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.
Which is the Best WordPress Form Plugin? (Video)
The answer to which is the best WordPress form plugin varies based on your needs and use-cases. While WPForms is the fastest growing WordPress form plugin, in some cases Formidable Forms or another plugin might be a better fit. This is why we have created a comprehensive video guide to help you pick the best WordPress form builder.
If you prefer the text version, then please continue reading.
1. WPForms
WPForms is the most beginner friendly WordPress contact form plugin. We use it on WPBeginner and all of our other websites. WPForms is 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 free version comes with all the basic contact form features including basic form fields, captcha for spam protection, email notifications, and a thank-you page for form confirmation.
The premium version allows you to extend the functionality, so you can build any type of forms such as multi-page forms, email subscription forms, payment forms, order forms, and more.
WPForms pro also comes with other powerful form fields and features like smart conditional logic, file upload, geo-location, signature feature, form abandonment, user-submitted content (post submissions), login and user registration for WordPress, and over 150+ pre-made form templates.
You can see all your form submissions right inside your WordPress dashboard as well as get customized email notifications. You can even setup conditional notifications, so the right person in your team gets notified.
WPForms surveys & polls addon is by far the best WordPress survey solution in the market. It comes with interactive survey reports, real-time polls for WordPress, and all smart survey fields like star ratings, likert scale, NPS, etc. This saves you from paying for extra subscriptions for expensive survey platforms like Survey Monkey.
They also have a form landing page solution to help you create distraction-free form pages in WordPress which makes WPForms the best Wufoo and Google Forms alternative for WordPress.
Recently WPForms also announced their signature Conversational Forms for WordPress which helps you improve your form completion rate by making your forms feel more human.
WPForms integrates with all popular email marketing services and payment platforms like Stripe and PayPal. There are documentation and guides available along with email support and Facebook group to help you when you need it.
WPForms is being used by over 3 million websites and have built quite a loyal following (See: WPForms user reviews).
Cons
While the lite version is free, you need to upgrade to WPForms 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.
Aside from that, WPForms is hands down the best WordPress form builder in the market.
WPBeginner users can use this WPForms coupon that will give you 50% off the premium version of WPForms.
Alternatively, you can start with WPForms Lite for Free which in our opinion is the best free WordPress form plugin.
Bonus: if you’re a registered non-profit organization, then you can qualify for WPForms non-profit discount which gives you 75% off regular price. WPForms loves supporting non-profit organizations improve the world.
2. Formidable Forms
Formidable Forms is the most advanced WordPress form plugin in the market. They specialize in helping developers build complex form-focused solutions quickly.
Pros
Formidable is an all-in-one WordPress form builder that comes with powerful addons to help you go beyond simple contact forms.
You can use Formidable drag and drop interface to create advanced forms like quizzes, surveys, payment forms, registration forms, profile forms, and more.
Advanced users will really love the Formidable Views feature because it allows you to format, filter, and display user-submitted data on the front-end of your website. You can use it to create form-focused solutions like directories, job board listings, event calendars, management systems, rating systems, and more.
You can use Formidable’s advanced calculation fields to create powerful order forms as well as smart calculators like Mortgage calculator, car payment calculator, request a quote calculator, and more.
Formidable integrates with all popular email marketing and payment platforms.
They also have a powerful WooCommerce integration to help you build product forms and even WooCommerce product configurator forms that ties directly to your cart.
Cons
Formidable form builder is not as intuitive as WPForms because they focus on advanced users and developers.
But it makes up for it by being the most extendable form solution in the market. If you’re a developer or agency looking to build form-based solutions or data-driven web applications, then nothing in the market comes close to Formidable Forms.
3. Gravity Forms
Gravity Forms is a paid WordPress form builder plugin that comes with a lot of advanced functionality and features. They also specialize in helping developers build complex form related solutions.
Pros
Gravity Forms is a powerful drag and drop contact form plugin for WordPress.
With the help of additional add-ons, Gravity Forms can be used to create surveys, quizzes, 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.
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 WPForms or Formidable Forms.
5. Contact Form 7
Although we don’t recommend Contact Form 7, this list cannot be complete without the oldest and 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.
Although if you’re looking for a free WordPress form plugin, then WPForms Lite, Formidable Forms, and Ninja Forms are all significantly better solutions than Contact Form 7.
There are several third-party plugins that act as add-on plugins for Contact Form 7. Most of them are available for free.
Cons
Contact Form 7 is a below-average solution for creating a basic contact form for your blog. It is very difficult to set up for absolute beginners. The user interface is not intuitive at all.
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 WordPress form builder 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 the WPForms Pro version.
If you’re a developer trying to build more complex forms, then there’s no better solution than Formidable 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 page builder plugins and 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 Facebook.
Can you send a pdf file to the customer after they submit a form using WP Lite?
