The 7 best WordPress form plugins

Since I started using WordPress almost a decade ago, I've used various plugins to create forms. After much trial and error, I eventually settled on WPForms, but there are literally hundreds more form plugins to choose from.

So, if you're looking for a WordPress form plugin to quickly create contact forms, online surveys, registration forms, or applications, you've come to the right place. I considered and researched dozens of apps and did in-depth testing on the top 20 contenders to narrow it down to these seven form plugins for WordPress.

The best WordPress form plugins

• WPForms for flexibility and usability

• Gravity Forms for building custom forms

• Formidable Forms for advanced options and an app builder

• Fluent Forms for full functionality on every plan

• Quill Forms for conversational forms

• Happyforms for lightweight forms

• UserFeedback for gathering user feedback

What makes the best WordPress forms plugin?

There are plenty of lists of the best WordPress form plugins, so what makes this one different? Here, I've focused on the best premium form plugins for WordPress. While there are hundreds of free plugins in the WordPress repository, they only offer limited functionality. I tested a few, just to make sure, and they were pretty much black-and-white compared to the full-color premium plugins. That said, most of these premium form plugins have a free "lite" version, so I'd check those out first.

Also: I didn't just read these apps' marketing materials and customer reviews. I spent dozens of hours researching and testing the best WordPress form plugins. I signed up for each one, got to grips with its user interface, and created some forms.

As I was testing the plugins, here's what I was looking for:

• Ease of use. Installing, configuring, and creating a form in WordPress shouldn't be complicated. You want something relatively straightforward to get your first form live as soon as possible. And preferably, you want it to include a visual builder, so you can instantly see what you're creating. Any plugins that were difficult to purchase, install, or use were eliminated.    

• Templates. Unless you're a designer, there's nothing worse than staring at a blank form, wondering where to begin. Most of these plugins come with various pre-made form templates to get you started quickly.   

• Customization options. Whether you start from scratch or use a template, you'll want to customize your form at some point. For instance, you might want styling options to fit your existing branding or conditional logic to hide certain elements—like buttons, fields, or form sections—based on user inputs.    

• Responsiveness. You'll want your forms to look good on all devices—people are just as likely to access your forms from a mobile device or tablet as a desktop.  

• Spam protection. Unfortunately, online forms attract spam messages. All these WordPress form plugins include anti-spam features, like honeypot and reCaptcha, so you only receive desirable responses.  

This is the second year in a row I've tested apps for this article, and things haven't changed much year over year. Overall, I whittled the list down from over 40 possibilities to the seven best form plugins for WordPress.

The best plugins for WordPress forms at a glance

Best WordPress form plugin for flexibility and practicality 

WPForms

WPForms pros:

• 1,800+ templates to get you up and running

• Extra anti-spam and security options

WPForms cons:

• Not many third-party add-ons 

WPForms is a comprehensive form builder plugin for WordPress. It has all the features you need, including a vast selection of pre-made form templates to get you started. There are nearly two thousand templates available, ranging from a simple contact form to an advanced mortgage application form, so there's likely a template for your needs. If not, you can always start from scratch with a blank form.

Either way, the visual drag-and-drop builder makes it incredibly easy to customize your forms. You can add elements like fields, radio buttons, dropdown selections, and section dividers, and then apply smart conditional logic to show or hide them. It's also easy to customize and style forms to fit your website branding with the Form Themes feature, and there's even the option to create multi-page or conversational forms to improve your users' experience.

WPForms has robust anti-spam features with honeypot and Google's reCAPTCHA (v2 and v3), plus Cloudflare Turnstile, hCaptcha, and Custom Captcha so that you can collect bonafide form submissions. And there's a raft of add-ons and integrations to extend the plugin's functionality further. For example, you can connect to:

• Marketing apps—like Mailchimp, HubSpot, and Salesforce

• Payment gateways—like PayPal, Stripe, and Square 

• Useful utilities—like geolocation, Google Sheets, and digital signatures

WPForms just does everything a WordPress form plugin should do—and well. For everything else, you can use WPForms' Zapier integration to connect with thousands of apps. Install the WPForms Zapier add-on, and then take a look at some of the ways you can automate WPForms. Or try one of these pre-made workflows.

WPForms pricing: Free lite version; premium plans start at $99/year ($49.50 for the first year).

