Formstack Forms vs. Zoho Flow

Formstack makes it easy to create a variety of forms. I have used it for event interest and registrations, email list sign-ups, and surveys. I have found it easy to customize, and easy to export data for import into other systems (e.g., CRM).

Zoho Flow helps us greatly in connecting other Zoho apps. We use Flow to connect Zoho Creator with Zoho Books so an invoice is created when a record is entered into Zoho Creator. We use Zoho Flow when certain fields containing data in Zoho CRM to send that data over to the Zoho Creator record. We use it to add a contact from the Zoho Creator record to a list in Zoho Campaigns. Zoho Flow has proved very worthwhile.

• Allows for unique situations. As a school, we don't have the luxury of being cookie cutter. Neither do our forms.
• Support. If we don't know how to do it, their support team has been very helpful and actually attempts to understand the issue on hand.
• User friendliness. In our field we have a phrase: "what if you get hit by a bus?" With Formstack, you can "get hit by the bus" and someone else can jump in and still keep things running (this is used as a phrase for illness, not termination).

• Works with all other Zoho apps to connect them together and share data
• User interface and dashboard are nice. Gives you a detailed look into flow history and/or audit of your flows
• The ability to set logic responses and incorporate custom functions makes the app even more powerful

• 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.

• A deeper resources section, with more "how-to" videos
• More user functionality to tell you when an app fails, and not just after failing 3 or 5 times in a row.
• Maybe add some scenario flows connecting two apps with examples of how the flow works and benefits a user.

Our user base has come to rely on Formstack to get forms done. The Formstack tools make it easy to start from scratch or copy an existing form to "quick start" a new, similar form. The price is right and frees up IT staff to do more transformative work.

I give it this rating because Ali feel like just about anyone can use this. Now with 7 billion people in the work I understand that’s not the case but I feel like Formstack get it pretty simple where a majority of humans could use it and navigate through. The only reason I didn’t give it a higher rating is because I think Google Forms is a little easier to use and that it’s pretty much impossible for any product to get a 10 on usability in my opinion.

The agents in the original group, especially the ones in cahoots with the developers, are really solid and know what they're talking about--I'm looking at you, Collin. The 'Tier 1' support agents that typically reply to the tickets are really spotty. If you have an overly technical question, i.e. bugfix, or describe a feature from a few years back that randomly disappeared, these agents typically will give you what feels like a generic reply and not know what you're talking about.

I've reached out to the support team several times with assistance requests in Zoho Flow. Each time the team has answered my questions promptly and accurately. And because we are mainly integrating other Zoho apps their teams are perfectly positioned to solve our problems.

We implemented on one of the earlier versions. Through continuous engineering improvements, the interface keeps getting easier and more intuitive. Therefore, later implementations keep getting easier and better.

Drupal is a much more customizable platform, however you must have someone build the forms first and then you can work with them if you do not have the programming knowledge. If you have any changes to make, it can sometimes be both a time consuming and difficult process. Formstack is much more efficient if you do not have an in house programmer.

I've used Zapier and both programs are similar. Zapier has deeper integrations or more apps to integrate with but considering Flow's association with other Zoho apps this does it for us!

• Positive - ability to analyze submission trends - e.g. when a marketing email is sent, looking at increased form viewing and submissions in relation to the sending of the campaign.
• Immediate response - those that submit forms receive immediate response that their form has been submitted.

• It's part of our Zoho One package, so it's hard to comment on this one.
• Assuming we did pay full price, I would say the ROI would be justified. For our example of sending invoices to Books from Creator saves us a great deal of time.
• It takes a bit of time to configure each Flow but once you get the hang of it the flows really do save time and ensure data quality.