Quick answer
Tally - Tally wins for most builders because its free tier is effectively unlimited for forms and submissions, while Fillout caps free use at 1,000 responses per month.
How the free tiers compare
The main difference is not feature breadth so much as how the free tier behaves under real use. Fillout gives you a lot of product surface area on free, including workflows, PDFs, scheduling forms, payments, unlimited seats, and REST API access, but it draws a hard line at 1,000 responses per month. Tally is looser on volume: unlimited forms and submissions within fair usage guidelines, plus signatures, file uploads, payments, logic, calculations, multilingual support, and key integrations. That makes Tally better for builders who want to stay free while running ongoing internal forms or lightweight public intake. Fillout is stronger if you need more structured form-product features and can live inside the response cap. Once paid, Fillout starts at a lower entry point than Tally, but Tally’s free ceiling is the bigger practical advantage for many small teams.
Fillout vs Tally free tier, side by side
| Fillout FTV 42 | Tally FTV 58 | |
|---|---|---|
| Free forms Tally says unlimited forms and submissions within fair usage guidelines. | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Free submissions / responses This is the biggest practical difference in the free tier. | 1,000 responses/month | Unlimited within fair usage guidelines |
| Seats on free plan Fillout explicitly includes unlimited seats. | Unlimited | Not stated |
| File uploads on free plan Tally includes file uploads on free; no size limit is stated there. Tally Pro lists a 10 MB per file limit. | Unlimited file uploads | Collect file uploads |
| Payments on free plan Both let you collect payments for free. | Included | Included |
| Logic and calculations on free plan Both cover core branching and calculations. | Conditional logic, calculations and scoring | Conditional logic and calculations |
| Signatures on free plan Tally explicitly includes signatures on free forms. | Not stated | Included |
| Integrations on free plan Fillout’s list is broader but less specific in the input. | Most integrations included, REST API access included | Google Sheets, Notion, Airtable, Zapier, Make, webhooks |
After you outgrow the free tier
Both products use flat monthly pricing after free. Fillout starts lower at $15/month for Starter, then $40/month for Pro and $75/month for Business, with response quotas stepping from 2,000 to 5,000 to unlimited. Tally starts at $24/month for Pro and $74/month for Business. For small teams that only need a paid upgrade, Fillout is cheaper at the entry level. Tally becomes more attractive if the free tier is enough, because its free plan carries unlimited submissions within fair usage, so many builders never need to pay at all.
Cost at real usage
| Usage | Fillout | Tally |
|---|---|---|
| 500 responses/month, 1 team Both fit comfortably on free. | Free (within tier) | Free (within fair usage) |
| 1,000 responses/month, 1 team Fillout is at its free ceiling, but still within it. | Free (within tier) | Free (within fair usage) |
| 2,000 responses/month, 1 team Fillout needs Starter; Tally still does not require a paid plan from the provided data. | $15/mo | Free (within fair usage) |
| 5,000 responses/month, 1 team Fillout reaches Pro; Tally pricing beyond free is not tied to usage in the provided data. | $40/mo | Free (within fair usage) |
Estimates, not quotes. Usage-based rates change - verify with the vendor's pricing page before committing.
When to pick each one
Pick Fillout when…
- You want workflows, PDF generation, scheduling forms, and payments on a free plan without stitching tools together.
- You need unlimited seats on the free tier for a team that collaborates on form building.
- Your form volume is predictable and stays under 1,000 responses per month.
- You care about embedding forms in multiple formats like popups, sliders, side tabs, or full-screen forms.
- You plan to upgrade only if you need branding removal, custom domain, analytics, or custom code.
Pick Tally when…
- You want the free tier to handle ongoing submissions without a hard monthly response cap.
- You need signatures on forms without paying first.
- You want a no-signup starting point for quick experiments or one-off forms.
- You rely on integrations like Google Sheets, Notion, Airtable, Zapier, Make, or webhooks from day one.
- You want multilingual forms with RTL support on the free plan.
Bottom line
For the most common builder use case, Tally is the safer free-tier pick because it lets you keep collecting submissions without a fixed monthly cap, and it still covers the basics that matter: logic, calculations, payments, file uploads, signatures, and core integrations. Fillout is the better choice if you need more form-product features on free and know your volume will stay under 1,000 responses a month. If you expect steady public traffic, Tally wins. If you want more control and can accept the cap, Fillout is the tighter package.
Read the full listings: Fillout and Tally. Scores use the FTV methodology at /ftv. Browse more head-to-heads on /compare, or see the top-ranked free tiers on /top.