Ninja Forms Review: Is It the Simplest WordPress Form Builder Plugin in 2023?

Do you want to rapidly develop a beautiful contact form for your WordPress site? Then a contact form is essential for any website, whether it’s a personal blog or a corporate website. Your forms are how your visitors communicate with you, and with so many alternatives to pick from, deciding which one is best may be daunting. Every type has advantages and disadvantages, so determining which is best for you is critical. Ninja Forms is a popular free contact form plugin, but is it the most user-friendly? Check out our Ninja Forms review to see if it meets your needs.

What Is a Contact Form and How Does It Work? 

A contact form is a simple web-based form that may be seen on a website. Any visitor can send a message to the site owner by filling out and submitting the form. 

Your contact form generates and sends an email message to your email account behind the scenes. This allows you to receive messages from visitors without having to give out your email address to spammers.

Reason to use Contact Form for your site

You might be wondering why having a contact form on your website is usually recommended. We will explain why you require a Contact Form. So, let’s have a look at them.

Keeps spam out of your inbox

Spam is impossible to completely avoid. However, there are certain measures you may do to reduce it. Using a contact form instead of publicly visible email addresses is one option. You’ll have greater control over the texts you get this way. 

You may take further precautions by including a reCAPTCHA tool. This guarantees that you only receive real communications and that spambots are kept at bay.

Use a website content form to demonstrate professionalism. 

Your website will appear more professional if you have a clean and straightforward contact form. The same impact isn’t achieved by displaying an email address. A contact form demonstrates that you’re well-organized and have put effort into your website. 

Organizes your messages

You’ll be notified when someone fills out your contact form. This makes it easier for you to keep track of any communications that come via your website. Too many emails get caught in spam filters, leaving dissatisfied consumers waiting for a response.

Customers will like the simplicity. 

The disadvantage of using an email address is that users must leave your website to send you messages. They might not return once the message has been sent. A website contact form eliminates the middleman. It allows consumers to send you a message without having to go through the trouble of filling out a form. 

Obtains all of the information you require

When consumers make email inquiries, there is frequent information that is missing. They could neglect to provide you their contact information so you can follow up. They could forget to include reference numbers or product codes that you’ll need to fix their issues. As a result, there may be a lot of communication back and forth as you look for the missing information.

You may provide boxes for consumers to complete upon contact forms. That way, you may obtain everything you need in one easy step. No more squandered time!

Increases the size of your email list

One of the most efficient methods to remain in touch with your target market is through email. So, to keep people interested in your business, you’ll need to create an email list. 

It makes a big impact on how you sign up subscribers. People may be put off if the sign-up procedure is clumsy or lengthy. Having a simple, easy approach to sign people up may help you increase your numbers and, as a result, your sales. 

An easy way is to provide a check box on a contact form that allows individuals to automatically join your mailing list.

Ninja Forms is a fantastic contact form plugin to utilize if you’re on a budget but yet want to make use of the same capabilities as other plugins. There are several parameters to select from to customize your forms, and the plugin is developer-friendly for people that enjoy working with code. 

Ninja Forms includes optional add-ons like quicker service, savings on other goods, layouts and styles, and more. This plugin is ideal for anyone who wishes to start off on a low budget and gradually add the functionality they want.

Key Features

• Even in the free edition, Ninja Forms does not limit the number of forms or fields you may have on your forms. User information (name, address, email, phone, etc. ), checkbox lists, paragraph text, ReCAPTCHA, anti-spam, and star rating are among the 28 form fields available for your form.
• Ninja Forms not only has a simple, uncomplicated interface, but it also has a drag-and-drop editor that is foolproof. Simply click the Add symbol in the lower right corner of the screen, choose the form field you want, then drag it into position to rearrange or add new fields. Row and column layouts are simple. Forms with many pages. Forms that are conditional. You don’t need to be a designer to develop forms that look great on your WordPress website. 

