You want to implement contact forms on your WordPress website and don’t know which plugin is the best for it? Then you will get your answer in this article. WPForms and Contact Form 7 are the most popular and common plugins for creating custom contact forms. We make a direct comparison and give you a recommendation which plugin suits you best.
WPForms
Usability
WPForms is a modern WordPress contact form plugin that scores high in terms of usability. Above all, it is the most beginner-friendly plugin on the market that does not require any HTML knowledge. Even completely inexperienced WordPress users can build custom contact forms quite quickly with the plugin.
WPForms offers the possibility to build contact forms from scratch. But in most cases this is not necessary at all, because the plugin offers hundreds of templates and templates. These templates can be accessed directly through the plugin and then loaded with just a few clicks.
In WPForms, new fields (like “phone number” or “email address”) can be added and rearranged via drag and drop. There is a live preview, so users:inside always know how the contact form looks at the current moment. This makes the plugin particularly user-friendly to use.
WPForms also offers the following fields, which are not standard features of common contact form plugins:
- Checkbox
- Declaration for the agreement on the processing of personal data.
- File upload
- Ratings
- Likert scale
and much more.
How to add a contact form in WordPress CMS with WPForms
WPForms makes it quick and easy to publish a form directly from Form Builder. Just click the “Embed” button at the top of the screen. Then WPForms will let you choose whether you want to add your form to a page that’s already on your site, or if you want to create a new page. After that, all you have to do is click “Publish”.
Features
The free version, WPForms Lite, is comparable to Contact Form 7 in terms of features. There’s an unlimited free trial of WPForms: it lets you enable entry backups to save your entries so you can unlock them when you upgrade to the paid version of the plug-in.
And WPForms makes it easy to add a contact form in Elementor, Divi, or SeedProd.
If you want to create even more types of forms, you can use WPForms Pro, the paid version with countless official addons and features.
WPForms’s Support
WPForms Lite uses the WordPress.org support forum and is much more active than Contact Form 7.
There are also a lot of other free resources for WPForms, including detailed documentation, developer documentation for advanced user:s, the WPForms blog, YouTube channel, etc.
Paying customers of WPForms have access to a support ticket system. Pro and Elite level users receive priority support, so all requests are answered within one business day.
Contact Form 7 (CF7)
Usability
Contact Form 7 is one of the oldest and most popular WordPress plugins for contact forms. In fact, the age of the plugin also shows as soon as you want to create a contact form.
However, when it comes to Contact Form 7 usability, user:inside can add or remove new fields to forms quite easily if basic HTML skills are available.
However, the plugin doesn’t offer a live preview of your contact form or a drag-and-drop feature, so it’s difficult to visualize the forms.
How to add a contact form in WordPress with Contact Form 7
With Contact Form 7, you can add forms to the pages of your website by using a shortcodes or a block.
Features
Contact Form 7 offers you a quick way to set up your contact form. However, the features are limited. The only form fields you can choose from are text, number, date, dropdown menus, checkboxes, radio buttons, reCAPTCHA (no support for reCAPTCHA v3) and file uploads.
And the only way to extend the plugin’s features is to install other plugins and extensions for Contact Form 7, which are not officially supported by the plugin.
CF7’s Support
With Contact Form 7, you can request support via the WordPress.org support forum. However, it should be noted that free plugins available in the WordPress plugin directory are not obligated to provide support or offer guarantees of timely responses.
You can also access the documentation and FAQ section to troubleshoot common issues with Contact Form 7.
Price
Both Contact Form 7 and WPForms Lite are free of charge. WPForms can still be changed to a paid version, which then provides more features and addons.
WPForms vs Contact Form 7: Which is the better alternative?
The features of the two plugins are very comparable. However, what differs greatly is the usability of both plugins. Especially beginners or users who have no HTML knowledge will reach their limits with Contact Form 7. The interface in WPForms, on the other hand, is easy to use and is clearly laid out. Creating individual or complex contact forms is no problem. And thanks to the live preview, all changes can be seen and evaluated in advance.
For these reasons, we would generally recommend WPForms to users, especially to create contact forms as efficiently as possible. When Contact Form 7 was launched over a decade ago, it was the best contact form plugin for WordPress.
However, most of the features were not developed further, so Contact Form 7 was simply overtaken by WPForms in terms of usability and handling.
If you have already worked (intensively) with Contact Form 7 and/or have HTML knowledge, this does not preclude you from testing the plugin and evaluating for yourself whether it meets your own requirements.
Conclusion
WP Forms is the better plugin when it comes to features, ease of use, and support. However, Contact Form 7 is a better option if you’re looking for a cheaper plugin.
