Forms

6 Gravity Forms Alternatives That Don't Require WordPress

Compare 6 gravity forms alternatives that work without WordPress, standalone builders with conditional logic, payments, and native integrations.

MakeForms Team . October 01, 2026 . 11 minutes
6 Gravity Forms Alternatives That Don't Require WordPress

If you use Gravity Forms then you know that it is a powerful form builder, but there’s one thing you can’t get around: you need WordPress to use it. For businesses that already run WordPress, Gravity Forms works just fine. But what if you’re building a standalone website? What if you’re moving to Shopify or Framer? Or what if you simply don’t want to maintain a WordPress installation just to collect form submissions? In these cases, it’s a very different story.

There are several other ways to build a website without WordPress. In the same way, there are also several Gravity Forms alternatives for building forms.

We’ve compared six options to help you find the right Gravity Forms replacement. We made this comparison for marketers, small-business owners, and operations teams. Are you looking for Gravity Forms without WordPress? One of these 6 standalone form builders could be perfect for you.

Why Look for Gravity Forms Alternatives Without WordPress?

First and foremost, Gravity Forms’s own documentation describes it as a plugin. It’s built for creating data-collection forms, polls, and surveys on WordPress websites.

If WordPress is already at the center of your website, that’s great. If it isn’t, running WordPress just to host a handful of forms adds an unnecessary layer of maintenance. You have to manage hosting, WordPress updates, themes, and plugins. You also need to handle security, backups, and compatibility. In fact, Gravity Forms itself relies on add-ons for many integrations and advanced features.

What to Look for in a Gravity Forms Alternative

Gravity Forms users like its drag-and-drop form builder. They also like how well it handles fairly complex workflows.

But the good news is there are plenty of alternatives that have the same capabilities as Gravity Forms. Let’s have a look at some must-have features of a solid, easy-to-use form builder.

Conditional and multi-step logic: A good form builder should have conditional logic. This means it can show, hide, skip, or change questions based on earlier answers. Multi-step forms matter too. They break a form into steps. This helps with long applications, surveys, and checkout flows.

Payments: Do you use Gravity Forms to collect payments? If so, look for built-in support for processors such as Stripe, PayPal, Square, or other payment providers. This means you won't need extra plugins to connect them. A good form builder with payments should also support other things where relevant. This includes calculated prices, recurring payments, coupons, and payment confirmations.

Integrations: Some integrations are native. This means the form builder connects directly to another tool, with no extra steps. Others need Zapier or another automation platform instead. This platform makes the connection for you. Check which type you are getting. Native integrations usually give you more control. They also mean fewer moving parts that could break.

Data and security: Are you collecting customer, employee, financial, or health information? If so, security matters a great deal. Look for encryption, which scrambles data so only authorised people can read it. Also look for access controls, audit logs, and data residency (control over which country your data is stored in). Check too for compliance certifications that matter for your business.

Pricing: Do not start by comparing only the lowest subscription plan. Instead, look at submission limits, user seats, and storage. Also check payment fees and premium integrations. Make sure the features match what you need.

Checklist card listing form builder evaluation criteria such as logic, payments, integrations, security, and pricingThe core criteria for evaluating a Gravity Forms alternative.

Quick Comparison: The Best Gravity Forms Alternatives

PlatformWordPress required?Conditional logicPaymentsStarting priceBest for
MakeFormsNoYesYes$65/monthTeams wanting advanced standalone forms
JotformNoYesYes$34/monthBroad templates and integrations
Cognito FormsNoYesYesFree / $19/month annualCalculations and complex forms
FilloutNoYesYesFreeModern forms and generous free usage
FormstackNoYesYesPaid plansEnterprise workflows
TypeformNoYesYes$25/month annualConversational forms

Prices reflect current published pricing where available and may vary by billing cycle or plan.

1. MakeForms

Best for: teams that want the flexibility of Gravity Forms, but without WordPress.

MakeForms is a strong option if you want a standalone form builder that can handle as much as Gravity Forms, maybe even more.

Its biggest advantage is that it isn’t tied to a website CMS. You can create forms on their own. You can share them through links or embeds. And you can manage submissions from the MakeForms platform.

More importantly, it treats conditional logic, HIPAA (the US law that protects patient health information), e-signatures, payments, and custom domains as standard features. It does not treat them as advanced add-ons.