• Allow users to upload files by turning any form into an upload form. Submittals can be sent or exported as PDFs, Microsoft Excel files, or even Google Sheets. Send email to only the individuals that need it from any form. 
• It is a popular payment option for people, professionals, freelancers, and businesses, thanks to its integration with PayPal. It utilizes PayPal to transfer money, withdraw money, and accept donations, among other things. The PayPal add-on would most likely come in handy if you represent a charity and need to collect payments from your website users. You may collect money from your website visitors directly into your PayPal account by activating the add-on and correctly setting it!
• PayPal will not be used by all of your customers or website visitors. Another frequent method of financing a business is through credit card processing. Ninja Forms, thankfully, has a Stripe add-on. You may link it to your Stripe account and receive funds there.
• Find out how much of a difference a completely personalized email subscription form or lead-generating form can make for your company. Increase the size of your email lists and generate fresh leads like never before. MailChimp, Constant Contact, Campaign Monitor, Salesforce CRM, Zoho CRM, Insightly CRM, and more are all fully integrated.
• WordPress GDPR compliance is simple with Ninja Forms.  This plugin never collects or retains any information from your forms, including personally-identifying information. For Right to Be Forgotten and Data Export requests, there are simple templates supplied. For automatic GDPR compliance, it integrates with WordPress’s inherent GDPR capabilities.
• In a few minutes, you’ll have a completed form. Pre-built templates for contact forms, registration forms, application forms, MailChimp forms, quotation request forms, PayPal forms, Stripe forms, and more!
• Built with mobile responsiveness and accessibility in mind. Ninja Forms uses the design choices made by your theme to match the appearance and feel you worked so hard to create.
• If you have the technical ability to manage more sophisticated approaches like changing CSS classes, you may use the form builder’s developer mode to do so. By default, Ninja Forms conceals these options. That means you can’t mistakenly alter an option that “breaks” your form if you’re not comfortable with complex settings.

Ninja Forms

Using Ninja Forms, you can either choose a premium membership plan or purchase certain add-ons based on your needs. Ninja Forms’ membership tiers, on the other hand, are pricey, with only the Agency plan including all of the company’s 40+ add-ons. A 14-day money-back guarantee is included with all premium programs (Personal, Pro, and Agency). Both the Personal and Pro subscriptions provide discounts (20% and 40%, respectively) on future add-on purchases, and both offer a variety of add-ons inside your membership.

Here’s how much it costs every year.

• Personal Plan – $99 for Single Sites with Conditional logic, file uploads, multi-step forms, Mailchimp, PayPal, and more.
• Professional Plan – $199 for 20 sites with Registration forms, user-submitted posts, Zapier, Stripe, and more.
• Agency Unlimited Plan – $499 with All addons

If you desire extra plugins that aren’t included in your plan, you may purchase it separately. You may, however, purchase addons without having a plan. 

When you require a certain mix of addons, it’s a little more difficult because you’ll have to sit down and figure out the most cost-effective method to get them all. 

Here are some example costs for Ninja Forms additions to give you an idea of how much the annual cost may grow.

Ninja Forms Addon

You don’t have to pay for a membership plan to use Ninja Forms’ paid add-ons, which is one of its finest features. There are over 40 add-ons to choose from, including tools for Look & Feel, Content Management, CRM Integrations, Email Marketing, and Payment Gateway. 

You may buy add-ons separately, but if you pick the Agency membership, you’ll have access to all of them (including future releases). 

Conditional logic

Available in Personal, Professional, and Agency Plan. Based on user input, you may show or hide fields, modify values, or send customized notifications.

• Single sites – $49
• Five sites – $72
• Twenty Sites – $99

 Multi-step forms

Available in Personal, Professional, and Agency Plan

• Single sites – $49
• Five sites – $72
• Twenty Sites – $99

File upload fields

Available in Personal, Professional, and Agency Plan

• Single sites – $49
• Five sites – $72
• Twenty Sites – $99

Export to Excel

Only available in Agency Plan

• Single sites – $ 18
• Five sites – $ 28
• Twenty Sites – $ 46

PayPal

Personal, Professional, and Agency Plan

• Single sites – $49
• Five sites – $79
• Twenty Sites – $ 129

Stripe

Available in professional and agency plan

• Single sites – $49
• Five sites – $79
• Twenty Sites – $ 129

Constant Contact

Available in Personal, Professional, and Agency Plan

• Single sites – $18
• Five sites -$28
• Twenty Sites – $46

User-submitted posts

Available in Professional and Agency Plan 

• Single sites – $39
• Five sites -$62
• Twenty Sites – $99

If all you need is a simple form builder and one specialized plugin, it’s best to go with Ninja Forms’ free edition. However, if your site expands, purchasing separate extensions might become prohibitively expensive.

