Forms and surveys decision
Orbit AI
A capable engineer can build a useful subset (forms + basic scheduling + LLM classification) in a few weeks using existing libraries, but reproducing the full polished product with 20+ integrations, AI agent nodes, analytics and support is heavy—so build a narrow replacement, keep paying for the full platform.
Visit website↗Built by Grant Cooper, who ships 4 products in this index
$29/mo
$348/yr
Read off the official pricing page.
$100one-off116 h to build
$100/mo6 h/mo upkeep
On cash alone, building overtakes the subscription at 4 seats.
Open-source builds that already do this
Every project below is open source and already does this job today. Fork one, self-host it, or take the parts you need - the build prompt further down assumes an empty file, and this is the shortcut past that. Licences differ; check the one on each card before you ship. All Orbit AI alternatives, with the arithmetic →
What a replacement has to do
- Collect submission via an embeddable form, enrich and classify the lead with an external LLM, persist contact and submission in a database, offer calendar booking that writes to Google/Outlook calendar, and trigger outbound or webhook automations.
What it still won’t have
- Polished multi-tenant UI and designer-grade drag-and-drop experience
- Built-in AI agent nodes and pre-baked Claude integrations
- All 20+ built integrations and single-vendor support/SLA
- Enterprise features (custom domains, advanced analytics dashboards, A/B testing)
- Priority support, dedicated onboarding, and bot protection out of the box
What remains hard
- Product polish and ongoing maintenance
First-year cost
Keep paying
Paying is—cheaper in year one.
On cash alone, building overtakes the subscription at 4 seats.
Money you would actually spend
Time you would spend
—
What you would spend
What we assumed
The verdict above measures whether you could build it. This one is only about money.
Runnable build prompt
Build a minimal OrbitForms replacement: use React (Vite) frontend, Node.js (Express) API, and Postgres for storage; deploy backend on Heroku/Render and frontend on Vercel. Implement: embeddable form rendering, multi-page flows, conditional logic, file upload to S3, submissions/contact DB, Google Calendar OAuth booking (single-user sync), LLM-based lead classification via a hosted API (OpenAI/Anthropic), simple workflow runner supporting delays and webhooks, CSV export and basic analytics (counts, conversion rate). Out of scope: multi-tenant billing, A/B testing UI, SMS provider integration, deep admin/role-based enterprise features. Include input validation, OAuth error handling, retries for external API calls, unit tests for core APIs, and integration tests for booking and classification flows.
How we checked
How the score was reached
- Partly verdict base52
- An open-source build was found+5
- 5 cited sources+3
- Price verified on pricing page+3
- 3/3 assessment runs agreed+4
- Evidence score67
The base comes from the verdict. Everything under it is a check that either happened or did not, and each one is a fact frozen in this record rather than a judgement made at render time - so the same evidence always produces the same number.
How scoring works →Cited sources · 5
Every page the run actually retrieved.
- official productOrbitForms — product
- official pricingOrbitForms — pricing
- official docsOrbitForms — features
- open sourceOpnForm/OpnForm
- open sourceLimeSurvey/LimeSurvey
Integrity checks
What held up, and what did not.
