Gravity Forms and Ninja Forms are two of the longest-running form builders for WordPress. Both can handle everything from a contact form to multi-page applications with payments. The biggest difference is how you pay for them, and that shapes everything else.
I use Gravity Forms every day, so I’ll be upfront about that. I’ve tried to keep this comparison fair and point out where Ninja Forms is the better fit.
The Short Version
- Ninja Forms has a free core plugin. You add paid features as you need them, either individually or in a bundle.
- Gravity Forms has no free version. One license gives you the full form builder, and higher licenses add more official add-ons.
- For simple forms on a tight budget, Ninja Forms’ free version is hard to beat.
- For advanced forms, payments, workflows and a large add-on ecosystem, Gravity Forms is the stronger choice.
Pricing
| Gravity Forms | Ninja Forms | |
|---|---|---|
| Free version | No | Yes (core plugin on WordPress.org) |
| Entry plan | Basic: $59/year, 1 site | Plus: $99/year, 3 sites |
| Middle plan | Pro: $159/year, 3 sites | Pro: $199/year, 20 sites |
| Top plan | Elite: $259/year, unlimited sites | Elite: $499/year, unlimited sites |
Ninja Forms regularly offers a first-year discount, and plans renew at full price. Prices are current as I write this, so check Gravity Forms pricing and Ninja Forms pricing before you buy.
What you get matters more than the sticker price. In Ninja Forms, several features that Gravity Forms includes in every license, like conditional logic, file uploads and multi-page forms, are part of the paid Plus plan or sold as add-ons.
Building Forms
Both use a drag-and-drop builder, and both are easy to learn. Ninja Forms is often praised for being beginner friendly. Gravity Forms has more field types and settings built in, which means a little more to learn but fewer add-ons to buy.
- Gravity Forms: conditional logic, file uploads, multi-page forms, calculations, save and continue, Image Choice fields and a form template library, all in every license.
- Ninja Forms: the free core includes 28+ field types, calculations, spam protection and templates. Conditional logic, file uploads, multi-step forms and layouts come with Plus.
Payments
- Gravity Forms: Stripe, PayPal Checkout, Square and Mollie come with Pro and Elite, with subscriptions, coupons and refunds from the dashboard. See my Stripe Add-On review.
- Ninja Forms: PayPal comes with Plus. Stripe, Authorize.net and Elavon come with Pro.
Integrations and Add-Ons
Both connect to the major email marketing services, CRMs and Zapier. Where Gravity Forms pulls ahead is its third-party ecosystem: hundreds of add-ons from developers like Gravity Wiz, GravityKit and JetSloth, plus Gravity Flow for approval workflows. If you can imagine a form feature, someone has probably built it for Gravity Forms. Browse the add-on directory to see what’s out there.
Entries and Data
Both store submissions in your WordPress database and let you view and export them. Gravity Forms adds entry notes, starring, resending notifications and a large set of developer hooks. With add-ons like GravityView, you can show entries on the front end of your site.
Spam Protection
Both have honeypot protection and support Google reCAPTCHA. Ninja Forms’ free core also includes Cloudflare Turnstile and hCaptcha. Gravity Forms adds Turnstile with its official add-on and integrates with Akismet.
Support and Documentation
Both offer documentation and email support for paying customers. Gravity Forms’ documentation and developer docs are among the most thorough of any WordPress plugin, and there’s a large community writing tutorials (including this site).
Which Should You Choose?
| Choose… | If you… |
|---|---|
| Ninja Forms | Need simple forms for free, or only want to pay for one or two specific features |
| Gravity Forms | Build advanced forms, take payments, need workflows, or want the biggest add-on ecosystem |
| Gravity Forms | Build sites for clients and want one tool you can use for every project |
Switching From Ninja Forms
There’s no one-click converter, but moving is straightforward. Rebuild your forms in Gravity Forms (the template library speeds this up), then recreate notifications and integrations. I walk through it step by step in How to Switch from Ninja Forms to Gravity Forms. If you need to bring entries along, GravityKit’s GravityImport can import them from a CSV export.
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