Gravity Forms vs WPForms: An In-Depth Comparison for WordPress Users

Posted by Josh Blackburn, in Contact Form Plugins

As avid users of WordPress, we understand the importance of robust form builder plugins to enhance our websites’ functionality. Gravity Forms and WPForms prominently stand out in the realm of WordPress form builders. Ensuring that our readers make an informed choice between these tools is our objective here.

Gravity Forms is one of the original premium form builder plugins for WordPress. It’s celebrated for its depth and flexibility, catering to developers and advanced users with its plethora of features and integrations. The plugin excels in creating complex forms and has a strong reputation for reliability and scalability.

WPForms, on the other hand, is renowned for its user-friendly interface, making it an excellent option for beginners and non-developers. It shines with its quick setup process and pre-built form templates. WPForms emphasizes ease of use without compromising on essential features, offering a free version for those wishing to test its capabilities before committing to a purchase.

• Ease of Use:
  • Gravity Forms: Requires a learning curve; suitable for developers.
  • WPForms: Intuitive drag-and-drop builder; ideal for beginners.
• Features:
  • Both plugins offer core functions like contact forms, survey creation, and user submissions.
• Customization & Extensibility:
  • Gravity Forms: High customization options with add-ons.
  • WPForms: Basic to advanced form fields, also extensible with add-ons.

We dive into these WordPress form builder plugins with a neutral stance, relying on facts to guide users toward the plugin that best fits their website’s needs. Our knowledge is shaped by firsthand use and the comprehensive comparison across various aspects, focusing on delivering clear and trustworthy insights.

Comparing Key Features

When considering Gravity Forms and WPForms, we’re examining two leading WordPress form builders. Our comparison zeroes in on their form building experience, the variety of form templates and design options available, and the breadth of advanced features and functionalities they provide.

Form Building Experience

With WPForms, users enjoy drag-and-drop functionality which makes form building intuitive and user-friendly. It’s designed to help beginners create forms quickly and efficiently. Gravity Forms also offers a strong form building experience with powerful tools and a wide array of form fields, but it might have a steeper learning curve for new users due to its focus on depth and customization.

Form Templates and Design

WPForms stands out with its offering of over 1,300 form templates, streamlining the creation process and ensuring you can find a template for virtually any type of form you need. The designs are aesthetically pleasing and you can further personalize them using their form builder. Gravity Forms may not provide as many templates, but it supports extensive design customization, allowing for a high degree of control over the look and feel of your forms.

Advanced Features and Functionality

Both plugins offer a suite of advanced features that cater to diverse requirements. Gravity Forms excels with its wide range of add-ons and integrations with other marketing tools and services, facilitating user registration, surveys, and polls. WPForms matches this with similar features and is particularly noted for its conversational forms and spam protection tools like custom captcha and honeypot. Both offer solutions for multipart forms, file uploads, and conditional logic, yet Gravity Forms might have the edge for developers looking for more extensive functionalities. Both have capabilities to handle partial entries and embed forms into posts or pages efficiently.

Ease of Use for Different User Types

When choosing between Gravity Forms and WPForms, it’s essential to consider how user-friendly the plugin is for various user types. We will look at how beginners and developers can navigate these tools.

Beginners’ Experience

For beginners, WPForms tends to stand out due to its exceptional ease of use. Its drag-and-drop interface simplifies the form-building process, allowing users with no technical background to create forms quickly. Here are a few specific points about WPForms for beginners:

• User-Friendly: Beginners appreciate the intuitive layout and real-time preview features.
• Templates: Offers over 1,300 pre-built form templates, which can be a significant time-saver.
• Free Version Available: Provides a free version that’s well-suited for creating basic forms like contact forms.

In contrast, Gravity Forms offers a robust feature set, which may initially seem overwhelming to beginners. However, it can be learnt with a bit of practice, and here’s what beginners need to know:

• Learning Curve: Might require a brief learning period to get used to the platform’s more complex features.
• No Free Version: Unlike WPForms, Gravity Forms doesn’t have a free version, which requires a commitment right from the start.

Developers’ Experience

For developers, Gravity Forms is often the preferred option due to its high degree of customizability and advanced functionalities. Here’s what developers find beneficial about Gravity Forms:

• Advanced Customization: The ability to add custom CSS and hooks for deeper customization.
• Add-Ons & Integration: A wide range of add-ons is available for enhanced integration with other systems and custom applications.

