Contact Form 7 vs Formello vs Forminator (2026)
Quick Verdict
Choose Contact Form 7 if...
Simple Contact Us email forms on sites where budget is zero and simplicity is paramount.
Choose Formello if...
Developers who need a simple, lightweight Gutenberg-native form for projects where long-term plugin support is not a concern.
Choose Forminator if...
Budget-conscious site owners who want an incredibly feature-rich free form plugin with payments, quizzes, and polls built in.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Contact Form 7 | Formello | Forminator |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drag & Drop Builder | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Conditional Logic | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Multi-Step Forms | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| File Uploads | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Payment Forms | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Calculated Fields | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| User Registration | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Frontend Post Submission | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Conversational Forms | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Gutenberg Block | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Gutenberg-Native | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| AI Form Builder | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Digital Signatures | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Surveys & Polls | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Quizzes | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Scheduling / Date Limits | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Entry Management | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Export Entries | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Partial Entries | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Geolocation | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Webhooks | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Custom CSS | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Responsive Design | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Ajax Submission | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Anti-Spam | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| reCAPTCHA | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| hCaptcha | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Cloudflare Turnstile | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Honeypot | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
Pricing Comparison
| Plan | Contact Form 7 | Formello | Forminator |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free Version | ✓Free | ✓Free | ✓Free |
| Starting Price | Free only | $49/year | $3/month |
| Top Tier | — | Pro: $49/year | Premium: $33/month |
Integrations
Email Marketing
| activecampaign | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| aweber | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| campaign monitor | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| mailchimp | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| mailerlite | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| mailpoet | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
Payment
| paypal | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| stripe | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
Automation
| webhooks | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| zapier | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
Other
| akismet | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| brevo | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| flamingo | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| google sheets | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| recaptcha | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| slack | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| stripe | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| trello | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| turnstile | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
Pros & Cons
Contact Form 7
Pros
- ✓10,000,000+ active installs — the most installed form plugin ever
- ✓Completely free, always
- ✓Maximum compatibility with all themes and plugins
- ✓Simple, clean markup-based form creation
- ✓Battle-tested over 15+ years
Cons
- ✗No drag-and-drop builder — requires knowledge of shortcode markup
- ✗Does not save submissions to the database by default — email only
- ✗No conditional logic, calculations, multi-step forms, or payments natively
- ✗Has not evolved significantly in years; feels dated
- ✗Heavy reliance on third-party add-ons for any advanced functionality
Formello
Pros
- ✓True Gutenberg-native experience
- ✓Lightweight and developer-friendly
- ✓Webhooks and basic integrations
- ✓Entry management included
Cons
- ✗Slow update cadence — last updated May 2025, raises maintenance concerns
- ✗No multi-step forms, file uploads, payments, calculated fields, surveys, or user registration
- ✗Pricing page may be broken — unclear if Pro version is still actively sold
- ✗Very small install base (500+)
- ✗No Turnstile support
Forminator
Pros
- ✓Exceptionally generous free version — payments, calculations, conditional logic, and quizzes included at no cost
- ✓Stripe and PayPal payment integrations available for free (most competitors charge for this)
- ✓Built-in polls and quizzes alongside forms — three tools in one plugin
- ✓Strong anti-spam: honeypot, reCAPTCHA, hCaptcha, and Turnstile all included free
- ✓WPMU DEV membership includes the entire plugin suite (Smush, Hummingbird, Defender, etc.)
Cons
- ✗Pro version requires a full WPMU DEV membership — cannot buy Forminator Pro standalone
- ✗No conversational forms or AI form builder
- ✗Heavier frontend footprint (~130KB CSS+JS) compared to lighter alternatives
- ✗Native integrations are limited — HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho require third-party connectors