Netlify Forms isn't going away: since April 14, 2026, form submissions are free and unlimited on all of Netlify's credit-based plans (Netlify changelog, checked October 2026). You need an alternative when your site leaves Netlify, when your form sends JSON or is rendered by JavaScript, or when you want more than an email per lead. The six form backends below work on any host: you change the form's action, and the form itself stays yours.
Key takeaways
- Netlify Forms is free and unlimited on credit-based plans; teams created before September 4, 2025 that never switched are on legacy plans with 100 submissions per site a month.
- Netlify finds forms by scanning the HTML it deploys, so the feature only works on sites Netlify builds and serves.
- Every alternative here works on any host, including Vercel, Cloudflare and GitHub Pages.
- Free monthly allowances run from 50 to 250 submissions; OllieLeads gives 500 leads in total with no monthly reset instead.
- Moving a form takes a few edits: remove the Netlify attributes, point
actionat the new endpoint, and move your thank-you page and honeypot to the new backend's fields.
Do you need to move off Netlify Forms?
Maybe not. If your site stays on Netlify and the form works, it is hard to beat on price. Where it stands, checked October 2026:
- Credit-based plans (every Netlify account created from September 4, 2025, plus older teams that switched): form submissions are free, unlimited and use no credits. Before April 14, 2026, each one cost 1 credit (Netlify billing FAQ).
- The Free credit plan has 300 credits a month. When a team uses them up, its sites pause, and paused sites don't receive form submissions until the next cycle or an upgrade.
- Legacy plans (Free, Starter and Pro): 100 submissions per site a month, and on Pro, "$19+" once you go past that (Netlify legacy plans).
If your form simply stopped being picked up, check form detection before you move. New sites have had it off by default since April 12, 2023 (Netlify support forum); turn it on under Forms in the Netlify UI and deploy again.
The usual reasons to look elsewhere:
- You are moving hosts. Netlify parses your HTML at deploy time to find forms (Netlify Forms setup). On Vercel, Cloudflare or your own server there is nothing to receive the post.
- Your form sends JSON. Netlify needs a URL-encoded body; its docs say it does not support JSON form data at this time.
- JavaScript renders your form. The build can't see a form that only exists after JavaScript runs, so you need a hidden static copy or a
form-namefield. - You want to catch people who leave. Netlify only sees forms that are sent. Two backends below also save visitors who leave halfway.
If you are weighing a hosted backend against writing your own serverless function, our guide to form backends for static sites covers that choice.
Six Netlify Forms alternatives at a glance
| Service | Free plan | First paid plan |
|---|---|---|
| Formspree | 50 submissions a month, unlimited forms | Personal: $15 a month ($10 billed yearly) for 200 a month |
| Web3Forms | 250 submissions a month | Pro: $149 a year for 10,000 a month |
| Basin | 50 submissions a month, 1 form | Starter: $12.50 a month billed yearly for 250 a month |
| Forminit (formerly Getform) | 100 submissions a month, 1 form | Pro: $190 a year for 5,000 a month |
| Kwes Forms | 100 submissions a month, 1 form | Bronze: $19 a month for 1,000 a month |
| OllieLeads | 500 leads in total, no card | Pro: $29 a month for 1,000 leads a month |
All checked October 2026 on each vendor's pricing page, linked in the sections below. We make OllieLeads, so weigh its row with that in mind.
Formspree
An easy swap: set the form's action to the endpoint in your Formspree dashboard. AJAX works on every plan, there is a JavaScript library for it, and Professional ($30 a month, or $20 billed yearly) adds webhooks, Zapier, the API and autoresponses. Free keeps 30 days of history and has no export. Past your monthly limit, new submissions wait in an Over Limit folder, without notifications, until you have room (Formspree plans and over limit submissions, checked October 2026). Best for: the widest choice of plugins.
Web3Forms
The largest free monthly allowance here: 250 submissions a month. You add an access key to the form, and Web3Forms emails you each submission. Its FAQ says it doesn't store submissions and runs its servers in the US East region (Web3Forms FAQ), while its pricing page lists 30 days of submission history on the free plan and up to a year on paid plans (Web3Forms pricing, checked October 2026), so check which applies before relying on it. File uploads, webhooks, autoresponses and domain restriction are Pro features, and Pro is $149 a year for 10,000 a month. Best for: a free email relay on a simple site.
Basin
Free is 1 form and 50 submissions a month, kept for 30 days. Starter is $12.50 a month billed yearly for 250 a month, and Growth ($24.17 a month billed yearly, 1,000 a month) adds webhooks, the API, Slack and Google Sheets. Two things stand out. Past your monthly cap, submissions are still delivered and billed per 1,000 ($5.25 per 1,000 at first, less at higher volume), so the form never stops. And the Agency plan ($81.25 a month billed yearly, 25,000 a month) saves incomplete submissions from visitors who don't finish (Basin pricing, checked October 2026). Best for: a form that never pauses at the cap.
