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 WS Form if...
Agencies and developers who want the most powerful, flexible form builder and are willing to invest time in learning it.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Contact Form 7 | Happyforms | WS Form |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | WS Form |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free Version | ✓Free | ✓Free | ✓Free |
| Starting Price | Free only | $49/year | $59/year |
| Top Tier | — | Business: $149/year | Agency: $249/year |
Integrations
Email Marketing
| activecampaign | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| aweber | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| brevo | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| constant contact | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| convertkit | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| getresponse | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| mailchimp | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| mailerlite | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| mailpoet | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| sendfox | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| sendgrid | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
Payment
| paypal | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| stripe | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| woocommerce | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
CRM
| hubspot | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| salesforce | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
Automation
| integrately | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| make | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| webhooks | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| zapier | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
Other
| akismet | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| brevo | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| debug console | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| flamingo | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| google analytics | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| google sheets | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| recaptcha | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| rest api | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| 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
WS Form
Pros
- ✓Most feature-complete form plugin in the space — nearly everything is included
- ✓55+ field types (more than any competitor)
- ✓Unique Debug Console for developers
- ✓Exceptional support reputation (incredible support cited by multiple users)
- ✓High-quality built-in styler for form design
Cons
- ✗Steeper learning curve than Fluent Forms or WPForms
- ✗Not Gutenberg-native — uses its own separate builder interface
- ✗Smaller install base (10K+) may concern some users regarding long-term viability
- ✗Less community content (tutorials, third-party resources) due to smaller user base