Best Form Builders for Nonprofits Under $10 a Month
For most nonprofits, staying under $10 a month means living on a free plan, and Tally's is the most generous of the hosted builders: unlimited forms and unlimited submissions, with payments included. Google Forms also costs nothing and publishes no cap on forms or responses, but it cannot collect money at all.
Only three paid plans come in under $10 a month at list price, and all three are yearly WordPress licenses: Gravity Forms at $59 a year, Fluent Forms at $63 and WPForms at a normal $99. Two hosted tools, forms.app and Wufoo, cross the line only after a published 50 percent nonprofit discount. So the choice splits two ways: a hosted free plan, where the ceiling is either forms or responses, or a plugin on a WordPress site you already run.
Our picks
- A budget of zero: Tally. Unlimited forms and submissions on the free plan, with payments, signatures and file uploads included, subject only to a fair-use policy.
- Donation forms that add up amounts: Cognito Forms. Unlimited forms and payments on the free plan plus strong calculation tools; the limit is about a hundred entries a month.
- Many volunteers sharing one account: Fillout. Unlimited seats and unlimited forms free, up to a thousand responses a month, with scheduling and PDF generation built in.
- A paid plan that fits after the discount: forms.app. Basic is 19 USD a month billed annually, and the published 50 percent off yearly plans for nonprofits brings it under $10.
At a glance
| Option | Cheapest paid plan | Paid plan price | Nonprofit offer | Free plan responses | Free plan forms | Takes payments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Included with a wider suitesource | No paid Forms plan of its own: it comes with the free Google Docs Editors suitesource | Free for nonprofitssource | Free, no published limitsource | Free, no published limitsource | ||
| More than $25 a monthsource | Bronze, $34/month billed annuallysource | 50% off paid planssource | 100-999source | |||
| $10 to $25 a monthsource | Basic, 19 USD/month billed annually (29 USD month to month)source | 50% off paid planssource | Unlimitedsource | 3 to 9source | Included on the free plansource | |
| $10 to $25 a monthsource | Starter, $16.25/mo billed $195 annuallysource | 50% off paid planssource | 100-999source | 3 to 9source | Paid plans onlysource | |
| $10 to $25 a monthsource | Pro, $24/mosource | Discount by applicationsource | 100-999source | Unlimitedsource | Included on the free plansource | |
| $10 to $25 a monthsource | Basic, US$10/month billed annuallysource | Discount by applicationsource | 100-999source | 3 to 9source | Included on the free plansource | |
| Under $10 a monthsource | Basic License, $59 per year for 1 sitesource | Discount by applicationsource | No free plansource | No free plansource | Add-on requiredsource | |
| $10 to $25 a monthsource | Pro, $24 per monthsource | Unlimitedsource | Unlimitedsource | Included on the free plansource | ||
| $10 to $25 a monthsource | Starter, $15 / month ($180 billed annually)source | 1,000 or moresource | Unlimitedsource | Included on the free plansource | ||
| More than $25 a monthsource | Pro, $29/mo or $20/mo billed annuallysource | Unlimitedsource | Unlimitedsource | Paid plans onlysource | ||
| Under $10 a monthsource | Basic licence, normally $99.00 a yearsource | Free, no published limitsource | Free, no published limitsource | Included on the free plansource | ||
| Under $10 a monthsource | Single Site License, $63 / yearsource | Free, no published limitsource | Free, no published limitsource | Included on the free plansource |
Where each free plan runs out
The hosted free plans ration different things. Cognito Forms allows unlimited forms but about a hundred entries a month; forms.app flips that, with unlimited responses and a cap of five forms. Zoho Forms gives one user three forms and 500 submissions, Wufoo five forms, a hundred entries and ten fields per form, and Jotform a hundred submissions a month across the whole account.
A group with one volunteer signup and one donation page fits almost anywhere. A group that makes a new form for every event wants Tally, Youform or Fillout, which put no cap on forms; Fillout stops at a thousand responses a month, the other two at none.
