09/03/2011 14:40

7 Great Free Tools To Build Website Forms

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Contact and registration forms are used a lot online, and it's easy to see why.

4 reasons why a contact form is better than an email address on your website:

  • In a form you can specify required fields, for example a phone number.
  • Visitors can complete forms from their browsers, without having to open an email application.
  • Unlike email, forms use a special test called a CAPTCHA to help block spam.
  • Forms look more professional.

Coding forms can be tricky for beginners. You'll need to tweak the HTML and add some script server-side. The options below will make this much easier.

Create website forms with Wufoo

I've used the free version of Wufoo for years and can highly recommend it. In fact, we used it to create the WebsiteToolTester contact form so you can see it in action there. Wufoo only adds a small banner to the confirmation page after your visitor has sent their form.


Other Wufoo features

Wufoo offers a lot more than what you might expect from a contact form. You can also:

  • Close the form, either once a certain number of submissions are received or by a certain date.
  • Prevent duplicate submissions.
  • Prevent spam with an optional CAPTCHA.
  • Set some pretty complex rules. For example in surveys, if question 1 response is A, then skip to question 3.
  • Advanced users can use CSS to fully customize their form's design.
  • Accept payments via Paypal, although this is a little expensive at US $ 29.95 a month. In comparison, you can get a complete online store from Jimdo with a range of payment options from only € 5 a month.


More website form builders


Jot Form
: We've not tested this ourselves but have had good reports. Ad-free service with up to 100 submissions for free.
jotform
Google Docs: Less flexible and fewer features than Wufoo, but no limit to the number of forms or submissions. Should be fine in cases where the visual design is not that important (for example, a research survey).
Google Docs
Formstack: We haven't tested this ourselves, but looks similar in scope to Wufoo. It also has multi-page forms which users can easily leave and come back to without losing their place.
Formstack

Weebly: A good choice if you need to build a form, and a website or landing page around it. Its integrated form editor is one of the best of all the website builders.
Weebly

Survey forms

SurveyMonkey and SurveyGizmo are designed specifically for surveys. Best suited to companies who use surveys professionally. Unfortunately SurveyGizmo only offers a free trial and no freemium plan. Freemium accounts are available for both tools.

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