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Freeform Next for ExpressionEngine!

Today we're very pleased to announce the launch of a whole new form building experience, Freeform Next for ExpressionEngine! If you're new to Freeform or ExpressionEngine, Freeform Next is the most powerful form building add-on for ExpressionEngine. The intuitive live preview field layout editor gives you full control to create simple or complex multi-column and multi-page forms. It also includes flexible email notification options, powerful and flexible templating, and the Pro version includes several API integrations.

When we moved into building plugins for Craft CMS, we had the opportunity to start fresh with Freeform. We looked at Freeform's strengths, and its weaknesses. And then, we built a completely new product. Freeform for Craft CMS has had such tremendous success that we wanted to bring that excitement to ExpressionEngine too! We trust that you will be pleased with the familiarity of Freeform Next, and greatly enjoy the refined experience.

Freeform Next centers itself around the idea of letting admins and/or clients enjoy the experience of building and managing simple or complex forms in an intuitive interface that lets you see a live preview of the forms you're building. We call this Composer, where almost everything is at your fingertips as it aims to stay out of your way and let you do as much as possible without having to move around to other areas in the control panel. At the same time, Freeform is very powerful and flexible, so there is also a wide variety of other features, settings and options.

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Freeform Next uses its own set of fields and field types. Fields are global and available to all forms, but they can also be overwritten per form. This allows you to save time reusing existing fields when making other forms, but also gives you flexibility to make adjustments to them when needed. So to clarify, you can create fields with labels and options that are common to all forms, but also override those on each form.

Email notifications are global and can be reused for multiple forms, saving you time when you are managing many forms. Freeform allows you to send email notifications upon submittal of a form five different ways, each with their own content/template.

Freeform Next attempts to do all the heavy lifting when it comes to templating. Our looping templating approach allows you to automate all or almost all of your form formatting.

Freeform Next also allows for multi-page forms, has its own built in spam protection service, and the Pro version includes several popular Mailing List and CRM (Customer Relationship Management) API integrations, including MailChimp, Constant Contact, Campaign Monitor, Salesforce and HubSpot.

Last but not least, included with Freeform Next is a set of Demo Templates that can be installed on your site, instantaneously giving you a real-world set of styled, working templates.

For those of you that have used Freeform / Freeform Pro in the past, we've created a documentation resource that covers some of the key differences and changes in Freeform Next.

Solspace Freeform Next, like all of our addons/plugins, comes with rock solid support and a 30 day no questions asked money back guarantee! So try Freeform Next today!

What does this mean for Freeform and Freeform Pro?

For well over 10 years, Solspace has provided Freeform to our customers for free. Over the course of its existence, it quickly became neglected and stale. We then introduced a Pro version several years ago, which allowed us to innovate with it (we then introduced Composer and multipage forms, etc). With Freeform Next, we strive to offer the best possible experience and support, and we want to continue to innovate Freeform further. That said, Freeform Next doesn't have all of the exact same functionality as Freeform Pro, and we understand that some customers will not be ready to switch or learn a new product right away. So, we have renamed Freeform 5.x / Freeform Pro 5.x to Freeform Classic / Freeform Classic Pro. Freeform Classic (free) will continue to be freely available for the next 30 days (until June 30, 2017), and then will be discontinued. Freeform Classic Pro will continue to be available for purchase until some time in 2018. During that time, we plan to further fill in the gaps of Freeform Next Pro's features so it's closer to what classic Freeform Pro offers.

Can I upgrade from Freeform Pro to Freeform Next?

There currently is no migration options from Freeform Classic (Freeform Pro) to Freeform Next. This is something we are looking into developing in the future, though. However, Freeform Next can be used alongside classic Freeform/Freeform Pro installations if you're wanting to try out and/or switch to Freeform Next.

What does it cost to use Freeform Next?

Our goal with Freeform Next is to make it more affordable than Freeform Pro was. You'll notice that the Freeform Next price is our lowest priced product at $89. We want to take care of existing customers, and understand there could be some confusion about how Freeform Next phases in. Below is a list of prices and pricing of certain circumstances:

  • New Freeform Next license: $89
  • New Freeform Next Pro license: $159 (includes same as Freeform Next + API integrations, additional field types, advanced exporting)
  • Freeform Next Pro upgrade from Freeform Next: $70 (the difference)
  • Trade Freeform Classic Pro 5.x (Freeform Pro 5.x) for Freeform Next (if purchased within past 60 days): FREE, and we'll refund the difference (contact us)
  • Freeform Classic Pro 5.x (Freeform Pro 5.x) upgrade to Freeform Next (beyond past 60 days): $59
  • Freeform Pro 4.x for EE2 upgrade to Freeform Next (EE3): N/A (you'll need to buy a new Freeform Next license, which is close to cost of Freeform Pro 4.x to 5.x upgrade fee)

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