The best WordPress form plugin depends on the job you need it to do. Six serious contenders split the field by profile, from a completely free contact form to a hosted builder that embeds anywhere.
This guide compares all six contenders. For each one you get what the free version does, what the paid plans add, current prices and one honest drawback, with screenshots from the real wp-admin screens for the four wordpress.org plugins. Jump straight to a plugin from the table of contents, or start with the short answer.
The short answer 🏆
No single plugin wins every profile, so match the plugin to the job:
- A simple free contact form: Contact Form 7 if a text template does not bother you, Everest Forms free if you want a drag-and-drop builder.
- Entries and file uploads stored in WordPress for free: Everest Forms. Submissions land in a searchable Entries screen with CSV export at no cost. No other plugin here combines unlimited stored entries, free uploads and a drag-and-drop builder in one free plugin.
- Paid features and payments: WPForms. The friendliest builder here, over five million installs of the free version, and paid plans that add entry management, conditional logic and file uploads from Basic, with the 2,100+ template library from Pro.
- Developer and agency builds: Gravity Forms is sold only as paid licences with no free version, and brings official support and a deep add-on ecosystem.
- Hosted forms that work beyond WordPress: Wufoo forms live in a hosted account and embed into any site.
What a good form plugin needs ✅
Eight features decide whether a form plugin fits your site. Skim them now, because the comparisons below keep coming back to them:
- A drag-and-drop builder. Fields should drop onto a visual canvas, not into a text template.
- Field types. Text and email are table stakes; look for file uploads, date fields, signatures and calculations.
- Conditional logic. Show or hide fields based on earlier answers.
- Multi-step forms. Split a long questionnaire across several pages.
- Entry storage in WordPress. Submissions should land in your dashboard, searchable and exportable, not just in an inbox.
- Spam protection. Honeypot, reCAPTCHA or Turnstile, without frustrating real visitors.
- Integrations. Email marketing, CRMs, spreadsheets and automation tools.
- Payments. Orders, donations and subscriptions taken directly through the form.
Free or paid? 💳
Five of the six plugins here have a usable free version, and free tiers have grown generous: the four free WordPress plugins all cover a basic contact form with email notifications and spam protection at no cost.
The locks appear in predictable places. Conditional logic is paid almost everywhere: it is a Pro feature in Everest Forms, a paid add-on for Ninja Forms and reserved for paid WPForms licences. Multi-step forms, surveys, marketing integrations and styling controls follow the same pattern.
Payments are the exception worth knowing. WPForms Lite takes Stripe payments for free, though transactions on the free version or an inactive licence carry a 3% platform fee, and Contact Form 7 ships a free Stripe module. Everywhere else, taking money through a form means paying for the plugin first.
Entry storage splits the field most clearly. Ninja Forms and Everest Forms store unlimited submissions in your WordPress database at no cost, while WPForms lists entry management among its paid features.
The plugins compared 🔍
1. WPForms
Over five million sites run the free WPForms Lite version. An onboarding wizard and setup checklist walk a new site through the essential configuration, and the builder itself is the easiest here for a non-technical owner. It suits sites that want a polished experience and do not mind paying once forms need conditional logic or stored entries.
The free version covers the basics well:
- Drag-and-drop builder with ready-made templates; the full library of over 2,100 form templates comes with the Pro plan and above
- Built-in spam protection plus hCaptcha, Google reCAPTCHA and Cloudflare Turnstile
- Stripe payments, including donations and recurring payments
- Smart Edit and AI Choices for prompt-based edits and generated choice lists
A paid licence adds:
- Entry management, conditional logic and file uploads, from the Basic plan up
- Surveys and polls, digital signatures, calculations and Google Sheets on higher tiers
- Full WPForms AI form creation from a single prompt
- No platform transaction fees on an active Pro licence
Paid licences start at $49.50 for the first year (Basic, one site, normally $99.00) and reach $299.50 (Elite, unlimited sites, normally $599.00). Those are introductory prices: renewals bill at full price, and every plan includes a 14-day money-back guarantee.
The catch: entry storage in the dashboard is a paid feature, and payments taken on the free version or an inactive licence carry a 3% platform fee on each transaction.
2. Ninja Forms
Ninja Forms runs on over 500,000 sites and takes the modular route: the free core is a complete product, and premium features arrive as individual add-ons you can buy one at a time. It is also ready for the newer WordPress AI tooling, so an assistant connected through the WordPress MCP Adapter can build, edit and check forms through 29 permission-checked abilities. Our quick guide walks through making a Ninja Forms contact form.
