# Paperform — Forms & Surveys

Paperform by Paperform holds a panel rating of 2/5 from 6 AI judges (category median 3/5), as of 2026-11-03. Provenance: provenance unknown; sovereignty: 2 of 6 dimensions proven.

- Vendor: Paperform (https://paperform.com)
- Category: [Forms & Surveys](https://whats-best.ai/software/forms-and-surveys.md)
- Provenance (editorial classification): provenance unknown
- Canonical page: https://whats-best.ai/software/forms-and-surveys/paperform
- Alternatives: https://whats-best.ai/software/forms-and-surveys/paperform/alternatives ([markdown](https://whats-best.ai/software/forms-and-surveys/paperform/alternatives.md))
- Data as of: 2026-11-04 · evaluated 2026-11-03 · oldest source captured 2026-11-03

**AI-generated.** Every score, rationale and verdict here is written by a panel of AI judges from public evidence — an analysis, not a hands-on test. Every fact quotes the vendor page it was read from. No score can be bought. How scores are made: https://whats-best.ai/methodology

## At a glance

- Vendor: Paperform
- Headquarters: Incorporated in United States [S8]
- Data hosting: Outside the EU by default [S8]
- Free plan: Yes, per the vendor’s own page [S1]

## The panel's verdict

Paperform is an online form and survey builder. Scores peak for form building and collection and workflows, at 6 to 7, built on conditional logic, live Excel-style calculations, 30,000-plus templates, embeds, payments, e-signature and Stepper approval routing, with hosting and administration at 6 for workspaces, single sign-on and access controls. Analysis and reporting lands at 4 — submissions export to CSV, the vendor states direct Excel export is not supported, and we found no public information on filters, cross-tabulation or standard scores. Consent and data protection also sits at 4, with no public information on a data processing agreement or anonymous mode and deletion tied to deleting the account. The clearest split is sovereignty, one judge at 2 and four at 4: the low score cites a stated United States domicile and data that may be stored in the United States, Australia or Singapore, while the higher scores credit the Vienna Article 27 representative, standard contractual clauses and a public subprocessor list. One judge scored zero on every criterion, and no paid plan price appears on the captured pages.

**Speaks for it:**
- Conditional show and hide logic, live Excel-style calculations and a 30,000-plus template library underpin form building scores of 6 to 7
- Collection spans standalone links, inline and popup embeds, email invitations, payments, e-signature and file uploads, with webhooks, Zapier, Make and Stepper approval routing
- Hosting and administration scored 6 on workspaces, single sign-on, granular access controls, custom domains and a documented two-tier API
- The privacy policy sets out controller and processor roles, an Article 27 representative in Vienna, standard contractual clauses and a public subprocessor list
- A free plan and a seven-day trial with no credit card required are public

**Held against it:**
- Analysis and reporting rests on CSV export and AI Insights summaries — the vendor states direct Excel export is not supported — with no public information on filters, cross-tabulation or standard scores
- We found no public information on a data processing agreement, an anonymous mode, or encryption of responses in transit and at rest
- The policy states personal information cannot be deleted except by also deleting the account, under purpose-based retention
- The policy states a United States domicile while the legal contact gives a New South Wales address, and data may be stored in the United States, Australia or Singapore
- A connected AI assistant can receive submissions including respondents' personal information, though it can be disconnected in settings, and Google Analytics is used on the services

**Best for:**
- You need a general-purpose builder with conditional logic and live calculations for pricing, bookings or lead capture
- Your team wants submissions routed into CRMs, spreadsheets and chat through native integrations, Zapier, Make, webhooks or Stepper approvals
- You manage several clients or brands and need workspaces, branded themes and custom domains
- You analyse responses downstream in your own tools, where a CSV export is sufficient

**Avoid if:**
- You need in-tool analysis such as cross-tabulation, filters or standard scores, since submissions export to CSV and the vendor states direct Excel export is not supported
- You must delete respondents' answers on a set schedule, as the policy ties deleting personal information to also deleting the account
- Your respondents' data must stay in the EU by default, as the EU region appears only as an Enterprise secondary region and data may be stored in the United States, Australia or Singapore
- Your compliance review cannot accept Google Analytics on the service or an AI assistant path that can receive submissions including respondents' personal information

