Are you looking to add a contact form on your WordPress site? Not sure which one of the 1625+ WordPress contact form plugins to use? In this article, we have hand-picked the 5 best contact form plugins for WordPress and compared their pros and cons, so you can easily add a contact form in WordPress.
1. WPForms
WPForms is the most beginner friendly WordPress contact form plugin. We use it on WPBeginner and all of our other websites. WPForms was built by the same team as WPBeginner with a single goal: Make a WordPress forms plugin that’s both easy and powerful.
Pros
WPForms’ drag & drop online form builder makes it the most user-friendly form plugin for WordPress.
WPForms Lite is available for free in the official WordPress plugin directory meaning you can install it on as many sites as you like for free.
The premium version allows you to extend the functionality and build multi-page forms, email subscription forms, payment forms, order forms, use smart conditional logic, and more.
There are documentation and guides available along with email support to help you when you need it.
Cons
While the lite version is free, you need to upgrade to Pro to unlock more powerful features.
Even though WPForms is powerful, the #1 goal of this plugin is to make it user friendly. That’s why it doesn’t have the more complex features that some other form plugins offer.
WPBeginner users can use this WPForms coupon that will give you 10% off the premium version of WPForms.
Alternatively, you can start with WPForms Lite for Free.
2. Gravity Forms
Gravity Forms is a paid contact form plugin that has all the advanced functionality one can ask for.
Pros
Gravity Forms is a powerful contact form plugin for WordPress.
With the help of additional add-ons, Gravity Forms can be used to create surveys, quiz, user submitted content, and even web directory.
It comes with premium support options like FAQs, knowledge base, forums, and email support. This means that help is available when you need it.
Cons
Gravity forms does not have a free version, so it can be a bit expensive than other WordPress contact form plugins. However, if you are using it on multiple sites and projects, then the cost should not be a big deal.
WPBeginner users can use this Gravity Forms coupon that will give you 25% off.
3. Pirate Forms
Pirates forms is a WordPress contact form plugin built by the team at Themeisle. It comes with an easy interface that’s good for creating simple contact forms.
Pros
It has a limited free version with an optional paid upgrade.
It has all the basic features such as CAPTCHA and SMTP that you need to create a simple contact form.
Cons
The plugin focuses on simple contact forms, so it doesn’t offer advanced functionality such as subscription forms, payment integrations, and others.
Lack of add-ons can be a deal breaker for some, but others may appreciate the simplicity.
4. Ninja Forms
Ninja Forms is a freemium contact form plugin for WordPress. It can be used to create highly interactive form with very little effort.
Pros
The base plugin for Ninja Forms is available for free from the official WordPress repository. This means you can download and install it on as many sites as you like.
There are premium extensions which allow you to extend Ninja Forms functionality such as connecting with Campaign Monitor, Freshbooks, Salesforce, SMS notifications, etc.
There is a helpful community support option, as well as documentation, guides, and email support.
Cons
Even though the main plugin is available for free, the extensions are not. Buying two or more extensions or even the developer bundle will cost you nearly the same amount as Gravity Forms.
5. Formidable Pro
Formidable Pro is quickly becoming a popular choice among WordPress users and developers. It allows you to quickly create beautiful contact forms and comes with all the goodies you would need from a premium form plugin.
Pros
Formidable Pro makes it really simple to set up your first WordPress contact form.
Just like Ninja Forms, the basic Formidable Pro is available for free. Their paid plans start from $49 for single site license with addons sold seperately. The unlimited plan costs $399 / year with access to all addons.
There are 12 add-ons that come with the standard and unlimited plans. This allows you to integrate Formidable pro with MailChimp, Basecamp, Trillio, and many other services through Zapier addon.
Cons
Formidable Pro is relatively new in the race as compared to Gravity Forms. At the moment there are fewer addons than Gravity Forms. But hopefully this will gradually change as their user base grows.
Bonus: Contact Form 7
Although we don’t recommend Contact Form 7, this list cannot be complete without the oldest most downloaded contact form plugin in the official WordPress plugin directory.
Pros:
Price is probably the most important advantage of using Contact Form 7. You are free to install it on as many sites as you want.
There are several third-party plugins that act as add-on plugins for Contact Form 7. Most of them are available for free.
It is great for creating a basic contact form for your blog.
Cons:
Contact Form 7 can be a bit difficult to set up for absolute beginners. The user interface is not very intuitive.
Since it is a free plugin, support options are limited.
There are several third-party add-ons available for Contact Form 7, but the official plugin website doesn’t have an add-ons directory which makes it difficult to find add-ons to extend the functionality of the base plugin.
Which is the Best Contact Form Plugin for WordPress?
The plugins we mentioned in this article can all help you create a contact form plugin. However deciding the best contact form plugin varies based on your needs.
If you’re a beginner and don’t want to spend any money, then go with WPForms Lite.
