Comparison
A WPForms alternative for forms that live outside WordPress
WPForms is a drag-and-drop form builder for WordPress, sold as a yearly licence by number of sites. WebForms is a form backend for a form you write yourself, on WordPress or anywhere else, billed by submission volume.
Most people searching for a WPForms alternative want another WordPress form plugin, and if you want a visual builder inside wp-admin, that is the right search: WebForms is not a plugin and does not build the form for you. This page is for headless or static WordPress, notification emails that do not arrive, or a form that only needs storing and sending to Slack or a webhook.
WPForms is a polished, popular product: WordPress.org lists more than 5 million active installations of its free Lite version. You build forms by dragging fields in the WordPress admin, with templates, conditional logic, multi-page layouts and calculations, and the paid licences add entry management, payments and integrations as you move up its four tiers.
Its pricing is a yearly licence for a set number of sites, and the headline prices are introductory. On 24 October 2026 its pricing page showed every tier at half the normal price for the first year, with a note that renewals are at full price. Slack and Notion start on Plus, Zapier and Google Sheets on Pro, and webhooks on Elite, the top tier. Notification emails go through WordPress's wp_mail(); WPForms' own documentation says it does not control delivery once the email reaches WordPress, and recommends an SMTP plugin when messages go missing.
WebForms is for the case where the form does not need to be built inside WordPress. It is plain HTML posting to an endpoint, so it works the same on a classic theme, a headless front end or a static export. Every submission is stored before anything is sent, the email is sent by WebForms rather than your web host, and paid plans deliver the same submission to Slack, Discord, Telegram and signed webhooks, with routing rules and a log of every delivery attempt.
When to stay with WPForms
Switching has a real cost. These are the cases where we would not bother.
- You want to build forms visually inside WordPress. Drag-and-drop fields, templates, conditional logic, multi-page forms and calculations are WPForms' core product, and WebForms does not build forms for you inside WordPress.
- You take payments in the form. WPForms supports Stripe, PayPal, Square and more; WebForms has no payments.
- You want entries in your own WordPress database with no monthly volume to watch. WPForms lists no submission limit on any licence; WebForms plans are priced by monthly volume.
- You need WordPress-specific features such as user registration, post submissions, surveys, quizzes or save and resume.
- You want native CRM integrations such as HubSpot or Salesforce, which WPForms includes on Elite.
WebForms vs WPForms
Capability by capability, then their published prices. Anything we quote for WPForms was read off their own pricing page on the date shown, but prices change, so check their pricing directly before deciding.
| Capability | WebForms | WPForms |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A form backend. You write the form; it posts to an endpoint. | A drag-and-drop form builder plugin for WordPress, with a free Lite version and paid licences. |
| Where it runs | Any site: classic, headless or static WordPress, or no CMS at all. | Inside WordPress. Each licence covers a set number of sites, from one on Basic. |
| How email is sent | WebForms sends it, independent of your web host, with the visitor in Reply-To when the form sends a _replyto field. | Handed to WordPress's wp_mail(). Its docs recommend an SMTP plugin when notifications do not arrive. |
| Stored entries | Every submission stored, searchable and exportable as CSV or JSON. Kept 30 days on Free, 180 on Pro, 365 on Agency. | Entry management in your WordPress database, listed from the Basic licence up. |
| Destinations | Email on Free. Email, Slack, Discord, Telegram, webhooks and Zapier on paid plans. | Email in every version. Slack and Notion from Plus, Zapier, Make and Google Sheets from Pro, webhooks on Elite. |
| Routing | Routing rules on field values send a submission to different destinations, on paid plans. | Conditional notifications, and data routing listed from the Plus licence. |
| Delivery visibility | Per-destination log of every attempt, with status and response. | Not a documented feature. Its docs say WPForms does not control delivery once the email reaches WordPress. |
| Spam filtering | Honeypot, time trap, rate limits, domain lock and an AI classifier on every plan. | Honeypot-based anti-spam, a minimum time to submit, Akismet, reCAPTCHA, hCaptcha and Turnstile in every version, with an option to keep flagged entries for review. |
| Signed webhooks | HMAC-SHA256 with a timestamp, retried with backoff, on paid plans. | On Elite, with an optional secret that signs each request. |
| Payments in the form | Not supported. | Stripe, PayPal and Square, with an added processing fee below Pro. |
| Pricing basis | Monthly or yearly, by submission volume, with a free plan. | Yearly licence by number of sites. First-year prices are introductory; renewals are at full price. |
WPForms pricing
Read from their pricing page on . Prices in USD.
| Plan | Price | Submissions |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | $49.50 / year First year; renews at $99 / year. 1 site | Unlimited |
| Plus | $99.50 / year First year; renews at $199 / year. 3 sites | Unlimited |
| Pro | $199.50 / year First year; renews at $399 / year. 5 sites | Unlimited |
| Elite | $299.50 / year First year; renews at $599 / year. Unlimited sites | Unlimited |
Moving from WPForms
Export your entries
If your licence includes entry management, export what you want to keep before changing anything. WebForms does not import another service's history.
