Cognito
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2013
- HeadquartersColumbia, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
Cognito firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Cognito
- Legal name
- Cognito, LLC
- Website
- https://cognitoforms.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2013
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Cognito industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Online Form Builder Software
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- eSignature, Forms & Digital Workflow Platforms (HDAEAHAJ)
Keywords
Where Cognito is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Columbia
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Cognito business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Subscription Plans: Tiered subscription model with four plan levels: Individual (free), Pro, Team, and Enterprise. Each plan includes different limits for entries, storage, users, and templates. Monthly and annual billing options available with annual plans offering discounted rates.
- Payment Processing: Integrated payment collection through Square, Stripe, and PayPal. Transaction fees may apply for payment forms.
- Add-ons and Usage Overages: Additional revenue from add-on features including extra users beyond plan limits, custom document templates, storage, guests, API usage, and other usage-based features that exceed plan limits.
- Prepayment Credits: Optional prepayment credits that users can purchase and apply automatically to monthly plan invoices. Credits do not expire but may be deleted after 12 months of inactivity.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Individual - Free tier for basic form building |
| Subscription | Monthly | Pro Plan - For growing organizations |
| Subscription | Monthly | Team Plan - For teams needing collaboration |
| Subscription | Monthly | Enterprise Plan - Full compliance and unlimited usage |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels8 records
Cognito product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Cognito Forms is a no-code online form builder with workflow automation that enables organizations to create customized online forms for data collection, approvals, notifications, and automated task assignments. The platform bundles electronic signatures, automated Word/PDF document generation, online payment collection, secure Client Portals with guest access, and AI-powered form generation from natural language prompts. It targets HR, Marketing, Sales, IT, and Project Management teams across Healthcare, Nonprofits, Education, Government, Software, and small/mid-sized businesses, with HIPAA-compliant capabilities available on the Enterprise plan.
Product overview
Cognito Forms is a unified online form building platform with workflow automation capabilities. The core Cognito Forms product provides data collection through customizable online forms, while key features include AI Form Generation for AI-powered form creation from prompts, a Client Portal for secure self-service guest access, Electronic Signatures for legally binding documents, and Document Generation for automated Word/PDF creation. The platform integrates with major automation tools (Zapier, Microsoft Power Automate, Make), payment processors (Stripe, Square, PayPal), and cloud storage (Google Drive, OneDrive). Security offerings include HIPAA compliance for healthcare (Enterprise plan), SOC 2 Type II certification, and GDPR/CCPA compliance. An AI Support Chatbot assists users with platform navigation.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Cognito Forms No-code online form builder and workflow automation platform that enables organizations to create customized online forms triggering approvals, notifications, updates, and automated tasks. Targets HR, Marketing, Sales, IT, and Project Management teams across Healthcare, Education, Government, Nonprofits, Software & Tech, and small/mid-sized businesses.
Quantifiable outcome
- 90% of users are able to act quicker on incoming data/forms
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Cognito
Customer profileNamed customers3 records
Segments8 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Cognito technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration12 records
AI capability5 records
Feature9 records
Cognito partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
20 partnerships are on record, tiered core integration, core payment partner, infrastructure partner, marketing partner, transactional email partner, hipaa-compliant email partner, customer support partner, customer success partner, review management partner, analytics partner, location services partner, storage partner, optimization partner and data enrichment partner.
- Zapiercore integrationNative integration allowing users to create Zaps to send form entry data to hundreds of other cloud services. Users must agree to Zapier Terms of Service and Privacy Policy when signing up.
- Microsoft Power Automatecore integrationNative integration allowing users to create automation flows to send form entry data to hundreds of other cloud services through Microsoft's automation platform.
- Make (formerly Integromat)core integrationNative integration allowing users to build connections to send form entry data to hundreds of other cloud services through Make's automation platform.
- Stripecore payment partnerPayment processor for collecting credit card information for subscription plan payments and payment forms. Handles collecting, transmitting, processing, and storing credit card information. Available on all plan levels for payment form creation.
- Squarecore payment partnerPayment provider option available to customers on Team and Enterprise plans for creating forms that collect payment.
- PayPalcore payment partnerPayment provider option available to customers on Team and Enterprise plans for creating forms that collect payment.
- Microsoft Azureinfrastructure partnerPrimary hosting provider for Cognito Forms. All customer data and servers are securely managed by Microsoft Azure, geo-replicated in real time to multiple datacenters in the US. Also provides AI services for AI-powered features.
- MailChimp (Intuit)marketing partnerEmail service provider used to send marketing emails notifying customers about new features, changes to terms, and other useful information about services. Automatically manages unsubscribe list.
- Mandrill (Intuit)transactional email partnerTransactional email provider used to send emails from Cognito Forms to customers and their customers on their behalf.
- Postmarktransactional email partnerTransactional email provider used to send emails from Cognito Forms to customers and their customers on their behalf.
- Mailgunhipaa-compliant email partnerTransactional email provider used exclusively for organizations that have signed the HIPAA BAA, as Cognito Forms has a BAA with Mailgun covering email delivery for HIPAA compliance.
- Zendeskcustomer support partnerCustomer support management platform used for email, chat, and social media support. Shares minimum information necessary to create and track support requests.
