and templates still show getform.io/f/. ### Can I switch form backends later? Yes. All six accept a normal HTML form post, so switching usually means changing the form's action URL and renaming a few special fields, like the honeypot or the redirect field. Export your old submissions first if your plan allows it, because they don't move with the form. ### Is it safe to put a form backend endpoint in public HTML? Yes for services that identify your form with a key or ID, like Formspree, Web3Forms, Forminit and Nisuform. Those keys are meant to be public. A Nisuform key only accepts new submissions, so nobody can read your submissions with it. FormSubmit is different, because its endpoint contains your email address, which anyone can read in your page source. To stop other sites from posting to your form, use domain restriction where your plan includes it.