Form Backend Services Compared (2026): Free Tiers and Prices

This is a form backend services comparison you can check yourself: eight services, one table, and every figure read from the vendor's own pages on 2 November 2026. The free tiers run from 50 submissions a month to unlimited, and first paid plans run from 200 to 5,000 submissions a month. Hosting location varies just as much, so a free-tier number alone won't decide this for you.

We make Static Forms, one of the eight, so read this as our take. The services appear in alphabetical order, and we don't rank them. Where a vendor's page was silent, we say "not stated". That doesn't mean the vendor lacks the feature.

One row has gaps. Web3Forms' pricing page returned a 403 to us on the day we checked, so we left out its prices and plan limits instead of repeating older figures.

What a form backend service does

A form backend service is a hosted endpoint that receives your HTML form's POST, filters spam, and delivers the submission to your inbox or another tool. You keep your own form markup and skip writing server code. The services below differ on what the free plan allows, where the data sits, and what happens when you hit a limit.

Form backend services compared: free tiers, prices, uploads and data location

Checked 2 November 2026. Prices are in US dollars, as shown on each vendor's page. Basin and Formcarry name their cheapest paid plan Starter, and Forminit names its plan Pro.

Service	Free submissions	Free forms	Cheapest paid plan	File uploads	CAPTCHA options	Data location
Basin	50/month	1	$12.50/month billed yearly, monthly limit 250	100 MB stored on Free, 500 MB on its first paid plan	reCAPTCHA v2/v3, hCaptcha, Turnstile listed	Hosting and database in Canada, file storage in the US, backups in Germany
Formcarry	50/month	1	$6/month, or $5/month billed yearly, 500/month	10 MB per file, 1 GB stored on its first paid plan; Free is disputed (see below)	reCAPTCHA	EU
Forminit (formerly Getform)	100/month	1	$19/month or $190/year, 5,000/month	25 MB per submission, 100 MB stored on Free, 1 GB on its first paid plan	Turnstile, hCaptcha	Ireland (EU)
Formspree	50/month	Unlimited	Personal: $15/month or $120/year, 200/month	None on Free; 25 MB per file, 1 GB stored on Personal	reCAPTCHA on every plan; changelog adds reCAPTCHA v3, hCaptcha, Turnstile	US
FormSubmit	Unlimited	Unlimited	No paid form plans listed	10 MB per form, across all files	reCAPTCHA, on by default	Not stated
Netlify Forms	Free and unlimited on credit plans, for sites Netlify hosts	Not stated	No separate forms plan; Netlify Personal hosting is $9/month	8 MB per request	reCAPTCHA 2	Not stated
Static Forms	250 every 30 days	1	Starter: $6/month or $48/year, 3,000/month	4.5MB per submission, 1 GB stored (Starter and up)	reCAPTCHA v2 on Free; v3, Turnstile, hCaptcha, Altcha (Starter and up)	US by default, or EU (Frankfurt) if you pick it at signup
Web3Forms	See its pricing page	See its pricing page	See its pricing page	See its pricing page	See its pricing page	US (US-East)

Static Forms' Free quota is 250 every 30 days; the other free quotas in the table are per month.

What the table can't tell you

A few cells needed a judgement call, and you should know where we made them.

Web3Forms. Its pricing page returned a 403 on 2 November 2026, as it did on our previous checks. Its documentation FAQ places its servers in the US-East region, so that cell stays. For the plan limits we last read, dated 26 October 2026, see our Web3Forms comparison.

Forminit's monthly price. Its pricing page shows its first paid plan at "$16 /m" beside "$190 billed yearly", and its page title says "Starting at $19/month". Its pricing.md file lists $19 on monthly billing and $190 a year, and those are the figures we used.

Formcarry's free plan and uploads. The free plan's card on its pricing page lists "File Upload". Its file upload docs say uploads are "available on paid plans only". We can't tell you which is right, so test it if free uploads matter.

Formspree's file count. Its plans page gives two figures for files per submission, 5 and 10. The 25 MB per file figure appears on the same page, and we've kept only that one.

Basin's CAPTCHA plans. Its pricing page lists reCAPTCHA v2/v3, hCaptcha and Turnstile, but we couldn't read which plan includes which from the page text. The Free card itself mentions "basic spam protection".

