Write in HTML or build visually
Use the drag-and-drop field builder or drop in your own HTML — the markup you ship is exactly the markup you get.
Latest — v4.3.5 · 20% off with code 
CFLAUNCH Every premium WordPress form feature. No add-on tax.
Battle-tested on client sites for years, now public. File uploads, webhooks, Mailchimp, MailerPress, submissions, reCAPTCHA, Turnstile, payments via Stripe / PayPal / Razorpay / Polar / FluentCart, and a headless REST embed for Astro and Next.js — bundled in one plugin, one license for every site you’ll ever build. Most forms plugins hide the good parts behind a $199/year pricing ladder. Core Forms doesn’t.
Built by an experienced WordPress developer
Experienced WordPress Developer & Webperf Advocate 8,000+ active installs across free plugins Indie, lifetime-supported
Everything in the box
All the premium features, none of the add-on tax
Most WordPress forms plugins hide the good parts behind a pricing ladder. Core Forms ships every feature in one plugin, one license, one payment.
18 accessible starter templates
Pick a starting point — contact, newsletter, RSVP, support, booking, lead capture, six payment-ready templates — and ship in under a minute.
AJAX submissions
No page reloads, no bloat. A single small JS file handles validation, submission, and success states.
Gutenberg block + shortcode
Insert forms with the native Gutenberg block, or anywhere shortcodes work with [cf_form slug="your-form"].
Fullscreen forms (Typeform-style)
Show one question at a time, full-bleed, with smooth animations and a progress bar. No third-party redirect, no per-response pricing.
Conditional fields & actions
Show, hide, and skip fields or actions based on values with simple data-show-if attributes.
Data variables
Use {{user.email}}, [field_name], {{post.ID}} and URL params in forms, emails, redirects and webhooks.
File uploads
Let users attach files out of the box — per-field size limits, allowed types, storage controls. No add-on needed.
Spam protection stack
reCAPTCHA v3, hCaptcha, Cloudflare Turnstile, Akismet, honeypot, and math captcha. Mix and match per form.
Rate limiting & submission caps
Cap submissions per IP per hour, total submissions per form, or block duplicates within a session.
Submissions inbox
Read, reply, archive and search submissions in WordPress. New, read, replied, archived workflow.
CSV export & email logs
Export any submissions table to CSV. Track email delivery with a built-in email log.
Save & resume drafts
Long forms? Let users save progress and return via a unique link. Drafts auto-expire so they do not pile up.
Emails & auto-responders
Send rich HTML notifications and automated replies with field merges, conditional logic, and email logs.
Webhooks & REST API
Pipe form data to any external service. Manage submissions programmatically via the WordPress REST API.
Take payments on submission
Stripe, PayPal, Razorpay, Polar and FluentCart — connect once globally, then flip a per-form toggle.
FluentCart hosted checkout
Hand a form submission off to FluentCart's checkout for products and subscriptions, on free or Pro.
Mailchimp, MailerPress, FluentCRM + 25 more
Subscribe form users to lists, push to CRMs, post to Slack/Discord, drop into Notion or Airtable, fire Zapier or Make.
Headless / REST submissions
Render and submit forms from Astro, Next.js or any non-WordPress site. Site-wide API key + drop-in widget.
Form scheduling
Open and close forms by date, day-of-week and time-of-day. Overnight windows supported.
WCAG 2.2 accessibility
Every starter template ships WCAG-compliant — labels, fieldsets, autocomplete, aria-required. Forms work for everyone.
Built-in polls
Quick yes/no or multi-option polls with vote storage, single-vote-per-IP, and results visualization.
Plays well with others
Every integration you need, built in
Core Forms ships with first-class support for the services WordPress site owners actually use. No Zapier workarounds, no premium add-ons — wire up email, CRM and spam protection in minutes.
Email marketing
Mailchimp
Subscribe form users to any Mailchimp audience with field mapping and double opt-in.
MailerPress
Native MailerPress list subscription with tag assignment and field mapping.
ConvertKit
Send leads to a ConvertKit form or sequence with tag assignment.
Brevo
Subscribe to Brevo (Sendinblue) lists with field mapping and SMS capture.
MailerLite
Add subscribers to MailerLite groups with field mapping and double opt-in.
CRM & automation
FluentCRM
Push form leads into FluentCRM lists and tags from inside WordPress.
HubSpot
Pipe leads into HubSpot CRM with property mapping and lifecycle stage assignment.
