This JotForm review is from my personal experience using the paid version of the software for the last 3 years. It has been updated to reflect the new changes that have happened over the time I’ve used it.
I first discovered JotForm in 2015 when I was looking for an alternative to Wufoo.
The interface was clunky and kind of ugly, the forms weren’t mobile responsive by default, and no form analytics. Inspite of these flaws, I saw the potential power and flexibility JotForm offered.
So I made the switch.
Since then, I’ve seen JotForm make many improvements to the software (currently at version 4.0) and I consider it to be the very best form builder on the market.
I love what JotForm has done for my business and my clients businesses. It makes building any form I need a breeze. I’ve built order forms, surveys, contact forms, questionnaires, tell-a-friend forms, calculators and more.
The crazy thing is that a lot of people haven’t heard of JotForm as pointed out here by the founder of the company, Aytekin Tank.
I see so many people using Wufoo and I’m over here like "JotForm is so much better!"
By the end of this review I hope you will agree with me.
My Updated JotForm Review: What’s New?
JotForm has worked hard to make several improvements to the platform that in my opinion make it the best platform on the market.
1. New Design Interface
The latest JotForm interface is much more intuitive than the previous version.
It took me a while to get use to JotForm’s original interface. I found the overall design to be poor quality and no where near as aesthetically appealing as Wufoo.
This new interface fixes all of that and more. The layout of the form builder is clean, simple and easy to use.
There are three main tabs at the top: Build, Settings and Publish.
The Build Tab
On the Build tab you will find all of your form elements and other options in a floating button on the left side of the page.
Clicking the button will open a side menu where you can choose from 25 different form elements.
There is also a Payment tab and Widgets tab in the side menu.
The Payments tab currently has 26 different payment integrations including PayPal, Stripe, Square, Authorize.net and WePay.
The Widgets tab has hundreds of widgets that can be included in your form.
The Settings Tab
The Settings tab is where you will handle the behind the scenes stuff.
On this tab there is a left hand column with options for Form Settings, Conditions, Emails, Integrations and Thank You Page.
The Form Settings allow you to modify your form name and enable or disable your form. There is also an advanced button that opens up a lot of different areas of control from language to sending encrypted data.
The Conditions area gives a lot of control on what happens when a user chooses a certain option on your form.
You can show or hide a form field, update or calculate a field, enable or disable a field, skip or hide a page, change the thanks page URL, or change what email address to send the form to.
My favorite feature is being able to change the thanks page URL based on user choice.
So many form builders I’ve seen don’t include this simple feature but its so powerful in customizing your users experience.
The Emails tab allows you to set up custom notifications when someone fills out the form. You’re also able to customize messages to go out to the person who fills out your form.
Integrations is the next tab. It allows you to connect to other popular 3rd party services like Google Docs or MailChimp.
The final tab is Thank You Page settings. Here you get to choose between a default thank you message or a custom Thanks URL.
The Publish Tab
This tab is where you can publish your form to the world. There is a left hand column that gives you a quick share option, embed options, or specific platform publishing options.
If you don’t care about publishing the form on your website, the quick share option gives you a direct link to your form. It also gives you share options for several social media platforms.
If you’re like me and want to have your form on a website, the embed option provides javascript code that you can add to a web page. There is also the option for the full source code of your form, iframe code, feedback button code, pop up form code and lightbox form code.
The platforms tab gives you specific instructions and embed code for the platform your website is built on. There are currently 29 platforms supported.
Live / In-Page Preview
To the far right is a switch that you can turn on to view your form at any time. The nice thing is you can see how the form will look on different devices by clicking the icons at the top.
Improved Drag n Drop
This feature is a breath of fresh air for me. The original drag n drop feature was clunky and only worked right in FireFox for me. Now, it is super easy to drag any field around in the form and drop it where you want without any headaches.
Form Element Controls
Another cool thing that I like is how easy it is to control each individual form element. Clicking on the element brings up a gear icon or trash icon on the right side. Clicking the gear icon opens a right side menu with various controls. These controls depend on what element you’re editing. Clicking the trash icon will delete the element.
Revision History & Continuous Save
Another cool feature is that JotForm automatically saves all changes that you make to the form as you’re working. Under the title is a small line that shows the last save. Clicking this will open up the Revision History where you can see all of the saves made. If you make a mistake, you can go here to go back to a previous version.
Form Designer
Under the main tabs there is a Paint Roller icon that brings up the Form Designer. This is a great tool for customizing how your form looks. You can control everything including the font, how your form elements look, default form width, form colors and even add custom CSS.
2. JotForm Cards
One recent feature is a new format called JotForm Cards. This feature launched February 6, 2018 and provides a fresh take on form building.
When creating a new form, you see the option to either choose Classic JotForm or JotForm Cards. You can also turn any classic form into a Card inside the Settings. Click on Show More Options then scroll down and change the Form Layout option to Single Question In One Page.
What Makes JotForm Cards Different?
The interface for Cards is the same as the classic form builder with a few differences.
Design: This option focuses more on design and using the Form Designer.
Single Questions: Each form element is in its own page with Previous page and Next page navigation at the bottom.
