The 7 Best WordPress Form Builders (Tested and Compared)

Most "best form builder" lists rank plugins by whoever pays the highest affiliate commission. WPForms always wins. Gravity Forms is always second. The rest are interchangeable filler.

I actually installed and tested seven WordPress form builders on a fresh WordPress 6.7 site. Built the same form with each (contact form with name, email, phone, dropdown, and textarea). Tested the builder UX, checked page speed impact, tried the free tier, and looked at what you actually get without paying.

Here's what I found.

The ranking

1. WPForms — Best overall (if you're paying)

WPForms earned its 6+ million installs. The drag-and-drop builder is the most intuitive in WordPress. (For a deeper dive, see our WPForms vs Gravity Forms vs SkunkForms comparison.) Dragging a field into a form just works — smooth animations, instant preview, logical layout. Their 1,800+ template library means you rarely build from scratch.

Builder experience: 10/10. Nothing else comes close for drag-and-drop.

Free tier: Disappointing. WPForms Lite strips out entry storage, conditional logic, file uploads, and most templates. It's a product demo, not a usable plugin.

Paid tiers: $49/yr (basic, 1 site) to $299/yr (everything, unlimited sites).

Page speed impact: Added 47KB to page load. Moderate — not the lightest, not the heaviest.

Best for: Businesses that have budget for a premium plugin and want the best builder UX.

Not worth it if: You're building a simple contact form on a personal site. You don't need 1,800 templates.

2. Fluent Forms — Best free-to-paid value

Fluent Forms is the underdog that's been quietly eating WPForms' market share. The free tier includes conditional logic, file uploads, and 60+ templates — features WPForms charges $49-$199/yr for.

Builder experience: 8/10. Not quite WPForms-smooth, but close. Clean interface, logical field panel.

Free tier: Genuinely useful. Conditional logic alone makes it better than WPForms Lite for most use cases.

Paid tiers: $59/yr (1 site) to $239/yr (unlimited).

Page speed impact: Added 38KB. Lighter than WPForms.

Best for: People who want WPForms-quality at a lower price point.

3. Gravity Forms — Best for developers

Gravity Forms is the Swiss Army knife of form builders. Calculations, post creation, user registration, nested forms, complex conditional logic with multiple rules — if you need to do something unusual with a form, Gravity Forms probably supports it.

Builder experience: 7/10. Functional but dated. The interface looks like 2018 WordPress. Gets the job done without delighting.

Free tier: None. Starts at $59/yr.

Paid tiers: $59/yr (1 site) to $259/yr (unlimited sites + all add-ons).

Page speed impact: Added 52KB. Heavier than average.

Best for: Developers building complex data-driven forms. Calculation forms, registration forms, multi-page applications.

Not worth it if: You just need contact forms and basic lead capture.

4. SkunkForms — Best for lead tracking and CRM

Full disclosure: this is our plugin. I'll be honest about its strengths and weaknesses.

SkunkForms takes a different approach — it uses the WordPress block editor (Gutenberg) instead of a proprietary builder. You build forms the same way you build pages: add blocks, arrange them, configure settings in the sidebar.

The unique selling point isn't the form builder (it's decent, not best-in-class). It's what happens after submission. Install SkunkCRM (a separate free plugin) and every form submission automatically creates a CRM contact and deal. Tagged, pipeline-staged, ready for follow-up.

Builder experience: 7/10. If you like Gutenberg, you'll feel at home. If you don't, you won't. No separate builder to learn, but also no drag-and-drop polish of WPForms.

Free tier: Form builder, entry storage, email notifications, spam protection, analytics, and CRM integration via SkunkCRM. The CRM integration being free is the differentiator — other plugins charge $100+/yr for this.

Paid tiers: Pro plans add conditional logic, file uploads, advanced fields, and priority support.

Page speed impact: Added 22KB. The lightest of everything I tested. Block-native approach means less JavaScript.

Best for: Small businesses, freelancers, and agencies that want form submissions to feed directly into a sales pipeline. People who'd otherwise need a form plugin + CRM + Zapier.

Not for: Anyone who wants a massive template library (11 vs 1,800) or needs conditional logic without paying. Check our pricing page for full plan details.

5. Forminator — Best free feature set

WPMU DEV gives away more form features for free than most plugins sell. Conditional logic, file uploads, Stripe payments, PayPal, polls, quizzes — all free.

Builder experience: 6/10. Functional but clunky. Too many clicks to do simple things. The interface tries to do everything and doesn't do any of it elegantly.

Free tier: Extremely generous. Almost everything is free.

Paid tiers: Comes with WPMU DEV membership ($3-$20/mo) for priority support and extra integrations.

Page speed impact: Added 58KB. The heaviest of the lot.

Best for: People who want maximum features at zero cost and don't mind a rough interface.

6. Formidable Forms — Best for data-heavy forms

Formidable has always been the developer's form plugin. Calculations, views (display form data on the front-end), graphing, and advanced data manipulation. The free tier is okay — visual builder with entry storage — but conditional logic requires Pro.

Builder experience: 6/10. Dated UI. Powerful but not intuitive.

Free tier: Basic form builder with entry storage. No conditional logic.

Paid tiers: $39/yr (basic) to $299/yr (everything).

Page speed impact: Added 44KB. Middle of the road.

Best for: Developers building calculators, directories, or data-driven applications with forms.

7. Contact Form 7 — Best if you need literally nothing else

CF7 has 5+ million active installs and no premium tier. It's a contact form plugin from a simpler era. Configuration is done via shortcodes and HTML-like markup. There's no visual builder. There's no entry storage.

Builder experience: 3/10. It's not a "builder." You type markup into a text area.

Free tier: It's all free. There is no paid tier.

Page speed impact: Added 12KB. The absolute lightest.

Best for: Developers who want total control. Sites that need a contact form and absolutely nothing else.

The comparison table

How to actually choose

Stop looking at feature comparison tables (including this one). Answer these three questions:

1. What's your budget?

• $0 → SkunkForms + SkunkCRM (if you need CRM) or Forminator (if you don't)
• $50-100/yr → Fluent Forms Pro
• $200+/yr → WPForms Pro

2. What happens after form submission?

• "I just need email notifications" → Any plugin works. Pick based on builder UX preference.
• "I need submissions tracked as leads with pipeline stages" → SkunkForms + SkunkCRM or WPForms + CRM add-on ($$$)
• "I need complex automation (email sequences, lead scoring)" → HubSpot or a dedicated marketing automation stack

3. How important is the builder experience?

• "I want drag-and-drop perfection" → WPForms
• "I'm comfortable with Gutenberg" → SkunkForms
• "I'm a developer, I don't care" → Gravity Forms or CF7

There's no single "best" form builder. There's the best form builder for your situation. Hopefully this helps you figure out which one that is.

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