Are you looking to add a member directory to your WordPress website?
Adding a directory to your membership site can help boost your community engagement. It encourages new members to join and make it easy for them to reach out to each other.
In this article, we will show you how to create a searchable member directory in WordPress.
Why Create a Searchable Member Directory in WordPress?
A membership site often brings together users who share common interests. You can create a sense of community on your WordPress website by making it easy for your members to communicate with one another about their shared interests.
You can do this by creating a membership directory. This is a searchable list of the members on your site. It allows your members to see other members’ profiles and contact details.
This will boost your website’s credibility and make it more valuable to your members. It may even help your members feel important and recognized.
However, to protect their privacy, you may want to require each member to opt in before their personal information is displayed in the directory.
While you can use any method to create a membership site, we recommend the MemberPress plugin. It offers advanced membership features and integrates well with the Formidable Forms Directory addon used in this tutorial.
How to Create a Searchable Member Directory in WordPress
The best way to create a member directory is by using the Formidable Forms plugin. It comes with advanced features that let you format, filter, and display user-submitted data on the front end of your website, including your members’ profile information.
It is one of the best user registration plugins for WordPress on the market and can help you easily create a member directory using an addon. Plus, it integrates with MemberPress to give you complete control over your directory’s appearance and functionality.
You can use Formidable Forms to create a profile form where members can enter their information and opt in to the directory. You can also use it to display the searchable member directory itself.
Besides that, you will also be able to use Formidable Forms for all sorts of other purposes on your website, such as creating a booking form or web directory, allowing your clients to request a quote, and more.
With that in mind, let’s see how to create a searchable member directory using the Formidable Forms plugin.
1. Installing Formidable Forms on Your Membership Site
The first thing you need to do is install and activate Formidable Forms Lite, which is the free version of the plugin. Formidable Forms Lite acts as the base for the advanced features of the Pro version.
Next, you will need to visit the Formidable Directory page and click the ‘Get Formidable Directory’ button. You will then be prompted to purchase the Elite plan, which includes the Directory addon.
Before leaving the Formidable website, you will need to copy your license key. You can find it by clicking ‘Account’ at the top of the page.
Now return to your website and navigate to Formidable » Global Settings. Once there, simply click the link that says ‘Click to enter a license key manually’ to paste your license key and then click the ‘Save License’ button.
You are now ready to create a member directory in WordPress.
2. Creating the Formidable Member Directory Application
Next, you must navigate to Formidable » Applications from the WordPress admin sidebar. This page will show you the available application templates.
Once there, you need to find the Member Directory application and click the ‘+ Add’ button to install it.
This will open a popup that describes the Member Directory application.
Simply click the ‘Install Application’ button to continue.
Next, you will be asked to give the application a name.
For this tutorial, we will leave the default name, ‘Member Directory’, and then click the ‘Install Application’ button to continue.
Formidable Forms will now create the pages, forms, and views needed for your member directory. The pages are saved as drafts, so you can customize them before they go live.
Now you need to click the ‘Open Application’ button. This will open the Member Directory application page, where you can customize and publish your directory.
You have now created a ‘User Directory Profile’ form that your members can fill out on the ‘Add a Member’ page.
There is also a ‘Member Directory’ page where you can view the directory in a table view or grid view.
3. Customizing the Member Profile Form and ‘Add a Member’ Page
Next, you may wish to add or remove some fields from the ‘User Directory Profile’ form. This is the form that your members must fill in to be included in the directory.
You may also want to add some instructions to the page where the profile form is displayed before you publish it.
Customizing the ‘User Directory Profile’ Form
The ‘User Directory Profile’ form contains all of the fields needed for most member profiles. You can customize it by clicking the ‘User Directory Profile’ link or hovering your mouse over it and then clicking on ‘Edit’.
This will open the form editor. You will see a preview of the form on the right and the available fields on the left.
The form includes contact details, social links, and more. Some of the fields will be filled in automatically using information from the member’s WordPress user profile. This includes their name, email address, and bio.
To add new fields, simply drag them onto the form from the ‘Add Fields’ column on the left.
You can change the options of a field by clicking on it. This will open the ‘Field Options’ tab on the left, where you can customize the field by changing its settings.