Pros of Ninja Forms

• On the official WordPress repository, the fundamental Ninja Forms version is accessible for free. It may be installed on an endless number of websites. 
• Campaign Monitor, Freshbooks, Salesforce, SMS alerts, and more paid extensions are available. Ninja Forms provides a handy option for community assistance, including documentation, guidelines, and even email support; these allow you to enhance the capability of Ninja Forms connections. Ninja Forms’ form builder includes tooltips for various components as well as links to its documentation, so even if you get lost while creating your form, you can receive help. If you wish to use a shortcode instead of the Ninja Forms content block in the WordPress editor, the most difficult part of creating a form with Ninja Forms is uploading it to your website.
• Ninja Forms doesn’t bog down your screen when you’re working on a form. There are simply three phases to publishing your form: adding form fields, updating email settings, and publishing your form (with additional options you don’t have to use). 
• Ninja Forms’ simple, intuitive interface ensures that you don’t need any technical knowledge to utilize it effectively. It’s simple to customize form fields, change labels, and alter display settings – and you may create a form for your website without changing a single option!

Cons of Ninja Forms

Let’s take a look at some of Ninja Forms’ drawbacks. 

• The core plugin has a limited set of functionality. For instance, if you want to develop dynamic forms depending on user selections, you’ll need to pay $49.00 for the conditional logic addon. However, rivals such as WPForms have conditional logic in the core version, requiring no further add-ons. 
• Individually purchasing add-ons may appear to be a good idea at first because you’ll only have to pay for what you need. Ninja Forms will, however, become more expensive than any of their competitors as your demands expand.

Installation 

If you don’t already have Ninja Forms installed, click to Plugins -> Add New in your WordPress Dashboard. 

In the search box, type Ninja Forms and click “Install Now.” 

After the installation is complete, click “Activate” to begin using Ninja Forms!

Setup Ninja Forms

The plugin adds a new menu item called ‘Forms’ to the WordPress dashboard sidebar menu after it is installed. You may create forms and view your current forms from here, among other things. 

Ninja Forms comes with no pre-built forms, thus the first time you click on the ‘All Forms’ menu item, you should see an empty list. Click on ‘Add New Form’ to fix this and begin creating your first form.

Developing the Form 

Click “Add New” under the “Ninja Forms” menu in your WordPress admin. (You may also go to your “All Forms” tab and select “Add New Form.”)

Using of Templates 

When you create a new form, you will be given many template options to choose from. To add fields (and style!) to your form, simply click one.

Fields to be Added 

To add your own fields, select the “Blank Form” template and open the fields drawer with the blue “Add Field” button in the bottom right corner.

Drag the fields from the drawer into the builder with a single click or drag and drop. 

Click “Done” once you’ve completed adding fields.

Changing Field Options 

Simply click on a field to access its options drawer, where you can alter the field label, label positioning, make a field mandatory, and more. You may also open the field settings drawer by clicking the blue gear symbol. Each field type has a distinct drawer.

Fields can be duplicated or deleted

To enlarge the duplicate and delete icons, hover over the blue gear symbol in each field.

Examine the Form

With the preview button here, you may see any form changes without affecting visitors on the front end of your site:

Make the Form Public 

Click “Publish” when you’re ready to make your form modifications live on your site’s front end.

Ninja Forms Support

You may receive customer assistance via a contact form or your account, whether you’re a member, have purchased an add-on, or just use the free version of Ninja Forms (paid users). It’s only available throughout the week, and if you’re a free user, you won’t get a quick answer. 

Ninja Forms’ support team, on the other hand, is kind and helpful to all clients, which is a plus because many form builders only provide community assistance to free users. 

There’s also documentation to assist you, albeit it’s not the most user-friendly, and the search feature isn’t always functional.

Verdict

When it comes to the breadth of fundamental functionality available right out of the box, it’s an outstanding free plugin. The plugin allows users to create sophisticated and comprehensive forms with a variety of field types in an intuitive manner. The message handling capabilities are particularly excellent, with the ability to save messages, send notifications to site admin users of your choosing, and send a confirmation email to the form’s sender. 

The paid extensions provide you with enough features to compete with any of the other premium form builders. The only thing to keep an eye on is the price. Ninja Forms may be less expensive or more expensive than other forms of plugins. 

Try Ninja Forms