CaptainForm is a feature rich form WordPress plugin that boasts a lot of great features. I met up with the CaptainForm team at the Belfast WordCamp in September and was keen to look at their product further.
The plugin is free to download from WordPress.org, but the premium versions of the plugin unlock many additional features and options. You will be pleased to hear, however, that the free version is not too limited and offers more than enough for most website owners.
CaptainForm features a drag and drop form editor and a cool theming system that lets you change the way your forms are styled.
For me one of the coolest features of CaptainForm is the number of form creation process. You can choose from a number of pre-made form types as a starting position. From there you can change just about every setting you can think of.
I took some time to look at the plugin closely so that I could show you guys how the plugin worked in a detailed video review.
My Video Review of CaptainForm
In my video review I have tried to show you the main aspects of this plugin and how it works. I always do my best to make my videos in-depth and look at the strengths and weaknesses of the product being reviewed. I also make suggestions wherever applicable.
You can see my video review of CaptainForm below. I hope you enjoy the video :)
In preparation for my video review of CaptainForm I spent around two hours messing around with the plugin and I emailed a lot of questions to the developer to clarify certain things. For example, which features are only available in the free version and how certain features worked.
Please bear in mind that when I recorded my video review I had not tested CaptainForms on a live website. The plugin had been installed on my test WordPress installation. It simply was not practical for me to change all of the forms on this blog in order to test the plugin on a live website.
As such, certain features such as reports and submissions could not be highlighted properly in the review.
Pricing
The free version of CaptainForm is not limited in the way that some other contact form plugins are. You can use the plugin on as many websites as you wish and you still get access to all basic and advanced fields.
You are limited to three forms and fifteen fields. As you would expect, many features are not available in the free version, though the developers have been generous and given access to the file upload fields, all thirty form templates, three custom themes, and one custom rule (e.g. for conditional logic etc).
A backlink is also added in the free version, though this is a small price to pay for the features available in the plugin; particularly when you consider that CaptainForm gives support to free users.
All pro licenses of CaptainForm allow you to create an unlimited number of forms and use an unlimited number of fields. No backlink is required with these plans either.
Pro licenses also grant access to features such as custom notifications, custom auto-responders, multi-language forms, quiz functionality, custom SMTP, save and resume later, edit delivered message, request for approval, and form password protection. PDF and SMS notifications are included too.
There are some differences between the pro licences.
The apprentice plan at $35 per year gives updates and support for one website and allows you 5,000 secure entries per month and increases storage for file uploads from 100MB to 500MB. Five apps are included with this plan and three rules are available.
The master plan costs $95 per year offers updates for three websites and increases secure entries to 20,000 and storage to 2GB. There are no restrictions on the number of form rules you declare and you can add custom Javascript.
The most expensive plan is the hero plan. Retailing at $195 per year, the hero plan removes the restriction on website installations and unlocks all twenty-six apps, WordPress multisite support, and payment integration options. It also adds an option for coupon codes.
Final Thoughts
Without a doubt, CaptainForm deserves to be mentioned alongside the best contact form solutions available to WordPress users.
Their pricing plans are fair, though I do feel that payment integration options should be included in all of their pro plans and not just their most expensive one.
As always, my recommendation is to install the free version of the plugin first. I believe that most website owners will be really happy with what they can do in the free version.
The entry point to the pro version of CaptainForm is low. $35 per year is cheap for what the plugin offers.
Have a play around with the free version and then see what functionality you need before upgrading. This will help you determine which package you should upgrade to when you are ready.
Good luck.
Kevin