Hosted form backend

The form backend for HTML forms, static sites, and custom apps.

Point any HTML form at a FreelyForm endpoint. We validate and store every submission, deliver it to your inbox, and keep a per-channel delivery record — without server code or a proprietary form builder.

Create your first form Read the quickstart

Native HTML and JSON · File uploads · Signed webhooks · Spam controls

Delivered 200

Submission stored 0.0s
Email to [email protected] 0.4s
Signed webhook 0.6s
Autoresponse queued 0.8s

freelyform.com

What is a form backend?

A form backend is the server-side half of a web form. It receives the POST request, validates and stores the fields, notifies the people who need to see it, and returns a response to the browser.

FreelyForm provides that backend as a hosted endpoint. Static sites and front-end apps can accept submissions without running a server, writing a mailer, or maintaining a database.

Why use one

Everything after submit, handled.

Most forms fail after the visitor clicks send: mail lands in spam, a field is missing, an attachment is lost, or nobody notices that delivery stopped. FreelyForm makes the post-submit path visible and repeatable.

Validation and rules

Require fields, block values, mark spam, or route submissions based on the content. Rules run before a submission is accepted or counted.

Delivery you can inspect

Owner notifications and autoresponses each have a status, error message, and retry action. No guessing whether the mail left the building.

Verified recipients

Recipients confirm their address once. Until then submissions are stored safely as pending and delivered automatically after confirmation.

File uploads

Accept images, PDFs, and documents with a MIME and extension allowlist, per-form limits, and a configurable retention period.

Webhooks and alerts

Send signed payloads to your own endpoint, Discord, or Telegram. Failed deliveries are retried and kept in a replayable log.

Submission API

Query submissions, export CSV, inspect delivery attempts, and retry failed channels with account-scoped API keys.

How it works

Three steps from form to inbox.

No SDK is required. The endpoint accepts standard form posts, so the integration is mostly a copy-and-paste change.

Create a form and copy the endpoint

Give the form a name, add up to five recipients, and choose whether to show a message, redirect, or return JSON after submit.
Verify the inbox that should receive mail

Each recipient confirms once by email. Submissions received before confirmation are retained and queued for delivery afterwards.
Point your existing form at the endpoint

Set the action attribute, keep your field names, and submit. Add /embed.js if you want inline success and error states without a redirect.

Every submission is stored first, then delivered per channel. Nothing is lost when an inbox bounces.

Your existing form, one changed attribute

<form action="https://freelyform.com/f/FORM_ID" method="POST">
  <input type="text" name="name" required>
  <input type="email" name="email" required>
  <textarea name="message"></textarea>
  <button type="submit">Send</button>
</form>

Already using JavaScript? POST JSON with an Accept: application/json header and read the structured response. See the quickstart or browse the API reference.

Side by side

What a form endpoint does, and what you would otherwise build.

Three ways to get a form that stores and emails a submission. This table is about the work each one leaves you with, not about a vendor.

The middle column describes the category — widget builders differ, and the rows that vary most are phrased as “usually”. The FreelyForm column is implemented behaviour, not a plan.
Question	Written by you	Embedded widget	FreelyForm
Whose markup renders the form?	Yours	Usually theirs, themed	Yours
Works without JavaScript?	Depends what you wrote	Usually no	Yes, a plain POST
Who runs the receiver?	You	They do	We do
Where submissions live	Your database	Their platform	Stored, unlimited archive, CSV
Owner notification	Your SMTP, your reputation	Usually included	Included, with a delivery record
Retry a failed send	You build it	Varies	Attempts and last error recorded
Spam control	You build it	Usually included	Honeypot, heuristics, Turnstile
Server-side validation and routing	You build it	Often in-widget logic	Require, block, spam, route
File uploads	You handle storage and cleanup	Plan-dependent	5 × 25 MB default, 90-day attachments
Draft and resume link	You build it	Uncommon	Yes
Signed webhooks with replay	You build it	Uncommon	HMAC-SHA256, retries, log, replay
API to read submissions	You build it	Usually read-only	Included
Time to first delivery	Hours to days	Minutes	Minutes
Cost	Host, mail provider, your time	Subscription	From free: 80 submissions a month

The longer comparison covers the full table, what the endpoint accepts, and the migration path in both directions.

Use cases

One endpoint, several kinds of forms.

