An advisor's intake form collects the most regulated data you handle: SSNs, account numbers, suitability answers, KYC. So this ranking is not about which form looks best — it is about who holds the encryption keys, whether you can export a complete record archive to satisfy SEC recordkeeping, and what happens to that archive the day you cancel. Cognito Forms wins because it encrypts entries with a key you control and exports cleanly. Jotform is the most capable with documented HIPAA and SOC 2, just heavier and gated behind its $99 tier. Typeform and Paperform convert well but were not built for regulated PII. And Google Forms — free, familiar, and exactly where you must never put a client's SSN.
An advisory firm is judged on whether it can produce a clean, encrypted record years later under examination, so we weighted security and data ownership far above design and conversion polish. The tool where you hold the encryption key and can export the full submission archive wins; a beautiful form that stores client PII you do not control and cannot cleanly retrieve is a compliance liability, not a convenience. See the full rubric →
The best data-ownership story for a regulated firm: you can encrypt entries with a key you control, so even the vendor cannot read your clients' PII, and the full entry archive exports cleanly for recordkeeping. eSignatures land on the $19 Pro tier, expanded encryption on Team ($39), and HIPAA on Enterprise ($129). For an advisor, holding the key is worth more than a prettier form.
The deepest toolkit here: documented SOC 2, encrypted forms, HIPAA compliance, 100-plus integrations and a full export. The reasons it places second for advisors are narrow but real — HIPAA only unlocks on the $99 Gold tier, and the breadth means more surface area to configure correctly. If you need integrations more than key control, swap it to first.
Genuinely the best-converting intake experience, with strong conditional logic and Stripe payments on Plus. But there is no HIPAA/BAA, security certifications sit on higher tiers, and it is the most locked-in of the group — proprietary format, weak export. Fine for a prospect questionnaire; wrong for collecting SSNs and account numbers.
Flexible, attractive, with payments and solid logic — a good general business form builder. But no HIPAA/BAA and a thinner compliance story make it the wrong home for PII-heavy account-opening. Use it for booking and lead capture, not for KYC.
Enterprise-grade security exists, but it is survey-shaped, not intake-shaped, and the team plans get expensive fast ($30–$92/user/mo, three-user minimum). Export is fine. For a risk-tolerance questionnaire it works; for structured account-opening it fights you.
Free, fast, and exactly where a client SSN must never go. No field-level encryption you control, no BAA on standard Workspace, and your 'archive' is a Sheet anyone with the link can open. It feels convenient until an examiner asks how that data was protected. Do not collect regulated PII here.
Pricing verified as of June 2026. Vendors change plans often · check the vendor for current pricing.
At a glance
✓ full · ∼ partial · — none
CapabilityCognito FormsJotformTypeformPaperformSurveyMonkeyGoogle Forms
Encryption you control (key ownership)✓∼——∼—
HIPAA / BAA available✓✓——∼—
SOC 2 documented✓✓∼∼✓∼
E-signature✓✓—∼——
Conditional / suitability logic✓✓✓✓∼∼
Full entry archive export✓✓∼✓✓∼
Common questions
Which form builder is safest for collecting client SSNs and account numbers?
Cognito Forms, because you can encrypt entries with a key you control — the vendor cannot read them — and HIPAA is available on Enterprise. Jotform is a close second with HIPAA on its Gold tier. Never collect this data on Google Forms or any tool without encryption-at-rest you control and a clean export.
Can I export my full submission archive for SEC recordkeeping?
Cognito Forms and Jotform both export complete, structured entry archives. Typeform's export is the weakest and its format the most proprietary, which is a problem if you must produce records years later. Test the export before you store anything regulated — assume you will need every entry under examination.
Do I need HIPAA compliance as a financial advisor?
If you touch health-related data — long-term care, disability, certain insurance suitability — yes, and you need a signed BAA. Cognito (Enterprise) and Jotform (Gold) offer it. If you handle only financial PII, prioritise encryption you control and SOC 2 documentation over the HIPAA label, but get the security posture in writing either way.
What's the real risk of using Google Forms for intake?
No BAA on standard Workspace, no field-level encryption you control, and responses landing in a Sheet whose link-sharing is easy to misconfigure. The convenience is real; so is the exposure. For anything beyond a newsletter signup, it is the wrong tool for a regulated practice.