123FormBuilder Review 2024: A Marketing Expert’s Verdict

1

Comprehensive Form Builder Designed for Businesses

123FormBuilder is the last in a long (I mean really long) list of online form builders that I’ve spent months testing. At this point, I’m very much aware that many form builders are very similar, so I’m always on the lookout for platforms that offer something different. 123FormBuilder is good, but it doesn’t have that type of wow factor.

Like many of its competitors, 123FormBuilder is focused on providing essential marketing and admin features for businesses, so if you need a form builder for a personal project, then this one probably isn’t for you.

123FormBuilder is available in five languages besides English: Spanish, Portuguese, French, Dutch, and German. On paid plans, it also supports multi-language forms. There are advanced features like conditional logic, multi-page forms, and e-signature fields, too.

123FormBuilder has a free plan, but it’s pretty restrictive. You’re limited to creating just five forms on the free plan, and each form has a maximum of ten form fields. Rivals such as Cognito Forms have much more generous free plans.

However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be considering 123FormBuilder. It does have some great features, such as the ability to publish your forms in up to 15 different ways – including publishing to Facebook, integrating with WordPress, integrating with Hootsuite, and even publishing forms directly to a Wix website.

Ready to discover more about what 123FormBuilder has to offer? Let’s dive straight in!

Almost 2,000 Templates – but Not on all Plans

123FormBuilder boasts a huge collection of pre-designed form templates – over 1,900 of them. With so many form templates to choose from, it’s almost guaranteed that you’ll find the template you need. If not, you can start with a blank template and use the simple drag-and-drop editor to build your perfect form. All the templates will work well on mobile devices, no matter which publishing option you choose.

I have one major gripe with 123FormBuilder: selecting templates is complicated. I’ll go into this more in the Ease of Use section below, but the TL;DR version of this issue is that only a few templates show up in the template picker, making the process more complicated than it needs to be.

In the 123FormBuilder template gallery, you can browse templates by category (such as booking forms, contact forms, quizzes, inquiry forms, and many more) or business type. The latter is a great option if you want to see some recommended templates for your business. Business types include banking, beauty, church, e-commerce, food and beverage, real estate, medical, and IT. If you already know which type of form you need, you can search for it instead of browsing the recommendations.

Another thing to note with the templates is that not all of them are available on all plans. Some require you to be subscribed to the Gold plan, while others are reserved for Platinum plan subscribers. For example, the PayPal donation form template is only available on the Platinum plan, and in the medical forms category, only around 50 out of the 200+ form templates are available on the free plan, while 30 are only available on the platinum plan.

It’s a good idea to browse the template gallery before you sign up to make sure the templates you need are available on the plan that best suits your budget.

Lots of Great Features – but Nothing Really New

123FormBuilder has a great selection of features to ensure that it works well for your business – but unfortunately, there are no tools included that make it stand out from other form builders. Many of the best features (like payment integrations, conditional logic, and most third-party integrations) are only available on paid plans that are not particularly budget-friendly.

123FormBuilder has a drag-and-drop editor for building your forms and 20 predefined themes (fonts and colors). You can easily customize your forms with your logo and branding. You can even create your own form themes (limited to three on the free plan).  The form fields, of which there are plenty to choose from, are split into categories, like Basic Fields, Specific Fields, Other Fields, and E-commerce.

One area where 123FormBuilder does seem particularly strong is in its variety of publishing options. In fact, 123FormBuilder offers one of the largest selections of form publishing options out of all the form builders I’ve tested! You can publish via social media, WordPress, and even through third-party platforms like Salesforce and Unbounce. You can also use automatically generated code to display your forms in lightboxes or pop-up boxes on your website.

Apps and Integrations

If you’re using forms for your business, being able to integrate them with third-party tools for marketing or sales purposes can help streamline your operations. 123FormBuilder has up to 34 third-party apps (depending on your plan – there are just four on the free plan), including mailing list tools, customer relations management (CRM) platforms, file storage integrations (including Google Drive and Dropbox), and help desk integrations (such as Zendesk).

On the free plan, you can use the NationBuilder integration, create Shopify customer profiles from your form submissions, integrate with the Wix Contacts app, and use the Adobe FormsCentral Import Tool. All other apps and integrations are only available on paid plans.

Team Collaboration

Using 123FormBuilder as part of a team can help improve collaboration and manage data easily. Simply add new users to your account by buying additional licenses from your dashboard. Having a team account lets you share custom templates, form themes, and create automated processes – without compromising on security.

If you have very large teams, 123FormBuilder’s Enterprise plan can be customized to fit your needs.