Create a form and copy the endpoint
Sign up, add a form and copy its endpoint URL. The free plan needs no card.
Rebuild the form as plain HTML
WPForms renders its own markup, so write the fields as a plain HTML form with the action set to your endpoint, and paste it into a Custom HTML block where the WPForms block or shortcode was. On a headless front end, put it in your framework's markup instead.
Add destinations, test, then deactivate
Add an email destination, plus Slack, Discord, Telegram or a webhook on a paid plan. Send one real submission, check the dashboard and the delivery log, then deactivate WPForms.
Want the field-by-field version? See the WordPress setup guide, with a Custom HTML block and a shortcode
Try it without deciding anything
The free plan includes 300 submissions a month, unlimited forms, email delivery, stored submissions and spam filtering, with no card required and no expiry. Point one form at it and keep WPForms running on the others until you are convinced.
Questions
No. It is a form backend: the form is plain HTML and posts to an endpoint, so nothing runs in WordPress when someone submits. If you want a visual builder inside wp-admin, WPForms or another plugin is the better fit.
As listed on 24 October 2026, WPForms licences ran from $49.50 a year for one site on Basic to $299.50 a year on Elite, as first-year prices, renewing at the full $99 to $599. WebForms Pro is $5 a month or $49 a year for 12,000 submissions a month across any number of forms, and the free plan covers 300 a month.
WPForms hands notifications to WordPress's wp_mail(), which uses PHP's mail function unless an SMTP plugin changes it, and WPForms' own documentation names a host that is not configured for that as the most common cause. Its recommended fix is an SMTP plugin. With a form backend, WebForms sends the email and WordPress is not involved.
Yes. The endpoint does not care where the form is rendered: a Next.js or Astro front end, a static export, or a classic WordPress theme through a Custom HTML block.
No. WebForms has no payment support. If the form takes payments, WPForms or another tool with payments built in is the better choice.
Other comparisons
- Web3Forms alternativeKeep the access-key simplicity. Add routing, more destinations and a delivery log.
- Formspree alternativeThe same no-backend model, with delivery you can actually inspect.
- Formspark alternativeA monthly plan instead of a submission bundle you have to keep buying.
- Basin alternativeThe same no-code form backend, minus the AI-site upsell you may not want.
- Formkeep alternativeOne plan, unlimited forms, no per-form add-on fee.
- Formcarry alternativeUnlimited forms and multi-destination fan-out, with a delivery log to check.
- KwesForms alternativeSkip the validation framework. Get routing and a delivery log instead.
- Slapform alternativeA flat quota, not a per-submission meter once you are past it.
- FormBackend alternativeThe same endpoint model, with routing and more places to notify at once.
- FormBucket alternativeTiered plans and more destinations, instead of one flat unlimited price.
- FormSubmit alternativeKeep the zero-signup simplicity for a quick form. Add a dashboard when you outgrow it.
- Netlify Forms alternativeThe convenience of built-in forms, without tying your form backend to your host.
- Typeform alternativeKeep Typeform for the interface. Get more destinations and a delivery log for what it collects.
- Jotform alternativeKeep the builder if you want it. Get more destinations and a delivery log for what it collects.
- SurveyMonkey alternativeA survey tool with research-grade analysis, versus a lightweight backend for a form you already built.
- Wufoo alternativeOne of the oldest form builders, with pricing to match. A lighter backend for a form you already have.
- Paperform alternativeA document-style builder with e-commerce built in, versus a backend for a form you already have.
- Tally alternativeUnlimited free forms is hard to beat. A delivery log and routing rules are what it doesn't have.
- Cognito Forms alternativeWorkflow and approvals are real Cognito Forms features. Routing to five destinations at once is ours.
- Zoho Forms alternativeDeep CRM and Zoho-suite integration, versus a standalone backend that isn't tied to a bigger platform.
- Google Forms alternativeFree is hard to beat. Routing to more than a spreadsheet is what it doesn't do.
- Microsoft Forms alternativeBundled free into Microsoft 365. Routing and a delivery log are what it doesn't do.
- Getform alternativeForm endpoints with routing rules and a delivery log on every send.
- EmailJS alternativeKeep the no-backend contact form. Drop the SDK and keep every submission.
- splitforms alternativeA free tier that resets monthly, an AI spam classifier, and a log of every delivery attempt.
- Contact Form 7 alternativeFor WordPress sites where the form should not depend on PHP mail or another plugin.