Contact forms are a key element on every website. They enable visitors to get in touch with you quickly and easily, without having to leave your site and open their email clients. Creating forms is easy and there are several free contact form plugins that can make the process simple.
Depending on what type of website you run, you can use contact forms to fulfill a variety of roles. That includes collecting leads and letting users submit support tickets. These forms are also perfect if you want to get feedback from your site’s visitors.
As a WordPress user, you get to choose from dozens of amazing contact form plugins. It’s crucial to make your decision carefully. You’ll want to look for a tool that enables you to add whatever fields you need, place your forms anywhere on your site, and customize their styling.
To make your search easier, we’ve narrowed the field down to four of the best free contact form plugins on the market. Let’s get to know each of them!
First up, WPForms Lite is a versatile plugin that enables you to build multiple types of content. Along with contact forms, you can also create feedback, subscription, and payment forms. This flexibility is possible thanks to an intuitive drag-and-drop form builder, which includes a broad selection of pre-built fields.
With the Lite version of WPForms, you get to use the text, name, email, and phone number fields. The plugin also includes multiple choice options and drop-down menus, as well as checkboxes. If you opt for WPForms Pro instead, you’ll get access to more advanced fields to handle tasks such as password and file uploads.
Even with the free version, however, it’s simple to create a gorgeous contact form for your website. What’s more, a lot of modern themes – such as Kale and Elara – include pre-built styles for WPForms. That means you can publish a professional-looking contact form without the need for time-intensive customization.
To save you even more trouble, WPForms Lite also includes a handful of pre-built form templates. If you don’t want to build your form from scratch, you can use a template as-is, or tweak it a little to better serve your needs.
Contact Form 7 is a straightforward plugin that lets you use simple markup to create complex contact forms. With this tool, you don’t have to use an unfamiliar builder or interface. Instead, you can create the elements you need using an editor that strongly resembles the classic WordPress experience.
This simplicity is one of Contact Form 7’s primary advantages. There aren’t any hidden features or extensions to worry about. Plus, the base version integrates with Google reCaptcha and Akismet. It’s also configured to work out of the box with the Bogo translation plugin (which comes from the same developer) for working on multilingual websites.
Unlike other free plugins, there aren’t any limitations on the number of elements you can build. You can create multiple contact forms and place each one anywhere on your site using a simple shortcode system.
Contact Form 7 is also very privacy-friendly, which is perfect for protecting your users’ data. It won’t save any information to your WordPress database by default, and it doesn’t use cookies either.
In some ways, Ninja Forms’ functionality is similar to that of WPForms Lite. It’s a free contact form plugin that also offers premium extensions. The difference is that Ninja Forms comes with a lot more free elements you can use in its form builder.
In fact, with Ninja Forms you get to play with over 27 unique form fields or create custom ones. All of these elements are accessed using the plugin’s dedicated form builder, which adapts your creations to your theme’s existing style.
It also lets you set up an unlimited number of forms, store the data users send you, and export it for use with other platforms. You can even create custom email notifications for each form, so you know when visitors have submitted information.
To prevent spam, Ninja Forms works with both Akismet and Google reCaptcha. The plugin also comes with a built-in import and export form system, so you can share your creations with friends or save them for later use.
Finally, let’s look at one of the most unique free contact form plugins on the market. Formidable Forms is useful for far more than just contact and email sign-up forms. You can also use this tool to create surveys and quizzes, and even to accept payments.
A lot of the plugin’s more advanced features are reserved for its premium version. However, the free release of Formidable Forms comes with a versatile builder that resembles the default WordPress Customizer. When it comes to sheer number of elements, it rivals Ninja Forms.
With Formidable Forms, you can add dynamic fields, star ratings, and toggle buttons to your contact forms. Plus, those are just a few examples of the more complex elements the plugin includes. You have access to a wide variety of field options, such as text, checkboxes, drop-down menus, and even custom HTML.
This plugin integrates out of the box with Google reCaptcha, to help you secure form submissions. It also supports form exporting and importing, so you can save the templates you build for later use.
Conclusion
Contact form plugins tend to be highly adaptable. Regardless of which theme you use, you should be able to create forms that match its style. If you want a more polished look, we recommend that you check out our own Kale and Elara themes, both of which include pre-built styles for WPForms Lite elements.
If you’re still not sure which free contact form plugin to use, here’s a quick recap of our top four picks:
- WPForms Lite: This solution offers you an easy-to-use form builder that integrates well with a lot of modern themes.
- Contact Form 7: This plugin enables you to build complex forms using markup language. Best of all, it doesn’t lock key features away behind extensions.
- Ninja Forms: You get to use over 27 unique fields to create elements that work precisely the way you want them to.
- Formidable Forms: Resembles the WordPress Customizer and helps you easily tweak your form’s style and behavior.
Which one did you choose for your website? Let us know in the comments section below!