There is one thing you should know about 123FormBuilder’s team collaboration options – there are no discounts for additional users. Each additional user on your account costs the same. The main difference between your team members each having separate accounts versus the same one is that it is easier to share data.

Security Features

If you’ve ever published a form online without a spam filter, you know how frustrating it is to receive junk form submissions on a daily basis. It’s especially problematic when there’s a cap on the number of form submissions you can receive (100 per month on the free plan, 5,000 on the Gold plan, and 20,000 on the Platinum plan). Fortunately, 123FormBuilder includes security features on all its plans.

Security features include spam protection via image CAPTCHA and built-in smart CAPTCHA (so genuine visitors don’t have to go through the frustration of image CAPTCHAs every time they fill in a form). You can activate additional security features, such as the country filter (to block or limit specific countries from submitting the form) and IP limitation (so multiple forms submitted through the same IP address are flagged as spam).

If you upgrade to a paid plan, you can also password protect your forms – and if you choose the Platinum plan your forms will benefit from SSL encryption, too, making it safe to handle sensitive data and process payments.

Uncluttered Dashboard and Simple Editor – with One Big Flaw

One thing that I really like about 123FormBuilder is that its dashboard isn’t filled with tools and menus. There’s a list of your existing forms, a graph showing your submissions, and a big blue button to create new forms. Without the clutter, it’s simple to navigate.

Even if you’ve never built a form before, you can easily get started with 123FormBuilder.

Simple Form Editor

The drag-and-drop form editor is really easy to use. One of the things I really like about the editor is that although the form fields are grouped into categories, they’re all individually-listed in the left-hand panel and easy to find. When you select the form field you need, all you have to do is drag and drop it where you want it. Some form builders use collapsable menus to “hide” form fields in different categories, making it harder to see at a glance what’s available. I much prefer 123FormBuilder’s interface.

In-Editor Tips and Help

When you first start using 123FormBuilder, you’ll get hints and tips on how to use it. While there’s no “tour” feature and you can’t go back to revisit tips (or, at least, I couldn’t find a way to), the guidance does help to get started with 123FormBuilder’s editor. This is particularly useful if you’re a beginner or you’re switching from another form builder with a different interface.

If you need additional guidance, you can also access 123FormBuilder’s support and Knowledge Base via the help menu at the bottom left of the builder.

Complex Template Selection

123FormBuilder has a lot of templates to choose from, which is great. Who wants to have to design their own forms when form builders can give you the pre-designed templates? There’s one major problem with 123FormBuilder’s templates, however: there’s only a small selection of templates in the template picker.

When I say small, I mean there are literally only ten actual templates (plus a blank form and a scanned form option where you can upload a scanned copy of a physical form). Ten templates out of almost 2,000 is less than 0.5% of the available options. To see, preview, and select from the remaining 99.5% of templates, you have to follow the link to the Template Gallery.

This isn’t the first time I’ve seen a form builder with a convoluted template selection process, though. Formstack uses the same strategy – but its template picker displays 42 of the 300+ templates available.

It’s not a deal-breaker for 123FormBuilder, but it is frustrating!

There are several ways to get support with 123FormBuilder: live chat, email/ticket, and via the knowledge base – although from the form builder interface, you can only access the knowledge base or fill in a form for ticket/e-mail-based support. If you navigate to the homepage while logged into your account, however, you can use the live chat function via the blue button at the bottom right of the screen.

123FormBuilder doesn’t publish its customer support availability hours, but I used the live chat to find out this information for you. I was connected pretty quickly to a support agent, who confirmed that support is available almost 24/5 (Monday-Friday). On weekends, support is available 2 PM to 10 PM UTC+3 EEST (Eastern European Standard Time). On weekdays, support is unavailable from 8 AM  to 9 AM EEST and 4:30 PM to 5:30 PM EEST.

I was impressed by the support offered, particularly with the quick responses and the detailed responses. Despite 123FormBuilder being based in Eastern Europe, the communication was in native-level English that was easy to understand.

I’ve got to be honest; 123FormBuilder is not a budget form builder. Its paid plans, Gold and Platinum, are more expensive than some of its rivals, such as Cognito Forms and Wufoo, as it lacks a basic-level plan between its free and Gold plans. If you want to use forms to accept payments, you will need to subscribe to the Platinum plan, which is almost double the price of the Gold plan.

The 123FormBuilder plans offer an annual payment option exclusively, while providing a 30-day money-back guarantee if you decide to reconsider within the initial month. We accept a variety of payment methods, including all major credit cards, PayPal, Wire transfer, WebMoney, and UnionPay.