Two popular form builders compared on the same 25-row feature matrix and pricing, with FormBuilder shown as a third column so you can see another option to consider.
Overview
Jotform is one of the oldest and most fully featured form builders on the market. The drag-and-drop editor supports classic single-page forms and a "card" one-question-at-a-time layout, and it ships with an enormous library — around 10,000 templates, hundreds of widgets, and 100+ payment and app integrations. If you have a niche form need, there is a good chance Jotform already has a template or widget for it.
Over the years the product has grown into a small platform: Jotform Tables (a spreadsheet/database view of submissions), PDF Editor and Report Builder, Jotform Sign for e-signatures, Approvals for workflow routing, an App builder, and more recently AI Agents that can fill or answer questions about a form conversationally. All of it is bundled into the same plan tiers.
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
In each vendor's own terms; Jotform checked 2026-08-17, Cognito Forms checked 2026-08-17. FormBuilder: free plan (5 forms, 100 responses / mo) and Pro at $39 / month or $390 / year.
Feature comparison
25 capabilities across building, design, data workflow and security.
| Feature | JJotform | CCognito Forms | FFormBuilder |
|---|---|---|---|
| Building | |||
| AI form generation from a prompt | YesAI Form Generator + AI Agents | PartialAI assist for calculations, not full-form generation | Yes |
| Drag-and-drop visual builder | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Template library | Yes10,000+ | Yes100+ | Yes300+ |
| Conditional logic / branching | Yes | YesFormula-based show/hide, require, validate | Yes |
| Multi-page / multi-step forms | YesPage breaks; also card layout | Yes | YesPro |
| Calculations & scoring | YesForm Calculation widget | YesSpreadsheet-style expressions, repeating sections | YesCalculation field + auto-graded quizzes |
| File uploads | Yes100 MB free · 1 GB Bronze · 10 GB Silver | Yes100 MB free · 1 GB Pro · 10 GB Team | Yes100 MB free · 1 GB Pro |
| Payment collection | Yes40+ gateways, no Jotform fee; capped per plan | YesStripe, Square, PayPal; 1% fee on Individual & Pro | YesStripe — paid to your own account, no platform fee |
| E-signature field | YesSignature field + Jotform Sign | YesPro and up | Yes |
| Design | |||
| Custom themes & branding | Yes | YesStyles & CSS on paid plans | YesPro |
| Remove vendor badge | YesBronze, $39 / mo | YesPro, $19 / mo annual | YesPro, $39 |
| Custom domain | PartialPaid plans; full white label Enterprise | PartialEmbed on your domain; no custom hosted domain | Yes |
| Embed on any site | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Data & workflow | |||
| Free-plan monthly responses | Partial100 / mo, 500 stored total | Partial100 / mo, overflow locked | Partial100 / mo, overflow held |
| Over-limit responses kept (not rejected) | NoForms disabled at limit until upgrade or reset | PartialLocked 30 days, then deleted unless you upgrade | Yes |
| Email notifications & autoresponders | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Webhooks | YesAll plans | YesJSON webhooks + Power Automate | YesAll plans |
| Zapier / native integrations | Yes100+ native + Zapier | YesZapier, Make, Power Automate | Yes6,000+ apps |
| Built-in analytics (views, drop-off) | YesForm Analytics; views count against plan | PartialEntry reporting; no view / drop-off funnel | Yes |
| CSV / spreadsheet export | YesCSV, Excel, PDF | YesExcel, CSV, PDF | Yes |
| Team workspaces & collaboration | PartialSingle-user below Enterprise | Yes2 users Pro · 5 Team · 20 Enterprise | Yes |
| Security | |||
| Password-protected forms | Yes | PartialVia workflow roles / private links | YesPro |
| HIPAA / BAA | YesGold ($129 / mo) and Enterprise | YesEnterprise, $129 / mo | PartialHIPAA plan coming soon |
| GDPR tooling & DPA | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| SSO / SAML | YesEnterprise | YesEnterprise | PartialEnterprise |
Another option to consider
AI-first form builder with a generous free plan, held (never lost) responses, and 6,000+ integrations. Describe the form you need, the AI drafts it, and you refine it with logic, multi-page layouts, uploads, signatures and Stripe payments. Free plan: 5 forms and 100 responses a month with overflow held, never lost. Pro: $39 / month for 100 forms and 10,000 responses with the badge removed.
Questions
Cognito Forms's entry paid plan (Pro at $19 / month (annual, $24 monthly)) is cheaper than Jotform's (Bronze at $39 / month ($34 annual)). Both offer a free plan (100 entries / mo · 1 user · 100 MB · Cognito branding · 1% payment fee) and a free plan (5 forms · 100 submissions / mo · 500 stored submissions · 100 MB · 10 payment submissions / mo · Jotform branding) respectively. Note the plans differ in limits — see the tables above. FormBuilder Pro, for reference, is $39 / month for 10,000 responses.
Jotform offers a free plan (5 forms · 100 submissions / mo · 500 stored submissions · 100 MB · 10 payment submissions / mo · Jotform branding). Monthly billing shown; annual billing is roughly 15–25% cheaper (Bronze $34, Silver $39, Gold $99 per month effective). All plans below Enterprise are single-user.
Cognito Forms offers a free plan (100 entries / mo · 1 user · 100 MB · Cognito branding · 1% payment fee). Prices shown at annual billing; monthly billing is roughly 20-25% higher. Entry limits are per organisation per month; all plans include unlimited forms.
Jotform payments: Yes (40+ gateways, no Jotform fee; capped per plan). Cognito Forms payments: Yes (Stripe, Square, PayPal; 1% fee on Individual & Pro). FormBuilder collects Stripe payments to your own account with no platform fee on every plan, including free.
Jotform HIPAA / BAA: Yes (Gold ($129 / mo) and Enterprise). Cognito Forms HIPAA / BAA: Yes (Enterprise, $129 / mo). FormBuilder's HIPAA plan with BAA ($99 / month) is currently rolling out.
Jotform is the veteran all-in-one form builder with the largest template and widget catalogue, plus PDFs, e-signatures, tables, approvals and an app builder bolted on. Cognito Forms is a power-user form builder built for order forms, registrations and applications that need calculations, repeating sections, payments and approval workflows. Jotform is best for teams that want forms, PDFs, e-signatures, approvals and a data table in one subscription; Cognito Forms is best for order, quote and registration forms with line items and live totals.
FormBuilder is worth a look if you want an AI generator that drafts forms from a sentence, 100 free responses a month with overflow held rather than lost, Stripe payments with no platform fee, and a flat $39 / month Pro plan for 10,000 responses. See our full FormBuilder vs Jotform and FormBuilder vs Cognito Forms comparisons.
Last reviewed August 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we'll fix it.
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