ActiveCampaign
Sync leads into ActiveCampaign lists with tag automation triggers.
Drip
Push subscribers into Drip campaigns with workflow triggers and custom fields.
Transactional email
Spam protection
reCAPTCHA v3
Google reCAPTCHA v3 with per-form score thresholds and invisible challenges.
hCaptcha
Privacy-friendly, GDPR-aware spam protection as a reCAPTCHA alternative.
Cloudflare Turnstile
Modern, invisible-first CAPTCHA from Cloudflare — no tracking, no puzzles.
Akismet
Automattic Akismet spam filtering with configurable whitelist keywords.
Productivity & workspace
Slack
Post submissions to a Slack channel via incoming webhooks.
Telegram
Send submissions to a Telegram chat via a bot.
Notion
Save submissions as rows in any Notion database with property mapping.
Airtable
Append submissions as new records in any Airtable base.
Google Sheets
Append submissions as new rows in any Google Sheet.
Community
Commerce & payments
FluentCart
Hand a form submission off to FluentCart's checkout for products and subscriptions.
Stripe
Take one-time payments via Stripe Checkout when a form is submitted.
PayPal
Charge form users via PayPal — fixed amounts or donor-driven.
Razorpay
Accept INR (and 100+ currencies) via Razorpay Checkout.
Polar.sh
Sell digital products and subscriptions via Polar.sh.
WordPress content
Advanced Custom Fields
Map form fields to ACF fields with full update_field() support — text, repeaters, relationships.
Secure Custom Fields
Same field-mapping story as ACF — works with the WordPress.org SCF fork via the same update_field() API.
Create Post / CPT
Turn form submissions into WordPress posts or any custom post type — with featured images, taxonomies and ACF.
Create WordPress User
Register WordPress users from form submissions with role assignment and custom user-meta mapping.
Developer tools
Headless / Astro / Next
Render and submit Core Forms from Astro, Next.js, or any non-WordPress site.
Webhooks
Send submission payloads to Zapier, Make, n8n, Slack, or any custom endpoint.
Zapier
Trigger Zaps from Core Forms via webhook — connect to 7,000+ apps.
Make
Drive Make scenarios with Core Forms submissions over webhook.
REST API
GET, PATCH and DELETE submissions programmatically via the WordPress REST API.
Gutenberg Block
Drop a form into any post, page or template with the native core-forms/form block.
Shortcode
Use [cf_form slug="your-form"] anywhere WordPress accepts a shortcode.
CSV Export
Export any submissions table as a CSV — with filters and selected columns.
Email Logs
Built-in delivery log for every email Core Forms sends — with status and retry.
Plus anything else via webhooks and the REST API — Zapier, Make, n8n, Slack, Discord, Airtable, Notion, your custom Laravel app. If it speaks HTTP, Core Forms can talk to it.
Product tour
Designed to feel like WordPress itself
No unfamiliar dashboards, no second login. Core Forms drops into your WordPress admin and uses the UI patterns you already know.
What’s new
Shipping in the open
Core Forms ships small, focused releases — most weeks. Every release is free for existing license holders, forever. Here’s what landed recently.
Kills a legacy pre-4.0 block script that was hijacking the Gutenberg editor on every site
- Fixed: the Core Forms block editor experience is back to normal. A legacy pre-4.0 script (assets/js/gutenberg-block.js) was still being enqueued on enqueue_block_editor_assets and registering core-forms/form before block.json could — that's why 4.3.3 and 4.3.4 editors fell back to a generic blue "CF" icon and a single dropdown with no live preview and no inspector panels. The legacy enqueue is gone; block.json now owns the entire editor lifecycle, and the modern Edit component (ServerSideRender preview, Form/Header/Layout/Stylesheets panels, the correct form icon) loads as intended.
- Fixed: the legacy script had no version arg on wp_enqueue_script, so its URL was cache-busted against the WP core version (?ver=7.0) instead of the plugin version — confusing in dev tools and bad for hot-fix cache invalidation. All block assets now version-bust against CORE_FORMS_VERSION via block.json's version field.
