If you’ve worked with WordPress for long enough, you already know the importance of a reliable form builder plugin. They’re the bridge between your business and your audience, whether it’s for collecting leads, processing payments, or simply letting visitors get in touch.
Over the years, I’ve used many popular form builder plugins like Contact Form 7, Gravity Forms, WPForms, and Ninja Forms. But ARForms has consistently stood out for one main reason: it does more than just build forms.
“It simplifies form creation, expands functionality, and minimizes the need for add-ons or third-party plugins.“
After using ARForms for several years across client sites and internal projects, here’s my full, honest review to answer your most common questions, like why you chose it, what the cons are, and who should consider using it.
Table of Contents:
What is ARForms?
ARForms is a premium WordPress form builder plugin developed by ReputeInfosystems. It’s marketed as an “all-in-one” form builder, and in my experience, that description is accurate.
Unlike many competitors that require multiple add-ons for essential features, ARForms packs most of its functionality into the core plugin.
It supports a wide range of use cases:
- Contact forms
- Subscription forms
- Surveys and polls
- Booking and quote request forms
- Multi-step forms
- Payment forms
- Popup forms
- Registration and login forms
This breadth makes it suitable for small business websites, agencies, online stores, and even membership-based platforms.
Total Active Users: 9,800+
Average Rating: 4.5/5 (Review by 473 Users)
User Interface and Ease of Use
When I first started using ARForms, what impressed me immediately was the visual form builder. It offers a real-time editor, which means you can see exactly how your form will appear as you build it. This is a major time-saver, especially when compared to plugins like Contact Form 7, where you’re editing shortcodes and guessing how the form will look.
The drag-and-drop interface is intuitive. Fields can be added, rearranged, and styled without needing to dive into HTML or CSS. For someone like me, who often builds custom-designed websites, this flexibility is important. I can fine-tune the spacing, colors, borders, and even font styles from within the plugin settings.
Hoover, you can feel a bit of a learning curve when exploring more advanced features, like conditional logic, but their documentation helps you most of the time.
Features That Stand Out
1. Multi-Step Forms
Multi-step or wizard-style forms are crucial when you want to collect a lot of data without overwhelming users. ARForms makes building multi-step forms straightforward. You just add a “Page Break” element, and the plugin handles the navigation, progress bar, and validation. I’ve used this on client sites for quote request forms and onboarding flows.
2. Popup Forms
This is another area where ARForms saves time. You can display any form as a popup without needing another plugin. You get control over the trigger (on-click, exit intent, scroll, time delay), and the styling is consistent with the rest of your site. This has been especially useful for newsletter signups and promotional offers.
3. Built-in Analytics
Not many form plugins offer native analytics, but ARForms does. It tracks form views, submissions, and conversion rates. While it’s not a replacement for Google Analytics, it gives you enough data to plan your next step. This helps when optimizing forms for better performance.
4. Spam Protection
Spam has always been an issue for general forms. ARForms includes built-in Google reCAPTCHA support (v2 and v3), along with a honeypot technique to block bots silently. This has greatly reduced spam submissions on sites without annoying real users.
5. Form Submission Management
All form submissions are stored in the WordPress dashboard. You can export them to CSV, search/filter them, and even set up an auto-response if the form includes email data. This is a practical alternative to relying solely on email notifications, which can sometimes go to spam folders.
Integration with Third-Party Tools
ARForms integrates well with many tools that businesses already use. Some of the key integrations include:
- Email marketing: Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, AWeber, Constant Contact, GetResponse
- CRM: HubSpot, Salesforce
- Payments: PayPal, Stripe, Razorpay, Paystack
- Automation: Zapier (via webhook support)
- Storage: Google Sheets integration is available via an add-on
In my experience, the Mailchimp and Stripe integrations work seamlessly. Setting them up takes just a few minutes, and the plugin provides test modes to ensure everything is working before going live.
Customization and Design Control
One of the strengths of ARForms is the level of control you have over form appearance. Every field, label, error message, and button can be customized from the UI without code. You can also inject custom CSS if needed, but I’ve rarely found it necessary.
50+ pre-built templates are also available to speed up the design process. These are particularly helpful if you’re building forms for different clients and want to maintain a unique look across sites.
Responsive behavior is solid, too. Forms scale nicely on mobile devices, and you can tweak spacing/margins per screen size.
Performance and Compatibility
I’ve tested ARForms on a variety of hosting environments and never experienced any noticeable performance issues. The plugin loads assets efficiently and offers built-in AJAX submission, which improves user experience by avoiding full-page reloads.
It’s also compatible with all major themes and page builders, including:
- Elementor
- WPBakery
- Divi
- Gutenberg
This compatibility is important in a real-world development environment, where no two sites are the same.
Customer Support
Support has been consistently reliable. On the few occasions I encountered issues, mainly during major WordPress updates or plugin conflicts. The support team responded within 24 hours and provided useful guidance or bug fixes.
There’s also a knowledge base, documentation, and a Facebook group that can be useful for troubleshooting without needing to open a ticket.
Pricing
ARForms is a premium plugin, but the pricing is reasonable compared to most popular plugins and considering the number of built-in features:
- Regular license (for a single site): $39 with lifetime update.
- Add-ons: Some are free, others are paid. However, you can buy all the add-ons at once with their $34 bundle pack.
In contrast to plugins like Gravity Forms or WPForms, where you pay annually and purchase add-ons separately, ARForms offers a lifetime buy price and keeps costs predictable.
Areas for Improvement
While I’ve had a generally positive experience, there are some areas where ARForms could improve:
1. Add-on Licensing: Some useful features are locked behind add-ons, like PDF generation or conditional email logic. It would be helpful if these were included in a pro version.
2. User Interface Polish: The admin UI has improved over the years, but it still feels a bit old compared to newer plugins. A more modern, streamlined interface would enhance its reputation.
3. Better Notifications System: ARForms’ notifications feature really impressed me. But still, I felt adding more advanced routing or templating without add-ons would make it even better, especially for forms used in customer service workflows.
4. Accessibility: Basic accessibility is covered, but it could go further in terms of WCAG compliance. ARIA labels, keyboard navigation, and better contrast options would help make the forms usable for all users.
Who Should Use ARForms?
Freelancers and Agencies: You get a robust feature set without needing to buy multiple licenses or plugins. Ideal for client projects.
Small to Medium Businesses: You can handle lead generation, payments, surveys, and newsletters from one plugin.
Ecommerce Sites: With Stripe and PayPal support, ARForms can easily collect payments for small purchases, donations, or event registrations.
Developers: With built-in hooks, custom CSS options, and export/import functionality, developers can extend the plugin easily.
Final Verdict
If you need a form builder that balances power and simplicity, ARForms is worth every penny. It’s eliminated my dependency on multiple plugins, reduced client costs, and saved me countless hours.
I can confidently say it lives up to its claim as an “all-in-one” form builder. It covers the essential features out of the box, offers strong customization, and integrates with popular tools.
Yes, it’s not perfect. Some UI and accessibility areas could be improved, but it remains one of the most reliable and feature-rich WordPress form plugins available today. If you’re tired of piecing together multiple plugins just to create one functional form, ARForms is a smart investment.
If you’re on the fence, try the free version. You can also use the paid version worry-free, because they offer a 7-day money-back guarantee!
My Overall Rating: 4.6 / 5
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