You will find options for the field’s default value in the ‘Advanced’ section. Here you can choose the default value from a list of smart tags. This will take information that the user has already added to their WordPress profile so that it doesn’t have to be entered twice.
When you scroll to the bottom of the form, you will notice it already includes fields for social links and an option where the member can choose to be included in the directory.
Once you have finished customizing the form, simply click the ‘Save Profile’ button to store your changes.
Customizing the ‘Add a Member’ Page
Next, you will need to customize and publish the ‘Add a Member’ page that will display the profile form on your website.
You may need to navigate back to Formidable » Applications » Member Directory to see the page. Then, simply click the ‘Add a Member’ link, or hover over it and click ‘Edit.’
This will open the ‘Add a Member’ page in the WordPress content editor. It simply contains the page title and the Formidable form that you were just looking at.
If you like, you can give the page a different title, such as ‘Join Our Member Directory’.
If you would like to add some instructions before the form, then you should click on the page title and press the Enter key. This will create a new block where you can type those instructions.
When you are happy with the page, then simply click the ‘Publish’ button at the top of the screen to push the page live on your website.
4. Customizing the ‘Member Directory’ Page
Now you can customize and publish the member directory itself. You will need to choose whether to display the members in a grid or table. Then, you must also publish the page so that it is visible on your website.
Customizing the ‘Member Directory’ Page
First, just go back to Formidable » Applications and click on your member directory application.
You will need to publish the draft ‘Member Directory’ page. However, before doing that, you can decide whether that page should display the directory in a grid or table format.
Simply click on the ‘Member Directory’ page to open it in the WordPress editor.
The page contains just the title and the following shortcode that displays the directory:
[display-frm-data id=dir-two-col-grid]
By default, the shortcode will display the directory in a two-column grid.
You can preview the page to see how it will look.
Alternatively, you can display your member directory in a table format.
To do that, you will need to use this shortcode instead:
[display-frm-data id=dir-table-listing-view]
You can preview the page again to see the changes.
This time each member will be displayed on a single line with their information in columns.
Whichever shortcode you choose, clicking on ‘View Profile’ will show you more detailed information about that member.
If you like, you can add additional content to the page. Just make sure to click the ‘Publish’ button to push your member directory live on your website when you are finished.
Adding the Member Directory Pages to Your Navigation Menu
You can make it easier for your members to find or join the directory by adding the ‘Add a Member’ and ‘Member Directory’ pages to your website’s navigation menu.
Also, depending on the type of membership site you have, you may want only your logged-in members to be able to see the ‘Add a Member’ and ‘Member Directory’ pages.
If so, then you will need to create a rule so that only members get access to the pages.
We show you how to do that step by step in our ultimate guide on creating a WordPress membership site. You will just need to scroll down and read Step 6 to learn how to create a MemberPress rule and Step 7 to learn how to add members-only content.
5. Deleting the Sample Data in Your Member Directory
Your member directory contains the sample data that you can see in the screenshots used in this tutorial. This is helpful when setting up your member directory because it lets you see how the profiles will look.
But once you have finished setting up the directory, you will need to delete the sample data.
You need to navigate back to Formidable » Applications » Member Directory and click on the ‘User Directory Profile’ form.
Once the Formidable editor opens, click on the ‘Entries’ tab at the top of the screen to view the sample entries.
Most likely, the only entries listed will be the four sample members. In that case, simply click the ‘Delete All Entries’ button at the top of the screen. All members listed will be deleted.
However, if some of your real members have already created profiles, you must select the sample entries manually.
To do this, you will need to click the checkbox next to each sample member. Next, click the ‘Bulk Actions’ button at the top of the list and select ‘Delete’ from the drop-down menu.
Finally, click the ‘Apply’ button to delete the sample data. Your member directory will now only contain profiles from your real members.
Are you looking for a comparison between WPForms, Gravity Forms, and Formidable Forms?
These three are the best WordPress form plugins in the market. However, picking the right form builder can be challenging for many website owners.
In this article, we’ll compare WPForms vs Gravity Forms vs Formidable Forms and show which is the best.
Introduction to WordPress Form Plugins
WPForms, Gravity Forms, and Formidable Forms are among the most popular WordPress form plugins that you can use. Each of them offers unique features and allows you to add different forms to your website.