- UX: reverted the 4.3.4 form-picker label tweak — the dropdown shows "Title (slug)" again so forms sharing a base title (e.g. "Contact" / "Contact Us") stay distinguishable.
cf_get_form() and submission counts are now request-scoped memoised + small editor polish
- Performance: cf_get_form() is now request-scoped memoised. The same form requested multiple times per page (block render, get_html, the action loop, the analytics tracker) no longer re-fetches the post + meta and rebuilds the settings/messages arrays — second call onward is a cache hit. Returns clones so callers can't mutate the cached instance. Invalidated on save_post_core-form and *_post_meta hooks (post-type-gated so other CPTs touching meta don't trash the cache), so admin saves still see fresh data inside the same request.
- Performance: cf_count_form_submissions() is now request-scoped memoised. The forms list table used to issue one COUNT(*) per row — a 50-form admin was 50 queries; now it's 50 cache hits with one query per (form_id, spam-filter) pair. Invalidated on cf_submission_inserted.
- UX: pressing / or s on the Core Forms list page focuses the search box. Standard list-UI shortcut (GitHub, GitLab, Linear, every modern dashboard). Skipped when an input, textarea, or contenteditable already has focus so it never hijacks typing.
Missing submission_replies table self-heals + un-spam replays the action loop
- Fixed: opening a submission no longer throws "Table 'wp_cf_submission_replies' doesn't exist". The reply-history feature queried a table that no installer or migration ever created. The table is now created on activation, on new-blog insert, on multisite activation, and backfilled by a 4.3.3 migration — existing sites self-heal on update.
- Fixed: moving a submission out of spam via the per-form submissions-table "Not Spam" bulk action now fires the form's success and configured actions (notifications, integrations) that were skipped at submit time. The spam-page single + bulk paths already did this; the per-form table path didn't, so it silently delivered nothing.
- Internal: the un-spam action replay is centralised in cf_replay_submission_actions() so the single, bulk, and submissions-table paths can't drift apart again.
Frontend asset loading — only enqueued when a form is actually on the page
- forms.js, accessibility.js, analytics.js and the form stylesheets only load on pages that actually render a Core Forms block or shortcode — no more global enqueue tax on posts and pages that have nothing to do with forms.
- Removed the redundant block-level viewScript metadata since rendered forms already enqueue the runtime directly. Cleaner request waterfall, no double-loading.
- New unit tests for the asset-detection logic, including the poll-only case (a page with a [cf_poll] but no [cf_form] still gets the poll runtime, nothing else).
Simple pricing
Two ways to buy. Both unlimited.
Same plugin, same features, same support — pick the cadence that suits you. Every plan covers unlimited sites, every premium feature, and a 14-day no-questions refund.
20% off Public launch offer — apply code
CFLAUNCH at checkout.
Yearly
Lower entry price · renews annually
$59 / year
$59 $47/yr with code CFLAUNCH
- Unlimited sites — personal & client
- Every premium feature included — no add-ons
- All integrations: Mailchimp, MailerPress, FluentCRM, Emailit, HubSpot…
- Submissions inbox, replies, exports, email logs
- reCAPTCHA v3, hCaptcha, Turnstile, Akismet
- Updates and priority email support while subscribed
- 14-day money-back guarantee
per year · renews annually
Lifetime
One payment, every update, forever
$249 one-time
$249 $199 once with code CFLAUNCH
- Unlimited sites — personal & client
- Everything in Yearly — exact same plugin
- Lifetime updates — every release, forever
- No annual renewal, no surprise bills
- Priority email support, lifetime
- 14-day money-back guarantee
- Pays for itself after ~4 years vs. Yearly
one-time payment · lifetime updates
Both plans include every integration on this site, every premium feature, and unlimited sites. Switching plans later? Email us — we’ll prorate.
Built by Gaurav Tiwari
An indie developer and web performance advocate.
I’m Gaurav — I’ve been building with WordPress since 2008, shipping free plugins used on 8,000+ active sites, and obsessing over web performance the whole way. I’ve worked with companies like IBM, Adobe, HubSpot, Monday and Canva on content and developer tooling, but my favorite thing is still sitting down and shipping small, fast, honest software.
Core Forms is a forms plugin I wanted for myself: no add-on upsells, no bloat, a codebase I’d be happy to read, and an admin UI that feels like WordPress. Buy it and you’re supporting indie software — and you’ll always reach me personally for support at gaurav@gauravtiwari.org.
More free plugins
My other WordPress plugins on WordPress.org
Free, lightweight, actively maintained. Try any of these alongside Core Forms — they play nicely together.
Dynamic Month & Year into Posts
Dynamic shortcodes for dates, years, months, age calculations, seasons and countdowns — in content, titles and meta.
