Compare · Netlify Forms
Formward vs Netlify Forms: forms not tied to your host
Netlify Forms is the obvious choice when your site is already on Netlify. You add an attribute to a form, Netlify finds it when the site deploys, and submissions show up in the Netlify dashboard. On Netlify's current credit-based plans, Forms are free and unlimited.
The trade-off is coupling. Netlify only detects forms in sites it deploys, so the forms move whenever the hosting does, and Netlify, Inc. is a US company. Formward is a standalone endpoint: any host, any framework, submissions stored in Sweden.
Last checked 27 October 2026. Every statement about Netlify Forms on this page comes from Netlify Forms's own website, listed under Sources. Where we could not confirm something, the table says "Not checked" rather than guessing. Prices and plans change, so confirm them on their site before you decide. Formward's numbers come straight from our live plan table.
At a glance
Formward
- Operated by EGF Fastighetsservice AB in Stockholm, Sweden.
- Submissions stored at Hostup AB in Sweden; notification email sent through Mailjet in the EU.
- Cloudflare Turnstile (US) is only involved on forms where you switch it on.
- Billing runs through Stripe, which never receives form content.
Netlify Forms
- Netlify, Inc., San Francisco, USA.
- Forms are detected when Netlify deploys your site, so the site must be hosted on Netlify.
- Spam filtering with Akismet by default, plus a honeypot attribute and optional reCAPTCHA.
- Publishes a DPA and a sub-processor list.
Feature comparison
| Capability | Formward | Netlify Forms |
|---|---|---|
| Works with any host | Yes | No, the site must be deployed on Netlify |
| Operator | EGF Fastighetsservice AB, Stockholm, Sweden | Netlify, Inc., USA |
| Price | Free plan, paid from EUR 15/month | Free and unlimited on credit-based plans |
| File uploads | Professional and up (5 files, 10 MiB each) | Yes, 8 MB per request |
| Spam protection | Honeypot, rate limits, disposable-email blocking, optional Turnstile | Akismet, honeypot attribute, optional reCAPTCHA |
| Notifications | Email, Slack, Discord, Teams, Mattermost, webhooks | Email, Slack, webhooks |
| JavaScript-rendered forms | Work as-is | Need a static copy of the form in the HTML |
| GDPR consent proof | Consent capture with stored proof, every plan | Not checked |
Pricing
| Formward plan | Monthly | Per month, yearly | Submissions / mo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | €0 | €0 | 50 |
| Personal | €15 | €10 | 200 |
| Professional | €30 | €20 | 2,000 |
| Business | €90 | €60 | 20,000 |
Netlify Forms
- On Netlify's credit-based plans, Forms are free and unlimited; you pay for Netlify hosting.
- Older (legacy) Netlify plans meter form submissions per site.
Current figures: Netlify Forms pricing · all Formward plans
EU, GDPR and data location
Netlify, Inc. is based in San Francisco, and its privacy policy says data may be stored outside the country where it was collected. We did not find an EU-only storage option for form submissions on Netlify's site. It does publish a DPA with Standard Contractual Clauses. Netlify also states certification under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework.
Formward stores and processes form submissions in the EU: the application and database run at Hostup AB in Sweden, notification email goes out through Mailjet in the EU, and AI features on Professional and Business use Mistral AI in France. One optional sub-processor is outside the EU: Cloudflare Turnstile (US), which only sees the anti-bot challenge and only on forms where you enable it. Data leaves the EU when you send it there yourself, for example to a notification mailbox hosted by a US provider, a Google Sheets sync or a webhook URL.
The details are in Formward's sub-processor register, the DPA (accepted in the dashboard) and the transfer-impact statement.
Moving from Netlify Forms
Effort: Low. What changes:
- Remove data-netlify, netlify-honeypot and, for JavaScript forms, the hidden form-name input.
- Add an action pointing at your Formward endpoint.
- Rename the honeypot field to _gotcha.
Before: Netlify Forms
<form name="contact" method="POST" data-netlify="true" netlify-honeypot="bot-field">
<p hidden><label>Leave empty: <input name="bot-field"></label></p>
<input type="email" name="email" required>
<textarea name="message" required></textarea>
<button type="submit">Send</button>
</form>After: Formward
<form action="https://forms.formward.eu/f/<formId>" method="POST">
<input type="email" name="email" required>
<textarea name="message" required></textarea>
<input type="text" name="_gotcha" style="display:none" tabindex="-1" autocomplete="off">
<button type="submit">Send</button>
</form>- Create a form in Formward and copy the endpoint.
- Edit the form tag as shown below and rename the honeypot.
- If you submitted with fetch() to "/", post to the Formward endpoint instead with an Accept: application/json header.
- Add your site's origin to the form's allowed origins and test.
- Download past submissions from Netlify as CSV and import them. Original dates are kept from a column named Submitted At, created_at or createdAt; otherwise rows are dated at import time.
The full walkthrough, with the field mapping and the behaviour differences to test, is in the Netlify Forms migration guide.
Which one fits
Choose Formward for
- Sites hosted anywhere other than Netlify, or that may move.
- Client-rendered React, Vue or Svelte forms without a static HTML copy.
- EU teams that want submissions stored in the EU.
Choose Netlify Forms for
- Sites that will stay on Netlify and need nothing beyond basic forms.
- Projects where free, unlimited submissions matter more than data location.
Where Formward is not the best fit
- The Free plan takes 50 submissions a month and keeps them for 30 days, and file uploads start on the Professional plan.
- Formward is a form backend with hosted form pages, not a survey tool. For long surveys with many branches, a dedicated survey builder may suit you better.
- Formward is a young company. Judge its reliability yourself on the status page and in the changelog.
Questions
- Do I have to host my site somewhere specific to use Formward?
- No. Formward is an HTTPS endpoint, so a form on Netlify, Vercel, Cloudflare Pages, GitHub Pages, WordPress or your own server can post to it.
- Netlify Forms is free. Why pay?
- For many sites you will not have to: Formward's free plan covers 50 submissions a month. You pay when you need volume, uploads, webhooks or the API, or when EU storage is a requirement rather than a preference.
- Is there a Data Processing Agreement?
- Yes. Formward's DPA is published in full at formward.eu/dpa and you accept it in the dashboard, which records the version and the time. The current sub-processors, with location and purpose, are listed at formward.eu/compliance/subprocessors.
- How much does Formward cost?
- Formward has a free plan with 50 submissions a month. Paid plans are EUR 15 a month (Personal, 200 submissions), EUR 30 (Professional, 2,000) and EUR 90 (Business, 20,000). Paying yearly brings those down to EUR 10, 20 and 60 a month.
Read next
- Forms for static sites: Hugo, Jekyll, Eleventy and friends.
- Hugo contact form: A worked example for a typical Netlify site.
- Astro forms: Component and plain-HTML versions.
- Spam filtering: How Formward's layers replace Akismet.
- Migrate from Netlify Forms: Special fields and CSV import.
Sources
Last checked 27 October 2026
Try Formward on one form
The free plan takes 50 submissions a month with no card. Point a test form at it and see the whole path before you move anything that matters.