WPForms was launched in 2016 by Syed Balkhi (founder of WPBeginner) and Jared Atchison. Since its launch, over 5 million WordPress sites have been using the plugin. The goal of creating WPForms was to offer an easy and powerful form plugin. It takes the pain out of creating online forms by making the process beginner friendly.
Gravity Forms is created by the team at Rocketgenius. It is a WordPress plugin that lets you add forms to your WordPress site. The plugin also specializes in helping developers build complex form-related solutions.
Formidable Forms is another powerful WordPress form builder created by Steph Wells and Steve Wells. You can use it to create a wide range of forms from simple contact forms to advanced solutions-focused forms like mortgage calculators, directories, listing forms, and more. Formidable Forms is part of WPBeginner Growth Fund companies.
That being said, let’s compare these WordPress form plugins and find out which is the best for your use case. In our research, we tried dozens of WordPress form plugins, and have decided to compare these top 3 form plugins in the following criteria:
When it comes to picking a WordPress form plugin, it is essential to choose a tool that is easy to use. The form builder should allow users to easily customize their forms without the need to edit code or hire a developer.
Let’s see how the 3 plugins compare to each other for ease of use.
WPForms – Ease of Use
WPForms is a beginner-friendly form plugin for WordPress. It offers a drag-and-drop form builder that is very super simple to use.
You can easily customize any form by adding multiple form fields from the menu on your left. All you have to do is drag the field and drop it onto the form template.
WPForms also makes it very easy to add your forms anywhere on the WordPress website. The best part, you can do all this within the form builder. You can click the embed button, and WPForms will show you options for adding your form.
For instance, you can create a new page or select an existing one to embed your forms.
You can also manually add your form to any page or post using the WordPress block. Besides that, the plugin lets you use shortcodes to add a form to your WordPress website.
Gravity Forms – Ease of Use
Gravity Forms also offers a drag-and-drop form builder, and it lets you create all types of forms without editing code.
You can quickly rework your form from inside the WordPress dashboard. The form builder offers different form fields that you can add by simply placing them onto the template.
After creating a form, Gravity Forms also lets you easily embed it on your website. Just like WPForms and Formidable Forms, you get an option inside the drag-and-drop builder to add your form.
Gravity Forms also offers a WordPress block to easily embed your forms on any page or post. Plus, you can use shortcodes or add the forms manually anywhere on your site.
Formidable Forms – Ease of Use
Formidable Forms is a user-friendly plugin that to lets you customize your forms using a drag-and-drop form builder, just like WPForms and Gravity Forms.
You can simply drag any form field from the options on your left and place them on the template. The plugin also lets you rearrange the order of the fields by simply moving them up or down or side to side.
Formidable Forms makes it very easy to embed your forms anywhere on your website. You can use the Formidable Forms block to add the form to any post or page. Or click the embed button in the form builder to embed your forms.
Winner – Tie
When it comes to ease, all 3 plugins perform equally well. Each of them offers a drag-and-drop functionality, which lets you edit and customize forms with editing code easily. Plus, each plugin makes it very easy to embed the forms anywhere on the website.
WPForms has a slight edge because it leans on decisions over options by giving you over 600+ form templates and easy-to-use choices whereas Gravity Forms and Formidable Forms are built more for developers.
Form Templates
Form templates are another important factor to consider when choosing a form plugin for WordPress.
Templates help save time as you don’t have to create a form from scratch. You can quickly edit it according to your requirements or simply use the default template to add a form to your website.
Let’s see how WPForms vs Gravity Forms vs Formidable Forms stack up in terms of form templates.
WPForms – Form Templates
With WPForms, you get over 600 prebuilt form templates. Whether you’re looking to create a simple contact form, feedback form, request a quote form, payment form, or registration form, WPForms has you covered.
The plugin categorizes form templates into different categories in the form builder. For instance, you can find different templates for business operations, customer service, education, entertainment, event planning, feedback, health and wellness, and more.
Even in the free version of WPForms, you get a lot of form templates to get started.
Gravity Forms – Form Templates
Gravity Forms offers limited prebuilt form templates compared to WPForms and Formidable Forms.
You only get 15 form templates in the form builder. Some of these include a simple contact form, advanced contact form, donation form, eCommerce form, event registration form, survey, newsletter signup form, and more.
