Fluent Forms vs Gravity Forms: Free Features, Pricing & Workflows (2026)

Fluent Forms and Gravity Forms can both handle much more than a basic contact form. The practical difference is how they package that capability. Fluent Forms gives you a large free feature set and then keeps the full Pro feature set across its paid license sizes. Gravity Forms starts as a paid product, includes a strong advanced core on every license, and unlocks many specialized add-ons as you move from Basic to Pro and Elite.

That makes the decision less about which plugin has the longer feature list and more about where your workflow sits: free versus paid entry point, all-features licensing versus tiered add-ons, built-in migration options, payment needs, and how much developer extensibility you expect.

Fluent Forms vs Gravity Forms: verified comparison

Compare	Fluent Forms$63/year introductory; $79/year renewal Remove	Gravity Forms$59/year Remove
Pricing model	Freemium	Premium
Starting price	$63/year introductory; $79/year renewal	$59/year
Free version	Yes	No
Sites included	1 site (Single Site)	1 site (Basic)
Lifetime option	Yes	No
Refund policy	14-day money-back guarantee	30-day refund window
Setup level	Beginner-friendly	Intermediate
WordPress.org rating	4.8/5 (798)	Not available
Active installs	700K+	Not available
Best for	WordPress sites that want a generous free form builder with room to grow into payments, automation, surveys, calculations, and integrations.	Businesses, agencies, developers, nonprofits, and operational teams that need advanced forms, reliable entry management, conditional workflows, payments, or integrations inside WordPress.
Not ideal for	Sites that only need a minimal contact form or teams that do not want form data and workflow logic managed inside WordPress.	Sites that only need a simple free contact form or teams that prefer form hosting and data management outside WordPress.
Tested version	6.2.14	3.1.1
Last reviewed	2026-09-25	2026-09-25
Features
Drag-and-drop builder	Yes	Yes Drag-and-drop builder is included in the core plugin.
Conditional logic	Yes Conditional logic is included in Fluent Forms Free.	Yes Conditional logic is included in the core plugin on every license.
Multi-step forms	Paid plan Multi-step forms require Pro.	Yes Multi-page forms are included in the core plugin on every license.
Calculations	Paid plan Numeric calculations require Pro.	Yes Calculations are available in the core plugin.
File uploads	Paid plan File and image uploads require Pro.	Yes File Upload is included in the core plugin.
Entry management	Yes Fluent Forms Free stores submissions in WordPress and includes an entries dashboard with viewing, filtering, and exports.	Yes Entries are stored and managed inside WordPress in the core plugin.
Payments	Limited Free includes Stripe payments with an extra 1.9% Fluent Forms transaction fee; Pro expands gateways and removes the Fluent Forms platform fee.	Paid plan Stripe, Square, PayPal Checkout, Mollie and related payment add-ons are available on Pro or Elite depending on the integration.
Recurring payments	Limited Stripe subscriptions are available in Free with the free-version transaction fee; Pro expands recurring-payment gateway options.	Paid plan Subscription and recurring-payment workflows are available through supported payment add-ons, generally on Pro or Elite.
User registration	Paid plan User registration/login workflows require Pro.	Paid plan The User Registration Add-On is included with Elite.
Post submissions	Paid plan Advanced Post Creation requires Pro.	Paid plan Advanced Post Creation is included with Elite.
Conversational forms	Yes Conversational forms are available in Free.	Paid plan Conversational Forms is included with Elite.
Webhooks	Paid plan Webhooks are a Pro feature.	Paid plan The Webhooks Add-On is included with Elite.
Signatures	Paid plan Signature field is a Pro feature.	Paid plan The Signature Add-On is included with Elite.
Surveys / quizzes	Paid plan Quiz and survey tools require Pro.	Paid plan Survey, Polls, and Quiz add-ons are included with Elite.
Spam protection	Yes Honeypot, reCAPTCHA, hCaptcha, and other core spam protection are available in Free.	Yes Core spam protection is included, with integrations such as Akismet, reCAPTCHA and Cloudflare Turnstile available.

The biggest difference is what you get before paying

Fluent Forms has a permanent free version on WordPress.org. Its free tier includes the drag-and-drop builder, local entry storage, conditional logic, conversational forms, reporting, templates, spam protection, and Stripe payments. That is enough to build and operate many real business forms without immediately buying Pro.

Gravity Forms does not have a permanent free edition. It does offer a 14-day demo that mirrors the Elite experience, which is useful for testing the builder and add-ons before purchase. Once you buy a license, though, the core plugin is substantial from the start: conditional logic, multi-page forms, calculations, file uploads, Save and Continue, entry management, notifications, imports/exports, and developer APIs are part of the core experience rather than separate paid upgrades.

For me, this is the first question to answer. If you want to prove the workflow on a live site without paying, Fluent Forms gives you far more room. If the project is already budgeted for a commercial form plugin, Gravity Forms becomes easier to judge on architecture and add-ons rather than on free-tier value.

Pricing: lower entry price does not tell the whole story

Pricing checked in September 2026. Fluent Forms currently lists its Single Site annual license at $79 per year, with a first-year promotional price of $63. The Agency plan covers five domains and the Unlimited plan covers unlimited domains. The important part is that all Pro features are included across those paid licenses; the main difference is site allowance. Fluent Forms also sells lifetime licenses, starting at a listed $349 for one site, with current promotional pricing shown lower.

Gravity Forms starts at $59 per year for Basic on one site, Pro is $159 per year for three sites, and Elite is $259 per year for unlimited sites. Core features such as conditional logic, multi-page forms, calculations, file uploads, and entry management are included on every license. The license level mainly affects which official add-ons you receive.

