# forms.app vs SurfSense

forms.app records 987,157 monthly visits with -11.2% month-over-month growth and Freemium, Paid pricing. SurfSense records 61,868 monthly visits with -17.4% growth and Freemium, Free Trial, Contact for Pricing pricing.

| Metric | [forms.app](https://openaitools.app/tool/forms-app) | [SurfSense](https://openaitools.app/tool/surfsense) |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| Website URL | https://forms.app | https://www.surfsense.com |
| Categories | AI Forms, AI Quiz Generator, AI Quizzes | AI Report Writing, AI Cover Generator, AI Pitch Deck Generator, AI Email Generator |
| Pricing Model | Freemium, Paid | Freemium, Free Trial, Contact for Pricing |
| Monthly Visits | 987,157 | 61,868 |
| MoM Growth Rate | -11.2% | -17.4% |
| Primary Market | Brazil | United States |
| Direct Visits | 595,531 | 20,999 |
| Review Score | 4.2 | 4.5 |
| Saved Count | 3 | 3 |
| Supported Platforms | Website | Website |

## forms.app

forms.app is built around a simple promise: collect data without limits and without a learning curve. The editor is drag-and-drop, so anyone on a team can assemble an application form, booking form, registration page or customer satisfaction survey in minutes, pulling from a library of 5000+ pre-built templates that already include the fields you would otherwise forget.

Beyond plain forms, the platform handles surveys, quizzes, polls and tests, and it adds AI assistance at several points. You can describe the form you need and let the AI form generator build it, ask for alternative phrasings of a question so it reads more naturally, or auto-generate multiple-choice answer options. Once responses arrive, real-time submission tracking, smart filters and AI insights help you interpret the data rather than just export it.

The team and automation side matters just as much: unlimited responses, views and members on the free tier, plus 500+ integrations and webhooks that push submissions into Google Sheets, CRMs or internal tools. Security posture includes GDPR compliance, ISO/IEC 27001 certification, PCI DSS and OWASP alignment, which is why the company positions itself as a fit for European and regulated buyers.

**Pricing & Plans:** Freemium with a permanently free tier that includes unlimited responses, views and team members. Paid plans unlock advanced branding, file uploads, e-signatures, PDF generation and higher storage; an Enterprise tier is available on request. Check the pricing page for current figures.

- **Drag-and-drop form builder:** Assemble forms, surveys, quizzes and polls visually, then brand them with custom themes and your own domain.
- **AI form generation:** Describe what you need and the AI drafts the full form; it can also rephrase questions and generate multiple-choice answer options.
- **500+ integrations and webhooks:** Automate the path from submission to spreadsheet, CRM or internal system without manual copying.
- **5000+ ready-made templates:** Start from reviewed templates for applications, bookings, feedback, HR, events and interactive quizzes.
- **Response analytics and AI insights:** Track submissions in real time, filter results, analyse drop-off and get AI summaries of what your data says.

**Strengths:** Unlimited responses, views and team members on the free plan; AI assists at every stage: full form generation, question rewording, answer options and response insights; Very large template library and deep integration catalogue; Strong compliance set including GDPR and ISO/IEC 27001

**Limitations:** Some advanced features such as e-signatures and custom PDF generation sit behind paid plans; Very wide template library can take a moment to navigate; Best experience for complex branding requires a learning curve

[Profile (Markdown)](https://openaitools.app/tool/forms-app.md)

## SurfSense

SurfSense is built around a simple idea: a research assistant should not require an account, a cloud upload, or a subscription you cannot audit. You install a normal desktop app for Windows, macOS or Linux — no Docker and no terminal required — and on first launch you pick a model. A small local model downloads once and runs on your CPU, meaning you can literally disconnect the network and keep asking questions about the sources you have already indexed. Alternatively you can paste a key for OpenAI, Anthropic or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint, and that key stays on the machine that uses it.

On top of that index sits a toolkit of outputs. Any set of sources can be turned into a slide deck, a written report, a briefing, a podcast-style audio conversation, a mind map, flashcards, a quiz, a spreadsheet of extracted tables, or a standalone web page. Because generation happens locally, there is no per-minute fee and nothing is uploaded, which matters for lawyers, accountants, consultants and engineers working with case files, ledgers or client documents they are not permitted to send to a vendor.

The free core is genuinely free and open source, with no account and no usage cap. Paid licences exist only to unlock SurfSense's own server-side scraper plugins (among them Google Search, Reddit, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Google Maps, Amazon, Walmart, Indeed and a general web crawler) and priority support. Plugins you add yourself — third-party plugins and MCP servers — need no licence. Enterprise agreements mirror the licensing and plugin endpoints inside a customer's own network so that nothing egresses at all.

**Pricing & Plans:** The application and all its updates are free forever — no account, no trial clock, no usage cap. A 14-day plugin licence is included with the free download (email only, no card). An Individual licence costs $60 for the first year and $120 a year thereafter and unlocks every SurfSense plugin plus priority support and one feature-build request per year. An Enterprise deployment is custom-priced and invoiced annually. Self-building from source is also free.

