WPForms is easier to start with: it has a free version, a friendly builder and lots of templates. Gravity Forms costs less once you need payments, CRM integrations or developer tools, and it saves every entry from day one. For example, taking Stripe payments without an extra fee and connecting Zapier costs $159 a year with Gravity Forms Pro, and $399 a year at WPForms Pro’s renewal price. WPForms’ free version doesn’t store entries at all, which surprises a lot of people when they try to move.
I’ve used Gravity Forms every day for years, so I’m not neutral, but I’ve tried to be fair. Below is the comparison, then a tested walkthrough of switching from WPForms to Gravity Forms with both migration tools, including what each one got wrong.
Pricing Compared
| Plan | Gravity Forms (per year) | WPForms (first year → renewal) |
|---|---|---|
| Free | No free version (free online demo) | WPForms Lite |
| 1 site | Basic: $59 | Basic: $49.50 → $99 |
| 3 sites | Pro: $159 | Plus: $99.50 → $199 |
| 5 sites | Pro covers 3; Elite is unlimited | Pro: $199.50 → $399 |
| Unlimited sites | Elite: $259 | Elite: $299.50 → $599 |
WPForms sells its plans at about half price for the first year and renews at the full price. Gravity Forms charges the same every year. Prices checked October 2026. For more detail on Gravity Forms’ plans, see Gravity Forms pricing: Basic vs Pro vs Elite.
Feature by Feature
| Feature | Gravity Forms | WPForms |
|---|---|---|
| Entries saved in WordPress | All licenses | Paid plans only (Lite emails them but doesn’t save them in WordPress) |
| Conditional logic | All licenses | Paid plans only |
| Calculations | All licenses | Pro and Elite |
| Stripe, PayPal, Square | Pro and Elite, no extra fee | Lite, Basic and Plus add a fee; no fee on Pro and Elite (Lite’s Stripe fee is 3%) |
| Mailchimp, HubSpot and other email/CRM tools | Basic (HubSpot and Mailchimp included) | Email tools from Plus; HubSpot and Salesforce on Elite |
| Zapier | Pro | Pro |
| Webhooks, Salesforce, User Registration, Signature, Conversational Forms, Partial Entries | Elite | Elite for webhooks, HubSpot and Salesforce; Pro for the rest |
| Spam protection | Advanced Honeypot, speed check, link detection, reCAPTCHA, Turnstile, Akismet | Built-in anti-spam token, reCAPTCHA, hCaptcha, Turnstile, Akismet |
| Templates | 23 built-in, plus a large third-party template ecosystem | Hundreds of templates and an AI form builder |
| Developer tools | Hundreds of documented hooks, a PHP API, REST API, CLI and MCP | Hooks and a developer docs site |
| Third-party add-ons | Hundreds (see the add-on directory) | Mostly WPForms’ own addons |
| Refunds | Refund requests within 30 days (approved at Gravity Forms’ discretion) | 14-day money-back guarantee |
Where WPForms is the better pick
- You need a simple contact form and don’t care about storing entries (Lite is free).
- You want to start from a template for almost everything, or let AI build the first draft.
- You’re handing the site to a client who’ll edit forms themselves and values a very guided builder.
Where Gravity Forms is the better pick
- You take payments: no extra fee from Pro ($159) up.
- You build forms with calculations, complex conditional logic, workflows (Gravity Flow) or front-end entry views (GravityView).
- You build sites for clients: Elite covers unlimited sites for $259 instead of $599.
- You’re a developer: the hooks and APIs are the reason most agencies standardize on it.
Comparing more than these two? See Gravity Forms alternatives: 7 form plugins compared.
How to Switch From WPForms to Gravity Forms
Moving takes three steps: the forms, then the entries, then the pages they’re embedded on. Keep WPForms active until you’ve finished; both migration tools read your forms from the WPForms plugin on the same site.
To test this, I built a WPForms “Request a Quote” form with a name, email, phone, a dropdown, checkboxes, a budget slider, a website field that only shows for redesigns, two notifications using smart tags, and a confirmation message. Then I moved it with both tools.
Step 1: Move the forms
There are two tools, and they handled my form differently.
WPForms to Gravity Forms Migrator (Gravity Labs, free). An experimental add-on from Gravity Forms’ own Gravity Labs, currently an early alpha. It adds Forms → WPForms Importer, lists your WPForms forms, and lets you preview the field mapping before importing.
GravityMigrate (GravityKit, paid). Under Forms → Import/Export → Migrate Forms, choose to import from WPForms, pick the forms, and it shows a report of what changes before you import (mine: the slider becomes a number field with the same range and default).
What came across:
| Gravity Labs migrator | GravityMigrate | |
|---|---|---|
| Fields, labels, required settings, placeholders | Yes (slider became a number field) | Yes (slider became a number field) |
| Notifications and confirmation | Yes, smart tags converted | Yes, smart tags converted |
| Name in notifications (“Thanks, Sam”) | Blank: converted to a tag that outputs nothing for Name fields | Correct (first and last name) |
| Form description | Replaced with “Imported from WPForms” | Kept |
| Conditional logic | Not migrated (by design, for now) | Migrated, but the rule pointed at WPForms’ internal choice number, so the field never showed |
| Spam protection | Off | Honeypot turned on |
Whichever tool you use, open each imported form and check:
- Every conditional logic rule. Reselect the choice in each rule so it matches the Gravity Forms field.
- Names in notifications and confirmations. Use
{Name (First):1.3} {Name (Last):1.6}; see Gravity Forms merge tags. - Choice values on dropdown, radio and checkbox fields. Turn on “show values” and make sure each choice has one, or the entry import in step 2 can skip those answers.
- Spam protection. Turn on the Advanced Honeypot (see how to stop Gravity Forms spam).
- Payment and integration settings. Payment fields and integrations need the matching Gravity Forms add-on and a new feed.
Step 2: Move the entries
Neither tool moves entries. Export them as a CSV from the form’s entries screen in WPForms (a paid WPForms plan is needed; Lite has no entries to export unless you turned on Lite Connect, which keeps a cloud backup you can restore after upgrading), split the Name column into first and last name, remove the Entry ID column, and import the CSV into the new form with GravityImport. I walk through that, including the fields that silently go missing, in how to import entries into Gravity Forms.
Step 3: Replace the forms on your pages
Neither tool updates your pages. Replace each WPForms block or [wpforms id="…"] shortcode with the Gravity Forms block, submit a test entry on every form, check the notifications arrive, and only then deactivate WPForms.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Gravity Forms better than WPForms?
For payments, integrations, complex forms and developer work, yes, and it costs less at renewal. For a free contact form or a beginner who wants templates and an AI builder, WPForms is easier.
Does WPForms Lite save entries?
No. WPForms Lite emails submissions but doesn’t store them in WordPress. Its optional Lite Connect feature keeps a cloud backup that you can restore after upgrading to a paid plan. Gravity Forms saves every entry on all licenses.
Can I migrate WPForms forms to Gravity Forms?
Yes. Gravity Labs has a free WPForms migrator, and GravityKit’s GravityMigrate is a paid option. Both rebuild fields, notifications and confirmations. Check conditional logic and name merge tags afterwards.
Can I move my WPForms entries to Gravity Forms?
Yes, if you have a paid WPForms plan: export the entries to CSV and import them with GravityImport. The form migration tools don’t move entries.
Which is cheaper, Gravity Forms or WPForms?
WPForms is cheaper in the first year because of its introductory discount and has a free version. From the second year, Gravity Forms is cheaper on every comparable plan.
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