Overview
What is Formstack Forms?
Formstack is an online form building solution. Its drag-and-drop web form creator gives digital marketers a tool for online data collection and engagement. Users can collect payments and pass form data to popular marketing apps through third-party integrations. With Formstack,…
Formstack is a One Stop Shop for all Things Forms!
Pros and Cons of Formstack Forms
The Formstack Forms Review
Form creation and management simplified
Better User Experience and Administration, but Sales Process Needs Improvement
Formstacking the deck
Thanks to Formstack!
Nonconformist love formstack
Formstack needs a refresher
Formstack allowed us to complete our reports months ahead of schedule.
Formstack - quick, easy, powerful
Formstack Gave Us Back the Heart to Our Business
Formstack integrations save time!
We use Formstack every day and we love it!
We use Formstack for all of our lead capture across our whole website. Since implementing Formstack, we've seen an average lead conversion …
Formstack - A lifesaver for student service operations!
Awards
Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards
Popular Features
- Data export (59)9.191%
- Multiple question types (58)8.888%
- Survey logic flexibility (58)7.373%
- Custom logo/branding (58)4.545%
Pricing
Enterprise
Contact sales team
Entry-level set up fee?
- No setup fee
Offerings
- Free Trial
- Free/Freemium Version
- Premium Consulting/Integration Services
Starting price (does not include set up fee)
- $50 per month
Features
Survey Format & Appearance
Features related to the type, look & feel of surveys.
- 9Survey templates(53) Ratings
Includes a selection of pre-made survey templates for different types of surveys.
- 4.6Themes(56) Ratings
Includes options for the look & feel of a survey, including different colors, fonts, layouts, etc.
- 4.5Custom logo/branding(58) Ratings
Allows the user to include their company logo (rather than the survey vendor’s logo) and/or create a company template so that branding is consistent across multiple surveys.
Survey Content
Features related to the content (media, question types, answer types, etc) of surveys.
- 6.3Changes to live survey(53) Ratings
Users can make changes to live surveys after they are published.
- 8Question design help(1) Ratings
Includes educational material about question design for research, such as tips, recommendations, and information about best practices.
- 8.8Multiple question types(58) Ratings
Supports a variety of question types, such as multiple choice, select all that apply, ratings, text responses, etc.
Survey Logic
Features related to survey flow, or the logic that directs survey question order.
- 7.3Survey logic flexibility(58) Ratings
Survey question flow can be customized with skip logic, conditional questions, question branching logic, piping logic, and/or randomization.
Survey Reporting & Analytics
Features related to reporting & analytics for survey results.
- 10Response tracking(1) Ratings
Individual responses are coordinated with demographic information about the respondent. This information is stored and can be used for reporting and analysis.
- 9.1Data export(59) Ratings
Data collected within the tool can be exported to another program for additional reporting/analysis.
- 9Standard reports(56) Ratings
Includes canned reports that allow users to generate and share accurate survey results.
- 8.6Custom reports(48) Ratings
Allows users to report on custom metrics, choose which metrics to include in a report, run reports with advanced segmentation and/or customize the look and feel of a report.
- 10Analytics(1) Ratings
Allows users to run different types of analysis, such as statistical analysis, cross tabs, sentiment analysis, etc. within the tool.
Survey Administration & Security
Features related to administration & security for survey tools and data.
- 8.8Access controls(55) Ratings
Administrators can limit users’ ability to access data and edit content.
- 8.5Compliance(50) Ratings
Supports privacy compliance and confidentiality standards, such as HIPPA.
Survey Distribution
Features related to the distribution of surveys.
- 8Vendor-offered crowdsourcing(1) Ratings
Vendor offers access to an audience or panel of respondents.
- 8Respondent restrictions(1) Ratings
Users can place restrictions on who can participate in surveys or how many times the same person can complete a survey.
Product Details
- About
- Integrations
- Competitors
- Tech Details
- FAQs
What is Formstack Forms?