Formidable Forms – Form Templates
Formidable Forms offers over 175 WordPress form templates and examples you can use for your website.
What makes it different is that you get templates for advanced forms. For instance, you can create an advanced mortgage calculator form, net promoter score (NPS) survey form, car payment calculator form, life insurance calculator form, doctor visit form, signature forms, and more.
Besides that, you can find forms for payment collection, health and wellness, customer service, education, donations, event planning, and more.
Winner – WPForms
WPForms is a standout winner compared to Gravity Forms and Formidable Forms. You get the largest form template library in WPForms, with over 600 choices available. There are prebuilt templates for just about any type of form you want to create for your website.
Customization Options
A WordPress form plugin should allow you to edit and customize your form with ease. When selecting the right tool, you should look at the customization options the plugin offers.
Here’s a look at the different features offered by WPForms, Gravity Forms, and Formidable Forms.
WPForms – Customization Options
WPForms offers lots of customization options for your form. For starters, it offers different form fields that you can simply drag and drop from the menu on your left onto the template.
For instance, it offers standard fields like paragraph text, multiple choice, checkboxes, and more. Plus, you can add fancier fields like phone number, address, file upload, date/time, website, and more.
If you click on an existing form field, then you’ll see more options for customization.
You can edit the label of the field, make it a mandatory field, add smart logic, and more. For example, you can choose which payment methods to show in an order form and rearrange their order.
Instead of asking multiple questions at once, you can take the one-question-at-a-time approach. It will look like having a conversation face to face with a human, and boost form conversions.
Similarly, you can also use the lead forms addon to increase form conversions. It basically allows you to embed conversational forms on any page on your WordPress site.
WPForms offers more customization features like custom form landing pages similar to Google forms. You can create a distraction-free landing page for your form and get more conversions.
The plugin lets you add a title and description for the page, a header logo, and edit the page URL. You also get to change the background color of the page and choose a style to make your forms more appealing.
Other customization options offered by WPForms include a save and continue feature. This lets your users save the progress while filling out a form and continue later to complete it. You can allow users to sign your online forms using their mouse or touchscreen.
If you have lengthy forms, then you can use the multi-page feature to split them into different pages. Or you can use conditional logic to show different form fields based on the user’s responses.
Besides that, you can also customize the notification and confirmation settings for your form. In the notification settings, you can edit details like email addresses, subject lines, names, messages, and more.
Similarly, you can also edit the confirmation message a user will see when they submit a form. You can show a thank you message, show a page, or redirect people to a specific URL.
Gravity Forms – Customization Options
Gravity Forms offers different form fields to customize your form template.
These include standard fields, advanced fields, post fields, and pricing fields.
Just like WPForms and Formidable Forms, you can click on existing form fields to edit them further.
However, you’ll see a slight difference in the customization options. There are general settings for a field where you can change its label and add a description.
Other than that, you can edit the appearance of the field, change advanced settings like enabling field autocomplete, and add conditional logic.
Other than that, you also get control over different form settings. For example, you can edit the notifications and confirmations settings in the form builder.
You can also configure ‘Personal Data’ settings similar to WPForms. These allow you to prevent the storage of IP addresses during form submission. Plus, you can enable integration with other tools for exporting and erasing personal data, which is helpful in complying with data regulations like GDPR.
Formidable Forms – Customization Options
With the Formidable Forms drag-and-drop builder, you can easily customize your form with options such as prebuilt form fields that you add to your template.
What makes the plugin different from others is that it offers multiple form fields that will help you create advanced forms. For instance, you can add a user ID field, captcha, hidden field, appointments, lookup field, and more.
Besides that, you can easily edit each existing field in the template.
There are general options to change the label, add a CSS class, and more. Or you can view the advanced options to add a placeholder text, and description, edit the field size and allow maximum characters.
What’s different about Formidable Forms compared to WPForms and Gravity Forms is that it also offers different styles for your forms.
You can use the default style or choose from various options. This way, you can change the appearance of your forms without having to enter CSS code.
Other than that, you can also customize the form settings. For instance, the plugin lets you change the notification settings, and form permissions, and also allows form scheduling.
Winner – WPForms
After comparing all 3 plugins, we found WPForms to be the clear winner. It offers more customization features compared to Formidable Forms and Gravity Forms.
