Pricing Units, Proprietary Limits & Migration Complexity
The operational fine print U.S. SaaS founders and small business owners check before committing.
| Evaluation Dimension | Formbricks | Kiln |
|---|---|---|
| Starting Price & Billing Unit How your monthly bill scales | Free / $49/mo Startup Cloud Flat Workspace Plan | Free / $15/mo Indie Pro Plan Flat Workspace Plan |
| Free Tier & Included Quotas Sandbox vs production allowance | Formbricks is self-hostable (Open Source (AGPLv3)) with managed Startup Cloud cloud starting at $49/mo | Kiln Free / Starter Tier tier (core forms, surveys & lead capture capabilities); Indie Pro Plan upgrades start at $15/mo |
| Proprietary Limits & Gotchas Caps, lock-in & overage cliffs | Formbricks tier notes — 100% GDPR & CCPA Compliant: Privacy-first EU hosting & self-hosting; Full API & Webhooks: Webhooks & REST API included on free tier | Kiln tier notes — Flat-Rate Small Business Pricing: Founder-friendly transparent pricing; Full API & Webhooks: Modern web & API access |
| Migration Complexity Engineering & ops switching effort | Low (< 30 mins) Configure Formbricks (100% GDPR & CCPA Compliant, Full API & Webhooks, Self-Hostable / Open Source) and import existing forms, surveys & lead capture records | Low (< 30 mins) Configure Kiln (Flat-Rate Small Business Pricing, Full API & Webhooks) and import existing forms, surveys & lead capture records |
| Target Company Stage Best operational fit | Solo Founders & Forms, Surveys & Lead Capture SMBs | Solo Founders & Forms, Surveys & Lead Capture SMBs |
| Data Privacy & Compliance U.S. & enterprise governance | Open Source / Self-HostGDPR / CCPA Ready100% GDPR & CCPA Complia | GDPR / CCPA ReadyFlat-Rate Small BusinessTransparent USD Pricing |
Interactive Workload & Infrastructure Cost Simulator
Compare realistic monthly & annual platform spend by production workload stage (not fake per-seat math).
Formbricks: Flat Workspace Plan
Kiln: Flat Workspace Plan
Estimated Annual Savings with Kiln: $408/yr
Saves ~69% annually at this workload tier based on published USD rates.
Technical Capability Matrix
Side-by-side feature, API, and data-ownership checklist.
| Feature Specification | Formbricks | Kiln |
|---|---|---|
| 100% GDPR & CCPA Compliant compliance | Supported Privacy-first EU hosting & self-hosting | Not Included |
| Full API & Webhooks developer | Supported Webhooks & REST API included on free tier | Supported Modern web & API access |
| Self-Hostable / Open Source infrastructure | Supported 100% open-source self-hostable | Not Included |
| Unlimited Team Seats pricing | Supported Unlimited team collaboration | Not Included |
| Flat-Rate Small Business Pricing pricing | Not Included | Supported Founder-friendly transparent pricing |
Official Published USD Pricing Tiers
Verified plan structure for Formbricks and Kiln.
Formbricks Plans USD Verified
Free Cloud / Self-Hosted
monthly
Startup Cloud
monthly
Kiln Plans USD Verified
Free / Starter Tier
monthly
Indie Pro Plan
monthly
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Frequently Asked Questions
Key pricing, quota, migration, and security answers for Formbricks vs Kiln.
What is the main difference between Formbricks and Kiln in 2026?
Formbricks (Free / $49/mo Startup Cloud, billed by flat workspace plan) is best suited for: Open-source survey and experience management alternative to Typeform By contrast, Kiln (Free / $15/mo Indie Pro Plan, billed by flat workspace plan) is best for: A WebGPU alternative to transformers.js, 2.2× faster (median)
How do Formbricks and Kiln compare on free tiers and USD pricing?
Formbricks: Formbricks is self-hostable (Open Source (AGPLv3)) with managed Startup Cloud cloud starting at $49/mo. Kiln: Kiln Free / Starter Tier tier (core forms, surveys & lead capture capabilities); Indie Pro Plan upgrades start at $15/mo. Always compare based on your real workload metric (Flat Workspace Plan vs Flat Workspace Plan) rather than headline base tier alone.
What proprietary feature limits or overages should founders watch out for?
On Formbricks: Formbricks tier notes — 100% GDPR & CCPA Compliant: Privacy-first EU hosting & self-hosting; Full API & Webhooks: Webhooks & REST API included on free tier. On Kiln: Kiln tier notes — Flat-Rate Small Business Pricing: Founder-friendly transparent pricing; Full API & Webhooks: Modern web & API access.
How difficult is migrating from Kiln to Formbricks, and what compliance is supported?
Estimated migration effort to Formbricks is Low (< 30 mins) (Configure Formbricks (100% GDPR & CCPA Compliant, Full API & Webhooks, Self-Hostable / Open Source) and import existing forms, surveys & lead capture records). Security & data governance signals for Formbricks include Open Source / Self-Host, GDPR / CCPA Ready, 100% GDPR & CCPA Complia, while Kiln offers GDPR / CCPA Ready, Flat-Rate Small Business, Transparent USD Pricing.
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