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Surveys · head to head

Cognito Forms vs Freshpaint

Cognito Forms logo

Cognito Forms

Surveys

Powerful forms made easy

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Freshpaint logo

Freshpaint

Marketing

Privacy layer that lets healthcare organisations run marketing analytics without sending PHI

From
On request
Free plan
No

The short version

  • Only Cognito Forms has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Cognito Forms individual free plan caps at 100 entries per month and 1 user; Freshpaint filtering necessarily degrades what advertising platforms receive, so campaign optimisation and lookalike modelling perform worse than an unfiltered pixel would, and the marketing team must accept measurably weaker targeting as the price of compliance.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Cognito Forms and Freshpaint actually diverge.

Attributes where Cognito Forms and Freshpaint differ
AttributeCognito FormsFreshpaint
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelsubscriptionquote
Free tierYesNo
CategorySurveysMarketing

Identical on both: platforms (Web), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Cognito Forms

Nothing recorded that Freshpaint does not also cover.

Only in Freshpaint

  • PHI detection and redaction
  • Business associate agreement
  • Event verification
  • Pixel replacement
  • Consent governance
  • Advertising destinations
  • Analytics and session tools
  • Audience activation

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Cognito Forms

  • Building HIPAA-compliant data collection forms without codingnot Freshpaint
  • Creating multi-step approval workflows for contract signingnot Freshpaint
  • Collecting payments inline within customer intake formsnot Freshpaint
  • Routing applications automatically based on responsesnot Freshpaint

Freshpaint

  • A health system told by legal to remove its Meta and Google pixels that still needs to report cost per acquisition on service line campaignsnot Cognito Forms
  • A provider running paid search for elective procedures that must send conversion signals without disclosing which condition page a visitor viewednot Cognito Forms
  • A compliance officer who needs a field level record of exactly what patient related data leaves the website, for a privacy committeenot Cognito Forms
  • A multi-site provider group standardising tracking governance across marketing agencies that would otherwise each add their own tagsnot Cognito Forms

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Cognito Forms

  • Individual free plan caps at 100 entries per month and 1 user
  • Pro plan ($24/mo monthly, $19/mo billed annually) still limits to 2 users and 2,000 entries per month
  • HIPAA compliance and single sign-on are restricted to the Enterprise tier ($174/mo monthly, $129/mo annual)

Freshpaint

  • Filtering necessarily degrades what advertising platforms receive, so campaign optimisation and lookalike modelling perform worse than an unfiltered pixel would, and the marketing team must accept measurably weaker targeting as the price of compliance.
  • Pricing is not published on the vendor site despite three named tiers, and third party reports of entry around 599 US dollars a month cover only the lowest tier, with audiences and advertising activation sitting above it.
  • It addresses web and marketing tracking rather than the whole protected health information estate, so it solves one exposure while patient data in the CRM, call centre and email tooling remains a separate problem.
  • The commercial case rests on a specific regulatory interpretation of online tracking technologies, and litigation and future guidance could narrow or widen it, which makes the size of the problem it solves less stable than a compliance purchase usually is.
  • It is built for healthcare and priced accordingly, so an organisation wanting a general customer data platform pays for a regulatory specialism it does not need and gets narrower general purpose functionality than Segment or RudderStack.

Pricing, plan by plan

Cognito Forms

Free
  • IndividualFree
    • 100 entries per month
    • 1 user
    • Cognito Forms branding included
  • Pro$24/month
    • 2000 entries per month
    • 2 users
    • Electronic signatures
  • Team$49/month
    • 10000 entries per month
    • 5 users
    • 5 guest access
  • Enterprise$174/month
    • Unlimited entries
    • 20 users
    • 20 guest access

Freshpaint

On request
  • Comply$undefined/month
    • Governance and consent foundation
    • PHI detection and redaction
    • Web analytics, funnels and surveys
  • Perform$undefined/month
    • Everything in Comply
    • Audiences and demand side platform activation
    • Attribution, journeys and recommendations
  • Scale$undefined/month
    • Everything in Perform
    • Ad performance reporting
    • Full AI feature access

Which should you pick?

Choose Cognito Forms if

  • You want to start without paying.

Choose Freshpaint if

  • You need phi detection and redaction.
  • You also want business associate agreement.

Questions people ask

Is Cognito Forms or Freshpaint better?
Neither clearly leads. Cognito Forms starts at Free and Freshpaint at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Cognito Forms or Freshpaint?
Cognito Forms has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Cognito Forms and On request for Freshpaint.
Does Cognito Forms or Freshpaint run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use Cognito Forms for free?
Yes. Cognito Forms has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Freshpaint starts at On request.
What is Cognito Forms best used for?
Cognito Forms is most often used for building hipaa-compliant data collection forms without coding, creating multi-step approval workflows for contract signing, collecting payments inline within customer intake forms, routing applications automatically based on responses. Of those, building hipaa-compliant data collection forms without coding and creating multi-step approval workflows for contract signing are not what Freshpaint is typically brought in for.
What can Cognito Forms do that Freshpaint cannot?
Freshpaint covers PHI detection and redaction, Business associate agreement, Event verification, Pixel replacement.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Cognito Forms: How much does Cognito Forms cost?

Cognito Forms offers a free Individual plan with 100 entries per month. Paid plans start at $24/month for the Pro plan, $49/month for the Team plan, and $174/month for the Enterprise plan. Annual prepayment provides up to 20% discount off monthly rates.

Source
Freshpaint: Why can a hospital not just use Google Analytics?

US Department of Health and Human Services guidance treats IP addresses and health related page URLs as protected health information in this context, and advertising and analytics platforms will not sign a business associate agreement, so the disclosure is unlawful without an intermediary that filters.

Cognito Forms: What is the difference between Cognito Forms plans?

The Individual plan (free) includes 100 entries/month and 1 user. Pro adds electronic signatures and accommodates 2000 entries/month with 2 users. Team plan (Best Value) supports 10000 entries/month with 5 users and includes client portal and approvals. Enterprise provides unlimited entries, 20 users, and HIPAA compliance.

Source
Freshpaint: Does Freshpaint sign a BAA?

Yes, and it holds SOC 2 Type II. That is the central reason it exists, because the destination platforms will not.

Cognito Forms: Does Cognito Forms have a free version?

Yes, Cognito Forms offers a free Individual plan that includes 100 entries per month, 1 user, unlimited forms, and payment processing capabilities. Higher-tier plans are available for increased capacity and features.

Source
Freshpaint: What does it cost?

Freshpaint does not publish prices. Three tiers, Comply, Perform and Scale, are all sales led, and third party sources report entry around 599 US dollars a month for the lowest.

Freshpaint: Will my ad performance suffer?

Somewhat. Stripping identifiers reduces what platforms can optimise against. The trade is weaker targeting in exchange for measurement that a compliance committee will approve.

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