Formidable Forms Review: Is This the Right WordPress Form Builder for You?

Are you wondering if Formidable Forms is right for you?

Formidable Forms is one of the most advanced WordPress form builders. It can help you build simple contact forms to advanced quizzes and surveys. With its drag and drop interface and 300+ form templates, Formidable Forms allows you to use it without coding experience.

Now, at ItIsWP, we have used loads of form builder tools like WPForms on our site. We do not just rely on third-party information to write our review. Instead, we tested Formidable Forms to get first-hand information on its features, pricing, pros & cons, and more. This way, through this review, we can give you a bigger picture of everything it can do before you decide what WordPress form builder is right for you.

Overview: What is Formidable Forms?

Formidable Forms is a WordPress drag and drop form builder that lets you easily make advanced forms without hiring a developer. From simple contact forms to complex multi-page forms, you can build any type of web form you imagine with Formidable Forms.

It does this through features like conditional logic, file uploads, and integrations with popular email marketing services. This makes it great for businesses, bloggers, and developers alike.

Formidable Forms is convenient not only for you as a site owner but also for your users. It can create custom views, allowing you to display form data on your site in a visually appealing and dynamic way. 

On top of this, it supports calculations, which is perfect for building pricing forms, quizzes, or custom calculators. With its flexibility and wide range of addons, Formidable Forms is more than just a form builder – it’s a solution for creating interactive, data-driven websites without needing extensive coding knowledge.

Formidable Forms Review

Now that you understand Formidable Forms better, let us walk you through everything it can do. Because this is a detailed WordPress plugin review, we have divided it into several sections so you can easily navigate it.

If you want to read any section, simply select one of the links below.

With that said, let us get into this Formidable Forms review.

Installation & Set Up

First, we would like to point out that Formidable Forms offers a forever-free version. With Formidable Forms Lite, you can create simple contact forms, surveys, and quizzes. You can easily add Stripe payment to your forms to receive payments directly in WordPress. If you are just starting, this free option is for you because it allows you to test out Formidable Forms so that you can see if it is right for you.

To get the free version of Formidable Forms, go to your WordPress plugin repository. Here, use the search bar to search for the plugin, then install and activate it like any other.

But for this review, we will use Formidable Forms Pro so that we can show you everything this form builder can do.

To get the premium Formidable Forms, select a plan from the official website. After you make a purchase, log into your Formidable Forms account and navigate to Downloads. Then, download the plugin’s ZIP file to your PC. While on this page, also copy the “License Key,” you will need it to activate the pro version.

Next, head to your WordPress dashboard and go to Plugins » Add New Plugin. Here, select “Upload Plugin,” where you will drag and drop the ZIP file you downloaded earlier to the area. After this, install and activate the plugin like any other.

If you face any issues, check out this article on how to install plugins.

At this point you should see a new menu option labeled “Formidable” in your WordPress dashboard, indicating that the installation was a success. Now, if you are using the free version, you are good to go; you can start using Formidable Forms.

But, since we are using the pro version, we need to activate the plugin. While testing Formidable Forms, we found it a little confusing to activate the pro version of the plugin.

You get 2 activation options. First, you can log into your Formidable Forms account to connect the plugin to WordPress automatically.

To do this, go to Formidable » Dashboard. Here, you will find the License Key tab where you select “Connect Account.” Formidable Forms will then send you to a login page to add your information.

The second way to activate the pro version is to go to Formidable » Global Settings. On this page, go to the “General Settings” tab and select “Add a License Manually.” Insert the code you copied earlier and hit Connect Account.

That’s It! You are ready to use Formidable Forms Pro to build your WordPress forms.

As you can see, whether you are using the free or premium version, it is easy to install and set up. Granted, the process can be simplified by reducing the steps to follow while activating the pro plugin; we only experienced a small learning curve.

Next, let us look at Formidable Forms customization options.

Customization

You will also get the customization options under Formidable » Global Settings.

Let’s start with the customization options under the General Settings tab under the “License Key” section.

Here, you can set up the Default Email Address, Default From Address, and Date format. Then, using checkboxes, you can set up Fade in Forms with Conditional Logic on page load to ensure a better user experience. As a result, your users do not have to reload a form with conditional logic to open more fields.

Still, on the same screen, select a currency using a dropdown menu. This helps you localize your forms and improves user experience.

Then, below this, you can use the checkboxes to help you comply with GDPR.

You can check the “Do not store IPs with form submissions.” This prevents the storage of users’ IP addresses alongside form submissions. This is helpful since the General Data Protection Regulation restricts the collection and storage of personal data, such as IP addresses, without explicit user consent.

