Formspree or Netlify Forms: built into your host, or independent of it
If your site is on Netlify and will stay there, Netlify Forms is the path of least effort: an HTML attribute and you are done, with no separate bill. If you might ever change hosts, or you need CRM plugins or payments, Formspree is the one that comes with you.
The difference that decides it
Netlify Forms is not really a form backend you choose, it is a feature of a hosting decision you already made. Netlify detects the form at build time, stores submissions per site in the Netlify dashboard and sends email and Slack notifications or an outgoing webhook. On Netlify's credit-based plans, forms are not metered separately from hosting.
The catch is the coupling. Move the site to Vercel, Cloudflare Pages or anywhere else and the form stops working, because the detection runs inside Netlify's own build. Formspree is a plain endpoint, so the same form works on any host, and it goes further than notifications: form rules, native CRM and helpdesk plugins, and a Stripe plugin for taking payments.
Side by side
| Capability | Formspree | Netlify Forms |
|---|---|---|
| Works on any host | Yes, it is a plain endpoint | No, requires Netlify hosting |
| Setup | Point the form action at an endpoint | Add a netlify attribute, detected at build time |
| Stored submissions | Stored, searchable, exportable | Stored per site in the Netlify dashboard |
| Destinations | Plugins per form plus a large catalogue | Email and Slack notifications, outgoing webhooks |
| Routing rules | Form rules on their plans | Not offered |
| Payments in the form | Stripe plugin | Not a documented feature |
| Spam filtering | Honeypot, reCAPTCHA, hCaptcha, Turnstile and their own filtering | Honeypot and reCAPTCHA 2 |
| Billing | Its own plan | Part of the Netlify hosting plan |
"Not a documented feature" means it is not in their published documentation as we read it, not that it can never be done. Check with them before ruling something out.
Which to choose
Choose Formspree if
Choose Formspree when the hosting decision is not permanent, when you want submissions in a CRM or helpdesk without an automation step, or when the form needs to take a payment.
Choose Netlify Forms if
Choose Netlify Forms when you already deploy on Netlify, you want nothing to configure beyond an attribute, and email or Slack notifications cover what you need. Form-triggered functions inside Netlify's pipeline are a genuine extra it can do that an external service cannot.
Pricing, as each lists it
Copied from each pricing page on the date shown. Prices change without notice, so check the current figure before deciding.
Formspree
As listed on , in USD. Current pricing
- Free: $0, 50 / month (Testing and development)
- Personal: $15 / month, 200 / month ($10 / month billed yearly)
- Professional: $30 / month, 2,000 / month ($20 / month billed yearly)
- Business: $90 / month, 20,000 / month ($60 / month billed yearly)
Netlify Forms
As listed on , in USD. Current pricing
- Free: $0, Unlimited (Forms are free and unlimited on credit-based plans, per Netlify's own docs; billed against the hosting plan, not separately)
- Personal: $9 / month, Unlimited (Netlify's paid hosting tier; forms are not metered separately from it)
- Pro: $20 / month, Unlimited (Netlify's team hosting tier; forms are not metered separately from it)
A third option, honestly assessed
If the reason you are looking is that you want to leave Netlify without losing your forms, any endpoint service solves it, including WebForms, where the free plan covers 300 submissions a month by email. What we add over Netlify's notifications is a delivery log per destination, and on paid plans, routing rules that send different submissions to different places. If you are staying on Netlify and only need an email, keep Netlify Forms.
WebForms vs Formspree · WebForms vs Netlify Forms · Our pricing