A new client says yes, and the next thing they get is a PDF to print, sign and photograph, or a form on a form builder's domain with somebody else's logo and an account to create first. For a coach, a therapist, a lawyer or a freelancer, the intake form is the first page of the relationship, and it should look like yours.
This guide is about a client intake form as a link, free, that the client fills on a phone without signing up. Hostus is the option we put first, and the category matters: best if the form is a page of yours, with your welcome text, and the answers land in an inbox. Tally, Jotform, Typeform, Google Forms and Carrd each have a case, covered below with what their own sites said today, and so does the PDF, which is where most practices start.
What the client sees
Here is one, live: the intake page of a fictional coaching practice. A short welcome, what to expect from the first session, how the answers are used, and then the form: name, email, what brings you here, goals as checkboxes, availability, how you heard about the practice, and a consent box. Fill it in. The form disappears and a line takes its place: thanks, and what happens next. The practice does not exist and the session details on it are illustrative; the form is real, and the record lands with us.
What the client does not see: a sign-up, a form builder's address, a second page. What they do see is one HTML file opened from the link on a phone, in the practice's colours, with the practice's words above the first field, a small "Published with Hostus" pill in the corner, and a one-line "Form by Hostus" under the thank-you. For a lawyer the same page says "what we need before the first call"; for a freelancer, "tell me about the project".
How an intake form works on Hostus
Hostus hosts a single HTML file as a page at yourslug.hostus.page. Any <form method="post"> in that file with named fields records its submissions on the document: no action URL, no key in the page, no backend. The page is the form's own receiver, so the form sits inside your welcome text.
Where the answers go: an inbox on the document, with CSV export, and your email, per response or as a daily summary. Claude reads them too, through the connector.
Four settings live on the document, not in the HTML, so you change them without touching the file:
- Email. One email to you per response, or one a day with all of them. For an intake, per response: the client is waiting.
- Success message. Up to 200 characters shown in place of the form after sending; the prompt below writes one.
- Redirect. Instead of a message, send the client to your booking page, so the intake and the appointment happen in one sitting.
- Close. Close the form by hand when the calendar is full, or stop at N responses. The page stays up with your text; only the form goes.
Two details that matter for an intake: a client who presses send twice does not create two records, and the submissions you make yourself while signed in are marked as tests and do not count toward the 100 free responses a month.
What to ask on an intake form
The form sets the tone, so short beats thorough: what you did not ask here you can ask on the call, and every extra field is a reason to stop. A structure that fits coaching, legal and freelance work, and that the prompt below uses:
- Who. Name, email, and a phone number only if you will call it.
- Why now. One open question: "what brings you here?" It is the field clients write the most in; give it a large textarea.
- What they want. Goals as checkboxes with an "other" line: for a coach, career change, confidence, a decision; for a lawyer, the matter type; for a freelancer, the kind of project and a budget range.
- When. Availability as checkboxes (weekday mornings, evenings, weekends) rather than a calendar.
- How they found you. One select; in three months it tells you where to spend your time.
- Consent. A required checkbox with a plain sentence: what you will do with the answers, who sees them, and that they can ask you to delete them.
What stays off the form: anything a regulation requires you to store in a specific system; the limits section below says so plainly.
The prompt
With the Hostus connector on in Claude, this writes the page, publishes it and sets the form in one turn. Swap the practice, the fields and the message for yours.
Make me a client intake page for Northlight Coaching, a one-person career coaching practice. A short welcome in the first person (three sentences), a section called "What to expect" with three short points about the first session, a line on how the answers are used, and then the form.
The form is <form method="post" name="intake"> with named fields: name, email, what brings you here (large textarea), goals (checkboxes: career change, a specific decision, confidence at work, leadership, other with a text line), availability (checkboxes: weekday mornings, weekday evenings, weekends), how you heard about me (select: referral, LinkedIn, Instagram, search, other), and a required consent checkbox that says I keep the answers to prepare our first session and delete them on request. Each section a heading with an id. No action URL, no key in the page, no backend, no localStorage. One HTML file, mobile first, large tap targets, and the submit button reads "Send".
Publish it to Hostus. Set the form to email me on every response and to show "Thanks. I read every intake the same day and reply with two times for a first call." in place of the form after sending. Give me the link.The page is born private: switch it to public in the Hostus dashboard before you send the link, or to email-gated if you only share it with clients you already spoke to. Ask and Reply are already on. The form settings are document settings, not HTML: Claude sets them with hostus_update, and you change them in the dashboard later. If you book through a calendar link, replace the message with a redirect to your booking URL; it is one or the other.