WPForms, while less customizable than Gravity Forms, still offers developers a healthy suite of tools, especially when it comes to saving time on simpler projects:

• Ease of Implementation: Its user interface is conducive to swift deployment of forms.
• Spam Protection: Features advanced spam filter options which can be a great asset for developers.

Both form builders provide a spectrum of user experiences tailored to the skill level and needs of the individual, ensuring that whether you’re a beginner or a developer, you can find a tool that suits your expertise.

Analysis of Pricing Models

When assessing the pricing models of Gravity Forms and WPForms, we observe significant differences, particularly in the availability of free versions and the structure of their premium plans.

Free Versions

WPForms Lite serves as the free version of WPForms, offering basic functionality for creating simple forms. It is an accessible option for users with minimal requirements.

Gravity Forms, on the other hand, does not provide a free version but rather focuses on its comprehensive premium offerings.

Premium Plans and Licenses

WPForms and Gravity Forms both present tiered premium pricing plans, tailored to accommodate diverse user needs from beginners to enterprises.

WPForms Premium Plans:

• Basic License: Ideal for single-site owners, offering essential features.
• Plus License: Adds extra support for newsletter services, suitable for small businesses.
• Pro License: Provides advanced features like payment integrations, suitable for professionals and businesses.
• Elite License: The most extensive plan, offering a range of addons and multi-site support.

Gravity Forms Premium Versions:

• Basic License: Supports one site and includes standard add-ons.
• Pro License: Expands support to three sites and grants access to more advanced add-ons.
• Elite License: Offers the full range of functionalities, including unlimited sites and priority support.

Each plan is designed to scale with user requirements, from personal blogs to large corporate websites. Pricing updates or changes should be checked with the official sources since they can shift without notice.

Extensibility Through Add-ons and Integrations

In our experience with Gravity Forms and WPForms, we’ve found that both offer a wide range of add-ons and integrations, enabling users to extend their sites’ capabilities and automate their workflow.

Marketing Integrations

With Gravity Forms, we can leverage a variety of marketing integrations. For instance, you get direct integration options with Zapier, which acts as a bridge to numerous marketing platforms. WPForms also supports marketing tools and services, including Zapier, and offers a feature-rich Mailchimp add-on for email campaigns.

• Gravity Forms:
  • Zapier: Connects to over a thousand apps and services for automated workflows.
  • Mailchimp: Seamless integration for email list management and campaigns.
• WPForms:
  • Zapier: Offers access to additional marketing tools through Zapier automation.
  • Mailchimp: Allows users to create Mailchimp signup forms directly within WPForms.

Payment Solutions

We recognize the importance of payment solutions in forms. Gravity Forms includes add-ons for Stripe, PayPal, and Square, thus accommodating a variety of payment gateways. WPForms also offers integrated payment options. It features a Stripe add-on and a PayPal add-on to collect payments and donations straightforwardly.

• Gravity Forms:
  • Stripe: For credit card payments directly on your site.
  • PayPal: Redirects users for secure payment processing.
  • Square: Accepts payments with Square’s point of sale system.
• WPForms:
  • Stripe: Effortlessly integrates with Stripe for payments.
  • PayPal: Adds PayPal’s payment processing to forms.

CRM and Email Marketing Integrations

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and email marketing integrations are pivotal for managing leads and customer interactions. Gravity Forms enables advanced CRM integrations that fit into complex sales workflows. WPForms integrates with several email marketing and CRM platforms, providing tools for managing leads and automating email follow-up processes.

• Gravity Forms:
  • CRM Integrations: Supports linking with various CRM platforms to manage customer data.
  • Email Marketing: Integrates with email marketing tools to nurture leads.
• WPForms:
  • CRM Integrations: Offers the ability to connect forms with several popular CRM systems.
  • Email Marketing: Syncs with services like Mailchimp for efficient email list building.

Form Submission and Entry Management

In our experience, streamlined form submission and efficient entry management are pivotal for any WordPress form builder. We’ll discuss how Gravity Forms and WPForms handle these aspects, focusing on the specifics of submission features and managing entries.

Submission Features

Gravity Forms: Our observations have shown that Gravity Forms ensures a robust form submission process. Users have the flexibility to:

• Create multi-page forms, which can lead to higher completion rates.
• Implement conditional logic that dynamically displays or hides form fields based on user inputs.
• Set up automatic email notifications upon submission, ensuring fast response times.

With Gravity Forms, each form submission is stored in the WordPress database, and we can access a detailed log of entries directly from the admin panel.

