GoCanvas: The App That Captures Data Using Mobile Forms
Manually keeping track of your company’s records, invoices, and timesheets can get messy without a proper system in place. If you want to simplify how business forms are submitted and recorded, GoCanvas could be your solution. Our review will cover the pros and cons of GoCanvas and whether it’s for you.
Our Ratings Summarized
We’ve summarized our average ratings for GoCanvas below for your convenience (10/10 being a perfect score, 1/10 being an app we would not recommend).
8/10
Basic App Info:
What Is GoCanvas?
GoCanvas is an app that allows you to automate your paperwork. It lets you create customizable mobile forms such as invoices or timesheets, making it easy for you to collect and submit data from your clients and employees for your business.
Traditionally, most businesses manually fill out and file paperwork. The issue with this method is that it eats your time and makes it easy for documents to get lost or unorganized. That is where GoCanvas can help. If you want to save time filling out and keeping track of paper forms, GoCanvas is an excellent solution.
Although the app is best suited for those who work in the field, nearly any business or industry will benefit from using it.
Pros:
- Over 20,000 customizable pre-built templates for your industry to choose from
- An easy drag-and-drop tool that lets you categorize and create your mobile forms
- Email and phone support
- 10-day free trial
- Helpful guides and tutorials available on their site
- Integrates with multiple services like Google Drive, Slack, and Dropbox
- Allows you to integrate your apps into a database such as CRM, ERP, or Quickbooks
- Auto-populates data for you
- Unlimited cloud storage
Cons:
- No free version
- Not the most visually appealing
- Occasional bugs or crashes
- Some customization options are limited or missing
- Some time is required to create or customize a form from scratch
- Relatively expensive if you’re a small or medium-sized business
Overall Rating: 8/10
GoCanvas makes it easy to create and keep track of business forms. While the app has suffered from occasional bugs and is not the most visually stunning, it has been a reliable tool for most of its users.
Cost Rating: 8/10
Depending on which plan you sign up for, you could pay anywhere from $45-$65 per user every month. While GoCanvas is expensive, the number of tools and resources that it provides may well be worth the money, especially if you’re a large business trying to simplify and automate the workspace.
Unfortunately, the app doesn’t offer a free version. It does, however, give a free trial for 10 days if you are curious about its functions.
User Experience: 7/10
Generally, there aren’t too many complaints about GoCanvas’s usability. Most user reviews have indicated that it’s easy to learn and use. However, some complaints about mediocre support and frequent bugs or crashes have surfaced. Users have experienced crashes when trying to submit data on a form or when opening the app. You can always reach out to support if needed, but it might take a day or two for them to respond.
Tools & Features: 9/10
What does GoCanvas offer? A lot. The app has almost everything you would need to automate and digitize paperwork for your industry. For example, here’s what GoCanvas can do:
- Build and edit mobile forms that can:
- Capture images
- Grab signatures
- Perform calculations
- Scan barcodes
- Accept mobile payments
- Upload customer or product information to a database
- Track equipment or team members with GPS
- Pre-populate your forms
- Integrate with multiple cloud services
- Organize/categorize your GoCanvas apps and submissions into folders
- Export data
- Provide insights/analytics
- Test your apps before you publish
For a complete list of features and tools, be sure to check out their features page, where you can learn more about what they have to offer.
GoCanvas also lets you choose from a database of thousands of pre-built templates (invoices, work orders, inventory, etc.) that you can use and customize. Many of their forms are for specific industries, such as healthcare and construction, so you’ll have a good chance of finding what you need regardless of your industry.
Setup: 8/10
Setting up your account is easy. All you’ll need to do is fill in some details about your company and include an email, phone number, and password to get started.
Once you’re in your account, you can begin building your mobile forms using a simple drag-and-drop method. This feature is intuitive to use, but if you ever get lost or confused, GoCanvas has a helpful Getting Started tutorial that will walk you through the process.
The downside is that it takes some time to build your business forms from scratch. The time it takes depends on your level of understanding of the app and what you’re trying to create.
Alternatives to GoCanvas
If GoCanvas is not for you, or if you want to compare it to similar apps, the following are alternatives to consider:
- Jobber: Best for residential and commercial businesses. Limited reports and forms for their basic plan.
- ProntoForms: Great for field operations/jobs.
- GoFormz: Customizable forms. Limited free Basic plan.
- Claris: Affordable plans for both small and large businesses.
Bottom Line: Great Value for What You Pay
Even though the price for the app seems high, you are getting a good value for what you pay. Whether you need to recreate a business form digitally (or from scratch) or need a simple way to keep track of submitted reports, GoCanvas is a powerful tool worth considering.