Tally

Bootstrapped online form builder that is free for most uses, built in Belgium.

FormsNo-codeBootstrappedBuilding in publicEurope

Active^{Source [3]}^{Source [2]}Last verified Oct 2, 2026

About Tally

Tally is an online form builder that works like a text document: users start typing and insert blocks instead of dragging fields, an approach inspired by Notion. It is free for most use cases, including unlimited forms and submissions, with paid plans for advanced features. The company is Tally BV, and says its product is made and hosted in the EU.^{Source [3]}^{Source [5]}^{Source [1]}

Marie Martens and Filip Minev started Tally in summer 2020 after the pandemic cost their first startup, Hotspot, half its customers. Filip builds the product while Marie runs marketing, support and the business side. Early growth came from Marie's manual outreach to makers on Product Hunt and indie communities, a March 2021 Product Hunt launch, and a viral loop from the "Made with Tally" badge on free forms.^{Source [1]}^{Source [6]}^{Source [5]}^{Source [2]}

Tally publishes its revenue openly on its blog, with milestone posts from $1K MRR in March 2021 through $6M ARR in September 2026. It has never raised outside capital and describes itself as customer-funded. By 2026 AI assistants had become its largest acquisition channel, with 43% of new users saying they found Tally through ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Perplexity, and it added an optional AI form builder and an MCP server.^{Source [2]}^{Source [3]}^{Source [7]}

In August 2026 Tally disclosed a data breach: attackers exploited a zero-day in Metabase, a third-party analytics tool Tally used internally, and extracted account email addresses and hashed passwords; Tally said no form data was accessed, removed Metabase and began ISO 27001 and SOC 2 certification.^{Source [2]}

What happened

Marie Martens and Filip Minev pivoted from their travel startup Hotspot to build Tally in August 2020 and launched an MVP in September 2020. Fully bootstrapped and building in public, Tally reported crossing $6M ARR and 2.5 million users in September 2026 with a team of 10. The company is operating and independent.^{Source [1]}^{Source [2]}^{Source [3]}

Timeline

2026-09Crosses $6M ARR and 2.5 million users with a team of 10.^{Source [2]}
2026-08Discloses a data breach via a compromised third-party Metabase instance; removes the tool.^{Source [2]}
2026-04Crosses $5M ARR with a team of 11.^{Source [8]}
2026-01Announces it will optimize for quality rather than revenue in 2026, after ending 2025 with 12,000 customers.^{Source [7]}
2025-10Reaches $4M ARR, fully bootstrapped.^{Source [9]}
2025-02Crosses $2M ARR with a full-time team of five.^{Source [10]}
2024-02Reaches $100K MRR.^{Source [2]}
2023-09Launches Tally 2.0 on Product Hunt; later named #1 Product of the Month.^{Source [11]}
2021-10Reaches $5K MRR and 11,000 users after one year.^{Source [12]}^{Source [2]}
2021-03Launches on Product Hunt; 1,400+ upvotes and 600+ new users.^{Source [1]}
2020-09Launches the MVP; 1,500 users by the end of 2020.^{Source [1]}
2020-08Founders decide to pivot from Hotspot and build a form tool.^{Source [1]}

Products and brands

Tally form builder: Document-style builder for forms and surveys, free with unlimited forms and submissions.^{Source [3]}^{Source [5]}
Tally Pro: Paid plan that unlocks advanced features on top of the free plan.^{Source [5]}
Tally AI: Optional AI assistant for building forms, rolled out to all users in 2026.^{Source [2]}
Tally MCP server: Lets users build and analyze forms from AI tools such as Claude and ChatGPT.^{Source [2]}^{Source [3]}
Tally API: Developer API for forms and submissions.^{Source [3]}

How it makes money: Product-led freemium: the core builder is free without limits on forms or submissions, and revenue comes from paid subscriptions for advanced features. No sales team or enterprise focus.^{Source [5]}^{Source [3]}

Leadership

Marie Martens	Co-founder^{Source [3]}^{Source [13]}	Since 2020
Filip Minev	Co-founder^{Source [3]}^{Source [4]}	Since 2020

Funding and financials

ARR: $6M+ with 2.5 million users (Sep 2026, self-reported on the company's public building-in-public blog)^{Source [2]}
MRR: $501K (Sep 2026, self-reported on company blog)^{Source [2]}
MRR: $422K (Apr 2026, self-reported on company blog)^{Source [8]}
MRR: $338K, about $4M ARR (Oct 2025, self-reported on company blog)^{Source [9]}
MRR: $175K, about $2M ARR, team of 5 (Feb 2025, self-reported on company blog)^{Source [10]}
Customers: 12,000 paying customers at end of 2025 (self-reported on company blog)^{Source [7]}

People on Founded, and where they went next

1 person on record, connected to 1 other company.

Person	Here	Also built
Marie Martens	Co-founder2020 to now	Hotspot2019 to 2020Status unknown

Sources

How we ended up building the simplest way to create forms, Tally blog (Marie Martens), 2021-04-08. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
6 years in, $6 million far, Tally blog (Marie Martens), 2026-09-22. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
About Tally: Meet the Team Behind the Form Builder, Tally. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
X profile @filipminev (via fxtwitter API), X. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
How Tally bootstrapped to $4M ARR with radical simplicity, How They Build (Timothe Frin), 2026-04-02. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
Marie Martens, Co-Founder of Tally, IdeaMensch, 2022-03-11. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
In 2026, we're optimizing for quality, not revenue, Tally blog, 2026-01-14. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
The road from $4M to $5M ARR, Tally blog, 2026-04-15. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
How we grew Tally to $4M ARR, fully bootstrapped, Tally blog, 2025-10-15. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
We crossed $2M ARR with a Bootstrapped Team of 5, Tally blog, 2025-02-24. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
Becoming #1 Product of the Month: our Product Hunt launch results, Tally blog, 2023-10-03. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
Year 1: How we bootstrapped Tally to 11K users and $5K MRR, Tally blog, 2021-10-11. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
Marie Martens (author page), Tally blog. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.

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