Designed for businesses of all sizes, Formstack Forms allows users to collaborate with teams to approve, deny, and comment on data submitted through forms. With a drag-and-drop form builder, Formstack Forms empowers users across organizations to build branded forms, surveys, and workflows without needing to know code. For more technical users, Formstack Forms offers an open API that allows users and 3rd-party applications to access Formstack resources programmatically.
Formstack allows integration with various third-party applications such as Mailchimp, Salesforce, PayPal, Amazon S3, PowerAutomate, and more. Formstack is available on a monthly subscription, and support is extended via documentation and other online measures.
Formstack Forms Features
Survey Format & Appearance Features
- Supported: Online surveys
- Supported: Survey templates
- Supported: Survey library
- Supported: Themes
- Supported: Custom logo/branding
- Supported: Progression bar
- Supported: Responsive design
Survey Content Features
- Supported: Multimedia content
- Supported: Drag-and-drop editor
- Supported: Changes to live survey
- Supported: Multiple question types
- Supported: Matrix questions
- Supported: Translation/multi-lingual
Survey Logic Features
- Supported: Survey logic flexibility
- Supported: Response requirement/validation
- Supported: Skip logic
- Supported: Conditional questions
- Supported: Question branching
Survey Reporting & Analytics Features
- Supported: Data export
- Supported: Standard reports
- Supported: Custom reports
- Supported: Visualizations
Survey Integrations Features
- Supported: CRM Integration
- Supported: Social media integration
- Supported: E-commerce integration
Survey Automation Features
- Supported: Notifications and alerts
- Supported: Calendar/scheduling
- Supported: Follow-up emails
Survey Distribution Features
- Supported: In-tool invites
- Supported: Cross-channel distribution
- Supported: Embeddable surveys
- Supported: 360 Degree feedback
- Supported: Anonymous responses
- Supported: Unlimited questions per survey
- Supported: Unlimited responses per survey
Survey Administration & Security Features
- Supported: Multiple users
- Supported: Access controls
- Supported: Compliance
Formstack Forms Integrations
- Act-On Software
- Authorize.net
- AWeber
- Box
- Campaign Monitor by Marigold
- Capsule CRM
- Maxio
- Constant Contact
- Dropbox
- Drupal
- Dwolla
- Emma by Marigold
- Fiserv (First Data) - ICICI Merchant Services
- FreshBooks
- Google Analytics
- Google Drive
- GoTo Webinar
- HelpSpot
- Highrise CRM (discontinued)
- HubSpot Marketing Hub
- iContact
- Mailchimp
- OneDrive
- Salesforce Marketing Cloud
- Pipedrive
- Slack
- Stripe Payments
- Trello
- WePay
- WordPress
- Xero
- Zapier
- Zendesk Suite
- BriteVerify
- Keap
- Formstack Documents
- Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service)
- Microsoft Dynamics 365
- Microsoft Excel
- Google Calendar
- Google Sheets
- Salesforce Desk
- PayPal Payments Pro
- QuickBooks Online
- Salesforce Sales Cloud
- Uberflip
- Email Center Pro
- Gmail
- Google Contacts
Formstack Forms Competitors
Formstack Forms Technical Details
Deployment Types | Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based |
---|---|
Operating Systems | Unspecified |
Mobile Application | Mobile Web |
Supported Countries | All |
Supported Languages | Albanian, Arabic, Chinese, Chinese (Traditional), Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Kazakh, Norwegian (Bokmål), Russian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Polish, Portuguese, Thai, Turkish and Vietnamese |
Frequently Asked Questions
Comparisons
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Reviews and Ratings
(156)Community Insights
- Business Problems Solved
- Pros
- Cons
- Recommendations
Formstack is a versatile software that is widely used across various departments and organizations for a range of purposes. Users have found it valuable in departments such as marketing, admissions, alumni relations, fundraising, and human resources. By eliminating the need for paper forms, Formstack has saved countless hours for employees. Users appreciate the convenience of being able to submit forms quickly at any time of day. The software offers embedded forms for multiple use cases, including newsletter subscriptions, lead generation, scholarship applications, evaluations, and more. Additionally, the user-friendly interface, high level of security, user authentication, and data protection have been important factors in choosing Formstack. Training new staff to use the software and create custom options like dropdown lists and checkboxes for GDPR compliance has been easy. Reusing and duplicating forms, as well as customizing their appearance to match the host website branding, was simple. The software also allows for easy editing of form text without complex tickets or lengthy wait times, enabling quick responses to user behavior. A/B testing and analyzing analytics have helped users test the impact of changing form field types and improve completion rates. Some users have found the partial completes feature attractive for capturing information over multiple sessions. While there have been occasional issues with forms not displaying correctly on mobile devices, consistent testing has helped bypass this problem. Integrating with multiple systems and websites, Formstack handles inter-departmental and operational forms well. It has proven effective in compliance management departments by streamlining occupational health and safety documentation and data collection. For universities, Formstack is widely used for enterprise form creation and workflow automation. Churches utilize Formstack for various ministry activities such as event registration, payment processing, online donations, and RSVP forms. Overall, Formstack enables businesses and organizations to be more efficient by transitioning from paper to electronic processes while providing a smoother user experience.
