Migrate from Netlify Forms to Formward

The change

Remove data-netlify, netlify-honeypot and any hidden form-name input, and add an action that points at Formward.

Copy<form name="contact" method="POST" action="/thanks" 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>
  <input type="hidden" name="subject" value="New enquiry">
  <button type="submit">Send</button>
</form>

Copy<form action="https://forms.formward.eu/f/<formId>" method="POST">
  <input type="email" name="email" required>
  <textarea name="message" required></textarea>
  <input type="hidden" name="_subject" value="New enquiry">
  <input type="hidden" name="_redirect" value="/thanks">
  <input type="text" name="_gotcha" style="display:none" tabindex="-1" autocomplete="off">
  <button type="submit">Send</button>
</form>

Copy// The form includes <input type="hidden" name="form-name" value="contact">
await fetch("/", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: { "Content-Type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded" },
  body: new URLSearchParams(new FormData(form)).toString(),
});

Copyconst res = await fetch("https://forms.formward.eu/f/<formId>", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: { Accept: "application/json" },
  body: new FormData(form),
});
const data = await res.json();
if (!data.ok) throw new Error(data.error);

Field and feature mapping

What changes, what stays

Differences to test before you switch

Specific to Netlify Forms

• Netlify sets the notification's Reply-To from a field named email. Formward does the same, so the field keeps its name; _replyto only overrides it.
• Netlify rejects honeypot and reCAPTCHA failures without listing them, and files Akismet matches under a separate spam list. Formward keeps honeypot hits in the form's spam folder, so you can check for false positives.
• A fetch() to / was a same-origin request. The Formward endpoint is on another origin, so keep the Accept: application/json header and add your site to the form's allowed origins.
• Netlify can run a serverless function when a submission is verified. With Formward, point a webhook at the function instead.

How Formward behaves

• JSON responses. Send Accept: application/json and a success is a 200 with { ok: true, id }. An error is { ok: false, error } with a status code. Without that header, a successful post redirects or shows Formward's thanks page. Code that only checks res.ok keeps working.
• Status codes. 402 when the plan's monthly submission limit is reached (the body has upgrade: true), 422 when a field fails a validation rule set on the form or required consent is missing, 429 when one address posts too often (with a Retry-After header), and 403 when the origin is not allowed, the Turnstile check fails or files are sent on a plan without uploads.
• File uploads. Uploads need enctype="multipart/form-data" and a plan that includes them: Professional and up (5 files of up to 10 MiB each on Professional). On Free and Personal a post that carries files is refused with 403, so test an upload before you switch a form that takes attachments.
• Redirects. A hidden _redirect is followed only if it is a relative path or a URL on one of the form's allowed origins; otherwise it is ignored and the redirect set on the form applies, then Formward's thanks page. JSON (AJAX) requests are never redirected.
• Spam. If the _gotcha honeypot is filled in, the sender gets a normal success response, but the submission is stored as spam, sends no notification and does not count toward your quota. Rate limits apply on every plan; Cloudflare Turnstile and disposable-email blocking are optional per form.
• Allowed origins. With the list empty, any site can post to the endpoint. Once you add an origin, requests whose Origin header does not match are refused with 403, including server-side requests that send no Origin header.
• Reply-To. The Reply-To of the notification email is taken from _replyto, then _reply_to, then a field named email. So a plain email field sets Reply-To with no rename, and _replyto only overrides it, for example when the email field has another name or the form has several. An invalid address is dropped, and the email then has no Reply-To.

Every status code and body is listed in responses and redirects.

History, integrations and settings

• Netlify's docs say verified submissions can be downloaded as CSV from the form's page in the Netlify UI; spam submissions are not included. Formward's CSV importer (Dashboard, Import & migrate) takes any CSV with a header row, up to 5,000 rows and 10 MB per file. Imported rows send no email and do not count toward your quota. Each row keeps its original date when the file has a column named Submitted At, created_at or createdAt; otherwise it is dated at import time. Attached files are not imported, only cell values.
• Forms on the Free plan keep submissions for 30 days, and the nightly retention sweep deletes imported rows older than a form's retention window. To keep a longer history, import into a form on a paid plan with a long enough window.
• Email notifications, outgoing webhooks, Slack notifications and submission-triggered functions belong to your Netlify account and do not move with the endpoint. Recreate the ones you need: Formward webhooks (including Slack, Discord, Teams and Mattermost), Google Sheets and Baserow sync start on Professional, the autoresponder on Professional, and extra notification recipients on Personal.

Step-by-step checklist

1. Create the form. In the Formward dashboard, create a form, set the notification email and copy the endpoint.
2. Edit the form tag. Remove data-netlify and netlify-honeypot, delete any hidden form-name input, and add the Formward endpoint as the action.
3. Rename the fields. Rename the honeypot input to _gotcha and subject to _subject. Leave the visitor's email field named email; it still sets Reply-To. Move a success path from the action to _redirect.
4. Update JavaScript submits. If you post with fetch() to /, post to the endpoint instead with an Accept: application/json header.
5. Restrict origins. Add your site's origin, for example https://www.example.com, to the form's allowed origins. Leave the list empty if you also post from a server.
6. Test before you switch. Point a copy of the form at Formward and send a few entries: a normal one, one with the honeypot filled, and one with a file if the form takes uploads. Check the dashboard and the notification email.
7. Recreate notifications. Set up webhooks, including one to any function that used to run on submission, and extra recipients on the Formward form.
8. Bring the history. If you want past submissions, export them as CSV from your old provider and import them under Dashboard, Import & migrate.
9. Retire the Netlify form. Switch the live form, watch the first real submissions arrive, then disable the form at Netlify so nothing is split between two inboxes.