## Scores by judge and criterion

Scores out of 5, each judge scoring independently against the published rubric (v1). "n/r" = not rated: the vendor publishes no price, or the judge found no public information on that criterion.

| Criterion | The Market Researcher | The Operations Manager | The HR Lead | The Academic Researcher | The Data Protection Officer | The Skeptic |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Form & survey building | 3/5 | 3.5/5 | 0/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 |
| Distribution, response collection & workflows | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 0/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3.5/5 |
| Survey analysis & reporting | 2/5 | 2/5 | 0/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 |
| Consent, GDPR & respondent data | 2/5 | 2/5 | 0/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 |
| Hosting choice, teams & portability | 3/5 | 3/5 | 0/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 |
| European sovereignty | 2/5 | 2/5 | 0/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 1/5 |
| Pricing transparency | n/r | n/r | n/r | n/r | n/r | n/r |
| **Weighted verdict** | **2.5/5** | **3/5** | **0/5** | **2.5/5** | **2.5/5** | **2.5/5** |

### The judges

- **The Market Researcher** (v1.0): Runs customer and brand studies for a mid-sized consumer-goods company, three waves a year in four languages. Wants logic and quotas that keep the sample clean, invitations with reminders, cross-tabs and NPS without exporting to a spreadsheet first, and open answers grouped into themes before the board meeting.
- **The Operations Manager** (v1.0): Replaces paper and PDF forms at a service company: event registrations, supplier onboarding, damage reports with photos, order requests with a payment. Wants forms a colleague can build without IT, file uploads, a submission that lands in the right inbox and the CRM or spreadsheet without copy and paste, and a price that does not jump when the response count does.
- **The HR Lead** (v1.0): Runs the yearly engagement survey and pulse checks for a German company of six hundred, with the works council reading every question. Wants anonymity that is real and stated, results hidden below a minimum group size, reports per department that managers can read, and answers that are deleted when the agreement with the works council says so.
- **The Academic Researcher** (v1.0): Runs questionnaire studies at a European university and has to satisfy the ethics board before the first respondent sees a question. Wants complex branching, randomisation and validated scales, an informed-consent page that is part of the instrument, exports to SPSS and R with labels intact, and a licence the faculty can host or at least keep in the EU.
- **The Data Protection Officer** (v1.0): Signs off every form tool a department wants to use and has found health data in a feedback form before. Wants a data processing agreement and a subprocessor list on the vendor's own pages, consent fields and an anonymous mode that drops IP addresses, retention periods that delete on their own, EU hosting the customer can choose, and roles that keep responses away from people who do not need them.
- **The Skeptic** (v1.0): Has seen a "free form builder" put its logo on every customer survey and charge per response the month the campaign worked. Reads "GDPR compliant" with no data processing agreement behind it, "anonymous" surveys that still log IP addresses, "EU hosting" on the enterprise plan only, and AI analysis features with no word on where the answers go — and asks whether the responses can leave with the customer.

## European sovereignty — proven facts

Built only from facts on the vendor's own pages; a dimension we could not prove is left open, never scored as zero. Headline: 2 of 6 dimensions proven.

| Dimension | Finding | Points | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal entity | Incorporated in US | 0/2 | [S8] |
| Hosting location | Outside the EU | 0/4 | [S8] |
| Hosting options | Not determined | — | — |
| Open source | Not determined | — | — |
| Data processing agreement | Not determined | — | — |
| Transfer impact assessment | Not determined | — | — |

## Key facts

Each fact is the vendor's own statement, cited to the source page it was read from ([S*n*] → Sources).