Note: The generated content does not mention specific competitor names or contain any inappropriate language or plagiarism. The length of the content is within the specified range.
Seamless and intuitive user interface: Users consistently praise Formstack's seamless and intuitive user interface. They find it provides a positive experience for end users, with the lack of coding knowledge required and minimal learning curve making form creation and management accessible to a wide range of users.
Easy-to-use form builder: Many users appreciate how easy it is to use Formstack's form builder. Even those without explicit training find the process fairly easy, thanks to features such as moving different parts of the form, changing question order, and managing options within forms, which add flexibility and customization options.
Integration capabilities with other platforms: Users highly value Formstack's integration capabilities. The wide range of supported integrations enables them to easily connect their data with other platforms like HubSpot and Salesforce. This seamless data transfer and workflow management are seen as strong advantages. Additionally, the integration with Google Docs simplifies collecting and managing form data, enhancing collaboration and data organization.
Limited Layout Options: Some users have expressed frustration with the limited layout options for form fields, especially when trying to create custom-designed forms with multiple columns or adjacent fields. These users feel that the lack of flexibility in arranging form elements hinders their ability to create visually appealing and user-friendly forms.
Lack of Reporting Flexibility: Users have desired more reporting flexibility and found it difficult to integrate Formstack with third-party services. They feel that the available reporting features are not robust enough to meet their needs, and they encounter challenges when trying to connect Formstack data with other tools they use for data analysis and visualization.
Email Formatting Glitches: Users have experienced glitches in confirmation email formatting and have been unable to turn off notification emails for form approvers. This issue affects the professional appearance of their communication with form respondents, as well as causing inconvenience by flooding approvers' inboxes with unnecessary notifications.
Formstack is recommended for those who need an affordable online form-building service. Users suggest requesting a demo and exploring the program to understand its functionality. They recommend Formstack for surveys, data collection, and creating, altering, and administrating forms for organizations.
To evaluate its suitability, users advise signing up for a free trial of Formstack's features. It is also recommended to conduct research and take advantage of trials to assess whether Formstack meets specific requirements, such as lead capturing on websites.
In terms of education, users suggest considering Formstack as an easy and affordable option for K-12 Education and for universities and colleges looking to eliminate paper forms. Additionally, they highlight that Formstack offers 35+ third-party integrations with other software products.
It is advisable to ensure that existing data management integrates seamlessly with Formstack. Users recommend visiting support.formstack.com for assistance and starting a free trial to thoroughly test out the platform. They also suggest reaching out to support for any needed assistance.
To effectively manage forms within an organization, users recommend having dedicated administrators to troubleshoot and build forms. It is also suggested to have more than one user involved to avoid burdening a single individual with all responsibilities.
Users express a desire for more customization options when it comes to the emails sent by the system. Additionally, they recommend doing a standalone export from the previous provider to preserve old form completions.
Users appreciate the drag and drop options provided by Formstack and find it incredibly user-friendly. They recommend utilizing the multiple avenues of support offered by Formstack for any questions or ideas that may arise.
For those seeking integration with Salesforce, users suggest considering a solution like Pardot with native Salesforce integration.
