123 Form Builder vs Fluent Forms: Which One is Better and Why?

If you maintain a website, you must need contact forms. And from capturing leads to collecting online payments, WordPress forms are spread throughout the web. However, selecting a form builder that helps you design perfect forms for your website is tricky. But don’t stress yourself out! 

In this article, we’ve put together a comparative study between two renowned form builders in the market, 123 Form Builder vs Fluent Forms. Besides, this blog will also help you to grasp the features and functionalities of an exemplary form builder. 

Before moving into the in-depth discussion, let’s know some main facts about these plugins to understand the subject matter.

• Fluent Forms is a robust solution for collecting payments, increasing subscribers, evaluating matters, user registration, and more for your WordPress website.
• 123 Form Builder is a SAAS-based tool for creating quizzes, registration forms, applications, etc.

Why the comparison seems unreal?

Because Fluent Forms is a WordPress plugin, and 123 Form Builder is a SAAS-based product. Though the form-building process is different on both platforms, we still want to try out the plugin to explore how different the form-building experience would be with 123 Form Builder. 

What have we found from 123 Form Builder’s website?

Firstly, we couldn’t get any option to explore the features from their website. We had to look and search deeper to get detailed information about the functions. Besides, they don’t have any dedicated version in WordPress. Earlier, they had one, by the name of 123 Contact Form, but in 2020, it was removed from the repository for security issues. Besides, if anyone needs to see the docs, they will end up with some “how-to” topics as a solution.

Now, let’s move on to the details of both of these plugins.

What is Fluent Forms?

Fluent Forms is the fastest form-building tool in WordPress, with tons of unique features and functionalities. With this plugin, you can build online forms, such as quiz forms, survey forms, registration forms, employee application forms, job application forms, event registration forms, and conversational forms. 

Besides, it is one of the lightest plugins with a smooth drag and drops feature. Anyone can design any form with it within a couple of minutes. Fluent Forms provides many advanced features that can be easily accessed from your WordPress dashboard. It supports pre-built templates and integrations and offers essential features like form restriction, spam protection, calculation, conditional logic, form activation or deactivation, etc., for users.

Even the tool’s free version is full of functions that many other plugins conceal on their paid packages. All this stuff has made Fluent Forms very popular among users. 

What is 123 Form Builder?

123 Form Builder is a SAAS-based tool that lets you make user-friendly contact forms for your website. With the plugin, you can smoothly design registration forms, quiz forms, and application forms. It provides pre-built form templates and a drag and drops facility for users’ convenience. On top of that, the plugin supports the security feature and many integrations to make your contact forms more beneficial.

Besides, 123 Form Builder is also a lightweight tool that helps you create a user profile on your website. You can use the premium packages to make more extendible forms and add extra functionalities.

Now, let’s find out what qualities should be available in a perfect form builder to distinguish the differences between 123 Form Builder vs Fluent Forms.

Functions and features of a quality form builder

When looking for a perfect form builder for your website, you should consider some must-needed functions and features. That’s how a plugin proves if it’s worthy or not for your website. Let’s explore some. 

• Easy to use
• Security
• Thrid-party integrations
• Conversational forms
• Quiz forms
• Responsiveness
• Documentation & support
• Pricing & licensing

Let’s figure out the detailed information about both plugins on these features.

123 Form Builder vs Fluent Forms: features in details

Easy to use

One of the first things you should consider before buying a WordPress form builder is if it is easy to use. User-friendliness is the ultimate thing users look for in their plugins with other features.

These tools support drag and drop features, and no coding is needed to make forms with both of them. From that perspective, it is safe to say that each tool is easy to use. Besides, each tool covers more than 25 input fields on the free version.

Fluent Forms provides advanced features like checkbox, multiple-choice, custom submit button, containers, and conversational forms in the free version. Whereas 123 Form Builder supports file upload, signature, embed video button, etc., in the non-paid tool.

Winner: So, it’s a win-win situation for both plugins in this term.

Security

Spammers are the worst nightmare for any website owner. The hassle of handling spam bots is sometimes unbearable. That’s why it’s the top priority to ensure high security for your contact forms. 

For Fluent Forms, the user’s security is the first priority. So here, you can use reCAPTCHA (v2 and v3) and hCaptcha to protect your forms from bots. You can also get Honeypot and Akismet in the free tool to secure your online forms. To protect your customers’ information, you can use the GDRP field from the input fields section of Fluent Forms. More so, you can restrict the blank form submission from the settings panel of any form. 

123 Form Builder claims they provide password-protected forms, block IPs, filter countries, support Captcha, and give customizable submission limits in the free tool. In both free or premium plugins, they have no Honeypot, Akismet, GDPR compliance field, reCAPTCHA, or hCaptcha support.

Winner: Fluent Forms retook the crown in handling high security.

Third-party integrations

Fluent Forms and 123 Form Builder are jam-packed with some fantastic third-party integrations. Fluent Forms have integrations for CRM (Customer Relationship Management), email marketing, text messaging, real-time SMS, etc. For example, you will get Zoho CRM, Trello, Constant Contact, and Hubspot for your company’s internal communication. For email marketing, you can use Moosend, SendFox, ClickSend, Mailer Lite, MailChimp, ActiveCampaign, Platformly, Gist, CleverReach, etc.  Check out the integration page to explore exciting integrations and their applications.

