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Most forms don't fail because the tool was missing a field. They fail because someone reached for the wrong one: a dropdown holding three options, a long text box where a date belonged, a matrix that turns into a crossword on a phone.
So this is a field guide rather than a feature list. Every question type in HornetForms, grouped by the job it does, what it's genuinely good at, the settings worth knowing about, and when to pick something else. All of them are on the Free plan. If you're building your first form, start with how to create an online form and come back here at the question-type step.
In the editor you add any of these the same way: start a new line, press /, and type the first few letters.
The everyday ones#
These eight cover the majority of real forms. Choosing the right one isn't about the input box, it's about the validation and the keyboard your respondent gets.
Short text. One line. Names, job titles, reference numbers. You can set a minimum and maximum length, and a pattern for the rare case where the answer has a fixed shape, like an internal order code. Don't use it for things that have a better type: an email in a short text box is an email you can't trust.
Long text. A box that expects a paragraph. "Tell us what happened", "what should we build next". A maximum length is worth setting: it tells people how much you actually want, and nobody writes a novel in a box that says 500 characters.
Email. Validates the shape of the address and gives mobile users the right keyboard. Use it even when the field is optional, and set the notification's Reply-To to this answer so replying to yourself replies to them. On Pro you can also require respondents to verify the address with a code before submitting, which is the fix for "the confirmation bounced and now we can't reach them".
Website URL. For portfolios, company sites, the page a bug happened on. Checks it looks like a link, so you don't collect "my website lol".
Phone. An international number input with a country selector, and you can set the default country to the one most of your respondents live in. Reach for it only when someone will genuinely call: people are visibly reluctant to hand over a number when they suspect a sales call is coming, and a required phone field costs you completions.
Number. For quantities, headcounts, budgets. Set a minimum and maximum, and whether it must be a whole number. Pair it with a calculated field and you have a quote.
Date. A date picker with an earliest and latest date, so nobody books your workshop for last Tuesday or three years from now.
Time. Same idea, for a time of day, with an earliest and latest.
Choice fields#
Five types, and the difference between them is mostly about how many options there are and how many people may pick.
Multiple choice. Pick one, all options visible. The default for two to about seven options. Can include an "Other" box so people can write their own answer instead of being forced into your categories. Marking right answers for a test? Our free quiz maker guide shows how to build a self-grading quiz.
Checkboxes. Pick several, all options visible. You can require at least n and at most n selections, which is how you phrase "choose your top three" and have it enforced rather than hoped for. Also supports "Other".
Dropdown. Pick one, hidden until opened. Use it when the list is long, like a country or a department, and avoid it when the list is short: a dropdown with three options hides your own question behind a click.
Multi-select. Pick several from a searchable box. This is the long-list version of checkboxes: start typing to filter, and selections show as a count. Twenty skills, forty products, the whole catalogue.
Ranking. Drag options into order. Good for prioritisation ("rank these features"), tiring past about five or six items, and worth avoiding if you expect a lot of phone traffic.
For choice fields you can also randomise the order per respondent, with specific options locked in place, which is how you keep "None of the above" at the bottom while shuffling the rest. That matters more than it sounds in research: people over-pick whatever sits at the top.
Rating and scoring fields#
Four types that all produce a number, for four different purposes. The important part is that HornetForms works out the aggregate for you in the form's Insights tab, so you don't rebuild the maths in a spreadsheet every quarter.
Rating. Stars, with between 3 and 10 of them. Quick, familiar, slightly vague. Fine for "how was your stay", weak as a research instrument.
CSAT. A rating preset: five faces, from unhappy to delighted. Reach for it right after an interaction, like a support reply or a delivery. Insights reports your CSAT score automatically.
Linear scale. A numbered scale from 0 or 1 up to 10, with your own labels at each end ("Not at all useful" to "Extremely useful"). The workhorse for agreement and usefulness questions. Label both ends: an unlabelled 1-to-7 means something different to everyone.
NPS. The famous one, as a preset: 0 to 10, "how likely are you to recommend us". Insights splits promoters, passives and detractors and gives you the score. Follow it with a conditional long text question, so low scores get "what went wrong?" and high scores get "what do you love?". That follow-up is where the actual information lives; the number is just the filing system.
Matrix. A grid: up to 20 rows (the things you're asking about) against up to 10 columns (the scale), with one choice per row or several. Perfect for "rate each of these statements" and the single most mobile-hostile question type in any form builder. If a lot of your traffic is on phones, split a long matrix into a few short ones, or ask fewer things.
The advanced ones#
This is where a form stops being a questionnaire and starts being a process.
File upload. One question that accepts up to 10 files. You set how many, the size limit per file and which types you'll take, so a CV field can insist on a PDF or Word document while a bug report quietly accepts three screenshots in one go. Respondents don't sign in to anything to upload, and the files arrive attached to the response. In integrations they travel as file names plus a link back, not as the file itself.
Signature. Drawn with a finger or a mouse, or typed, and stored with the rest of the answers. Reach for it for consent, waivers, approvals and anything that used to end with "print, sign, scan, email". It works with right-to-left layouts and the keyboard, so it isn't a mouse-only field. Our accessible forms checklist covers what else to check.
Hidden fields. A question your respondent never sees, filled from the link: ?source=newsletter, ?plan=pro, ?version=1.4. The best form-design habit there is, because the fastest way to shorten a form is to stop asking things you already know. Use them for campaign tracking, for the page a bug was reported from, or to carry a customer id through to your webhook.
Most input types can also be pre-filled from the URL, which is the visible cousin of a hidden field: the answer is there, and people can correct it.
Calculated fields. A field whose value is a formula over earlier answers, producing a number or a piece of text, with however many decimal places you want (up to six). This is quotes, totals, scores, quiz results and risk ratings. @Number of guests + 1 is a headcount; a price per unit times a quantity is an instant quote; a sum of scored answers is a quiz. Our logic, piping and calculations guide builds a full catering quote step by step if you want to see one in anger.
Scheduling. Paste a Calendly or Cal.com booking link and people book a meeting inside the form, without a second round of emails. You can prefill the booking with their name and email from earlier questions, and the booking arrives with the rest of their answers. On every plan.
Three traps worth avoiding#
Asking what you already know. Every question you can answer from the link, your records or a hidden field is a question that shouldn't be on screen. The shortest form wins, and it isn't close.
Hiding the shape of the form. People abandon forms that feel open-ended; they want to know what's coming and roughly how long it'll take. A one-line description at the top ("five questions, about two minutes, we'll ask about your role and your budget") does more for completion than any amount of design. Multi-page forms with a progress indicator help for the same reason.
Designing on a laptop for people on a phone. Matrices, ranking and long dropdowns are the usual casualties. Open your own form on your phone before you publish it, every time, and look at the Insights drop-off numbers afterwards to see which question people actually quit on. Our form design best practices cover more habits like this one.
Then make them conditional#
Question types are only half of it. The other half is that most questions shouldn't be shown to everyone: conditional logic, multi-page forms, answer piping with @ and up to 20 named endings mean a form can ask five questions of one person and fifteen of another. All on the Free plan.
If you'd rather not start from a blank page, there's a whole gallery of built-in templates to take apart, and we picked ten favourites in form templates to steal.
Go and build one#
All 20+ question types, logic, uploads, signatures, calculations and scheduling are on the Free plan, which is free forever, no card needed. The features page has the full tour and the pricing page shows what Pro and Business add. Sign up for free and press /.