Say Goodbye to Coding: Build Forms Visually With These Free Tools
Introduction
Building web forms is a crucial part of many websites and web applications. However, coding forms from scratch can be complex, time-consuming, and frustrating. The good news is there are now many free form builders with visual drag-and-drop interfaces that allow you to quickly create forms just by pointing and clicking - no coding required!
In this post, we'll look at the key benefits of building forms visually compared to writing all the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript yourself. Then we'll cover some of the top free form builders that have intuitive visual interfaces and handy features to help you prototype and build forms faster.
We evaluated these tools based on their ease of use, selection of fields and templates, submission management and integrations, styling customization options, and ability to export clean code. By the end, you'll have a better understanding of which builder may work best for your specific needs and project. Let's dive in!
Overview of Form Building Options
There are a few different ways to build web forms today. Each has its own pros and cons regarding flexibility, ease of use, cost, and more.
Coding Forms from Scratch
This gives you total flexibility to build any type of form, but requires strong coding skills and is very time intensive. The benefit is you have complete control over styles, logic, computations, etc. This is a good option for developers who want to hand code custom forms tailored to complex needs.
Using Form Plugins or Modules for CMS Platforms
This provides a quick way to add ready-made forms like contact forms to CMS sites like WordPress. The downside is limited customization options compared to coding from scratch. These help non-developers quickly add simple forms to their CMS sites.
Leveraging No-Code Platforms
With these platforms you can build forms visually through drag-and-drop editors and configuration. They handle form data, storage, submissions, and integrations without needing to write code. Support complex logic and conditions and are easy for non-technical users. Less flexibility than coding for some advanced scenarios.
Visual Form Builders Covered in This Post
These provide drag-and-drop interfaces to design forms visually without coding knowledge. Useful for rapidly mocking up form layouts and prototypes. Most have limited built-in integrations and submission management. Allow you to generate HTML and CSS code to copy/paste into your site.
Top 5 Free Visual Web Form Builders
After comparing many options, these 5 free form builders stood out for their ease of use, features, and flexibility:
Formito
Extremely simple and intuitive drag-and-drop builder. Just drag fields from the sidebar onto the canvas. Handles form validation and submissions. Decent selection of common field types. Export clean HTML and CSS markup for your site.
Ideal for: Quickly mocking up simple contact forms.
FormBuilder
Highly customizable with themes, templates, and styling options. Wide range of field types, logic options, calculations. Submission management and integrations. Lots of control over form layout and styles. Embed forms via iframes or export HTML.
Ideal for: Creating polished, customized forms with advanced features.
Formulate
Great for rapidly mocking up form designs with flexible drag-and-drop editor and canvas. Export PDFs of forms for prototypes and documentation. Huge library of form layout templates and examples. Not built for data capture or submissions.
Ideal for: Designing form layouts for documentation.
123FormBuilder
Simple editor good for basic contact forms. Handle form submissions via email. Limitied customization and field options. Quick way to make a simple contact form. Lacks styling flexibility or complex logic.
Ideal for: Fast no-frills contact forms.
FormGet
Large library of good looking form templates. Decent selection of common fields to add. Manage form data collection and submissions. Limited control over form styling/branding. Quickly customize any template for your needs.
Ideal for: Applying a template for basic data collection.
Key Considerations for Choosing a Form Builder
With all the options available, here are some key factors to consider when picking the right form builder for your needs:
Your Technical Skills and Comfort with Coding
If comfortable with code, build from scratch for ultimate flexibility. Use visual drag & drop builders if you want an interface without coding. Pick CMS form modules to quickly add basic forms to sites. Choose no-code platforms like DevHunt to avoid any coding work.
Complexity of Form Logic and Computations Needed
Coding gives full control for complex conditional logic. Some builders support basic logic and branching. No-code platforms enable complex workflows with no code. Most builders best for simple linear forms.
Need for Customization in Design and Styling
Coding allows for full styling control and branding. Some builders have themes and ability to add custom CSS. No-code platforms provide styling flexibility. Limited control with basic visual form builders.
Built-in Integrations for Data and Submissions
Code any custom integrations and data handling needed. Some builders have integrations for data and apps. No-code platforms connect to other services. Most handle form submissions only.
Availability of Templates Suited to Your Needs
Code fully custom forms from scratch. Some builders offer templates to customize. No-code platforms have large template libraries like DevHunt. Leverage CMS modules for pre-made forms.
Conclusion
In summary, coding forms still provides the most flexibility, but for many use cases visual form builders can save huge amounts of development time and frustration. The options range from coding from scratch to CMS plugins to no-code platforms. When deciding on a form building approach, key factors to consider are your coding skills, need for customization, form logic complexity, built-in integrations, and template availability.
The top free visual form builders like FormBuilder, Formulate, 123FormBuilder, and FormGet all have their ideal use cases based on the complexity and customization needs of your project. For quickly mocking up forms, Formulate is great, while FormBuilder provides tons of styling and customization options. No-code tools like DevHunt enable building advanced forms without any coding expertise. Overall, visual builders allow you to create forms faster and easier without the need to code everything from scratch.
Hopefully this guide gave you a good overview of building forms visually. Try out some of the suggested free tools on your next project and say goodbye to the headaches of coding forms manually! Check out DevHunt's visual form building features to see the power of no-code solutions.