Its Launch plan starts at $65/month when billed annually. It includes 3 user seats, unlimited forms, and unlimited submissions. You also get 20GB of storage and several data-residency options. The Scale plan costs $133/month annually. It raises the seat limit to 10. It also adds features such as three custom domains, two workspaces, analytics, custom SMTP, and Salesforce record saving.

Why choose MakeForms?

The platform suits teams that want to replace Gravity Forms without losing its more advanced features.

But MakeForms isn’t the cheapest option on this list, because it is a professional-grade form builder. Still, its biggest benefit is this: many high-level features come with its Standard Plans. Other tools often lock these features behind Enterprise plans. This gives growing businesses a predictable cost.

MakeForms form builder showing a multi step form with conditional logic and a payment fieldBuilding a standalone form with logic and payments in MakeForms.

2. Jotform

Jotform is probably one of the most common Gravity Forms competitors to consider because it covers a huge range of use cases without requiring WordPress.

Unlike Gravity Forms, Jotform is fully hosted. You create and manage forms from Jotform’s platform, then share them through a link or embed them on virtually any website, just like MakeForms.

Its feature set includes conditional logic, payments, workflows, e-signatures, integrations, widgets, and thousands of templates.

The current standard plans start with a free Starter plan, followed by Bronze at $34/month, Silver at $39/month, and Gold at $99/month when billed annually. Gold includes up to 10,000 monthly submissions and HIPAA-enabled features.

The only catch with Jotform is that you get great value as a solo user - but as soon as you want multi-users for your team you have to upgrade to enterprise.

3. Cognito Forms

Cognito Forms is another Gravity Forms alternative worth a look. It’s a fully hosted platform, so you don’t need to install anything on WordPress.

Cognito’s standout feature is its calculation engine. You can use it to work out things like prices, scores, totals, and eligibility. It can also handle other values that change based on what a user enters.

Cognito Forms also supports conditional logic, payment collection, e-signatures, workflows, and data lookups. On top of that, it integrates with other tools, like MakeForms and Jotform.

The current pricing starts with a free Individual plan. Pro is $19/month when billed annually, Team is $39/month annually, and Enterprise is $129/month annually. All plans include unlimited forms. However, entry limits go up as you move to higher plans: 100/month on the free plan, 2,000 on Pro, 10,000 on Team, and unlimited on Enterprise.

Cognito has one disadvantage though: its pricing and feature structure can become more complex as you move into Team and Enterprise. For example, API usage has monthly limits. If you go over these limits, you’ll pay extra charges.

Form fields connected by arrows to a calculated total, illustrating a form calculation engineHow a calculation engine turns form answers into a live total.

4. Fillout

Fillout is a strong choice if you want something simpler than Gravity Forms. This is true even if the Wordpress dependency isn't your main concern.

The free plan is generous. It gives you unlimited forms and unlimited seats. You also get up to 1,000 submissions per month. This plan includes conditional logic, calculations, workflows, and other features.

Fillout’s paid plans start at around $15/month, with a higher Business tier at around $75/month when billed annually. Ofcourse, the more professional and custom features are behind these paid plans. But over all, this is probably one of the most affordable alternatives to Gravity Forms.

5. Formstack

Formstack is a broader work automation platform. Forms are just one part of it. Its Forms product can handle conditional logic, calculations, payments, integrations, and workflows.

The benefit of using Formstack is if you also want to be a part of the rest of the ecosystem, with document generation, e-signature, and more.

So it's not a surprise that Formstack's pricing is more enterprise-oriented than some of the other options on this list. It has standard Forms plans. It also has separate products for documents, signatures, and Salesforce workflows. If you choose Formstack, make sure you're using the features you're paying for.

6. Typeform

One of the more well-known 'pop culture' form builders is Typeform. It created a movement with its conversational, one-question-at-a-time form experience. This style is popular for surveys, lead generation, customer research, quizzes, and interactive marketing campaigns.

Its current annual pricing starts at $28/month for Basic, $56/month for Plus, and $91/month for Business. Basic includes 100 responses per month. Plus includes 1,000. Business includes 10,000.

Before you pick Typeform, keep its response limits in mind. If you don't need thousands of responses a month, you're fine. But if you want room to grow your form responses, your pricing plan will change very quickly.