WPForms: This plugin simplifies the submission process, catering especially to those who prioritize ease of use. Its features include:

• Drag and drop form building, allowing for easy creation and customization of forms.
• Smart conditional logic for personalized form experiences.
• Instant email notification capabilities for seamless user and admin communication upon entry submission.

WPForms also safeguards submissions and offers a seamless way for us to review and manage entries within the WordPress dashboard.

Managing Entries

Gravity Forms: When managing entries, Gravity Forms provides us with a powerful suite of entry management tools. We can:

• View, search, and sort entries from our WordPress admin area.
• Edit entries post-submission if needed, which can be quite important for maintaining accurate data.
• Set up additional notifications or integrations to streamline our workflow, depending on the complexity of our processes.

WPForms: With WPForms, entry management is user-friendly and accessible. We’re able to:

• Easily filter through entries based on date range, form, status, or keyword.
• Export entries to a CSV file for further analysis or record keeping.
• Customize our email notifications for both users and administrators, which can be tailored to specific form submissions or triggers.

Both plugins excel in different areas and offer us comprehensive tools for form submission and entry management, each with a slightly different approach to how they allow us to interact with user data.

Support and Resources

In our assessment of Gravity Forms and WPForms, we’ve found distinct features and levels of assistance each provider offers in terms of support and resources. Both plugins exhibit a strong commitment to user education and customer service, but they approach these areas differently.

Documentation and Tutorials

Gravity Forms provides extensive documentation on its website, where users can find detailed guides and how-to articles for both basic and advanced features. The tutorials included are comprehensive, covering a range of topics to assist users in maximizing the plugin’s capabilities.

WPForms, on the other hand, boasts a resourceful library of documentation and video tutorials. Their written guides are user-friendly, and video tutorials make the learning process easier, especially for beginners. This multimedia approach to tutorials supports various learning preferences.

Customer Support

Our experience with Gravity Forms shows that they offer priority support for their Elite and Pro license holders, which means any issues you encounter are slated to be addressed with higher urgency. All users have access to standard support, which is reliable, although the response time depends on the priority level of the support plan.

WPForms has a friendly and efficient customer support system and also offers priority support to their premium users. They boast a reputation for providing timely assistance, although specifics on the response times and tiers of support are influenced by the chosen plan.

By examining the different levels of support provided by both plugins, we can see that they offer strong support and educational resources tailored to meet the needs of diverse user bases.

Specialized Form Capabilities

When narrowing down the choice between Gravity Forms and WPForms, it’s important to assess their abilities to manage specialized forms like surveys, polls, quizzes, and user-generated content. Each plugin provides unique features that cater to creating interactive and engaging forms, affecting user experience and data collection efficiency.

Surveys and Polls

With Gravity Forms, we can leverage robust survey and poll functionalities that facilitate the deployment of complex data collection tools. Gravity Forms offers a dedicated Survey Add-On which allows for advanced survey features, including Likert scales, rankings, and conditional logic that tailors questions based on previous responses.

WPForms, on the other hand, approaches surveys and polls with a focus on simplicity and intuitiveness. Surveys and polls can be quickly created using the pro version with features like:

• Easy-to-use drag-and-drop form builder
• Real-time Polls Add-On for instant feedback
• Interactive survey reporting for a visual representation of data

Quizzes and Interactive Elements

For quizzes and interactive form elements, WPForms stands out with its Quiz Add-on. You can create quizzes that automatically score submissions and offer instant results to users. These features are particularly useful for educational content, viral marketing quizzes, and user engagement tactics.

Gravity Forms also allows us to create interactive quizzes. With its Quiz Add-On, we can assign scores, create personality quizzes, and give instant feedback. This add-on integrates seamlessly with the rest of the plugin’s functionalities.

Registration and User-Generated Content

Both Gravity Forms and WPForms are equipped to handle user registration and content forms efficiently. Gravity Forms excels in user registration scenarios with features like multi-page forms, user-generated content, and custom post types, making it a top choice for membership sites and community-driven portals.

WPForms facilitates registration forms with its User Registration Add-On and caters to user-generated content through the following features:

• Frontend post submissions
• Custom user role assignment upon registration
• Post-submission moderation

Gravity Forms and WPForms offer tailored solutions for different types of specialized form capabilities, influencing our choice based on the complexity and interactivity level we require.

Anti-Spam and Security Measures

When assessing WPForms and Gravity Forms, we prioritize the security of our WordPress sites and the integrity of the data we collect. Dealing with spam is a critical issue, and both plugins offer robust solutions to prevent unwanted submissions.

