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Show HN: GitForms – Zero-cost contact forms using GitHub Issues as database

gitforms-landing.vercel.app

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Show HN: GitForms – Zero-cost contact forms using GitHub Issues as database

#1

Post by lgreco »

got tired of paying $29–99/month for simple contact forms on landing pages and side projects (Typeform, Tally, etc.).So I built GitForms: an open-source contact form that stores submissions as GitHub Issues.How it works:Form runs on your Next.js 14 site (Tailwind + TypeScript) On submit → creates a new Issue in your repo via GitHub API You get instant email notifications from GitHub (free)

Zero ongoing costs:No database, no backend servers Deploy on Vercel/Netlify free tier in minutes Configurable via JSON (themes, text, multi-language)

Perfect for MVPs, landing pages, portfolios, or any low-volume use case.Repo: https://github.com/Luigigreco/gitforms License: CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0 (non-commercial only – fine for personal projects, not client work).Curious what HN thinks: would you use this? Any obvious improvements or edge cases I missed?Thanks!

Show HN: GitForms – Zero-cost contact forms using GitHub Issues as database
gitforms-landing.vercel.app

Re: Show HN: GitForms – Zero-cost contact forms using GitHub Issues as database

#3

Post by lbatchelor »

Your landing page makes a lot of claims that are not true

- that the code is 100% mit licensed (it's not)

- that this is in any way gdpr compliant (there are literal rules around this)

- that your data is encrypted and private (it isn't encrypted? Unless being written in Italian is encryption now?)

- that they'll have 99.9% uptime (there is no SLA for vercel hobby tiers)

- "No middlemen. No third-party storage. Every submission lives in your GitHub..." (that is the very definition of third-party storage and a middleman)

Re: Show HN: GitForms – Zero-cost contact forms using GitHub Issues as database

#4

Post by captn3m0 »

RadiozRadioz wrote: post #2

Neat hack, but it's free until it isn't. I worry about building things that rely solely on the good graces of Microsoft. Recent Actions news can support that skepticism. Good that you've positioned it for prototypes.

There’s a lot of prior art for similar usage: Utterances for comments, gists being used for JS-snippet platforms.

Re: Show HN: GitForms – Zero-cost contact forms using GitHub Issues as database

#5

Post by tonypapousek »

lbatchelor wrote: post #3

Your landing page makes a lot of claims that are not true - that the code is 100% mit licensed (it's not) - that this is in any way gdpr compliant (there are literal rules around this) - that your data is encrypted and private (it isn't encrypted? Unless being written in Italian is encryption now?) - that they'll have 99.9% uptime (there is no SLA for vercel hobby tiers) - "No middlemen. No third-party storage. Every…

Yes, but a language model patted them on the head and said this was a good idea, may as well make it mission-critical infrastructure.

Re: Show HN: GitForms – Zero-cost contact forms using GitHub Issues as database

#6

Post by altmanaltman »

How about email? Form runs on your (anything) -> creates a new email -> you get instant email notifications because it's an email. That's also perfect for MVPs, landing pages, portfolios or any low-volume use case. Why would I want to rely on a middleman or version control software for this?

If you know it's a glued-together solution that you'll have to rip apart if your program scales, why make it so complex in the first place?

Re: Show HN: GitForms – Zero-cost contact forms using GitHub Issues as database

#7

Post by hi_hi »

Ha, I feel the pain. I built this a while ago to scratch a similar itch.

https://feature-refactor-for-cloudfl.first-contact.pages.dev...

It's no longer "live" so I wouldn't try and use it. I was using Supabase free tier to manage auth, and got tired of keeping it live. Good lesson learnt.

Re: Show HN: GitForms – Zero-cost contact forms using GitHub Issues as database

#8

Post by cxr »

GitHub is not Git. This doesn't really have anything to do with Git at all. This shouldn't be called GitForms.

The Git trademark policy says they don't want people to name things like this.

> you may not use any of the Marks as a syllable in a new word or as part of a portmanteau (e.g., "Gitalicious", "Gitpedia") used as a mark for a third-party product or service

https://git-scm.com/about/trademark>

Re: Show HN: GitForms – Zero-cost contact forms using GitHub Issues as database

#9

Post by Groxx »

cxr wrote: post #8

GitHub is not Git. This doesn't really have anything to do with Git at all. This shouldn't be called GitForms. The Git trademark policy says they don't want people to name things like this. > you may not use any of the Marks as a syllable in a new word or as part of a portmanteau (e.g., "Gitalicious", "Gitpedia") used as a mark for a third-party product or service https://git-scm.com/about/trademark >

> (e.g., "Gitalicious", "Gitpedia")

GitHub, GitLab, Gitorious (now gone)...

I agree in general, but I think this ship has sailed a ways out to sea already. I don't think essentially anyone thinks "GitThing" is "git's official Thing".

Re: Show HN: GitForms – Zero-cost contact forms using GitHub Issues as database

#10

Post by saulpw »

altmanaltman wrote: post #6

How about email? Form runs on your (anything) -> creates a new email -> you get instant email notifications because it's an email. That's also perfect for MVPs, landing pages, portfolios or any low-volume use case. Why would I want to rely on a middleman or version control software for this? If you know it's a glued-together solution that you'll have to rip apart if your program scales, why make it so complex in the…

How do you send an email from your static page?
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