Best WordPress form plugin for building custom forms 

Gravity Forms

Gravity Forms pros:

• Design and develop more custom forms

• Fantastic selection of add-ons

Gravity Forms cons:

• Limited choice of pre-made templates

Gravity Forms is the best plugin for building custom forms. For instance, say you wanted to create an employment application form, you could add columns, a file upload option for resumes, and a T&Cs checkbox, and then space things out over multiple pages so the whole form-filling experience isn't overwhelming. And the drag-and-drop visual builder makes it easy for everyone—not just developers—to design and build those kinds of custom forms.

Although the form preview functionality isn't as impressive as other form plugins—it tends to display differently once it's published—there's an option to overlay a design grid and structure layout to see how your form aligns on the page.

Gravity Forms has always been a solid choice, but the latest version keeps everyone happy. For example, developers can access over 100 new components, designers can enhance form styling via the WordPress block editor instead of using custom CSS, and there's the much-awaited Conversational Forms add-on, so you can create a more interactive and personalized experience for your users.

When it comes to anti-spam protection, you now choose between the standard Google reCAPTCHA or the new Cloudflare Turnstile, which offers a less frustrating, CAPTCHA-free experience for users.

What Gravity Forms lacks in pre-built templates, it makes up for with a vast library of official, certified, and community add-ons that extend the functionality in countless ways, like the Address Autocomplete and Advanced Calculations add-ons. It also integrates with Zapier, opening up thousands more possibilities—just install the Gravity Forms Zapier add-on. Read about how to connect Gravity Forms to thousands of other apps, or check out these examples.

Gravity Forms pricing: No free version available; premium plans start at $59/year.

Best WordPress form plugin for building advanced forms and apps 

Formidable Forms

Formidable Forms pros:

• 325+ ready-made form templates 

• Includes an app builder (Formidable Views)

Formidable Forms cons:

• Form styling requires some basic HTML knowledge, such as border padding options

Formidable Forms is one of the most advanced WordPress form plugins. Get started with over 325 ready-made templates, from contact and payment forms to registration forms and calculators, or start from scratch with a blank canvas and design your own form.

Alternatively, you could try an AI-generated form. Just enter a description of the form you want—simple, short, or complex—and the AI form builder will create your form. If it's not quite right, you can still make changes in the editor.

Inside, drag and drop the fields you want to use onto your form, and start tailoring its appearance and behavior with custom styling and conditional logic. The form styler is really easy to use, and you can quickly adjust your form colors, borders, padding, and other options with some basic HTML knowledge. You can also set a simple conditional logic to only display a field when another is completed—for example, only show the message field when the email field is populated.

You can go beyond basic forms with multi-page and conversational forms that show a progress bar, so users don't feel overwhelmed when completing longer forms. And in addition to forms, you can transform entries into listings, directories, calendars, and powerful front-end content with its app builder, Formidable Views.

Formidable Forms includes invisible spam protection options like reCAPTCHA, hCaptcha, Akismet, and a blocklist so that you can control form submissions. Plus, it integrates with 20 third-party products, including Zapier, to extend the functionality further. Learn more about how to connect Formidable Forms to thousands of other apps, or take a look at these examples.

Formidable Forms pricing: Free lite version; premium plans start at $79/year ($39.50 for the first year).

Best WordPress form plugin for all-inclusive functionality on every plan 

Fluent Forms

Fluent Forms pros:

• All features are included on every plan (except the free plan)

• 70+ pre-made form templates

Fluent Forms cons:

• Tricky to set up communication notifications  

Fluent Forms is a lightweight yet powerful form builder plugin for WordPress that (refreshingly) includes every feature on every plan—the only differentiator is the number of site licenses.

You can start creating forms with the drag-and-drop builder and dozens of pre-made templates covering marketing, education, finance, government, and plenty of other categories. (You can even preview the demos before deciding which one to use.)

You can use multi-step or conversational forms to make your forms flow more naturally, and by applying additional conditional logic, you can reveal extra fields one step at a time. The design settings are easy to use and allow you to quickly configure the look and feel of your forms for mobile, tablet, and desktop. I did find the communication notifications a bit trickier to set up than the other form plugins.

With over 45 third-party integrations, plus loads more if you use a webhook to connect it through Zapier, there's plenty of scope to extend Fluent Forms' functionality. (And, unlike other plugins, there's no extra charge for the add-ons except the Signature Add-on.)