**Compliance**
- Children policy:  [S8]
- Controller processor roles: yes · yes [S8]
- Data residency: yes [S1]
- Eea transfer mechanism:  [S8]
- GDPR: yes [S1]
- GDPR representative:  [S8]
- GDPR representative address:  [S8]
- Policy last updated:  [S8]
- Right to appeal:  [S8]
- Security measures:  [S8]
- SOC 2: yes [S1]
- SSO: yes [S1]

**Data**
- Deletion account scope:  [S8]
- Excel export: yes · no [S11]
- Export source: Submissions page in dashboard [S11]
- Large export delay: a few hours · yes [S11]
- Response storage: Responses are stored in the Paperform account for review and management [S3]
- Retention policy:  [S8]
- Rights request channel:  [S8]
- User rights:  [S8]

**Hosting**
- API regional urls: Enterprise · AU · EU · https://api.{region}.paperform.co/ [S10]
- Data locations:  [S8]
- Domicile:  [S8]

**Integrations**
- API documentation: yes [S10]
- API plan availability: plan-dependent · yes [S10]
- API tiers: Standard API · Business API [S10]
- Business API endpoints: Update Form · Update Product on form · Create Product on form · Delete Product on form · Create Webhook · Update Webhook · Delete Webhook · Create Space · Update Space · Create Translation · Update Translation · Delete Translation [S10]
- Business API plans: Business · Enterprise [S10]
- Embed: Template can be embedded on your website [S3]
- Embed types: Embed options include Inline and Popup [S3]
- Papersign API: plan-dependent · yes [S10]
- Standard API plans: Pro · Business · Enterprise · legacy Agency [S10]
- Stepper workflow: yes [S9]
- Surface: yes · yes · yes · yes [S1]
- Tracking systems: Airtable, Notion, or your CRM [S9]
- Webhooks: send submissions to own endpoint on new submissions · yes [S10]

**Legal**
- Address: Post Office Box 4, Summer Hill, NSW 2130, Australia [S8]
- Entity: Paperform Pty. Ltd. [S8]

**Pricing**
- Free plan: yes [S1]
- Free template: yes [S3]
- Free trial terms: no [S1]
- Trial: 7 · no [S7]

**Product**
- Acknowledgment 72h: 72 [S9]
- AI assistant access:  [S8]
- AI assistant disconnect:  [S8]
- AI assistant mcp:  [S8]
- AI calculations: yes [S1]
- AI form generation: yes [S1]
- AI insights: AI Insights summarises responses into reports [S1]
- Analytics: yes [S1]
- Analytics dnt:  [S8]
- Analytics tool:  [S8]
- Audit logs: yes [S9]
- Branding: branded themes and custom domains [S1]
- Calculations field: Template uses a calculation field that updates the total price live based on room size and number of nights [S3]
- Calendar reminders: yes [S9]
- Captured fields: Full contact and identification details [S9]
- Captures 30day deadline: 30 [S9]
- Conditional logic: yes [S3]
- Conditional logic: yes [S2]
- Custom domain URL: yes [S1]
- Customisation: Custom branding, DPO details, embeddable on privacy or contact page [S9]
- Customizable: Template text, questions, visuals and calculation fields are fully customizable [S3]
- Data categories field: Specific data categories being requested [S9]
- Declaration consent: Declaration and consent [S9]
- Editor doc like: yes [S1]
- Embedding: embed anywhere or share standalone [S1]
- Excel style functions: Calculations use Excel-style functions and math [S3]
- Form builder: forms with data capture, payments, workflows, document signing [S1]
- Guided mode: guided one-question-at-a-time · classic [S1]
- Identity upload: Identity verification documentation upload [S9]
- Integrations categories: CRMs, email, spreadsheets, chat, project management integrations [S1]
- Mobile friendly: yes [S3]
- Papersign: yes [S1]
- Payments: yes [S3]
- Payments bookings: yes · yes [S1]
- Question logic: yes · yes [S1]
- Related templates: Related templates include Hong Kong PDPO DSAR, Norwegian GDPR Consent Form, GDPR Data Breach Assessment Form, German Data Breach Notification Form, LGPD Consent Form, and others [S9]
- Relationship field: Relationship to the organisation (customer, employee, etc.) [S9]
- Respondent partial entry capture:  [S8]
- Stepper: yes [S1]
- Switch function: Formula multiplies nights by room price, uses switch function to change base price, and a custom pricing rule adds the calculation answer to the form total [S3]
- Target users: Irish businesses, professional services firms, HR departments, healthcare providers, financial institutions, SaaS companies, and any organisation processing personal data of Irish residents [S9]
- Template free: yes [S9]
- Template purpose: Irish GDPR Data Subject Access Request (DSAR) form template for organisations operating in Ireland, aligned with Data Protection Commission (DPC) requirements [S9]
- Templates: 30,000+ [S1]
- Workspaces: yes [S1]