The free core includes:
- Unlimited forms and submissions, all stored in your own WordPress database
- Calculations, signatures, star ratings and repeatable field groups
- An AI form builder that drafts a form from a plain-language description, running on an AI provider you connect through the WordPress AI Client
- Nine built-in templates, with a larger importable library on the vendor site
Paid add-ons cover:
- Conditional logic, file uploads and multi-step forms
- Payments, save and resume, PDF submissions and user registration
- Email marketing, CRM and messaging integrations
Memberships bundle the add-ons: Plus normally costs $99.00 a year (16 add-ons), Pro $199.00 (28 add-ons) and Elite $499.00 (every add-on). First-year pricing is 40% off, and every purchase has a 14-day money-back guarantee.
The catch: conditional logic and file uploads are add-ons rather than core, so a form that needs both starts costing money early; once you are buying several add-ons individually, a membership becomes the cheaper route.
3. Gravity Forms
Gravity Forms is the veteran premium option, sold only as paid licences with no free version. The editor is a modern drag-and-drop design with column support and a template library, and recent releases added a Repeater field plus a Gravity Forms MCP connection for AI assistants. It suits developers and agencies who want official support and a deep add-on ecosystem, and who are happy to pay from day one. Our quick guide walks through building a form with Gravity Forms.
What the licences include:
- Basic, $59 a year for one site: HubSpot, Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign and Campaign Monitor add-ons
- Pro, $159 a year for three sites: Stripe, Square, Zapier, Dropbox, Slack and Trello add-ons
- Elite, $259 a year for unlimited sites: every add-on, including surveys, polls, signatures, conversational forms, user registration and partial entries
All licences are annual, and a demo on the vendor site lets you test drive the builder before buying.
The catch: there is no free version to try beyond the demo, and the vendor recommends sandbox testing before major version upgrades, so updates on complex builds take planning.
4. Contact Form 7
Contact Form 7 carries the largest wordpress.org install count in this group: over ten million active installations, on a listing that dates back to 2007. It is free software with no paid tier, and it suits anyone comfortable editing a text template who wants a reliable contact form that never asks for money. Our quick guide walks through making a contact form with Contact Form 7.
What you get:
- A text-based form template built with tag-generator buttons, with the mail and the response messages edited on their own tabs
- Spam filtering through Akismet, reCAPTCHA, Turnstile and a disallowed list
- A free Stripe module for simple payment forms
- Brevo and Constant Contact modules, plus Flamingo integration for storing messages
Price: free, with nothing to upgrade to.
The catch: there is no drag-and-drop builder, and message storage needs the companion Flamingo plugin. It also requires WordPress 7.1 and PHP 8.3, so confirm your hosting meets those numbers before switching.
5. Everest Forms
Everest Forms has the smallest install count of the four wordpress.org plugins here, with over 90,000 active installations, but also the best rating of those listings: 4.9 out of 5 across 375 reviews. The draw is a free tier that covers ground rivals charge for.
The free version includes:
- Drag-and-drop builder with unlimited forms and unlimited entries stored in WordPress
- File and image uploads
- Entry search, admin approval, entry reports and CSV export
- Google reCAPTCHA, honeypot, Akismet, CleanTalk and Cloudflare Turnstile spam protection
- AI form creation from a plain-language description
Pro adds:
- Conditional logic, multi-step forms and conversational forms
- Payments through Stripe, PayPal, Square, Mollie, Razorpay and Authorize.Net, with coupons and subscriptions
- CRM and email marketing integrations, Zapier and webhooks
- A style customizer, surveys, calculations, user registration and PDF submissions
No rival here matches the free combination: WPForms keeps entry management for paid plans, Ninja Forms charges for uploads, Contact Form 7 has no visual builder, Gravity Forms has no free version and Wufoo caps free entries at 100. A free importer that moves forms and entries over from other plugins lowers the cost of switching.
Pro starts at $49 for the first year (Personal, one site, normally $69) and tops out at $199 (Agency, unlimited sites, normally $299). Lifetime licences run $199, $399 and $799. Introductory prices on the annual plans renew at full price, and every plan includes a 14-day money-back guarantee.
The catch: conditional logic is Pro-only, and so are the marketing and CRM integrations, Zapier and webhooks.
6. Wufoo
Wufoo is the odd one out: a hosted form builder, part of SurveyMonkey, where forms live in a Wufoo account and get embedded into WordPress rather than created inside it. That also makes it the only option here that works for sites that do not run WordPress at all.