This creates an interesting pricing trade-off. Gravity Forms has the lower headline paid entry price. Fluent Forms becomes more attractive when your project needs features that Gravity Forms places in Pro or Elite, because Fluent Forms does not make you climb feature tiers inside Pro. On the other hand, a site that only needs Gravity Forms core plus Basic-level marketing integrations may spend less with Gravity Forms.

Core form building: both are capable, but the free/paid split is very different

Both builders support drag-and-drop editing and can handle conditional forms, multi-column layouts, notifications, confirmations, file collection, and advanced data capture. Gravity Forms includes conditional logic, multi-page forms, calculations, and file uploads in its paid core. Fluent Forms includes conditional logic in Free, while multi-step forms, calculations, file/image uploads, and many advanced fields move into Pro.

Fluent Forms also includes conversational forms in its free version. Gravity Forms provides Conversational Forms through an Elite add-on. That does not make one workflow universally preferable, but it changes the cost of building one-question-at-a-time lead forms.

Entry management is strong in both

This is one area where both products are much closer than WPForms Lite. Fluent Forms Free stores submissions locally in WordPress and provides an entries dashboard with viewing, filtering, exports, and reporting tools. Gravity Forms also stores entries inside WordPress and lets administrators view, filter, manage, and export submissions from the dashboard.

If local data ownership is a requirement, both products support that model. The more important question is what you want to do after the entry arrives: route it to another service, trigger a payment workflow, create a user or post, run approval logic, or process it through custom code.

Payments: Fluent Forms starts earlier; Gravity Forms separates payment add-ons by plan

Fluent Forms Free supports Stripe payments and subscriptions, but the free version adds a 1.9% Fluent Forms platform fee on top of Stripe’s own processing fees. Pro removes that extra Fluent Forms fee and expands payment options.

Gravity Forms handles payments through official add-ons. Pro and Elite include major payment integrations such as Stripe and Square, while the exact processor availability depends on the license and add-on. Gravity Forms also supports subscription and recurring-payment workflows through compatible payment add-ons.

If you only need to start collecting Stripe payments with no plugin purchase, Fluent Forms has the easier entry path. If payments are part of a broader paid workflow with conditional feeds, registrations, CRM routing, and developer customization, Gravity Forms’ add-on model may fit more naturally.

Where Gravity Forms becomes more developer-oriented

Gravity Forms has a long-standing developer surface: a REST API, PHP API, Add-On Framework, webhooks, and hundreds of actions and filters. That matters when the form is effectively the front end of a custom WordPress application rather than just a lead form.

Examples include creating custom add-ons, modifying entry processing, connecting proprietary systems, building conditional feeds, or using form submissions to drive custom business logic. Gravity Forms also has an established third-party extension ecosystem around these use cases.

Fluent Forms is also extensible and includes webhooks, action hooks, APIs, integrations, and developer controls, but its product positioning is more focused on giving users a broad set of capabilities directly inside one form platform. For many no-code and low-code teams, that reduces the need to assemble several separate add-ons.

Specialized workflows: compare the actual add-ons you need

Gravity Forms Elite bundles specialized official add-ons for workflows such as user registration, conversational forms, partial entries, surveys, polls, signatures, quizzes, and advanced post creation. Pro adds payment and workflow-oriented integrations such as Stripe, Square, Zapier, Slack, Trello, and others.

Fluent Forms Pro includes its complete feature set regardless of whether you buy the one-site, five-site, or unlimited license. Current Pro features include multi-step forms, advanced calculations, file uploads, user registration, advanced post creation, webhooks, signatures, surveys/quizzes, payment gateways, and dozens of integrations.

Before buying either, I would make a short list of the workflows that actually matter. A comparison becomes much clearer when you ask, for example, “Do I need user registration, Stripe subscriptions, PDF generation, Slack, Salesforce, signatures, or post creation?” rather than trying to compare every available integration.

Switching from Gravity Forms to Fluent Forms is unusually straightforward

Fluent Forms includes a built-in migrator for Gravity Forms. The official migration tool can import forms and associated entries, which reduces the manual work involved in testing a move. You should still verify conditional logic, notifications, payment feeds, third-party integrations, and any custom code before deactivating Gravity Forms.

I would treat migration as a test project rather than a one-click assumption. Import the forms into staging, submit realistic entries, test every notification and integration, and compare the resulting data before switching production forms.

Strengths and trade-offs I would weigh

Fluent Forms: the free version is unusually capable, local entries and conditional logic are available without payment, Pro licensing is simple because all paid features are included at every site-count tier, and lifetime licenses remain available. The trade-off is that some important fields and workflows still require Pro, and free Stripe payments carry the additional 1.9% platform fee.

Gravity Forms: every paid license starts with a mature advanced core, and its developer APIs, hooks, add-on framework, and long-established extension ecosystem are strong reasons to consider it for custom projects. The trade-off is that there is no permanent free version, and specialized capabilities such as conversational forms, surveys, signatures, user registration, and advanced post creation sit higher in the licensing structure.

Which workflow fits each product?

Fluent Forms is worth a close look when you want to start free, store entries locally, use conditional logic without paying, build conversational forms, or buy one Pro license that unlocks the full feature set. It is also appealing when lifetime licensing matters to your long-term cost model.

Gravity Forms is worth a close look when the project is already commercial, the form layer needs to integrate deeply with custom WordPress development, or you want its official add-on ecosystem and developer tooling. Basic can also be economical when you need the advanced core but not the Pro/Elite add-ons.

If neither licensing model fits your project, see our Fluent Forms alternatives and Gravity Forms alternatives guides for other WordPress form builders.

Frequently asked questions