- **Air-gapped, self-hosted operation:** Install a normal desktop app on Windows, macOS or Linux and run it with no account. With a local model you can pull the network cable and keep querying your indexed sources, since nothing is sent to a vendor.
- **Bring your own model, or run a local one:** Choose a bundled local Qwen or Gemma model at first launch, or paste a key for OpenAI, Anthropic or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint. The model is a setting rather than a fixed vendor choice.
- **Twelve artifact formats:** Turn one set of sources into slide decks, reports, briefing notes, podcasts, mind maps, flashcards, quizzes, Markdown, Word, PDF, HTML and spreadsheet outputs — generated and stored locally.
- **Scraper plugins for live sources:** Optional plugins pull research from Google Search, Reddit, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Google Maps, Amazon, Walmart, Indeed and the open web, and anyone can register their own MCP server.
- **Open source and enterprise-deployable:** The source is public and auditable, and an Enterprise deployment mirrors licensing and plugin endpoints inside your own network with model and network policy you control and a local audit log of outbound calls.

**Strengths:** Runs fully offline with a local model, so sensitive sources never leave your machine; No account, no sign-up and no usage cap on the core application; Choice of model — bundled local models or your own OpenAI, Anthropic or compatible key; Open source and auditable, with a wide range of output formats from a single source set

**Limitations:** The first local model download and setup step takes time and some technical patience; The most useful scraper plugins sit behind a paid licence, which runs $60 the first year then $120 a year; Collaboration and cloud sync are intentionally absent, so it suits individual work better than shared team workspaces

[Profile (Markdown)](https://openaitools.app/tool/surfsense.md)

## Frequently Asked Questions

### How do forms.app and SurfSense compare in monthly traffic?

forms.app has 987,157 monthly visits, while SurfSense has 61,868. Traffic estimates describe audience size, not product quality.

### How do their growth rates compare?

forms.app has a month-over-month growth rate of -11.2%; SurfSense has -17.4%.

### How does pricing compare?

forms.app: Freemium, Paid. Freemium with a permanently free tier that includes unlimited responses, views and team members. Paid plans unlock advanced branding, file uploads, e-signatures, PDF generation and higher storage; an Enterprise tier is available on request. Check the pricing page for current figures. SurfSense: Freemium, Free Trial, Contact for Pricing. The application and all its updates are free forever — no account, no trial clock, no usage cap. A 14-day plugin licence is included with the free download (email only, no card). An Individual licence costs $60 for the first year and $120 a year thereafter and unlocks every SurfSense plugin plus priority support and one feature-build request per year. An Enterprise deployment is custom-priced and invoiced annually. Self-building from source is also free.

## Alternatives

| # | Tool Name | Monthly Visits | MoM Growth Rate | Pricing Model | Summary | Profile (Markdown) |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 1 | [Fillout](https://openaitools.app/tool/fillout-com) | 3,923,917 | -9.7% | Freemium | Offers advanced no-code form customization and robust database integrations, but with slightly less automated AI generation. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/fillout-com.md) |
| 2 | [ChatPDF](https://openaitools.app/tool/chatpdf) | 1,044,477 | -3.7% | Freemium | Chat with any PDF, video, or website and get cited answers in seconds | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/chatpdf.md) |
| 3 | [AnythingLLM](https://openaitools.app/tool/anythingllm) | 512,269 | +12.9% | Freemium | Own your intelligence: a private AI assistant that runs entirely on your machine | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/anythingllm.md) |
| 4 | [iWeaver](https://openaitools.app/tool/iweaver) | 336,462 | +32.9% | Freemium | AI agents that turn your own documents into summaries, mind maps and reports | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/iweaver.md) |
| 5 | [BlockSurvey](https://openaitools.app/tool/block-survey) | 302,480 | -14.9% | Freemium, Paid | Focuses heavily on end-to-end encryption and privacy, trading some ease of design for high-security data collection. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/block-survey.md) |
| 6 | [Makeform](https://openaitools.app/tool/makeform) | 160,692 | -10.8% | Freemium | Provides seamless AI-native form generation from text prompts, matching forms.app's speed with cleaner modern layouts. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/makeform.md) |
| 7 | [Opinion Stage AI](https://openaitools.app/tool/opinion-stage-ai) | 120,996 | +2.5% | Contact for Pricing | Excels at building interactive quizzes and polls for lead capture, offering richer marketing funnel features than forms.app. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/opinion-stage-ai.md) |
| 8 | [Meetily AI](https://openaitools.app/tool/meetily-ai) | 99,061 | -2% | Freemium, Free Trial, Contact for Pricing | Open-source, privacy-first AI meeting assistant that runs locally | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/meetily-ai.md) |
| 9 | [FormHug](https://openaitools.app/tool/formhug) | 92,118 | -4.8% | Freemium, Free | Free AI form builder for humans and AI agents | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/formhug.md) |
| 10 | [Tenorshare AI Chat PDF Tool](https://openaitools.app/tool/tenorshare-ai-chat-pdf-tool) | 90,781 | +30.4% | Freemium | Chat with PDFs, summarize documents and draft content in one AI workspace | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/tenorshare-ai-chat-pdf-tool.md) |

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Source: https://openaitools.app/compare/forms-app-vs-surfsense

More Markdown: [Categories](https://openaitools.app/categories.md) · [Traffic rankings](https://openaitools.app/rankings.md) · [llms.txt](https://openaitools.app/llms.txt)
