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Head to head · facts checked Oct 15, 2026

PDFBetter vs Formstack

Formstack automates forms, document generation and approvals for teams; PDFBetter edits, fills and signs PDFs with a free plan. Compare price and features.

Reviewed

Our verdict

Formstack is a workflow platform for organizations: web forms with approvals, document generation from Salesforce or HubSpot data, and e-signatures in its Suite plan. PDFBetter is a PDF editor with forms and signing built in, priced for individuals and small teams and with a permanent Free plan. Teams automating data-to-document workflows should look at Formstack; people who need to edit, fill, sign and publish PDFs should look at PDFBetter.

Written by PDFBetter, so read it knowing we're one of the two products. Every Formstack fact below links to its source.

The 18-row feature table, at a glance

  • yes
  • partial
  • paid plans
  • no
  • unknown

PDFBetter

7 yes · 3 partial · 1 paid plans · 7 no

Formstack

6 yes · 7 paid plans · 2 no · 3 unknown

Who should pick which

Pick by what you actually need

Choose Formstack if…

  • You generate many documents from data in Salesforce, HubSpot or SharePoint using Word, PowerPoint or PDF templates.
  • Your forms need approval routing, save-and-resume, partial submissions or drop-off analytics.
  • You need payment collection in forms or a Salesforce-native forms product.
  • Your organization needs SSO, SCIM provisioning or a HIPAA option.
Visit formstack.com

Choose PDFBetter if…

  • You need to edit existing PDF text, redact, run OCR or convert Office files, which Formstack does not list.
  • You want e-signatures without moving to a multi-user suite plan.
  • You are an individual or small team and want a free plan or a one-time Day Pass rather than a monthly platform fee.
  • Your forms are PDFs that must keep their exact layout.
See PDFBetter plans

Pricing

What each one costs

PDFBetter
Free: $0 with 3 edited-document downloads, 3 signature requests and 20 AI credits a month, with no card and no end date. Pro: $15/month, or $10/month billed yearly, with a 7-day free trial for first-time subscribers (card required). Business: $24/seat/month, or $18/seat/month billed yearly. Day Pass: $6 one time for 24 hours of Pro.
Formstack
Forms $99/month or $83/month billed annually (no e-signature); Suite with Forms, Documents and Sign $299/month or $250/month billed annually; Salesforce and Enterprise plans custom. 14-day Forms trial, no free plan.

Formstack prices checked on formstack.com. Prices change; the source is authoritative.

PDFBetter apps

In the browser, on your desktop, on your phone

Everything on this page works in any browser. The apps use the same account and the same documents.

All PDFBetter downloads

Feature by feature

18 things compared

Show all 18 rows
PDFBetter compared with Formstack, feature by feature
FeaturePDFBetterFormstack
Free plan (not a trial)Formstack lists a 14-day trial of Forms with no credit card required.YesNo
Web form builderPDFBetter publishes fillable PDFs as online forms; Formstack builds web forms.PartialYes
Conditional logicYesYes
Save and resume, partial submissionsNoYes
Approval routingFormstack: Suite plan.NoPaid plans
Collect paymentsNoYes
Generate documents from dataPDFBetter fills a PDF template from spreadsheet rows (5,000 rows a month on Business). Formstack Documents merges data into Word, PowerPoint, PDF and CSV templates.PartialPaid plans
Request signaturesFormstack Sign is included in Suite, not in the Forms plan.YesPaid plans
Edit existing text in a PDFFormstack's help says PDF template changes are made in a separate PDF editor.YesNo
OCR, redaction and compressionNot listed on the Formstack pages we checked.YesUnknown
Office to and from PDF conversionYesUnknown
AI document chat and summaryYesUnknown
AI form draftingPDFBetter detects fields in an existing PDF; Formstack drafts a form from a prompt when an admin enables it.PartialYes
Salesforce-native productNoPaid plans
SSO and SCIMFormstack lists SSO on Enterprise.NoPaid plans
HIPAA optionFormstack: paid add-on, or included on Salesforce and Enterprise plans (vendor statement).NoPaid plans
Integrations catalogNoYes
APIPDFBetter: Business. Formstack: API access on Enterprise; Documents has its own API.Paid plansPaid plans

“Paid plans” means the feature exists but not on a free tier. “Unknown” means we couldn't verify it.

Pricing and what each plan includes

Formstack's Forms plan is $99 a month, or $83 a month billed annually, for one builder user, 25 forms and 1,000 submissions per form; it does not include e-signatures. The Suite plan, at $299 a month or $250 billed annually, adds Documents and Sign with three builder users, 100 forms, 250 document deliveries a month, unlimited e-signatures and approval routing. Salesforce and Enterprise plans are priced on request. Formstack offers a 14-day trial of Forms and no free plan.

PDFBetter's browser tools (merge, split, rotate, images to PDF and similar) run on your device and download free without an account. Downloading a document you edited in the editor needs a free account; the Free plan includes 3 such downloads a month with no watermark, plus 3 signature requests, 1 live form with 50 responses, 20 OCR pages and 20 AI credits. Pro costs $15 a month, or $10 a month billed yearly, and a $6 Day Pass gives 24 hours of Pro without a subscription.

Forms and workflows

Formstack forms support conditional logic, save and resume, payments, approval workflows, partial submissions and analytics on where people drop off, with admin permissions, SCIM and subaccounts for larger organizations. Formstack Documents fills Word, PowerPoint, PDF or CSV templates with data from forms or connected systems.

PDFBetter's form builder works on the PDF page itself, with 23 field types, formulas and conditional rules. You publish a form as a link, QR code or embed, then export responses to CSV or Excel. Business plans can fill a PDF template from spreadsheet rows (5,000 a month). There are no approval chains, payment fields or CRM connectors.

Signing and PDF editing

Formstack Sign sends documents by email or SMS with reminders, signing order, reusable templates and an audit trail, with no per-envelope fees on Suite. Formstack's help documentation says changes to a PDF template are made in your own PDF editor and re-uploaded; we did not find text editing, OCR or redaction among its products.

PDFBetter combines the editor and signing: edit text, redact, OCR a scan, then request signatures with order, reminders and a completion certificate. Every signer signs with their own cryptographic key. Every completed PDF is digitally sealed and independently time-stamped, with the evidence built into the file. Free includes 3 requests a month and Pro ($15 a month) is unlimited.

PDFBetter vs Formstack: questions people ask

Does Formstack include e-signatures in every plan?

No. Its pricing page lists e-signatures in the Suite plan, not in the Forms plan.

Can Formstack edit PDFs?

Formstack Documents fills PDF templates with data, but its help says template edits are made in a separate PDF editor. PDFBetter edits existing PDF text directly.

Is there a free version of Formstack?

Formstack lists a 14-day trial of Forms with no credit card and no free plan. PDFBetter has a Free plan with no end date.

Which is better for Salesforce users?

Formstack, which offers a Salesforce plan and document generation from Salesforce data. PDFBetter has no Salesforce integration.

Sources

7 sources
  1. Formstack pricing — formstack.com, checked
  2. Formstack Sign — formstack.com, checked
  3. Formstack Documents — formstack.com, checked
  4. Formstack Forms features — formstack.com, checked
  5. Formstack help: PDF templates in Documents — help.formstack.com, checked
  6. PDFBetter pricing and plan limits — pdfbetter.com, checked
  7. PDFBetter security: e-signature evidence — pdfbetter.com, checked

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