Almost 75 percent of companies use online forms to generate leads, and almost half say that online forms have the highest lead generation conversion rates.
Creating beautiful, functional forms that offer a great user experience is crucial for getting more leads. Today, we will be looking at two popular form builders for WordPress: Gravity Forms and Ninja Forms.
We will be comparing the two side-by-side. Let’s begin.
The Drag-And-Drop Builder
Both Gravity Forms and Ninja Forms have a drag-and-drop builder that you can use to create forms. Which one is better and easier to use?
Gravity Forms
The Gravity Forms drag-and-drop builder is relatively simple to use. To start, you’ll need to create a form and choose a name for it.
Then, you can start adding fields to your form. There are both standard and advanced fields.
Standard fields include single-line text, number, paragraph text, and others. Advanced fields include name, email, date, time, phone, address, file upload, and others.
You’ll want to start from the advanced fields, as you will probably be using your form to collect information such as a lead’s email address, name, and phone number.
Just select a field from the menu and drag it into your editor. You can rearrange the fields in any order.
You can also customize the fields that you add. For example, like you can see in the screenshot below when adding the name field, you can choose whether you want to add a field for people’s last names or only their first names.
You can also decide whether to add a field for their suffix. In addition, you can choose whether you want a field to be required — if a field is not required, people will be able to submit the form without filling out that field.
You may not want to make some fields required, as requiring people to fill out too many fields that you don’t necessarily need (such as their phone number) adds unnecessary steps and can decrease your conversion rates.
If you want people to be able to fill out a message, such as if you are creating a contact form, you can use the paragraph text field from the standard field section.
You can create a headline for your paragraph text field (such as “Write Your Message Here”) and, if you wish, require people to write a minimum number of characters.
Once you have added your fields, customized them, and decided which ones you will require users to fill out, you can save your form. The next step will be to decide where to redirect users after they fill out the form.
You have two options: You can show them a confirmation message, or you can redirect them to another page, such as a thank-you page or even a sales page.
You can customize the confirmation message and even add an image as shown in the screenshot below:
If you are using your forms to collect email addresses in exchange for a free ebook, or if you are selling an ebook through your form, you can redirect users to the download page so they can access the ebook right away. You can also redirect users to an upsell page, where you can sell a higher-priced product.
As you create your form, you can click the “Preview” button at any time to see how your form will look once published. If you don’t like something, you can change it in real-time.
You will be able to set up notifications so you get an email every time someone fills out your form. This might not be necessary if you are just collecting email addresses, but if you are creating a contact form, this is a good idea as it will allow you to get back to people quickly.
When you do get an email notification, you can reply from your own email account without logging into your WordPress dashboard.
Once you create your form, you can embed it into a page. To do that, create a Gravity Forms page, which lets you add blocks such as headings, paragraphs, images, and the form that you previously created.
This allows you to create simple landing pages or contact pages that are easy to use and navigate.
You can see a list of all your forms in your dashboard and you can delete them or create new ones as needed.
Ninja Forms
The Ninja Forms dashboard looks slightly different than the Gravity Forms dashboard. In fact, I think that the Ninja Forms editor is slightly easier to use and navigate and that it has a more modern feel.
As you can see, there is a lot more white space in the Ninja Forms editor. Like Gravity Forms, Ninja Forms lets you drag and drop different fields and allows you to mark some fields as required.
As you can see in the screenshot, there are various kinds of fields you can select.
I find Ninja Forms to be a bit easier to use. It’s easier to find important fields and the setup is overall easier to navigate.
Like Gravity Forms, Ninja Forms allows you to set up email notifications when someone fills out a form. You can also customize your confirmation message as shown in this screenshot:
Another big difference between Ninja Forms and Gravity Forms is that when you create a new form with Gravity Forms you will be creating a form from scratch, like shown above. However, when you create a new form with Ninja Forms, you will be given an option — if you want, you can choose to create a blank form, but you can also choose from premade, customizable forms such as these:
- Contact Us
- Collect Feedback
- Delete Data Request
If you want to create a quick contact form, you don’t have to bother with creating an entire form yourself. Instead, just choose the Contact Us template:
Like Gravity Forms, Ninja Forms allows you to embed your forms into posts and landing pages.
Ninja Forms integrates with WordPress’s default Gutenberg editor so you will see a Ninja Forms button in the editor when you are creating or editing any page or post:
After you click on the Ninja Forms icon, a drop-down list will appear so you can choose which of your Ninja Forms to add to the page.
Conditional Logic
Both form builders let you use conditional logic when creating forms. Conditional logic allows you to show and hide fields based on a user’s actions.
Gravity Forms
An example of how you can use conditional logic with Gravity Forms is as follows.