Next, if you leave the first box unchecked, you can check the “Use custom headers when retrieving IPs with form submissions.” This ensures that you retrieve the correct IP address of users, even when your site is behind a proxy server or a content delivery network (CDN) like Cloudflare.

For better control of who can access Formidable Forms from the back end, go to Permissions under “General Settings.”

Here, use the dropdown menus to decide who can view the forms list, add and edit forms, delete forms, access the settings page, and more.

For form uniformity, go to “Manage Styles.”

Here, use the “Load Form Styling” dropdown to set where you want the form style to load. Below this, you can set the load style for each form individually, giving your users a unique form experience.

As you can see, you can customize Formidable Forms for you, your team, and users in many ways. Next, let us see how easy it is to use this drag and drop form builder.

Ease of Use

One reason we really enjoyed testing out Formidable Forms was how easy it is to use. As mentioned, it offers a drag and drop form builder and 300+ templates that allow you to create any form you want without coding experience.

To fully demonstrate this form plugin’s ease of use, we will create a simple form in this review.

To get started, go to Formidable » Forms. Here, you can access all the forms you build and view their Form Title, Application, Entries, ID, Key, Actions, and Date. This page resembles the default WordPress post and page screens, ensuring you do not experience a learning curve.

Formidable Forms also automatically creates a Contact Us page for you after installation. This helps you instantly set up one of the most important features for any site, saving you time and effort. But most importantly, it gives you an example of the capabilities of Formidable Forms. You can edit this Contact Us page to fit your branding and style.

But, for this review, we will build a form using one of the templates.

To do this, select “Add New” at the top of the page, and you will be redirected to the form template page.

Since Formidable Forms offers 300+ templates for you to choose from, it can be a little overwhelming to find the right one. As a result, you get a search bar to help you find a template. These templates are arranged according to their category on the left so that you can narrow the selection list down.

Apart from that, each template has a quick description and a “View Demo” option, offering even more information and visualization.

Once you find the template you want, all you have to do is hover over it and select Use Template. This takes you to the drag and drop form builder.

After this, you will quickly notice that the drag and drop form builder has a clean design and is easy to use.

On the left, you get “Fields.”

The fields are arranged into 3 categories for easy navigation. Basic fields include Text, Checkboxes, Dropdown, Captcha, and more. Advanced Fields include File Upload, Rich Text, Date, Toggle, Repeater, and more. While Pricing Fields include Product, Quantity, and Total.

Then, on the right, you will find the form preview window.

This shows you how the final form will look on the live page. To add form elements, all you have to do is drag and drop the form fields on the left to the preview window on the right. Because of its highly responsive drag and drop interface, you can place the form elements exactly where you want them to be.

But, as mentioned, we are using a template to build our form.

This means that the template already comes with prefilled fields and content. As a result, apart from adding fields, we can also customize the existing ones.

To do this, select the form field you want to customize on the preview window. Once highlighted, Field Options will open on the left. Here, you can edit the field label and any other text found in the field.

On top of that you can use a checkbox to make the field “Required.” This ensures that the user must fill out this section before they can submit the form. Check the “Unique” box if you want to ensure that the answers provided here can only be added once. On top of this, you can use the “Read Only” check box to display the field without requiring the user to fill it.

Now, play around with the fields you want to add to your form to fit the purpose.

After you are happy with the form, hit Save at the top of the page. Then, use the “Preview” button to check it out In Theme or On a Blank Page. This will help you visualize the form from your users’ point of view.

When you are happy with your form, it is time to add it to your site.

To do this, select “Embed” at the top of your form builder. Here, you get 3 options to embed your form.

First, you can “Select Existing Page.”

After this, another popup will appear where you can select the page to which you want to add the form from a dropdown menu. Then, hit Insert Form to continue.

Formidable Forms will then take you to the block editor of the selected page. It will also place the form you just created on the page and allow you to move it around to reposition it anywhere you want. Next, select “Update” or “Save” to make the form live on the page.

You can add the form to a new page.

To do this, select Embed on the form builder page. Then, in the next popup window, select “Create New Page.” After this, enter the new page name in the next popup and hit “Create Page.” This will take you to the new page’s block editor, where you can edit and post the form.

Finally, you can use shortcode or PHP code to embed your form.

To do this, select the Embed button in your form builder again. Then select “Insert Manually” from the next popup.

After this, copy either the PHP code or shortcode on the next popup, which you can then use to manually add the form in any widget-ready area on your site.

That’s it! You can now create a form with Formidable Forms. As you can see, you have many customization and publishing options. This ensures you can personalize the form in any direction you want and post it in the most convenient way for you.

