Formgong

Comparison

FormSubmit alternative: 4 form backends compared

FormSubmit's pitch is honest: a free email relay with no registration. The same design is why people outgrow it: there is no inbox or export, no published quota or support terms, autoresponse does not work with AJAX, and turning off the default reCAPTCHA is discouraged by FormSubmit itself. We build Formgong, so it is listed first; the others are described from their own public pages.

Short answer: FormSubmit works as a free, no-account email relay; people replace it when they need a copy of their submissions, spam control they configure, or someone to answer when mail stops arriving. Formgong keeps an inbox with 1,000 free submissions a month, Telegram and EU storage. Web3Forms is the closest like-for-like, one access key and 250 free a month. Formspree adds plugins and team features. Stay with FormSubmit when a relay with no account is genuinely all you need.

Why people look for a FormSubmit alternative

  • The email is the only copy. There is no dashboard, so a filtered or deleted notification is a lost message. Our FormSubmit errors guide shows the failure modes we reproduced.
  • No published limits or terms. The site names no quota and mentions “technical limitations which we impose from time to time” when reCAPTCHA is disabled, which is hard to plan around.
  • reCAPTCHA by default. FormSubmit highly recommends keeping it on, so your visitors solve Google's puzzle unless you accept those limitations.
  • Feature interactions. By FormSubmit's own docs, autoresponse requires an email field and does not work with AJAX submissions or with reCAPTCHA disabled.
Public pricing, docs and help pages, checked 23.10.2026. Free plans and limits only.
ServiceFree planTelegram
FormSubmitFree, no account, no published quotaNo (email and a webhook)
Formgong1,000 submissions a month, unlimited forms, email and Telegram on Free, CSV exportEvery plan
Web3Forms250 submissions a month, unlimited forms, 1 recipientPaid plans
Formspree50 submissions a month, 30-day archiveEvery plan

Where FormSubmit is the better choice

No account is a real feature. For a personal page, a school project or a one-evening site, FormSubmit's setup is unbeatable: point the form at your email address and confirm once. If the messages are low-stakes and losing one is no tragedy, the alternatives below mostly add weight you do not need.

The head-to-head with Formgong alone is on Formgong vs FormSubmit.

Switching a FormSubmit form to Formgong

  1. Create a free Formgong account and copy the form's access key.
  2. Change the form's action to https://formgong.com/submit and put the key in a hidden access_key field. Field names stay as they are.
  3. Send a test from the live site, then connect Telegram or more email recipients in the dashboard.

The HTML docs list every hidden field Formgong understands, including _redirect for a thank-you page and the botcheck honeypot.

1. Formgong

Best for: Static and AI-built sites that want leads in Telegram and email, EU storage and 12 interface languages.

  • Free plan: 1,000 submissions a month, unlimited forms, CSV export.
  • Telegram: Every plan, including Free; several chats per form.
  • Data location: Submissions stored in Cloudflare D1 with EU jurisdiction.

Watch out: A young service with few native integrations: webhooks, email, Telegram and Google Sheets. Files are limited to 5 MiB each.

2. Web3Forms

Best for: A generous free quota with one access key and no account dashboard work.

  • Free plan: 250 submissions a month, unlimited forms, 1 recipient.
  • Telegram: Starter, Pro and Agency, not Free.
  • Data location: Infrastructure on AWS, Cloudflare and Hetzner; data may be processed in several regions.

Watch out: Stops accepting submissions at the monthly limit. Telegram and other integrations need a paid plan.

Formgong vs Web3Forms: full comparison

3. Formspree

Best for: Teams that need many plugins (CRM, Sheets, Stripe), team seats and a long track record.

  • Free plan: 50 submissions a month, 30-day archive.
  • Telegram: Telegram plugin on every plan.
  • Data location: May be processed in the United States and other countries where Formspree operates.

Watch out: The free plan is meant for testing; prices per submission are high on the small paid plans.

Formgong vs Formspree: full comparison

Questions

What is the best FormSubmit alternative with an inbox?

Formgong stores every submission in a dashboard inbox with CSV export, on top of email and Telegram delivery; the free plan takes 1,000 submissions a month. Formspree also keeps an archive, 30 days on its free plan.

Is FormSubmit really free?

Yes, and without registration. It publishes no quota; its docs mention technical limitations imposed from time to time when reCAPTCHA is disabled. There are no paid plans to upgrade to when you need more.

Can FormSubmit work without the captcha?

It can (_captcha set to false), but FormSubmit itself highly recommends keeping reCAPTCHA on, and its docs tie some limitations and features to that choice; autoresponse, for example, does not work with reCAPTCHA disabled.

When should I stay with FormSubmit?

When no-account simplicity is the point: a personal or throwaway page whose messages you can afford to lose. For a business form, pick a service with an inbox, published limits and support.

Sources

Checked on 23.10.2026 against these public pages: FormSubmit, Formgong pricing, Web3Forms pricing, Formspree plans.

← Formgong