Let’s say you want to ask people what kind of vehicle they own. Your first drop-down menu might display these options:
- Car
- Truck
- Motorcycle
Then, once a user has made a choice, you can display additional options. For example, if a user has chosen “car,” you can display these options:
- Four-seater car
- Minivan
- Convertible
If a user selects “motorcycle,” you can choose to display these options:
- Cruiser
- Sports bike
- Scooter
Ninja Forms
Ninja Forms also lets you use conditional logic to hide or show fields and options. In addition, you can even hide the submit button if a certain condition, such as accepting the terms and conditions, are not met (this can be done on Gravity Forms as well).
Preventing Spam
A common problem website owners face is dealing with spam submissions. Spammers often set up automated bots to fill out forms with links to their sites, whether they are promoting a product or trying to get you to become a client of theirs.
Gravity Forms
Gravity Forms has several anti-spam measures you can use.
One method is the honeypot “trap” method, which is called honeypot because it is designed to trap spammers like a honeypot traps bees.
The honeypot method involves adding a special field to your form that only bots can see. Since real people won’t see this field, they will leave it blank; since bots can see it, however, the bots will fill it out.
If a form submission has that special field filled out, the system will know that the submission was made by a bot and will automatically throw it away.
Another method you can use is the standard Captcha method. If you’ve ever filled out a form online or logged into websites such as Paypal, you have probably seen a Captcha box before.
You can customize the message shown before the Captcha box, as shown in this screenshot:
Make it something fun to avoid annoying users.
You can also opt to use conditional logic for your Captcha field. For example, you may not want to display the Captcha field for everyone, but only for people who enter a certain name or say that they are from a certain location.
Finally, another method you can use is a question + conditional logic. We mentioned that both Gravity Forms and Ninja Forms allow you to hide the submit button if a certain condition hasn’t been met.
That condition can be correctly answering a mathematical question, such as “What is 5 + 7?”
Since bots won’t be able to answer this question correctly, the Submit button will never show, and they will never be able to submit.
Ninja Forms
Ninja Forms also has a built-in honeypot spam trap, so most spam won’t even reach you in the first place. They also offer Captcha and the question + conditional logic options.
Ecommerce
Both Gravity Forms and Ninja Forms can be used for eCommerce websites. Let’s take a look at the eCommerce features offered by each form builder.
Gravity Forms
As mentioned, Gravity Forms has a number of fields you can add to your forms. We went over the standard and advanced fields, but we didn’t yet go over the pricing fields that you can add, which you can see in the screenshot below:
As you can see, it is very easy to add product fields to your list, allow customers to select how many of each product they want, display shipping costs, and display the total cost.
All of this is included in the default Gravity Forms plugin, but you can also get the Gravity Perks Ecommerce Fields add-on so you can add even more fields. The add-on allows you to add adjustable taxes, flexible discounts, improved order summaries, and much more.
Of course, if you are going to be selling products, you will need to be able to collect payments. You can use the standard Paypal add-on, or if you have an Elite plan, you can accept payments with the following gateways:
- Paypal Payments Pro
- 2Checkout
- Authorize.net
- Stripe
In other words, not only does Gravity Forms allow you to create forms and landing pages, but it also allows you to start selling products and collecting payments right away via Paypal or Stripe. You can also use Authorize.net to integrate with various banks and financial institutions.
Ninja Forms
Ninja Forms also allows you to sell products and collect payments through their forms. This way, you can avoid using Shopify, WooCommerce, or even standard eCommerce plugins.
To collect payments quickly, use Paypal. If you want to accept credit cards, you can integrate your forms with Stripe or Elavon.
You can even integrate Ninja Forms with Recurly to collect recurring payments. This is a great way to set up a membership site and start earning passive income every month.
If you do use WooCommerce, there is a WooCommerce Ninja Forms add-on that you can use. If you are selling digital products, on the other hand, you can integrate Ninja Forms with Easy Digital Downloads.
All in all, both Gravity Forms and Ninja Forms are great tools you can use to sell physical and digital products online.
Integrations And Add-Ons
There are numerous add-ons and integrations available for both Gravity Forms and Ninja Forms.
Gravity Forms
Gravity Forms has its own add-ons, as well as third-party add-ons that were created by the Gravity Forms developer community.
Basic add-ons, which were created by Gravity Forms, are available on all plans. The basic add-ons offer integrations with various popular email marketing service providers, such as Aweber, GetResponse, Mailchimp, Constant Contact, and Hubspot — 15 in total.
Then there are the Pro add-ons, which are available with the Pro and Elite plans. These add-ons offer integrations with various advanced third-party tools, such as Slack, Zoho, Zapier, Stripe, Dropbox, Breeze, Agile CRM, and many more.
Elite add-ons are only available with the Elite plan. They include Authorize.net, 2Checkout, polls, quizzes, surveys, coupons, and other add-ons.
As mentioned above, however, there are many third-party add-ons. For example, one add-on automatically logs users in when they submit a form, another add-on lets you block certain IP addresses, and yet another add-on integrates with Braintree to accept payments.