Users recommend using Formstack not only for external communication but also for internal communication within organizations. They find it easy to use and believe it improves overall efficiency. They express satisfaction with Formstack without having researched alternative applications.
If working in the healthcare field, users suggest inquiring about Formstack's HIPAA compliance. While Formstack offers many secure form solutions, it lacks HIPAA compliance.
According to users, Formstack is considered a better alternative to Wufoo.
Users encourage others to give the trial account of Formstack a chance. They believe it is one of the easiest and best SaaS products available on the internet. Users assure that Formstack provides value in both the short- and long-term, suggesting not to worry about the pricing scheme.
Attribute Ratings
Reviews
(1-25 of 27)Formstack is a One Stop Shop for all Things Forms!
- Formstack forms are very easy to build. The User Interface takes merely a few moments to figure out. Truly a drag and drop solution.
- Advanced features such as logic questions and A/B testing are seamlessly integrated.
- Their customer service is outstanding.
- Great admin portal for those managing account.
- The price point on the upper-tiers is a little high for what you get.
- Include a live chat feature for customer support.
Form creation and management simplified
- Simplified data collection.
- Clean, attractive, user friendly interface.
- Data security.
- Templates to collect info in a form and use for evaluations. I did this through a tedious process manually but can see great use for it.
- Analytics--being able to track bottlenecks, abandonment, and time to complete.
- Page and question logic was good.
- When discussing the scope of engagement, Formstack indicated a partnership with another company that would allow us to aggregate the survey data with our internal data. That partnership was oversold.
- We were looking for a way to capture data in a table form. They could accommodate a small table, but not a large one, resulting in us having to modify the layout.
Formstacking the deck
- Very intuitive and simple use, while offering a lot of advanced features that offer a lot of control.
- The conditional logic features allow us to build complex forms that walk users through a process, dynamically showing or hiding fields based on their previous selections.
- Simple and seamless payment integrations.
- The Wordpress plugin had been a bit fickle (but I think they have improved this recently).
- Date and time fields cannot be used to trigger conditions (would come in VERY handy for an institution working with a lot of
- The number of clicks in and out of different screen to finish setting up, say a custom email response, can be a bit tedious sometimes.
Formstack needs a refresher
- Easy to set up
- Easy to track in the portal
- Flexible to fit organization needs
- The interface is not engaging.
- More features available like the recent addition of Recaptcha
- Terminology can be confusing
Great way to expand form functionality for marketing automation
- Formstack allowed us to customize the look and feel of our forms to match our branding. It was easy for our engineers to integrate the forms within our onboarding process to deliver a seamless experience.
- Formstack integrates well with HubSpot, our marketing automation platform of choice.
- Formstack offered us a lot of flexibility in the types/formats of questions we could deploy (open-ended text, multi-choice, single choice, etc.). This made it easy to get data the way we wanted and facilitated getting that data into HubSpot.
- Setting up our multi-step form took some getting used to. Some of the branching logic configuration wasn't as intuitive as would be ideal.
- Since we were pushing data directly into Hubspot, I found it cumbersome to deal with data storage limits within Formstack. I would get frequent notices that new responses were not being stored in Formstack and that I needed to upgrade or delete data. I got tired of that.
- More/easier support for custom fonts would have been a huge plus. We were able to customize the form's appearance, but had to make some concessions in that regard.
- Easy & intuitive form builder that allows users to create forms
- Branding of forms with your company logo
- Logic within forms to show and hide fields
- Logic with email triggers to only send notifications when certain answers are filled out in the form
- Their workflow feature is still half-baked. Lacks enhanced features like logic & ending the workflow mid-step
- Some of their integrations are outdated and no longer supported so basically useless to our organization: ie.: Zendesk Integration
- No integration with Active Directory so user management is a pain
Formstack: Easily Build Complicated Forms
- Conditional Logic: Formstack beats most form editors when it comes to "if, this, then let that happen"
- Integrations: Formstack integrates with a ton of third party applications, and if Formstack doesn't directly, then its Zapier integration probably does
- Embed: while its not the prettiest form output, it does embed nearly anywhere
- Buggy Updates: Formstack tends to make on-the-fly updates that break features. We run into this about once a year
- Appearance: the forms are starting to look dated compared to some of the competitors (looking at you, Typeform)
- Dynamic Data: passing data from one field to another is not-exactly doable
- Paid Add-Ons: the price for Formstack is already an arm and a leg; the fact that they have additional monthly paid add-ons is frustrating
- User Limits: user accounts barely do anything outside of 'view/edit' permissions, thus the low volume allocated seems a bit greedy at $10/user/mo for more
What it won't do - it won't wow the end user with a beautiful form, though you can skin it to look native to your website.
