Disclosure first

We have tested Tally end to end (full evidence-linked review). For the alternatives below we verified pricing against official pages only — Typeform pricing and platform overview, Jotform pricing, Google Forms about page — captured August 30, 2026 (Typeform free-plan limit re-checked August 31) — we have not built forms in them. Read competitor rows as “what the vendor claims,” not as our hands-on findings.

Correction (2026-08-31)

An earlier version of this page claimed Typeform “no longer has a free tier at all.” That was wrong, and we are keeping the correction visible. What our 2026-08-30 screenshot actually shows is that no Free card appears among the pricing tiers — but the same page’s FAQ confirms a free plan still exists (“The free plan is a great way to explore Typeform… with a limited number of responses per month”), and Typeform’s official platform overview (checked 2026-08-31) states it directly: unlimited forms, 3,000+ templates, up to 10 responses per month. The lowest paid self-serve tier is Basic at 28 USD/mo on the captured page.

So the real story is not “Typeform killed free” — it is how small the surviving free plans are: 10 responses/month caps Typeform’s free tier before a single real survey finishes; Jotform’s caps at 5 forms; Tally’s free plan, the only one we exercised end to end, claims no caps (subject to a fair-use policy that does publish soft trigger thresholds — see our pricing breakdown).

Tally vs the alternatives on paper

Tool Free plan (official-page verified) Key difference vs Tally Tested by us?
Tally Unlimited forms & submissions; payments, webhooks, integrations included — ✅ hands-on, evidence-linked
Google Forms $0 with a Google account No native webhooks or payments; Sheets-native analysis is its moat ❌ docs only
Typeform Free plan exists: unlimited forms, 10 responses/mo (official overview, checked 2026-08-31); no Free card shown among pricing-page tiers Paid entry 28 USD/mo (Basic card, captured 2026-08-30); brand-name converter UX ❌ official pages only
Jotform Starter plan marked FREE: 5 forms, 100 monthly submissions, 1 user, 100 MB storage (official page captured 2026-08-30) Hard numeric caps vs Tally’s unlimited claim ❌ pricing page only

Note the shape of the market: every major player still waves a “free” flag, but the ceilings differ by orders of magnitude — 10 responses/month on Typeform, 5 forms on Jotform, none stated on Tally. That is a pricing-page-level statement (the Typeform and Jotform rows are quoted, not tested) — and a reminder that third-party “X free plan limits” tables go stale fast; every row above points to an official source and a capture date.

When Tally is the wrong pick anyway

  • You need auto-graded quizzes → Google Forms has it, Tally doesn’t.
  • Your org is Workspace-bound and IT won’t approve new vendors → Forms’ gravity beats features.
  • You need enterprise compliance out of the box (SSO, DPA at scale) → Tally’s Business tier is newer than Forms’ enterprise machinery.

Bottom line

If “usable free plan” is the requirement, Tally is the strongest default among what we can actually stand behind: it is the only row in the table above where we exercised the free plan in a real browser end to end. The Typeform and Jotform numbers are vendor-quoted, not tested — read the table with that asymmetry in mind, and re-verify against live pages before paying for anything. “Free” in form-builder comparisons has a short shelf life.

Competitor pricing captured from official pages 2026-08-30; Tally claims linked to tested evidence in our hands-on review. Prices change — check the vendor page before deciding.

If your “free site” is really a one-page landing rather than a form, see our Carrd terms check.

More of our Tally guides: