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 — v4.3.1 · 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.
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.
License & updates now flow through CF Licenser on core-forms.com — existing keys carry over unchanged
- Licensing — drop-in replacement for the previous FluentCart-backed license manager. License keys, options shape, and admin UI stay compatible so 4.3.0 installs upgrade with no manual re-entry.
- Licensing — heartbeat every 6 hours instead of weekly. Update checks also use a 6-hour transient cache, so the "Check for updates now" button always returns a fresh answer when you actually want one.
- Licensing — update downloads are SHA-256 verified against the server-issued hash before WordPress unpacks the zip. Tampered downloads are rejected rather than installed.
- Licensing — server is multi-product-ready and provider-agnostic from day one (PayPal + Polar wired today; PayPal/Stripe/etc. drop in via a Provider interface).
- Build — fixed a stale phpstan baseline entry for DAY_IN_SECONDS that the new manager no longer references.
Polls rework + Gravity / WPForms / Fluent importers + conditional emails (per recipient)
- Polls — full rework. Tabbed editor (Question / Settings / Schedule / Embed / Results), drag-to-reorder options, "Other" write-in toggle, Duplicate row action.
- Polls — vote integrity rewrite. Every vote stores a voter_hash (poll + IP + UA + cookie + user) and dedupe queries that single column regardless of mode. Cookie set on render with SameSite=Lax; Secure; persists across AJAX. vote_limit=user rejects anonymous voters at submit. Honeypot on by default, per-IP rate limiter (12/minute).
- Polls — scheduling (start date + hourly cf_poll_auto_close cron). Post-close behavior: show results / hide / redirect.
- Polls — change-vote window (per-poll, in minutes) re-renders the form pre-checked so the same voter can update their selection.
- Polls — Gutenberg block (core-forms/poll). Picker + display-mode; editor preview matches the front of the site (stylesheet registered as both style and editor_style).
- Polls — opt-in live results (15s polling, pauses on hidden tab); bar / columns / percent result styles.
- Polls — container-query-driven adaptive layout (cqi units + clamp). Card tunes padding, radius, type scale to its container width, not the viewport. Options auto-flow into multi-column grid in wide embeds.
- Polls — REST API. Public GET /cf/v1/polls/{id}/results; authenticated GET /cf/v1/polls, /polls/{id}, /polls/{id}/analytics (per-day series).
- Polls — per-poll analytics screen + CSV export (option label, value, voter hash, IP, user, timestamp, referrer).
- Polls — accessibility pass. <fieldset><legend>, role="progressbar" with aria-valuenow, role="status" aria-live="polite", focus moves to result heading on submit, prefers-reduced-motion respected.
- Polls — jQuery removed from poll frontend and admin scripts.
- Polls — schema migration (cf_db_version → 4.3.0). Adds type / starts_at / allow_other / post_close_behavior / redirect_url / enable_live_results / change_vote_window on wp_cf_polls; option_value / voter_hash / referrer on wp_cf_poll_votes plus a (poll_id, voter_hash) composite index. Existing rows backfilled so historical dedupe keeps working.
- Importer — Gravity Forms. GFAPI-driven, converts ~14 field types to HTML; every notification becomes a Send Email action with per-recipient conditions when the source notification had its own conditional-logic block; default confirmation maps to the success message / redirect URL; field-level conditional logic carries across as data-show-if / data-hide-if. Field IDs resolve through a per-form name map so condition references stay valid.
- Importer — WPForms (Lite + Pro). Decodes the JSON form definition, maps notifications, optionally imports stored entries from wp_wpforms_entries (Pro) into wp_cf_submissions so admin history survives the cutover. Success notice shows the entries-imported count.
- Importer — Fluent Forms. Reads wp_fluentform_forms + wp_fluentform_form_meta directly (no Fluent API dependency, works even when the source plugin is deactivated). Maps fields, notifications, webhooks, and conditional logic.
- Importer extension point. CF7Migration's source picker now driven by cf_import_sources filter + cf_import_render_section action; three new migrators plug in via a shared BaseMigration abstract class. Field names always carry an _<id> suffix so two source fields sharing a label produce distinct names.
- Send Email — conditional emails (per recipient). New "Recipient routes" repeater on the Send Email action: each route has a field + operator + value + recipient; the first matching route's recipient overrides the default To. The existing action-level conditions block still gates whether the action runs at all; routes only re-target where it sends.
- Fix: Duplicate row action on the forms list. Clicking Duplicate used to drop the user into the editor for the original form because the URL carries a form_id and the overview page short-circuited into the editor before the list table's single-row handler could run.
- ESLint inheritance cleared (~80 prettier autofixes + targeted eqeqeq / no-unsafe-wp-apis / no-noninteractive-element-interactions fixes). PHPStan baseline regenerated at level 5. PHP 8.1 / 8.2 / 8.3 unit tests green.
Fix: Duplicate row action on the forms list now actually duplicates the form
- Clicking Duplicate on the forms list used to drop the user into the editor for the original form because the duplicate URL carries a form_id and the overview page short-circuited into the editor before the list table could run its single-row action handler. The overview now processes action=duplicate_single first, clones the form, and redirects back to the list.
Container builder polish — popover redesign, single-column default, real-time preview
- Add Field popover redesigned — fixed 360px panel with a 4-column icon grid, header bar with title, and a dedicated close button.
- Popover now dismisses on outside-click or Escape — no more stranded popovers floating over the canvas.
- Containers default to a single-column wrapper (cols_desktop: 1, tablet/mobile inherit) — authors opt into a grid via the Layout panel when they actually want one.
- Column changes preview in real time on the canvas — .cf-row grid rules are duplicated locally so the preview updates immediately, no front-end stylesheet dependency.
- Better drop-target affordance — empty containers and group bodies show a dashed outline at rest and a solid blue highlight while dragging.
- Cleared two pre-existing PHPStan errors (current_time() bool arg, WP_Screen::$id non-nullable property) that were blocking the release pipeline.
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 4.1 (May 10, 2026) is the latest release — payments via Stripe, PayPal, Razorpay, Polar and FluentCart, headless / cross-origin submissions, redesigned admin tabs, and the WP 7.0 Submissions toolbar. 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.