Ninja Forms
Ninja Forms is a WordPress form builder plugin offering a free core product and 40+ premium add-ons for payments, CRM, email marketing, and automation, serving over one million websites globally through a freemium, product-led model.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2011
- HeadquartersCleveland, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Ninja Forms does
Ninja Forms is a WordPress form builder plugin developed and operated by Saturday Drive, Inc., a Tennessee-incorporated private company founded in 2011. The product consists of a genuinely free core plugin—offering 28+ form fields, unlimited email notifications, built-in data calculations, GDPR/CCPA compliance tools, and multi-layer anti-spam protection (Cloudflare Turnstile, hCaptcha, reCAPTCHA, Akismet)—augmented by a catalog of more than 40 premium add-ons organized into categories covering advanced functionality (conditional logic, multi-page forms, file uploads to Google Drive/Dropbox/Amazon S3), submission management (PDF/Excel exports, scheduled delivery), payments and donations (Stripe, PayPal, Google Pay, Apple Pay, Venmo, Authorize.net), email marketing (Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, Constant Contact, AWeber), CRM integration (HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho, Capsule, Insightly), and automation (Zapier connecting to 4,000+ services, webhooks, SMS).
The underlying technology is a modular WordPress plugin architecture with a drag-and-drop visual form builder, developer extensibility through hooks and GitHub contributions, and a recent Abilities API that exposes AI-powered natural-language form building and submission management. Compliance posture covers GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA, PCI DSS, and WCAG2 AA standards. The platform powers over one million websites with more than 50 million cumulative downloads.
Ninja Forms operates a product-led freemium go-to-market: the core plugin is distributed via the WordPress.org plugin directory and the ninjaforms.com storefront, converting users to paid annual subscriptions on individual add-ons (starting at $39/site/year) or bundled membership tiers (Plus, Pro, Elite). Distribution is supplemented by strategic hosting partnerships with Kinsta, HostArmada, and Nexcess, technology integrations with translation (WPML, Weglot), nonprofit (GiveWP), and email validation (Clearout) providers, and a content-driven marketing strategy anchored by a 100+ template library and educational blog. The company is bootstrapped with no disclosed venture or private equity funding and operates with approximately 17 team members alongside sibling Saturday Drive businesses (SendWP, BonLife Coffee Roasters, Ciircles.com).
Ninja Forms firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Ninja Forms
- Legal name
- Saturday Drive, INC.
- Website
- https://ninjaforms.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2011
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Ninja Forms is a WordPress form builder plugin offering a free core product and 40+ premium add-ons for payments, CRM, email marketing, and automation, serving over one million websites globally through a freemium, product-led model.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Where Ninja Forms is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Cleveland
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Ninja Forms business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Freemium Core Plugin: The core Ninja Forms plugin is genuinely free with substantial functionality, driving user adoption and conversion to paid features.
- Premium Add-ons: Over 40 official add-ons for advanced functionality including conditional logic, multi-page forms, CRM integrations, payment processing, file uploads, and automation. Add-ons available as individual purchases or bundled in membership tiers.
- Add-on Licensing: Annual subscription-based licensing for add-ons with auto-renewal. Licenses cover support and updates for the subscription period.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Free | Free Core Plugin |
| Subscription | Annual | Layout and Styles Add-on |
| Subscription | Annual | Membership Tiers |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels6 records
Ninja Forms product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Ninja Forms is a WordPress form builder plugin that delivers a free core with 28+ field types alongside 40+ paid add-ons for payments, conditional logic, CRM/email marketing integrations, file uploads, PDF submissions, multi-step forms, and accessibility compliance. The product is sold as individually licensed add-ons or all-inclusive membership plans and is installed on over one million WordPress websites.
Product overview
Ninja Forms is a WordPress form builder solution consisting of a free core plugin and over 40 premium add-ons. The core plugin provides drag-and-drop form building with 28+ fields, unlimited email notifications, anti-spam protection (including Cloudflare Turnstile, hCaptcha, reCAPTCHA, and Akismet), and GDPR/CCPA compliance tools. Premium add-ons extend functionality across six categories: Advanced Functionality (file uploads, conditional logic, multi-page forms), Submission Management (scheduled exports, PDF, Excel), Payments & Donations (Stripe, PayPal, Google Pay, Apple Pay, Venmo, Authorize.net), Email Marketing (Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, Constant Contact, AWeber), CRM Integration (HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho CRM, Capsule, Insightly), and Automation & Integration (Zapier with 4,000+ services, Webhooks, SMS). The platform also includes a Layout and Styles visual form styler, Signature Field for digital signatures, and an AI-powered form building capability through the Abilities API. Pricing is subscription-based with tiered membership plans and individual add-on purchases available.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Ninja Forms Core Plugin Free, openly available WordPress plugin that provides drag-and-drop form creation with 28+ field types, validation, anti-spam, and front-end calculations. Aimed at website owners, agencies, and developers building WordPress sites.
- Layout and Styles Add-on Premium extension that adds design controls for label placement, error placement, element styling, and advanced field display rules inside the form builder.
- File Uploads Add-on Premium extension that lets visitors attach files to form submissions through a WordPress media gallery interface, with export to email, the media library, or FTP.
- Conditional Logic Add-on Premium extension that conditionally shows, hides, calculates, or triggers actions in form fields based on user input.
