Essential Form – The lightest plugin for contact forms, ultra lightweight and no spam vs Formidable Forms – WordPress Form Builder for Contact Forms, Calculators, Quizzes & More

Looking for a no-fuss, ultra-lightweight contact form that just works? Essential Form gives you exactly what you need — no more, no less. Use the shortcode [essential_form] wherever you want a simple contact form with the following fields: Name Email Message Agreement checkbox That’s it. No extra fluff, no performance hit. ⚡ Zero Bloat. Zero Requests. Zero Spam. Essential Form adds no HTTP requests, loads no external libraries, and runs on pure Vanilla JavaScript — only 1 kB of inline script, injected only on pages with a form. When we say it’s the lightest contact form ever made, we mean it. The entire plugin zip is just 14 kB. 🛡️ Anti-Spam, Reinvented (No Captchas, Ever) Our invisible anti-spam system blocks all automated bots — no annoying captchas, no puzzles, no headaches. Here’s how it works: Each form submission uses a unique, random token 20 random security keys are generated per site AJAX actions have unpredictable names like essential_form_fbe52b696 Robots can’t guess or simulate a valid submission The result? Only real humans get through. Bots don’t stand a chance. 🧘‍♀️ Keep It Simple Most of the time, all you need is a name, email, message, and a simple checkbox. That’s exactly what Essential Form gives you. If you need complex forms with extra fields or logic, this plugin isn’t for you — try Contact Form 7 instead. But if you want something fast, clean, and incredibly secure, Essential Form is for you. Try Essential Form today — and enjoy a faster, cleaner contact form experience. How to add a contact form on the page Add the shortcode [essential_form] Done! Features of the Contact Form Extremely lightweight – The plugin inlines about 1 kB of pure Vanilla JavaScript (even smaller when compressed) only on the page where you use the shortcode — and never above the fold. On all other pages, it doesn’t exist at all. You could say it only “exists” on a page because the form is visible — otherwise, you’d never know the plugin is there. No tool will be able to measure any meaningful resource usage caused by this plugin. The contact form includes only four fields: name, email, message, and an agreement checkbox. Nothing else. If you need more fields, this plugin isn’t for you. But if that’s all you need — you’ll love how simple and fast it is. It inherits your theme’s styles automatically. If you want custom styling, you can add your own CSS — or use a different plugin if you need more built-in design options. It includes a powerful, invisible anti-spam system. Bots won’t be able to send messages through your form. Only real humans can submit it — and if you ever get spam, it will be from a human doing it manually. No captchas, no puzzles, no user frustration. The anti-spam system works entirely behind the scenes — quietly and effectively. Shortcode Parameters You can customize the form labels and messages using these shortcode parameters: label_email label_message button_text agreement_text success_message Example usage: [essential_form label_email="Your email" label_message="Your message" button_text="Send" agreement_text="You agree with our privacy policy" success_message="Thank you for your message!"] If you don’t provide these parameters, the plugin will use the default values. How to customize the contact forms You can also customize the contact forms throught the filter hook ‘essential_form_settings’. Here an example. add_filter( 'essential_form_settings',function( $options ){ return array_merge( $options, array( 'email_from' => '[email protected]', 'email_to' => '[email protected]', 'email_subject' => sprintf( esc_html__( 'Message from %s','your-domain' ),get_bloginfo( 'name' ) ), 'label_name' => __( 'Name','your-domain' ), 'label_email' => __( 'Email','your-domain' ), 'label_message' => __( 'Message','your-domain' ), 'button_text' => __( 'Send','your-domain' ), 'agreement_text' => __( 'By submitting this form I agree with the privacy policy','your-domain' ), 'success_message' => __( 'Form submitted successfully! Thank you for your message!','your-domain' ), 'name_missing_error' => __( 'Name is a required field!','your-domain' ), 'email_missing_error' => __( 'Email is a required field!','your-domain' ), 'email_not_valid_error' => __( 'Email not valid!','your-domain' ), 'message_missing_error' => __( 'Message is a required field!','your-domain' ), 'message_too_long_error' => __( 'This message is too long! Please, write not more than 50000 characters.','your-domain' ), 'missing_agreement_error' => __( 'You have to agree with our privacy policy to submit the form.','your-domain' ) ) ); } ); If you need to do a custom action after the sending of the email, you can use the action hook ‘essential_form_after_sending’. Here an example. add_action( 'essential_form_after_sending',function( $name,$email,$message,$post_id ){ //$name is the name of the user who submitted the contant form //$message is the message which is sent through the contact form //$post_id is the ID of the page where is included the contact form //Your code here },10,4 ); If you need to customize the message that is included in the email, use the filter hook ‘essential_form_message’. Here you have an example. add_filter('essential_form_message',function( $message,$name,$email,$post_id ){ if( isset( $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'] ) ){ $message .