If you’re a business owner and want to create powerful forms without learning code or hiring a developer, then go with WPForms Pro version.
If you’re a developer trying to build more complex forms, then go with Gravity Forms.
Our overall pick for the best WordPress contact form plugin is WPForms.
We hope this guide helped you choose the best contact form plugin for your WordPress site. You may also want to take a look at our guide on the best WordPress backup plugins compared (Pros and Cons).
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Google+.
Great to see different options and comparison for contact form plugins. I guess the Contact Form 7 is the best but others like WPForms and Ninja Forms are worth giving a try. Thanks.
Contact form 7 works well for me, but I heard it does load on every page which slows down the site, is wp form loads only for the exclusive pages?
I mean does it hamper site speed?
Hi Sandeep,
WPForms is optimized for speed and performance and does not affect your site speed.
>> Pirate Forms: It’s a completely free plugin with no paid upgrades.
Obviously, this is either outdated or wrong. There is a paid upgrade called “Pirate forms extended”, avaiable on the official plugin-developer-site.
Hi Nyks,
Thanks for pointing out. We have updated the article to reflect these changes.
I just started a web hosting and design business. This site was very useful to point me towards the more popular form builders out there. I just have two follow ups that I am hoping I can get some help with.
First, the information for Formidable Forms seems to be outdated. Specifically the cost. According to their site there are now four packages to choose from. The cheapest (one site) is $49/yr. The most expensive (unlimited) is $399/yr. they have three site and fifteen site options in between.
Second, I originally was going to go with Gravity Forms based on the review here and executing their demo it appears it offers all of the customization and features I need. However, there are a lot of negative review regarding support and I do not care to be dead in the water on the occasion that I need support.
I have used WPForms Lite and I was very happy with it and how easy it was to create a form. However, the form was a simple contact form. I am now in need of creating file upload forms, registration foms, and others. I am concerned that as my customization needs grow it may outgrow what WPForms offers given that WPForms simplifies the user interface to make it easier for beginners. I do not expect any solution to satisfy everyone’s needs. I just need help finding the solution that will serve me best moving forward. I could probably get away with a 15 or 20 site package while my business grows. So, I can take advantage of cost savings that way. However, I would like something that offers a strong feature set without forcing you to dip into your wallet every time you want to add a feature (a.k.a no Ninja Forms). If anyone can please help I would appreciate it
Hey TJ,
We have updated the article with current pricing for Formidable Pro. Currently, the pro version of WPForms supports file uploads, user registration, user submitted content, and other types of forms via addons. It is growing really fast and new features are added regularly.
Just a quick thank you
I have just created a 2 column form, made it 1 column for mobiles in less than 5 minutes with WPForms Lite.
..I feel pretty stupid struggling with Contact Form 7 for so long…
Hi Illy,
Thanks for the feedback, we are glad you found WPForms useful.
Are there any FormBuilders available that let you filter the kind of email address a visitor enters? That is : refuse an entry when a visitor is using a general mail address like gmail, hotmail, yahoomail or similar?
Thanks.
I am looking for free Form Plugin which can allow user to submit CV / image files for my WP blog, plz help me…
What plugin would you recommend if you wanted to store all the data in a database to export into a CSV or Excel file?
Wpforms, I tried, i buy and a lucky man.
Hi
Please suggest , i added plugin of Ninja form in my website
but i required more detail information in contact form like
product description
product quantity
City
state
regards
I love Contact Form 7. For me it is one of the best things that ever happened to WordPress. I came over from Joomla many years ago to WordPress because Joomla lacked a contact form module I could use and I use Contact Form 7 on all my sites (more than 10 sites). It deploys so fast – has an unfair advantage over drag-and-drop type contact forms – if you need lots of forms.
Hi,
am a beginner on wordpress.Am looking for something specific i just dont know the terminology for that functionality.i want a contact for that returns the desired value based on what the user type.I.e, If u type Apple it must return Green and if u type Orange it must return Orange,Sort of.or/and in more details,it must be a combination of two things then the form will return the value.What exaclty can i use? its an Array of about 1000 things or more to type.Thanks
Hey Layman,
Formidable Pro in our list above has a Cascading Dropdown Field. You can signup with Formidable Pro by using the link below:
Formidable Pro
WPforms Lite not working at all.. not sending mails!
Hi Girts,
Please see our guide on how to fix WordPress not sending emails issue.
What about add-on for Contact Form 7 ?
Contact Form 7 is junk. It’s slow and a major PITA to use.
I am trying to use WP Forms with Elementor, but when I add the shortcode for the WP Form via the text editor widget, the save never finishes once I hit the save button.
When I try to enter the shortcode in the shortcode widget and hit apply, nothing happens.
Is there a way to use WP Froms with Elementor?
Thanks!
