Dibs vs Tally for sign-up sheets

Tally is a lovely form builder. It is fast to write in, its free plan is generous, and its team of about ten people built it into a $6 million ARR business by September 2026. We admire it. It is also built for forms in general, and a sign-up sheet needs one thing a general form does not: a limit on each option.

The short version

Use Tally for forms: applications, surveys, order forms, feedback, anything with logic or file uploads. Use Dibs when people are claiming things that run out, like slots, shifts and dishes, and need to see what is left.

What Tally can and can't do for sign-ups

From Tally's pricing, help pages and changelog, as of October 18, 2026:

• It can close a form after a set number of submissions, or on a date, on the free plan.
• It can collect payments on the free plan, with no Tally fee on top of Stripe's.
• It can't cap a single option, so "Desserts, 3 people" is not possible. We found no option limits in its help pages or in changelog entries through September 2026.
• It can't show respondents which options are already taken.
• Respondent confirmation emails are on Tally Pro.
• We found no way for respondents to edit their own answers after submitting, and no reminder emails.

Side by side

Where Tally is better

General forms. Conditional logic, calculations, file uploads, signatures, payments, embeds and custom design. Dibs does none of these.

Integrations. Tally connects to Google Sheets, Notion, Airtable, Zapier, Make and more on the free plan.

AI and agents. Tally has an MCP server, free on all plans, that lets assistants like Claude and ChatGPT create forms and read submissions. Tally says 43% of its new users now find it through AI assistants.

Where Dibs is better

Slots with limits. Each slot has its own capacity, and the last spot goes to exactly one person even if two people tap it at the same moment. A full slot offers a waitlist.

What happens after. Confirmation emails with a calendar file, reminders before the day, and a private link to swap or cancel, all free.

The respondent page. Dibs's sign-up page is plain HTML with a few kilobytes of script, built for phones inside WhatsApp and Facebook. When we measured one public Tally form on October 18, 2026, a modern browser downloaded around 600 KB of compressed JavaScript before counting fonts and images. That is fine on wifi, and slower on a weak signal.

Which should you pick?

Pick Tally for applications, surveys, order forms and anything that needs logic, uploads or integrations.

Pick Dibs when people are signing up for things that run out and need to see what is left.

Tally is a trademark of its owner. Dibs is not affiliated with Tally. Facts on this page were checked on October 18, 2026. If something here is out of date, tell us and we will fix it.