bwt
// compare · forms

WPForms vs Contact Form 7 vs Gravity Forms

The three form plugins that run most of the WordPress web, side by side on the data. Contact Form 7 is the free, featherweight veteran; WPForms is the polished drag-and-drop builder with CRM connectors; Gravity Forms is the developer's choice for complex, logic-heavy forms. Here's which one fits which job — with reproducible Lighthouse scores and open-CVE counts attached.

// at a glance
Product PriceLighthouseWP.orgOpen CVEsInstalls
WPForms $49894.8 ★05,000,000+
Contact Form 7 Free964.0 ★010,000,000+
Gravity Forms $5992—01,000,000+

Lighthouse: reproducible median of 5 mobile runs · CVEs: open advisories, Patchstack + Wordfence · Ratings: WordPress.org

// the picks
Best free & lightest
Contact Form 7

Free under GPL, the smallest runtime footprint of the three, and the fastest Lighthouse score. If you just need a contact form and don't mind configuring it in markup, nothing beats it on cost or weight.

Best for most people
WPForms

The cleanest drag-and-drop builder, a genuinely useful free Lite tier, and conditional logic plus CRM connectors in Pro. The default pick when you want a polished form without touching code.

Best for complex & developer forms
Gravity Forms

Paid-only, but the deepest feature set for multi-page forms, advanced conditional logic, and a mature add-on and hooks ecosystem. Pick it when the form is really an application.

// head to head

WPForms

Forms · Free, Pro from $49 · Since 2016
Full review

WPForms is a drag-and-drop form builder plugin for WordPress, launched in 2016 as part of Syed Balkhi's Awesome Motive product family. Free Lite version covers basic forms. Pro unlocks conditional logic, payment integrations, CRM connectors (Mailchimp, HubSpot, Salesforce), file uploads, signatures, surveys, and quizzes. One of the largest form plugins by paid install base.

Pros

  • Cleanest drag-and-drop builder of the major WordPress form plugins
  • Free Lite tier is genuinely useful for basic forms
  • Pro includes substantial CRM and marketing integration list
  • Strong support and education materials from Awesome Motive

Cons

  • Pro tier renewals get expensive at the Elite license level
  • Aggressive upsell flow in the admin
  • Heavier footprint than Contact Form 7 for simple forms

Contact Form 7

Forms · Free · Since 2007
Full review

Contact Form 7 is the original WordPress contact form plugin, launched in 2007 by Takayuki Miyoshi and maintained solo ever since. One of the most-installed WordPress plugins of all time. Famously minimal feature stance: ship the form plugin that does the form plugin job, nothing more. Free, GPL, no paid tier.

Pros

  • Genuinely free, no paid tier, no upsell flow
  • Tiny footprint compared to WPForms or Gravity Forms
  • Solo developer with nearly two decades of consistent maintainership
  • Vast ecosystem of complementary plugins (Flamingo, Conditional Fields, etc.) for the features CF7 itself does not ship

Cons

  • No drag-and-drop builder; forms are configured via shortcode-style markup
  • Submission storage requires the companion Flamingo plugin
  • Spam protection requires CAPTCHA or Akismet integration (not built-in)

Gravity Forms

Forms · From $59 · Since 2008
Full review

Gravity Forms is the longest-running premium WordPress form plugin, launched in 2008 by Rocketgenius. Premium-only model (no free version, no WordPress.org listing). Defined many of the features that became table-stakes in WP forms: conditional logic, partial entries, multi-page forms, integration with Salesforce and Mailchimp and Zapier. Still considered the gold standard for complex forms in agency builds.

Pros

  • Most mature conditional logic engine of any WP form plugin
  • Largest catalog of first-party add-ons (Stripe, PayPal, Mailchimp, Salesforce, Zapier, etc.)
  • Rocketgenius has been shipping consistently for 17+ years (no vendor risk)
  • Excellent for complex business forms with payment integrations

Cons

  • No free tier, premium-only ($59/year minimum)
  • Admin UI shows its age compared to newer entrants like WPForms
  • Renewal pricing is required for ongoing add-on access
The verdict

Need a free contact form and comfortable with a little setup? Contact Form 7. Want the smoothest builder experience with room to grow into marketing integrations? WPForms. Building complex, logic-driven forms as part of a larger product? Gravity Forms earns its license fee. All three are clean on open advisories today — so this is a fit-and-budget decision, not a security one.

// see also

Best WordPress Form Plugins

The full ranked roundup, with the best pick for each use case.
// faq

Frequently asked questions

Which WordPress form plugin is fastest?
In our reproducible Lighthouse tests on identical hosting, Contact Form 7 posts the highest score thanks to its minimal footprint, with Gravity Forms and WPForms close behind. The gap is small on a single simple form; it widens as you add fields, conditional logic, and third-party integrations.
Is WPForms or Contact Form 7 better for beginners?
WPForms. Its drag-and-drop builder and template library make it far friendlier for non-developers, whereas Contact Form 7 configures forms through a markup-style editor that assumes some comfort with HTML-like syntax.
Do I need Gravity Forms, or will a free plugin do?
If you're building standard contact, feedback, or lead forms, Contact Form 7 or WPForms Lite will cover you for free. Gravity Forms is worth its paid license when you need advanced conditional logic, multi-page forms, entry management, or its deep add-on ecosystem — cases where it's closer to a form-driven application than a contact box.
// methodology

Every figure in the comparison table is pulled from the same reproducible pipeline behind each plugin's detail page — Lighthouse scores are the median of five mobile runs on identical hosting, and open-CVE counts come from Patchstack and Wordfence Intelligence on every build. The editorial call is ours; the numbers are measured, not vendor-supplied.