GatherPress vs Petitioner

Running a meetup, a user group, a conference, or a class? GatherPress gives you what you need to publish events, collect RSVPs, and keep everyone in the loop, all from your own WordPress site. Your events live on your site. You own the data, you control how it looks, and you keep the relationship with the people who show up. GatherPress is built by the WordPress community for the people who organize it: meetup organizers, WordCamp teams, user groups, and anyone else who gets people together in a room. It is free, open source, and shaped by the people using it every day. What you can do Publish events with the date, time, venue, and everything people need to know Collect RSVPs, with anonymous listing for attendees who would rather not be named Let people RSVP without an account, so nobody bounces off a signup wall Let attendees bring guests Email everyone who is coming, or everyone who is not, without leaving WordPress Run events in person, online, or both, with maps for physical venues Build and arrange it all in the block editor Multisite ready and fully translatable Try it before you install Hit the Live Preview button on this page to open a working demo in your browser. No signup, no setup, and real data to click around in. Prefer to watch first? There is a short intro demo. Join our community GatherPress is built in the open, and contributions are always welcome, whether that is code, translations, documentation, or just telling us what broke. Get involved Contributor guide Open issues on GitHub External Services This plugin connects to external services to provide address autocomplete, geocoding, and map tiles for venues. Each service has its own filter so you can point at a self-hosted alternative or disable the feature. Photon geocoding (photon.komoot.io) Used to resolve venue addresses into latitude/longitude coordinates and to power the address autocomplete dropdown while editing a venue. The plugin proxies these requests server-side: your WordPress site sends the search query string and a User-Agent identifying the site (plugin version, WordPress version, site home URL) to the Photon API. Responses are cached on your site for 15 minutes. Photon homepage / terms: https://photon.komoot.io/ Komoot privacy policy: https://www.komoot.com/privacy Override the endpoint (for a self-hosted Photon instance) with the gatherpress_photon_api_url filter. CARTO Basemaps (basemaps.cartocdn.com) Default map tile provider when the OpenStreetMap map platform is selected. When a venue map is displayed on the front end or in the editor, the visitor’s browser requests raster tiles directly from basemaps.cartocdn.com. No data beyond the standard tile coordinates (zoom, x, y) and the visitor’s IP / browser headers is sent. CARTO terms: https://carto.com/legal/ CARTO privacy policy: https://carto.com/privacy/ Override the tile URL or attribution with the gatherpress_interactive_map_tile_url and gatherpress_interactive_map_tile_attribution filters. Google Maps (maps.googleapis.com, www.google.com, maps.google.com) Alternative map provider, only used when a site opts in by choosing “Google Maps” in GatherPress settings. What the visitor’s browser requests depends on whether a Google Maps API key is configured: With an API key, the browser loads the Maps JavaScript API from maps.googleapis.com and renders the map in the page. Without a key, or if that script fails to load, the browser embeds a Google Maps iframe from www.google.com or maps.google.com instead. Either way the request carries the venue coordinates, the visitor’s IP, and standard browser headers. A configured API key travels with the request and is visible in the page source, so restrict it by HTTP referrer in Google Cloud. Google Maps terms: https://cloud.google.com/maps-platform/terms/ Google privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy Map and address data used by Photon and CARTO are sourced from OpenStreetMap contributors (https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright).

Plugin homepage & demo. Documentation. Petitioner pairs unlimited, drag-and-drop petition forms with advanced targeting and export tools, everything you expect from premium petition builders, available free in the plugin directory. It’s built for advocacy teams, nonprofits, campaigns, and publishers who need high-volume petitions with reliable delivery, flexible layouts, and clear reporting without SaaS lock-in. Quick start Install Petitioner and create your first petition under Petitioner -> Add New. Configure delivery (target email, confirmations, approval defaults) and design under the Settings tabs. Drop the Gutenberg block or shortcode into any page, collect signatures, and export or display submissions as needed. Highlights Unlimited petitions powered by a drag-and-drop builder with 10+ specialized fields. Automated decision-maker delivery plus optional double opt-in and manual moderation. Frontend submission showcases (grid, list, ticker) with privacy-friendly options. CSV exports with advanced filtering for accurate reporting and CRM imports. Features: Unlimited petitions Create and manage an unlimited number of petitions. Drag and drop form builder – Add/remove/reorder fields based on your needs – Supports over ten field types: text, email, phone, address, date of birth, newsletter opt-in, anonymous signature, terms acceptance, and more – Add rich text to the form for disclaimers and legal text – Edit each field’s label, placeholder, and required state Control submission behaviour – Show submissions on the frontend in a few different styles – Email functionality: Automatically send petition letters to representatives via email. – Ability to store submissions without sending emails to the rep. – Ability to manually approve/deny petitions and set the default approval behavior (approved by default or declined) – Option to confirm emails via email – Customize email confirmations, petition letters, and thank you emails – Option to edit and delete submissions – Form submissions export: export petition signups and submission data to a CSV file for easy reporting. – Preview data, rename columns, and map values (e.g., “1” to “Yes” or dynamic values like {{field_name}}) before downloading CRM-ready files. – Filter out unwanted submissions before exporting by targeting any form field – Goal milestones: set incremental signature targets (e.g., 100, 500, 1000) to keep momentum high. – Custom redirects: redirect users to custom “Thank You” or “Action” pages after signing or confirming their email. Design & layout features – The plugin features a modern, mobile-friendly design for a seamless user experience. – Color customizations & custom CSS options – WYSIWYG editor: Easily edit petition letters and confirmation emails using a modern WYSIWYG editor. – Gutenberg integration with a custom petition block! – Several shortcodes to take your petitions to the next level: – Form shortcode – embed the entire petition anywhere shortcodes are supported. – Petition goal – surface your signature target dynamically. – Progress bar – visualize progress toward the goal in real time. – Petition letter popup – open the full letter in a modal. – Submission count – show live signature totals. – Submissions display – list, grid, and ticker layouts with privacy controls. Spam protection features – Captcha integrations: reCAPTCHA, hCaptcha, and Cloudflare Turnstile – Akismet integration – handle spam seamlessly without adding any js libraries – Honeypot field – Email confirmations – Compatible with all of the popular SMTP plugins (uses wp_mail behind the scenes) Extremely lightweight and modern – Vanilla JavaScript bundle weighs in at ~4KB gzipped – Theme-friendly CSS variables let you match any brand quickly – Rich hooks and filters make third-party integrations effortless Development and Source Code The source code for this plugin is publicly available on GitHub: https://github.com/avoy18/petitioner