How to send an HTML form to email

HTML can't send email by itself. Here are your real options, from worst to easiest.

1. mailto: links

<form action="mailto:you@example.com"> opens the visitor's mail app — if they have one configured. Many don't, and you get no spam protection. Not recommended.

2. A PHP script

Works on shared hosting, but you must handle validation, header-injection attacks, spam and deliverability yourself, and it doesn't run on static hosts.

3. A serverless function

Netlify/Vercel/Cloudflare functions plus an email API. Flexible, but you maintain code, secrets and an email provider account for one form.

4. A form endpoint

Point the form's action at a service that emails you. With FormDrop:

<form action="https://forms.elimbi.com/submit" method="POST">
  <input type="hidden" name="access_key" value="YOUR-ACCESS-KEY">
  <input type="hidden" name="subject" value="New message from my site">
  <input type="hidden" name="redirect" value="https://example.com/thanks">
  <input type="text" name="name" required>
  <input type="email" name="email" required>
  <textarea name="message" required></textarea>
  <input type="checkbox" name="botcheck" style="display:none">
  <button>Send</button>
</form>

• access_key — your key (required).
• email — if present, FormDrop sets it as Reply-To so you can answer directly.
• subject — optional email subject.
• redirect — optional thank-you page URL for plain HTML posts.
• botcheck — hidden honeypot; if a bot fills it, the submission is silently dropped.

Every other field is included in the email and saved in your dashboard log. Send Accept: application/json to get a JSON reply instead of a redirect.

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