Hey Trevor,
WPForms works well with Elementor. However, Elementor’s live editor does not refresh to allow shortcode execution. This means that after adding your shortcode you’d need to save your page and then view the preview in a new window or publish the page and view your form on the live page.
Not sure why anyone uses Contact Form 7 today.
Contact Form 7 may be the grand daddy of these plugins but it is now old and despite only using the form on a single page of a site it loads for every page on a site. So if you have 200 pages on your site and only one contact page with the Contact Form 7 installed on, it still loads for every single page……..slow, slow, slow sites.
Syed, It would be interesting to know which, if any, of the other plugins that you mention also slows a WordPress site down.
Ninja Forms is good, but they charge their plugins annually…I almost fell into that trap, thankfully I notice it just before I bought the plugin
What form plugin can enable users to save dratfs of their appplication procedure and continue to complete it in later time maybe via an email link to where to edit their applications
Hi, Contact Form 7 worked at first back some 2.5 years ago. The user interface for customizing is difficult to understand. Then all of a sudden, it stopped working, and yes I do the updates. I went in to their instructions on their website and followed exactly. Just looking at it again today after reading your post. Following their instructions to insert it onto my Contact Page. After Updating the page, all that shows is the copied and pasted coding, no form. Yes, I did copy and paste the form code into the Text version of the page.
I am going to right now delete Contact Form 7, because I think it’s a pain in the you know what, and I don’t know why it is so popular. Going to try WPForms. Thank you for the article.
Update: Deleted Contact Form 7 from my two websites. Installed WP Forms free version. Easy easy easy. Done quickly, works! Thanks a bunch!
Thank you so much! I just tried WPForms and I love it!!!
It would be great if your review included how well these forms perform, such as formatting on a mobile device versus a desktop, how adaptable they are and how easy (or not) they are to properly size. Also, do any of them cause a drag on performance. These are the questions I have.
I have a problem with all of the plugins listed. I am not able to receive any messages sent via contact forms even tough it works fine with the WP email SMTP test. no errors, nothing. The contact forms are still not working with gmail. could you guys please help me
Hey JO,
If you are using the same Gmail Address in the sender field that is used in your WordPress admin account then you may not receive those emails. If you can change your WordPress admin or sender email address to some other email provider then it would start working.
Sir,
Please let me know how can I edit the recipient email address in WPForms Plugin.
Hi Tarun,
WPForms automatically sends emails to WordPress admin email address. You can also manually add recipient email address in form builder by clicking on Settings > Notifications. For detailed instruction, please take a look at how to setup form notification in WPForms.
Sir,
I have changed the email address by moving two pathways Wp > > Settings >> General >> Email Address.
And Wp >> WPForms >> Notifications >>> Sent to Email Address.
But still when I am testing the contact form its not working.
Shall I recreate the form or m doing wrong at some place.
Thank you, that’s very helpful
I tried virtually all the contact forms and none of them accommodate my site. After setting them up, they are not for public access. What’s the point?
Hi Lori,
Have you tried WPForms? It is the most beginner friendly contact form plugin. Please take a look at our step by step guide how to create a contact form in WordPress
Hi Lori,
I would like to understand that why you say they are not for public access? I would like to understand your challenge here and maybe help you in this.
WPForms has an issue with reCaptcha, where it allows forms to be submitted before checking reCaptcha. If there is a problem, the page does a full reload, resulting in all user inputted data being lost.
Hey Andy, what did WP Form’s support say when you submitted the issue? Did they resolve it?
I like Ninja Forms, but styling is not the best there. I hate Contact Form 7, is not user friendly and formating is hard. I love the contact form in Divi.
THANK YOU! I installed WPForms and quit banging my head against screen trying to get another plugin to behave.
You are welcome
I’d like to know which provide the best reporting tools. I’m currently using Contact Form 7 and the Contact Form DB and I’m struggling with reporting. (I can only get my data from a single form entry in a single row?)
Which plug in is the most similar to Joomla Fabrik or has the same functions? Thanks in advance!
i tried wpforms set it up correctly but when i tried to send an email using the form on my website that i’ve just created i cannot receive it on my email. don’t know what to do i really like to use this plugin.
Please see our guide on how to fix WordPress not sending email issue.
I have a personal website and I want to give some service link SEO and Web design. But I can’t create order form. Please share with me an stylish order form. pro or free.
Please take a look at WPForms plugin. It is a form builder plugin for WordPress and it will allow you to create your custom order form.
Which of these forms is mobile responsive though?
I’ve noticed that some email forms aren’t responsive at all.
WPForms works great on all devices.
I use Gravity Forms on two of my sites but have found their support to be lacking. The form works great but I’m having trouble with hotmail & gmail email users receiving the automated notifications I’ve generated. Is this particular to Gravity Forms? If so – which other plugin would you recommend, and if not is there a way around this challenge? Thanks
Doesn’t sound like a form issue – more likely your shared hosting includes accounts blacklisted by gmail.
