What is the difference between Jotform and Paperform?

Jotform is best for Businesses wanting forms with payment processing and workflows, while Paperform is best for Creative businesses wanting beautiful forms with payments. Jotform starts at Free and Paperform starts at $24/mo.

Is Jotform or Paperform cheaper?

Jotform starts at Free with a free tier. Paperform starts at $24/mo.

Is there a free alternative to Paperform?

Yes, Jotform offers a free tier (Free for 5 forms).

Jotform vs Paperform

Jotform is online form builder with 10,000+ templates, payments, e-signatures, and approval workflows, while Paperform is beautiful form builder with e-commerce, scheduling, and rich content blocks. The biggest difference up front: Jotform is free, while Paperform starts at $24/mo. Jotform is built for businesses wanting forms with payment processing and workflows, whereas Paperform targets creative businesses wanting beautiful forms with payments.

At a glance

	Jotform	Paperform
Best for	Businesses wanting forms with payment processing and workflows	Creative businesses wanting beautiful forms with payments
Starting price	Free	$24/mo
Free tier	✓	—
Open source	—	—
Free tier available	✓	—
Open source	—	—
Analytics	—	✓
E-Commerce	—	✓
E-Signatures	✓	—
PDF Reports	✓	—
Payments	✓	—
Rich Content	—	✓
Scheduling	—	✓
Templates	✓	—

Jotform

Strengths

Huge template library covers social media, presentations, marketing materials, and more
Includes Payments as a core feature, purpose-built for form builder workflows
Free for 5 forms — generous enough for most small teams to get real work done
Established product with 20+ years on the market and a mature ecosystem

Weaknesses

Free plan exists but key features are locked behind the paid upgrade
Fewer built-in features means you may need additional tools to cover gaps
Ecosystem of third-party integrations is smaller than the market leaders in form builder
Mobile experience lags behind the desktop version in features and polish

Try Jotform → Full review

Paperform

Strengths

Includes E-Commerce as a core feature, purpose-built for form builder workflows
Includes Scheduling as a core feature, purpose-built for form builder workflows
Pricing starts at $24/mo, which includes the full form builder feature set
Includes rich content alongside the core feature set — fewer separate tools needed

Weaknesses

Starts at $24/mo — on the expensive side, especially for small teams or solo users
Fewer built-in features means you may need additional tools to cover gaps
Ecosystem of third-party integrations is smaller than the market leaders in form builder
Limited team/admin features if your organization eventually scales up

Try Paperform → Full review

The bottom line

Pricing: Jotform is completely free (Free for 5 forms), which makes it the obvious pick if budget is the top concern. Paperform starts at $24/mo. That cost buys you a more polished or feature-rich experience, so it comes down to whether the extras justify the spend.

Feature gaps: Jotform offers E-Signatures, PDF Reports and Payments that Paperform lacks. Paperform brings Analytics, E-Commerce and Rich Content that Jotform does not have.

Team fit: Jotform is geared toward any size teams, while Paperform is aimed at small teams teams. Pick the one that matches where your team is today and where it is headed — migrating tools later is always painful.

Where each tool shines: Jotform's biggest strengths are: huge template library covers social media, presentations, marketing materials, and more. includes payments as a core feature, purpose-built for form builder workflows. Paperform's biggest strengths are: includes e-commerce as a core feature, purpose-built for form builder workflows. includes scheduling as a core feature, purpose-built for form builder workflows.

Watch out for: With Jotform, users commonly note that free plan exists but key features are locked behind the paid upgrade. With Paperform, the main complaint is that starts at $24/mo — on the expensive side, especially for small teams or solo users.

Choose Jotform if...

Your profile matches its sweet spot: businesses wanting forms with payment processing and workflows
Budget is a hard constraint — Jotform is free, Paperform is not
You specifically need E-Signatures and PDF Reports
You care about includes payments as a core feature, purpose-built for form builder workflows
Your team size fits the any size profile Jotform is designed for

Choose Paperform if...

You need a tool built for creative businesses wanting beautiful forms with payments
You specifically need Analytics and E-Commerce
You care about includes scheduling as a core feature, purpose-built for form builder workflows
Your team size fits the small teams profile Paperform is designed for