Next, let’s look at Formidable Forms features.

Features

Now, even though Formidable Forms is easy to use and has plenty of customization options, one area you should highly focus on is its features. This will tell you if it comes with the functionalities you need for your business. In the sections above, we have already looked at features like the drag and drop builder and premade templates. Now, let us look at all the features in detail.

1. Conditional Logic

If you run a website, you understand that the difference between a user completing a form and abandoning it is the experience they get on your site. Sometimes, a form is too long or asks irrelevant questions, discouraging the user from completing it.

A good way to avoid this is by using conditional logic. Conditional logic hides and shows form fields depending on the user’s response. This means that the form only shows the user relevant questions, making it shorter and easier to complete.

The best thing about using conditional logic with Formidable Forms is that you can set the rules right in the visual form builder. You can add conditional logic to any form field, giving you the flexibility you need.

2. Conversational Forms

Conversational forms give your users a more interactive form experience. It makes the form feel like a back-and-forth between you and the user, like an interview. This question-by-question approach makes your user more likely to complete the form.

Formidable Forms lets you add a progress bar to the form to ensure the user knows exactly how long they have to complete the form. You can also add arrows, a continue button, and a start button to help your users better navigate the form.

Conversational forms can be great for surveys, quizzes, user feedback, job applications, and more.

3. Multi-Page Forms

As mentioned, it can be harder to convert a long form because it feels like work to the user. Another great way to reduce the number of people abandoning your form is by turning a long form into a multi-page form.

With Formidable Forms, it is easy to split any form into several sections, as all you need to do is add a page break. After this, you can add Next and Previous buttons to help with navigation. To make them even more engaging, you can add transition animations.

Just like with the conversational forms, you can also add a progress bar to multi-step forms. You can edit its design and choose from a rootline and a traditional progress bar. You can also customize the color, style, placement and more.

4. Form Abandonment

One of the best features Formidable Forms has is Form Abandonment. This feature does 2 things.

First, it allows you to capture data from un-submitted forms.

Imagine you have used conversational or multi-step forms to help improve completion. But even after this, the user still does not submit the form. What do you do?

With this feature, Formidable Forms captures the user information provided before the form was abandoned. This allows you to contact the user and try to convert them.

Second, it saves the progress of the form for users.

This allows your users to complete the form later when they have time. Your users may often start filling out a form, and while they are working on it, something comes up. It can be discouraging if they need to start from scratch when they finally have time to complete it.

This feature saves their progress and allows them to pick it up from exactly where they left it.

You can use a toggle button to ensure that the user provides their phone number and email, making it easier to contact them. Plus, this form builder automatically creates a link when the form is abandoned. You can then email the user to remind them they did not complete your form.

5. Alerts and Emails

Formidable Forms allows you to send a confirmation message and an email after a form is successfully submitted. This helps assure the user that you have received their information, giving them peace of mind.

For the Confirmation Alert, you can show a message immediately after they hit submit, redirect them to a separate URL, or send them to another page on your site.

You can also send them a confirmation email with all the form details for them to review and keep records. This automated message uses the “Email” form field to know where to send the message.

In both the case of the confirmation message and email, you can customize the message to fit your audience. On top of this, you can use it to sell digital products by adding downloadable links.

Tip: You should use an SMTP service to ensure your emails arrive in user inboxes safely and securely. We recommend WP Mail SMTP, the best WordPress email sending plugin.

6. Actions

The Action feature in Formidable Forms is a powerful tool that enables you to automate tasks and extend the functionality of your forms. Actions are triggered whenever a user submits a form, allowing you to define what happens next.

In a nutshell, the notification and email features are actions the user takes.

So, for example, you can send an email notification, display a custom success message, or redirect users to another page after form submission. But that’s not all the Action feature can do.

You can use it to help users create and submit blog posts from the front end. Once they submit the form, it will go live on your site or be sent to you for review.

You can also use Actions to send a Twilio SMS, register a user, send a quiz score, and more.

These actions help you manage submissions effectively while improving the user experience. With just a few clicks, you can set up multiple actions to suit your needs without requiring technical expertise.

7. Payment Collection

Custom forms are one of the best ways to collect payments from WordPress. This helps you combine several things, like subscribing and providing user information with the payment process.

By default, Formidable Forms allows you to accept payments through Stripe.

You can easily collect a recurring or one-time payment through your form in whatever currency you want.

Through the Payment Field, you can add this Stripe section with the drag and drop builder to your form.

