Over the years I’ve tried pretty much every contact form plugin available for WordPress. Some were pretty bad, some were almost there, and a select few really shined. Today I’m going to list those few that really do the contact form job right. Lets begin…
- Contact Me Widget
I really love the Contact Me Widget. I think this plugin takes the simple contact form to a whole new level. Not only does it have a contact form but also an IM function and a place to put all your other contact info. All in one neat little package. Do note though that this plugin relies on the ContactMeButton.com service. So, you may not want to depend on it as the sole option for your visitors to get in contact with you. If the ContactMeButton site were to go down or something, well… I’m sure you can imagine plenty of horrible scenarios… - Contact Form 7
The Contact Form 7 plugin is one of the most popular contact form plugins available for WordPress. It has a bounty of features. There is AJAX submitting, CAPTCHA, and Akismet filtering just to name a few. There are even a few “sub-plugins” to extend even further its abilities. I love the great amount of customization this plugin allows. You can customize almost everything! Another great thing is all of the available translations. There are a ton! So almost everyone can get their contact on. - SimpleModal Contact Form
The best thing about the SimpleModal Contact Form plugin is right in the name. It’s a contact form contained inside what is known as a modal dialog. That means it hovers above the page where it is right up front and center. It has the basic contact form functionality you would expect. Like, input validation, optional subject field, and even the option to “Send me a copy“. This plugin also has several translations available which is a major plus. - Visitor Contact Forms
Visitor Contact Forms takes the modal dialog contact form to another level with more options. You have your basic contact form, input validation, CAPTCHA protection, auto responder, and more. The really cool thing about this plugin though is the Geocoding. Not only can it show a map of where you are to your visitors, but also it can show you where the people are who are contacting you. Because this plugin works off a back-end site (VisitorContact.com) you can get more features automatically. However it also means it is subject to downtime like I mentioned about the Contact Me Widget plugin. - Fast and Secure Contact Form
Another contact form with lots of features is Fast and Secure Contact Form. This is a great plugin for those who prefer contact forms that don’t rely on JavaScript. It has all the functionality you would expect from a contact form and then some. It also has awesome security. With options like Akismet protection, the PHP CAPTCHA library from phpcaptcha.org, as well as manual filters, to call this plugin secure is putting it lightly. This plugin is also multilingual so everyone can try it out.
Well, there you have it; Five plugins to get you in contact with your site visitors. I hope you can get something useful out of this list. As usual, feel free to chime in with your opinion. I’d love to hear about any plugins I may have missed…
Do you have a good idea for the next article in the Best-Of series? Drop a comment here or contact us and your idea just might be next in the series!