Formspree's newer CAPTCHAs. The plans page names reCAPTCHA only. Its changelog added hCaptcha in August 2024, reCAPTCHA v3 scoring in August 2025 and Turnstile in November 2025, without naming plans.

Which form backend fits which use

Each pick comes from what the vendor's own pages show.

• Basin: forms that must keep accepting past the cap. Its pricing page says it will "keep track and bill" for submissions over your plan, and it lists a drag-and-drop form builder and an MCP connection for AI assistants.
• Formcarry: EU storage on a small budget. Its docs say all submissions, files and account data sit in EU data centers, and its first paid plan is $5/month billed yearly.
• Forminit: file uploads on a free plan. Its Free plan includes uploads with 100 MB of storage, and it hosts submissions in Ireland. Its first paid plan allows 5,000 submissions a month, the highest first-plan figure we could read.
• Formspree: many small forms, or a security review. Its Free plan allows unlimited forms and 50 submissions a month, and its security page states SOC 2 Type 2 compliance.
• FormSubmit: a throwaway form with no account. Its site says setup is free and needs no registration, and its docs say "unlimited submissions from unlimited forms". Its docs also say it retains submissions for 30 days.
• Netlify Forms: sites already on Netlify. Forms are free and unlimited on credit plans, and the build detects your form at deploy time, so you add no second vendor.
• Static Forms: higher volume on a low first paid plan. Starter covers 3,000 submissions a month at $48/year, and you can choose EU or US storage at signup.
• Web3Forms: forms that only need to reach an email inbox. Its docs describe a server-side spam check on all submissions, plus hCaptcha and a honeypot option. Read its pricing page for current limits.

What happens when you hit a limit

Check what happens to the first submission past your limit. Four of these services spell it out, and the outcomes differ:

• Forminit pauses the form. Submissions received while paused "are not stored or queued, so they can't be recovered".
• Basin keeps accepting them and bills you for the extra.
• Netlify Forms has no submission limit on credit plans, but a separate catch applies. If your team uses up its monthly credits, Netlify pauses your sites and they stop receiving form submissions. Free-plan projects stay paused until the next billing cycle or until the team upgrades.
• Static Forms holds them in your inbox on Free and Starter, up to a cap. The visitor still sees success, but nothing is emailed or forwarded until your quota resets or you upgrade. Past the cap, new submissions get a 429.

If you can't afford to lose a lead, test this before launch. Formspree, Formcarry and the rest may handle it differently, so read their limit docs.

Where the data sits, and what that leaves out

The vendors' own pages show more detail than an "EU" or "US" label.

Formcarry says all submissions, files and account data stay in EU data centers. Forminit says submission data, uploaded files and backups sit on AWS in Ireland. Formspree says it hosts with AWS in the United States. Basin's GDPR page lists Canada for hosting and its database, the US for file storage and email, and Germany for backups.

Static Forms stores form data in Frankfurt if you pick the EU at signup, and in the US otherwise. Email delivery and operational logs stay in the US for every account, so an EU pick covers stored form data and nothing beyond that. The EU data residency post lists what moves and what doesn't.

Getform is now Forminit

If you've seen Getform on older lists, including our own free form processing services roundup, that's the same company. Forminit's pricing page says "Getform was renamed Forminit in January 2026" and calls it the same service operating since 2015. Plans and limits above are Forminit's current ones.

When another form backend is the better choice

We'd rather you pick the right tool than switch to ours and regret it. Static Forms is the wrong pick in these cases:

• You need bigger uploads. Our 4.5MB per submission is the smallest limit in the table.
  Forminit allows 25 MB per submission, Formspree 25 MB per file, Formcarry 10 MB per file, FormSubmit 10 MB per form and Netlify 8 MB per request.
• You need uploads on a free plan. Forminit includes them. Static Forms uploads are Starter and up.
• You run several free forms. Our Free plan has one form. Formspree and FormSubmit both allow unlimited forms for free.
• You don't want an account at all. FormSubmit needs no registration.
• Your site lives on Netlify and will stay there. Netlify Forms adds no vendor and no cost on a credit plan.
• A compliance checklist asks for SOC 2. Formspree's security page states SOC 2 Type 2 compliance. Check with any vendor directly before relying on this, including us.