I was surprised by the number of third-party add-ons that were available for Gravity Forms. It clearly has a large user base and many people are using it in conjunction with various third-party services like Braintree.
Some third-party add-ons offer alternative integrations with third-party services like Constant Contact.
However, it is important to remember that not all third-party add-ons are free. Since they are created by third-party developers, those developers have the freedom of selling them for whatever price they want.
Ninja Forms
Ninja Forms also has a nice selection of add-ons and integrations. For example, you can integrate with Paypal, generate a PDF form of every form submission, integrate with Zapier, and add layouts and style templates with their add-ons.
Although each add-on is sold separately, you will get some of them for free, depending on your Ninja Forms plan. In addition, you can get discounts on your future add-on purchases, depending on your plan.
Customer Support
What is the level of customer support offered by either site?
Gravity Forms
Gravity Forms’ customer support team operates five days a week, from 9 AM until 6 PM, Eastern Time. To get in touch with them, you will need to submit a support ticket.
There is also an extensive documentation center with answers to common questions.
Ninja Forms
Ninja Forms’ customer support team operates at almost the same times as Gravity Forms, except that it finishes at 4 PM instead of 6 PM.
You can expect to get a response within eight hours of submitting your support request if you are a paid user. If you are a free Ninja Forms user, you can expect to get a response within 24 hours.
Pricing
Let’s compare the prices of each form builder to see which one gives you a better value for your money.
Gravity Forms
Unfortunately, Gravity Forms does not currently offer a free account or trial. However, they do offer a demo so you can try it out.
To create your demo account and start creating forms, sign up here. You will have access to your demo WordPress dashboard for seven days.
Here are the current Gravity Forms plans. Keep in mind that plans can change, so for updated pricing information, go to the Gravity Forms pricing page.
- Basic — $59/year: This plan gives you access to unlimited forms on one site. As mentioned, you will only get access to basic add-ons.
- Pro — $159/year: This plan gives you access to Pro add-ons, and it allows you to use Gravity Forms on three sites.
- Elite — $259/year: This plan gives you access to Elite add-ons and lets you use Gravity Forms on an unlimited number of sites. It also gives you access to priority support and several other perks.
Third-party add-ons can have their own prices.
Ninja Forms
Unlike Gravity Forms, Ninja Forms actually does have a free account. To download the free Ninja Forms plugin, go to the plugin download page or search for Ninja Forms in your WordPress plugin manager.
As for paid plans, Ninja Forms gives you the flexibility of choosing from one of the set plans or creating your custom add-on plan based on which add-ons you need and how many sites you need them for. Again, prices are subject to change, so visit the Ninja Forms pricing page for updated information.
Here are the set plans:
- Personal — $49.50/year: This plan gives you access to Ninja Forms on one site, integrations with platforms such as Mailchimp and Constant Contact, add-ons such as file uploads and multi-part forms, and the ability to accept payments via PayPal.
- Professional — $99.50/year: You’ll be able to use NF on up to 20 sites and will have access to additional add-ons and discounts on future add-on purchases.
- Agency — $249.50/year: This plan will give you free access to all add-ons. You will also be able to use NF on an unlimited number of sites.
Similarities And Differences
Here is a quick chart to help you quickly compare Gravity Forms and Ninja Forms:
| Gravity Forms | Ninja Forms | |
| Drag-And-Drop | ✓ | ✓ |
| Default Forms | ✗ | ✓ |
| Embedded Forms | ✓ | ✓ |
| Mobile Responsive | ✓ | ✓ |
| Thank-You Pages | ✓ | ✓ |
| Anti-Spam | ✓ | ✓ |
| Conditional Logic | ✓ | ✓ |
| Add-Ons | ✓ | ✓ |
| Accept Payments | ✓ | ✓ |
| PayPal/Stripe | ✓ | ✓ |
| Authorize.net | ✓ | ✗ |
| Third-Party Add-Ons | ✓ | ✗ |
| Free Plan | ✗ | ✓ |
| Demo Account | ✓ | ✗ |
Wrapping It Up — Which One Is Better?
I believe that Ninja Forms is a better choice for most businesses.
First of all, it is entirely free to use, so you can save $59/year if you are a small business or small-time blogger looking to keep expenses low. The free account will serve most of your needs just fine.
In addition, I found Ninja Forms slightly easier to use, and I liked the interface better. This isn’t to say that Gravity Forms is hard to use, but I found Ninja Forms to be slightly less confusing.
The only downside is that Gravity Forms seems to have more extensions and add-ons available when taking third-party add-ons into account. Nevertheless, Ninja Forms does offer integrations with almost anything you might want to use.
Since Ninja Forms is free, you have nothing to lose by signing up. If you don’t like it, you can always switch over to Gravity Forms later on.