You can certainly add a download link to your confirmation message if you wanted.
Thanks a lot for the guide! I installed WPForm and It seems that WPForm Lite doesn’t allow you to see your entries unless you upgrade to the Pro Version. The free version is basically not usable or am I missing something? Thanks a lot for your feedback
The plugin is still useable, it will still send entries to the email address you set in the form settings
Can I create complex form with WPForms?
It would depend on the complexity, you can reach out to WPForms to see if what you want is doable and if not, Formidable Forms should be able to handle more complex forms.
I have tried using Gravity Forms and Contact form 7. Before, I thought that Contact form 7 is the best. So I used it in many projects. However, as years passed by, it was actually left behind and has been plagued by spam.
Gravity Form is the second contact form that I have tested. I have used it in many projects and it’s very versatile.
Wishing to use “WP Forms” hopefully.
Thanks for sharing your experience with these plugins
Before I joined my new department, they built the site to use Caldera Forms for the user registration. How hard would it be to convert to WPForms? How would I export and import the customer data from Caldera Forms to WPForms?
You would want to reach out to WPForms support for the currently recommended method of transferring
The #1 Contact form for WordPress is WPForms. The user interface is Beautiful and easy to set up, Excellent !
Glad you’re enjoying using WPForms
I am using WP Forms lite for my blog but I am not receiving e-mails for the entries posted. Any solution?
It would likely be due to how your site is sending the emails, you should be able to get around that issue using SMTP which we cover in our article here: https://www.wpbeginner.com/plugins/how-to-send-email-in-wordpress-using-the-gmail-smtp-server/
Thanks for the great article. I love WPForms. I use it on all my sites. I tried multiple plug-ins for forms and WPForms was the easiest to get up and running.
You’re welcome, glad you’ve been enjoying WPForms
I’m currently using the WPForms Lite version and I absolutely love it. It’s the most beginner friendly & no. 1 free WP contact form plugin.
Glad you like the WPForms plugin
Is a good beginning to collect data for site
Thank you, glad you like our article
If you want to make a really simple contact form, I really recommend Ninja forms. In case you want to make something more complicated and add Paypal payments, go for Gravity forms. WPforms works great but is really expensive.
Thanks for sharing your opinion
Thank you for your feedback, if you’re looking for calculator fields for the moment we would recommend Formidable Forms
WPForms is great plugin very easy to use, firstly I used Contact Form 7 it stops working sometime…
Thank you for your feedback, glad you’re enjoying WPForms
I used to use CF 7. Now I’ve moved to WPForms for me and my clients as it saves our time. Recommended for both techies & non-techies.
Thank you for sharing your recommendation
Hi, After installing wp contact form how do I make the recepient receive an auto response?
Each plugin has a different location for that so the where and how depends on the plugin you installed.
It’s explained very well thanks for such information.. you are not only wpbeginner but also expert pro and pro❤❤
Thank you, glad you found our article well explained
I currently use Formidable forms, and I so much love it. But, for the sake of this post, I’m going to install Wpforms on the new site I’m working on. Maybe I might fall in love with it, too.
Thanks for sharing what you’re using, we hope you enjoy WPForms as well as Formidable
Very helpful post.
Thank you, glad it was helpful
Nice post learned a lot from it. I really needed this one thanks a lot.
Glad our post could be helpful
Am a new user to wp forms and so far I love the layout and the simplicity….the best part is that one can create a beautiful contact form without any help…
Glad you’ve been enjoying WPForms
WPForms Lite is a good way to go, if you can’t spend money.
But simple calculator fields would be nice.
I love how simple WP Forms makes creating a contact form. It’s easy, has a great free plan and is responsive.
Glad you’ve been enjoying WPForms
Any ideas for a form plugin that generates a unique url for each form and not a shortcode? I want to link a form to a button by using the form’s url, but I am having a hard time finding a plugin that does this. WP forms gives me a shortcode and an embed code but neither will work with a button.
For what it sounds like you’re wanting, as you have WPForms you would want to take a look at the form pages addon
created a form with wpform lite from blank but don’t get notification despite setting everything up in notification with my email. was it because i created from bank. ? because the contact form is working
If your contact form is not sending the messages, then it is due to how WordPress sends messages by default and you would need to look into using SMTP: https://www.wpbeginner.com/plugins/how-to-send-email-in-wordpress-using-the-gmail-smtp-server/
Is there a way with any form plugin for logged in users on the front-end to submit a form, and at a later date login and update it (on the front-end)? I am currently trying to do this with 10web Form Maker plugin (using their MYSQL Mapping) and Participants Database and also using Form Makers own table wp_formmaker_submits. But it’s not so straightforward.
For that, you would want to check with the form plugin’s support for what is available at the moment.
RE: WPForms
“The free version comes with all the basic contact form features including basic form fields, captcha for spam protection, email notifications, and a thank-you page for form confirmation.”
