Best Online Form Builders for Events
There are plenty of online form builders available, but not all of them are designed for vendor events and registrations. Some are great for collecting information, while others help organizers review applications, collect payments, and keep track of vendors.
Today, we're comparing five options for vendor markets, farmers markets, festivals, and other events. We'll look at what each one does, where it falls short, and who might find it useful.
1. Vendor Application
Vendor Application focuses on online registration forms for vendor events. Rather than starting with a general-purpose form, organizers can create applications intended for vendors who want to participate in a market or festival.
The idea is to keep registration, application information, and payments together instead of collecting responses in one tool and managing everything somewhere else.
It's worth considering if you're organizing vendor events and want a more affordable starting point than a large event management platform. Before signing up, compare its current pricing and payment features with the number of applications you expect to receive.
2. Google Forms
Google Forms is a good option for organizers who want to get started without spending money. You can create a registration form, ask vendors about their products or services, and send the responses to Google Sheets.
The downside is everything that happens after someone applies. You still need to review submissions, email vendors, send payment requests, and keep track of who's paid and who hasn't.
This can work for a small, one-time market. Once you're managing dozens of vendors or hosting events regularly, all that manual work can become difficult to keep up with.
3. Jotform
Jotform gives you more flexibility than Google Forms. You can customize your registration form, collect vendor information, connect payment providers, and set up email notifications or approval workflows.
There's a free plan with submission and payment limits, along with paid plans for organizers who need more capacity.
Jotform is useful if you want more control over your forms, but it isn't designed specifically around running vendor markets. You'll still need to decide how to organize event listings, booth assignments, and vendor records. Some of that work can be handled with Jotform's integrations and workflows, though setting them up takes additional effort.
4. Marketlly
Marketlly isn't just an online form builder. It's vendor management software that also lets organizers create vendor registration forms.
You can use its AI form builder to create an application, customize the questions, and share the registration link with vendors. You can make an application for a single event or an entire market season.
Once vendors submit their forms, their applications appear in one dashboard. From there, you can review submissions, approve or waitlist vendors, send automatic notifications, and collect booth payments during registration or after approval.
Marketlly also lets you publish an event page and create interactive booth maps, so you're not limited to collecting form responses.
You can create your first market for free. For organizers who need both registration forms and a way to manage vendors after they apply, Marketlly is worth a look.
5. 123FormBuilder
123FormBuilder is another online form builder that supports event registration. You can start with a template, customize your questions, and share the form through a link or on your website.
It has a free plan with limits, as well as paid plans for additional features, including more advanced payment options.
Like Jotform, 123FormBuilder works for many types of forms, not just vendor applications. That's helpful if you also need surveys, contact forms, or registrations for other activities. But for vendor markets, you'll still need to plan how to manage approvals, payments, and booth assignments outside the form itself.
Which Online Form Builder Should You Use for Your Event?
If you're organizing your first event and only need to collect names and contact information, Google Forms can be enough.
Jotform and 123FormBuilder make sense when you want more customization, payment integrations, or workflows. Vendor Application is another option to consider when your forms are specifically for vendor registrations.
For organizers who also need to review applications, collect booth fees, communicate with vendors, and manage recurring markets, Marketlly goes beyond a form builder.
The most useful choice is the one that handles not only the registration form, but also the work you need to do after vendors submit it.