Collecting donations without paying for a plan
Seven of the twelve list payments on their free plan, and for a nonprofit that matters more than any template library. There are strings, though. Zoho Forms covers only the first ten payments, and WPForms' free version adds a 3 percent platform charge on top of your processor's cut until you buy a license. Wufoo and Youform keep payments for paying customers, which on Youform means $29 a month. Google Forms has no payment collection, so the gift has to happen on another page.
Nonprofit discounts that actually reach $10
A discount only helps if the plan it applies to starts close. Wufoo's 50 percent for registered 501(c)(3)s takes its $16.25 Starter to roughly $8. Jotform offers the same half off, but its cheapest paid plan, Bronze, is $34 a month billed annually, so even halved it stays well over budget. Zoho Forms' Basic sits exactly on the line at US$10 a month billed annually.
Cognito Forms, Zoho Forms and Gravity Forms handle nonprofits by application. Cognito asks you to write to support with your 501(c)(3) status, Zoho offers credits worth up to half your subscription against registration documents, and Gravity sells a Nonprofit License at $129 a year.
WordPress plugins billed once a year
The three plugins keep forms on your own site. Gravity Forms ($59 a year for one site) stores entries in your own database but has no free version, and its Stripe and PayPal add-ons are not in the Basic license. WPForms, at $99 a year and often discounted, is the beginner-friendly one. Fluent Forms ($63 a year) puts Stripe in its free version but expects more comfort with WordPress. All three are yearly purchases, so a quiet month cannot be skipped.
The options in detail
Google Forms
The default answer for most small nonprofits, and hard to argue with on a tight budget: anyone with a Google account can build a form in a browser and watch answers land in a Sheet. Google publishes no cap on responses or forms, and eligible nonprofits get the whole Workspace suite at no charge, so the running cost really is nothing. The catch is that it cannot take money, so donations have to happen somewhere else, and the styling is plain enough that a public-facing appeal will look like a Google form. Best for volunteer signups, event RSVPs and internal surveys rather than fundraising.
Jotform
The form builder nonprofits reach for when a Google form is not enough: a huge template library, conditional logic, and a free tier that will actually take payments, which matters when the form is a donation form. Jotform runs a standing 50 percent discount for approved nonprofits on its Bronze, Silver and Gold plans, though even at half price Bronze lands well above a ten-dollar budget, so in practice the free Starter plan is the one a small charity lives on. Its ceiling is submissions rather than forms: a hundred a month across the whole account, after which you upgrade or wait. Forms built on the free plan carry Jotform branding.
forms.app
The one option here where a published nonprofit discount actually drops a paid plan under ten dollars a month: forms.app offers 50 percent off yearly plans to nonprofits and educators, and its Basic tier is already 19 USD a month on annual billing. The free plan is unusually generous on the axis that normally bites, allowing unlimited responses and unlimited payments while capping you at five forms, which suits an organisation that runs a few long-lived forms rather than many short ones. File storage on the free tier is only 10 MB, so photo or document uploads will push you to upgrade.
Wufoo
One of the oldest hosted form builders, now part of SurveyMonkey, and the other route to a genuinely sub-ten-dollar paid plan: registered 501(c)(3) organisations get 50 percent off, which takes the Starter tier from about $16 a month to roughly $8. The free plan is tight, at five forms and a hundred entries with only ten fields per form, and payments are reserved for paid tiers, so the discount is the point rather than the free tier. The editor and templates look dated next to the newer tools in this table, which is the main reason to keep shopping.
Cognito Forms
The strongest free tier in this table for an organisation that needs to collect money, because Cognito puts unlimited forms and payments on every plan including the free one, and charges you on entries instead. A hundred entries a month is the ceiling before you pay, which is fine for a handful of donation or registration forms and not for a mailing-list-sized campaign. Its calculation and conditional-logic tools are genuinely strong, which is why treasurers like it for anything involving amounts. Nonprofit pricing exists but is not published: you have to write to support with your 501(c)(3) status.
