Free and open source are not the same thing. Free tools cost nothing but run on someone else's servers; open source ones you can read, host yourself, and fully control. We weighed both, then ranked the six worth using, with the tradeoff of each named plainly.
Reviewed by M. HALLORAN·Updated MARCH 2026·How we vet
Tools compared6
Criteria weighted5
Last reviewedJune 2026
Paid placements0
How we ranked the field
Scored on our standard criteria, then reweighted for budget and control: free tier limits and cost, openness and data ownership, ease of use, features, and integrations. See the full rubric →
Free tier and cost30%
Openness and data control25%
Ease of use20%
Features and logic15%
Integrations10%
01
RANK
★ Editor’s Choice
Tally
Best free overall
The most generous free tool here, and it is not close: unlimited forms and submissions, conditional logic, and Stripe payments without paying a cent. It is not open source, so your data lives on Tally's servers, but for most people the free plan simply removes the cost question. You only pay for a custom domain and your own branding on Pro.
A genuine open source platform under the AGPLv3 license that you can self host for full control of your data, with a generous free cloud tier of 1,000 responses a month if you would rather not run servers. The catch is setup: self hosting wants Docker and a database, so it suits teams with a little technical comfort more than a non technical solo user.
Verdict pendingFree · open source (AGPLv3)
87
OUT OF 100
03
RANK
Google Forms
Best free for simple forms
Free with any Google account and wired straight into Sheets, which is all many people need for a quick survey or signup. It is the zero friction default. The design is plain, logic is basic, there are no payments, and it is not open source, so this is convenience rather than control.
Unusually capable on the free plan: real calculations, repeating sections, and the ability to take a payment without upgrading. For complex internal or order forms on no budget it is hard to beat. It is proprietary and the free tier caps entries each month, so heavy use will eventually meet a paywall.
A mature GPLv2 survey platform whose community edition is free to download and self host forever, with deep question logic and expression based calculations that rival paid research tools. The interface feels dated and the setup is technical, so it rewards organizations that want data ownership over polish.
Verdict pendingFree · open source (GPLv2)
81
OUT OF 100
06
RANK
Jotform
Best free plan with templates
The biggest template library of any free option, plus logic and payments, so you can ship a real form fast on the free Starter tier. The free limits are tight though, at five forms and a hundred monthly submissions, which nudges growing users toward a paid plan sooner than the leaders here do.