WPForms integrates various anti-spam measures. It includes:

• Standard CAPTCHA options,
• reCAPTCHA by Google in different versions,
• An invisible reCAPTCHA that does not require user interaction,
• Custom CAPTCHA which allows us to create our own questions or use math problems as a challenge to users.

Moreover, WPForms employs algorithms behind the scenes to detect and stop spam even without CAPTCHAs.

On the other hand, Gravity Forms also fortifies form security with:

• Comprehensive supports for reCAPTCHA (both v2 and v3),
• Compatibility with Akismet for additional spam filtering,
• An option for Really Simple CAPTCHA if a simpler solution is preferred.

In addition, we can use honeypot fields which are invisible to users but trap bots when they get filled out.

Here’s how each plugin lines up with important spam protection methods:

We find that both plugins are keen on keeping forms secure and reducing spam. However, their approaches and options differ, giving us the flexibility to choose a plugin that aligns best with our needs and preferences.

Comparing User Reviews and Community Feedback

In reviewing community feedback, we’ve observed a clear trend: users emphasize the importance of intuitiveness and ease of use in form builders. WordPress site owners commonly discuss the user-friendly nature of WPForms, with special mention of its drag-and-drop interface. This has proven beneficial for those newer to creating online forms, as it reduces the learning curve and allows them to produce forms quickly.

Alternatively, some users highlight Gravity Forms for its depth in functionality. Advanced users frequently note that the extensive settings and customization options can be more suited for complex form needs on WordPress websites. However, the relatively steeper learning curve of Gravity Forms compared to WPForms may be a concern for beginners.

Community forums and review sites demonstrate that WPForms generally receives praise for its generous template offering, which facilitates rapid deployment of forms across a range of needs. Gravity Forms, while it may offer fewer templates, is commended for its robustness, making it a powerful plugin for enterprises requiring detailed form plugins management.

Engaging with community feedback, we’ve gathered that while each form builder carries its own set of merits, the preference often hinges on the technical sophistication of the user and specific needs of their WordPress site.

Verdict on Gravity Forms vs. WPForms for Different Use Cases

When deciding whether Gravity Forms or WPForms is the ideal solution for our needs, it’s essential to consider the types of forms we’re aiming to create and what features are paramount to our goals.

For simple contact forms, WPForms shines with its beginner-friendly drag-and-drop interface, making it easy for us to quickly set up basic forms. Its free version also allows us to experiment without financial commitment.

• WPForms: Excellent for simple, quick contact form setups.

In contrast, when it comes to advanced forms, such as those requiring conditional logic, file uploads, or more complex layouts, Gravity Forms offers robust options. Its depth of functionality caters to our need for more intricate online forms.

• Gravity Forms: Superior for intricate and advanced form requirements.

For payment forms, both plugins support integration with major payment gateways. Gravity Forms has a strong edge with more extensive payment features and integrations, whereas WPForms provides a more straightforward setup for our payment processing needs.

• Gravity Forms: Advanced payment integrations and features.
• WPForms: Simpler payment form setup.

Regarding offline forms, WPForms enables us to build forms that save partial entries and allows users to complete them later, which is particularly useful if internet connectivity is an issue.

Finally, considering online form user experience, WPForms’ user interface is highly intuitive, possibly making it a better choice when ease of use is a priority for us.

• Gravity Forms: For offline form capability and advanced online forms.
• WPForms: For excellent user experience and more straightforward form needs.

Final Thoughts on the Optimal WordPress Form Builder Plugin

When deciding between Gravity Forms and WPForms, we must consider the specific needs and skill levels of those we support. As leading WordPress form builder plugins, both offer unique advantages that cater to different user requirements.

Gravity Forms is renowned for its advanced features, making it a versatile tool for professionals who demand deep customization. The plugin supports complex form functionalities essential for detailed and intricate data collection strategies. Its strength lies in the extensive range of add-ons and is therefore well-suited to those seeking a robust solution.

On the other hand, WPForms, with its WPForms Pro version, provides a user-friendly experience that excels in ease of use and responsiveness. The intuitive drag-and-drop interface, coupled with a generous template library, allows users to quickly construct forms with a live preview feature. This significantly shortens the form creation process, an advantage for beginners and experienced users alike who appreciate efficiency.

Both plugins employ shortcodes for easy insertion into pages or posts, ensuring seamless integration with the WordPress ecosystem.

In our view, the choice between Gravity Forms and WPForms should be made after careful consideration of your project’s scope and the expertise within your team. If simplicity and speed are paramount, we suggest WPForms. If complexity and breadth of functionality are required, Gravity Forms could be the optimal choice.