Online vs WordPress Form Builder

Deciding whether to take the WordPress form builder route or to go with the online form builder can be broken down into four main categories. Which are: your form's functionality requirements, scalability in terms of form submissions, branding, and the pricing model. Understanding the differences beforehand can play an integral role in how your business operates online.

If you want to use a WordPress form builder, your website will need to be built with WordPress. WordPress is a content management system, i.e., a blogging platform, that powers 37% of all websites. An online form builder is a stand-alone software tool with the ability to build, host, and embed forms into any website, including a website powered by WordPress.

An important factor to consider is the scalability requirements for your forms. Scalability in web applications is relative to the amount of users your website can handle. If you’re planning on building the next Facebook, Google or AI app, you will need to be able to handle millions of visitors to your website who can potentially all submit forms simultaneously. This means more than a powerful server or an expensive hosting plan. There are a number of factors that play a role in building truly scalable websites that can handle massive spikes in traffic and user actions.

WordPress and a stand-alone online form builder are inherently differentiated by their core frameworks. WordPress is designed specifically for blogging, whereas an online form builder is designed for the Singular purpose of being a form builder. While both can and do essentially accomplish the exact same task, WordPress may not be quite as performant due to additional complexity in the code that can be triggered when a user submits a form.

Addressing the form's functionality requirements. If you are building a complex web application, you will quickly discover the importance of developers and how forms will play a vital role in building your app or website. Both platforms have their perks. With a WordPress website, you are able to add custom snippets, hire developers, and purchase add-ons to extend the functionality of your forms. However, an online form builder offers virtually the same functionality through the use of an API. An API gives developers and companies the ability to create custom integrations for the form builder and their service. The possibilities are only limited by the API endpoints offered by the online form builder and the ability to code an integration.

There is still a difference. When you use an API, it typically requires a third party or microservices to host the code for the API call or custom functionality to work. With WordPress, you can host and install the code locally on your own server. The two are essentially identical; however, understanding the subtle caveats for each may prove to be more beneficial depending on your specific use case and end goals.

Branding can be achieved by controlling the forms' layout, the form's functionality, modifying the forms elements through the use of CSS, and/or a styler add-on. Virtually all form builders offer a form of branding customization, such as uploading a logo. However, the vast majority of form builders often only offer one default design and layout. While templates exist, typically a template is simply different fields being used in the form and does not affect the general look and feel of the form itself.

Branding customization can be limited on both platforms because the vast majority of form builders only offer a single layout. However, since you can directly modify the forms code through WordPress by adding code snippets to the functions.php file, you may find a slight advantage to creating truly unique forms when using a WordPress form builder. Whereas an online form builder may or may not allow form layout modifications or custom CSS for security reasons because it requires code that could be potentially malicious to be saved to their servers.

The final aspect of our comparison is the pricing for each platform. WordPress plugins are typically categorized into two categories. A free plugin and a premium/pro plugin. In general, premium plugins are sold with an annual subscription, where you are charged once every fiscal year. The benefits of an annual subscription allow plugin developers to offer ongoing support to customers for the duration of the year while being able to push regular updates such as enhancements, bug fixes, and security patches.

Online form builders offer monthly plans and will typically cost more due to the fact they’re hosting the forms. In addition to the flat rate monthly cost, there is typically a per-submission charge once a specific amount of submissions has occurred. The difference is in the hosting. A WordPress website hosting their own forms is handling the hosting and submissions through their own hosting company and servers, whereas an online form builder is hosting and maintaining the servers for you.

In terms of scalability, a non-WordPress form builder is recommended due to its more efficient code infrastructure, e.g. less code to accomplish the same actions, such as processing form submissions. In terms of pricing, it is less expensive when you’re hosting and managing your own website with WordPress. You simply pay less in general per year and have no limit restrictions on the amount of submissions you can receive without incurring additional costs. In terms of branding, more control over the forms layout and your ability to modify the forms elements through CSS or a styler will generally prove to be more beneficial than a one-size-fits-all layout.

Lastly, both versions offer functionality customization through the use of either plugins, integrations, custom snippets or an API. While WordPress allows direct editing of theme files such as functions.php, which may make it easier to add custom snippets, you may find a similar feature offered by an online SaaS company that’s built an integration with the form builders API. Ultimately, you may still need to conduct your own research to ensure that either of the versions can offer the functionality you need or create a plan to hire a developer.