You can add different form fields, change their settings, rearrange them, and more using the drag-and-drop builder. Besides that, WPForms offers tons of features to make your form more appealing and boost conversions.
Additional Features and Integrations
Now that we’ve covered ease of use, templates, and customization options, let’s see how WPForms, Formidable Forms, and Gravity Forms compare in terms of additional features and integrations.
As a website owner, you’d want a WordPress plugin that easily works with third-party tools, payment services, and email marketing services. Here’s what each plugin has to offer.
WPForms – Additional Features and Integrations
WPForms offers lots of premium addons and integrations that extend its functionality and benefits.
For instance, you can accept file uploads with its post-submission addon. This way, users can easily submit content on the front end of your site without requiring access to the WordPress dashboard.
Similarly, you get addons for geolocation data and see where your form users are from. The user journey addon can show you the pages and posts people visited before submitting a form.
The plugin also offers a form abandonment addon that captures partial entries for a form. You can then recover those entries and encourage users to complete a form.
Aside from this, WPForms provides more addons for creating custom Captcha, allowing digital signatures, locking WordPress forms, creating interactive form layouts, and more.
Another advantage of using WPForms compared to other plugins is that it easily integrates with different tools and plugins. For example, you can use it with popular email marketing tools like Drip, Mailchimp, and Constant Contact.
The plugin also supports payment gateways like Stripe, PayPal, Square, and Authorize.Net. You can also integrate WPForms with CRMs such as Salesforce and HubSpot.
Gravity Forms – Additional Features and Integrations
Gravity Forms also offers different addons that can help you get the most out of the plugin. However, the list is not as expansive as WPForms, and you’d have to pay extra to use third-party extensions.
You get additional features for setting up user registrations, creating surveys and polls, tracking users’ geolocation, collecting partial form entries, allowing signatures, and more.
Besides that, Gravity Forms also offers integrations with different tools and plugins.
You can easily integrate email marketing tools like AWeber, Constant Contact, Mailgun, and more. Plus, you can add anti-spam solutions like Akismet and reCAPTCHA.
Other integrations include Google Analytics, Dropbox, Zapier, Trello, ActiveCampaign, HelpScout, PayPal Checkout, 2Checkout, and Stripe.
Formidable Forms – Additional Features and Integrations
Formidable Forms offers different addons and integration features. Most of the additional features are similar to WPForms and Gravity Forms.
However, what makes Formidable Forms different is that you get several powerful features to create advanced forms, set up web applications, show stats on the front end, and more.
For instance, the plugin offers a form action automation feature to schedule email notifications, SMS messages, and other actions. It also offers API webhooks that let you send submissions to REST APIs.
It also offers a visual views addon that lets you display data from form entries on the front end of your website. You can create web apps to display form submissions in tables, grids, calendars, and other views.
This is great for showing testimonials and product reviews, adding a user-submitted events calendar, and displaying useful statistics.
Besides that, Formidable Forms also lets you create applications for your website. It offers prebuilt templates that include different forms, views, and pages for your application. Simply select a template, and the plugin will take care of the rest.
You can create different applications, such as product reviews, real estate listings, testimonials, restaurant menus, certificates, and more.
For example, you can offer professional certificates in just a few clicks. Simply choose the certificate application template, and Formidable Forms will automatically add a form with a certificate generator on your website.
It will also add views for the certificate and certificate of completion, which users can see on the front end.
Other advanced features offered by Formidable Forms include converting WordPress forms to PDF, mapping form fields to PDF form fields, quizzes, repeater fields, SMS voting, front-end editing, and more.
Other than that, you can also integrate Formidable Forms with different payment services, email marketing tools, CRMs, and third-party plugins. It even works with Uncanny Automator and Zapier, so you can connect Formidable Forms to services like Asana, Slack, and Dropbox.
The best part about using Formidable Forms is that you get all the advanced features in one place, with everything included in a single pricing plan. If you were to use Gravity Forms, then you’d need to subscribe to multiple third-party addons.
For example, you’d need the basic Gravity Forms plan along with other extensions like Gravity PDF, File Upload Pro, Gravity View, Gravity Math, and so on. This can add to your overall cost and make it very expensive to use Gravity Forms.