8,000+ active installs
View on WordPress.org →
GT Link Manager
Fast, free branded link manager with custom DB tables, early redirects, CSV import/export and block editor integration.
100+ active installs
View on WordPress.org →
Dynamic Functionalities
Replace 5+ plugins with one lightweight toolkit. 16 modules for performance, security, SEO, redirects and content management.
Fresh release
View on WordPress.org →
Formatting Extender
Extends the Block Editor formatting toolbar with inline controls — badges, highlights, and more.
Free on WordPress.org
View on WordPress.org →
Beautiful Recent Posts Widget
A clean, minimal sidebar widget to showcase your recent articles in a beautiful way.
Free on WordPress.org
View on WordPress.org →
Questions?
Frequently asked
Do I have to buy add-ons for file uploads, webhooks or Mailchimp?
No. Every premium feature — file uploads, webhooks, Mailchimp, MailerPress, Emailit, submission limits, logged-in forms, data management — is bundled with your purchase. One price, everything included.
How many sites can I use it on?
Unlimited. Both the Yearly and the Lifetime plan cover every personal and client site, with no per-site activation count.
What’s the difference between Yearly and Lifetime?
Both plans give you the exact same plugin, every premium feature, every integration, and unlimited sites. Yearly ($59/year) renews annually and is the lower-friction way to start. Lifetime ($249 one-time) is a single payment, every update forever, no renewals — it pays for itself after about four years vs. Yearly. Pick whichever fits your cashflow.
Is there a discount?
Yes — use code CFLAUNCH at checkout for 20% off either plan. That brings Yearly to $47/year and Lifetime to $199 once.
What’s your refund policy?
14 days, no questions asked. If Core Forms isn’t the right fit, email us and we’ll refund you — no forms to fill out.
Can my forms take payments?
Yes. Connect Stripe, PayPal, Razorpay or Polar.sh once under Settings → Payments, then flip a per-form toggle. Submissions stay in <em>pending payment</em> until the gateway’s webhook confirms — only then do email and integration actions fire. Six payment-ready starting points (one-time, donation, subscription, event ticket, FluentCart product, INR Razorpay) ship in the box.
Does Core Forms work with FluentCart?
Yes — Core Forms hands form submissions off to FluentCart’s checkout for any product variation, free or Pro, one-time or subscription. Address fields collected on the form prefill the FluentCart checkout (and feed its tax engine), and paid orders flip the submission to <em>paid</em> automatically through fluent_cart/order_paid_done.
Can I use Core Forms on Astro, Next.js or a non-WordPress site?
Yes. Set a site-wide API key under Settings → Headless, flip the per-form Headless toggle, and copy a snippet — drop-in vanilla JS widget, native fetch, or cURL. The form renders on your headless front-end and submissions run through the same validation, captcha and action loop server-side in WordPress.
What version is Core Forms on right now?
Core Forms 4.3.5 (June 6, 2026) is the latest release — a hot-fix that removes a legacy pre-4.0 block script that was hijacking the Gutenberg editor on every site, so the block editor preview, inspector panels, and form icon all work again. 4.3.4 (same day) added request-scoped memoisation for cf_get_form() and the submission counts that drive the forms list table, plus a / and s keyboard shortcut on the list page. 4.3.3 (June 5) self-healed a missing submission_replies table and made "Not Spam" replay the action loop everywhere. The 4.3 line shipped the polls rework, three third-party form importers (Gravity Forms, WPForms, Fluent Forms) and conditional per-recipient emails. 4.2 added WhatsApp (three ways), Contact Form 7 migration, per-form analytics, form versioning, and a 14-finding security audit. 4.1 added payments (Stripe, PayPal, Razorpay, Polar, FluentCart) and headless / cross-origin submissions. 4.0 shipped stable on May 1, 2026. Buy once and you get every release after that, forever — full notes on the Changelog page.
What are the WordPress requirements?
WordPress 6.4 or higher and PHP 8.1 or higher. Core Forms is built to be lightweight and is tested on the latest WordPress release.
Does it work with block themes and the site editor?
Yes. Core Forms ships a native Gutenberg block, works anywhere shortcodes are allowed, and plays nicely with FSE, Bricks, GenerateBlocks and classic themes.
Stop paying the add-on tax.
Every premium feature, every integration, unlimited sites — for $59 a year, or $249 once.
Use code CFLAUNCH at checkout for 20% off.