20 Different Ways to Add Forms on a WordPress Site

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Web form opened in a tabletNo matter what type of website you're building with WordPress, web forms are an integral part of any site. The most common form type is a typical contact form though sites also use custom forms for collecting information from the visitors. Although power users can hard code their own forms, making it completely secure and hack-proof is often a headache. That's where a form plugin can save your time and money. Fortunately, there are dozens of form plugins for the WordPress platform. I've handpicked some of the best and flexible extensions for integrating custom forms on a typical WordPress website. All these forms are easy-to-use and one can get started with them right away. Almost every plugin included here can do more than just providing a simple contact form. You can easily create complex custom forms to collect an array of information from prospects and clients. So, let's check out each of these plugins and see how they can easily help us create simple yet powerful forms for our WordPress websites and blogs.

Web form opened in a tablet

If you're technically sound, I'll recommend avoiding a plugin and go for a solution that enables you to add one through a custom markup and server-side script. It'll be cost-effective by many folds.

Read Also:
A Step-by-Step Guide to Adding a Contact Form on a WordPress Site (Without a Plugin)

Amost every plugin listed below offers a free version which is good enough for a simple contact form. If you want a highly-customized web form, you may need to upgrade to a paid version.

Form Maker plugin for WordPress Form Maker - This popular plugin is one of the best candidates for creating custom web forms. It is best suited for creating minimalistic forms that fit well within your existing design. It also has several themes which can be customized through CSS code. It also has a handy preview feature to test the forms before making them live on the web page. You can also create questionnaires and surveys through this plugin. It includes CAPTCHA integration to protect your web forms from spam submissions. All the forms created by this plugin are responsive in nature out-of-the-box. It also has IP blocking facility.

Smart Forms extension for making custom forms Smart Forms - As the name suggests, you can create completely customized forms through this handy plugin. One can use conditional logic to create complex forms. You can use its drag and drop features to easily create forms in quick time. You can also take advantage of post-submission actions to complete different tasks once the user submits the details. Through a shortcode, you can easily embed your custom form almost anywhere within the site. It also has a powerful built-in CSS editor to stylize the form as per the design requirements. Power users can also take advantage of its JavaScript editor.

Fast Secure Contact Form plugin Fast Secure Contact Form - It's a no-nonsense handy plugin to quickly create blazing fast and spam free contact forms one can easily integrate in any WordPress website. Adding and removing form fields is dead simple with an easy ordering of the included fields. It also supports file attachment option to allow visitors to upload documents while contacting you through the form. One can also redirect visitors' to a custom URL once they've submitted the information. Form styles can also be customized through custom CSS code. It has the rich and powerful support of various anti-spam features to protect forms.

Contact Form by BestWebSoft for WordPress Contact Form by BestWebSoft - If you want to add a feedback form instantly on your site, this plugin is an ideal candidate for the same. It has several options for customizing the form. You can send the submitted information both to the visitor as well as the site owner. Similarly, field labels can be freely customized as per the requirements. You can also create an attachment field within forms. The interface of this plugin is simple and user-friendly. It is one of the few form plugins which are translated into several popular languages. Use the shortcode to embed the form within posts or pages. It has a large user base.

Ninja Forms extension for WordPress Blogs Ninja Forms - This is a popular and powerful form builder plugin which provides a drag and drop interface to quickly create custom web forms within minutes. Power users can take advantage of a rich set of hooks and filters offered by this form building framework to include advanced features and functionality. All the submitted information is securely stored in the database which can be exported easily in your preferred format. If you're using a specific field in most forms, you can set it as your favorite to quickly reuse it in new forms. Use the AJAX option to submit a form without page refresh.

Contact form plugin Contact Form - Believe it or not, but this versatile form plugin has hundreds of options to build custom web forms to match with your site's needs. It has a full-fledged control panel which also includes handy shortcode management module to easily use multiple shortcodes in an easy way. This plugin is available in over 30 languages which makes it suitable for blogs using different popular languages. There is no limitation on the number of fields one can add within a single form. Site owners can easily browse the form submissions within their dashboard in a formatted table. Do once give this plugin, a try.

Custom Contact Forms plugins Custom Contact Forms - Unlike other form plugins which provide separate form-creation interface, this one lets you do that right within the media manager with support of form previews. This way, you can quickly create forms and can test them before using in an actual environment. This is yet another plugin with drag 'n' drop support for creating form fields. Once embedded, site owners can temporarily pause the forms to disable submissions. The plugin itself is actively updated and maintained by the developer. Its live preview feature is one of the best in its category making it a quite popular plugin.

Formidable Forms custom form plugin for WordPress Formidable Forms - This is another intuitive web form plugin for WordPress platform with a flexible drag and drop interface. Even a novice user can create impressive forms through it in a fairly quick time. Through reusable templates feature, you can easily spawn a new form with a click of a button. It also includes custom autoresponders to save your time. You can also fill form fields with default entries that get automatically cleared if the user wants. Through shortcodes, you can also embed forms within widgetized areas. Power users can use both custom HTML and CSS to customize the form fields at will.

Visual Form Builder Extension Visual Form Builder - I'm using this form plugin for my several clients and they are more than happy with the results. It has one of the best interfaces for designing custom web forms and that too in a quick time without writing a single line of code. Its anti-spam system is unobtrusive and works like charm. All the submitted entries can be automatically emailed to multiple destinations apart from saving in the WordPress database. It supports advanced field validation with custom redirects on information submission. One can also clone forms with a single click to speed up the installation and configuration.