- Multi-Part Forms Add-on Premium extension that breaks long forms into multiple steps with progress indicators to improve completion rates.
- Save Progress Add-on Premium extension that lets users save partial form progress and resume later via a unique link sent by email.
- PDF Form Submissions Add-on Premium extension that auto-generates PDF documents from form submissions and attaches them to confirmation emails.
- Webhooks Add-on Premium extension that delivers native webhook integration for connecting form submissions to external applications and CRMs.
- Payments Add-on Premium extension that integrates Stripe and PayPal Checkout to collect one-time and recurring payments through WordPress forms.
- Email Marketing and CRM Integration Add-on Premium extension that connects Ninja Forms submissions to email marketing services and CRM platforms for lead capture and automation.
- Automation and Integration Add-on Premium extension providing Zapier integration and the Abilities API to connect submissions to AI assistants and thousands of external applications.
- Analytics Integrations Premium extension that connects Ninja Forms to Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and Facebook Pixel for form-view and submission conversion tracking.
- Form Templates Library Bundled collection of pre-built, ready-to-customize form templates covering common use cases such as contact, registration, quote, payment, and newsletter forms.
Quantifiable outcome
- Over 50 million total downloads of Ninja Forms plugin
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Ninja Forms
Customer profileNamed customers12 records
Segments9 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Ninja Forms technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration41 records
AI capability4 records
Feature7 records
Ninja Forms partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Six partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.
- HostArmadaminorWeb hosting partner providing top-tier hosting solutions that work well with Ninja Forms. Offers security features, fast speeds, and 24/7 expert support.
- KinstaminorManaged WordPress hosting provider. Their hosting platform is optimized for WordPress performance and integrates with Ninja Forms.
- NexcessminorFully managed hosting for WordPress platforms including content and commerce platforms. Provides consistent server administration and hardware management.
- CodeableminorWordPress-exclusive professional services marketplace connecting users with pre-vetted WordPress developers for custom development work.
- Active CampaigncoreCustomer Experience Automation Platform serving 150,000+ businesses in 170 countries. Native integration with Ninja Forms for email marketing automation and CRM functionality.
- SendWPcoreEmail delivery service from the same parent company (Saturday Drive) making WordPress email delivery simple. Simplifies getting emails delivered.
Scale indicators6 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Ninja Forms competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Fluent Forms: Freemium WordPress form plugin from WPManageNinja with a comparable add-on/membership structure and similar SMB target audience.
- WPForms: Direct competitor offering a drag-and-drop WordPress form builder with freemium and tiered paid plans. Highly comparable product, GTM motion, and target customer (WordPress SMB site owners).
- Gravity Forms: Long-established premium WordPress form plugin with deep integrations and developer extensibility. Directly comparable in product category and customer base; acquired by HubSpot in 2022.
- Contact Form 7: The most widely installed free WordPress form plugin, offering a minimalist developer-oriented alternative to Ninja Forms. Comparable in WordPress-native delivery but differentiated by lack of visual builder.
- Formidable (by Strategy11): Premium WordPress form and application builder emphasizing calculated fields, views, and directory-style forms. Direct category peer competing for the same paid add-on budget.
- Formidable Forms: WordPress form builder positioned for advanced use cases including calculations, views, and application-style forms. Closely comparable in functionality, pricing model, and WordPress-native delivery.
Broad incumbents
- Jotform: Established no-code form builder with extensive templates, payment integrations, and workflow features. Comparable in target use cases (contact forms, payments, registrations) though delivered as an independent platform.
- Microsoft Forms: Free form, survey, and quiz tool bundled with Microsoft 365. Comparable in basic form-building functionality and broad SMB reach, though limited customization and integration compared to Ninja Forms.
- Typeform: Cloud-based form and survey builder serving businesses broadly. Comparable in core form-building functionality and SMB/mid-market customer base, but operates as a standalone SaaS rather than a WordPress plugin.
- HubSpot Forms: Forms module within HubSpot's CRM and marketing automation platform. Increasingly relevant as HubSpot now owns Gravity Forms and bundles WordPress-native form capability with its broader ecosystem.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Ninja Forms social profiles
Digital presenceNinja Forms compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance5 records
Ninja Forms financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Ninja Forms leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles7 records
Ninja Forms subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries3 records
Ninja Forms funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Ninja Forms M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Ninja Forms
What does Ninja Forms do?
Ninja Forms is a WordPress form builder plugin that delivers a free core with 28+ field types alongside 40+ paid add-ons for payments, conditional logic, CRM/email marketing integrations, file uploads, PDF submissions, multi-step forms, and accessibility compliance. The product is sold as individually licensed add-ons or all-inclusive membership plans and is installed on over one million WordPress websites.
Is Ninja Forms a public or private company?
Ninja Forms is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Ninja Forms founded?
Ninja Forms was founded in 2011. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Ninja Forms based?
Ninja Forms is headquartered in Cleveland, United States, in the North America region.
How does Ninja Forms make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Freemium Core Plugin is the primary driver. The others are premium Add-ons and add-on Licensing.
Who are Ninja Forms's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Fluent Forms, WPForms, Gravity Forms, Contact Form 7, Formidable (by Strategy11) and Formidable Forms. Broad incumbents are Jotform, Microsoft Forms, Typeform and HubSpot Forms.
Does Ninja Forms have an API?
No public API is recorded for Ninja Forms.