Hello,
What is the best form to use if someone wants a very basic contact form on a site, with replies going to two different email addresses?
The website doesn’t want to take surveys or anything like that – just wants to use the form instead of having email addresses published on it.
With WPForms you can easily add two recipients to your forms.
Anyone know offhand which of your 5 best contact forms offer a widget feature? Would like to place a contact form on the sidebar. Thanks
All of them allow you to add forms into sidebar widgets.
I have been using contact form 7 and now I can see how much functionality there is in the pro plugins, many thanks for this post, I recommended it to someone I know who is struggling with contact form 7
I also get some warning with contact form 7 about authenticating the form I am not sure what this means, does any body know about any issues with contact form 7
Barry
I don’t think WPForms has a free option. It has a pre-paid 14-day trial but that’s all I could find.
WPForms Lite is free – https://wordpress.org/plugins/wpforms-lite/
We have mentioned in the article above as well under the Pros
I have a website on wordpress and i have used contact form 7 on that. Now i want to add a functionality so that when someone submits the contact form i receive all the data from phone on sms as well as email. Can you suggest some easy and reliable way for that.
Thank you
Adam
Hi which ones of any link to mail chimp easily and integrate fully? Thanks!
I have a digitals marketing blog websites.I want to make my sidebars like yours.How can i do it?
I was going to buy gravity based on the review here. I sent in pre sale question about editing color of form, fields, borders etc. They stated I needed to use css to style it. I was thinking for a paid form I could style it. I don’t see the value in it if i can’t style it. I was wondering if you were familiar with contact form generator. Seems a little difficult to figure out but they do have color editing. I bought web dorado a few years back and everytime i installed it my site ran very slow and front end visual composer would not work. I am just hesitant to pay for one and never use it. I used fast and secure and it is pretty good, but editing colors is difficult for me. I like to be able to edit a form and use transparent colors and not have huge fields like fast secure doues. For a legal website small attractive form is better, possible overlayed on a header background image.
Actually styling Gravity Forms is not that difficult. Most premium WordPress themes already come with CSS styles for Gravity Forms. There are also plugins that can allow you to edit and choose styles. Lastly, you can also use CSS Hero plugin. It allows you to edit any WordPress theme including Gravity Forms displayed on your website.
A little late here, but have you tried the visual styler in Formidable forms? It’s even included in the free version.
I’m a little late, but I’ve never noticed Web-Dorado being slow. Try a theme with Gantry framework like Rocketthemes – now THAT’S slow! But using VIP hosting on SSD drives, multiple core processors and sufficient memory, and things speed up just fine.
BTW, I would think a law firm would want a professional doing their websites.
Hmmm little Confused Which one is best Contact form??
Can you do a post about Caldera Forms contact form? It’s a great plug-in, but I have a question about field length that I’m not sure how to ask, as I don’t know if it’s a CF question, a jquery question, java script question, or what type of question….I want a field in my contact form that holds only 35 or less characters, i.e., letters, numbers, white space, punctuation, etc. Is this done through an input mask? If so, I can’t figure out the format. *{0,35} gives me the 35 spaces but doesn’t allow for white space or special characters. Are input mask formats all the same, or do they differ depending on code the form is designed in? They use parsley.js I gather…thanks for any help you can shed on this issue.
Hi,
Can you please tell which one should I go for if I have to build contact form with option of file upload by the users?
Only Single Site License.
Hey, Editor!
I think you should add Caldera Forms in this post. I’m using it for quite some time now, and it works great.
Esp. the multi-page intuitive form-building interface and responsive forms for free.
Worth a shot.
Great article. But question – why not just use the Jetpack contact form that’s already available?
Because JetPack is not just a single plugin but a suit of plugins. Many users feel that they don’t need all those plugins and choose to install other free plugins.
Like me. Can’t stand Jetpack at all. Too bloated for a wordpress site, and that is only few features activated too.
I agree about jetpack. All my sites kept getting slower and slower. Jetpack was using up so much resource and I removed jetpack from all my sites and speed went right back up immediately. Their form is ok, but not one that should be in a list of best.
Thx to this article, I started to use ninja forms and very satisfied !
I’m curious about why the Jetpack contact form didn’t make the cut.
From a developer standpoint, I have used both Gravity and Formidable Pro and Formidable Pro has a LOT more hooks and is eminently more customizable than Gravity. I have also found Formidable Pro support to be friendlier and quicker to respond.
However, I have also found that more of my clients use Gravity than anything else.
I use Formidable Pro on several sites too, and like it very much. Formidable Pro includes PayPal & MailChimp integration, while Gravity forms charges extra for those. Formidable Pro gives you free updates even if your support subscription lapses, so each site isn’t committed to annual payments forever.