Cognito Forms is the strongest fit for small businesses and nonprofits that want a genuinely free, no-code form builder with conditional logic and payment…
Best for: Budget-conscious teams, indie makers, and developers who want a self-hostable, open-source conversational form builder.
At a Glance
Cognito Forms
Formstack
HeyForm
Primary category
Forms
Forms
Forms
Rating
Not documented
Not documented
Not documented
Pricing model
Freemium
Subscription (tiered plans plus custom Enterprise and Salesforce pricing)
Freemium
Starting price
Free (Pro from $19.20/month billed annually)
$83/month (Forms plan, billed annually)
Free; hosted plans from $15/month
Free plan
Yes
Not documented
Yes
Free trial
Not documented
Yes
Yes
Platforms
Web
Web
Web
Team collaboration
Not documented
Not documented
Not documented
AI features
Not documented
Not documented
Yes
Public API
Yes
Yes
Not documented
Standout Differences
Only genuinely open-source option
HeyForm is the only one of the three built as an open-source project that teams can self-host via Docker for full control over their form data, an option Cognito Forms and Formstack do not offer.
HeyForm
Free plan that actually works
Cognito Forms and HeyForm both offer a permanent free tier with unlimited forms; Formstack has no free plan at all, only a 14-day trial of its core Forms product.
Cognito Forms, HeyForm, Formstack
Documents and e-signatures bundled in
Formstack extends beyond form building into document generation via Formstack Documents and e-signature collection via Formstack Sign, plus a dedicated Salesforce Solutions package, none of which Cognito Forms or HeyForm offer.
Formstack
Compliance for regulated data
Both Cognito Forms (on its Enterprise plan) and Formstack support HIPAA-compliant configurations for healthcare and sensitive-data use cases; HeyForm does not document HIPAA support.
Cognito Forms, Formstack
Feature-by-Feature
Core Form Building
Feature
Cognito Forms
Formstack
HeyForm
Conditional logic
Available
Available
Available
Permanent free plan
Available
Unavailable
Available
Payment collection
Available
Available
Available
Compliance and Document Workflow
Feature
Cognito Forms
Formstack
HeyForm
HIPAA-compliant configuration
Available
Available
Not documented
Electronic signatures
Limited
Available
Unavailable
Document generation (merge data into contracts or invoices)
Unavailable
Available
Unavailable
Deployment and Integrations
Feature
Cognito Forms
Formstack
HeyForm
Self-hosting option
Unavailable
Unavailable
Available
Salesforce-native integration
Unavailable
Available
Unavailable
Zapier or webhook integrations
Available
Available
Not documented
Pricing Compared
Starting price reflects the lowest paid tier, not the full cost for every team size or usage level.
Cognito Forms
Individual — Free N/A
Pro — $24/month ($19.20/month billed annually) Monthly or annual
Team — $49/month ($39.20/month billed annually) Monthly or annual
Enterprise — $174/month ($129.60/month billed annually) Monthly or annual
Formstack
Forms — $83/month (annual) or $99/month (monthly) Monthly or annual
Suite — $250/month (annual) or $299/month (monthly) Monthly or annual
Genuinely usable free plan with unlimited forms and payment acceptance, not just a trial
Conditional logic and calculations rival more expensive form tools without requiring code
Built-in payment processing simplifies registration and order forms
HIPAA-compliant configuration available for healthcare and sensitive-data use cases
Cons
Entry volume and storage limits scale with price, which can force upgrades for growing organizations
Higher-end collaboration features (client portal, approvals, SSO) are locked to Team and Enterprise tiers
Guest user allowances are capped even on paid plans
Smaller integration ecosystem compared to larger form/survey platforms
Formstack
Pros
Broad feature set spanning forms, document generation, and e-signatures in one platform
Strong compliance credentials, including HIPAA- and PCI-compliant form configurations
Deep native Salesforce integration for enterprise CRM-driven workflows
Nearly two decades of operating history and a large integration ecosystem
Cons
No permanent free plan, only a 14-day free trial of the core Forms product
Entry-level pricing is higher than lightweight competitors like Google Forms or Wufoo
Suite and Enterprise pricing can become expensive for organizations needing high usage limits
Recent corporate rebrand to Intellistack may create short-term confusion about the product's ownership
HeyForm
Pros
Genuinely open source and self-hostable, unlike most form-builder competitors
Free plan and hosted pricing are significantly cheaper than Typeform
Payment commission decreases as customers scale, rewarding growth
Active GitHub community contributing features and fixes
Simple, focused feature set that is easy to learn quickly
Cons
Small team behind the hosted product means slower feature releases than larger competitors
Free plan response cap (250/month) is low for growing businesses
Self-hosting requires technical setup and ongoing server maintenance
Fewer native integrations than more established form tools
Limited public information on company structure, funding, or headquarters
Use Cases
Choose Cognito Forms: Small businesses and nonprofits that need a genuinely free, no-code form builder with conditional logic and built-in payment collection.
Choose Formstack: Mid-market and enterprise teams that need forms bundled with document generation, e-signatures, and HIPAA/PCI compliance.
Choose HeyForm: Budget-conscious teams, indie makers, and developers who want a self-hostable, open-source conversational form builder.
Cognito Forms
Event registration with payment — An organization builds a registration form with conditional pricing logic and collects payment directly through the form.
Healthcare intake forms — A clinic uses HIPAA-compliant form configuration to collect patient intake information securely.
Formstack
HR onboarding and internal workflows — HR teams collect new-hire paperwork and route it through approval workflows without manual data entry.
HIPAA-compliant patient intake — Healthcare organizations collect patient intake data through compliant, secure online forms.
Nonprofit donation and event registration — Nonprofits collect donations and manage event registrations with payment processing built into the form.
HeyForm
Small business lead capture — Small businesses use HeyForm's hosted plans to build affordable, branded lead and contact forms without paying enterprise form-builder prices.
Self-hosted internal forms — Development teams self-host HeyForm to run internal surveys and data collection tools with full control over hosting and data residency.
Customer feedback and quizzes — Marketing teams build conversational quizzes and feedback surveys to increase completion rates over static forms.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which of these three has a genuinely free plan?
Cognito Forms and HeyForm both offer a permanent free tier with unlimited forms. Formstack has no free plan, only a 14-day free trial of its core Forms product.
Which is best for HIPAA-compliant healthcare forms?
Cognito Forms (on its Enterprise plan) and Formstack both offer HIPAA-compliant configurations. HeyForm does not document HIPAA compliance support.
Can I self-host any of these tools?
Only HeyForm is open source and self-hostable via Docker. Cognito Forms and Formstack are closed, hosted SaaS products.
Which tool bundles document generation and e-signatures with forms?
Formstack, through its Formstack Documents and Formstack Sign products, which merge form data into contracts and invoices and collect legally binding signatures.
Which is the cheapest option for a solo user just starting out?
HeyForm's free tier or Cognito Forms' free Individual plan are the lowest-cost entry points; Formstack starts at $83/month billed annually with no free tier.
Does any of the three integrate natively with Salesforce?
Formstack does, through a dedicated Salesforce Solutions package with progressive data capture and Salesforce Shield compatibility. Cognito Forms and HeyForm do not offer native Salesforce integration.