A power-user form builder built for order forms, registrations and applications that need calculations, repeating sections, payments and approval workflows. Here's how it stacks up against FormBuilder on pricing, features, and fit — so you can pick the right tool for the forms you actually build.
100 responses / month free · No credit card · Held responses never lost
The short answer
Choose Cognito Forms when the form is really a business process — line-item orders, quotes, applications with approvals, payments tied to calculated totals — and you are willing to invest time in its expression and workflow tools. Choose FormBuilder when you want to go from idea to published form in minutes with an AI generator, care about how the form looks, and want branding removal, webhooks and 10,000 responses in one flat $39 plan with responses that are never lost.
Overview
Cognito Forms started as a side product of a software consultancy and still feels like it was built by developers for people who need forms to do real work. Its calculated fields use a spreadsheet-style expression language, repeating sections let respondents add unlimited line items, and data lookups can pull values from other forms. Order forms, event registrations, quotes and applications are its natural habitat.
On top of the builder it layers a workflow engine: entries move through statuses, roles decide who can view or edit which fields, approvals can be routed by email, and Save & Resume plus a Client Portal let people come back to unfinished submissions. Payments (Stripe, Square, PayPal) are first-class, including subscriptions and payment-on-approval, and document generation can merge entries into PDFs.
Pricing is per organisation with generous entry limits — the free Individual plan allows 100 entries a month and unlimited forms — but the plans are gated by users, storage and features. Cognito Forms branding removal, e-signatures and Save & Resume start on Pro; workflow approvals and the Client Portal need Team; HIPAA and SSO are Enterprise. The interface is functional rather than beautiful, and the learning curve on calculations and workflow is real.
FormBuilder is an AI-first form builder with a generous free plan, held (never lost) responses, and 6,000+ integrations. You describe the form you need, the AI generator drafts it, and you refine it in a drag-and-drop editor with conditional logic, multi-page layouts, file uploads, signatures and calculations. Every response can be routed to 6,000+ apps through Zapier or webhooks. The free plan includes 100 responses a month — and if a form gets busier than that, the extra responses are held safely rather than rejected, unlocking the moment you upgrade to Pro ($39 / month for 10,000 responses).
Pricing
Side by side, in each vendor's own terms. Cognito Forms pricing was checked on 2026-08-17 and may change; FormBuilder pricing is current.
Feature comparison
25 capabilities across building, design, data workflow and security. Notes call out plan tiers and caveats so there are no surprises after you sign up.
| Feature | FFormBuilder | CCognito Forms |
|---|---|---|
| Building | ||
| AI form generation from a prompt | Yes | PartialAI assist for calculations, not full-form generation |
| Drag-and-drop visual builder | Yes | Yes |
| Template library | Yes300+ | Yes100+ |
| Conditional logic / branching | Yes | YesFormula-based show/hide, require, validate |
| Multi-page / multi-step forms | YesPro | Yes |
| Calculations & scoring | YesCalculation field + auto-graded quizzes | YesSpreadsheet-style expressions, repeating sections |
| File uploads | Yes100 MB free · 1 GB Pro | Yes100 MB free · 1 GB Pro · 10 GB Team |
| Payment collection | YesStripe — paid to your own account, no platform fee | YesStripe, Square, PayPal; 1% fee on Individual & Pro |
| E-signature field | Yes | YesPro and up |
| Design | ||
| Custom themes & branding | YesPro | YesStyles & CSS on paid plans |
| Remove vendor badge | YesPro, $39 | YesPro, $19 / mo annual |
| Custom domain | Yes | PartialEmbed on your domain; no custom hosted domain |
| Embed on any site | Yes | Yes |
| Data & workflow | ||
| Free-plan monthly responses | Partial100 / mo, overflow held | Partial100 / mo, overflow locked |
| Over-limit responses kept (not rejected) | Yes | PartialLocked 30 days, then deleted unless you upgrade |
| Email notifications & autoresponders | Yes | Yes |
| Webhooks | YesAll plans | YesJSON webhooks + Power Automate |
| Zapier / native integrations | Yes6,000+ apps | YesZapier, Make, Power Automate |
| Built-in analytics (views, drop-off) | Yes | PartialEntry reporting; no view / drop-off funnel |
| CSV / spreadsheet export | Yes | YesExcel, CSV, PDF |
| Team workspaces & collaboration | Yes | Yes2 users Pro · 5 Team · 20 Enterprise |
| Security | ||
| Password-protected forms | YesPro | PartialVia workflow roles / private links |
| HIPAA / BAA | PartialHIPAA plan coming soon | YesEnterprise, $129 / mo |
| GDPR tooling & DPA | Yes | Yes |
| SSO / SAML | PartialEnterprise | YesEnterprise |
Honest assessment
A fair read of both sides. If the strengths column describes your work, Cognito Forms may genuinely be the better fit.