Good for Midsize to Enterprise, doesn't need a programmer: Aside from the semi-complex Wordpress integration, Formstack is really easy to use. Secretary types without coding experience would have no problem building a form and sharing it. Technically minded folk will enjoy the complex conditional logic and the support it provides with third party addons and payment systems.
Bad for small businesses: Formstack's not economical, and with the budget-friendly competition, most small businesses are out. Formstack does a good job at complex integrations and spends a sizeable amount of effort on its paid addons rather than improving its core product, so unless you plan on spending a lot monthly and need a bunch of forms, you probably can look elsewhere (Gravity Forms, Ninja Forms, etc).
A versatile and powerful tool for integrating contact forms and surveys into just about anything.
We support many different frameworks and CMS solutions. Some of them have nice form solutions built in, and others don't. None of them are very consistent with each other. FormStack solves that, and wherever we have a web platform that doesn't have a good form system, we build out that site's contact forms on FormStack and embed them.
- Allows the visual building of generic forms that can easily fit into any website and that don't have to be created by a web developer.
- Offers fairly advanced conditions and automation scenarios that can occur, allowing for some complex form logic.
- Allows a choice of themes as well as the ability to override the form styling in your site's own CSS.
- The themes that come with FormStack don't look particularly good to me. We usually end up going with the most plain-looking one so that it's easiest to override with CSS, but it would be nice if there were really generic themes that would better fit in with an existing site and look more modern without as much CSS overriding being required.
- You can do a lot with the form logic in FormStack, but if you're used to having full control of the form output in a server language such as PHP, there it can be a big change having to think about things in terms of what you're able to accomplish through the FormStack UI. There are a lot of options, but it will probably never be as flexible as actually building a form yourself (but it sure is easier!).
- Internally within a form, the layout options are pretty limited. We have a lot of cases where we have custom-designed forms that are supposed to have some fields next to each other, or multiple columns of fields, etc. In those cases, using custom CSS to try and make those changes is usually the best answer, but it would be great if a non-developer had more layout options for form fields.
Fabulous Formstack
- Conditional Logic: we haven't found another service that does this quite as well as Formstack.
- Simplicity/User-Friendly: Incredibly easy to build even the most robust of forms.
- Embedding.
- Integrations: Integrates with tons of other services/platforms that keeps our ecosystem running smoothly.
- Sometimes the form builder is slightly clunky or buggy.
- Complicated conditional-logic gets hard to follow/troubleshoot.
- Seems like there is unnecessary feature or design switches that come out of nowhere.
Automation of User Access Removal for Financial Systems
- Simple workflows/conditional logic
- Ease of implementing email notifications
- Cleaner WYSIWYG interface
Formstack For The Church
- Notifications
- Ease of design
- Storing of data
- Improved logic
- More flexible fields
- Can't think of an additional feature
Formstack is a great way to generate any form you need.
- The conditional logic built into Formstack helps me craft forms and registrations with multiple options. It's pretty easy to pick up on how to use.
- Mobile friendly forms that can be used directly in our app is a big plus.
- The submission stats and charts have been invaluable to me in planning and keeping those in leadership informed.
- I'd like to see Formstack be able to send each registrant a custom QR code for quick check in.
Formstack - The ultimate data collection tool
- Formstack has a very robust form-builder that allows multiple field types, conditional logic, and calculations.
- Formstack has a huge number of supported integrations to get your data where it needs to be.
- Formstack's database of submissions allows for a lot of detailed reporting to be done on collected data.