Winner – Formidable Forms
While each plugin offers multiple additional features and integrations, Formidable Forms is the standout winner. It offers more advanced features that you can use to display form results on the front end, create complex forms, convert forms to PDF, create web applications, and use various addons to help users create form solutions for any scenario.
WPForms gets an honorary mention for marketing-related features, like form abandonment and digital signatures. It also integrates with popular email services, CRM software, tracking tools, payment gateways, and other plugins.
Pricing Plans
The next parameter we will compare WPForms vs Gravity Forms vs Formidable Forms is that of pricing. Let’s see which plugin offers the most value for money.
WPForms – Pricing
WPForms offers 4 different pricing plans suitable for all types of businesses. These include a Basic plan, which costs $49.50 per year, and you can use it for 1 website. It also offers all the essential features like premium templates, entry management, and file uploads.
If you want to use the plugin on more websites and require marketing integrations, then WPForms offers a Plus plan for $99.50 per year.
On the other hand, there is a Pro plan that includes everything from the Basic and Plus plans. It includes payment addons, conversion tools, and other advanced form features. This will close you $199.50 per year.
Lastly, there is an Elite plan for $299.50 per year, which has everything. You get to use it on unlimited websites and get all the features and integrations WPForms has to offer. Each premium plan comes with 14-day money back guarantee.
The best part, there is also a WPForms Lite version you can use for free. You get multiple form templates, standard fields for customization, spam protection, and other features.
Gravity Forms – Pricing Plans
Gravity Forms offer 3 premium plans, which include the Basic License, Pro License, and Elite License.
With the Basic License plan, you can use the plugin on 1 website. You also get addons for email marketing tools and spam protection services. This plan will cost you $59 per year.
Next, there is a Pro License plan that offers more addons. For instance, you get to integrate more email marketing services, CRMs, payment gateways, and third-party services. This plan will cost $159 per year.
Lastly, Gravity Forms offers an Elite License plan that includes all the features from the Basic and Pro plans. In addition to that, Elite plan users also get access to features like polls, quizzes, digital signatures, surveys, geolocation, and more. The Elite plan is available for $259 per year.
That said, Gravity Forms doesn’t offer a free version, like WPForms or Formidable Forms. You’d also need to pay extra to use different third-party addons and extensions.
Formidable Forms – Pricing Plans
Formidable Forms lets you choose from 4 pricing plans. It starts with a Basic plan, costing $39.50 per year. You get 50+ form templates and basic features like conditional logic and file uploads.
Besides that, there is a Plus plan for $99.50 per year, and it offers more form templates and features. For instance, you get the Formidable Views feature, landing pages, and integration with Mailchimp, MailPoet Newsletters, and AWeber.
Next, it offers a Business plan that includes over 150 form templates, premium addons, more integrations, and additional features. This plan will cost you $199.50 per year.
Lastly, there is an Elite plan for $299.50 per year, and it includes all the features and integrations. You get all the templates and support for third-party tools like Salesforce, ActiveCampaign, and HubSpot.
Formidable Forms also offers a free version. You can get started for free and get features like drag and drop form builder, basic form templates, and standard form fields for customization.
Winner – WPForms and Formidable Forms
When it comes to offering the most value for money, both WPForms and Formidable Forms clearly stand out when compared to Gravity Forms.
Both of them offer 4 different pricing plans for businesses of all sizes. Plus, you get a free version, which helps small website owners, bloggers, and others to create WordPress forms without a considerable investment. You also don’t have to pay more to use multiple addons and advanced features.
Which is the Best WordPress Form Plugin?
WPForms, Gravity Forms, and Formidable Forms are some of the best WordPress form plugins you can get your hands on today.
However, we believe that WPForms is the best plugin for creating forms for your WordPress website. It is super easy to use and offers tons of features.
You get over 600 form templates, a drag-and-drop form builder, multiple form fields for customization, and additional settings to edit your form. Plus, there are different premium addons that allow you to expand the functionality of WPForms.
Not to mention, there is a WPForms Lite version available for free. It also includes lots of form templates and customization features. You can quickly create forms for your website using the free plugin.
On the other hand, if you’re a developer looking to save time on developing complex and advanced WordPress forms, then Formidable Forms is the perfect solution. You can create calculators and web applications, convert forms to PDF, and much more without editing code.
