# Response limits

Cap submissions per share link to control how many people can respond.

## Response limits

Each share link can have its own response cap. Once the limit is reached, new visitors see a closed message — other links stay open.

<h2 id="how-it-works">How it works</h2>

Response limits are set **per share link**, not per form. This gives you fine-grained control over each distribution channel.

Open **Share**, pick a link, expand **Limits**, and toggle **Limit response slots**. Enter the maximum number of slots — at least 1. Once every slot is claimed, the link stops accepting new responses.

<h3 id="slots">What a slot is</h3>

A slot is claimed when a respondent **starts** the form, not when they submit. That is what stops 200 people opening a 30-seat registration at once and 170 of them losing their answers at the end.

An unfinished slot is not lost forever. A claim lasts **one hour**, and a cleanup job running every 15 minutes hands abandoned slots back to the pool, so a visitor who opens the form and walks away frees their seat within roughly an hour and a quarter. Submitted responses hold their slot permanently.

<h2 id="use-cases">When to use</h2>

- **Limited-spot events** — cap a workshop registration link at 30 seats
- **A/B testing** — give each link variant 100 responses, then compare
- **Staggered rollout** — set a low cap on the first link, increase as you scale

<h2 id="multiple-links">Multiple links, different caps</h2>

Since limits are per-link, you can create multiple links for the same form with different caps. For example, you could give your newsletter link a cap of 50 and your social media link a cap of 200.

<h2 id="what-respondents-see">What respondents see</h2>

When a link hits its cap, new visitors see a "Response limit reached" message. Existing respondents who already started filling out the form can still complete and submit.

> ℹ️ **No form-level cap**
> <p>
>     Response limits live on share links. If you want the entire form to stop accepting responses at a certain count, set the same limit on
>     every active link — or use <a href="/sharing-publishing/scheduled-close">scheduled close</a> combined with a link cap.
>   </p>

<h2 id="per-respondent-limits">Limits per respondent</h2>

Share-link caps limit the total. To limit how many times <em>one person</em> can respond, use the per-respondent settings under

<strong>Form settings → Submissions</strong>:

- **Allow another response** — off by default, so each respondent submits once. Turn it on to show a "Submit again" button after
  submitting. It can't be combined with a redirect URL.
- **Maximum responses per respondent** — with "Allow another response" on, cap how many times the same person can submit. Leave it empty
  for unlimited.

The cap is strictly enforced for signed-in respondents. For anonymous respondents it's best-effort — formbase remembers them in their
browser, so someone determined enough can get around it by switching devices. If the count really matters, require sign-in with the{' '}

<a href="/sharing-publishing/authentication-gate">authentication gate</a>.

There's also a separate cap on how many times a respondent may <em>edit</em> a submission they already sent — **Maximum edits**, 1 to 3. See{' '}

<a href="/submissions-analytics/edit-after-submit">edit after submit</a>.

<h2 id="next-steps">Next steps</h2>
<div class="not-prose grid gap-3 sm:grid-cols-2">
  - [Redirect after submit](/building-forms/redirect-after-submit) — Send respondents to a custom URL on completion
  - [Version history](/building-forms/version-history) — View and restore previous published versions
</div>