[SOLVED - NO, IT'S ALIVE] Free Form - Is it dead?

I purchased the Pro version, I think 1 or 2 years ago. I don’t remember then adding anything new at all since that time. They did make it compatible with version 6 but back then I already had the DevDemon Forms and was hoping Solspace would add the features they had in their Craft one which are POST to third party, conditionals, etc. They never did.

The DevDemon is now owned by EE Harbor, the same owners as Expression Engine and while they did not add any new features either in a very long time at least they fixed the bugs I reported and it’s compatible with all Expression Engine versions I tested.

From my experience, Solspace has no interest in EE modules anymore. They have put all their development efforts on Craft, just look the form module for that one and compare it to the one for EE, it lacks most features. Said that, I also requested support from both, Solspace and EE Harbor and EE Harbor support is great. They always respond and try to help you out. Solspace on the other time, while they do tend to respond a week later, it’s usually not even helpful.

From my experience, yes, Freeform is not supported anymore. I have never used it except for one single form and I would suggest using the EE Harbor one. It’s much better, and has way more features and is updated and supported. I still have the Solspace one installed, but probably going to remove it in the future as I don’t think it’s getting any more love from the developer.

It does massively concern me, that EEHarbor is owned by the same people as EE Packet Tide, and yet they have not listed the addons on the Expression Engine website. How are people supposed to find them, or use them?

The EEHarbor Forms plugin was last updated over 1 year ago. and 1.5 years for any reasonable change to it. To me that is seems worse than Freeform, but both look pretty much defunct.

It looks like an error on my behalf upgrading this website, when I should have put budget and time into rebuilding it elsewhere… Not happy with all this right now.

This could be for several reasons, but only they can really answer. Maybe they don’t want to compete with other developers, but I suspect it’s just because they are very focused on EE releases right now. Give them sometime.

They still did not add the documentation for most of their add-ons, most of them were acquired from DevDemon, and they had far better documentation and examples on the old website. They are probably still working on their own site, which is a bit outdated with information. But…

The modules are updated. Don’t take anything granted from their website, most functions and features are not even published, not even in the docs. The form add-on works fine, I’m running it. They do update the modules to make them compatible with the latest version.

I’m currently using the form module, so I can confirm that it works.

Yeah, freeform, also works. Its just missing a good few icons in the backend!

Hi Niel,

Thanks for your feedback on all of this. I can’t speak much to FreeForm specifically, but I can mention that we have a fairly large update for Forms (from EEHarbor) that’s just about wrapped up. We’re currently on track to ship it in days, not weeks or months.

It has been too long since the last update (Sorry about that, to all reading along etc!). We have been super heads down on EE as a whole, but have recently shifted how we’re going about development, to move things on EEHarbor and EE along at a much faster pace.

Thanks,

-Tom Jaeger

Thanks for the update. EE is moving fine, IMO…

I am just finding it harder from the “must have” plugins that were common place, and developers on those jumping ship. I now you have taken over many of these, but when I cannot find suitable replacements easily… I look for another path of least resistance!!!

But I’ve been EE for years, so I am hanging around. But clients are currently asking for WP or other vendors as it currently stands.

To be fair, Neil, the add-ons page on Expressionengine.com is also a new addition, if memory serves me right.

In the past, I always used https://devot-ee.com/ to search and buy add-ons. But since most developers don’t update the information on that site anymore I always go directly to the developer’s website link to see the latest information.

I am not arguing any of these points! But more pointing out that the addons has been there since the site relaunched - yet the first party addons are not even on it!

This is not an attack. But purely feedback - I needed to to replace some plugins and so forth, yet i did not even know about the EEHarbor forms option! For example.

Call it constructive feedback - EE have moved forward, and seems to be continuing to do so… Yet, a lot of what made it great needs to keep pace, and be findable!

I’ve had a reply from support at Solspace. They are alive, and responded quickly.

It is not dead. They hope to have a fix for icon issues soon.

They have been monitoring EE and the community, and hope to bring future updates and improvements soon.

So that’s a positive.

Well I hope Forms becomes part of EE in the years ahead