**Subprocessors**
- List URL:  [S8]
- Payment:  [S8]

**Support**
- Human support: yes [S1]

## Questions

### Is Paperform European?

Not determined: the vendor’s pages as captured do not say where Paperform is based. Its vendor, Paperform, is incorporated in United States, per [the vendor’s page captured 3 Nov 2026](https://whats-best.ai/evidence/17407).

### Where does Paperform store data?

Paperform stores customer data outside the EU by default, per [the vendor’s page captured 3 Nov 2026](https://whats-best.ai/evidence/17407).

### Does Paperform have a free plan?

Yes. Paperform has a free plan, per [the vendor’s page captured 3 Nov 2026](https://whats-best.ai/evidence/17362).

### What are the best alternatives to Paperform?

As of 3 Nov 2026, the panel rates [Formbricks (4/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/forms-and-surveys/formbricks), [easyfeedback (3.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/forms-and-surveys/easyfeedback) and [Netigate (3.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/forms-and-surveys/netigate) highest among the other 19 Forms & Surveys products evaluated. Ratings that look equal are rounded to half stars; the order uses the unrounded rating, then the name. The highest-rated European alternative is [Formbricks](https://whats-best.ai/software/forms-and-surveys/formbricks) (EU-Made). Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: [how scores are made](https://whats-best.ai/methodology#ordering). The full list, with European products first: [Paperform alternatives](https://whats-best.ai/software/forms-and-surveys/paperform/alternatives).

## What this page leaves out

- 21 product facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 5 compliance facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 5 integrations facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 2 data facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 2 pricing facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 2 support facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 1 hosting fact could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and was left out of this page and of the panel’s material.

## Sources

- [S1] Vendor page: https://paperform.com (checked 2026-11-03)
- [S2] Form & survey building — found from sitemap: https://paperform.com/conditional-logic-forms/ (checked 2026-11-03)
- [S3] Form & survey building — found from sitemap: https://paperform.com/templates/calculations-pricing-template/ (checked 2026-11-03)
- [S4] Distribution, response collection & workflows — found from sitemap: https://paperform.com/help/articles/can-i-share-my-form-as-a-qr-code/ (checked 2026-11-03)
- [S5] Distribution, response collection & workflows — found from sitemap: https://paperform.com/payment-forms/ (checked 2026-11-03)
- [S6] Survey analysis & reporting — found from sitemap: https://paperform.com/help/collections/results-reports-and-analytics/ (checked 2026-11-03)
- [S7] Survey analysis & reporting — found from sitemap: https://paperform.com/form-analytics/ (checked 2026-11-03)
- [S8] Consent, GDPR & respondent data — found from sitemap: https://paperform.com/privacy/ (checked 2026-11-03)
- [S9] Consent, GDPR & respondent data — found from sitemap: https://paperform.com/templates/irish-gdpr-data-subject-access-request-form/ (checked 2026-11-03)
- [S10] Hosting choice, teams & portability — found from sitemap: https://paperform.com/help/articles/paperform-api/ (checked 2026-11-03)
- [S11] Hosting choice, teams & portability — found from sitemap: https://paperform.com/help/articles/export-to-excel/ (checked 2026-11-03)

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Cite as: whats-best.ai, "Paperform — Forms & Surveys", AI panel analysis, as of 2026-11-04. https://whats-best.ai/software/forms-and-surveys/paperform

Corrections: https://whats-best.ai/correct/1445?target=page