Verdict · Form Builders

Gravity Forms

The form engine for people who live in WordPress and want to own their data.

Gravity Forms is not a hosted service; it is a plugin that runs inside your own WordPress site, so your data and forms sit on your infrastructure. That appeals to developers and agencies who want control, deep logic, and a long list of add ons for payments, automation and registration. Licensing is a flat yearly fee by number of sites rather than by submissions, which makes high volume cheap. The tradeoff is that you bring the hosting, the updates and the upkeep.

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Reviewed by M. HALLORAN·Updated JUNE 2026·How we vet
In one line
You own the forms and the data, and you own the upkeep too.
What we found

In its favour

+ Runs inside your own WordPress site, so you control the data and hosting.
+ Deep conditional logic, calculations and multi page forms suit complex builds.
+ A large library of add ons covers payments, registration, automation and surveys.
+ Flat per year, per site licensing means no submission caps and cheap high volume.

Held against it

It requires a WordPress site, so it is no help if you are not on WordPress.
You carry the hosting, updates, security and maintenance yourself.
The richest add ons need the pricier Pro or Elite license.
Support is ticket based and the editor feels developer first, not beginner friendly.
The scorecard

Control and depth, with overhead

Gravity Forms leads on features and integrations and scores well on value for high volume, since licensing ignores submission counts. Ease of use is the soft spot, reflecting the WordPress upkeep and a developer leaning editor.

Scored against the same five weighted criteria we use across form builders. See the rubric →

Ease of use 74
Features and logic 92
Respondent experience 78
Integrations 90
Value for money 84
Buy it if you’re…

running WordPress and you want a powerful, self hosted form engine with no submission caps.

Skip it if you’re…

not on WordPress, or you would rather a hosted tool handle updates and hosting for you.

What it costs

USD / year, per license

Pricing as of June 2026. Gravity Forms is a self hosted WordPress plugin licensed yearly: Basic is $59 per year for 1 site, Pro is $159 per year for 3 sites and includes Pro add ons such as Stripe, PayPal and Zapier, and Elite is $259 per year for unlimited sites and all add ons. There is no free plan and you supply your own WordPress hosting. Check the vendor for current pricing.

Basic
$59
For a single site.
+1 site license
+Core form features and logic
+One year of support and updates
★ Our pick
Pro
$159
For growing builds.
+3 site licenses
+Pro add ons: Stripe, PayPal, Zapier
+Advanced fields and integrations
Elite
$259
For agencies.
+Unlimited sites
+All add ons included
+User registration, surveys, signatures