Formidable Forms vs MailChimp for WordPress
Compare WordPress plugins and tools side by side. Pick products with “Compare” in the software directory.
| Feature | Formidable Forms v7.0 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free + paid · ★ 4.8/5 Visit Details | MailChimp for WordPress v4.14.1 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free + paid · ★ 4.8/5 Visit Details |
|---|---|---|
| At a glance | ||
| Active installs | 300,000+ | 1M+ |
| Last updated | October 16, 2026 | September 16, 2026 |
| Editions | Formidable Forms · Formidable Pro ($) | MC4WP: Mailchimp for WordPress · Mailchimp for WordPress Premium ($) |
| Pros | Free drag-and-drop builder with unlimited forms; Stripe and PayPal payment forms in the free version; Spam protection options such as honeypot and reCAPTCHA | Native HTML sign-up forms with full field control; Sign-up hooks for Contact Form 7, WPForms, Gravity Forms and WooCommerce; Form widget and block for placing forms; Lists refreshed daily from the Mailchimp account |
| Cons | Multi-page forms, file uploads and conditional logic need Pro; Admin shows Pro upgrade screens and prompts; Calculated fields are unclear in the free version docs | Form designer, logging and user sync are Premium only; Needs a Mailchimp API key connected to the site; Procaptcha bot protection loads a third-party script when enabled |
| Mentioned in our posts | 2 | 2 |
| Features (Form plugins checklist) | ||
| Drag-and-drop builder | Yes | — |
| Conditional logic | No | — |
| Multi-step forms | No | — |
| Payments | Yes | — |
| File upload | No | — |
| Entries in admin | Yes | — |
| Spam protection | Yes | — |
| Free version | Yes | — |
| More features | ||
| Other features | Built-in MCP server for AI clients, Visual form styler, Form actions such as notifications after submit | Sign-up forms built from native HTML, Sign-up form widget, AMP-compatible sign-up forms, Campaigns archive block, Daily Mailchimp list refresh, Background subscribe through Action Scheduler or WP-Cron |
| Integrations | ||
| Payment | Stripe, PayPal, Square | — |
| — | Mailchimp | |
| E-commerce | — | WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads |
| Plugins | — | Contact Form 7, WPForms, Gravity Forms |
| Other | Google reCAPTCHA, StopForumSpam | Procaptcha (Prosopo) |
| Requires WordPress | 6.3 | 5.3 |
| Requires PHP | 7.0 | 7.4 |
| Tested up to | 7.1 | 7.1 |
| Phones home | Only if you agree | No |
| External services | app.squareup.com, sandbox.formidableforms.com, api.stopforumspam.org, feedback.strategy11.com | js.prosopo.io, api.prosopo.io, api.mailchimp.com |
| Blocks | 1 | 2 |
| Shortcodes | 3 | — |
| Custom tables | 2 | — |