| Area | Govforms | Cognito Forms |
|---|---|---|
| Who it’s for | Built for UK government and public sector teams delivering citizen‑facing services. | General‑purpose forms platform used by a wide range of global organisations. |
| Design & UX | Native GOV.UK & MOJ Design System journeys (start pages, task lists, check answers) out‑of‑the‑box. | Drag‑and‑drop builder with themes and logic, but GOV.UK look‑and‑feel must be recreated manually. |
| Security & hosting | UK‑hosted platform with controls aligned to UK public‑sector expectations and cookie‑free analytics. | Emphasis on industry standards (e.g. GDPR, HIPAA, PCI) for a broad customer base. |
| Environments & change | Prototype → QA → Production with one‑click deploy, rollback and full change history. | Versioning per form; test vs live typically managed via copied forms or separate workspaces. |
| Integrations | Microsoft‑first: SharePoint libraries & lists, Dataverse, Power Automate, REST APIs and GOV.UK Notify. | Strong with payments and generic automation tools (e.g. Zapier, Make, Power Automate). |
| Analytics & audit | Built‑in, cookie‑free performance analytics and audit trails for every service by default. | Reporting and logs, with deeper funnel analysis often handled via exports or external tools. |
| Pricing mindset | Free while you design; simple per‑transaction pricing plus predictable UK support fees once live. | Tiered SaaS plans, with some advanced features available on higher‑priced tiers. |
| Support & expertise | UK‑based live‑service support, with optional GDS‑aligned service design, UX and content help. | Product support and partners focused on general workflow and business process automation. |
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