PortForm vs Formspree
What is the difference between PortForm and Formspree?
Formspree and PortForm are both hosted form backends that store submissions and email them to you. They differ in packaging: Formspree sells tiers of 50, 200, 2,000 and 20,000 monthly submissions with a plugin catalog and a rules engine on higher plans, while PortForm has three plans (300 per 30 days free, 10,000 and 20,000 paid) 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 Formspree's own pages listed under sources.
Formspree and PortForm at a glance
| Topic | Formspree | PortForm |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | 50 submissions per month, described as for testing and development, with a 30-day submission archive; no file uploads. (Formspree plans and feature comparison) | 300 submissions per 30 days, unlimited forms, no card |
| Entry paid plan | Personal, $10/month billed yearly ($15 monthly), 200 submissions. (Formspree plans and feature comparison) | $9/month ($91 billed yearly), 10,000 submissions |
| Where submissions live | A submission archive you can log in and read: “If you ever miss a submission email, you can login and read your latest submissions up to the per-form archive limit.” (Formspree plans and feature comparison) | 30 days of submission history on every plan |
| Delivery order and retries | Not verified from the vendor's current public documentation. | 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 Formspree does well
- Basic plugins (Google Sheets, Trello and more) from Personal and premium plugins (Klaviyo, HubSpot, Zendesk and more) from Professional. (Formspree plans and feature comparison)
- Formshield, a machine-learning spam filter, with reCAPTCHA in one click, plus restrict-to-domain and private emails (a random string in the form action instead of your address) on every plan including Free. (Formspree plans and feature comparison)
- A rules engine on Business that can route submissions to different emails, flag spam, or change the redirect. (Formspree plans and feature comparison)
- Custom email templates and custom email domains on Business, so mail can come from your own domain. (Formspree plans and feature comparison)
- File uploads: files of up to 25 MB each per submission (the page gives both 5 and 10 as the files-per-submission cap), stored on a remote server with links in the notification email; 1 GB to 10 GB of storage by plan. (Formspree plans and feature comparison)
- Full-service onboarding on the Custom plan, where engineers help move forms over to Formspree. (Formspree plans and feature 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.
- Quota shape. Formspree limits monthly submissions per plan and gates capabilities (API access, autoresponses, advanced spam control, rules) by tier. PortForm’s quota is per account on a rolling 30-day window, with integrations, autoresponder, CC, file uploads and domain restriction on its Pro plan.
- Storage and delivery order. Formspree documents an archive you can read if an email is missed; PortForm documents its ordering explicitly: store, then email (best-effort), then integrations with retries. Formspree’s retry behavior is not verified from its plans page.
- History length. Formspree’s plans page shows a 30-day archive on Free and its paid plans list an unlimited archive. PortForm’s history is 30 days on every plan.
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 Formspree’s own pricing before deciding.
| Topic | Formspree | PortForm |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0, 50 submissions per month. (Formspree plans and feature comparison) | 300 submissions per 30 days, unlimited forms, no card |
| Personal | $10/month billed yearly ($15 monthly), 200 submissions, 1 GB file storage. (Formspree plans and feature comparison) | No matching tier; Pro is $9/month ($91 billed yearly), 10,000 submissions |
| Professional | $20/month billed yearly ($30 monthly), 2,000 submissions, 5 GB file storage, API access, autoresponses, one extra team member. (Formspree plans and feature comparison) | $9/month ($91 billed yearly), 10,000 submissions |
| Business | $60/month billed yearly ($90 monthly), 20,000 submissions, 10 GB, custom email templates and domains, rules engine, priority support. (Formspree plans and feature comparison) | $29/month, 20,000 submissions |
| Custom | Custom volume, SLA, phone support and onboarding. (Formspree plans and feature comparison) | No custom tier listed on PortForm’s pricing. |
Features
| Topic | Formspree | PortForm |
|---|---|---|
| Spam protection | Basic spam filtering (Formshield) on every plan; advanced spam control from Professional; custom honeypot and custom spam rules on Business. (Formspree plans and feature comparison) | Honeypot on every plan; hCaptcha on Free; reCAPTCHA and Turnstile on Pro and Agency; plus payload scoring and per-key rate limiting |
| File uploads | From Personal: 25 MB per file; the page gives both 5 and 10 as the files-per-submission cap. (Formspree plans and feature comparison) | Pro: up to 3 files per submission, 5 MB each |
| Autoresponder | From Professional. (Formspree plans and feature comparison) | Pro and Agency. |
| API access | Fetch submissions from a JSON HTTP endpoint from Professional. (Formspree plans and feature comparison) | Export CSV or JSON from the dashboard; MCP for agents. |
| Integrations | Basic Plugins from Personal and Premium Plugins from Professional; Discord, Slack and Telegram are listed among its chat plugins. (Formspree plans and feature comparison) | Pro and Agency: Slack, Discord, Telegram, Google Sheets, Notion, Airtable, HubSpot and webhooks (Zapier, Make and n8n connect through webhooks) |
When Formspree may make more sense
- If you need file uploads at a price between Free and 2,000 submissions: Formspree lists uploads from its $10 Personal plan. (Formspree plans and feature comparison)
- If you want a rules engine to route submissions by logic or flag spam by pattern. (Formspree plans and feature comparison)
- If you need mail sent from your own domain with custom templates (Business). (Formspree plans and feature comparison)
- If you want a vendor to migrate your forms for you or need an SLA or phone support: listed on the Custom plan. (Formspree plans and feature comparison)
Migrating from Formspree to PortForm
Migration means changing a form’s action and key, not moving data automatically. Ready-made forms are in templates, for example Basic HTML contact form and Ajax contact form.
- Create the PortForm form and copy the access key. PortForm forms post to a single endpoint with a hidden access_key field.
- Replace the form’s action URL and add the hidden access_key input. Keep field names as they are: unreserved fields are stored as submission data.
- If you use Formspree’s AJAX with an Accept: application/json header, PortForm also returns JSON for fetch requests and a 303 redirect when a redirect field is present.
- Formspree-side features with no matching PortForm control: the rules engine and custom spam rules. Rebuild routing through separate forms or webhooks (Pro).
- Export your archive from Formspree first: export tooling is Not verified from the vendor’s current public documentation.
Which should I use?
There is no single answer. It depends on which requirement matters most to you.
- If your priority is you need rule-based routing of submissions, the relevant difference is: Formspree’s rules engine (Business) is the relevant capability; PortForm does not list one. (Formspree plans and feature comparison)
- If your priority is you want a single free quota across unlimited forms, the relevant difference is: PortForm’s quota is per account across all forms; Formspree’s free plan is 50 submissions per month. (Formspree plans and feature comparison)
- If your priority is you send large files, the relevant difference is: Compare Formspree’s 25 MB per file with PortForm’s 5 MB per file (3 per submission). (Formspree plans and feature comparison)
Questions about Formspree and PortForm
- What is the difference between PortForm and Formspree?
- Both store form submissions and email them. Formspree sells submission tiers with plugins and a rules engine; PortForm has a 300-per-30-days free tier, two paid plans and a documented store-first delivery order.
- Does Formspree store submissions?
- Yes. Its plans page describes a submission archive you can read by logging in, with a 30-day archive shown for the Free plan.
- Does Formspree include a free plan?
- Yes: 50 submissions per month, described as for testing and development, with a 30-day submission archive.
- Do I need JavaScript?
- Not for either. Formspree documents non-AJAX forms with a default thank-you page and a custom URL option; PortForm redirects when a redirect field is present.
Sources
Every Formspree statement above was read from these first-party pages on . Anything not found there is marked as not verified.