= ' IP: '.sanitize_text_field( $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'] ).' '; } return $message; },10,4 ); If you need to customize the agreement text, use the filter hook ‘essential_form_agreement_text’. Here you have an example. add_filter( 'essential_form_agreement_text',function( $text ){ return 'By submitting this form I agree with the Privacy Policy '; } ); Limitations The limits of Essential Form are many, but they are what make this plugin the best if you need a ultra-lightweight contact form with just name, email, comment, and privacy agreement. If you need more, you can always install more complete but also heavier contact forms like: Contact Form 7 WPForms Forminator Formidable Forms Ninja Forms and many other amazing plugins for contact forms. How to speed up the form submission and avoid conflicts with other plugins Install and activate Freesoul Deactivate Plugins Go to Freesoul Deactivate Plugins => Plugin Manger => Actions => Essential Form Deactivate all the plugins for the actions “Getting secret key during submission” and “Form submission” By using Freesoul Deactivate Plugins to clean up all the other plugins, the form submission will be faster and without any conflict with third plugins. Demo You can see Essential Form in action on my blog post The Lightest Contact Form Plugin Ever You don’t need any demo for the backend, because there are no settings for this plugin. Just use the shortcode [essential_form] where you want to add the form, and customized as mentioned in the description. I need this plugin to do something custom If you want to integrate this plugin with other tools or workflows, I offer a custom development service for WordPress plugin integrations and feature extensions. Learn more about advanced custom functionality for WordPress.

The most powerful drag and drop WordPress form builder for contact forms, payment forms, calculators, quizzes, surveys, and data-driven applications. The Most Powerful WordPress Form Builder Plugin Formidable Forms is the most powerful drag and drop form builder for WordPress. Easily add contact forms, payment forms, survey forms, quiz forms, calculator forms, registration forms, custom forms, data tables, and complete web applications to your website, without any code. Whether you’re a beginner creating your first contact form or a developer building a complex member directory or data-driven application, Formidable Forms scales with you. Stop paying for a single-purpose contact form plugin. With Formidable’s drag and drop form builder, one plugin replaces five, so you can build forms, collect payments, run surveys, grade quizzes, generate online calculators, and build web apps, all inside WordPress without writing a single line of code. Watch the video overview for the Formidable form builder, calculator, and quiz builder Formidable Pro – The Ultimate WordPress Forms Plugin This plugin is the free version of Formidable Pro, which unlocks email subscription forms, multi-page forms, file upload forms, quiz grading, and conditional logic. Add repeater fields, payment integrations with Stripe and PayPal, cascading dropdown fields, calculated fields, front-end form editing, the AI form builder, and the powerful web application builder. Formidable Pro is more than a contact form plugin. It’s a complete platform for building smart forms and web applications. Upgrade to the most advanced premium WordPress form builder now! Or start with the Lite vs Pro comparison. Drag and Drop Form Builder for Every Type of WordPress Form Formidable’s drag and drop form maker makes it fast to create any form you can imagine. Start from one of 300+ pre-built form templates, design a completely custom form from scratch, or describe what you need and let the AI form builder generate it for you in seconds. Build a simple contact form in minutes, or layer in conditional logic, multi-step pages, and calculated fields to create sophisticated registration forms, quote forms, and price calculator forms. The form builder is optimized for outstanding speed and server performance, making it one of the fastest WordPress form plugins available. Unlimited forms are included in the free version, and every form you build is mobile-responsive out of the box. Whether visitors land on your site via desktop, tablet, or phone, your contact forms, survey forms, and payment forms look great and work flawlessly on every device. No other drag and drop form builder for WordPress gives you this depth of functionality starting from the free tier. Entry Management for Your Free WordPress Contact Forms Every form submission is stored securely in your WordPress database, so no lead is ever lost. Access entries from the form builder back-end, export to CSV for use in Excel or any other platform, and import leads directly to services like Mailchimp. Formidable is fully GDPR-friendly, giving you controls for IP tracking, saving submissions, and adding GDPR consent fields to any form. Automate follow-up with customizable email notifications and autoresponders. Set up redirect rules or success messages to guide visitors after form submission. From your first contact form to advanced payment forms and registration forms, every detail of the post-submission experience is in your hands. Built-in invisible SPAM protection keeps your entries clean from bots and spam submissions. The Only Form Builder Plugin with an Advanced Visual Form Styler Formidable is the only WordPress form builder with a built-in visual style creator. Match your contact forms, survey forms, and payment forms to your brand in just a few clicks, no custom CSS required. Adjust colors, fonts, layouts, and field styles to create online forms that blend seamlessly with any WordPress theme. For agencies and developers, the visual form styler means you can deliver beautiful, on-brand forms for every client without touching a line of code. Build Smart