Every business owner should know how important it is to maintain communication with customers. Not only will you gain better insights into how they behave, but it will also serve as a source of feedback regarding the quality of your products or services. Who doesn’t want a chance to improve, right? That’s why you need to make sure they can reach you easily – and one of the best ways to do that is through a WordPress contact form.
As you may know, WordPress has a massive collection of reliable plugins – that includes some of the best contact forms you can get. But, you need to know the ins and outs of those plugins before you can make an informed decision.
In this article, I will overview the features of each contact form so you know which one suits you best. Let’s get started!
Why Bother?
First things first, you need to know what a contact form is.
A contact form is a direct gateway for communication between a customer and a website owner. Be it to ask for a solution regarding your product, propose a collaboration, show appreciation, or simply say hello.
You may wonder – why do you need a contact form when you can just publicly display your email address on your site? Well, a contact form will protect you from spam and various privacy breaches.
Plus, it can extend the functionality of your business. Let’s say you run a site for a hotel – use the contact form for more detailed information, such as the number of rooms needed, special requirements and so on.
It’s obvious that a WordPress contact form will be very useful. But how do you choose the best one in a sea of contact form plugins?
Thanks to this list, you won’t break a sweat. Take a look at the top eight of my favorite ones below.
Top 7 Best WordPress Contact Form Plugins
Generally, most recommended contact form plugins out there already have everything you need – conditional logic, frontend file submission, and spam protection.
They are well-designed to cater to your needs, but each comes with different strengths. So always keep in mind what your goals are and make the choice accordingly.
1. Ninja Forms
If you value freedom of choice, the best WordPress contact form plugin for you is no other than Ninja Forms.
There are just so many varieties of forms to choose beyond a simple contact form! You can create a questionnaire, file upload form, payment gateways, and many more.
Even more, customization is a piece of cake with the drag-and-drop interface to edit such elements as location, pricing fields, and many more.
It’s clear to see that this plugin is meant for everyone with any level of expertise since you don’t have to code when designing even the most complex WordPress contact form. But if you’re up to the challenge, you can also extend its functionality by making use of action hooks and filters.
Integration is also done very well by Ninja Forms – it comes with many add-ons to throw in together, such as payment options, frontend posting, and loads of other third-party tools.
If you want to take it for a spin, you can download the plugin from your WordPress dashboard. If you’re satisfied with the free option, you may want to consider one of its various package plans. For example – Personal” for essential functionality and single site use ($99/year), “Professional” for using it on 20 sites plus additional features ($199/year), and “Agency” for unlimited site use and access to every add-on ($499/year).
The Good
- Highly customizable with an easy drag-and-drop form builder
- Has many integration options for more functionality
- Comes with a free version
The Bad
- Advanced features such as conditional logic and styling options are not available on the free version
- Expensive pricing options
The Verdict
Weighing in the factors above it’s only fair that this form is on the top of the list. It’s true that it costs you a fortune to have the full experience of this plugin. Still, its core features, despite being limited, still hold a candle over its competitors with excellent ease-of-use and flexibility. Plus, even on the free version, you still can buy each add-on separately without purchasing its bundle package. Ninja Forms will fit you like a glove if you prefer freedom over anything else.
2. Contact Form 7
Contact Form 7 is a robust WordPress contact form plugin that comes with a simplistic interface. It’s one of the most popular and the oldest contact form plugins out there, racking up over 5 millions of active installations.
Although, compared to other plugins on this list, Contact Form 7 doesn’t have much customization options – allowing you to only configure the most basic options with three tabs: Mail, Messages, Additional Settings.
When it comes to ease of use, this plugin still requires you to have a little bit of coding expertise. It uses a simple markup language (HTML) to modify the attribute or style of contents.
As for the styling options of the form itself, it mostly follows that of the currently used theme. Some of the themes (premium ones, mostly) even come with its own version of Contact Form 7 styling.
That being said, you have to know the basics of CSS if you want to create a custom look.
Contact Form 7 on its own lacks advanced features such as conditional logic and payment options. Luckily, there are lots of add-ons that you can find on the WordPress plugin directory.
The Good
- It’s completely free (no upgrade plans)
- Has many add-ons available
The Bad
- Not beginner-friendly, requiring HTML and CSS knowledge for even the most basic styling options
- Doesn’t have much customization options
- Script-heavy, slowing down the site’s performance
The Verdict
It’s only fair for an old contact form plugin to lack so many factors. It was a reliable option back in the day, but you’ll want to turn the other way if extensive features are what you’re looking for. However, if you are already familiar with HTML and seek simplicity, Contact Form 7 may suit you.