Contact Form to Email plugin Contact Form to Email - This handy form plugin supports email notifications, autoresponders and several other features associated with the contact form. Bloggers can export all the submitted data both in CSV and Excel format. It also generates handy reports which are automatically sent to your email for easy analysis. Notification emails can be built both in plain text and HTML format with custom message body text. Its drag and drop form builder is flexible, easy-to-use and best suited for technically challenged. I liked its handy search function to mine out a specific submission from a huge database.

FormGet Contact Form plugin for WordPress FormGet Contact Form - Use this plugin to quickly create a contact form through simple clicks. Apart from making a regular contact form, one can create almost any type of custom web form through this flexible plugin. You can create a form in about a dozen different languages out-of-the-box. You can also collect payments through the form by integrating PayPal. Apart from using the form on regular posts and pages, one can also embed it in the sidebar or in a footer. Its image-based CAPTCHA can deter almost every type of spam submissions. You can also generate a unique and direct URL of the contact form.

Google Forms extension Google Forms - If you prefer to power your forms through Google Doc's form service, then this plugin is an ideal option for you. You can add Google form either in the form of a widget or can opt for regular embed option for posts and pages. Do not forget to use a custom confirmation page that will be presented to the visitor once the data submission is complete. Make sure the Google form generated by you is public else it may not display on your blog. It also has support for RTL languages while using multi-column forms. It also supports rendering of images that are embedded inside custom Google forms.

Ultimate form builder lite for WordPress Ultimate Form Builder Lite - You can build visually appealing contact forms through this plugin in a few simple steps. Bloggers can also use custom form fields to create different types of forms made for a specific purpose. You can also integrate your forms with popular 3rd party services like MailChimp or Google Docs. It has tons of customization and placement options to allow savvy users to customize the features and functions of the form in their preferred format. You can also use the contact form on your Facebook page through an app. You can get detailed statistics of all the form submissions in an easy format.

Perfect Easy & Powerful Contact Form Perfect Easy & Powerful Contact Form - With ready-made themes, this drag and drop form builder is ideal for new bloggers who doesn't want to waste their time in creating a web form from scratch. It's completely responsive and also supports several visual effects to make your forms stand apart on the web page. It has an effective anti-spam feature and also supports file uploads. It also gathers information like IP address, OS and web browser of all the visitors who submit the information. You can also integrate Google analytics to get the usage report within your GA dashboard with helpful statistics.

Extension for user registration form Custom User Registration Form Builder - Though the name suggests that this plugin can only be used for creating custom user registration forms, but bloggers can also use it for creating general contact forms too. The form creation interface is very easy facilitating easy generation of custom web forms. All the embedded forms have their own trackers which collect all the vital details specific to the respective form. One can also set default values for all the fields included in the form. You can also add a handy terms and conditions box within the custom-form to let visitors easily read important information.

PlanSo Forms plugin for WordPress PlanSo Forms - You can create responsive and professional grade web forms through this excellent plugin. You can use different themes for your forms which work seamlessly across all the devices. It has a multilingual form builder with advanced controls to easily create custom web forms without meddling with code. Its unique anti-spam protection does not use CAPTCHA system which makes it quite user-friendly. Power users can easily assign custom CSS classes to the fields for advanced customization. You can also use different icons for the input fields to make the form look professional to the site visitors.

CP Easy Form Builder plugin CP Easy Form Builder - As the name indicates, this plugin lets you create custom web forms very easily through its drag and drop form building module. As soon as the visitors submit the information, you can get all the data right in your inbox through instant notification email. Its anti-spam system is based on image CAPTCHA challenge. IP and user agent of the visitors using the form are also logged by the plugin. Its field validation system is quite flexible and robust. Like other popular plugins, this one also allows assigning of custom CSS classes to individual form fields for added visual customization.

Contact Form Pro extension for WordPress Contact Form Pro - This is yet another form plugin with a nice and soothing interface. It has several unique and advanced options to tweak and customize the behavior of the form in different conditions. You can also make your forms display like cards. Its autoresponder is very powerful and allows very flexible messages to be delivered on form submission. One can also set the visibility of any form field dependent on the state of the web form. It also collects a lot of details to identify the visitors submitting the information. Do once use this powerful plugin on one of your niche blogs or on a professional blog.

Breezing Forms plugin Breezing Forms - This is a powerful suite of creating simple to advanced web forms that can be integrated easily within WordPress websites. It can be integrated with several 3rd party tools like Salesforce and Dropbox. It includes several form and theme templates to get started immediately. You can easily create long multi-page forms through this solution. Its file upload option includes Ajax powered progress bars. Bloggers can export the submitted data in 3 popular formats to easily store it offline. It has a rich API for developers to extend the functionality of this featured packed plugin.

Caldera Forms plugin for WordPress Caldera Forms - The last form plugin mentioned in this list includes a Bootstrap powered responsive grid and a drag and drop builder for making custom forms. It also supports importing and exporting of custom forms across different WordPress installations. Through its flexible conditional logic support, bloggers can hide or display select form fields on a dynamic basis. The interface is easy-to-use with readily accessible controls. It can also be enhanced through several free child add-ons. Rich form fields are supported by this plugin to create unique forms which can be tailor-made for specific purposes.