And to improve credit card security, Formidable Forms allows your user to save only the last 4 digits, not save any card details, save the entire card, and not save the card values. You can also make this section “Required,” ensuring the form is only submitted after a user provide their card details.

Apart from this, Formidable Forms also offers you eCommerce fields like Product, Quantity, and Total. Combining these Formidable Forms tools and form fields helps you better streamline the buying process.

8. Formidable View

This is one of the most advanced and practical features we have seen on any form builder plugin. It compiles and displays submitted data on the front end automatically.

This feature is great for real estate listings, job boards, events, and more. You can display this data in different styles like a calendar, grid, table, or even build a unique view from scratch.

9. Integrations

As you can see, Formidable Forms offers many powerful features. But you can add functionalities and automate workflows on your site through third-party tools you already use through integrations. 

These connections can help you manage email marketing, payments, or customer relationship management. Formidable Forms makes it simple to link your forms with the services that matter most to your business.

Formidable Forms integrates with popular email marketing platforms like Mailchimp, AWeber, and ActiveCampaign. This allows you to automatically add new subscribers or segment your audience based on form responses. 

For eCommerce, you can connect your forms to PayPal or Stripe to process payments directly from your site. On top of this, Zapier integrations open the door to connecting thousands of other apps. 

This lets you automate tasks such as sending notifications to Slack or updating Google Sheets with form data. 

Apart from the features above, here is a quick look at what else Formidable forms can do.

• Create Landing Pages: Unlike many other form builder plugins, where you need to create a landing page to place the form, Formidable Forms can help you build one as you create your form. It comes with templates like Classic, Card, Left, and Right. Plus, you can upload a background image to make the landing page even more unique.
• Calculation Fields: This lets users perform real-time calculations directly in your forms, simplifying complex equations. You can use the calculator feature to add functionalities like a pricing estimator, a loan calculator, or a quiz with scoring. You can combine user inputs with custom formulas to provide instant results, enhancing user engagement and streamlining processes like pricing or budget planning.
• Quizzes and Surveys: With Formidable Forms, creating interactive quizzes and surveys is simple and intuitive. To captivate your audience, you can design custom quizzes with scoring, conditional logic, and engaging layouts. Surveys benefit from features like Likert scales and open-ended questions, making it easy to gather insights and feedback from users in a structured and visually appealing way.
• Repeat Fields: This feature allows you to dynamically add multiple entries for a specific set of fields. This is particularly useful for forms that require repeating information, such as adding multiple attendees to an event or listing work experience on a job application. It keeps your forms compact while providing flexibility for users to add as much data as needed.
• Form Scheduling: This gives you full control over when your forms are available. You can set start and end dates, ensuring forms are only accessible during specific periods. This is ideal for time-sensitive applications like event registrations, promotions, or surveys, as it prevents submissions outside the designated timeframe.
• Spam Protection: Formidable Forms includes robust CAPTCHA Spam Protection to safeguard your forms from bots and malicious spam submissions. You can implement Google’s reCAPTCHA or invisible CAPTCHA for seamless user interaction while keeping your site secure. This ensures your submissions remain legitimate without adding unnecessary friction for users.
• File Uploads: This allows users to attach files directly to their form submissions. This is perfect for job applications, customer support tickets, or project submissions where users need to provide documents, images, or other media. Formidable Forms supports multiple file formats, ensuring flexibility for a wide range of use cases.
• User Registration: Formidable Forms makes it easy to build custom registration forms for your WordPress site. You can gather user details, assign custom roles, and even enable profile editing directly from the front end. This is great for membership sites, online communities, or any platform requiring user accounts.
• Digital Signature: The Digital Signature feature allows users to sign forms electronically, making it ideal for contracts, agreements, or consent forms. This eliminates the need for additional paperwork, streamlines workflows, and provides a secure and legally binding way to collect signatures online.
• Import/Export: This simplifies the process of managing your forms and data. You can easily import forms, including their settings, to replicate them across different websites. In the same way, exporting form entries lets you back up data or analyze it in external tools like Excel, ensuring your information is always accessible and organized.

Support & Documentation

Now, Formidable Forms is easy to use, but you may need assistance using some features. The best part is the homepage is packed with information about the plugin features and how to use them.

On top of this, you can access the Documentation page under Resources at the top of the homepage.

The documentation page offers a search bar to help you find what you are looking for quickly. Then, the articles are arranged in tab form, categorizing the content in an organized way.

When you select any tab, it opens a list of the articles on the same page. Each post is well written, ensuring even someone without WordPress experience quickly understands.

