FormSwift Review: Pricing, Services, Alternatives

FormSwift is an online legal service that focuses on legal documents and forms. Not only can they help you craft things like employee handbooks and contracts, but they’ll also guide you through a business plan and even a job application.

You can also upload your own documents and edit them with FormSwift’s PDF editing tool. The pricing options depend on how many people within your business will be using FormSwift.

With this overview in mind, let’s dive deeper into our FormSwift review.

According to their website, FormSwift offers over 500 documents, so we won’t list them all—but it’s good to know that they have a comprehensive catalog of forms at your disposal. A lot of the documents they offer are also free (see pros and cons for caveats, however).

If you don’t see a document you like, you can simply upload one of your own, or one that you’ve found elsewhere, and use FormSwift’s PDF editor tool to customize it to your needs.

These are the most popular small business documents FormSwift offers:

• Employee handbook
• Employee contract
• Job application
• Invoice
• Purchase order
• Non-disclosure agreement
• Release of liability
• Non-compete agreement
• Promissory note
• Business plan

In addition to creating the documents themselves, users can also download, print, and update their documents. Electronic signatures are made easy with FormSwift, and you can also share the documents you’ve created through email or invite other users to collaborate on documents with you. That service is helpful for documents that require more than one party’s information or participation.

On top of their main offering—business forms and documents—FormSwift also provides a few additional services, including:

• Personal legal forms, such as bill of sale, power of attorney, letter of recommendation, and more
• Real estate legal forms, such as lease agreements, eviction notices, rental applications, etc.
• Tax forms, including W-2s, W-9s, 1099s, balance sheets, pay stubs, etc.
• Free resource guides such as an email signature tool and a lesson plan guide for teachers

There are a few different package options available at FormSwift. Their website can be confusing, but we’ve broken it all down for you.

Overall, although not named as such, the plans below seem to be “individual plans.” However, there is nothing that says business owners cannot use them. Here’s how those pricing options break down:

In general, although FormSwift isn’t very clear about the difference between these plans and their “FormSwift for Business” plans, it appears the distinction is the number of users that are allowed to access your account.

As you’ll see below, each of the FormSwift for Business pricing options can accommodate multiple account users, whereas multiple users are not mentioned in any of the pricing plans we discussed above.

The packages above pretty much explain themselves in terms of who they’re the best for. Since the plans are based on users, and all the plans include unlimited documents, PDF editing, and some type of user discount, it really depends on how many users your business needs to utilize the service.

It is also worth noting that there is yet another FormSwift for Business pricing group that differs in price. However, it’s unclear how these plans differ from the Business plans above. If you’re unsure which is right for your business, you can use the link here to fill in your information and request a free trial.

Once you fill in your information, a FormSwift account manager will be in touch with next steps. Here’s how this pricing breaks down:

So, based on all of this information, what are the benefits and drawbacks of this legal document and form creation site? Here’s what you’ll want to consider:

• A few pricing options to choose from to get what’s best for your business
• Over 500 documents available
• Documents can be printed, shared, signed, and edited
• You can upload documents you’ve created or found elsewhere

• No access to a business attorney
• Some of the plans will be too expensive for small businesses, especially to only access forms
• Confusing pricing model, since there are so many options offered
• Customer reviews suggest that while filling out the free forms is, in fact, free, if you want to do anything with them after that, you will have to sign up for a free trial and then will be charged, or have to pay a fee for that document

The summary of most FormSwift reviews is that users felt misled by the “free” wording all over the website and advertised on Google. What people realized after crafting these “free” documents, is that they couldn’t download, print, or do anything else with the document until they put in personal information and signed up for a paid plan in some capacity.

Some users signed up for the free trial, thinking they could just cancel once they got the documents they needed, but they found the canceling process was not straightforward either. They would call and cancel, get verbal confirmation that the membership had been canceled, but still have charges on their credit card, and then were told there was no record of their cancellation.

However, those individuals and businesses that were not looking to take advantage of the free services were very pleased with what they were able to do. The customer service seems to be very reliable once you become a regularly paying customer.

In addition, FormSwift reviews suggest that these customers loved the amount and variety of documents that FormSwift offers. Users like that the process is simple and efficient from filling out the form to sharing it, downloading it, and printing it.

Overall, it seems that FormSwift is most beneficial to businesses and entrepreneurs that sign up for one of the monthly or yearly package options and use the services to their fullest. If you’re looking for one-off documents, therefore, this service might not be the best option for you.

BizCounsel is one of the more all-inclusive online legal services, as they don’t only provide legal forms and documents, but also access to attorneys for any and all of your legal questions and concerns.

Their pricing package options are basic ($89 per month), Premium ($129 per month), and Pro ($189 per month). Within the BizCounsel packages are various levels of contract reviews, attorney consultations, and tax advice and prep. While you can’t compare these two services completely equally—because FormSwift doesn’t offer attorney access or tax advice directly—they do both offer small business documents such as promissory notes, non-disclosure agreements, various business agreements, and employee documents like handbooks and contracts.

BizCounsel is a good alternative for business owners who need a little more guidance and would benefit from the chance to speak with actual attorneys as questions arise.

Rocket Lawyer offers forms and documents very similar to FormSwift such as non-disclosure agreements and independent contractor agreements, as well as services for managing employees and electronic signatures.

This legal service also offers non-member, per-document pricing that works the same way as FormSwift’s pay-per-document option. You simply choose the document you want to create and pay for that document and whatever options come along with it (electronic signature, editing, sharing, etc.).

If you do choose to go with a Rocket Lawyer package, the Premium member option is $39.99 per month and includes the legal documents, attorney consultations for new legal matters, incorporation filing and discounts on other services. If you’re not sure which one to go with, there is a seven-day free trial available.

The document list at LawDepot is plentiful, just like at FormSwift. You’ll be able to find every document you’ll need to, not only start your business, but also continue to run it legally. You’ll find non-compete agreements, shareholder agreements, LLC forms, human resources forms, freelance contracts, and even forms specifically for music and entertainment businesses.

There are three LawDepot pricing options to choose from—a free trial, then $33 per month, the Pro option for $95.88 per year, and an a-la-carte option. The documents will cost anywhere from $7.50 to $68 depending on the document, and you only pay for the documents you create.

LawDepot is also similar to FormSwift in that they don’t offer attorney access, at least not directly. You can get legal help through JustAnswer, but that comes with separate pricing since it’s a third party company.

FormSwift isn’t going to be right for everyone, but you can’t deny that they offer access to an impressive number of legal forms and documents. The pricing structure—although a little confusing to understand and determine which applies best to your needs—gives everyone an opportunity to choose an option that works for their budget and document preferences.

Again, you won’t get attorney access or tax advice with FormSwift, but some of the alternatives listed above do, if that’s something you’re looking for as a business owner. Ultimately, choosing an online legal service can be complicated—but hopefully, this FormSwift review gives you some insight into all they can offer you.