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 — v4.4.1 · 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.
Sell products & issue licenses
Turn WordPress into a lightweight license server: products, plans, orders, license keys, signed downloads, and a customer dashboard.
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.
The Gutenberg form preview now loads in under a second instead of stalling for about a minute
- Fixed the Core Form block preview taking about 60 seconds to load on busy WordPress editor screens.
- Replaced the generic WordPress server-render request with a focused Core Forms preview endpoint and a summary-only form selector.
- Shared form-option and preview requests across block instances, avoiding duplicate editor work when a page contains multiple forms.
The complete 4.4 + 4.5 roadmap: commerce, licensing, integrations, faster forms, and Razorpay
- Payments: inline Stripe Payment Element checkout with server-owned pricing and idempotent PaymentIntents, plus expanded Razorpay hosted checkout, signed payment/refund webhooks, and improved payment correlation.
- Licensing commerce: sell any number of plugins, themes, or digital products with one-time and recurring plans, activation limits, renewals, refunds, orders, customer accounts, signed downloads, and a dedicated customer dashboard.
- License-ready forms: free, Stripe, Razorpay, and renewal templates ship with the correct payment and fulfillment actions. New sites also receive a safe Sample Product with free, USD annual, and INR annual plans.
- Faster builder: the editor renders only the active tab and boots from server data, eliminating the indefinite loading spinner and unnecessary Analytics/REST work. Markup and schema save together through one bounded request with a standard form-post fallback.
- Better product administration: product and plan slugs generate automatically, plan prices use normal customer-facing amounts, release ZIPs use the WordPress Media Library picker, and the catalog dashboard includes statistics and quick-start links.
- Native integrations: WooCommerce, EDD, SureCart, WP Simple Pay, MemberPress, LearnDash, PMPro, Groundhogg, Jetpack CRM, WP-CRM System, SureContact, AutomatorWP, Uncanny Automator, and OttoKit.
- Operations: Ninja Forms and Formidable Forms importers, expanded WP-CLI form/submission/license commands, and signed Meta/Twilio inbound WhatsApp conversations.
- Builders and accessibility: Bricks and Elementor integrations plus per-form WCAG 2.2 reports and conservative one-click repairs.
- Compatibility: the existing core-forms.com CF Licenser client, option shape, automatic-update hooks, and 32-character product-license keys remain unchanged and separate from the new merchant licensing catalog.
Uppercase field names, richer textarea and phone controls, and corrected release packaging
- Field names now preserve uppercase letters while continuing to reject unsafe characters.
- Textarea fields gain rows, resize behavior, and live character-counter controls; phone fields gain min length, max length, and pattern controls.
- Fixed generated textarea markup dropping validation and conditional-logic attributes on save.
- Fixed the release package omitting smart-forms.js, block.json, and render.php, restoring frontend smart-form behavior and Gutenberg block registration on installed sites.
Fixes the updater callback that could crash WordPress after any update or rollback
- Fixed the upgrader_process_complete migration callback being registered under the plugin namespace while its function lives in the global namespace. Plugin, theme, and core updates now finish without the critical-error screen.
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.
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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 4.3.6 (June 6, 2026) is the latest release — an accessibility-by-default pass. Every form control now has a 44px touch-target floor (WCAG 2.5.5 AAA), the keyboard-focus ring is Windows High Contrast Mode-safe, textareas default to 5 lines instead of the browser's stingy 2, and both form and poll stylesheets now print at the bottom of <head> so they cascade cleanly over the host theme without !important. 4.3.5 (same day) removed a legacy pre-4.0 block script that was hijacking the Gutenberg editor on every site. 4.3.4 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.