---
title: "SurveyJS alternative with a hosted form backend"
description: "Compare SurveyJS with Fillo when a JavaScript form needs a ready-made backend: stored, versioned responses, browser-direct uploads, and a hosted builder."
group: "Compare & migrate"
order: 7
type: "comparison"
keywords:
  - "Fillo vs SurveyJS"
  - "SurveyJS alternative"
  - "headless form"
  - "React form library"
updated: "2026-08-01"
---

SurveyJS is a self-hosted JavaScript form platform. Its Form Library is MIT-licensed; Survey Creator, Dashboard, and PDF tools have commercial licenses. You control the UI, data, and deployment, and you build the backend that stores and checks responses.

Fillo gives you less backend work. The form still renders inside your app, while Fillo checks responses, stores them, and sends uploads to storage you connect.

## Which should you choose?

### When Fillo fits

- You don't want to stand up and run a backend, database, and results storage behind the renderer.
- You want responses stored, versioned, and exportable without building any of that yourself.
- A non-engineer needs a hosted builder, and an editor-managed form should stay editable after launch.
- Uploaded files should go browser-direct into your own storage, handled for you.

### When Fillo isn't the fit

- You intend to own and operate the backend, database, and results storage yourself.
- You need SurveyJS's broader question catalog, JSON model, or embedded creator and are set up to persist it.
- The project is a pure front-end integration with no hosted backend requirement.
- You prefer a rendering library you self-host over a hosted service.

Fillo doesn't replace a self-hosted rendering library where owning the entire backend is the point; it removes that backend work when you'd rather not do it.

## Key differences

| Decision | Fillo | SurveyJS |
| --- | --- | --- |
| What it provides | Form components, server checks, response inbox, and delivery | MIT-licensed Form Library plus commercially licensed Creator, Dashboard, and PDF products |
| Responses | Stored, versioned, searchable in a grid, exportable | Whatever backend and database you build and run |
| File uploads | Browser-direct to your connected storage | Handled by the backend you implement |
| Validation | Shared schema used by the client and Fillo's server | Rich client-side model; server checks and persistence follow the backend you implement |
| Builder | Hosted dashboard builder, editor-managed forms | SurveyJS Creator, licensed and embedded in your app |
| Operating model | Hosted service, self-serve | Libraries you host and maintain |

See [Fillo plans and limits](/docs/limits), the [SurveyJS Form Library overview](https://surveyjs.io/form-library/documentation/overview), and [SurveyJS licensing](https://surveyjs.io/faq/licensing) before choosing the operating model.

## What you would need to change

You keep the form in code, but translate the SurveyJS model and custom widgets into Fillo fields and components, and let Fillo store and surface the responses.

| Existing SurveyJS setup | Expected work |
| --- | --- |
| A JSON model rendered client-side with your own backend | Recreate the model as a Fillo schema, then retire the persistence and results plumbing it replaces |
| Custom question types or widgets | Rebuild them as custom fields or headless components on the SDK |
| A self-hosted results database | Keep it for history; Fillo stores responses from cutover onward |

## Next step

[Open the editor](/new) and rebuild one real form before deciding whether to move the rest.

## Related

- [Embed a Fillo form](/docs/embed): Render native fields backed by a hosted response store.
- [Author forms in code](/docs/authoring): Define a Fillo form with `defineForm()` and keep it in your repo.
- [Security and data handling](/docs/security): Where responses and uploaded files live, and how they're isolated.
- [Compare form tools](/compare): Find the right starting point for the form you need.
- [Headless form builder](/headless-form-builder): See how a Fillo form works inside your app.
- [Fillo plans and limits](/docs/limits): Check response, branding, and upload limits.