Fifteen years of WordPress forms: why we chose Gravity Forms

In short: this article explains why, after more than fifteen years of Contact Form 7, from 2026 we at PaperPlane have chosen Gravity Forms as our standard for new WordPress sites. The three reasons that convinced us: accessibility, native integrations, sustainability of maintenance. And a real limitation of Gravity Forms worth knowing before choosing it.

In 2010, when we built our first WordPress sites for clients, the choice of plugin for contact forms was almost automatic: Contact Form 7. Free, lightweight, with an enormous community behind it. For years it was a trusted tool, able to adapt to very different needs. In 2026 we changed course, and today on new projects we use Gravity Forms. This article explains why, with a few true stories.

Contact Form 7: the perfect plugin for our WordPress projects

CF7 has never been “just” a contact form plugin. Over time we used it to build complex integrations, tailored to the specific needs of clients.

For AutoRoyal Company, an automotive dealership in Rome, the information request forms didn’t simply land in an email inbox: they were transmitted in ADF format (Auto Lead Data Format), an industry standard that lets every request flow directly into the company’s CRM. Every lead tracked, every contact measurable. CF7, extended with custom code, was the tool that made that integration possible.

For Terrazze Fedro, instead, we integrated the contact forms with an external appointment management system, again with CF7 as the engine.

All of this to say: CF7 isn’t a “simple” plugin. In the right hands, it can do sophisticated things. And for years it was our natural choice.

The limits of Contact Form 7

Over time we began to run into some concrete limits, especially on two fronts that became increasingly central to our work: accessibility and development complexity.

Web accessibility: the problem you don’t see (until you test)

In recent years web accessibility has become a real priority in our projects, not only out of regulatory obligation, but out of conviction. CF7, in its default configuration, has some concrete shortcomings: error messages aren’t always correctly associated with the fields they refer to, and the handling of form states for those who use assistive technologies is inconsistent. For someone using a screen reader, filling in a form built with CF7 can be a frustrating experience or, in some cases, impossible.

These problems can be corrected with additional code, and we’ve done it on several projects. But manually fixing a plugin’s limits has a cost: development time, maintenance, the risk that an update puts things back as they were or, worse, makes the form completely unusable.

WordPress integrations: a useful exercise, but with a hidden cost

CF7 in its base form does one thing: it sends email. Everything else, connecting to a CRM, conditional notifications, saving the data, integrating with third-party services, requires additional plugins or custom code. Every integration is a piece of work to build, test and maintain over time. It was an exercise that trained us and let us widen our technical horizons, but as projects grew it became a model that was hard to sustain.

Gravity Forms includes many of these features natively: conditional logic, saving entries in the database, multiple notifications, certified integrations with the main services (CRM, newsletters, payments). The result is a more solid architecture and a project easier to maintain over time.

Why PaperPlane’s new WordPress sites use Gravity Forms

Gravity Forms is a paid plugin but it offers something CF7 can’t give: an ecosystem of features that are ready-made, certified and maintained, without needing to build everything from scratch or rely on third-party add-ons.

For us this translates into a more efficient workflow: less custom code to write, fewer third-party plugins to manage, fewer variables that can break with updates. The main integrations (CRM, notifications, data saving, conditional logic) are native and documented. The result is a project that’s more solid from the start.

On the accessibility front, Gravity Forms produces correct and consistent markup, which works well with assistive technologies without manual intervention on our part.

The visual interface for managing forms is an added advantage too: if needed, the client can create new forms independently.

Contact Form 7 and Gravity Forms compared

Cost. CF7 is free and open source. Gravity Forms requires an annual subscription, with licences at different tiers depending on the features included.

Default accessibility. CF7 requires manual work to produce forms fully accessible to assistive technologies. Gravity Forms generates compliant markup already in the base configuration.

Integrations with external services. CF7 in its base form only sends email: everything else (CRM, newsletters, payments) requires third-party add-ons or custom code. Gravity Forms includes certified integrations with the main services.

Conditional logic and saving requests. Native features in Gravity Forms. In CF7 they have to be added with external plugins or bespoke code.