Six form builder tool cards arranged side by side representing different strengthsSix form builder tool cards arranged side by side representing different strengths

How Do These Gravity Forms Alternatives Compare?

 MakeFormsJotformCognito FormsFilloutFormstackTypeform
WordPress requiredNoNoNoNoNoNo
Conditional logic✓✓✓✓✓✓
Calculations✓✓✓✓✓✓
Multi-step forms✓✓✓✓✓✓
Payments✓✓✓✓✓✓
E-signatures✓✓✓✓✓Available
Unlimited forms✓Plan-dependent✓✓Plan-dependent✓
HIPAA✓Gold+EnterpriseEnterpriseAvailableEnterprise
Free plan✓✓✓✓No✓
WordPress dependencyNoneNoneNoneNoneNoneNone
Best forAdvanced standalone formsBreadthCalculationsValueEnterprise workflowsUX

No single platform is automatically the best form builder 2026 choice for every business. The better question to ask yourself would be which one fits your workflow.

How to Migrate Off Gravity Forms Without Losing Data

Moving away from WordPress doesn’t mean you have to lose your existing submissions through Gravity Forms. We’ve got this down to a science.

Step 1. Export your existing entries

Start by exporting all existing Gravity Forms entries and storing a clean backup. Don’t delete anything until you’ve verified that the new system is working.

Step 2. Document your form logic

For every form, quickly make a note of:

  • Fields
  • Required fields
  • Conditional rules
  • Calculations
  • Confirmation messages
  • Notifications
  • Payment settings
  • Integrations
  • Webhooks
  • Redirects

This step matters most if you’ve built complicated logic over time.

Step 3. Rebuild one form

Choose the right Gravity Forms replacement. Then recreate your highest-priority form first. Don’t migrate every form at the same time.

Six stage workflow diagram for migrating forms from one platform to anotherThe six-step process for migrating off an old form builder.

Step 4. Replace your embeds

If your current Gravity Forms are embedded throughout your website, replace those embeds with the new form URLs or embed codes. This is easy with standalone builders. They aren't tied to your CMS.

Step 5: Reconnect integrations

Check every CRM, email platform, payment provider, analytics tool, and automation workflow connected to your old forms.

A form can appear to work perfectly while its downstream integration is broken.

Step 6. Test before switching

Submit test entries and verify:

  • Data is captured correctly
  • Notifications arrive
  • Payments process
  • Conditional logic works
  • Integrations get the correct fields
  • Redirects work
  • Confirmation messages display correctly

Now switch your live forms.

Which Gravity Forms Alternative Should You Choose?

For solo creators

We recommend Fillout as a strong starting point. Its free plan offers unlimited forms and up to 1,000 submissions per month. Cognito Forms is another good choice. Pick it if your forms need calculations or payments.

For marketing teams

Jotform, Typeform, and MakeForms are strong options.

They offer a much broader set of templates and integrations. They also feel more engaging. This is because they use a conversational style that draws people in.

For finance and operations

Cognito Forms and MakeForms are worth a closer look. Cognito is great for handling calculations, pricing, and data-driven forms. MakeForms combines three things in one tool: conditional logic, payments, and workflows. It also lets you collect as many submissions as you need. On top of that, it includes strong security features. These are built for large organizations.

For larger organizations

Formstack is the strongest choice when forms are part of broader document, signature, and workflow processes. MakeForms is also worth considering. Choose it if you need enterprise-level security and full functionality. With MakeForms, you can get these features right away. You don't need to sign a traditional enterprise contract first.

Four types of users each matched to a different form builder tool iconFour types of users each matched to a different form builder tool icon

Gravity Forms Alternatives FAQs

No. Gravity Forms is a WordPress plugin, so it requires a WordPress environment. If you want Gravity Forms without WordPress, you’ll need a standalone hosted form builder such as MakeForms, Jotform, Cognito Forms, Fillout, Formstack, or Typeform.

Move on from Gravity Forms without any compromise

Gravity Forms is still a great choice if you already use WordPress. It's a powerful form plugin. It offers deep customization and a large add-on ecosystem.

But if WordPress is the part you want to leave behind, you don't have to give up advanced forms.

The best Gravity Forms alternatives let you keep the features you actually use. You won't have to maintain a WordPress site just to run your forms.

Try MakeForms free. Get Gravity Forms-level power, with no WordPress required.