The same ingest path handles contact forms, quote requests, application forms, support intake, and file submissions.

Contact forms for static sites

Add a working contact form to GitHub Pages, Cloudflare Pages, Netlify, Vercel, or any static host without a serverless function.

Static site setup →

Forms in React and Next.js

Keep your component and validation layer. POST to the endpoint with fetch and show the structured response inline.

React example →

File and document intake

Accept resumes, briefs, screenshots, or scanned documents with allowlists, size limits, and a retention policy.

File upload setup →

Webhook-driven workflows

Deliver submissions to a CRM, helpdesk, spreadsheet service, or custom automation with a signed payload.

Webhook setup →

Reliability and abuse

Delivery is a state, not a hope.

Each submission keeps its own delivery history. When a channel fails, the reason is visible and the retry is explicit.

Failures are a state you can inspect and replay, not a silent drop.

Per-channel records. Email, autoresponse, and webhook attempts are tracked separately.
Automatic retries. Transient failures are retried with backoff; permanent failures stay visible for review.
Suppression list. Hard bounces, complaints, and unsubscribes stop future sends to the affected address.
Origin allowlist. Restrict a form to the domains you expect instead of accepting posts from anywhere.

Rate limits and captcha. Per-form limits, a custom honeypot field, and optional Turnstile slow down abuse.
Rules before storage. Required-field and block rules reject bad input with a clear 422 response.
Encrypted SMTP credentials. Bring-your-own SMTP passwords are encrypted with AES-256-GCM.
Retention controls. Set how long submissions are kept and let attachments expire on a schedule.

Early access note: FreelyForm does not publish an uptime SLA yet. The delivery log and retry controls are the operational record.

For developers

A form API that stays out of your markup.

Send JSON, inspect the response, and manage the same data from the API that powers the dashboard.

Submit JSON

curl -X POST https://freelyform.com/f/FORM_ID \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H 'Accept: application/json' \
  -d '{"name":"Ada","email":"[email protected]","message":"Hello"}'

Verify a webhook signature

const expected = createHmac('sha256', secret)
  .update(timestamp + '.' + rawBody)
  .digest('hex');

// header: x-freelyform-signature
// value:  t=<timestamp>,v1=<expected>

Form backend questions, answered

Do I need a server to use FreelyForm?

No. FreelyForm hosts the endpoint that receives your form. Any HTML form can POST directly to it, and static hosts such as GitHub Pages, Cloudflare Pages, Netlify, and Vercel can use it without server-side code.

Can I keep my existing HTML form?

Yes. Change the form action to your FreelyForm endpoint and keep the field names you already use. Native HTML posts, JSON requests, and multipart file uploads are supported.

Where do submissions go?

Every submission is stored in your FreelyForm account and queued for delivery to the recipients you configure. Each delivery channel has its own status, error detail, and retry action.

Can I receive file uploads?

Yes. Forms can accept multiple files with a MIME and extension allowlist, per-form count and size limits, and an attachment retention period. Files are downloadable from the submission view.

How much does FreelyForm cost?

FreelyForm is free during early access while billing is being built. The free plan carries 80 submissions a month; if a month goes over that, submissions are still stored and shown as over limit, without a notification email, and can be reprocessed once there is room. Per-form rate limits and fair-use safeguards apply as well.

Put your forms on a backend that keeps a record.

Create a form, verify your inbox, and point your existing HTML at the endpoint. No server, no SDK, no rewrite.

Create your first form Read the quickstart

One action attribute · urlencoded, JSON, or multipart · no SDK, no build step

The form backend for HTML forms, static sites, and custom apps.

What is a form backend?

Everything after submit, handled.

Validation and rules

Delivery you can inspect

Verified recipients

File uploads

Webhooks and alerts

Submission API

Three steps from form to inbox.

Create a form and copy the endpoint

Verify the inbox that should receive mail

Point your existing form at the endpoint

What a form endpoint does, and what you would otherwise build.

One endpoint, several kinds of forms.

Contact forms for static sites

Forms in React and Next.js

File and document intake

Webhook-driven workflows

Delivery is a state, not a hope.

A form API that stays out of your markup.

Form backend questions, answered

Do I need a server to use FreelyForm?

Can I keep my existing HTML form?

Where do submissions go?

Can I receive file uploads?

How much does FreelyForm cost?

Put your forms on a backend that keeps a record.