Core Forms vs Gravity Forms: Which One to Pick, and Why

Core Forms vs Gravity Forms is a comparison between the oldest paid form plugin in WordPress and a newer one that bundles what Gravity Forms sells as add-ons. Webhooks, surveys, polls and user registration are Elite on Gravity Forms. They are in the Core Forms license.

I build Core Forms, so read this as the maker’s view, with Gravity Forms’ prices checked against its pricing and add-on pages. Gravity Forms is a serious tool with a long record, and there are cases below where it is the one to keep.

There are generally three ways people stay on Gravity Forms.

You can run Basic for HubSpot on 1 site at $59, which matches Core Forms’ yearly price for a much smaller box.

Or you can buy Elite because one add-on you need sits there, and then keep Elite because GravityView is doing real work.

But being extreme isn’t a good idea at all. Gravity Forms earned the ecosystem. It is wise to stay when a third-party add-on is load-bearing, and to leave when the only Elite features you wanted were a webhook and a survey.

Quick Verdict

Core Forms is the better buy when the site needs webhooks, conversational forms, surveys or user registration, because those are Elite add-ons at $259 a year on Gravity Forms and are in the one Core Forms license at $59 a year or $249 once, on unlimited sites.

Gravity Forms is the better buy when you depend on its add-on ecosystem, its developer hooks or a third-party add-on that only exists for it, such as GravityView or Gravity Flow, and the Elite price is fine.

The tiers that support both halves follow.

License Tiers

Gravity Forms has no free version and 3 licenses. September 2026 prices from its pricing page, per year:

The single-site prices are identical at $59, which makes this the fairest comparison of the 3 on this site. The difference is what $59 buys. On Gravity Forms it buys the core plugin plus the Basic add-ons for 1 site. On Core Forms it buys everything for unlimited sites.

Both offer a 14-day refund window on the Core Forms side; Gravity Forms’ pricing page notes a refund policy without stating the period there, so check its terms before buying.

Where the Add-ons Sit

This is the comparison, because Gravity Forms’ features are its add-ons. From its pricing and add-on pages:

• Basic add-ons: HubSpot, Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, Campaign Monitor, AWeber, Brevo, Akismet, reCAPTCHA and the email delivery add-ons.
• Pro add-ons: Stripe, PayPal Checkout, Square, Dropbox, Zapier, Slack and Trello.
• Elite add-ons: Webhooks, User Registration, Conversational Forms, Partial Entries, Polls, Survey and Signature.

Core Forms includes the equivalents of all of those except Square, Dropbox, Trello and a signature field, in the one license. Webhooks, conversational forms, polls, surveys and user registration are the ones to notice, because each one on its own moves a Gravity Forms site from $59 to $259 a year.

HubSpot in the Basic tier is a point for Gravity Forms. A site that only needs HubSpot pays $59 either way.

Payments

Gravity Forms takes payments through Pro add-ons: Stripe, PayPal Checkout and Square, with subscriptions through Stripe. Core Forms has Stripe, PayPal, Razorpay and Polar in the license, with one-time charges on the form, Stripe subscriptions on the roadmap for 5.2 and recurring products through FluentCart today.

Two differences matter beyond the gateway list:

• What happens after payment. Core Forms holds the submission as pending until the gateway’s signed webhook confirms the charge, then runs the actions. It can also issue a license key, handle renewals and give the buyer an account page, which makes it a small store for software. Gravity Forms records the payment and leaves the store to a store plugin.
• Razorpay and Polar. Core Forms has both natively. Gravity Forms relies on third-party add-ons for Razorpay and has no Polar add-on.

For a site that sells plugins, themes or digital products with license keys, Core Forms is the one built for it. For a site that needs Square, Gravity Forms Pro is the working option.

Webhooks and Integrations

Webhooks are the clearest single difference. On Gravity Forms the Webhooks add-on is Elite. On Core Forms a webhook is an action on any form, with custom headers and retries, at any price.

On breadth, Gravity Forms’ add-on directory is larger, and the third-party market around it is the largest of any form plugin. Core Forms ships native actions for Pipedrive, Zendesk, Fluent Support, Resend, n8n, FlowMattic, Notion and Airtable, several of which Gravity Forms does not have as first-party add-ons. The Pipedrive, Zendesk, Fluent Support, Resend, n8n and FlowMattic actions have a test panel that sends a real request with sample values before a visitor submits, and the Pipedrive guide shows it.

The integrations page lists every native action.

The Builder

Gravity Forms is a drag-and-drop builder with a settings-heavy field editor and the deepest developer API of any form plugin, which is why so many third-party add-ons exist for it. Core Forms has a visual builder and a code tab that edit the same form as HTML.

For a developer, that is the choice: Gravity Forms gives you hooks and filters on a form the builder owns, Core Forms gives you the markup itself. A team that has written Gravity Forms hooks for years has a real investment in that API, and it counts.