Survey Forms and Generate Insightful Reports With Formidable Pro, you get survey tools that rival SurveyMonkey, without the monthly subscription cost. Build survey forms and poll forms with Net Promoter Score (NPS) fields, Likert scales, star ratings, and image choices. Analyze survey results instantly and display beautiful graphs and charts directly on your WordPress pages and posts. Formidable’s survey form builder makes it simple to gather data, understand it, and act on it, all inside WordPress. Advanced WordPress Registration Forms for Teams and Events Formidable goes far beyond basic contact form functionality. The repeater field makes it easy to build comprehensive registration forms for sports teams, events, retreats, courses, and membership sites. Robust marketing integrations and API connections let you funnel registration data to your CRM, email platform, or any other tool in your stack automatically. Whether you’re building an event registration form or a complex multi-step membership application, the form builder handles it. Payment Forms with Stripe, PayPal, Square, and More Accept credit card payments, subscriptions, and donations directly through your WordPress forms. Formidable integrates with leading payment gateways including Stripe, PayPal, Square, and Authorize.net. Set up a donation form, product order form, event registration payment form, or service booking payment form in minutes. WooCommerce store owners can build custom product configurator forms with dynamic pricing and calculation fields that feed directly into the WooCommerce cart. Stripe payment forms are available in the free version, supporting ACH, Cash App, Klarna, iDeal, and more. A transaction fee applies without a Pro license. For in-person events and hybrid businesses, payment forms can be set up for cash, manual payment recording, and on-site collection, giving you complete flexibility for online and in-person transactions. Build Data-Driven Web Applications with Formidable Views Formidable Forms is not just a WordPress contact form plugin. It’s a complete platform for building web applications. With Formidable Views, you can display submitted form data on the front-end of your WordPress site, creating searchable databases, directories, event calendars, job boards, real estate listings, member directories, and more. No additional plugin required. The form builder and application builder are tightly integrated, so you can go from form to full application without ever leaving WordPress. Quiz Forms, Online Calculators, and Calculator Forms Formidable’s quiz form builder and calculator form builder are industry-leading features that set it apart from every other WordPress form plugin. Build educational assessments, personality quizzes, scored tests, and viral BuzzFeed-style quizzes with ease. For calculator forms and online calculators, the possibilities are endless: mortgage calculators, loan calculators, BMI calculators, price calculators, instant quote calculators, ROI calculators, cost estimators, and more. These interactive calculator forms and online calculators give visitors instant results and give you a powerful lead generation tool. No other drag and drop form builder for WordPress combines quizzes, scored forms, and fully functional online calculators in one free plugin. WordPress User Registration Forms and Profile Forms For membership sites and community platforms, Formidable offers advanced customization options for WordPress user registration forms and user profile forms. Enable front-end profile editing so users can update their information without ever visiting the WordPress dashboard. From initial contact form to lead form to final payment form, every step of the user journey is covered by Formidable’s drag and drop form builder. Advanced Fields and Features for High-Converting Forms Formidable’s form builder includes everything you need to create professional, high-converting forms. Multi-page forms with progress bars boost completion rates. Save-and-continue lets users finish long forms on their own schedule. Cascading dropdowns, conditional logic, partial submissions, and invisible spam protection are all included. Calculated fields power your online calculator forms and instant quote forms automatically. For developers and agencies, Formidable is the premier WordPress form builder choice. Customize form HTML directly (similar to Contact Form 7, but with full drag and drop power on top). Extend with hooks and filters. Build complex data-driven web applications with low overhead. Formidable supports the most sophisticated projects while remaining approachable for beginners building their first contact form. With the AI form builder (Pro), you can describe any form in plain text and have it built for you instantly. Need a multi-step registration form, a quote calculator, or a patient intake form? Just type what you need and the AI generates a fully structured, editable form in seconds. You can also add an AI field directly inside any form to display AI-generated responses based on user input, then include those responses in confirmation messages, email notifications, or Formidable Views. Every form is WCAG-compliant and accessible by default, making your forms usable for all visitors. How to Build an Instant Quote Form Full Feature List Drag and Drop Form Builder – Create contact forms, payment forms, survey forms, and more visually Calculator Forms – Build mortgage calculators, loan calculators, BMI calculators, price calculators, online quote calculators Survey Forms – NPS, Likert scale, star rating, image choice fields for powerful survey forms Multi-Step Forms – Multi-page forms with progress bars and conditional logic