If your current setup works and none of these limits bite, stay put. Changing means editing each form's endpoint and key, then sending a test submission.

When Static Forms is the better choice

• You need more than a few hundred submissions a month at a low price. Starter's 3,000 a month costs $48/year. The pricing page lists the 25,000 a month Pro plan at $90/year.
• You want to pick your storage region. You choose US or EU at signup with no separate endpoint.
• You want a higher free allowance than the capped plans we could read. Free gives you 250 every 30 days. Basin, Formcarry and Formspree allow 50 a month, and Forminit 100.
• You want a CAPTCHA with no third-party tracking. Altcha is Starter and up, and our security docs cover the other options.

Head-to-head pages go deeper than this table: Formspree vs Static Forms, Netlify Forms vs Static Forms and every other service on our alternatives page.

Test a form backend on a real form

Whichever service you shortlist, send one real submission and read the notification before you commit. This is a complete page for Static Forms. Replace YOUR_API_KEY with the key from your form's General tab and redirectTo with a page on your site.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
  <title>Contact</title>
</head>
<body>
  <form action="https://api.staticforms.dev/submit" method="POST">
    <input type="hidden" name="apiKey" value="YOUR_API_KEY">
    <input type="hidden" name="redirectTo" value="https://example.com/thank-you.html">

    <label for="name">Name</label>
    <input id="name" name="name" type="text" required autocomplete="name">

    <label for="email">Email</label>
    <input id="email" name="email" type="email" required autocomplete="email">

    <label for="message">Message</label>
    <textarea id="message" name="message" rows="5" required></textarea>

    <input type="text" name="honeypot" style="display:none" tabindex="-1" autocomplete="off">

    <button type="submit">Send</button>
  </form>
</body>
</html>

The email field becomes the reply-to address on the notification. Bots fill the hidden honeypot field and people don't, and Static Forms treats a filled one as spam.

FAQ

Which form backend should I use?

It depends on your limit. Netlify Forms suits sites already on Netlify, FormSubmit suits forms that need no account, Forminit and Formcarry suit EU storage, and Static Forms suits higher volume on a low first paid plan. The table above has the numbers for each.

Which form backend has the biggest free plan?

FormSubmit's docs say unlimited submissions from unlimited forms, and Netlify Forms is unlimited on credit plans for sites Netlify hosts. Among services with a stated number that we could read on 2 November 2026, Static Forms has 250 every 30 days, Forminit 100 a month, and Basin, Formcarry and Formspree 50 a month.

Which form backends store data in the EU?

Formcarry says it stores data in EU data centers, Forminit hosts in Ireland, and Static Forms stores form data in Frankfurt if you pick the EU at signup. Static Forms still sends email and keeps operational logs in the US.

Is Getform still available?

Forminit's pricing page says Getform was renamed Forminit in January 2026. See the Forminit row above for current plans.

Sources for this comparison

All checked 2 November 2026. We don't link to these sites, so copy the address if you want to read them.

• Basin: usebasin.com/pricing, usebasin.com/gdpr
• Formcarry: formcarry.com/pricing, formcarry.com/docs/how-it-works, formcarry.com/docs/features/file-uploads, formcarry.com/docs/features/spam-protection
• Forminit: forminit.com/pricing, forminit.com/pricing.md, forminit.com/security, forminit.com/docs/file-upload.md
• Formspree: formspree.io/plans, formspree.io/changelog, formspree.io/security
• FormSubmit: formsubmit.co, formsubmit.co/documentation
• Netlify Forms: netlify.com/pricing, docs.netlify.com/manage/forms/usage-and-billing, docs.netlify.com/manage/forms/setup, docs.netlify.com/manage/forms/spam-filters, docs.netlify.com/manage/accounts-and-billing/billing/billing-for-credit-based-plans/billing-faq-for-credit-based-plans
• Static Forms: our pricing page and documentation
• Web3Forms: web3forms.com/pricing (403, not read), docs.web3forms.com/getting-started/faq, docs.web3forms.com/getting-started/customizations/spam-protection

Prices change, so check the vendor's page before you buy. If you spot a figure that has moved, tell us and we'll fix it.

Try Static Forms

Create a free account and follow the quick start to send your first submission in a few minutes. The free plan covers one form and 250 submissions every 30 days.