Tally, Jotform, Typeform, Google Forms, Carrd, a PDF: pick it if
Hostus first, for the case this page is about: the intake form inside a page of yours, free, no account for the client, answers in your inbox. The rest were read on their own sites on 18 October 2026; where a site did not say, this guide says "check their pricing page" rather than a number.
- Tally. Pick it if you want a form builder whose free plan does not count submissions, and the form can be a page of theirs. Tally is free with unlimited forms and submissions under its fair use guidelines; removing its branding is on Pro at $24 a month.
- Jotform. Pick it if you need payment fields in the form and will live inside its free limits. The Starter plan is free with 5 forms, 100 submissions a month, 10,000 views, 100 MB, 500 stored submissions, 10 payment submissions a month, and Jotform branding.
- Typeform. Pick it if you want one question per screen and the conversational feel matters more than the number of responses. The free plan has "a limited number of responses per month" (its pricing page gives no number); Basic is $39 a month, or $28 billed annually, with 100 responses.
- Google Forms. Pick it if the answers should land in a spreadsheet and the client will not mind the Google look. It has an "Accepting responses" switch and an editable message for when the form is closed; its product page lists no price for personal use, so check theirs.
- Carrd. Pick it if you want a visual builder for the whole page and will pay a little per year. Forms arrive with Pro Standard at $19 a year; Pro Lite at $9 a year has no forms, and a free account is limited to three sites.
- A PDF. The baseline. Free, works in any email, and the client prints it, signs it, photographs it and sends a picture you retype. Nobody gets an email, because nothing was sent anywhere.
Side by side
| Option | Form inside your own page | Client needs an account | You get an email | Close when full | Page is yours (HTML) | Free plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hostus, one HTML page | Yes, in your HTML | No | Yes, per response or daily | Yes, by hand or at N responses | Yes, one file | Yes: 20 docs, 100 responses a month, no clock |
| Tally | No, a Tally page | Not stated on its pricing page | Not stated on its pricing page | Not stated on its pricing page | No | Yes, unlimited forms and submissions under fair use |
| Jotform | No, a Jotform page | Not stated on its pricing page | Not stated on its pricing page | Not stated on its pricing page | No | Yes: 5 forms, 100 submissions a month, branding |
| Typeform | No, a Typeform page | Not stated on its pricing page | Not stated on its pricing page | Not stated on its pricing page | No | Yes, a limited number of responses a month, no number given |
| Google Forms | No, a Google page | Not stated on the pages we read | Not stated on the pages we read | Yes, an "Accepting responses" switch | No | Check their page |
| Carrd | Yes, on a Carrd page | Not stated on its Pro page | Not stated on its Pro page | Not stated on its Pro page | Lives in Carrd | Yes, up to three sites, no forms |
| A PDF | No, an attachment | No | No | No | No, a file | Free |
Prices and limits were read on each vendor's own site on 18 October 2026 and change without notice.
After the client sends
The answer arrives in your email with every field and stays in the inbox on the document with the others. Read "what brings you here" first; it is the opening line of your reply. Through the connector, Claude reads the same inbox: ask it to summarise the week's intakes, or draft the first reply to each, which you edit and send from your own email. It drafts; you send.
Ask is on by default too: a client can ask the page a question ("do you offer evening sessions?") and get an answer from what the page says, with the section cited, no account; the questions it could not answer are listed for you, and they are the lines missing from your welcome text. Reading by section shows which parts each reader opened and for how long: if many open the page and few send, the form is too long, and the shorter version goes up on the same link.
Good to know before you switch
Hostus is not HIPAA compliant and is not a medical or legal record system. The answers live on Hostus servers, readable by you in the inbox and by Claude through the connector; there is no end-to-end encryption. If an intake must hold health information or a payment detail under a regulation, keep that part in the system certified for it and use this page for the welcome and the first conversation. Visitors cannot read other people's answers: only a page that reads its own responses through the document's storage would open them, minus the email, and an intake page does not. Hostus does not email the client who filled the form; they see your message on screen, or land on your booking page, and the email goes to you.
The free plan takes 100 form responses a month, 20 documents and 2 MB of storage in total, with no card and no clock; responses past 100 are stored and held until you upgrade, and the paid plan has no monthly cap. There is no e-signature, so a consent checkbox is a consent checkbox, not a signed agreement. There is no custom domain on any plan: the address is yourpractice.hostus.page. The gate, if you use one, is by email, not password.