There are over 1,500 WordPress contact form plugins available today but what contact form plugin should you use?
Let’s take a quick look at the top 5 WordPress contact form plugins available in 2023.
Contact Form 7
Price: Free
Contact Form 7 is probably one of the oldest and most downloaded contact form plugins around. It has over 5 million+ active installs and continues to grow. If you are looking for a simple free solution then this little gem is it.
Pros
- It’s free
- Good community support
- Well documented
- Well maintained
Cons
- Support is limited
- Beginners may find it difficult to understand the settings
- Requires a little HTML knowledge
- No integrations
- Form entries are not stored
- Very few add-ons
Pirate Forms
Price: Free / $35
Pirate Forms is a freemium WordPress contact form plugin built by the team at Themeisle. It comes with an easy interface that’s good for creating simple contact forms. The Pro version’s extended features include custom fields, multiple forms, and MailChimp integration.
Pros
- Free
- Built-in reCaptcha addon
- Built SMTP addon
Cons
- No advanced features
- Lack of add-ons
WPForms
Price: Free / $49 / $99 / $199 / $499
WPForms is relatively new but has already cemented itself as one of the leading contact form plugins in the market – and is the most expensive out of the lot. It has a beautifully designed interface and uses a drag & drop builder, making it very easy to knock out forms. There are several packages to select from, each unlocking premium features such as payment forms, post submissions, Mailchimp integration etc. You also have a lite (free) version, which is a stripped-down version without the premium features. If you are looking for a simple contact form with a handful of fields to work with then the Lite version is for you.
Pros
- Free version available
- No coding required
- Pre-built form templates
- Multi-purpose functionality
- Well documented
- Good support
Cons
- The Lite version has limited functions
- Expensive
- Different pricing tiers
Gravity Forms
Price: $59 / $159 / $259
Gravity Forms is the most popular commercial WordPress form plugin of them all. Unfortunately, there is no free version and like WPForms, it also has several pricing tiers that unlock advanced features. Gravity Forms has a much broader range of add-ons than WPForms and it also has more options for customising forms and fields, which gives you greater control over how and what is displayed.
Pros
- An extensive selection of fields with the basic package
- Stores entries
- Multi-purpose functionality
- Brilliant for developers
- Well documented
Cons
- Dated design
- Different pricing tiers
- No free version
Ninja Forms
Price: Free / $99 / $199 / $499 – $29 to $129 for add-ons
Ninja Forms like WPForms is a freemium WordPress plugin. It has a similar fancy interface to that of WPForms and it is very easy to use. Ninja Forms offers three different pricing tiers, all unlocking additional features. Unlike WPForms and Gravity Forms, Ninja Forms gives you the option to separately purchase add-ons as well as offer them as part of their package bundles, making it the cheapest option out of all the premium plugins on offer.
Pros
- Free version available
- Multi-purpose functionality
Cons
- The free version has limited functions
To sum up, if you want a simple contact form, we recommend Contact Form 7 or WPForms lite – if you are not comfortable with HTML or advanced settings.
If you want an easy ride, without any coding involved then WPForms or Ninja forms will be better suited.
Just be wary that although WPForms has an extensive collection of add-ons they are not all available in the basic or plus versions. The pro version is ideal if you plan to create payment forms, user registration forms, and post-submission forms.
If you are wanting to build complex forms with advanced calculations, Gravity Forms will be the best choice.