3. Gravity Forms
The Gravity Forms WordPress plugin is a great option to check out. It comes with pre-built forms that you can easily customize or you can go right ahead and make one from scratch.
With a drag-and-drop form builder, form creation is a breeze and intuitive as ever. The collection of form field types mainly consists of four categories – Standard Fields, Advanced Fields, Post Fields, and Pricing Fields.
The standard option consists of most basic fields such as HTML, radio buttons, drop down, checkbox, and many more. The advanced option allows you to add contact information fields, CAPTCHA, file upload, and consent fields.
Not only that, but frontend submission is also something that Gravity Forms excel at – it has every field you need from title, body, excerpt, tags, category, to post image and custom field. The submitted data will be saved as a draft so you can decide whether to publish it or not.
With so many features at its arsenal, you can’t go wrong with Gravity Forms. However, more features could mean that you should spend more time to familiarize yourself to get the most out of its functionality.
Unfortunately, this powerful plugin doesn’t come with a free version. There are various package plans to choose from such as Basic License for one site use and basic add-ons ($59/year); Pro License for three sites use and pro-add-ons ($159/year); Elite License for unlimited sites use and elite add-ons ($259/year). That being said, it also provides a demo version if you want to test it out.
The Good
- Lots of advanced features such as conditional logic, guest post, and various configuration options
- Simple use of form creation through a drag-and-drop interface
- A variety of form field types for every purpose
The Bad
- It has no free version
- A steep learning curve due to many available features
The Verdict
This advanced plugin will cater to everything you need from basic forms to the most complex ones. Its drag-and-drop feature with easy-to-navigate interface makes things simple and less time-consuming. It’s a powerful contact form plugin for your WordPress site that’s worth your money.
4. WPForms
Many web owners who have tried WPForms claim that it’s the easiest to use contact form builder. Are they wrong, though? Well, let’s take a deeper look.
The WPForms plugin makes sure to give you the most convenient experience in creating a form. Its ease-of-use goes beyond the lack of coding knowledge requirement – you’re even given loads of pre-made form templates so you don’t have to start from scratch!
Also, there are various add-ons that allow for a more flexible approach in arranging your form. For example, the template pack add-ons will give you a variety of contact form templates tailored for a certain niche or industry.
You just need to pick the one that suits your purpose, make a few adjustments, and you’re all set!
Plus, the drag-and-drop interface that comes with it is even better than most competitors – you can see directly what changes live in the preview. Meaning, you don’t have to go back-and-forth between the editor and preview page. Convenient, right?
The features don’t stop there – multi-page form creation, the ability to embed easily, custom registration and login form for a membership site can be used to get the most out of a form functionality.
As for the price, you can download the plugin for free, while the premium package plan starts from $45/year.
The Good
- Has a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) interface
- Lots of pre-designed template forms for certain niches
- Easily embed with the built-in widget in WordPress post/page editor
The Bad
- Many useful features are only available on a more expensive plan (post submission, PayPal integration, etc)
The Verdict
For the interface alone, I think this plugin is one step ahead from its competitors. Nowadays, the demand to do everything quickly has rocketed – it surely feels obsolete to have to change page only to see the preview.
5. Formidable Forms
Here comes another WordPress contact form plugin that you wouldn’t want to miss out on. Formidable Forms stays true to its name – its extensive features will give you the ability to create forms beyond its basic function.
Why pay for a skilled developer when you can create advanced forms on your own? With its drag-and-drop builder and easy-to-follow instructions, you can create forms in a matter of seconds. The list of fields that you want to insert is wrapped nicely on the right side of the builder.
It also has quick navigation – you can choose to load a template in the middle of form creation.
As for its advanced features, many of them you won’t find in many other contact form plugins.
For example, the ability to show the submitted data on your site’s frontend, displaying complex data in charts and graphs, complex pricing calculation for online stores, multi-page forms with progress bar, etc.
There’s also a configuration setting that allows your audience to open another pair of fields just with a simple click.
Not only that, but the common advanced fields can also be seen here – custom post submission, file upload, payment credentials, CAPTCHA, and many more.
You can have the plugin for free if you only need its basic features. Need more functionality? Then just purchase its Personal plan for $49/year. With it, you can use the plugin for one site, along with one year of support and updates, unlimited forms, and other advanced features.
For $99/year, you can buy its Creator plan and use the plugin up for three sites, bootstrap form styling, MailChimp integration, user tracking, and so much more.
There are also two more package plans which are Business ($199/year) and Elite ($399/year). The Business plan will allow you to use Formidable Forms for up to 15 sites and a bunch of other additional features like quiz maker, date-picker options, PayPal, and priority support.
