Formidable Forms is a form builder plugin for WordPress that lets users easily create and manage forms on their websites. With a wide range of customizable options, including drag-and-drop functionality, Formidable Forms makes it easy to create complex forms with minimal coding knowledge. Its advanced features and support for multiple data types make it a great choice for businesses and individuals looking to streamline their data collection processes.
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Segment |
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Deployment | Cloud / SaaS / Web-Based |
Support | 24/7 (Live rep), Chat, Email/Help Desk, FAQs/Forum, Knowledge Base, Phone Support |
Training | Documentation |
Languages | English |
As a developer, I like the extensibility of Formidable Forms and the different add-ons that are available. Anything you can think of that needs an integrated form can almost certainly be implemented with Formidable forms. Together with the Code Snippets plugin, this is one of my core plugins that I use on all my Wordpress projects.
Nothing honestly ... or maybe that you need to install an extra plugin for the pro version? (would be nice to just have to install the public version and upgrade that with a license key instead of having to download the pro version as a separate plugin)
contact form, advanced search form to search submitted posts, automatically create posts from submitted forms, calculation form to send an automated price proposal to customers, etc...
I like that you can easily import PHP into the form builder to expand for a specific use case. We have been able to build intricate databases with the form builder that we never would have been able to do without a ton of custom code. A few lines of code and some shortcodes have made life easier. Support is amazing to work with and usually answers questions in less than 24 hours. The team has a true commitment to the WordPress community and the Slack group is always a tremendous help to solving problems. No system can build for every use case but Formidable Forms makes it easy to operate across multiple needs.
The Stripe integration could do more. Right now, it's one-directional for the most part which leaves out many reporting needs. An issue I encountered with the integration was the combination in using Stripe with registration. It resulted in a tremendous issue that took us a month or so to fix but I understand that they cannot account for the use case we had in this case. We fixed the issue and everything is working perfectly otherwise.
We have created an entire billing system for an insurance company. We have also created a classified platform and a social media platform with Formidable Forms. It's great for any sort of data entry and organizes the data well for reports. We have used the form builder in conjunction with other plugins to create piecemeal MVPs for startups looking to maximize function and save money. It's truly a great plugin to work with.
Formidable's purpose is simple enough - easy design interface, controls in plain English, and even some advanced filters to get you along. As a plugin that you can use to create frontends to SQL databases, and an entire universe of PHP customization, make this a truly Formidable plugin.
Views are easy to make, but a little difficult to make pretty. If you know basic HTML, then doing a table with some rows is easy enough, and the output looks as expected. There is another plugin called wpDataTables that makes the marriage complete! Easily add super powerful data display and editing capabilities to front-end users with a few clicks.
As a plugin that can handle CRUD Create/Read/Update/Delete - I have found it indispensable as a tool to create complete modules for specific tasks within a company, and I can tie all that information back together for reporting using SQL.
Formidable Pro is the perfect tool for developers like me. It allows me to customize (just about) every aspect of the form elements. The VIEWS functionality is just a fantastic tool to get complex behaviours in a reasonable budget. Getting functional requirements from agencies can cause costs to skyrocket but with Formidable Pro I get to come in under budget, and still deliver a great project. Support is always quick and very helpful.
Some clients are intimidated byt he cost, but once I explain that savings they will get by avoiding custom development they understand the complex functionality they get 'out of the box'. It would be helpful to have an integrated PDF printer.
Using the VIEWS functionality I solved complex programming requirements. My clients benefited from complex solutions that don't break the bank. Additionally we solved picky requirments with the ability for fine-grained tuning of CSS, and javascript. We needed to create a mini-website based on answers from a form. Using VIEWS we accomplished all requirments. The project also required some javascript calculations which we can easily add to the forms. One client also required a sophiticated dashboard for a manager to view the forms submitted by each employee, Formidable pro comes with a customizable attractive solution out of the box.
Two of the biggest things I like about Formidable Forms is the ability to have "views" built it without third party plugins and the ability to edit the HTML of fields - this is especially helpful if converting from Contact Form & where there was some custom layouts
I have been using Formidable Forms since 2011 and as such have an older license that does not include all the plugins which sometime creates limitations.
I have been able to use Formidable Forms to create an online registration system where I have a database of attendees and I can do a lookup by company and then select from the reps from that company. It makes registration very simple and didn't have to build a custom solution.
I like that I am able to setup my database with so little effort. Collecting data is so much easier.
There really is nothing I dislike about it. The documentations are very comprehensive.
Logins to access forms become much easier to handle. Managing data and displaying have also become painless to do.
Graphic form builder with tons of possibilities. If you want to build more complex forms while keeping it easy then this is the perfect plugin for you.
You need to get a subscription- but it’s worth it
Getting complex submission forms or event registrations online with great usability in a matter of minutes is only possible with formidable forms
Formidable has the most features, is easy to use and easy to extend. I have added functions to functions.php file from the Formidable documentation and they just work. Very professional. And they keep adding features to make it better. I trust this developer and there are many Wordpress plugin developers that I do not trust.
Nothing really. When I have needed to do something beyond the typical, the support has been great.
Both simple and complex forms. Simple MailChimp signup forms and more complication registration forms.
Formidable is super user friendly (we have numerous staff that design forms now who are not web designers) and at the same time can go deeper with custom HTML, conditional logic, custom CSS, math calculations, etc... The builder is drag and drop easy, results are emailed, exported as CSV, displayed on pages, or whatever you need. It's amazing! I've now used this plugin on dozens of sites over the years and never once have I regretted it. It always works, always stands up to the project's needs, and the support has been amazing when rarely needed to be called on. Seriously, they are the best support team I've seen for any plugin I've ever seen. Super responsive and super helpful.
