[ formbackend.com · “Stop building form backends. Start shipping.” · verified 2026-08-20 ]
FormBackend deserves real credit: alongside Furrow Forms it is one of the only form backends with a genuine hosted MCP server — OAuth-secured, with tools to create forms and update their settings. It also offers native file uploads, broad integrations, and an unusual free hosted-form plan. The comparison below is therefore the closest one in this hub, and comes down to agent ergonomics, delivery guarantees, and pricing structure.
The short answer
Furrow Forms is the better choice when agents should run the whole lifecycle — including registering the account — and when many sites share configuration: cold-start, settings cascade, one-call site bootstrap, and signed webhooks with retries on every tier. FormBackend is the better choice for native integrations, attachments delivered in the notification email itself, and its free hosted-form option, with a capable MCP of its own for existing accounts.
Furrow Forms — best for
Agent cold-start, multi-site agencies, settings inheritance, webhook delivery guarantees, free-tier API
FormBackend — best for
Email attachments, native integrations (incl. Twilio, Zendesk), hosted forms, teams already signed up
Feature by feature
| Capability | Furrow Forms | FormBackend |
|---|---|---|
| Create & configure forms via API | yes Full CRUD over REST + MCP; bootstrap_site provisions a whole site’s forms in one call | partial REST: create, list, delete (no update). MCP adds update_form_settings |
| MCP server | yes 26 tools over streamable HTTP or stdio — full lifecycle, from account registration to reading submissions and Stripe billing links | yes Hosted, OAuth 2.1 or API key, 5 tools incl. create_form and update_form_settings — genuinely capable |
| Agent cold-start (account via API) | yes Agents register accounts via GET/POST /api/register; the human reads one email code | no The MCP requires an existing account and credentials; signup is browser-only |
| Site-level settings, inherited by forms | yes Security and routing configured once per website; every form inherits | no Per-form configuration |
| Whole-site provisioning in one call | yes bootstrap_site: client + website + all forms, idempotent | no One form at a time |
| Signed webhooks with retries + log | yes HMAC-SHA256 signed, retried with backoff, logged, testable — all tiers | partial Webhooks from the $5 tier; signing and retry policy undocumented |
| Spam protection | yes Honeypot + timing field + Turnstile + domain allowlist + rate limits + server-side filtering, on by default; spam never counts toward quota | yes Automatic filtering plus Turnstile, reCAPTCHA, hCaptcha |
| API access on the free tier | yes The whole product on the free tier, volume-capped | no API is a Freelancer feature ($14/mo) |
| File uploads | yes Opt-in per website, inherited by every form; files land in a private per-site inbox (PDF, JPEG, PNG, WebP by default) — emails and webhooks link to it, never to raw file URLs | yes Native, with email attachments; 250 MB–10 GB storage by tier |
| Native integrations | no Signed webhooks are the integration story | yes Zapier, Mailchimp, Airtable, Sheets, Notion, Slack, Twilio, Zendesk… |
Pricing
| Furrow Forms | FormBackend | |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | $0 — 100 subs/mo, full API + MCP | $0 — 1 form, 50 subs/mo (or free hosted-builder plan, unlimited subs) |
| First paid tier | $199/yr flat per workspace — 10k subs/mo, unlimited forms & sites | Simple $5/mo — 1,000 subs/mo, 2 forms |
| Tier with API access | Included free | Freelancer $14/mo (~$168/yr) — 5,000 subs/mo, 10 forms |
| Unlimited forms | All tiers | Business $50/mo |
FormBackend’s API tier (~$168/yr) undercuts Furrow Pro on price but caps forms at 10; unlimited forms costs $600/yr there. Furrow is unlimited forms and sites at $199/yr, with the API and MCP free from the start.
The agent test
[ formbackend.com ]
[ furrow forms ]
Honest trade-offs
FAQ
They are the two most agent-capable form backends. Choose Furrow Forms for agent cold-start, one-call site provisioning, settings inheritance, and signed webhooks with retries. Choose FormBackend for broader integrations, email attachments, and its free hosted-form plan.
FormBackend’s hosted MCP (create_form, update_form_settings, submissions) is genuinely capable but requires an existing, human-created account. Furrow Forms adds agent account registration (cold-start), whole-site bootstrap in one idempotent call, project-level settings that cascade to every form, and webhook delivery an agent can verify (signed, retried, logged, testable).
FormBackend: free 1 form / 50 subs, $5/mo for 1,000 subs, API from $14/mo, unlimited forms at $50/mo. Furrow Forms: free 100 subs/mo with unlimited forms and the full API/MCP; $199/year flat per workspace for 10,000 subs/mo, unlimited forms and sites.
[ verified against formbackend.com on 2026-08-20 · re-checked monthly · corrections welcome — /contact ]
paste this into your agent
Fetch furrowforms.com/ai and set up forms for this site.