Payment Forms – Stripe, PayPal, Square, Authorize.net payment form integrations online and in-person WooCommerce Form Builder – Custom product forms with dynamic pricing Formidable Views – Display form data: directories, job boards, event calendars, real estate listings Form Templates – 300+ pre-built form templates for every use case Conditional Logic – Smart forms that show and hide fields dynamically File Upload Form – Accept documents, photos, and files in any form Quiz Form Builder – Scored quizzes, personality quizzes, graded assessments, viral quiz forms User Registration Form – WordPress registration and profile forms for membership sites PDF Forms – Generate PDFs, certificates, and invoices from form submissions Invisible SPAM Protection – Honeypot, Akismet, reCAPTCHA, hCaptcha, Cloudflare Turnstile Customize Form HTML – Full control over form HTML like Contact Form 7, plus drag and drop Conversational Forms – One-question-at-a-time form experience like Typeform Landing Page Forms – Distraction-free form landing pages Repeater Fields – Add multiple rows of fields in registration and order forms Visual Form Styler – Brand your forms with colors, fonts, and layouts, no CSS required Cascading Dropdown Fields – Dynamic dependent dropdowns for complex forms Digital Signatures – Collect signatures in contract and booking forms Front-End Editing – Let users edit their own form submissions without logging in WCAG-Compliant Forms – Accessible form builder for all users AI Form Builder – Create entire forms from a plain text description in seconds Payment Forms, Marketing APIs, and Business Integrations Formidable Pro connects your WordPress forms to every major platform in your marketing and business stack. The form builder’s integration ecosystem means you never lose a lead or miss a workflow. Payment Forms: Accept online payments with Stripe Forms (one-time or recurring, with ACH, Cash App, Klarna, iDeal support), PayPal Forms (instant and recurring), and Authorize.net (one-time payments in order forms and calculator forms). Formidable charges zero transaction fees on all payment forms with a valid license. For in-person payments, cash, and manual payment collection, Formidable’s flexible payment form architecture supports hybrid billing workflows. Email Marketing: Direct integrations for Mailchimp, Constant Contact, AWeber, MailPoet, ActiveCampaign, HubSpot, Salesforce, GetResponse, and Campaign Monitor make lead collection seamless. Connect any contact form, survey form, or registration form to your email list in minutes. CRM and Automation: Zapier integration connects your WordPress contact forms and payment forms to thousands of apps. Use SMS notifications via Twilio, sync data to Zoho CRM, HubSpot CRM, Salesforce, Highrise, and more. Automate form-triggered workflows without writing code. WooCommerce Integration: As the only WordPress form builder plugin fully integrated with WooCommerce, Formidable lets you build custom WooCommerce product forms with variable pricing, configuration options, and calculated totals that flow directly into the cart. Multilingual Forms: Reach a global audience with WPML and Polylang integrations for multilingual WordPress forms. WordPress Form Builder for Every Industry and Use Case Formidable is the drag and drop form builder of choice across every industry. Small businesses use it for contact forms and lead capture. Financial services companies build loan calculators and quote forms. HR teams and researchers build survey forms. Schools and event coordinators build registration forms. Educators use the quiz form builder for scored assessments. Nonprofits build donation forms. Legal and medical practices use file upload forms for intake. Membership sites use it for user registration forms. Real estate and job sites build front-end directories. Service businesses use it for booking and appointment forms. Agencies and developers choose Formidable because it handles everything from a simple contact form to a complex web application in a single plugin. Formidable Forms Branding Guidelines Formidable Forms may also be referred to as Formidable, Formidable Form Builder, Formidable Pro, or Formidable Views. The Best Gravity Forms Alternative, WPForms Alternative, and JotForm Alternative for WordPress If you’re looking for an advanced WordPress form builder as a Gravity Forms alternative, Formidable Forms delivers more power at a lower price, with a completely free version that Gravity Forms doesn’t offer. As a WPForms alternative, Formidable goes deeper: beyond contact forms into calculator forms, web applications, and data-driven front-end displays that WPForms simply can’t match. Looking for a JotForm alternative or Typeform alternative that keeps your data on your own server? Formidable is the answer. All form data stays in your WordPress database, not on an external SaaS platform. Formidable is also the top Contact Form 7 alternative for anyone who has outgrown CF7’s limited feature set and wants drag and drop power on top. Compared to SurveyMonkey, Formidable Pro delivers professional survey forms, NPS forms, Likert scale fields, and real-time results directly inside WordPress, without a separate subscription. Ninja Forms users looking for more built-in power will find Formidable’s form builder offers calculators, Views, and a web application builder that Ninja Forms add-ons can’t replicate in a single plugin. Fluent Forms and Forminator users who need advanced calculator forms and a complete data display layer consistently upgrade to Formidable. Credits This online form and quiz builder plugin is created by Steve and Steph Wells and the amazing Strategy11 Team with Syed Balkhi as an Advisor.