Calculated fields, repeating sections with per-line totals, quantity-based pricing and cross-form lookups let you build quotes, invoices and registration forms that would need custom code elsewhere.
Entry statuses, approval routing, role-based field permissions and a Client Portal turn a form into a small process — useful for applications, purchase requests and onboarding.
Stripe, Square and PayPal are integrated, including subscriptions and payment-on-approval, and entries can generate merged PDF documents automatically.
Unlimited forms, 100 entries a month and over-limit entries locked rather than lost is a fairer free tier than most competitors offer.
The expression language, workflow settings and role configuration are powerful but take real time to learn. Simple forms feel heavier to set up than they should.
Forms look utilitarian. Custom styling exists on paid plans, but marketing-grade polish, animations and modern themes are not the focus.
On Individual and Pro, Cognito adds a 1% fee to every Stripe transaction on top of Stripe's own charges. You need Team ($39) to remove it.
Over-limit entries are kept, but only for 30 days, and they don't fire notifications or integrations while locked. Miss the window and they are gone.
Switching
Most teams migrate a handful of forms in an afternoon. Here's the practical path.
Open each form in Cognito → Entries → Export → Excel or CSV. Download attached files separately if you need them. Keep these as your archive.
List your Cognito fields (including sections and calculations) and paste them into FormBuilder's AI generator. Add logic, pages and the calculation field in the editor.
Reconnect Sheets, email or your CRM through Zapier (6,000+ apps) or webhooks — both included on every plan — and connect your Stripe account in Settings → Payments for payment fields. Approval flows can be recreated with notifications and Zapier steps.
Replace the Cognito seamless-embed or iframe snippet with your FormBuilder embed code, then close the old form so no entries land in two places.
Questions
For most everyday business forms, yes. FormBuilder has drag-and-drop and AI-assisted building, conditional logic, multi-page forms, a calculation field, file uploads, webhooks and Zapier, with 100 free responses a month and a $39 Pro plan for 10,000. Cognito Forms remains the stronger choice if you rely on repeating sections, approval workflows or native Square/PayPal payments.
Cognito Forms is a data-heavy builder with a spreadsheet-style calculation language, repeating sections, workflow approvals and native payments; it rewards setup effort. FormBuilder is a faster, AI-first builder aimed at getting good-looking forms live quickly, with held responses that are never lost and a flat $39 Pro plan.
Cognito Forms is free for 100 entries a month with one user, then $19 (Pro, 2,000 entries), $39 (Team, 10,000 entries) and $129 (Enterprise, unlimited) per month on annual billing; monthly billing is higher. FormBuilder is free for 100 responses a month and $39 a month for 10,000 responses with branding removed.
Yes. The Individual plan is free with unlimited forms, 100 entries a month, 100 MB of storage and one user. It shows Cognito Forms branding and charges a 1% fee on Stripe payments.
Cognito keeps collecting entries but locks access to them and stops sending notifications or firing integrations for them. You have 30 days to upgrade and unlock them; after that they are deleted. FormBuilder also holds over-limit responses, but indefinitely, and unlocks them the moment you upgrade.
On the Individual and Pro plans Cognito adds a 1% convenience fee to each successful Stripe transaction, on top of Stripe's processing fee. The fee is removed on Team and Enterprise. FormBuilder's Stripe payment field charges your own connected Stripe account and does not add a platform fee.
You can export your entries from Cognito Forms as Excel or CSV. Form definitions can't be transferred directly, but you can paste your field list into FormBuilder's AI generator to recreate the form in seconds and then add logic and calculations.
Yes, but only on the Enterprise plan ($129 a month annual), which includes a BAA, SSO and folder permissions. FormBuilder's HIPAA plan with BAA support is $99 a month and is currently rolling out.
Last reviewed August 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we'll fix it.
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Describe your form in a sentence, get a draft in seconds, publish free. Switch from Cognito Forms in an afternoon — no credit card required.
Start building freeFree plan · 100 responses / month · Upgrade to Pro for $39 when you're ready