We often take them for granted, but contact forms are a vital feature for just about any website. In a nutshell, they give your visitors or potential customers a secure and reliable means to communicate with you. Though a WordPress contact form is easy to install and configure, choosing the right one for your needs can be tough.

The only real solution to this is dilemma is comprehensive research. You should identify the primary information you need to gather from your visitors, what budget you have to work with, as well as whether or not you will need to implement a multisite contact form. Once you have two or three suitable contenders, taking them for a test drive should make your decision easier.

To eliminate the guesswork, we’ve compiled seven of the best WordPress contact form plugins and compared their strengths and weaknesses. We’ve also included a helpful guide for implementing one of our top picks onto your website. By the end of this article, you’ll have all the knowledge you need to create a contact form that fits the bill. Let’s get started!

An Introduction to Contact Forms (And What Makes Them So Useful)

WordPress Contact Form Example

Ninja Forms is just one example of a user-friendly contact form plugin.

Essentially, a contact form offers a way for visitors to contact you directly from your site, which will then be sent to your email. While it can be used to receive simple engagement such as service requests, feedback, or questions, many WordPress contact form plugins offer much more scope. For example, you can incorporate payment gateways, file uploaders, and much more.

Primarily, a contact form gives you the ability to better control information from site visitors, as you get to specify the fields themselves, and the reply process for the visitor. This lets you streamline the responses you gather in a way that a direct email can’t. What’s more, because a well-structured contact form makes it easier for visitors to put forward their requests, you can significantly boost engagement levels.

Many WordPress contact form plugins give you additional methods to increase your user engagement levels, such as checkboxes to provide consent to receive further correspondence from you. It’s a way to empower your readers that’s lost through other engagement methods.

You could also implement a self-help element to keep service requests to a minimum. For example, upon submission, you can automatically send visitors to a page outlining the next steps to take. This eliminates the need to send the same procedural email manually time after time. It also dissuades visitors from asking for updates unnecessarily, as they’ll get a clear time frame for a response.

Finally, there’s a security benefit in using contact forms. Because they eliminate the need to display an email address, you can reduce the amount of inbox spam you receive. Although contact forms are able to be spammed, many solutions include dedicated filters, which we’ll discuss throughout the piece.

How to Choose the Right Contact Form Plugin For Your Needs

As for choosing a WordPress contact form plugin, there are a number of factors to consider – starting with your basic needs. For example, you may require a simple inquiry form including the bare minimum of details, or something more advanced including additional fields, drop-downs, payment or file dialogs, and more.

It’s also important to consider your budget, although zero or low is not a deterrent to finding a quality solution. However, even free plugins may offer premium add-ons or extensions, and those costs will obviously need to be factored into your decision.

On a related note, you’ll need to ascertain whether you need a contact form plugin for a single website, multiple websites, or even one that will be applicable across a multisite network. Each will carry a different cost, which of course adds to your decision.

The 7 Best WordPress Contact Form Plugins Compared

Regardless of your needs, there’s more than likely an option here for you. The WordPress contact form plugins on this list were selected based on their almost universal popularity, reliable support systems, and ability to cater for a huge array of website types.

One last point to before we begin. If the contact form plugin you’re adding constitutes a major change to your current website setup, it’s a good idea to back up your WordPress site first. With that in mind, let’s dive in!

1. Gravity Forms (From $59)

The Gravity Forms Contact Form WordPress Plugin

It’s easy to see why Gravity Forms is one of the best WordPress contact form plugins on the market, due to its power, versatility, and easy to use. It comes with more than 30 pre-built form fields, conditional logic (which hides or displays fields based on user selections), as well as a feature enabling users to return and complete a form at a later time). Gravity Forms also comes with advanced anti-spam features, including options to add Akismet (which captures information gathered about spam on other websites in order to block it) and Google reCAPTCHA (a reliable single-click option to weed out spambots).

Pros

  • Includes a great variety of add-ons, letting you integrate your contact form with PayPal, MailChimp, Campaign Monitor, and more.
  • Enables you to set up email notifications, as well as add additional features (like surveys and quizzes).

Cons

  • There’s no free version, so if you have a tight budget, Gravity Forms may not be a viable option.

Pricing 

There’s no free version of the plugin, and the basic tier starts at $59 for a single license. For more features, a greater number of licenses, and more, you can choose one of the higher tiers priced at $159 and $259.

2. Ninja Forms (Free)

Ninja Contact Form WordPress

This super-simple, yet flexible contact form builder is ideal for beginners – although there are features that more advanced users will enjoy too. Ninja Forms uses a dedicated drag-and-drop builder to create your forms and is arguably one of the better-looking options available. There are a plethora of different elements to choose from, and the plugin’s control settings make it incredibly easy to build your form your way.

Pros

  • Custom functionality can be implemented through Ninja Forms’ developer-friendly framework.
  • There are a huge array of Ninja Form extensions available for purchase, both individually and as a bundle.

Cons

  • Some extensions and bundles are expensive, meaning it may not suit the budget-conscious who require advanced functionality.

Pricing

While the plugin itself is free, there are over 40 extensions available ranging from $29 to $129 individually. To purchase a dedicated bundle, prices range from $99–499.

3. WP Forms (Freemium)

WPForms Contact Form Plugin

A strong contender for the most user-friendly WordPress contact form builder, WPForms features a simple drag-and-drop interface, much like other popular options. There are a variety of pre-built form templates to choose from, as well as the ability to customize your own. What’s more, WPForms’ Entry Management functionality lets you to view all potential client leads from one location. This makes the process of responding to inquiries and speeding up conversion rates much easier. There are also several WPForms packages to choose from, offering varying degrees of advanced functionality.

