Forms · checked 2026-10-19

Can I vibecode Fillout?

KINDA· weekend project

The form is the easy half: a schema, a public page with show-or-hide logic, a submissions table, CSV export and a webhook fit one agent session, much as Tally's does. What Fillout charges for sits around it: about 55 integrations, PDFs, calculations, scheduling, login forms and workflows. Rebuild the one or two you actually use, such as Airtable or a webhook, and a weekend covers it. A copy of every connector is a different product.

$19/moprice

$228you'd save a year

weekendbuild time

—people replaced it

Before you start

What you need on hand.

DifficultyIntermediate · Some system setup or keys.

TimeA weekend; the Airtable sink and its retries take the longest

Claude Code, Codex or CursorAny of them can run the prompt.
Node.js 22better-sqlite3 compiles a native module, so build tools must be installed.
An Airtable tokenA personal access token with write access to the one base you use.
SMTP credentialsFor notification emails with the PDF; a free tier is plenty.
A public HTTPS addressRespondents need to open the form; a tunnel or a small VPS.
Your Fillout responsesThe CSV from the Results page of each form.

Before you buildCheck Fillout Free first: unlimited forms and seats, 1,000 responses a month, payments and PDF generation cost nothing. Tally's free plan is an alternative with similar limits.

1. Install one agent: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor.
2. Make an empty folder and open it in the agent.
3. Paste the prompt below, press enter, and answer its questions as it builds.

The prompt

Build me a form builder that writes to Airtable to replace Fillout. Requirements:

- Node.js 22 + TypeScript: a Fastify server and a React builder built with Vite. `npm start`
serves http://localhost:4720 with the builder at /admin and each form at /f/<slug>.
- Storage: better-sqlite3 in ./data/forms.db. A form is one JSON document checked with `zod`:
pages of fields (short text, long text, email, number, date, dropdown, multi-select, checkbox,
rating, file up to 20 MB), a required flag and an optional show-if rule per field (field,
operator, value, with AND/OR groups). Submissions get their own table; files go to ./data/uploads/.
- Public page: server-rendered with Eta, one page at a time with a progress bar, answers piped
into later labels as {{field}}, and a draft saved in localStorage so a visitor can resume.
- Rules: one shared function evaluates show-if rules in the browser and again on the server, which
rejects any answer to a hidden field. A honeypot field and 10 submissions per minute per IP.
- Builder: add, reorder and delete fields, edit labels and rules, preview, and a Publish switch;
every save keeps the previous version so I can revert.
- Sinks, one file each in src/sinks/: CSV download, a webhook with an HMAC signature header, an
email through nodemailer SMTP with a PDF of the answers (`pdf-lib`), and Airtable (AIRTABLE_TOKEN
in .env, base and table per form, a field-to-column map). Retry 3 times with backoff and list
failures in the admin so nothing is lost.
- Single owner behind a password from .env. No accounts, no telemetry, local-first: outbound
calls go to the sinks you configured.
- Out of scope: payments, scheduling forms, login forms, Notion and Salesforce sinks, teams.
- Done when a submission with a hidden-by-rule field filled in is rejected, and one valid
submission lands in the SQLite table, the Airtable row and the email with its PDF.
- README: the .env keys, how to create the Airtable token, and how to expose /f/ through a tunnel.

Opens your agent with the prompt filled in, you press enter. Or copy it and paste it into an empty folder.

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Then keep going

Next prompts, same folder.

The first prompt builds the core. Run these one at a time in the same folder to grow it into your own Fillout.

Add a CSV importer to the form builder in this folder. Requirements:

- `npm run import-responses -- <form-slug> results.csv` reads the file from Results > download
  in Fillout and maps each column to a field by label; print unmatched columns before importing.
- Create submissions with the original timestamp when the CSV has one, mark them as imported and
  never send them to sinks.
- Skip rows already imported (hash of the row), so a second run changes nothing.
- A dry-run flag prints counts only. Update the README with the export steps.

Add a Google Sheets sink to the form builder in this folder. Requirements:

- A new file src/sinks/sheets.ts using `googleapis` and a service account JSON path in .env.
- Per form: spreadsheet id, tab name and a field-to-column map; on the first submission write
  the header row if the tab is empty.
- Append rows with `spreadsheets.values.append`, retry like the other sinks, and show failures in
  the admin.
- The README explains sharing the sheet with the service account's email address.

Add a Stripe payment step to the form builder in this folder. Requirements:

- Per form, an optional price: a fixed amount or a field with a number to multiply by a unit price.
- After a valid submission, create a Stripe Checkout Session (STRIPE_SECRET_KEY in .env) and
  redirect to it; store the session id on the submission as "awaiting payment".
- A webhook endpoint verifies the signature on `checkout.session.completed`, marks the submission
  paid once, and only then runs the sinks.
- Unpaid submissions older than 24 hours are listed in the admin and never sent to sinks.
- Update the README with Stripe test-mode steps.

What you lose

Native connectors beyond Airtable and webhooks: Notion, Sheets, HubSpot, Salesforce, Slack and about 55 in all
Payment fields, scheduling forms and login forms
Calculations, scoring and prefilled or hidden fields
Import tools for Typeform, Jotform, SurveyMonkey and Google Forms
A hosted form page with a template library and nothing to keep running

Why people still pay

Fillout's draw is that the answer lands where the work happens: a row in Airtable, a page in Notion, a line in Sheets, with unlimited seats on a flat fee. Teams pay when they pass 1,000 responses a month or need their own domain, custom code or partial submissions.