The free plan includes:
- 5 forms, 100 entries, 10 fields and one user
- Hosting, storage and form processing handled by Wufoo
Paid plans add:
- Custom branding, confirmation emails and workflow automation (Starter)
- Payments, unlimited forms and additional users (Professional)
- Higher entry limits, file storage and API requests (Advanced and Ultimate)
Billed annually, Starter costs $195 a year, Professional $399, Advanced $999 and Ultimate $2,523.
The catch: entries live in your Wufoo account rather than the WordPress dashboard, the free plan caps out quickly, and the Wufoo Shortcode plugin for embedding is currently closed on wordpress.org pending review, so embedding relies on Wufoo’s own embed code.
Which one should you pick? 🎯
Match the plugin to the job and the choice gets easy:
- A simple contact form at zero cost: Contact Form 7 if a text template does not bother you, Everest Forms free if you want a visual builder.
- Entries and file uploads stored in WordPress for free: Everest Forms, with entry search, admin approval and CSV export included at no cost.
- Forms that take payments: WPForms Pro, Gravity Forms Pro or Everest Forms Pro, which covers six gateways at the lowest renewal price of the three.
- Complex builds and client work: Gravity Forms Elite for every add-on on unlimited sites, or Ninja Forms when buying single add-ons fits the budget better.
- Forms that must work beyond WordPress: Wufoo, because the forms are hosted and embed anywhere.
Last word 💬
Form plugins have converged: most features on the checklist above now exist in at least one free version, with conditional logic and multi-step forms the main exceptions. The real question is where each paywall sits, and whether it blocks something your forms actually need.
Install the free version that fits your profile, build the real form, and reach for a card only when you hit a specific lock.
Which form plugin does your site run, and what finally made the decision for you?
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It’s August 2020 and you missed Fluent Forms? This article could be written in 2016 with the same content. It reminds me of missing Oxygen Builder in your page builder’s articles. Or missing GridPane in your hosting reviews. Guys, you should really update your WordPress vision in 2020!
Thanks for your thoughts. There are always names you could add to any review. Would you like to say anything about the particular merits of the services you mentioned?
Hi, thanks for not ignoring my post 😉 Fluent Forms is the fastest and very well featured form plugin. Great integrations, in-house statistics, custom email notifications, multi-step forms, conditional fields, calculations, payments, and CPT submissions. Oh, yes, you can also register new users with those forms! All those features are built-in, so you don’t need additional add-ons, and third-party plugins. Oxygen Builder is a little different thing from other builders. It disables the WordPress theme system completely. Imagine it more like a templating system, where you can create custom templates for posts, CPT’s and integrate with ACF and Toolset. The sites made with Oxygen Builder are the fastest in the WP ecosystem. Gridpane is exclusively made for cloud hosting of WordPress websites on cloud servers like Digital Ocean, Vultr, and Linode (or any other cloud hosting). Their stack is the most advanced in the ecosystem – their server-level caching, staging sites, updates, multisite support, etc. The best thing is their in-house support. And we’re not talking about standard good support like from Siteground. Those guys from Gridpane just know their stuff, they’re WordPress and Linux server experts, so you can expect unexpected support :-). All of them are quite new… Read more »
You’re very welcome. 🙂 Those both sound interesting, I’ll check them out when I get a chance, thanks for the added detail!
“Forminator – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder” blows the doors off all of these choices.
I really like WPForms, it is user friendly and can do about anything from simple to advanced forms.
Gravity Forms is several steps down when it comes to ease of use, but can obviously do any form imaginable.
However, due to the high renewal costs of WPForms I recently decided to give Quform a go. It is really good, and easy to use. A great choice as long as you don’t need a payment option in your forms.
Happy Forms is a great form builder, too.
Never heard of caldera forms?
Surprised you did not include Formidable Forms. Free version has good basic features need for most simple forms. Similar to Gravity Forms in terms of form creation. Easy to build, good layout and styling
It’s a mistake that you overlooked WP Fluent Forms.
Altho that provides a good overview of forms creation etc, most of our clients need a straight-forward integrated solution. And that needs to be one they can understand across the full requirements.
We’ve found Airtable is a wonderful solution, both the back end and user interfaces.
Rapid learning and rapid development and rapid deployment – perfect for busy creatives and developers.
You left out 2 very strong contender:
1. Caldera Form
2. Formidable Form
Interestingly, with the central role Elementor hold in my workflow, all my form need is being met with Elementor Form + Dynamic Contents for Elementor. It’s an amazing combination that has drastically reduce the need for quite a number of other plugins.