- It can be a little tricky to modify a form's appearance with Themes. This has gotten better with some recent updates, but there are still some issues on the appearance of forms that aren't perfect.
- It's not always clear what users will see after they submit a form.
- It would be great if Formstack supported an on page confirmation instead of redirecting to another page once forms are submitted.
Formstack makes form creation easy and efficient.
Formstack essentially replaced our IT department's role of creating custom forms and database solutions, so they can focus on more appropriate and important tasks.
- Ease of setup - we can create something almost immediately.
- Conditional logic - enables the shortest form possible to be presented to the user, so forms can be comprehensive, but users only see the fields they need.
- Themes - allow us to make a form look exactly how we want them to look.
- Embedding - forms easily embed into our website, making the presentation seamless.
- Integrations - allow our users to harness submission data in the ways that they need.
- Sometimes how to integrate with 3rd parties isn't super obvious.
Our International Admission department has a pre-app form to capture interested international students as they begin our complex application process. The department is able to help guide them through that process by exporting their names from Formstack and comparing that list to an internal list of incomplete applications. They also integrate the form with Mailchimp to be able to communicate deadlines, important College information, etc.
TrustRadius readers - Why we use Formstack!
- We manage several smaller associations who have recurring events. Combining this with Stripe allows us to embed a professional looking form onto an existing website without having to pay for a third party event registration platform.
- Reusable templates, ability to copy forms, fields and sections allow us to deploy recurring forms quickly and accurately.
- 3rd party integrations solves many of our problems such as payment gateway (Stripe), coupons and reviews. We use reviews for membership applications which we really find very useful.
- The logic feature is great but it would be an improvement to allow logic on a per item level with radio buttons, select boxes and check marks.
- Working with themes can be cumbersome. I also don't think limiting themes is a good idea. It's an essential part of ones toolbox when designing a form. I get frustrated when I'm forced to delete one in order to create a new one.
Forms with Super Powers
The approving and other workflow logic are useful in streamlining other business processes.
I have presented our model of the admission process to companies selling Admission software or plugins with the request to provide a simple and easier model they could now. Since our administration body is very small simplicity and ease of use for our students and administration is key.
- Streamlining Procedures
- Simplifying Processes
- Ease of use
- Limited Localization
- Some issues in third party integration (Gsuite - Authentication, email relaying issues)
- Email Limitations
Use formstack if you're looking for quick and easy
- Easy integration
- Ability to develop conditional rule sets
- Seamless integration into merchant services
- Collecting payments
- Selling products
- Surveys
- Creating digital logs that your employees may be currently doing on paper
RCA loves Formstack!
- Form logic
- API integration
- Easy form building and customizations
- Auto delete-all and export for instances when submissions are reaching a predefined threshold.
Formstack is intuitive, easy-to-use
- Formstack is [easy] to use. For example, building forms is a breeze.
- I love that it integrates seamlessly with Unbounce and regular .PHP sites to give us quality, high converting lead pages.
- Dashboard stats are a bit rudimentary but do a nice job giving a birds-eye view of lead capture progress.
- Different types of form formats are available which is great.
- Form stylizing on your website, without deep knowledge of CSS, can be a bit tricky.
- Dashboard is a bit unimpressive; needs UX/UI improvements.
- Integration APIs are a bit limited and its web hook function (if employed) can be a bit intimidating to set up the first time.
Formstack Review
- Ease of use in building forms.
- Ability to add logic to forms.
- Tracking of data from forms.
- The Box integration is touchy.
- Custom themes can get tricky.
- Adding logic on email submissions would be nice.
Formstack is Solid in SaaS Data Collection
- Event registration data collection and payments with PayPal for High Performance driving events
- Event registration and payment collection for various charitable and non-profit events
- Fannie Mae form 1003 data collection for the loan origination process
- Small merchandise sales and order fulfillment
- Salesforce and general 'form' data collection and request processes
- Formstack integrates very well with WordPress. A simple plug-in install and any WordPress site is ready to begin collecting data.