Lastly, the Elite plan will suit you if you plan to use it for unlimited sites. It also works well with WordPress multisite, WooCommerce, and even has the next level of support called Elite Support.
The Good
- Many unique features such as repeatable fields, charts display, etc
- Quick navigation and a neat drag-and-drop interface
The Bad
- Lots of useful add-ons integration you need are only available on paid package plans
The Verdict
Feature-wise, this plugin will cater specific needs that you may have – whether it’s an online store or a membership site. Still, its extensive features may be an overkill if you’re just looking to make a simple contact form. I guess, it really depends on what you seek.
6. FormCraft
Don’t you just love it when you can track how well your form is doing? Well, with FormCraft, you can do that through the analysis tracking reports that come with this wonderful WordPress contact form plugin.
There are many metrics you can track to evaluate how effective your forms are such as views, number of submissions, conversions, and payment conversion rates.
Not only that, but you also get to see the presentable data of what your audience submits in graphs – getting your hand on the insight from polls and surveys is more convenient this way.
Plus, you don’t have to worry about the plugin giving a negative impact on your site’s speed or performance – the WordPress contact form plugin is built on full AJAX framework and has a clean, optimized code that makes it faster to load.
You can set up a pop-up, or a slide on the sidebar if you prefer. As for the conditional logic, you can use it to send email notifications, set custom redirects, and many more.
Just like many other modern contact form plugins in this list, FormCraft also comes with a simple drag-and-drop builder that can save you time in creating your form – and there are loads of form templates with various designs.
If you’re interested, you can buy it from CodeCanyon for $36. For regular license, you’ll get six months of support and future updates. You can extend its support to 12 months by paying an additional fee of $11.63. Also, if you prefer to use it on multiple sites, you can purchase the license for $99.
The Good
- Allows you to track your form’s progress
- Great performance, built on optimized code
The Bad
- File upload is not supported on the free version
The Verdict
If you want to have an exact analysis of how your contact form is performing – this WordPress contact form plugin is for you. What is more, it is packed with useful features, so you can maximize your contact form’s functionality.
7. JetPack
For those who have been using WordPress for a long time, you must have heard about this plugin. It’s a one-in-all package plugin that has all sorts of modules to enhance the security, performance, and functionality of your WordPress site.
Among the various customization modules it has, one of them is the ability to create a contact form.
However, the navigation is quite hard considering that the plugin’s main purpose isn’t for contact form building – you have to skim through many other modules to enable the function.
First, go to JetPack dashboard and click Setting -> Writing. Scroll down until you find the option to activate the contact form.
While, navigation may not be as straightforward, but creating the form is a walk in the park. You can insert a form just like you insert any other element to your post or page through WordPress classic or Gutenberg editor.
There, you’ll find a button to add a contact form and the builder pop-up will appear.
As for the functionality and customization, there isn’t much else to do other than adding new fields. Plus, there is no integration with add-ons to extend its features. But then again, it’s a pretty good plugin considering you also get loads of other important features aside from form creation. Plus, it doesn’t cost a dime!
The Good
- It’s a free plugin
- Comes with many modules to improve security and performance
The Bad
- Bad navigation
- Very limited form functionality
- No add-on integration
The Verdict
If you want a simple contact form and already have JetPack installed on your WordPress site, this plugin can be a suitable choice. It may take some time to familiarize yourself with a new plugin – especially if it has many features that you don’t plan to use in the future. This is a perfect solution for those who prefer simplicity over anything else.
Which One Should You Choose?
Considering that you only need one contact form plugin for your WordPress site, picking a winner can be stressful.
It surely will help if you already have a goal in mind. If you’re someone who gets threatened easily with the magnitude of many advanced features or simply wants a method to display a contact form with no hassle, then Contact Form 7 or JetPack might be the right choice.
And, if you’re looking for a specific feature with a drag-and-drop interface or want to handle a complex project, you may need to take a closer comparison among Ninja Forms, FormCraft, Formidable Forms, and Gravity Forms.
Lastly, WPForms will be up your alley if you fancy a WYSIWYG approach to form building for a much easier and more intuitive experience.
All in all, it’s best that you figure out what your site and your audience need to make sure you’re choosing the right WordPress contact form plugin.
Conclusion
Those were the best WordPress contact form builder plugins that you can rely on.
After comparing the features each plugin has, why don’t you try out the one that piques your interest the most? Even though most of them are paid plugins, they mostly come with a demo version or 100% money-back guarantee programs.
I hope the list that I compiled above will shed you some light into making the right choice.
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