Formbricks
Open-source survey platform from Kiel for link, website and in-app surveys, in the Frankfurt cloud or self-hosted
Quick Overview
| Company | Formbricks GmbH |
|---|---|
| Category | Survey Tools |
| Headquarters | Kiel, Germany |
| EU Presence | EU (Germany) |
| Data Location | Germany (Frankfurt), on Amazon Web Services (AWS); or your own server when self-hosted |
| Open Source | Yes |
| Pricing | Hobby free (250 responses/month) / Pro $74 per month (2,000 responses) / Scale $325 per month (5,000 responses) / Enterprise on request; VAT treatment not stated; self-hosted core free |
| Free Option | Free Hobby plan; 14-day Pro trial, no credit card |
| Replaces | Qualtrics, SurveyMonkey, Hotjar surveys |
Detailed Review
Formbricks is the second tool in this directory you can host yourself, and the more modern of the two.
The core is AGPLv3 on GitHub and the self-hosted core is free, which means link surveys, website surveys and in-app surveys can run entirely on your own machine with nobody else in the data path. The enterprise features live in a separate directory of the repository under their own Enterprise licence, so open source here covers the core rather than the whole product.
The hosted version is where the caveat sits. The pricing page says hosted in Frankfurt, and the infrastructure underneath is Amazon Web Services — a German company on an American cloud, which by this site's reading is not the same thing as a German company on German hardware.
The subprocessor list from the privacy policy, updated 21 August 2026, names AWS in Germany for database and email, PostHog EU, Sentry in Germany, Brevo in the EU, Google Cloud EU for opt-in AI features, Stripe in the United States, Plain in the United Kingdom and Cloudflare worldwide. Self-hosting is the way around all of it.
Formbricks GmbH is at Kuhnkestr. 6 in Kiel. The imprint gives no commercial register number and no founding year, and no certification such as ISO 27001 is published.
The hosted plans are Hobby free with 250 responses a month, Pro at $74 a month for 2,000 responses, Scale at $325 a month for 5,000 and Enterprise on request, with unlimited seats from Pro and a 14-day Pro trial without a credit card — priced in dollars, with no statement of how VAT is handled.
What Formbricks does well
- AGPLv3 core that can be self-hosted at no licence cost
- Link, website and in-app surveys in one product
- Unlimited seats from the Pro plan
- Hosted plans priced publicly, with a 14-day Pro trial and no credit card
- German company in Kiel, with a published subprocessor list
Where Formbricks falls short
- The hosted version runs on Amazon Web Services — Frankfurt, but American infrastructure
- No certification such as ISO 27001 is published
- Priced in dollars, with VAT treatment not stated
- Stripe (US), Plain (UK) and Cloudflare (worldwide) sit in the subprocessor list
- The imprint gives no register number and no founding year
Standout feature. Self-host the AGPLv3 core and the AWS question disappears — take the hosted plan and it does not.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- AGPLv3 core that can be self-hosted at no licence cost
- Link, website and in-app surveys in one product
- Unlimited seats from the Pro plan
- Hosted plans priced publicly, with a 14-day Pro trial and no credit card
- German company in Kiel, with a published subprocessor list
Cons
- The hosted version runs on Amazon Web Services — Frankfurt, but American infrastructure
- No certification such as ISO 27001 is published
- Priced in dollars, with VAT treatment not stated
- Stripe (US), Plain (UK) and Cloudflare (worldwide) sit in the subprocessor list
- The imprint gives no register number and no founding year
Alternatives to Formbricks
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Formbricks?
Formbricks is the second tool in this directory you can host yourself, and the more modern of the two.
The core is AGPLv3 on GitHub and the self-hosted core is free, which means link surveys, website surveys and in-app surveys can run entirely on your own machine with nobody else in the data path. The enterprise features live in a separate directory of the repository under their own Enterprise licence, so open source here covers the core rather than the whole product.
Where is Formbricks based?
Formbricks operates from Kiel, Germany, which places it under EU (Germany).
What does Formbricks cost?
Hobby free (250 responses/month) / Pro $74 per month (2,000 responses) / Scale $325 per month (5,000 responses) / Enterprise on request; VAT treatment not stated; self-hosted core free. Free Hobby plan; 14-day Pro trial, no credit card.
Who is Formbricks best for?
Teams that want to run the survey server themselves on AGPLv3 code. Self-host the AGPLv3 core and the AWS question disappears — take the hosted plan and it does not.
What are the drawbacks of Formbricks?
The hosted version runs on Amazon Web Services — Frankfurt, but American infrastructure. No certification such as ISO 27001 is published. Priced in dollars, with VAT treatment not stated. Stripe (US), Plain (UK) and Cloudflare (worldwide) sit in the subprocessor list. The imprint gives no register number and no founding year.