- Pendocustomer success partnerAnalytics, communication and development-planning platform used for user onboarding, in-app messaging, and activity-related emails based on user actions in the application.
- Trustpilotreview management partnerCustomer review management tool used to gather feedback from new customers to determine satisfaction with product and services. Shares name and email address for verified reviews.
- Google Analyticsanalytics partnerWeb analytics service enabling customers on paid plans to connect their own Google Analytics account to track form usage by their customers.
- Google Mapslocation services partnerAddress verification and autocomplete services to help ensure accurate and complete billing addresses. Also available for location-based services in forms.
- Google Drivestorage partnerOptional cloud storage integration allowing users to sync files uploaded through forms to a Google Drive folder they select.
- Microsoft OneDrivestorage partnerOptional cloud storage integration allowing users to sync files uploaded through forms to a OneDrive folder they select.
- VWO (Wingify)optimization partnerA/B testing and conversion optimization platform used to conduct experiments on the Cognito Forms website, measuring engagement and behavior to improve user experience.
- People Data Labsdata enrichment partnerBusiness data enrichment service used to support internal operations including maintaining accurate business records, analytics, and improving services.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Cognito competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- JotForm: JotForm is a leading drag-and-drop online form builder serving SMBs and enterprises with HIPAA, payment collection, and workflow features. It is the closest head-to-head competitor to Cognito Forms across form building, integrations, and tiered pricing.
- Typeform: Typeform is a premium online form and survey builder known for conversational UX, with native AI form creation, integrations, and payments. It competes with Cognito for marketing, lead-gen, and survey workloads, particularly at the SMB and mid-market.
- Formstack: Formstack provides online forms, document generation, eSignature, and workflow automation for healthcare and regulated industries, with HIPAA and SOC 2 compliance. It directly overlaps Cognito's regulated-industry wedge and document/eSignature features.
- SurveyMonkey: SurveyMonkey is a large-scale survey and form platform with enterprise-grade distribution and AI-assisted survey creation. It competes with Cognito for survey, feedback, and market research use cases across SMB and enterprise customers.
- Wufoo: Wufoo is an established online form builder with payment collection and reporting features, now part of SurveyMonkey. It targets SMBs and overlaps Cognito's core form-building and integrations use cases.
Broad incumbents
- Microsoft Forms: Microsoft Forms is bundled into Microsoft 365 and offers free basic form building plus Copilot AI features. As an incumbent bundled into a productivity suite, it competes with Cognito for IT-procurement-driven and education/government deployments.
- Google Forms: Google Forms is a free, widely deployed form builder integrated with Workspace, Drive, and Gemini AI. It is the largest free alternative in the category and competes with Cognito on PLG-driven SMB and education workloads.
- DocuSign: DocuSign is the dominant eSignature and agreement-cloud platform with workflow automation and industry-specific solutions. It is a broader incumbent competing with Cognito's eSignature, document generation, and workflow features at the enterprise tier.
Emerging players
- Tally: Tally is a fast-growing, freemium no-code form builder with a Notion-like editing UX. It is an emerging competitor targeting SMBs and creators in the same PLG funnel as Cognito Forms.
- Fillout: Fillout is a newer no-code form and survey builder with strong database and workflow features. It targets the same SMB and prosumer segment as Cognito and is gaining traction on G2.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Cognito social profiles
Digital presenceCognito compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance5 records
Cognito financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Cognito leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Cognito funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds3 records
Investors1 record
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Cognito M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Cognito
What does Cognito do?
Cognito Forms is a no-code online form builder with workflow automation that enables organizations to create customized online forms for data collection, approvals, notifications, and automated task assignments. The platform bundles electronic signatures, automated Word/PDF document generation, online payment collection, secure Client Portals with guest access, and AI-powered form generation from natural language prompts. It targets HR, Marketing, Sales, IT, and Project Management teams across Healthcare, Nonprofits, Education, Government, Software, and small/mid-sized businesses, with HIPAA-compliant capabilities available on the Enterprise plan.
Is Cognito a public or private company?
Cognito is a private company. It is classified as private equity controlled and is currently operating.
When was Cognito founded?
Cognito was founded in 2013. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Cognito based?
Cognito is headquartered in Columbia, United States, in the North America region.
How does Cognito make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Subscription Plans are the primary driver. The others are payment Processing, add-ons and Usage Overages and prepayment Credits.
Who are Cognito's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are JotForm, Typeform, Formstack, SurveyMonkey and Wufoo. Broad incumbents are Microsoft Forms, Google Forms and DocuSign. Emerging players are Tally and Fillout.
Does Cognito have an API?
Yes. Cognito Forms provides a public REST API and JSON Webhooks for integrating form data with external systems. The API supports programmatic creation, management, and retrieval of forms and entries. Webhooks enable real-time data transfer to other cloud services. Available at /product/cognito-forms-api with documentation at https://www.cognitoforms.com/support/476/data-integration/cognito-forms-api/rest-api-reference. Developer documentation is at www.cognitoforms.com/support/476/data-integration/cognito-forms-api/rest-api-reference.
What industry is Cognito in?
Cognito's product category is Online Form Builder Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDAEAHAJ, eSignature, Forms & Digital Workflow Platforms. Its SIC code is 7372.