Moatintegrations execution polish

Do the math

Fillout or your own copy?

Over

Your usage

Count my time12h ×$/h

Fillout, 1 yr$228

Your own copy, 1 yr$44running + build session

You keep$185pays for itself in the first month

Estimate · A $5 VPS or a free tunnel, with SMTP and Airtable on their free tiers. The build is token usage on your agent plan.

Leaving Fillout

Take your data, then cancel.

1 · Take your data out of Fillout

1Responses: open the form, click Results in the top menu, apply any filters, then click the download icon in the top right. You get a CSV that respects the filters.
2The REST API has a get-all-submissions endpoint that returns JSON for one form; the GDPR help page also says you can export all form responses at any time.
3Form structure: export the form from Fillout to a file you can re-import. That file has no submissions or comments, and integrations such as Airtable or Notion must be reconnected.

2 · Cancel Fillout

1Open the subscription page under Settings and click Cancel. Fillout and Zite subscriptions are separate, so cancelling one leaves the other running.
2Your plan stays active until the next renewal date (the end of the year on annual plans); after that the account moves to the Free tier.
3On Free you can still view forms and past responses and edit forms without paid add-ons, and you can collect up to 1,000 responses a month. Partial submissions stop being tracked.
4Integrations may be paused or limited and may need re-enabling if you upgrade again.

Refunds: new customers can ask within the first month if usage was minimal; existing customers within 14 days of a charge for upgrades and renewals. After that you get account credit instead of money back.
The cancel page doesn't say what happens to forms or responses above Free limits: ask support@fillout.com before you cancel if you hold many forms.
Enterprise customers should contact their account manager or support instead of using the cancel button.
Keep the old form links live, or redirect them, until the new form has received a test submission.

Checked 2026-10-19 against Fillout's docs: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

The escape hatch

Don't feel like building it? These are already free.

OpnFormOpen sourceForm builder with logic, file uploads and integrations; AGPL-3.0 core with an enterprise folder under its own licence.★ 3.9k · active Oct 2026 · docker to self-host
WebVisit ↗HeyFormOpen sourceAGPL-3.0 conversational form builder with logic jumps and webhooks.★ 9.0k · active Oct 2026 · docker to self-host
WebVisit ↗FormbricksOpen sourceAGPL core, survey-first tool with link, in-app and website surveys; some folders are under an enterprise licence.★ 13k · active Oct 2026 · docker to self-host
WebVisit ↗

All 4 free alternatives to Fillout ›

The numbers

Fillout pricing

Plan	Monthly	Annual, per month	What you get
Free	$0/workspace	$0/workspace	Unlimited forms, questions and seats, 1,000 responses a month, 50+ field types, payments, scheduling, conditional logic, PDF generation, 20 MB files.
Starter	$19/workspace	$15/workspace	2,000 responses a month, all question types, custom endings, login forms, redirect on completion.
Pro	$49/workspace	$40/workspace	5,000 responses a month, removes all Fillout branding, custom share links, custom fonts and favicon, custom CSS.
Business	$89/workspace	$75/workspace	Unlimited responses (fair use), form analytics, custom domain, custom code, partial submissions, pre-fetch data, priority support, file uploads of 1 GB or more.
Team bundle	$300/workspace	—	Fillout's Business plan plus Zite apps and databases: 800+ credits a month, 1,000,000 records, 250,000 workflow runs a month, roles and granular permissions.
Enterprise	custom	—	Everything in the Team bundle plus SSO, unlimited workflow runs, audit logs, dedicated support and custom agreements.

Free tier: 1,000 completed submissions a month, counted per calendar month in UTC, including your own test submissions. Past the limit forms keep collecting responses; frequent overages may prompt an upgrade request.
Billing: Monthly or yearly, per workspace, with unlimited users on every plan. The pricing page opens on yearly prices; the monthly toggle shows $19, $49 and $89. Yearly plans are charged upfront. Fillout and Zite are separate subscriptions. New customers can ask for a refund within the first month if usage was minimal; renewals and upgrades within 14 days.
Hidden costs: Response caps on Free, Starter and Pro; a custom domain, custom code, partial submissions and form analytics need Business, and files over 20 MB do too. Zite apps are billed apart from forms.
Source: www.fillout.com

Also on the list

Tally$29/mo · FormsYES

Typeform$39/mo · FormsKINDA

Paperform$59/mo · FormsKINDA

Questions

Fillout, briefly

Not answered here? Tell us and we'll add it.

Ask a question ›

Free forever: unlimited forms and seats, 1,000 responses a month, payments, conditional logic and PDF generation.

Kinda. The core is a weekend build with the prompt on this page, but real gaps remain: Native connectors beyond Airtable and webhooks: Notion, Sheets, HubSpot, Salesforce, Slack and about 55 in all, Payment fields, scheduling forms and login forms.

About $19 a month on the Starter plan, $228 a year (checked 2026-10-19).

Native connectors beyond Airtable and webhooks: Notion, Sheets, HubSpot, Salesforce, Slack and about 55 in all; Payment fields, scheduling forms and login forms; Calculations, scoring and prefilled or hidden fields; Import tools for Typeform, Jotform, SurveyMonkey and Google Forms; A hosted form page with a template library and nothing to keep running. If any of those matter to you, keep paying.