Actually “captcha for spam protection” is not included in the free version of WPForms.
You would want to go under WPForms>Settings>reCAPTCHA for where to activate CAPTCHA in the free version
Is there a form solution that will transfer the information to a spreadsheet. In other words, as people sign up, Their info gets downloaded one by one into a spreadsheet?
Thanks,
You could use WPForms to collect the information and then export the entries to a CSV which can be opened as a spreadsheet
I did not find a solution to what I was looking for. I have 15 services on my website and I have 15 separate web pages for each of the services. I want to have a small request for quote form in every service page. Will I have to create 15 different forms to identify what service someone is requesting for?
You could do that or create a dropdown for users to select the service and add the same form to each page.
thanks for the information about WordPress plugin it is really useful
Glad you found our content helpful
I enjoyed your article like I do all your articles, and I check your website for answers to everything I am researching for my WordPress website before making any decisions.
I was using WPForms Lite with dependable success and then one day my form turned to just the code, and I redid the form over and over with the same results never figuring out what the problem was. I now need to add a new contact form and after reading your article I am going to give WPForms Lite another try in hopes this time it works for me.
Thank You
Thank you for trying the plugin again, if you continue to run into that issue please reach out to the plugin’s support and they should be able to assist.
From the article:
“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 free version comes with all the basic contact form features including basic form fields, captcha for spam protection, email notifications, and a thank-you page for form confirmation.”
I downloaded this plugin explicitly for the captcha feature, and it’s telling me I need to upgrade to the paid version to access it. Not pleased.
CAPTCHA should still be available to be used with the forms without the need to upgrade to a paid version, if you are receiving a message that you are required to upgrade you would want to reach out to WPForm’s support and they should be able to assist
Unfortunately WPforms doesn’t offer the Captcha Functionality (anymore?) in the free version
It should still be in the settings. If you reach out to WPForm’s support and let them know they should be able to assist.
You don’t recommend Contact Form 7? Is that because you don’t earn a commission?
We explain why we don’t recommend it in the cons section for the plugin.
In my opinion the plugin is bloated with unnecessary code blocks, loading on all pages. It brings your website speed down and is not very flexible either. I used it on many site and don’t recommend it as well.
Wpforms is great, shame the $200 price tag for the Pro is too high
Thank you for that feedback, while it is priced similarly to other form plugins, it is something to take into consideration
You guys need to be more open about owning WPForms. You always make it the best and write nowhere that you own it. I think you have a great blog, but need to be more open about this with your readers.
Hi Maxwell, thanks for leaving a response and your kind words about WPBeginner.
With regards to WPForms, we do have WPForms listed in our Products section that’s visible in the top menu. We also recently did an announcement blog post about WPForms Form Pages which also included that WPForms is our product. It’s also mentioned in our FTC Disclosure page that’s linked from every page. Unfortunately, it’s simply not scalable to add a disclaimer every time we mention our products within the articles.
Forminator by WPMU Dev is free an has all the features of the premium plugins featured on this post. I’m not sure why Forminator is not on this list?
Thank you for recommending a plugin for when we look at updating this article, the plugins in this article are ones we’ve tested and would recommend at this time
hello
I am looking for contact form with double opt-in feature. Visitor should click on url in email to verify comment. Is there any? (newsletter plugins are available but I am not sure if I could use)
Thanks
In this article, the contact form important plugin is well-informed. And even after reading this article I have used WPForms to create a contact form. Which attracted me and seemed convenient.
Having bashed my head in stress and frustration i have tired all other forms and have just installed wp forms and can tell you this is the best and easiest form builder out there………….. ty
Hi Staurt,
Glad you found it useful. Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook for more WordPress tips and tutorials.
Great article and helped me decide what to use on my own small blog. Thanks.
I want to add function in my form like they have additional box if they selected the option.
For example: I list 3 option = Single, Married & Divorced
And then, if they select married, another form appear like name of spouse, age and so on.
If they not select married, the additional form not appear. I used contact form 7 but it’s do not have the function.
My question is what plugin form I can used to perform the function and it’s free or premium?
Thanks for this good article and the many others. Agreed WPForm lite has free version. But how do I see my entries for this free version? I am a beginner. Thanks and many thanks.
Hi,
Your form submissions are sent to you via email. If you are not getting email notifications, then please see our article on how to fix WordPress not sending email issue.
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.
march2019. I uninstall contact form 7. Since 2 months in conjunction with advance CF7, IT FAILS It seems to be caused by reCaptcha. I had to reinstall the whole WP site. VERY DANGErOUS TO USE. I am switching to NINJA Forms a lot more stable. Still searching an elegant solution to view the submissions in a page.
B rgds
Thierry BE
ps: I have also received a very inappropriate reply from support.
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?