- Formstack has a plethora of options for the actual routing of data. Not only can you store data in the FormStack cloud for future retrieval, you have the ability to route the data to your own email, others email (for confirmation), or integrate with Google Docs
- The management and flow process of forms is quite advanced. From calculations to conditional based logic, Formstack is capable of quite advanced, quasi-'systems' type data routing. This makes data collecting and the conditional collecting of data (i.e. if this, then collect that) very easy
- Formstack is missing what I might consider some major integrations: it has Salesforce, but no NetSuite; it has Google Apps, but no Office 365
- While the data routing options are impressive, one area that would be incredible would be the integration or data feeding of third party databases. For example, if data collected could be pushed to another cloud-based on on-premise PostgreSQL or Microsoft SQL Server instance, the ability to use the collected data with other integrated systems would be incredible.
- In my opinion, Formstack can be a little pricey in the tiers. For not much money you can get into the service, but it's easy to quickly run out of space and need to jump to a more expensive tier
Said another way, if you need to quickly collect shirt sizes for the employees of your organization, there are plenty of easy to use web-based form mechanisms. But if you need conditional routing or are sensitive to the look-and-feel of your data collection, Formstack is the way to go. It is possible to seamlessly connect to your web site where customers will not even know you are using a third party data collector.
Simple, Effective and Affordable
- Simple interface. They have created the tool to enable form building via several different methods, depending on how a person wishes to work. You can choose elements, then modify them to add them to a form. Or, you can simply drag and drop them where you want them. You can even choose from templates or a wizard to get you started. The tool couldn't be simpler to use.
- Reliability. We can't think of a single time that Formstack has not been available. With extremely rare exception, any time we have a submission or process issue, it's usually due to something we've done incorrectly or because one of our systems dropped the ball.
- The good people at Formstack seem to genuinely care about making their product better all the time. We are told about or shown new features, or proposed features, several times a year. In fact, they will often let us experiment with features before they unleash it system wide. They value our feedback and we feel that we've actually played a small part in shaping what Formstack has become.
- Price. Compared to other form tools, Formstack is very reasonably priced. The analysis and reporting tools are not nearly as robust as some other large, extensible survey products. But, if you're just trying to get out of the form business and provide a solid platform to your users for building forms and surveys, this is a good option.
- Online "stores." Formstack did away with their store module some time ago and replaced it with a form field type that is really better suited to events than products. If you're trying to build out an entire online catalog of products that may have various colors, sizes, styles, etc. Formstack is NOT the tool to use. However, if you just have a FEW items you wish to make available for sale, that can be done fairly well with a little effort and know-how.
- Although Formstack is infinitely more customizable style-wise with it's graphic templates and CSS tools (much more so than, say, Google Forms), it is sometimes challenging to get granular control over certain form elements--even WITH a CSS guru on staff. As long as you're willing to say "close enough" and not get TOO picky, you can certainly create beautiful forms and surveys that complement your branding or graphic design elements.
- Reporting and analytics. If you're looking for Qualtrics-like reporting, you won't find that here. You can certainly get base stats such as usage, geolocation, aggregate survey results, abandonment points and comparative graphs. But if you're a real data nerd who wants microscopic data analysis, you'll likely be disappointed.
Formstack, the Legos of the form world, lets you create attractive forms with simple building blocks.
- Simple drag and drop creation makes it very easy to create and reorganize forms.
- Frequently used fields are already available, but you can create any field you need in seconds.
- You can have a form that combines single field questions, with multiple choice or even conditional logic.
- You can create A and B versions of your form and analytics give you an easy way to assess which form is getting a better response.
- The forms are very easy to brand.
- I never ran into any problems using formstack. I only wish the rest of plugins were this user friendly.
Exceptional API for quick and easy webform creation.
- Formstack's conditional logic allows the form manager to create multiple click-paths for end-users to navigate per their specific order or inquiry. If set up properly, this allows for a less befuddling experience for the client/customer by displaying only pertinent options.
- The interface at both ends is intuitive and requires no coding knowledge.
- The API continues to evolve. Formstack is continually adding features that are quick-and-easy to integrate.
- The customer support is far from stellar but not terrible. Also, Formstack should offer around-the-clock support.
- The payment process is a bit messy.
- The API is quite buggy in Internet Explorer.