Besides, the Zapier app integration connects with more than 3000 apps with Fluent Forms. More so, Fluent Forms have Telegram, Discord, and Slack for the internal communication inside your company. Fluent Forms is integrated with Stripe, PayPal, RazorPay, PayStack, and Mollie for payment. More exciting news about Fluent Forms integrations’ is that you will get all the facilities at the lowest price of premium packages. Besides, you can create unlimited forms with unlimited submissions and unlimited storage.

On the other hand, 123 Form Builder has many integrations, such as NationBuilder to enrich contact lists, Smartsheet for work management, Mailchimp and Campaign Monitor for email campaigns, and ZohoCRM to connect with more apps, Salesforce to prefill forms and connect data, etc. The sad part is almost all of them are locked in the Gold package of the form builder. You will access only 20 forms, 5,000 submissions, only 500MB storage, and only one can use the form builder.

Winner: Here, clearly, Fluent Forms is the winner again.

Conversational Forms

Conversational forms are an innovative way to turn your boring form into an interactive one as these forms collect information through a conversation. As a result, they remove the form abandonment and improve your website’s conversion.

In Fluent Forms version 4.0, we have introduced conversational forms, the best TypeForm alternative. The process continues with some more exciting features and improvements in the next updates of the plugin. Currently, the feature is enriched with the payment option, file upload field, image upload field, checkable grid field, subscription field, keyboard access, etc. You can use it for creating surveys or quizzes, job application forms, customer feedback, service order forms, and many more. 

On the other hand, 123 Form Builder has no conversational forms function yet. 

Winner: Fluent Forms beats 123 Form Builder in terms of conversational forms.

Quiz forms

Quizzes are a fantastic way to conduct a short test of knowledge. These types of tests encourage people to get instant feedback on their responses. As a result, people can identify the areas of progress for them.

Fluent Forms has the quiz module in its repository. The function supports different quiz types. For example, trivia quizzes, social media quizzes, personality quizzes, spelling quizzes, multiple choice quizzes, etc. Besides, you can display the results by the advanced scoring system, such as total correct point, total point, total correct answer, fraction point, grade system, and percentage forms, and send the result via email or show it directly in the form. Moreover, you can import or export the quizzes wherever you want.

On the contrary, 123 Form Builder doesn’t give this type of facility directly, but you can create a quiz form by their input fields option.

Winner: So, Fluent Forms wins once again in terms of quiz forms. 

Responsiveness

Responsiveness is essential for a better mobile experience for users and enhances the better UX on pages. If your contact forms are not responsive on all devices, it can drive away billions of users from your website.

Fluent Forms is 100% responsive on all devices. It will display all your forms perfectly on various devices. You don’t need to give extra effort. 123 Form Builder also provides a user-friendly interface on all devices like mobiles, tablets, desktops, etc.

Winner: It’s a triumph for both plugins in terms of responsibility.

Documentation & support

Fluent Forms is popular among users for its detailed documentation and excellent support team. In fact, Fluent Forms has one of the best support systems in the market, with 24/7 available support members for both free and pro users to answer their every question. Besides, there is a clear description of each feature and detailed instructions for using every function of the tool.

123 Form Builder has provided a structured guidelines on its features. You have to search for the solution by following various steps. Besides, they have only 24/5 support system for the free users. Even the dedicated account manager function is only available on their highest pricing package, which will cost you a lot of money.

Winner: So, Fluent Forms takes the edge by providing excellent support to the free users.

Pricing & licensing

Here comes the main part, what’s the price difference between 123 Form Builder vs Fluent Forms? It may be shocking news that Fluent Forms is still a cheaper option than 123 Form Builder with all the extra features and functionalities. How? With Fluent Forms, a single site license is available only at $79 yearly, where all the features are available. For five sites license, you have to pay only $159 annually, and the unlimited sites package is available at only $299 yearly. Besides, the lifetime packages are available at only $349 for a single domain, $599 for five domains, and $899 for unlimited domains. Fluent Forms have no monthly bundle. The only difference in the pricing is because of the domain numbers. 

On the other part, 123 Form Builder has four different packages, Gold, Platinum, Diamond and Enterprise, and they will cost you $32, $39, $79, and $225 (starting price) yearly respectively. For monthly bundles, you have to pay $37, $49, $99, and $225 (starting price) repeatedly. They have no lifetime packages. At first glance, it might seem cheaper than Fluent Forms. But if you consider the repeated renewal option, advanced features, user access, form submission access, storage, and the usable form numbers, you will understand who is the best.

Winner: Fluent Forms holds the position again.

You decide

123 Form Builder could be a good option if you maintain a SAAS-based website. But in terms of scaling your business, you’ll need a powerful tool like Fluent Forms. There are many things before considering a good form builder for your website, such as

• Necessary input fields
• Smooth interface
• Easy to use
• Support
• Accessibility
• Good price

If one of these form builders supports the benefits mentioned above, you can make functional and standard forms for your website with no hassle. So, 123 Form Builder vs Fluent Forms, which plugin will you go for?