The End of the Box: Why we built Aldform
- Published
- Reading time
- 2 min
- Length
- 289 words
- Filed under
- Aldform, Open Source, Web Development
- Part of
- aldform
TL;DR
Third-party form embeds broke the interfaces I designed, so we built Aldform to handle the backend and leave the frontend to you.
A small SDK and two endpoints cover submissions, file uploads, and notifications, while your HTML, CSS, and layout stay your own.
It is open source: use Aldform Cloud at ₹100 per 1,000 submissions, or self-host it for free.
Building for the web should feel like a creative playground, yet every time I needed to add a simple contact form or a complex survey, I hit the same wall. I would spend hours perfecting a unique user interface only to have a third-party embed arrive and clutter the aesthetic. It felt like I was renting a small piece of my own website to someone else. I wanted something that provided the heavy lifting of a backend—handling submissions, managing file uploads, and sending notifications—while leaving the frontend entirely in my hands.
That is why we created Aldform. It is a simple infrastructure designed for developers who care about the craft of their work. With a tiny SDK and two clean endpoints, you can build forms in pure HTML or React exactly as you imagine them. You get to keep your CSS, your brand colors, and your layout. We handle the storage and the logic in the background, making the technical part of forms feel almost invisible.
We are also making this an open-source initiative because we believe in true data ownership. You can use Aldform Cloud for a seamless experience at ₹100 per 1,000 submissions, or you can self-host the entire project for free on your own infrastructure. Everything is direct, honest, and built to scale with your projects. This is about giving you the freedom to build exactly what you want, your way.
Aldform is currently under active development, and I would love for you to be part of the journey. You can join the waitlist at aldform.com or explore the code on GitHub. I am also documenting the entire process publicly—you can witness every step of the build at omrajguru.com/builds/aldform where I post daily updates.