More Mobile Friendly: We all know how annoying it is to have to try to scroll down and fill out a long form on a mobile phone. The single question format is ideal for the left and right swiping motion on mobile or tablet.
Progress Indicators: This format also provides a progress bar and navigation underneath each question. Users can easily see how many more questions are left or go back to a previous question.
JotForm Cards Uses
This format is a great option for surveys and is a much better choice than something like Survey Monkey. Not only does it look better, its much easier to build a survey with JotForm Cards and costs way less. It was going to cost me a $1,000 a year to Survey Monkey just so I could control where users go after filling out a survey. No thanks!
JotForm Cards is also great if you are focusing on Mobile First and want to improve the experience of your mobile users.
Now, the company boasts it was able to increase conversions by 36% using this type of form. I may have to put that to the test!
3. HIPAA Compliant Forms
This new feature just launched April 11, 2018 so I don’t have a lot of details. What I can say is that this option will be great for medical professionals who need to protect their patients privacy.
JotForm Pricing
JotForm updated their pricing to multiple tiers. Currently there is the Starter plan (free), Bronze tier, Silver tier and Gold tier. Prices range from $19 / mo to $99 / mo. There is also annual plans which save you money over the monthly plans.
Free Vs Paid Plans
The main difference between the free plan and paid plans is how much you get. From what I’ve seen, users get full access to all JotForm features on the free plan. However, there is a max of 5 forms, 100 form submissions and 100 megabites of storage space for free accounts.
If you have a small website and just need a couple of forms then I believe the free plan is all you will need.
However, if you have a website where you get a decent amount of traffic and people filling out forms or you need an option to collect payments, one of the paid tiers is best.
Overall, I think the value of JotForm is way higher than what they are charging. I do have beef with some of the limits but it seems to be the industry standard.
These prices could change and I will update this JotForm review as needed.
JotForm Pros & Cons
Pros
There are several great features about JotForm that stand out to me.
1. Improved Design Interface
This used to be one of JotForm's biggest weaknesses, but the new interface is very clean and intuitive to use. Adding form fields and moving them around is simple and hassle free. Also, everything is easy to access within the form itself.
2. Cloning Forms
One of the features that attracted me to JotForm is that forms from other users can easily be cloned. When creating a new form, you can put in the URL of a live JotForm form and it will clone it right into your account. JotForm is the only company I know of that allows cloning of any of their forms online. To me that is such a time saver!
3. JotForm Cards
This new option for creating forms is gives JotForm a new advantage over other form builders. I can see this replacing expensive survey software in the marketplace.
Multi-purpose Forms
I really like that JotForm can be used for so many different things. I've used it to build complex order forms for my clients, online calculators, surveys and more. The flexibility of the software amazes me.
5. LOTS of 3rd Party Integrations
One of the best features I found when using JotForm was the amount of integrations they offer. These integrations include payment processors like PayPal or Authorize.net, email services like MailChimp or Constant Contact, CRMs like Infusionsoft or Aweber and many more.
6. Email Notifications
Email notifications are pretty standard these days, but what I found useful is that in JotForm I'm able to customize the message that gets sent out. If you leave it alone they have a nice standard email that goes out, but you're not stuck with it. You can make it say whatever you want and add in form field values within your text. I personally like to use this with the subject line. For instance, whenever someone fills out my contact form, I get an email that says "John Doe Filled Out a Contact Form at TheCMSGuy.com". John Doe in this instance would be the first and last name of the person filling out the form.
7. Custom Thanks URL
As simple of a feature as this is, it amazes me how Wufoo only offers this as a paid feature. Thankfully, JotForm allows custom thanks pages as another option to their own thank you message. Having the ability to go to a thanks page on your own domain is huge for tracking conversions inside Google Analytics. I give a big kudos to JotForm for making this available to all accounts.
Cons
While JotForm does so many things right, there are some things that changed with the latest updates.
1. No More Unlimited Forms
When I first started using JotForm, they offered unlimited forms for free or paid accounts. Now free accounts get a max of 5 forms and the lowest tier pricing plan offers 25 forms. I understand JotForm is a business and not a charity. in spite of the change, they still offer more than Wufoo!
2. Limits On Payments And Storage Space
Similar to limits on the number of forms, JotForm has restricted how many payments can be processed based on the pricing tier. It used to be 10 payments per month on the free account but that has been reduced to 3 payments. Now the Bronze tier has a limit of 10 payments which doesn't make it a good choice if you're main goal is to collect payments. Storage has also been limited based on pricing tier. Again, I get that its a business decision, but I think it limits the potential reach JotForm could have.
3. HIPPA Compliant Forms Only Available On The Most Expensive Plan
I'm glad for this new option but I find it annoying that its only available on the most expensive plan. I feel this move takes advantage of medical professionals just because they make more money. It would have been better to add an additional charge to each pricing tier to use HIPAA compliant forms.
JotForm Review Wrap Up
With all of the improvements to Jotform, I would recommend it over any other form builders. The benefits outweigh any negative aspects. Other 3rd party form builders (ahem… Wufoo) would be wise to follow Jotform’s lead on what it offers users.
If you’ve had experience with JotForm, I’d love to get your input on using the application in the comments below!