Zoho Writer vs Formstack Documents

This is a quick comparison of the document generation (mail merge) capabilities of Zoho Writer and Formstack Documents. This article will help you understand the benefits that both offer, and the differences between them, to choose the right one for you.

While both tools are equally capable of automatically generating personalized documents, there are a few subtle differences between them in terms of functionality.

The table below provides a feature-to-feature comparison between these products to help you understand them in detail.

Creating and managing templates

Zoho Writer helps you to easily save your changes while creating or modífying merge templates with its auto-save capability. However, Formstack Documents require you to save the changes manually. Zoho Writer also offers other capabilities, such as real-time collaboration, to help you leverage the collective wisdom and expertise of your team to create templates quickly

Create merge templates from scratch

Import existing documents as merge templates

Create templates from the gallery

Auto-save changes to your templates

Rich formatting and layout options such as content styles, font, font sizes, and more

Advanced options such as inserting formulas, images, symbols, and more

Connecting to data sources

While Zoho Writer offers out-of-the-box integration with fewer data sources compared to Formstack, it helps you overcome that limitation with the capability to connect to any data source via APIs. Furthermore, Writer also offers the advantage of filtering data from data sources and adding them to sub forms in your templates.

Features

Upload CSV files

Upload JSON files

Integrate with various business apps

Add multiple data sources to a merge template

Filter data from data source

Add sub-form fields from data source to merge template

Remove data source from a merge template

Map new fields in the template to data source

Create, edit, merge documents, and more using API

Merge field options and customization

Both Zoho Writer and Formstack offer many options to perform different operations dynamically or customize the templates with different types of merge fields.

Embed webforms in the merge template

Add customized header and footer in templates

Insert barcodes and QR codes

Insert various types of fields such as checkboxes, maps, payment, and more.

Add custom fields to the merge template

Add a matrix field to the merge template

Conditional display

Setup dynamically repeating blocks/rows without coding

Conditional-based formula execution

Add an auto number field to the merge template

Customize the auto number field to add prefix, suffix, and more

Merge preview and trigger options

Both Writer and Formstack allow you to trigger and perform test merges, but Zoho Writer goes a step further and allows you to preview the merged document and schedule the merge based on your convenience.

Offer previews before generating documents

Trigger merge manually or automatically

Customize the template for a single or set of records and share with them

Scheduled merge

Test merge

Customizing merge output

Zoho Writer and Formstack Documents offer options to set up customized workflows to create merge output specific to your needs.

Create a separate output file for each record or merge data from all records in a single file

Send merged document via email

Send merged document for sign collection

Invoke a custom function on merged documents

Merge and share as a fillable form

Support multiple formats for merged documents

(supports ZDOC, DOCX, PDF, PDFFORM, HTML, and XLSX)

(supports DOCX, XLSX, HTML, JPEG)

Password protect merged documents

Deliver documents based on conditions in data

Customization

Zoho Writer and Formstack Documents offer many customization options to meet your needs.

Customize from address when sending as an email

Choose or customize the merge document page size

Customize the file name of the merged document by adding merge fields, auto fields, and more

Pricing

Though both products offer economical pricing options, Zoho Writer's pricing model is simpler and economical, including a free edition and an unlimited number of templates. Formstack on the other hand offers three different plans and also limits the number of users and templates to 15 and 50.

Free Trial

Free Edition

Includes a maximum of 2,000 free credits/month #. (Each merge consumes one credit)

Paid Plans

Based on credits. Starts at per credit.

Three plans. Starts at /month.

No of users

Unlimited *

Starts at 2 users per plan. Maximum of 15 users can be added.

No of templates allowed

Unlimited

Starts at 10. Maximum of 50 templates can be created.

No of document merges allowed

3,000 merges per day for each output operation. Can be increased based on user's request.

Starts at 15. Maximum of 250 merges per month can be done.

#The limit may vary from 1,000 to 2,000 credits based on the Zoho product you have purchased.

*The number of users is limited to the Zoho product you have purchased.

Related features

Improve your productivity and stay organized with the various automation templates in Zoho Writer.

Fillable Templates
Sign Templates
Label Templates

Fillable Templates

Design fillable forms and embed them in your applications. Manage form responses easily with Fillable Templates in Zoho Writer.

Learn More

Sign Templates

Create documents and send them for eSignature collection with Zoho Writer using various eSign services. Configure various signing options and more.

Learn More

Label Templates

Design, generate, and print customized labels in bulk in standard label sizes with data from various apps and sources.

Learn More

The Zoho Writer advantage

Besides document merge capabilities, Zoho Writer offers various productivity-enhancing features:

Real-time sharing and collaboration with your peers.
Options to add images, tables, fields, and advanced formatting to your documents. Design documents with the various layout options.
Built-in spelling and grammar checker, along with AI-powered writing suggestions.
Powerful automation templates to fulfill your signing, fillable, and mail merge needs.
Offline mode and Android, iOS, and desktop apps with full offline capabilities and no-signup usage.