Comparison
| Tool | Why it fits (from official info) | Pricing | Official pricing | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Tally | Cheapest overall. Free is $0 with unlimited forms and submissions within Tally's fair-use policy, plus conditional logic, payments, signatures and file uploads; the in-editor Tally AI assistant builds and edits forms from a prompt and is free on every plan. Pro ($29 monthly or $290/year) removes Tally branding and adds custom domains, partial submissions and drop-off analytics. | Freemium | Free $0 (unlimited forms and submissions within fair use); Pro $29/month or $290/year ($24/month billed yearly); Business $89/month or $890/year ($74/month billed yearly). | |
 Fillout | Best AI form generator on a free plan. Describe the form (or upload a PDF) and Fillout's AI, powered by Zite, builds it. Free is $0 with 1,000 responses a month and unlimited seats — exactly this volume. Starter ($15/month billed yearly, $180/year) doubles that to 2,000; Pro ($480/year) removes branding at 5,000 responses. | Freemium | Free $0 (1,000 responses/month, unlimited forms and seats); Starter $15/month billed yearly ($180/year; $228/year monthly) with 2,000 responses/month; Pro $40/month billed yearly ($480/year; $588/year monthly) with 5,000 responses and no branding; Business $75/month billed yearly ($900/year; $1,068/year monthly) with unlimited responses and custom domain. Yearly saves 20%. | |
 Jotform | Best if you also want an AI Agent that collects details by chat, voice or SMS. Starter is free but capped at 5 forms and 100 submissions a month, so 1,000 responses needs Bronze: $39 monthly or $408/year (1,000 submissions, 25 forms, 1,000 AI Agent conversations a month). | Freemium | Starter free: 5 forms, 100 submissions and 100 AI Agent conversations a month; Bronze $39/month or $408/year (1,000 submissions/month, 25 forms); Silver $49/month or $468/year (2,500 submissions/month); Gold $129/month or $1,188/year (10,000 submissions/month, HIPAA features); Enterprise custom. | |
 Typeform | Most polished one-question-at-a-time forms; Typeform AI form creation is on every plan including Free. But Free allows only 10 responses a month and Basic 100, so 1,000 responses needs Plus: $79 monthly or $56/month billed yearly (our arithmetic: $672/year), with 3 users and no branding. | Freemium | Free: 10 responses/month, includes Typeform AI for building forms; Basic $39/month or $28/month billed yearly (100 responses/month, 1 user); Plus $79/month or $56/month billed yearly (1,000 responses/month, 3 users, no branding); Business $129/month or $91/month billed yearly (10,000 responses/month, 5 users); Enterprise via sales. Yearly saves about 30%. |
How to do it with AI
- Count last month's real submissions (quote requests, sign-ups, intake forms) across all forms. Fillout and Typeform count responses per month across the whole account; Jotform caps submissions and active forms.
- Write a one-paragraph brief of the form (fields, required/optional, what happens after submit) and paste it into Tally's AI assistant or Fillout's AI form builder to get a first draft, then edit by hand.
- Connect the form to where leads live (Google Sheets, Notion, Airtable, HubSpot or your email) and send a test submission end to end.
- Compare yearly totals at your volume: Tally Free $0 (Pro $290 to remove branding); Fillout Free $0 up to 1,000 a month, Starter $180 for 2,000; Jotform Bronze $408; Typeform Plus $56/month billed yearly.
- If you are close to a limit, pick the plan one step up or set alerts: Typeform warns at 90% and 100% and then switches forms to private until next month.
Form brief you can paste into Tally AI, Fillout AI or Typeform AI (our suggested wording, not a test output)
Build a quote-request form for my small cleaning company. Fields: name, email, phone (optional), postcode, type of service (regular home cleaning, deep clean, move-out clean, office), number of bedrooms (only show if a home service is chosen), preferred start date, how often (one-off, weekly, every two weeks, monthly), and a free-text box for anything else. Make email and postcode required. Thank-you page: say we reply within one business day. Keep it to one page, plain English, no marketing claims, and do not add prices.
Hands-on log
- 2026-11-15 · Not tested
Not tested hands-on yet. Tally lets you create a form without an account, but we did not run its AI assistant for this page; Fillout, Jotform and Typeform need an account before you can use their AI builders. Facts on this page come from the official pricing and product pages; yearly totals are our arithmetic from the published rates.
China-made vs Western: Jinshuju next to Tally, Fillout, Jotform and Typeform
Jinshuju is listed in our mainland China section. It is the long-running form and survey platform used in mainland China for registrations, payments and surveys, now with a built-in AI agent; the Western tools above are self-serve form builders with public USD pricing.
| Need | Jinshuju | Tally / Fillout / Jotform / Typeform |
|---|---|---|
| AI form creation | Built-in AI agent Jiri builds forms or organizes data from a one-sentence request; AI exam question generation | Tally AI assistant (all plans), Fillout AI form builder, Typeform AI (all plans), Jotform AI Agents for conversational collection |
| Free volume | 50,000 entries a month on the free plan | Tally unlimited (fair use); Fillout 1,000; Jotform 100; Typeform 10 responses a month |
| Payments | WeChat payments on paid plans | Payments on Tally and Fillout free plans; Jotform payment submissions capped per plan; Typeform via Stripe |
| Price | Paid plan prices shown on its plans page; 7-day Enterprise trial | Public USD pricing, e.g. Fillout Starter $180/year, Tally Pro $290/year |
| Connect your own AI assistant | MCP for Claude, ChatGPT and Chinese assistants | Tally API and MCP server; Typeform MCP |
FAQ
What is the cheapest AI form builder for 1,000 responses a month?
Tally and Fillout both cost $0 at this volume. Tally Free has unlimited forms and submissions within fair use and its AI assistant is free on every plan; Fillout Free includes 1,000 responses a month and its AI form builder.
Is Tally really free?
Tally says its free plan has unlimited forms and submissions within its fair-use guidelines, including logic, calculations, payments, signatures and file uploads. Pro ($29 monthly or $290 a year) adds branding removal, custom domains and analytics.
How many responses does Typeform's free plan allow?
10 responses a month across all forms; Basic allows 100 and Plus 1,000. The allowance resets monthly and unused responses don't roll over. Typeform AI for building forms is included on Free.
How much does Jotform cost for 1,000 submissions a month?
Bronze: $39 monthly or $408 a year, with 1,000 monthly submissions, 25 active forms and 1,000 AI Agent conversations a month. The free Starter plan allows 100 submissions and 5 forms.
Does Fillout charge per user?
No. Every Fillout plan, including Free, has unlimited seats; plans differ by monthly responses and features (Free 1,000, Starter 2,000, Pro 5,000, Business unlimited).
Is there a mainland China alternative?
Jinshuju (jinshuju.net) is a form, survey, registration and payment platform with a built-in AI agent, Jiri. Its free plan collects 50,000 entries a month and paid plans add WeChat payments, bookings and data lookup. See our mainland China section.
Head-to-head comparisons
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