MailChimp for WordPress vs Ninja Forms
Compare WordPress plugins and tools side by side. Pick products with “Compare” in the software directory.
| Feature | MailChimp for WordPress v4.14.1 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free + paid · ★ 4.8/5 Visit Details | Ninja Forms v3.15.6 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free + paid · ★ 4.4/5 Visit Details |
|---|---|---|
| At a glance | ||
| Active installs | 1M+ | 500,000+ |
| Last updated | September 16, 2026 | October 15, 2026 |
| Editions | MC4WP: Mailchimp for WordPress · Mailchimp for WordPress Premium ($) | Ninja Forms · Ninja Forms extensions ($) |
| Pros | 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 | Drag-and-drop builder with calculations at no cost; Submissions stored in your own WordPress database; reCAPTCHA, hCaptcha and Akismet spam protection |
| Cons | 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 | Payments, multi-part and file uploads need paid extensions; Conditional logic availability in the free core is not confirmed; Extension licences are managed through the vendor |
| Mentioned in our posts | 2 | 1 |
| Features (Form plugins checklist) | ||
| Drag-and-drop builder | — | Yes |
| Multi-step forms | — | Paid |
| Payments | — | Paid |
| File upload | — | Paid |
| Calculations | — | Yes |
| Entries in admin | — | Yes |
| Spam protection | — | Yes |
| Free version | — | Yes |
| More features | ||
| Other features | 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 | Drag-and-drop form builder, Submissions stored in the WordPress database, reCAPTCHA and Akismet spam checks, Payment gateway framework for paid extensions ($), Extension licence activation ($), Multi-part forms extension ($) |
| Integrations | ||
| Payment | — | PayPal and Stripe gateways ($) |
| Mailchimp | — | |
| E-commerce | WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads | — |
| Plugins | Contact Form 7, WPForms, Gravity Forms | — |
| Other | Procaptcha (Prosopo) | Google reCAPTCHA, hCaptcha, Akismet |
| Requires WordPress | 5.3 | 6.9 |
| Requires PHP | 7.4 | 7.4 |
| Tested up to | 7.1 | 7.1 |
| Phones home | No | Only if you agree |
| External services | js.prosopo.io, api.prosopo.io, api.mailchimp.com | api.ninjaforms.com, my.ninjaforms.com |
| Blocks | 2 | 2 |
| Shortcodes | — | 4 |