Formidable Forms
Formidable Forms is a bootstrapped WordPress form builder plugin (Strategy11, LLC) offering drag-and-drop form creation, payment collection, and front-end data displays via tiered annual subscriptions ($39.50–$299.50). It serves freelancers, agencies, and SMBs across 300K+ activations.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2007
- HeadquartersSalt Lake City, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingSoftware
What Formidable Forms does
Formidable Forms is a WordPress form builder plugin operated by Strategy11, LLC, a privately held Delaware-incorporated company headquartered in Draper, Utah, with a distributed remote team. Founded in 2007 and bootstrapped throughout its history with no disclosed external funding, the company sells a tiered annual subscription product (Basic $39.50, Plus $99.50, Business $199.50, Elite $299.50) targeting freelancers, web development agencies, small and medium business owners, bloggers, and developers building on WordPress. The free version is distributed through the WordPress.org plugin repository as the top-of-funnel acquisition channel.
The core product is a PHP/MySQL-based WordPress plugin offering a visual drag-and-drop form builder with conditional logic, multi-step and conversational forms, save-and-continue, calculations, user registration, and 100+ pre-built templates. Beyond forms, the "Formidable Views" module enables front-end display of submission data as directories, calendars, timelines, job boards, real estate listings, charts, and lightweight web applications without PHP coding. The platform integrates with 20+ third-party services spanning payments (Stripe, PayPal, Square, Authorize.net), CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot), marketing automation (Mailchimp, Constant Contact, AWeber, GetResponse, Campaign Monitor, MailPoet), e-commerce (WooCommerce), communication (Twilio), and automation (Zapier, Webhooks, ChatGPT).
The go-to-market is product-led growth via WordPress.org organic discovery and direct website sales, supplemented by a 20% affiliate program, a 50,000+ subscriber newsletter, and content marketing. Reported scale metrics include 300K+ activations, 3M+ forms created, $350M+ in payments processed, and 4.8–4.9/5 average ratings across WordPress.org, Capterra, and G2. Leadership comprises co-founders Steph Wells (CEO) and Steve Wells, with Syed Balkhi (founder of WPBeginner and other WordPress properties) serving as advisor.
Formidable Forms firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Formidable Forms
- Legal name
- Strategy11, LLC
- Website
- https://formidableforms.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2007
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Formidable Forms is a bootstrapped WordPress form builder plugin (Strategy11, LLC) offering drag-and-drop form creation, payment collection, and front-end data displays via tiered annual subscriptions ($39.50–$299.50). It serves freelancers, agencies, and SMBs across 300K+ activations.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Formidable Forms industry classification
Industry- Product category
- WordPress Form Builder Plugin
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (5132)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- eSignature, Forms & Digital Workflow Platforms (HDAEAHAJ)
Keywords
Where Formidable Forms is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Salt Lake City
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Formidable Forms business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Annual Subscription Plans: Four tiered annual subscription plans (Basic, Plus, Business, Elite) with automatic renewal. Support, updates, and plugin downloads granted for one year. Users can cancel anytime with 14-day money-back guarantee for new accounts.
- Plugin Licensing: Business and Elite licenses allow use on unlimited client sites. Individual site licenses available for Basic tier.
- Affiliate Program: 20% commission for affiliates who refer new customers to Formidable Forms
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | Essential features for forms that convert |
| Subscription | Annual | Dynamic Views and front-end data displays |
| Subscription | Annual | Ideal for freelancers and business owners |
| Subscription | Annual | Powerful automation, integration, and apps |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels12 records
Formidable Forms product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Formidable Forms is a WordPress form builder plugin that enables users to create, deploy, and manage forms and web applications on WordPress sites without coding. The plugin combines a drag-and-drop form builder with conditional logic, payment collection, front-end data display (directories, calendars, timelines), PDF generation, and 20+ native third-party integrations under a tiered annual subscription.
Product overview
Formidable Forms is a comprehensive WordPress form builder plugin offered as a tiered SaaS platform with four pricing plans (Basic, Plus, Business, Elite). The core plugin provides drag-and-drop form building with conditional logic, calculations, and mobile responsiveness. Premium add-ons extend functionality for payment collection (Stripe, PayPal, Square, Authorize.net), quizzes, conversational forms, multi-step forms, user registration, and web applications. The Formidable Views module enables displaying submission data on front-end as directories, calendars, timelines, charts, and job boards. Additional add-ons include PDF generation, ChatGPT AI integration, and 100+ pre-built templates for rapid deployment.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Formidable Forms Core Plugin The flagship WordPress form builder plugin offering drag-and-drop form creation, conditional logic, calculations, multi-step and conversational forms, save-and-continue, PDF generation, user registration, payment collection, and 20+ native integrations. Distributed under GNU GPL v2 with four annual subscription tiers; targets freelancers, agencies, business owners, bloggers, and developers building WordPress websites.
- Form Templates
Quantifiable outcome
- $350M+ in payments processed
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Formidable Forms
Customer profileNamed customers2 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Formidable Forms technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration20 records
AI capability2 records
Feature13 records
Formidable Forms partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
18 partnerships are on record, tiered core, major, emerging and supporting.
- StripecorePayment processing integration allowing users to accept credit card payments, subscriptions, and donations directly through forms. PCI compliant solution.
- PayPalcorePayment processing integration for accepting PayPal payments through forms.
- SquarecorePayment processing integration for Square payment gateway.
- Authorize.netcorePayment processing integration for Authorize.net payment gateway.
