Cognito Forms
Cognito Forms is an online form builder that creates forms with automatic calculations, payment collection and automated approval workflows. It is mainly used for data collection, client intake, registrations and document generation.
#11 in Productivity ToolsForm BuildersFree plan
Who it's for
Best for
Small businesses routing payments and submissions through approval workflows
Teams replacing Power Automate with simpler multi-step form workflows
Not for
Teams that need built-in backups and affordable extra file storage
Designers wanting custom fonts and embedded images in branded forms
Features
Automatic calculations
Forms can carry automatic calculations, collect payments and automate approvals from submission through to sign-off.
Electronic signatures
Electronic signatures are supported for signing off submissions, alongside client portals, workflow tasks and document generation.
Workflow tasks and approvals
Approvals can be automated from submission to sign-off, with workflow tasks tracking submissions as they move through the process.
App integrations
Cognito Forms connects with the apps an organisation already uses, and can be integrated into an existing software platform.
Industry form templates
Prebuilt templates serve nonprofits, small business, healthcare, software, education and government, covering donation, intake, registration and survey forms.
What users say
Pros
- Drag-and-drop building holds up for very complex forms with many fields and rules.
- Zapier and API links make complex client applications affordable compared with building everything from scratch.
- Logic handling stays accurate on complex forms, and submitted forms do not go missing.
- Forms are set up quickly with a low learning curve and simple to build and share.
- Multi-step automated workflows are quicker to build than the equivalent in Power Automate.
Cons
- No built-in backup exists, so copies of form data depend on separate exports.
- Pro plan storage fills up as requirements grow, with few ways to add room.
- Conditional logic can stop working after an unrelated change, with no alert that it broke.
- Form design stays basic, with no custom fonts, scant content formatting and no image embedding.
- Form pages go offline during outages, with forms unreachable across Europe and the east coast.
A selection of the review sources we used:
Summarized from public user reviews and community discussions. View details
Global Traffic Rank
Top 50k
Alternatives
Rank#11 in category#5 in category#13 in category#18 in category
Free planYesYesYesYes
ProComplex drag-and-drop forms, reliable logic, Zapier linksQuick to build, branching paths, home-screen accessQuick survey building, completion alerts, decade-long reliabilityStrong logic, payment forms, PDF signing, roomy free tier
Better forCollecting unlimited survey responses directly into a linked Google Sheets spreadsheet at no cost.Running recurring employee pulse surveys with HRIS integrations and AI feedback analysis.Styling branded forms with custom fonts and logos or converting uploaded PDFs into signable forms.
Weaker atBuilding multi-step approval workflows, automatic field calculations and online payment collection.Automating multi-step approval workflows, electronic signatures and calculated order forms.