GDPR-friendly forms
Forms built to collect only what you need, and keep it safe
Encryption at rest, consent that records exactly what was agreed, and deletion that really deletes. The tools data protection asks for, built into every form.
Free forever, with unlimited responses. No credit card.
No form builder can make you GDPR compliant. That depends on what you collect, why, and what you tell people. What a form builder can do is make the right thing easy. hootform gives you the pieces data protection asks you to think about, and turns the most important one on by default.
How it works in hootform
- Ask for consent properly. A consent question is a single checkbox that must be ticked when it's required, with your own wording and links to your privacy notice. The response stores the exact wording that was shown, so your record of what someone agreed to survives later edits.
- Encrypt what identifies people. Email addresses, phone numbers, contact details, postal addresses, dates, files, signatures, hidden fields and more are encrypted at rest with a key for each form. It's on by default. See encryption.
- Keep it only as long as you need it. Delete a single response when someone asks, or a whole form, which deletes its key so no surviving copy can be read. On Premium, delete responses automatically after a set number of days with retention.
Collect less
The easiest data to protect is data you never collected. Respondents never need an account to answer. Hidden fields only keep the names you declare. And every question you add is visible in one list, with a lock on the ones that are encrypted, so you can see exactly what a form collects before you share it.
What we don't claim
hootform doesn't certify your forms or your processing, and nothing here is legal advice. Check your use with your own data protection adviser. What we can say is exactly what the product does, and the docs describe it in detail.
What's free, and what's Premium
| Free | Premium, $19/month | |
|---|---|---|
| Encryption at rest with a key per form | ✓ | ✓ |
| Consent checkboxes that record the wording agreed to | ✓ | ✓ |
| Deleting single responses, or whole forms and their keys | ✓ | ✓ |
| Deleting responses automatically after a set time | — | ✓ |
| Requiring encryption on every form in the organization | — | ✓ |
Premium is one price for the whole organization. See plans.
Templates that use it
- HR & recruiting Job application form template Collect applications for an open role: contact details, experience, and links to work.
- Events Event registration form template Sign people up for an event, with seats, sessions and dietary needs. Pair it with a response limit to cap attendance.
- Feedback & research Product feedback survey template What people use, what they'd rank first, and what's missing — with a follow-up when an answer is thin.
- Events Webinar registration form template Sign people up for a session, with a trailer up front and the campaign that sent them recorded.
- Sales & marketing Lead qualification form template Sort serious buyers from browsers: size, need and timing, with browsers sent straight to the newsletter.
- Sales & marketing Waitlist form template Collect early sign-ups and learn what people would use it for, with the referral link recorded.
- Education & nonprofit Volunteer sign-up form template Match volunteers to shifts: where they can help, when they're free and how to reach them.
- Feedback & research User research screener template Find the right people for a research study: who they are, how often they do the thing, and a recent example.
- Education & nonprofit Scholarship application form template Applications with the documents attached: studies, a personal statement, circumstances and a transcript.
In the docs
Questions people ask
Is hootform GDPR compliant?
Compliance depends on how a form is used, so no tool can promise it for you. hootform provides the measures GDPR describes, such as encryption, deletion, retention and recorded consent, so you can use it in a compliant way.
Can I delete a respondent's data when they ask?
Yes. Open their response and delete it. Any files they uploaded are deleted with it.
Can responses be deleted automatically?
Yes, on Premium. Set a retention period in days, and older responses are deleted on a schedule.
Does encryption stop my team seeing personal data?
No. People with access to the form still read the answers. Keep access to the workspaces that hold personal data to the people who need it.
More features
- Conversational forms Build conversational forms that ask one question at a time, with keyboard shortcuts, logic and answer recall. Free, with unlimited forms and responses.
- Conditional logic Add conditional logic to any form: skip questions, branch on any answer or hidden field, recall answers, and finish on different endings. Free.
- Quiz maker Make a scored quiz online: points per answer, a result screen that shows the score, and a different ending for each score band. Free, with unlimited responses.
- Multi-step forms Build multi-step forms that save every answer as it's given, so people can stop and resume, and you can see exactly where they stopped. Free.
- File upload forms Let people attach CVs, photos, screenshots and documents to any form. Files are stored with each response and encrypted at rest. Free up to 10 MB a file.
- E-signature forms Collect signatures on any form, drawn with a finger or a mouse, with consent checkboxes that record the exact wording agreed to. Free, and encrypted at rest.