- SalesforcemajorCRM integration allowing form entries to sync directly to Salesforce for lead and customer management.
- ZapiermajorAutomation integration enabling form entries to trigger workflows and connect to 5,000+ apps through Zapier.
- MailchimpmajorEmail marketing integration for collecting subscribers and syncing form data to Mailchimp lists.
- HubSpotmajorCRM integration for HubSpot marketing and sales automation.
- Google SheetsmajorDirect integration to send form submissions to Google Sheets spreadsheets.
- ChatGPTemergingAI integration leveraging OpenAI's ChatGPT for form automation and intelligent responses.
- WooCommercecoreE-commerce integration for customizable WooCommerce forms and order management.
- ACF (Advanced Custom Fields)supportingIntegration with ACF plugin for enhanced custom field functionality.
- TwiliosupportingSMS integration for form notifications and communication.
- GetResponsesupportingEmail marketing integration for GetResponse platform.
- Constant ContactsupportingEmail marketing integration for Constant Contact platform.
- Campaign MonitorsupportingEmail marketing integration for Campaign Monitor platform.
- AWebersupportingEmail marketing integration for AWeber platform.
- MailPoetsupportingWordPress email marketing integration through MailPoet.
Scale indicators6 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Formidable Forms competitors and assessment
Company assessmentEmerging players
- Tally: Tally is a fast-growing free-tier form builder with a generous free plan that has been taking share from traditional form plugins, including in the SMB and freelancer segments. It is a relevant emerging competitor for low-friction form creation use cases.
- Paperform: Paperform is a design-forward form, survey, and landing page builder with payment integration capabilities that overlaps with Formidable Forms' payment and conversational forms features. It is a smaller, more design-focused alternative that competes for SMB customers.
Direct peers
- WPForms: WPForms is a leading drag-and-drop WordPress form builder created by the same team behind WPBeginner (Syed Balkhi, an advisor to Formidable Forms). It offers tiered pricing, payment integrations, and similar SMB/agency targeting, making it a very close direct competitor.
- Fluent Forms: Fluent Forms is a WordPress form builder plugin with tiered pricing, native payment integrations, and conversational/quiz features that compete directly with Formidable Forms. It targets the same SMB and agency segments with aggressive pricing.
- Gravity Forms: Gravity Forms is one of the most established and highest-rated WordPress form builder plugins, with a comparable tiered annual subscription model, add-on ecosystem, and developer-oriented feature set. It is the most direct head-to-head competitor to Formidable Forms in the WordPress forms category.
- Ninja Forms: Ninja Forms is a popular free-core WordPress form builder with paid add-ons, competing in the same drag-and-drop forms category for SMBs and agencies. Its freemium model and deep WordPress.org presence directly overlap with Formidable Forms' acquisition strategy.
Broad incumbents
- Typeform: Typeform is a larger SaaS form and survey platform known for its conversational form UX, which overlaps with Formidable Forms' Conversational Forms feature. It serves a similar SMB and enterprise customer base but operates as a standalone hosted platform rather than a WordPress plugin.
- Formstack: Formstack is a broader workflow automation and digital forms platform offering form building, payments, document generation, and workflow automation. It competes with Formidable Forms' more advanced use cases (Forms, PDF generation, automation) at higher price points.
- Jotform: Jotform is a major hosted form builder with a tiered subscription model, payment integrations, and 100+ templates that closely mirrors Formidable Forms' positioning. It serves SMBs and enterprises globally as an alternative to WordPress-native form plugins.
- SurveyMonkey: SurveyMonkey is a dominant survey and form platform that competes for the survey/quiz use cases that Formidable Forms addresses with its Quiz Maker and survey templates. It is a larger, publicly-traded alternative with deeper enterprise penetration.
Market position
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Formidable Forms social profiles
Digital presenceFormidable Forms compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance3 records
Formidable Forms financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Formidable Forms leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
Formidable Forms funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Formidable 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 Formidable Forms
What does Formidable Forms do?
Formidable Forms is a WordPress form builder plugin that enables users to create, deploy, and manage forms and web applications on WordPress sites without coding. The plugin combines a drag-and-drop form builder with conditional logic, payment collection, front-end data display (directories, calendars, timelines), PDF generation, and 20+ native third-party integrations under a tiered annual subscription.
Is Formidable Forms a public or private company?
Formidable Forms is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Formidable Forms founded?
Formidable Forms was founded in 2007. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Formidable Forms based?
Formidable Forms is headquartered in Salt Lake City, United States, in the North America region.
How does Formidable Forms make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Annual Subscription Plans are the primary driver. The others are plugin Licensing and affiliate Program.
Who are Formidable Forms's main competitors?
Emerging players on record are Tally and Paperform. Direct peers are WPForms, Fluent Forms, Gravity Forms and Ninja Forms. Broad incumbents are Typeform, Formstack, Jotform and SurveyMonkey.
Does Formidable Forms have an API?
Yes. Formidable Forms offers webhook integration capabilities that allow external services to receive form submission data. The platform supports sending data to external services when forms are submitted, enabling automation workflows with tools like Zapier. The WordPress Form API allows developers to integrate form data with third-party applications. Developer documentation is at formidableforms.com/features/wordpress-form-api.
What industry is Formidable Forms in?
Formidable Forms's product category is WordPress Form Builder Plugin. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDAEAHAJ, eSignature, Forms & Digital Workflow Platforms. Its NAICS code is 5132 and its SIC code is 7372.