Zoho Forms
Worth a look mainly if you already run other Zoho apps, since forms drop straight into Zoho CRM and the rest of the suite. The free plan is middling on its own terms, at three forms and 500 submissions a month for a single user, but it does include payment collection for the first ten payments, which is more than most free tiers allow. Basic is priced at exactly ten dollars a month on annual billing, so it sits right on the budget line rather than under it. Zoho runs a nonprofit programme offering credits worth up to half your subscription, but you have to apply with registration documents.
Gravity Forms
A different proposition to everything else here: a premium WordPress plugin, so the form lives on your own site and the entries stay in your own database, which some boards prefer for donor data. There is no free version and no trial, only a demo, but the Basic licence is $59 a year for one site, which works out cheaper per month than most hosted tools. The catch for a nonprofit is payments: the Stripe and PayPal add-ons are not in the Basic tier, so a donation form means stepping up a licence level. Gravity Forms also runs an application-based Nonprofit License at $129 a year.
Tally
The most generous free tier of any hosted builder in this table: unlimited forms and unlimited submissions, with payments, signatures, file uploads and conditional logic all included rather than paywalled, subject only to a fair-use policy. For a nonprofit whose budget is genuinely zero that makes it the strongest option here, and the editor works like a text document, so volunteers pick it up quickly. Paying only buys you branding removal, shared workspaces and partial submissions, at $24 a month. There is no published nonprofit discount, which is the one gap.
Fillout
Sits between Tally's everything-free approach and the metered hosted tools: unlimited forms and unlimited seats on the free plan, capped at a thousand responses a month, with payment collection included rather than paywalled. The unlimited-seats part is the unusual bit and matters for an organisation where several staff or volunteers need access without buying licences. It also does scheduling and PDF generation, so a single tool can cover registration, booking and a signed form. Stepping up to Starter at $15 a month mainly buys more responses.
Youform
A newer, cheaper alternative to Typeform with the same one-question-at-a-time style, and a free plan that puts no limit on either forms or responses. For a nonprofit that wants a survey or application to feel less like a spreadsheet, that combination is rare. The trade-off is that payments sit behind the Pro plan, so it cannot be your donation form without paying $29 a month, and free forms carry Youform branding. No nonprofit discount is published.
WPForms
The beginner-friendly WordPress plugin, and the easier of the two WordPress options here for a volunteer to drive. The free Lite version in the WordPress directory publishes no cap on forms or entries and will take Stripe, PayPal and Square payments, which makes it one of the few genuinely free ways to run a donation form on your own site. The catch is the fee: transactions on the free version carry a 3 percent platform charge on top of your processor's cut until you buy a licence. Paid licences list at $99 a year and are discounted often.
Fluent Forms
The cheapest paid licence of any option in this table, at $63 a year for a single site, and the free WordPress version already includes Stripe payments rather than holding them back for a paid tier. That combination makes it the most cost-effective way to run donation and signup forms on a WordPress site you already maintain. It is a developer-leaning plugin, so the editor assumes a little more comfort with WordPress than WPForms does. No nonprofit discount is published.
How we researched this
Each builder here offers a real way to spend under $10 a month: a free plan, a yearly license that works out below it, or a published discount that brings a paid plan down to it. The Cheapest paid plan column is list price before any nonprofit discount, with yearly licenses converted to a monthly figure, which is why forms.app and Wufoo sit in the $10 to $25 band despite landing under $10 once discounted. Typeform was left out because its free plan allows 10 responses a month and its NGO discount still leaves it far above budget. KoboToolbox, free to nonprofits, collects survey data but no payments or donations. Formstack, Paperform and Formsite have no free plan and start well above $10.
An empty cell here means the maker's own pages did not say. Tally, Fillout, Youform, WPForms and Fluent Forms publish no nonprofit program we could find; Google Forms has no payment collection; and Jotform shows its free-plan form and payment limits only inside page code, not as readable text. Software pricing shifts and several nonprofit programs ask for proof of status, so confirm the current price and the paperwork the maker wants before paying for a year.