CSS customisation. CF7 has lightweight, flexible markup, easy to adapt to any theme. Gravity Forms produces a more rigid structure that can require more work to align with a very defined design.

Client autonomy. CF7 requires a developer to create and modify forms. Gravity Forms offers a visual interface that lets the client manage forms independently.

Neither is “better” in absolute terms. CF7 wins on flexibility and zero cost, Gravity Forms wins on native accessibility, integrations and independent management. The choice depends on the type of project and on who will use it over time.

The Olinda case: accessibility and the non-profit sector in Milan

The most significant test bed was the project for Olinda, a Milanese social enterprise that since 1996 has worked for the inclusion of people in vulnerable situations, in the former Paolo Pini psychiatric hospital. A complex digital ecosystem made of several interconnected sites, Olinda, Jodok, OstellOlinda, Teatro La Cucina, built with PNRR funds under the TOCC call for the digital transition of cultural and creative organisations.

In a context like this, forms aren’t marginal elements: they serve to collect requests for business services (catering, space rental, team building) and volunteer applications. Whoever fills them in is anyone, people of every age and any level of familiarity with technology. Whoever manages them is a non-profit team, without an internal IT department.

Gravity Forms was the obvious choice: accessible forms, manageable independently by the client, reliable over time.

Managing the cost of the Gravity Forms licence with clients

Gravity Forms isn’t free. The Elite licence has a significant annual cost.

This was one of the most concrete knots we had to untie as an agency: how to buy the licence in a way that makes economic sense for us and for clients?

The answer we found is to treat it as a service included in the PaperPlane ecosystem: the cost of the licence becomes part of a wider support contract, in which the client doesn’t pay for “a plugin” but gets a professional, accessible form, maintained and updated over time. It stops being an isolated expense and becomes part of the value of the site. On what a support contract covers, and why a site without it accumulates technical debt, we’ve written about WordPress maintenance in a dedicated piece.

It requires a transparent conversation with the client, but it works.

A real limitation: CSS customisation in Gravity Forms

Being honest is part of how we work, so we’ll say it: CSS customisation in Gravity Forms is more complex than in Contact Form 7.

GF generates fairly rigid markup, with structures that don’t always adapt easily to a custom theme. Reaching the visual result we want has taken more work than we expected, especially when the site’s design is very defined.

It’s a real limitation. It doesn’t change our recommendation, the advantages comfortably outweigh this friction point, but it’s worth knowing, above all on projects with very specific graphic requirements.

Our choice for WordPress sites in 2026

From 2026, Gravity Forms is our standard for all new WordPress projects.

Not because CF7 is a plugin to avoid: fifteen years of serious work speak for themselves. But because the context has changed. Accessibility is a requirement, not an optional. Integrations have to be solid and maintainable. And a paid tool that does its job well is worth more than a free one that requires constant intervention.

CF7 remains a valid tool for technical projects where maximum flexibility and control of the code are needed. But if you’re building something that will last over time, that will be used by different people and that has to work without constant intervention, Gravity Forms is the right choice.

That said, we want to close on a note of respect. Takayuki Miyoshi, the developer who created and has maintained Contact Form 7 since 2007, has always refused to add paid features to the plugin. A choice that goes against the grain of the WordPress ecosystem, where the rush to freemium is the norm. CF7 has stayed free, open, with no premium plans, no proprietary add-ons. It’s a philosophy we admire, and one that allowed us for fifteen years to deliver working sites to clients with no licence costs. The fact that today we choose a different tool doesn’t change our respect for someone who built something so durable, keeping it free for everyone.

When it’s worth asking for help

If you’re about to choose the form plugin for your next WordPress site, or if you’re wondering whether it’s worth migrating your current site away from Contact Form 7, at PaperPlane we offer a free 30-minute call dedicated to digital accessibility. We look together at the forms you have today, the integrations you need and the experience they offer to those who fill them in, including people who use a screen reader. With no promise that Gravity Forms is the right answer for every case: what we care about is the match between tool and project.