Pros

  • Lets you effortlessly create payment forms, multi-page forms, file upload fields, and more.
  • Offers a variety email add-on options, making it much easier for you to grow your email list.
  • Provides advanced functionality to help collect geolocation data from users.

Cons

  • WPForms Lite (the free version of WPForms) is extremely basic and offers a very limited selection of modules to build complex or advanced forms.

Pricing

As we mentioned, there’s a feature-limited free version of WPForms, but the premium version is reasonably priced, ranging from $39–499.

4. Visual Form Builder (Freemium)

Visual Form Builder WordPress Contact Form Plugin

In short, Visual Form Builder is perfect for placing multiple forms on a single page or post. The premium version of the plugin offers a variety of layouts to choose from, as well as a diverse array of field types (such as drop-down boxes, multiple-choice radio dials, file upload fields, and more). With a streamlined design and comprehensive client support, Visual Form Builder Pro is well-suited to any business. The free version also has enough features to create viable, easy-to-manage contact forms.

Pros

  • The ability to deliver form submissions to multiple email addresses.
  • Enables you to export and import your contact forms with ease.
  • Utilizes conditional logic, letting you display or hide fields based on set rules.

Cons

  • Lacks much of the versatile payment form creation options offered by other WordPress contact form plugins.
  • Offers significant limitations as to the kinds of forms you create, compared with other plugins.

Pricing

As with other plugins, there’s a free version, but the premium options are reasonably priced from $29–199.

5. Quform WordPress Form Builder (From $29)

Quform WordPress Contact Form Plugin

This performance-optimized and extensively customizable form builder is suited to more complex, multi-faceted forms. Quform also features a unique theming system, meaning you can customize the look of your form to better correspond with your brand. In our opinion, it’s a great option for creating dedicated contact processes, given the options to filter and auto-respond to replies.

Pros

  • Offers six optional filters for removing unwanted data, letting you streamline and improve your workflow.
  • Provides fully customizable auto-reply options.
  • Lets you preview your form as it’s built, giving you a clearer idea of how it will look on your site.

Cons

  • Lacks a specific developer or multisite license.

Pricing

While the basic license can be yours for $29, there’s also an extended option priced at $145.

6. FormCraft (Freemium)

FormCraft WordPress Contact Form Plugin

FormCraft is fast, scalable, and lightweight, so its easy to see why this intuitive form builder has made the list. In addition to including a variety of template options, the premium version lets you embed attention-grabbing pop-up forms to practically any page of your WordPress site. The free version of FormCraft makes creating and implementing effective, unobtrusive contact forms incredibly easy (although, of course, it lacks advanced functionality).

Pros

  • Enables you to gather invaluable analytics and field insights based on user submissions.
  • Lets you create custom polls and survey forms.
  • Features more than 23 field types to implement on your forms.

Cons

  • At current writing, mobile-friendly options are thin on the ground.

Pricing

Although there’s a free version, the premium version of FormCraft is priced at $39. There is also a range of add-ons priced from $19.

7. Contact Form 7 (Free)

plugin screenshot

No list of quality contact form plugins would be complete without Contact Form 7. This incredibly popular solution is completely free to install on as many sites as you wish and enables you to fully customize practically all aspects of your contact form. It’s arguably going to suit developers, as while there are no add-ons available, you’re able to code almost any changes or additions you need. However, compared to other plugins it’s looking a little dated cosmetically, although this doesn’t affect its stellar core functionality.

Pros

  • Highly customizable, despite being absolutely free.
  • Fully supports Akismet and CAPTCHA spam filtering.

Cons

  • Lacks a drag-and-drop interface.
  • Limited support options.
  • Offers no add-ons to extend the plugin’s functionality.

Pricing

Contact Form 7 is completely free to use, with no premium upgrade tier.

How to Add a Contact Form to Your WordPress Website Using Contact Form 7

Because Contact Form 7 is flexible, easy to use and absolutely free, it’s a great tool for learning how to implement a contact form on your WordPress site. The first step is to install and activate Contact Form 7. To do this, simply go to the Plugins section within WordPress, select Add New, and search for Contact Form 7. Once you find it, simply click Install Now. When the installation is completed, click the blue button Activate it:

Install the Contact Form 7 Plugin on WordPress

Once Contact Form 7 is installed, you are ready to set up a form. Open the Contact page from the WordPress dashboard and choose Contact Forms. This is where your forms are managed, and there should already be a form here – the default Contact form 1:

Default Contact Form 1 from Contact Form 7 Plugin

Clicking into this form will bring you to the edit screen, which contains a pre-populated text area:

The Edit Contact Form page.

You’ll see code relating to various fields, and you can add more using the gray buttons along the top of the text area. Although it’s possible to customize this form further, for the time being, we’ll focus on how to add this basic contact form to your site. For starters, if you wish to change the email address that submissions are sent to, click on the Mail tab and enter your email address in the To heading:

Edit Email Contact Form 7

To display your contact form, you’ll need to copy the relevant shortcode for your specific form. You can find it on the Edit Contact Form page or by navigating to Contact > Contact Forms. From here, simply paste the code into the widget, post, or page you’d like your contact form to appear on. Finally, save your changes, and you should see your new WordPress contact form on the front end of your site.

Conclusion

A contact form is a secure and reliable way for both visitors and potential customers to get in touch with you. However, with so many available options, it can be tricky choosing the best WordPress contact form plugin to use.

In this post, we’ve provided seven of the best WordPress contact form plugins on the market to help you make an informed decision. For quick and easy forms, you’ll likely want to opt for WPForms or Contact Form 7. However, the latter will also be good for those wishing to dig in and create advanced forms. A good middle ground is a free plugin with premium add-ons, such as Ninja Forms – although a fully premium option such as Gravity Forms is going to well-worth the investment.

Do you have a question relating to WordPress contact form plugins? Let us know in the comment section below!

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