The only issue (if I had to pick one) would be that they no longer offer pro plans for a flat fee as it is now a yearly fee, but that's totally justifiable as they need an ongoing income stream to support their business. There are great examples of other code and things you can do on their website, but with so many people using this plugin, it seems like a community site would be cool to share ideas, examples, builds, etc if you want to really build a community of users. This would be different than a chat based site like their Slack channel, rather a forum.
I've made basic feedback/contact us forms, product question forms, live event voting forms, association dues payment forms, job application forms, personality tests, and more. This has been an excellent tool.
Formidable Forms is the backbone of many websites that I have built on WordPress. What I like best is how I am able to build complex processes using the built-in features of Formidable Forms. I'm able to us the many features to implement the required process for the website. This can be a system to manage ticketing, appointment, user profiles, and almost anything that I can think of. There is a ton of documentation and resources that can help you do basic to very advanced programming with Formidable Forms. Formidable Forms makes it easy for us to collect information from a user, store that information, perform tasks on that information, and easily view and manage the submitted data.
Formidable Forms has a lot of additional add-ons and features that are only available to certain plan levels. I dislike this because the cost to upgrade is not justifiable when I only require one of the many features that the upgrade will provide. I am forced to pay for features that I do not need.
I've been able to build increasingly complex websites and web apps using Formidable Forms and Wordpress. Formidable Forms allows me to collect inputs from users and then use that information to perform calculations and tasks. I'm also able to create administrative views and forms so that inputs can be managed easily by the team. I have found that the biggest limitation with Formidable Forms is only what we envision. The plug-in is very extendable and able to handle any requirement that we throw at it.
There is much to like about Formidable Forms. From the drag and drop interface to the many developer hooks for creating your own custom features, this tool suits the needs for absolute beginners to the most advanced developer and everyone in between. With Formidable, you can create posts and, If you have the Pro version, it integrates nicely with ACF. There's also an add-on that will allow you to build custom WooCommerce Forms. Other features include: Display Form Data with Views Multi Page Form with Progress Bar WordPress Front End Editor Create a Graph and Chart Form Data Cascading Lookup Fields Powerful Calculated Fields Conditional logic Formidable just works and works very well. The support team is highly responsive and the end users that volunteer on the community forum are gracious and wonderful.
There's not much to dislike about Formidable. On rare occasions, the developers have released upgrades that have caused problems, but these instances are few and far between.
There are many business problems I've solved using Formidable. For example, I've built complete web applications for a University and a Federal Government website. A estate planning lawyer asked for a form to calculate key probate actions and due dates. I have forms for project intake, new client on-boarding, and many other requirements. If you can envision it in a form, you can build it with Formidable.
Support for free (Lite) and Pro users is prompt and efficient.
Tutorials on YouTube are too quick to follow.
Wide range of templates save time and effort.
Most features of any form plugin on WP. You can biuld full web apps using just formidable forms.
they don't market themselves particularly well!
Builidng a full ecommerce web app - it's the backbone of everything
The level of customization and support is super nice.
It requires a little effort to get around some things. But the support and their documentation made them easy to navigate still.
Application entry collection for my business.
Really complete form plugin, flexible and easy to use.
It's a little expensive for small shops and individual use. When updates are released, sometimes it may become unstable or even cause conflicts with other plugins.
I am using it to build a complete membership portal and few online survey to collect data to publish on benchmark charts.
A lot of features and function. Easy to install and use. You can build a lot of kind of form and request. You can also sell ticket with a lot of gateway integration.
Some versions are too expensive related to little project or website. There in nothing to say about support or security or performance. Maybe they could sell to a low price with single use.
Collect information, newsletters, sell tickets
The multitude of options is endless, and they keep coming up with new ones. Despite the complexity, the interface is simple and easy to handle, and the support is amazing. Very good documentation too.
Price keeps going up. I've been using Formidable Forms for years, but am starting to reconsider it due to continuous price increases.
I use it for any kind of front-end user posting, form entries, and submissions. I've built sales interfaces, catalogs, complex multipage forms with uploads, and entire customer-facing management systems. I love the fact that it allows me to create front-end customer pages where they can review and edit all their submissions. It has complex field calculations, which makes it great for price calculations, and date management/calendar display options to build online event calendars as well. With many hooks, it's easy to customize further and work with other plugins.
its easier to set up the form and also add logic
add more logical scenarios. the form is good
Getting user registration details
Found it so much easier to create and edit my forms than other software
Would have given a 9.5 rating. Only reason for not giving a 10 is I experienced some confusion over upgrading from free lite to a discount price Pro version. I know now It auto-renews at regular price but that wasn't initially clear on the sales pages I saw. That confusion seems to be corrected on newer sales pages now.
I had a problem when still using the free Lite version. I couldn't edit one of my forms. But the edit I wanted to make was minor and I appreciated that the form still worked fine. The problem disappeared once I upgraded ... but I don't think "having" to upgrade was the issue. Think was just a system glitch. - I'm in the US. A second problem I had was the form not allowing a business acquaintance to submit a form because it wouldn't accept his Thailand based phone number. We found a non-form workaround. I haven't investigated the issue further yet to see if there's something I could change on the form to rectify this problem.
You can build and publish any type of form in no time at all. You can collect and store the data and do whatever you want to do with this data because you are the owner. Whatever you imagine, you can build it with Formidable Forms.
Views plugin seemed a bit complicated to figure out at first. But you can easily use it once you get familiar with it. More how-to videos may help.
We can create any type of form very quickly and start getting submissions in a glimpse. It helps us focus on more important things rather than building complex forms.