Quick Verdict
Choose Contact Form 7 if...
Simple Contact Us email forms on sites where budget is zero and simplicity is paramount.
Choose Gravity Forms if...
Developers and agencies building complex, data-driven forms who need calculated fields and a rich add-on ecosystem.
Choose Ninja Forms if...
WordPress users who want a free core and only need to pay for specific features as they grow.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Contact Form 7 | Gravity Forms | Ninja Forms |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | Gravity Forms | Ninja Forms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free Version | ✓Free | ✗ | ✓Free |
| Starting Price | Free only | $59/year | $99/year |
| Top Tier | — | Nonprofit: $129/year | Elite: $499/year |
Integrations
Email Marketing
| activecampaign | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| aweber | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| campaign monitor | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| constant contact | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| drip | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| hubspot | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| mailchimp | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
Payment
| 2checkout | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| authorize net | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| mollie | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| paypal | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| square | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| stripe | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
CRM
| hubspot | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| salesforce | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| zoho | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
Automation
| make | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| zapier | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
Other
| akismet | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| brevo | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| dropbox | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| flamingo | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| google sheets | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| recaptcha | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| rest api | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| slack | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| stripe | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| turnstile | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| twilio | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
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
Gravity Forms
Pros
- ✓Calculated fields built into every plan (no add-on needed)
- ✓Best-in-class third-party ecosystem (GravityView, Gravity Perks, Gravity Flow)
- ✓All core form capabilities identical across plans — only add-ons differ
- ✓Strong REST API and developer hooks
- ✓Nonprofit pricing ($129/yr for Elite-level) is excellent
Cons
- ✗No free version or trial — requires upfront payment
- ✗Most advanced features (signatures, surveys, geolocation, webhooks) require Elite ($259/yr)
- ✗Third-party ecosystem can make total cost unpredictable
- ✗No AI form builder
- ✗Conversational forms only available at Elite tier ($259/yr)
- ✗Not Gutenberg-native; block merely embeds the classic builder
Ninja Forms
Pros
- ✓Free core plugin with genuinely useful features (calculated fields included free)
- ✓Calculated fields available in the free version — unlike most competitors
- ✓Modular add-on model lets you pay only for what you need
- ✓Good developer extensibility with hooks and filters
- ✓Easy drag-and-drop interface suitable for beginners
Cons
- ✗Add-on model gets expensive quickly if you need multiple features
- ✗Not Gutenberg-native (uses its own drag-and-drop builder)
- ✗No conversational forms or signatures
- ✗Heavy first-party scripts compared to Fluent Forms
- ✗Renewal pricing after first-year discount is a common complaint