PortForm vs Basin
What is the difference between PortForm and Basin?
Basin and PortForm both collect HTML form submissions, store them and notify you. Basin is organised around a larger feature list per tier (spam filters, validation credits, custom SMTP, AI-generated hosted sites) with retention that grows by plan; PortForm keeps a smaller surface: three plans, a store-first delivery order, and a flat 30-day history.
New to the category? Read what a form backend is and how a form endpoint works. Last verified: , against Basin's own pages listed under sources.
Basin and PortForm at a glance
| Topic | Basin | PortForm |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | 1 form endpoint, 50 submissions per month, 30-day data retention, basic spam protection, AJAX support and Zapier integration. (Basin pricing and plan comparison) | 300 submissions per 30 days, unlimited forms, no card |
| Do spam submissions count? | Each paid plan says “Spam? Nope, doesn’t count.” about the monthly submission allowance. (Basin pricing and plan comparison) | Filtered spam is stored as spam, sends no email and does not count against quota. |
| Data retention | 30 days on Free, 365 days on Starter, unlimited on Growth, Pro and Agency. (Basin pricing and plan comparison) | 30 days of submission history on every plan |
| Retry and failure handling | The plan table lists “Automated Submission Reprocessing”; how it works and which plans include it is not stated on the pricing page. (Basin pricing and plan comparison) | Stored first. The notification email is attempted once, best-effort; a submission with no recorded attempt after 10 minutes gets one late recovery attempt, and failed sends can be retried manually from the dashboard. Integrations are retried automatically, up to 5 attempts over about two and a half hours |
What Basin does well
- Data retention that extends by plan: 365 days on Starter and unlimited on Growth and above. (Basin pricing and plan comparison)
- A long list of spam controls in the plan table, including reCAPTCHA v2/v3, hCaptcha, Cloudflare Turnstile, custom honeypot, country and radius-based location filters, burner-email filter, duplicate filter and virus scanning of file uploads (Pro). (Basin pricing and plan comparison)
- Real-time email and phone validation credits (100 to 3,000 monthly form credits by plan). (Basin pricing and plan comparison)
- Custom SMTP email server on Pro (1) and Agency (unlimited), plus custom domains and branded emails. (Basin pricing and plan comparison)
- Multi-step forms and saving of incomplete submissions on Agency. (Basin pricing and plan comparison)
- A 14-day free trial on paid plans and a 30-day money-back guarantee. (Basin pricing and plan comparison)
Where PortForm differs
PortForm stores each submission first, then attempts the email, then runs integrations. See delivery retries for exactly what is and is not retried.
- Scope. Basin also sells AI-generated sites with hosting and custom domains inside its plans; PortForm is only the form backend, so a comparison of price per tier includes something PortForm does not offer.
- Retention model. Basin retention rises with the plan (30 days, 365 days, unlimited). PortForm’s history is a flat 30 days on every plan, and exports (CSV or JSON) are available on every plan for anything you want to keep.
- Overage. Basin’s pricing page says extra submissions are available at rates for your tier, billed monthly. PortForm’s free tier is a hard cap; paid quotas are set in its plans.
- Delivery. PortForm documents store, then email, then integrations with retries. Basin’s delivery behavior beyond the “Automated Submission Reprocessing” row is Not verified from the vendor’s current public documentation.
Pricing and limits
PortForm’s current prices are on the pricing page and its limits in the docs. Competitor prices are as listed on the dates above and change; check Basin’s own pricing before deciding.
