WordPress form plugins are no longer limited to just contact forms. Currently, you can use form plugins for booking, subscriptions, CRM integration, product sales, and more! If you want, you can even use the form plugin’s API to create your own integrations.
Free or Lite?
There are many free form plugins for WordPress. But most are not free, rather lite versions. To be direct, the plugin available on WordPress.org is usually a limited feature lite version, where you won’t get many things. You have to purchase the paid version to unlock all features.
Limited Fields
Even if the plugin name doesn’t include “Lite”, the following plugins don’t allow all fields, settings or options such as form submission, reCaptcha, pre-made form templates, form submission export. Many basic fields are also locked. Only installing the pro version allows using all fields.
- Bit Form (43 total fields, 7 locked fields)
- Mollie, Advanced, Signature, PayPal, RazorPay, Stripe, Draft Button
- Fluent Forms (48 total fields, 27 locked fields)
- Image Upload, File Upload, Phone, reCaptcha, hCaptcha, Turnstile, Shortcode, Action Hook, Form Step, Ratings, Checkable Grid, Range Slider, Net Promoter Score, Chained Select, Color Picker, Repeat Field, Post/CPT Selection, Quiz Score, Rich Text Input, Save & Resume, Payment Item, Subscription, Custom Payment Amount, Item Quantity, Payment Method, Payment Summary, Coupon
- Formidable Forms (42 total fields, 27 locked fields)
- File Upload, Rich Text, Time, Star Rating, Toggle, Lookup, Section, Embed Form, NPS, Tags, Summary, AI, Ranking, Date, Scale, Slider, Dynamic, Repeater, Page Break, Likert Scale, Password, Address, Signature, Appointment, Product, Quantity, Total
- Forminator Forms (29 total fields, 1 locked field)
- eSignature
- Ninja Forms (30 total fields, 2 locked fields)
- File Upload, Save
- weForms (31 total fields, 16 locked fields)
- Repeat Field, Numeric Field, File Upload, Address Field, Country List, Google Map, Step Start, reCaptcha, Shortcode, HP Anti-Spam, Action Hooks, Terms and Conditions, Ratings, Linear Scale, Checkbox Grid, Multiple Choice Grid
- WPForms Lite (40 total fields, 24 locked fields)
- Phone, Date / Time, File Upload, Layout, Page Break, Rich Text, HTML, Rating, Custom Captcha, Likert Scale, Address, Website / URL, Password, Repeater, Section Divider, Content, Entry Preview, Hidden Field, Signature, Net Promoter Score, PayPal Commerce, Square, Authorize.net, Coupon
- WS Form Lite (55 total fields, 35 unavailable fields)
Free Add-ons
How developer-friendly a form plugin is can be somewhat gauged by looking at community add-ons. Many form plugins have very rich documentation, but they don’t provide developer licenses or any support for add-on development for third-party developers. On WordPress.org, you can find quite a few third-party plugins or add-ons for Fluent Forms, Formidable, Forminator, Ninja Forms, and WPForms plugins, which help extend the default features of the plugin.
Customer Support
Another important issue is plugin support. It turns out I got into trouble, but there’s no chance of getting help. Free form plugins will only support you in the WordPress.org support forum, and that’s always low priority. As a result, you often have to sit with an open ticket for a long time on urgent issues. Also, since WordPress forums have some specific rules, outside of which plugin companies can’t offer support, you have many limitations in terms of getting support.
Comparison of Free Features
| Plugin Name | Math Calculation | Manage Entries | Embed Entries | Free Templates | Input Mask | Support Channel | WPML Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bit Form | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | Limited | ❌ | Forum | ❌ |
| Fluent Forms | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | Limited | ✅ | Forum | ❌ |
| Formidable Forms | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | Limited | ✅ | Forum | ✅ |
| Forminator Forms | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | Limited | ❌ | Forum | ❌ |
| Ninja Forms | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | All | ✅ | Forum & Ticket | ✅ |
| weForms | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | Limited | ❌ | Forum | ❌ |
| WPForms Lite | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | Limited | ✅ | Forum | ✅ |
| WS Form Lite | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | All | ✅ | Forum | ❌ |
Form Selection
Considering all the above issues, the Ninja Forms plugin allows us to use all fields for free. You don’t need a PRO version to access any features, and they don’t sell a pro version either. You’ll get everything from reCaptcha, form submission, and submission export to pre-made templates for free. You won’t see any notice to upgrade to the pro version anywhere.
And even if you’re a free user, you’ll get free support from their website along with the WordPress.org support forum. This means you won’t have to sit with an open ticket for limited support on any urgent issue.
Note: If any information above is incorrect, please let me know in the comments, I’ll edit it. You can also inform me if any new features have been added to any form after I wrote my post. Thank you.
30-09-2024
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