Fluent Forms pricing: Limited functionality on the free version. Premium plans start at $79/year. There are also lifetime packages available.

Best WordPress form plugin for conversational forms

Quill Forms

Quill Forms pros:

• Focus on conversational forms

• Jump logic

Quill Forms cons:

• No classic forms

Quill Forms is a versatile WordPress form builder for conversational forms, surveys, and quizzes. It's like Typeform for WordPress, but at a fraction of the price.

You can choose from 11 pre-made templates or start from scratch before quickly customizing and styling your form. You'll preview the form on the right side of your page as you build it on the left.

A couple of special features I like are the Jump Logic, which allows respondents to jump to different questions based on their answers, and the Calculator, where you can add advanced calculations to your form, like cost estimations. Quill Forms also includes a Form Locker, which enables you to add password protection, restrict access to logged-in users or specific user roles, add start and end dates, and prevent multiple submissions with the same email, phone, or userid.

Spam protection is limited to reCAPTCHA (v2 and v3), but Quill Forms connects directly with over 40 apps, plus thousands more via Zapier. Here are a couple of pre-made workflows to help you connect Quill Forms to the other apps you use.

Quill Forms pricing: Limited free version available; premium plans start at $99/year ($69 for the first year).

Best WordPress form plugin for designing lightweight forms

Happyforms

Happyforms pros:

• Preview your form as you build it

• No add-ons required

Happyforms cons:

• Only 6 pre-made form templates   

Happyforms is a flexible, lightweight WordPress form builder that doesn't require any add-ons. There are only six pre-made templates that you can download and import into your site, but the support team is more than happy to assist you in crafting a form for your needs.

The form builder blends in with your WordPress dashboard—there are no weird buttons, notices, or cluttered screens—and you get a live preview as you build your form. You can create multi-column layouts and multi-page forms with step indicators, and it's easy to add colors and layouts to style your forms. 

You get unlimited forms, fields, emails, and submissions, but one of my favorite features is the Scrollable Terms field. For example, you can add your privacy policy and optionally require users to scroll through it before they can submit their form. 

Happyforms also includes honeypot and Google reCAPTCHA spam prevention, plus over 15 direct integrations, including Zapier, to extend its functionality. Here are a few ideas to get you started automating Happyforms.

Happyforms pricing: Free limited version available; premium plans start at $89/year.

Best WordPress form plugin for gathering user feedback 

UserFeedback

UserFeedback pros:

• 20+ feedback templates

• Targets specific devices and pages

UserFeedback cons:

• Restricted to gathering user feedback 

UserFeedback is slightly different from the other plugins here. It creates a feedback widget to position in your theme's widget areas, such as the sidebar or page footer. You can also add an inline feedback form on a specific page.

UserFeedback lets you ask multiple-choice or free-form questions, plus you can target surveys for different pages and devices. For example, you could create a multiple-choice feedback form for your Privacy page that only displays on mobile devices. 

Start with one of the 20+ templates, or build your own feedback form from scratch. You can add custom branding to fit your website, like changing the colors and adding your logo. It only took me a few seconds to launch a user feedback survey using the plugin, and you can see results in your WordPress dashboard in real time. If you're specifically looking to add user feedback forms to your WordPress site, this is a solid pick.

UserFeedback pricing: Free lite version available; premium plans start at $99/year ($49.50 for the first year).

Which WordPress form plugin should you use?

Each of these WordPress form plugins has pros and cons. For example, you get ultra-specific forms with UserFeedback and Quill Forms, while the others offer a range of form types. Depending on what you're looking for, though, one of these form plugins will do the trick—and it'll generally be easier than embedded forms from another form app.

Only Quill Forms offers a free demo, so I'd recommend first trying the free version of each plugin to get a feel for what it has to offer. It won't have all the functionality, but you'll soon see if you like working with it. Then, when you've narrowed down the field, purchase the premium version.

For now, I'll continue using WPForms because I'm familiar with the layout and like the selection of pre-made templates. But which WordPress form plugin will you choose?

Related reading:

• 7 WordPress plugins that helped me grow my website traffic

• How to automate WordPress

• How to uninstall a WordPress plugin (completely)

• The best free survey tools and form builders

• The best WordPress booking plugins

• The best WordPress eCommerce plugins

This article was originally published in September 2023. The most recent update was in August 2024.