Web3Forms and Netlify Forms side by side
| Web3Forms | Netlify Forms | Formgong (ours) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | Hosted form backend: the form posts to its endpoint | A feature of Netlify hosting: forms parsed out of your deployed HTML at build time | Hosted form backend |
| Free plan | 250 submissions a month, unlimited forms and domains | Free and unlimited on credit-based plans; accounts opened before 4 September 2025 (legacy): 100 per site a month | 1,000 submissions a month free, unlimited forms, email and Telegram on Free, EU storage |
| Works off Netlify | Yes, any host | No: forms exist only on sites deployed to Netlify | Yes, any host |
| Setup | Paste the endpoint and an access key | Enable form detection, add a netlify attribute, redeploy; JavaScript-rendered forms need a hidden HTML copy | Paste the endpoint and an access key |
| Spam filtering | Advanced spam protection, hCaptcha and honeypot on Free | Akismet on every submission; optional honeypot and reCAPTCHA 2 | Server-side filter and honeypot; optional Turnstile |
| Notifications | Email on Free; Telegram, Slack, Discord and webhooks on paid plans | Email, Slack (Netlify's app) and webhooks | Email and Telegram on Free, signed webhooks |
| At the limit | Stops accepting submissions until next month; warning emails at 90% and 100% | No forms limit on credit plans; legacy plans are metered per site | Delivery continues on credit until the 7th of next month, then held until you pay |
Where Web3Forms is stronger
- It works anywhere. GitHub Pages, Cloudflare Pages, Vercel, shared hosting, a Netlify site today and a different host next year: the endpoint does not care where the HTML lives.
- No detection step. A posted form either arrives or errors; there is no build-time parser to satisfy. Netlify's own docs require a hidden HTML copy for JavaScript-rendered forms and URL-encoded bodies (no JSON).
- A bigger guaranteed free plan than legacy Netlify. 250 a month with unlimited forms against 100 per site a month on accounts opened before 4 September 2025.
- Submission history and CSV export on Free (30 days of dashboard history), independent of your host's UI.
Where Netlify Forms is stronger
- Nothing to sign up for. On a Netlify site, a
netlifyattribute and a redeploy are the whole integration: no account, no key, no third-party endpoint. - Free and unlimited on current plans. Credit-based plans meter forms at zero; Web3Forms' free tier stops at 250 a month.
- Akismet on every submission. An industry spam filter runs by default; Web3Forms' free tier offers hCaptcha and a honeypot, with reCAPTCHA and Turnstile on paid plans.
- Submissions in the same dashboard as your deploys, with notifications to email, Slack and webhooks.
Who should pick which
- Static HTML site on a Netlify credit plan: Netlify Forms, and done.
- Any other host, or a move off Netlify is conceivable: Web3Forms or another endpoint backend; Netlify Forms does not come along.
- React, Vue or any JavaScript-rendered form: an endpoint backend avoids the hidden-HTML-copy workaround that Netlify's build-time detection requires.
- Legacy Netlify account with real traffic: 100 submissions per site a month runs out fast; compare against any backend's free tier before paying per site.
- Telegram alerts without a paid plan: neither: Web3Forms gates Telegram behind Pro, Netlify does not offer it, see the third option.
A third option
We build Formgong, which is why it sits in the third column, and the honest version of its pitch is one sentence: a bigger free plan (1,000 submissions a month) with Telegram and an inbox included, EU storage, and reviews plus an AI help chat in the same account, at the cost of a shorter integration list than Web3Forms's. The full head-to-heads are Formgong vs Web3Forms and Formgong vs Netlify Forms, and each names where the other service wins.
Questions
Is Netlify Forms free?
On credit-based plans (every account opened since 4 September 2025), yes: forms are free and unlimited, per Netlify's usage-and-billing docs. Legacy accounts keep the old metering: 100 submissions per site a month, with paid levels past that on Pro.
Does Web3Forms work on a Netlify site?
Yes. It is an endpoint the form posts to, so the host does not matter; you also skip Netlify's form detection entirely. The practical difference is that the form keeps working if the site ever moves off Netlify.
Why does my Netlify form get no submissions?
The usual causes are build-time detection misses: form detection not enabled, the netlify attribute missing, a JavaScript-rendered form without the hidden HTML copy, or an AJAX post that is not URL-encoded (JSON is not supported). Netlify parses forms from deployed HTML, so anything the parser cannot see does not exist.
Which filters spam better?
Different models: Netlify runs Akismet on every submission and can add a honeypot and reCAPTCHA 2; submissions that fail those challenges are rejected outright. Web3Forms' free plan combines its own spam protection with hCaptcha and a honeypot, and moves reCAPTCHA and Turnstile to paid plans.
Sources
Checked on 23.10.2026 against these public pages: Web3Forms pricing, Web3Forms: Telegram integration, Netlify Forms usage and billing, Netlify legacy pricing plans, Netlify Forms setup, Netlify Forms spam filters, Netlify Forms notifications.