Best Open-Source Form Builders 2026: 6 Options Compared
Best open-source Form Builders compared: Formbricks, HeyForm, OpnForm, LimeSurvey and 2 more, with licenses, platforms and prices from official pages checked October 23, 2026.
•3 min read•Forms & Surveys
Quick comparison
| Tool | Price | Platforms | Best for | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Formbricks | Free (Hobby plan: 1 workspace and 250 responses a month); paid from $74 per month (Pro, 3 workspaces and 2,000 responses; annual billing gives 2 months free) | Web, Self-hosted | In-product surveys | Docs only |
| HeyForm | Free (Self-hosting the open-source code is free; the hosted service shows a 7-day free trial and no free plan on the pricing page); paid from $15 per month, Basic plan billed annually | Web, Self-hosted | Conversational-style forms | Docs only |
| OpnForm | Free (Free cloud plan: unlimited forms and submissions, 1 workspace, OpnForm branding, community support; self-hosting the core is free); paid from $25 per month, Pro plan billed annually | Web, Self-hosted | Notion-like form building | Docs only |
| LimeSurvey | Free (Free package on LimeSurvey Cloud (see the pricing page for limits); Community Edition is self-hosted); paid from $36 per month, billed annually (Expert; Basic is $39 billed monthly) | Web, Self-hosted | Research surveys | Docs only |
| KoboToolbox | Free (Open-source code is free to self-host; check the hosted plans page for server limits) | Web, Self-hosted, Android | Field and humanitarian data | Docs only |
| Baserow | Free (Free plan: 3,000 rows and 2 GB of storage per workspace); paid from $10 per user/month, billed yearly ($12 billed monthly; Premium) | Web, Self-hosted | Forms feeding a database | Docs only |
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Good fit if
- You need a feedback survey inside your own app (Formbricks is the pick)
- You run a long academic survey with branching and quotas (LimeSurvey is the pick)
- Your team collects data offline in the field (KoboToolbox is the pick)
- You want responses to land in a spreadsheet-like database (Baserow is the pick)
Not ideal if
- You cannot host, patch and back up a server yourself and want a vendor to run it
Open-source form builders let you collect responses without paying per submission, and the best choice depends on whether you want a pretty one-page form or a full survey. Formbricks and HeyForm focus on modern forms and in-app surveys with a hosted option and a self-hosted one. OpnForm is a Notion-style builder with a free cloud plan and a self-hostable core. LimeSurvey is the veteran for long surveys with branching logic and quotas, aimed at research and institutions. KoboToolbox is built for field data collection, often in places with weak connectivity. Baserow is a database first, with a form view that feeds rows straight into tables. If you only need a contact form, any of these is more than enough and the hosted free tier will do. If you need to keep respondent data on your own servers for legal reasons, self-hosting is the main reason to pick this category over a hosted tool. The usual catch is that parts of the products sit behind a commercial licence, called enterprise features, so read what the free edition omits before you build a workflow around it. Terms below come from each project's own pages as of the check date.
Formbricks
AGPL-3.0 core with a separate licence for enterprise features. The hosted Hobby plan allows 1 workspace and 250 responses a month, and self-hosting lifts the response cap.
Price: Free (Hobby plan: 1 workspace and 250 responses a month); paid from $74 per month (Pro, 3 workspaces and 2,000 responses; annual billing gives 2 months free) (Formbricks pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted. AGPL-3.0 (core; enterprise features under a separate license) (open source) (license source).
Project activity: 13.2k GitHub stars · latest release 6.1.2 (Oct 27, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: In-product surveys.
HeyForm
AGPL-3.0 and free to self-host. The hosted service shows a 7-day free trial and no free plan, so the free route is your own server.
Price: Free (Self-hosting the open-source code is free; the hosted service shows a 7-day free trial and no free plan on the pricing page); paid from $15 per month, Basic plan billed annually (HeyForm pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted. AGPL-3.0 (open source) (license source).
Project activity: 9.1k GitHub stars · latest release v3.0.5 (Oct 24, 2026) · last commit Oct 26, 2026
Best for: Conversational-style forms.
OpnForm
AGPL-3.0 or later core with an enterprise directory under a proprietary licence. The free cloud plan has unlimited forms and submissions but shows OpnForm branding.
Price: Free (Free cloud plan: unlimited forms and submissions, 1 workspace, OpnForm branding, community support; self-hosting the core is free); paid from $25 per month, Pro plan billed annually (OpnForm pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted. AGPL-3.0 or later (core); Enterprise directory under a proprietary license (open source) (license source).
Project activity: 3.9k GitHub stars · latest release v2.7.0 (Oct 27, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Notion-like form building.
LimeSurvey
GPL-2.0 or later, the veteran for long surveys with logic and quotas. Community Edition is self-hosted; the free cloud package has limits, so check the pricing page.
Price: Free (Free package on LimeSurvey Cloud (see the pricing page for limits); Community Edition is self-hosted); paid from $36 per month, billed annually (Expert; Basic is $39 billed monthly) (LimeSurvey pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted. GPL-2.0 or later (open source) (license source).
Project activity: 3.8k GitHub stars · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Research surveys.
KoboToolbox
AGPL-3.0 and free to self-host, built for field data collection. Hosted plan limits could not be read when checked.
Price: Free (Open-source code is free to self-host; check the hosted plans page for server limits) (KoboToolbox pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted, Android. AGPL-3.0 (open source) (license source).
Project activity: 187 GitHub stars · latest release 2.026.37c (Oct 20, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Field and humanitarian data.
Baserow
MIT core with a form view that writes responses into a database. Free plan has 3,000 rows and 2 GB per workspace.
Price: Free (Free plan: 3,000 rows and 2 GB of storage per workspace); paid from $10 per user/month, billed yearly ($12 billed monthly; Premium) (Baserow pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted. MIT (core) (open source) (license source).
Project activity: 6.2k GitHub stars · latest release 2.4.1 (Oct 13, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Forms feeding a database.
Which one to pick
- You need a feedback survey inside your own app: Formbricks
- You run a long academic survey with branching and quotas: LimeSurvey
- Your team collects data offline in the field: KoboToolbox
- You want responses to land in a spreadsheet-like database: Baserow
Limits of this review
Docs-only for Formbricks, HeyForm, OpnForm, LimeSurvey, KoboToolbox, Baserow: we did not install or run them, so feature claims come from vendor pages. Vendor prices and free limits change; confirm on the linked pricing page before you commit.
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Kevin Fan
Kevin Fan is a SaaS founder. He runs Free Instead Of, which tracks free and open-source alternatives to paid software and checks each price and free-plan limit against the vendor's own pages.
Methodology
Based on official pricing, license and product pages checked between 2026-10-22 and 2026-10-23: Formbricks, HeyForm, OpnForm, LimeSurvey, KoboToolbox, Baserow. Prices, free limits and licenses are the figures shown on those pages on those dates. No tool on this page was installed or run. No accounts were created.