Everyone who has a website on WordPress has, at one point or another, needed to build a contact form. Not only is it one of the best ways of getting customer feedback or business related queries, it also has the added advantage of keeping your information secure from spammers.
But could creating a beautiful, information-centric from be as easy as filling it out?!
The WordPress contact form biggies like Contact Form 7, Gravity Forms or Ninja Forms all have exceptional functionalities but are rather difficult for a beginner to grasp.
Enter WPForms.
Launched in March 2016, the newest contact form plugin for WordPress, WPForms is already making waves. A straightforward drag-and-drop form builder at heart, it is by far the most beginner friendly contact form plugin for WordPress, till date.
Plugin Particulars
Developed by Syed Balkhi and his team at WPBeginner (more on that later), the plugin already has numerous functionalities, which are only going to keep increasing with time. The plugin is available in several different versions and its characteristics differ accordingly, as do the number of features available.
The simplest version is the WPForms Lite plugin which has all the basic functionalities a newbie blogger requires. Here is a look at some of the other features WPForms boasts of.
- Drag and Drop functionality. Requires absolutely no background of coding or HTML.
- Clean, user-friendly interface.
- 100% free.
- Form templates for a simple Contact Form and a Blank Form are available.
- The Blank Form template can be customized by adding additional fields like Name, E-mail, single or multiple paragraph text boxes, Multiple Choice options and more to create the precise form necessary.
- Forms can be embedded into posts and pages as required.
The Premium version of the plugin is available in four different formats viz. the Basic, Plus, Pro and Ultimate, at a progressively increasing cost. Enhanced features for these versions include:
- Unlimited number of forms.
- Additional form templates for ‘Request a Quote’, ‘Billing/Order’, ‘Donation’ and ‘Newsletter SignUp’ forms.
- Multipage form creation.
- Custom field addition.
- Comprehensive entry management system which allows the forms to be managed from the WordPress Dashboard itself.
- Optional reCaptcha and HoneyPot feature to prevent spamming.
- MailChimp, AWeber, PayPal and Stripe add-ons for Pro and Ultimate versions.
- Conditional Logic feature for varying field display according to the previous information added by the customer.
- Speed and SEO optimization.
Still searching for more? Check the full list of features here.
The Glitch?
Amidst all of these great functionalities are some minor but glaringly obvious drawbacks, especially when compared to WordPress giants like Gravity Forms or Contact form 7. Some of these are:
1. Price
You really can’t get away from the fact that WPForms is priced rather steeply for a relatively new plugin. A quick look at the price range for all the five versions of the plugin:
- WPForms Lite: Free
- WPForms Basic: $39 per year per site
- WPForms Plus: $99 per year for three sites
- WPForms Pro: $199 per year for an unlimited number of sites
- WPForms Ultimate: $399 for a lifetime for an unlimited number of sites.
The Ultimate plan is available only for a limited duration and includes all updates and premium support for all time with just a one-time payment. However, when compared to Contact Form 7, which is completely free, WPForms triumphs only in terms of ease-of-use as the former has almost the same functionalities as the Lite and Basic versions of the latter, but requires a basic HTML know-how.
2. Advanced Options
Built from a user-experience first mindset, WPForms certainly scores well in the ‘Why, this is Easy!’ arena, but lags behind when it comes to advanced options for form building and management.
Entries cannot be filtered or specifically searched for in the management database. As a result, one has to trawl through all of them manually to find any particular one. Also, WPForms has no system for conducting and analyzing customer surveys or managing their responses which is a serious flaw, especially since there are plenty of other form plugins that do provide these options.
3. Forms Styles
The form appearance cannot be customized directly using WPForms itself. However, a user has the option to alter color, font and dimensional settings via the global plugin settings, depending on the theme being used.
WPForms’ Claim to Fame
As mentioned earlier, WPForms has been developed by Syed Balkhi, the founder of WPBeginner. Anybody who knows WordPress knows WPBeginner and anybody who knows WPBeginner knows Syed Balkhi. With over 320,000 subscribers today, WPBeginner is THE most popular tutorial site for everything WordPress.
Besides, Balkhi himself has featured in the Forbes List of 100 Successful Entrepreneurs Under 30 and his company has built several popular and highly successful plugins previously, like OptinMonster, ThemeLab, SoliloquyWP, List25 and Envira Gallery.
Given this stellar background, it is no wonder that there are some pretty high expectations from WPForms and boy does it rise magnificently to those! The creation of WPForms stemmed from the WordPress layman’s need of a simple contact form plugin and it fulfills this completely.
Within a short time, WPForms has become a name to be reckoned with (in which Syed Balkhi’s popularity helps of course), making ‘simple tasks easy than letting complex tasks define how hard simple will be’!
The Final Word
WPForms is the quintessential beginner’s contact form builder, focusing on easier operation than complicated function. Admittedly, though not the savviest form building plugin in WordPress, it is expected to receive tons of updates in the near future and may well become a stalwart form-slinger soon.
The endnote stands that if you are a small-scale businessman, blogger, non-profit organization or any tech-ignorant person really, WPForms is an excellent choice, primed with great features, for all your Contact Form needs.
If you are on the lookout for something more customized, head over to the Premium versions or for a peek at Gravity Forms!
Using WPForms already? Let us know how you found it to be in the comments section below!
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