Comparison
Choose dimah-form, a form-state library, a builder, or a hosted service.
dimah-form is a server-authoritative questionnaire runtime. It is designed for forms that are part of your application, not for every kind of data-entry problem.
dimah-form is pre-v1. Prefer it when its snapshot and response-lifecycle model are a requirement, and evaluate its API stability before a long-lived integration.
Choose by ownership
- Choose dimah-form when your app must own auth, data, UI, drafts, and server-side validation against the definition a respondent started with.
- Choose React Hook Form when you need flexible React form state and validation, while your application defines the API, persistence, and multi-session lifecycle.
- Choose SurveyJS when you need a JSON-driven survey renderer or an embeddable drag-and-drop creator that you connect to your backend.
- Choose Typeform when a hosted, no-code, conversational form service and its account-based workflow are the right trade-off.
Capability model
| Concern | dimah-form | React Hook Form | SurveyJS | Typeform |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary model | Server-authoritative questionnaire library | React form state and validation | JSON survey runtime; optional self-hosted builder | Hosted form and survey service |
| Who renders the form | Your UI, or optional @dimah-form/ui | Your React components | SurveyJS renderer and themes | Typeform or its embed SDK |
| Per-response definition snapshot | Built in | Application responsibility | Application persistence design | Platform response model |
| Draft, resume, abandon, and CAS | Built in | Application responsibility | Application responsibility | Service workflow |
| Auth and data storage | Your application | Your application | Your application | Typeform account and APIs |
| Drag-and-drop authoring | Not provided | Not provided | Survey Creator | Hosted builder |
| Best fit | App-embedded questionnaires with durable response history | Client-side React forms | Schema-driven surveys and visual authoring | Fast hosted collection and embedding |
This is a model comparison, not a performance benchmark or a claim that one tool replaces another. A project can use a general form library for ordinary settings screens and dimah-form for questionnaire flows.
What dimah-form deliberately leaves out
dimah-form does not provide a visual builder, hosted respondent collection, user accounts, file uploads, dashboards, or a data warehouse. Your application can add those capabilities around the library. The optional UI package renders the existing fill session; it does not replace your product UI.
For the library's concrete boundaries, read Integration, Persistence, Security, and Responses.
Sources
- React Hook Form: Get Started and useForm
- SurveyJS Form Library overview and Survey Creator overview
- Typeform Create API and Embed SDK
Last reviewed: 2026-09-24.