| Topic | Basin | PortForm |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0, 1 form, 50 submissions per month. (Basin pricing and plan comparison) | 300 submissions per 30 days, unlimited forms, no card |
| Starter | $12.50/month billed yearly, 3 forms, 250 submissions, 500 MB file storage. (Basin pricing and plan comparison) | No matching tier. |
| Growth | $24.17/month billed yearly, unlimited forms, 1,000 submissions, 2 GB, unlimited retention, API access, webhooks and Slack. (Basin pricing and plan comparison) | $9/month ($91 billed yearly), 10,000 submissions |
| Pro | $40.83/month billed yearly, 5,000 submissions, 10 GB, advanced spam filtering, custom SMTP. (Basin pricing and plan comparison) | $9/month ($91 billed yearly), 10,000 submissions |
| Agency | $108.33/month billed yearly, 25,000 submissions, 50 GB, multi-step forms. (Basin pricing and plan comparison) | $29/month, 20,000 submissions |
Features
| Topic | Basin | PortForm |
|---|---|---|
| Spam protection | Listed across the plan comparison: reCAPTCHA, hCaptcha, Turnstile, honeypot, country, burner email, duplicate and content filters. Which plan includes each is not machine-readable on the page. (Basin pricing and plan comparison) | Honeypot on every plan; hCaptcha on Free; reCAPTCHA and Turnstile on Pro and Agency |
| File uploads | 100 MB storage on Free rising to 50 GB on Agency; virus scan on Pro. (Basin pricing and plan comparison) | Pro: up to 3 files per submission, 5 MB each |
| Integrations | Zapier on Free; Slack, Google Sheets, webhooks, API access and auto-responses from Growth. (Basin pricing and plan comparison) | Pro and Agency: Slack, Discord, Telegram, Google Sheets, Notion, Airtable, HubSpot and webhooks (Zapier, Make and n8n connect through webhooks) |
| Team | Unlimited collaborators from Growth. (Basin pricing and plan comparison) | Team access is a Pro feature; each Agency client workspace has its own quota. |
When Basin may make more sense
- If you need submission retention beyond 30 days inside the service: Basin lists unlimited retention from Growth. (Basin pricing and plan comparison)
- If you want built-in email or phone validation, or a broad set of spam filters such as location and content filters. (Basin pricing and plan comparison)
- If you need custom SMTP sending from your own mail server (Pro and Agency). (Basin pricing and plan comparison)
- If you want multi-step forms or saved incomplete submissions (Agency). (Basin pricing and plan comparison)
Migrating from Basin to PortForm
Migration means changing a form’s action and key, not moving data automatically. Ready-made forms are in templates, for example Ajax contact form and File upload form.
- Create the PortForm form, copy the access key, and point the form’s action at PortForm’s endpoint with a hidden access_key field.
- Update every page that embeds the old Basin form URL.
- Rebuild Basin-specific rules (country filters, content filters, validation credits) if you depend on them. PortForm’s controls are honeypot, payload scoring, per-key rate limiting, an optional CAPTCHA and domain restriction (Pro).
- Export your Basin data before switching. Basin’s export tooling is listed as “Data export” in its plan table; its format is Not verified from the vendor’s current public documentation.
- Send a test submission and confirm delivery before removing the old Basin endpoint.
Which should I use?
There is no single answer. It depends on which requirement matters most to you.
- If your priority is you need submissions retained beyond 30 days in the service, the relevant difference is: Basin lists 365 days on Starter and unlimited on Growth and above; PortForm keeps 30 days on every plan. (Basin pricing and plan comparison)
- If your priority is you want a small feature surface and a documented delivery order, the relevant difference is: PortForm has three plans and a stated store, email, integrations order.
- If your priority is you need granular spam filters (location, content, burner emails), the relevant difference is: Basin’s comparison table lists them; PortForm’s controls are narrower. (Basin pricing and plan comparison)
Questions about Basin and PortForm
- What is the difference between PortForm and Basin?
- Both collect form submissions and store them. Basin has a wider feature list per tier, including validation credits, custom SMTP and AI-generated sites; PortForm has fewer plans and a flat 30-day history.
- Does Basin store submissions?
- Yes. Its plan table lists submission retention of 30 days on Free, 365 days on Starter and unlimited on Growth, Pro and Agency.
- Does Basin have a free plan?
- Yes: 1 form endpoint, 50 submissions per month and 30-day retention.
- Which should I use?
- It depends on the requirement. For retention beyond 30 days, granular spam filters or custom SMTP, look at Basin’s plan table. For a store-first flow with a small plan surface and a 300-per-30-days free tier, look at PortForm.
Sources
Every Basin statement above was read from these first-party pages on . Anything not found there is marked as not verified.