Quick Verdict
Choose Contact Form 7 if...
Simple Contact Us email forms on sites where budget is zero and simplicity is paramount.
Choose Happyforms if...
Non-technical site owners who want a friendly form-building experience with live preview and solid email marketing integrations.
Choose SureForms if...
Modern WordPress sites built on Astra or Gutenberg-first workflows who want AI-assisted form creation.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Contact Form 7 | Happyforms | SureForms |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | Happyforms | SureForms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free Version | ✓Free | ✓Free | ✓Free |
| Starting Price | Free only | $49/year | $49/year |
| Top Tier | — | Business: $149/year | Business: $149/year |
| Lifetime Deal | ✗ | ✗ | From $199 |
Integrations
Email Marketing
| activecampaign | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| aweber | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| brevo | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| constant contact | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| convertkit | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| getresponse | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| mailchimp | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| mailerlite | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| mailpoet | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| sendfox | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| sendgrid | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
Payment
| paypal | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| stripe | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
CRM
| hubspot | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
Automation
| integrately | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| make | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| suretriggers | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| webhooks | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| zapier | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
Other
| akismet | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| brevo | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| flamingo | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| google analytics | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| recaptcha | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| spectra | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| stripe | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| 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
Happyforms
Pros
- ✓Unique live-preview building experience via WordPress Customizer
- ✓Wide email marketing integration (10+ providers)
- ✓Payments (Stripe + PayPal) and signatures included in Pro
- ✓Save and Resume feature for long forms
- ✓Friendly pricing starting at $49/yr
Cons
- ✗No calculated fields, user registration, or quizzes
- ✗No webhooks
- ✗No hCaptcha or Turnstile (only reCAPTCHA)
- ✗Smaller install base (20K) vs. major competitors
- ✗Customizer-based workflow may feel dated vs. Gutenberg-native approach
SureForms
Pros
- ✓Only Gutenberg-native plugin with a built-in AI form builder
- ✓Beautiful, modern UI that integrates seamlessly with Gutenberg
- ✓Strong momentum — 300K+ installs in under 2 years
- ✓Backed by Brainstorm Force (trusted team behind Astra, with 1M+ users)
- ✓25% affiliate commission with no-PPC-bidding restriction
Cons
- ✗Younger plugin with a smaller ecosystem than established players
- ✗Support response times can be slow for paid users
- ✗No geolocation or partial entries
- ✗No partial entries
- ✗Renewal pricing goes up after first year