You can contact support if you do not get an answer in the documentation. With Formidable Forms, you get priority support if you are a premium member. The support ticket uses conditional logic. This means that you get just a few fields when you access the ticket page. Depending on your answer, more form fields will appear, making it simple and precise.

Once you fill out these questions, you can open the ticket form to offer more details about your problem.

Apart from this, the Formidable Community is a forum where users on both the free and premium versions can interact. It is the perfect place to know how others use the form builder plugin.

Formidable Forms Pricing

Formidable Forms offers a free version, which is available to download from the WordPress.org repository. The free version lets you build a basic contact form on your site.

If you want to build complex forms or online applications with Formidable Forms, you’ll need to purchase the pro version. The pro version is available in 4 different plans:

• Basic: For $39.50, you’ll get the premium 1-year license with 1 year of standard support.
• Plus: For $99.50 per year, you can use the plugin on up to 3 sites. You’ll also get addons, including MailChimp integration, MailPoet integration, Bootstrap addons, and user tracking and location addons.
• Business: For $199.50 per year for 7 sites, you’ll get priority support and powerful addons such as PayPal Standard, Zapier, user registration, AWeber, and more.
• Elite: For $299.50, you’ll get an unlimited site license, elite support, and advanced addons, including Stripe, WooCommerce, and more.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Practical and Easy-to-Use Features: Formidable forms has features like a drag and drop builder, calculation fields, and conditional logic. This allows us to create highly tailored forms for various use cases without requiring coding expertise.
• Comprehensive Features: From multi-page forms to advanced features like Form Abandonment, Views, and Digital Signatures, the plugin equips us with tools to streamline data collection and enhance user experience.
• Advanced Data Display with Views: The Formidable Views feature stands out by letting us display collected data dynamically on the front end. Whether it’s job listings or event schedules, the ability to present data visually is unmatched.
• Seamless Payment Collection: Formidable Forms integrates payment processing through Stripe and PayPal. This makes it easy for us to collect one-time or recurring payments securely and efficiently.
• Extensive Integrations: With support for platforms like Mailchimp, Zapier, and ActiveCampaign, we can effortlessly connect our forms to tools we already use, automating workflows and enhancing efficiency.
• Improved User Engagement: Features like conversational forms, progress bars, and repeat fields enable us to make forms more interactive. This keeps users engaged and reduces abandonment rates.
• Great for Business Applications: It can help you create landing pages, collect user data, and automate actions like user registration. Formidable Forms supports a wide range of business needs, offering excellent versatility.

Cons:

• While basic forms are easy to create, mastering advanced features like Views or conditional logic requires time and effort. This can be challenging for new users.
• Many standout features, like Form Abandonment, creating Views, and more, are only available in the premium version. This limits functionality in the free version of the plugin.

FAQs: Formidable Forms Review

Final Verdict: Why Formidable Forms is a Great Option

Formidable Forms stands out as a great solution for creating dynamic forms in WordPress. Its many features, such as conditional logic, multi-page forms, and advanced data display through Views, make it ideal for businesses, developers, and anyone looking to collect and manage user data effectively. It easily connects with third-party tools like Stripe, PayPal, and Mailchimp, ensuring smooth and efficient workflows.

What truly sets Formidable Forms apart is its ability to handle complex tasks. It can help you with payment collection, survey creation, and even front-end content submission. It does all this while remaining user-friendly for beginners. 

Formidable Forms vs. WPForms

When comparing Formidable Forms and WPForms, both plugins are exceptional in their own ways, but they cater to slightly different audiences. 

WPForms is renowned for its simplicity and beginner-friendly interface. This makes it perfect for users who want to create forms quickly without diving into complex configurations. On the other hand, Formidable Forms is geared toward power users who need advanced functionalities.

In the end, WPForms shines with its easy-to-use drag-and-drop builder and 2000+ pre-built templates. If you’re looking for a straightforward form builder, WPForms is the solution.

For a better comparison, check out the latest WPForms review.

Get started with WPForms here.

Congratulations! Through this review, you now have a better understanding of Formidable Forms.

Apart from that, here are other articles you may be interested in reading.

• WPForms vs. Gravity Forms – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
• FormStack Alternatives: WPForms vs. FormStack Which is Right for You
• 18 Best Contact Form Plugins for WordPress

These articles will help you compare different form builder plugins so that you can find the best one for your business.

With that said, we give it 4 out of 5 stars. Here’s the breakdown of our review scores:

Overall

   4.0 / 5.0

Features

   4.0 / 5.0

Performance

   4.0 / 5.0

Support

   3.0 / 5.0

Ease of Use

   5.0 / 5.0

Pricing

   4.0 / 5.0