Forminit (formerly Getform)
Getform was renamed Forminit in January 2026, and getform.io now redirects there. Free is 1 form, 100 submissions a month and 100 MB of files. Pro is $190 a year for 10 forms and 5,000 a month, with webhooks, Slack, Discord, Google Sheets, Zapier, a REST API and an autoresponder. Past the allowance, forms pause and reject new submissions until it renews or you upgrade, and those submissions are not stored (Forminit pricing, checked October 2026). Best for: high volume for little money, if you watch the limit.
Kwes Forms
Kwes is closer to a form toolkit: as-you-type validation, multi-step forms, repeater fields, show and hide logic and calculated fields, on top of a hosted endpoint. Free is 1 form and 100 submissions a month. Bronze is $19 a month for 5 forms and 1,000 a month, and paid plans come with a 14-day trial that needs no card (Kwes pricing, checked October 2026). Best for: agencies that want validation and logic without writing it.
OllieLeads
OllieLeads is a form backend, not a form builder: your form keeps its markup and posts to https://ollieleads.com/f/{formId}, or your own server forwards it. Free is 500 leads in total with no monthly reset. Pro is $29 a month for 1,000 leads a month and $10 per extra 1,000, with a spend cap that holds leads past it instead of dropping them (OllieLeads pricing, checked October 2026). Only leads with an email address or phone number count; spam and test leads never do. Alerts go by email, Slack or Discord within a minute, and with its script it saves the contact fields of visitors who leave halfway, on every plan (how that works). Leads are stored in the EU, in Frankfurt. What others do better: it has no file uploads, which Netlify Forms, Formspree, Basin and Forminit handle, and it has one seat per workspace for now. Best for: forms where every lead is worth a reply.
How to move a form off Netlify
Export first. In Netlify, open Forms, pick the form and choose Download as CSV (verified submissions only). Deleting a Netlify form deletes its submissions (Netlify docs).
A typical Netlify form looks like this:
<form name="contact" method="POST" action="/thanks" data-netlify="true" netlify-honeypot="bot-field">
<input type="hidden" name="form-name" value="contact">
<p hidden><label>Leave this empty: <input name="bot-field"></label></p>
<input type="email" name="email" required>
<textarea name="message"></textarea>
<button type="submit">Send</button>
</form>- Remove
data-netlify(ornetlify),netlify-honeypotand the hiddenform-nameinput. - Set
actionto the endpoint your new backend gives you, and keepmethod="POST". - Move your thank-you page. Netlify reads it from
action; Formspree uses its "Thank You" redirect setting on paid plans, and OllieLeads a hidden_nextfield pointing at your own site. - Swap the honeypot: Formspree's is a hidden field named
_gotcha, OllieLeads' is_hp. - If you submit with JavaScript, change
fetch("/", ...)to the new endpoint and follow that backend's docs for headers. - If your site sends a Content-Security-Policy, allow the new endpoint in
form-action(plain forms) orconnect-src(fetch). - Deploy, send a real test, and check that it lands where you expect.
The same form, moved to OllieLeads:
<form method="POST" action="https://ollieleads.com/f/frm_xxxxxxxx">
<input type="hidden" name="_next" value="https://example.com/thanks">
<p hidden><label>Leave this empty: <input name="_hp" tabindex="-1" autocomplete="off"></label></p>
<input type="email" name="email" required>
<textarea name="message"></textarea>
<button type="submit">Send</button>
</form>If your form takes file uploads, pick a backend that stores files: Formspree from Personal, Basin, Forminit, Kwes paid plans or Web3Forms Pro. And if test leads arrive but real ones don't reach your inbox, our guide to a contact form not sending email walks through the usual causes.
FAQ
Is Netlify Forms being discontinued?
We found no deprecation notice in Netlify's docs or changelog (checked October 2026). The latest change went the other way: on April 14, 2026, Netlify made form submissions free and unlimited on all credit-based plans.
Is Netlify Forms free?
On credit-based plans, yes: unlimited submissions that use no credits. On the Free credit plan, forms stop with the rest of your sites if the team runs out of its 300 monthly credits. Legacy plans include 100 submissions per site a month.
Can I use Netlify Forms without hosting on Netlify?
Not in practice. Netlify detects forms by parsing the HTML it deploys, so a site on Vercel, Cloudflare or GitHub Pages needs a host-independent backend like the six above.
Why is Netlify not detecting my form?
Three usual causes: form detection is off (the default for new sites since April 12, 2023; turn it on under Forms and redeploy), the form is rendered by JavaScript so the build never sees it (add a hidden static copy or a form-name input), or the netlify or data-netlify="true" attribute is missing.
What is the best free Netlify Forms alternative?
For the largest monthly allowance, Web3Forms gives 250 a month. Forminit and Kwes give 100 a month on one form, and Formspree and Basin 50. OllieLeads gives 500 leads in total with no monthly reset, which suits a new site still finding its volume.
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