If you’ve been using (or considering) TrustedForm for lead consent and compliance certification, you’re not alone. Many marketers, lead buyers, and agencies rely on it to prove that a visitor actually opted in to share their contact information. TrustedForm, part of ActiveProspect’s suite, can issue certificates that demonstrate consent and compliance — and it’s a solid standard in many industries.
But for businesses that want a more affordable, simpler, and flexible solution — especially those who don’t want to deal with complex pricing, tech overhead, or confusing platforms — FormClue is emerging as a smarter alternative. In this article, we’ll break down the key differences and why FormClue might be the better choice for your lead-generation workflows.
1. Transparent and Affordable Pricing.
Pricing is one of the most common reasons businesses start looking for an alternative to TrustedForm — especially once lead volume increases or retention requirements grow.
TrustedForm Pricing
TrustedForm’s pricing is centered around certificate retention, not issuance — but the total cost can still add up quickly.
1. Certificate Generation (Certify)
- Free — generating TrustedForm certificates for captured leads costs nothing.
- Certificates are automatically deleted after 3 days (given no detectable form submit) or 90 days (if a form submission is detected on the page) if not retained.
At first glance, this sounds generous — and for very low volumes, it can be.
2. Certificate Retention (Retain)
To store certificates long-term (commonly required for TCPA or legal compliance), TrustedForm charges per retained certificate, using volume tiers:
Approximate Retain Pricing (per certificate):
- Up to 1,000 leads
- ~$0.15 (third-party / unverified domains)
- ~$0.12 (first-party / verified domains)
- Next 19,000
- ~$0.12 (third-party)
- ~$0.10 (first-party)
- Next 30,000
- ~$0.10 (third-party)
- ~$0.08 (first-party)
- 50,000+
- ~$0.08 (third-party)
- ~$0.06 (first-party)
There is typically a minimum monthly charge (~$10), which includes a small baseline number of retained certificates and does not require an annual contract.
While reasonable at low volumes, these costs scale directly with how many leads you must retain — including leads you may never actually need for a dispute.
3. Separate Storage Fees
On top of retention pricing, storage is billed separately, usually around:
- ~$0.0002 per retained certificate per month
For companies retaining hundreds of thousands or millions of certificates, this becomes a permanent, compounding cost that continues month after month. Imagine having to pay thousands of dollars every single month just to store those certificates.
4. Lower Rates Require Long-Term Contracts
While not publicly documented, TrustedForm can offer lower per-certificate retention pricing — but only if you:
- Commit to a long-term (typically annual) contract
- Agree to a flat monthly allotment of retention credits
- Pay for those credits whether you use them or not
This often results in:
- Thousands of dollars per month in fixed spend
- No rollover of unused credits
- Paying the same amount during slow months or paused campaigns
In other words, the best pricing requires vendor lock-in and guaranteed spend, even when usage fluctuates.
FormClue Pricing
In FormClue uses a true pay-as-you-go pricing model designed to stay predictable at any scale.
There are no contracts, no commitments, and no usage minimums.
Credit-Based Retention Pricing
You only spend credits when you choose to claim and retain a certificate. Credit pricing scales down aggressively with volume:
- 1,000 credits → $0.10 per credit
- 10,000 credits → $0.07 per credit
- 25,000 credits → $0.05 per credit
- 100,000 credits → $0.03 per credit
- 500,000 credits → $0.015 per credit
Unused credits never expire, and you are never forced into a fixed monthly allotment.
Simple, Flat Storage Cost
Unlike TrustedForm, FormClue does not charge storage per certificate.
- Flat $50 per month. That’s it!
- Store any number of retained certificates
- No per-record storage fees
- No compounding monthly costs as volume grows
Whether you retain 1,000 certificates or 5 million, your storage cost stays exactly the same.
What This Means in Practice
With FormClue:
- You don’t pay for certificates you don’t need
- You don’t overbuy credits “just in case”
- You don’t sign annual contracts to get reasonable pricing
- You don’t watch storage fees grow indefinitely over time
Your compliance costs remain fully controllable and linear, even as lead volume scales.
Why FormClue’s Model Is Fundamentally Better
TrustedForm optimizes for guaranteed recurring revenue through storage fees and long-term commitments.
FormClue optimizes for customer control:
- Variable spend instead of fixed overhead
- Transparent pricing instead of negotiated contracts
- Predictable bills instead of usage surprises
For businesses managing large or fluctuating lead volumes, this difference alone can result in tens of thousands of dollars saved per year.
2. Easier Setup and Integration
TrustedForm
- Requires setup with LeadConduit or API integration for advanced workflows.
- Implementation often involves extra technical steps, vendor coordination, and deeper developer involvement.
FormClue
- Works with one line of code on your page. No complex funnel integrations. FormClue
- Certificates are auto-injected into your lead form as a hidden field, ready for verification. FormClue
- Real-time validation or post-submission certificate claiming works with your CRM or workflow without custom engineering.
If time-to-launch matters — and most businesses don’t have the patience for complicated installs — FormClue wins hands down.
3. Better User Experience and Interface
One of the biggest complaints with many traditional compliance tools is their clunky UI and high learning curve.
TrustedForm
- Built for enterprise lead compliance teams and deeper software ecosystems.
- Interfaces and dashboards are functional, but not always intuitive for non-technical users.
FormClue
- Designed for simplicity and clarity.
- Dashboards emphasize session recording, consent status, and bot detection — all in an easy-to-understand layout. FormClue
- API access is included even on free plans, so both technical teams and marketing users can use it without switching accounts.
Put simply, FormClue’s UI is more straightforward and accessible for teams that just want compliance evidence — no complex workflows or training required.
4. More Powerful Bot Detection and Session Context
Consent alone doesn’t guarantee lead quality. A certificate is only valuable if the session behind it was generated by a real human — not a bot, scraper, or automated script. This is where FormClue goes far beyond what TrustedForm offers.
FormClue’s Multi-Factor Bot Detection
FormClue employs a sophisticated, multi-layered bot detection system designed to validate the authenticity of every recorded session. Instead of relying on a single signal or intrusive CAPTCHAs, FormClue analyzes the full context of user behavior and environment to assign a Bot Score to every certificate. FormClue’s detection engine runs silently in the background using a passive analysis model. This avoids friction while still delivering high-confidence results.
This approach protects your budget by identifying:
Scrapers and synthetic traffic — before bad leads enter your CRM or get sold downstream.
Automated scripts
Headless browsers
Form-filling bots
Every FormClue certificate is assigned a probability score from 0 to 100, representing the likelihood that the session was initiated by automated software. You can retrieve the bot score via FormClue’s API.
5. No Vendor Lock-In or Hidden Upsells
TrustedForm’s pricing model often includes:
- Minimum monthly charges
- Tiered pricing that pushes you to higher commitments
- Upsells for advanced features like Insights, Decisions, or enhanced consent checks.
FormClue avoids these by offering:
- A transparent credit-based system
That means no surprise bills, no long contracts, and no forced upgrades.
Conclusion
If your business relies on lead generation — especially with strict compliance needs (TCPA, GDPR, etc.) — you need trustworthy, verifiable evidence of consent. TrustedForm has been a staple in this space for years, but its pricing complexity, technical requirements, and interface limitations make it a challenge for many smaller teams.
FormClue offers a modern alternative:
- Lower and more transparent costs
- Ultra-simple implementation
- A much more user-friendly dashboard
- Better bot detection and session insights
- Flexible certificate retention
- No long-term commitments
For marketers who want compliance without complexity, FormClue isn’t just an alternative — it’s a better option. Check out FormClue today, signup is free.