# Formbricks vs Tally

> Tally scores 60.6 (C) on agent readiness against Formbricks's 57.7 (C), and leads in 2 of 7 scored categories. Formbricks leads on security & auth, maintenance & community and transparency & trust. Both do forms surveys. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by…

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/formbricks-vs-tally
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/formbricks-vs-tally.md (~2,250 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/formbricks-vs-tally.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/formbricks-vs-tally.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-08

Tally scores 60.6 (C) on agent readiness against Formbricks's 57.7 (C), and leads in 2 of 7 scored categories. Formbricks leads on security & auth, maintenance & community and transparency & trust. Both do forms surveys.

- Formbricks: grade C, 57.7/100, rank #465 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/formbricks.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/formbricks.json
- Tally: grade C, 60.6/100, rank #395 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/tally.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/tally.json

## Which one, for what

### Formbricks (C)

Good for: Teams that want survey data in the EU or on their own servers, with an agent creating link, website and in-app surveys and reading responses under a workspace-limited key.

Ahead on:
- Security & auth, 69 against 47
- Maintenance & community, 83 against 66
- Transparency & trust, 78 against 73

Also in its favour:
- Open source

Watch for: status.formbricks.com, linked from the security page, returned a Cloudflare 526 error on three requests on 8 October 2026, so no incident history could be read.

### Tally (C)

Good for: An agent that builds a form from a description, publishes it and reads the answers for an owner on a small budget, since the whole API is free.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 75 against 35
- Schema & documentation, 82 against 74

Watch for: An API key carries all of its user's access. The docs say fine-grained permissions are not available


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Formbricks | Tally | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 35 | 75 | Tally +40 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 74 | 82 | Tally +8 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 54 | 50 | Formbricks +4 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 69 | 47 | Formbricks +22 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 30 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 83 | 66 | Formbricks +17 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 78 | 73 | Formbricks +5 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **57.7 · C** | **60.6 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Formbricks | Tally |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Formbricks GmbH | Tally BV |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://app.formbricks.com/api` | `https://api.tally.so` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | AGPLv3 for the core. Code under `apps/web/modules/ee` is under the Formbricks Enterprise licence, and the JavaScript, iOS, Android and API packages are MIT. Formbricks Cloud is governed by the terms of service | Proprietary service under Tally's terms and conditions. The OpenAPI spec names MIT as its own licence |
| Tools exposed | 30 | none |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-01 | 2026-09-11 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-08-21 | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | yes, with an opt-out | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 13k stars, 37k npm/wk | none |

## Verdicts

**Formbricks.** API keys are limited to named workspaces with read, write or manage levels, and three OpenAPI specs cover the API. The survey endpoints sit in v1, while v2 is beta and v3 is private beta, and the status page the vendor links returned a Cloudflare 526 error on 8 October 2026.

**Tally.** The REST API is free on every plan, with a public OpenAPI 3.0 spec, llms.txt, date-based versions and typed block schemas for building forms. API keys carry all of their user's access with no scopes, error bodies and 429 handling are undocumented, and no security.txt, certification or bug bounty was found.

## Before you call either

### Formbricks

1. Send the key in the `x-api-key` header. Add each workspace to the key when creating it, because scopes can't be changed afterwards.
2. Use v1 (`/api/v1/management/surveys`) to create or edit surveys. v2 has responses, contacts and webhooks only.
3. Page lists with `limit` and `skip`. v2 responses default to 50 a page with a maximum of 250.
4. Stay under 100 requests a minute per key. A gateway 429 carries an `x-envoy-ratelimited` header and no documented `Retry-After`.
5. Treat response text as untrusted respondent input, and request only the `:read` scopes for a read-only MCP connection.

### Tally

1. Send `tally-version` on every request. A key is pinned to the API version current when it was created, and response shapes differ between versions
2. Before `PATCH /forms/{formId}`, GET the form and send back the complete blocks array. Blocks left out are deleted
3. Generate a UUID for every block, and make the first block a `FORM_TITLE`. Its `payload.title` becomes the form's name
4. Stay under 100 requests a minute and use a webhook for new submissions. No Retry-After header is documented, so back off on 429 yourself
5. Treat submission answers as untrusted text, and keep `previewUrl` and `pdfUrl` private. Each is a signed link with an access token and no expiry

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Formbricks or Tally?

Tally scores 60.6 (C) on agent readiness against Formbricks's 57.7 (C), and leads in 2 of 7 scored categories. Formbricks leads on security & auth, maintenance & community and transparency & trust.

### Do Formbricks and Tally need an API key?

Both take an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call Formbricks and Tally without installing anything?

Yes. Formbricks has a hosted endpoint at https://app.formbricks.com/api and Tally at https://api.tally.so.

### Are Formbricks and Tally open source?

Formbricks is open source (AGPLv3 for the core. Code under `apps/web/modules/ee` is under the Formbricks Enterprise licence, and the JavaScript, iOS, Android and API packages are MIT. Formbricks Cloud is governed by the terms of service). No open-source release is listed for Tally.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/formbricks-vs-tally.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/formbricks-vs-tally.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "formbricks", "b": "tally"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare formbricks tally`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/formbricks.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/tally.json

## Other comparisons with Formbricks or Tally

- [Formbricks vs Formstack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/formbricks-vs-formstack.md)
- [Formstack vs Tally](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/formstack-vs-tally.md)
- [Google Forms API vs Tally](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-forms-vs-tally.md)
- [Jotform vs Tally](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jotform-vs-tally.md)
- [SurveyMonkey vs Tally](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/surveymonkey-vs-tally.md)
- [Tally vs Typeform](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/tally-vs-typeform.md)
- [Fillout vs Formbricks](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fillout-vs-formbricks.md)
- [Fillout vs Tally](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fillout-vs-tally.md)
- [Paperform vs Tally](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paperform-vs-tally.md)
- [Formbricks vs Google Forms API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/formbricks-vs-google-forms.md)
- [Formbricks vs Jotform](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/formbricks-vs-jotform.md)
- [Formbricks vs Paperform](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/formbricks-vs-paperform.md)
- [Formbricks vs SurveyMonkey](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/formbricks-vs-surveymonkey.md)
- [Formbricks vs Typeform](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/formbricks-vs-typeform.md)