The guide to writing forms in HTML or the builder shows how the code tab works.

Headless, Analytics, Scheduling and the Inbox

Gravity Forms’ developer API is the deepest in the category. Core Forms answers a different set of jobs that the first version of this page skipped.

Headless REST. A Core Forms form can live on Astro or Next.js and still run the WordPress action loop. Gravity Forms is built for WordPress pages. Third-party add-ons exist for front-end apps. They are not the core plugin.

First-party analytics. Views, starts, completions and field drop-off stay in WordPress. Gravity Forms does not treat that funnel as a bundled Elite add-on the way it treats surveys.

Scheduling. Open and close by date, weekday and overnight time window, with a closed message. Useful for RSVPs and intake windows.

Inbox replies. Answer from WP-Admin and keep the thread on the submission. Gravity Forms stores entries. A ticket-style reply loop is extra or a helpdesk.

Spam stack. reCAPTCHA, Akismet, honeypot, hCaptcha, Turnstile, math, plus rate limits. Gravity Forms Basic includes Akismet and reCAPTCHA add-ons. Turnstile and per-form rate caps are a Core Forms default.

Migrate. Core Forms imports Gravity Forms, including notifications and field-level conditions, through the Gravity Forms importer. Entries stay behind.

The Free Version

Neither plugin has one. Gravity Forms offers a hosted demo, and Core Forms offers the 14-day refund. This is the one comparison on this site where the free tier is not a factor.

When to Pick Gravity Forms

• You rely on a third-party add-on that only exists for Gravity Forms. GravityView, Gravity Flow, GravityKit and the like are reasons on their own, and there is no equivalent for Core Forms.
• You need Square, a signature field or partial entries today. Core Forms has a signature field on the roadmap for 5.1 and no Square gateway.
• Your team has years of Gravity Forms hooks in the codebase. Rewriting them costs more than the license difference.
• HubSpot is the only integration you need, on 1 site. Gravity Forms Basic covers it at the same $59.

When to Pick Core Forms

• The site needs webhooks, conversational forms, surveys, polls or user registration. Each is an Elite add-on at $259 a year on Gravity Forms and is included in Core Forms.
• You run more than 1 site. Every Core Forms license is unlimited sites. Gravity Forms Basic is 1 site and Pro is 3.
• You sell software or digital products. Licensing, renewals and the customer area are built in.
• You want the form as HTML. The code tab is a real editor, and the visual builder reads what you paste.

The Limits

The Gravity Forms numbers are from its pricing page and add-on pages on September 16, 2026. Gravity Forms lists add-ons per tier on each add-on’s own page, and a tier can change, so check the add-on page for the one you need.

This is a researched comparison of pricing pages, add-on pages and Core Forms’ own code, not a benchmark. No speed numbers appear here, because neither plugin has been measured under matched conditions for this page.

Gravity Forms has been sold since 2009 and has the largest third-party ecosystem of any form plugin. Core Forms is newer, and if your question is answered by a decade of forum threads, Gravity Forms has them.

Both are plugins on your site. Both need updates and backups, and both store entries in your database.

Final Remarks

You now know that the 2 plugins cost the same for 1 site with basic needs, and that the difference opens the moment a site needs a webhook, a survey or a second site. If you keep one idea from this page, keep this one: on Gravity Forms, find the tier of the add-on you need before you compare anything else, because that is the price.

When someone asks me which to buy, I tell them 2 things. If a third-party Gravity Forms add-on is doing real work on the site, stay, because nothing else runs it. And if the list of what the form must do has a webhook on it, that is $259 a year on one side and included on the other, and the rest of the comparison is detail.

The pricing page has the Core Forms license terms. The WPForms, Fluent Forms, Ninja Forms and Formidable Forms comparisons cover the rest of a typical shortlist. If you would rather talk it through for a specific site, I am always available for a chat.

I hope the tier table saves you a renewal you did not need.

For the wider field beyond these 2, the Gravity Forms alternatives roundup covers the other plugins people shortlist.

FAQ

Can I import Gravity Forms forms into Core Forms?

Yes. Core Forms > Migrate detects Gravity Forms and imports the forms you tick, with fields, every notification and its conditional logic, the confirmation and field-level conditions. Entries are not imported, so export them from Gravity Forms first.

Is WPForms or Gravity Forms better?

For a single site with basic needs, Gravity Forms Basic at $59 a year is cheaper than WPForms Basic at $99 at renewal, and its Basic tier includes HubSpot. For payments and webhooks, both push you to a higher tier, and the WPForms comparison has WPForms’ tiers.

Does Core Forms have a developer API like Gravity Forms?

It has hooks and filters, a REST API and a headless mode, and the form itself is HTML you can edit. It does not have Gravity Forms’ third-party add-on ecosystem, which is the part a developer team should weigh.