5 Best WordPress Request a Quote Plugins (Instant Quotes)

Are you looking for the best request a quote plugin for your WordPress website or WooCommerce store?

Some businesses may not be able to list prices on their website. A request a quote form allows your customers to ask for a quote by providing the information you need to determine the price.

In this article, we will share some of the best WordPress ‘request a quote’ plugins that you can use to make more sales through your website.

The best 'request a quote' plugins for WordPress

Why Use a Request a Quote Plugin for WordPress?

Some products and services can’t be easily priced without some details from the customer.

For instance, if you provide a lawn care service, then your price will vary depending on the size of the lawn, existing condition, and other factors. You might also offer optional extras, such as creating decorative borders.

Similarly, if you sell custom-made furniture in your online store, then the prices will vary based on the customers’ requirements.

Some companies share their complex custom pricing in a table, which can confuse customers.

Others ask customers to email for a quote. But customers might not send all the information that’s needed.

The best solution is to use the request a quote WordPress plugin. Depending on the plugin you choose, this might be able to provide an instant quote.

Alternatively, you can simply respond to the customer by email once you have received their request.

Note: This article is about price quotations for a product or service. To display or rotate interesting quotes on your site, see our guide on showing random quotes in your sidebar.

With that said, let’s take a look at the best request a quote plugins for WordPress and WooCommerce stores.

1. WPForms

Is WPForms the best form builder plugin for WordPress?

WPForms is the best contact form plugin for WordPress. It lets you easily add any online form to your WordPress website using a simple drag-and-drop form builder.

It includes 1000+ ready-to-use templates, including a Request a Quote form and other types of quote forms. You can use a template as a starting point to quickly build your form and then customize it to match your specific requirements.

WPForms’ Conditional Logic feature lets you show specific fields based on the information that the customer gives you. For instance, you could create a form that shows different options based on the service that your customer requests.

There’s also a powerful Calculations addon for generating dynamic quotes. This allows customers to get accurate and customized pricing estimates in real-time, which results in fewer leads being lost to competitors.

In addition, it lets you make special Conversational Forms that take a ‘one question at a time’ approach. This can help reduce form abandonment rates by making your form feel easy and attractive to your customers.

You can create lots of other types of forms with WPForms, too. For instance, you can use it to run a survey on your website or create a payment form.

Price:

WPForms starts at $49.50/year, which includes features like smart conditional logic and advanced form fields. To get calculations, conversational forms, and the ability to accept online payments with no additional fees, you need the WPForms Pro package for $199.50/year.

There’s also a free version of WPForms, which lets you create simple forms and accept Stripe payments (3% transaction fee).

2. Wholesale Suite (Order Form and Prices Premium)

Wholesale Suite Plugins

Wholesale Suite Order Form and Wholesale Prices Premium are great options if you are using WooCommerce on your website.

These plugins let you offer wholesale pricing and provide an instant quote so that customers can buy straight away.

If you sell bulk products to wholesale customers, then these plugins make it much easier for users to order from your store.

With the Wholesale Suite Order Form plugin, your products are all displayed in a searchable and sortable WooCommerce table. This means your whole product catalog can be seen on a single page.

You can then offer discounted wholesale prices in your quote using the Wholesale Prices Premium plugin. The plugin also lets you set minimum purchase rules. You can also discount by a percentage based on the product’s category.

Wholesale Suite’s plugins also integrate with several popular WordPress and WooCommerce plugins.

Price:

Each plugin costs $49.50/year for a single site license. Or, you can purchase a plugin bundle for $148.50/year.

3. Formidable Forms

The Formidable Forms plugin's website

Formidable Forms is an advanced form plugin for WordPress. It has powerful features that can be used to create online calculators.

You can use Formidable Forms’ Request a Quote form to instantly calculate a quote for the customer. Because of Formidable Forms’ flexibility, it’s easy to add as many variables as you want.

The quote that Formidable Forms produces can then be emailed to your customer. It can even be included in a booking form, so your customer can book and pay for your service or product at the same time.

There are plenty of other forms you can create using Formidable Forms, too. For instance, you could use it to create a quiz for your WordPress site.

Formidable Forms also comes with visual design tools that let you make your request a quote form look great.

Price:

Formidable Forms starts at $39.50/year for the Basic plan.

4. YITH WooCommerce Request a Quote

YITH WooCommerce Request a Quote

YITH WooCommerce Request a Quote hides the price and/or the Add to Cart buttons for selected products in your WooCommerce store. Instead of these buttons, it gives your customers the option to request a quote for the product.

Customers can choose from the options you set. You can even allow them to upload files. For instance, if you provide printing services, then you could ask the customer to upload their print-ready files when they request the quote.

The plugin also supports product variations, letting you add specific variations to the quote list.

When you are ready, it’s quick and easy to respond to the customer with a quote. The customer will receive this in a nicely formatted email.

The whole process can be managed through your WordPress dashboard. Here, you can see quote requests, pending quotes, payments, and more.

Price:

YITH WooCommerce Request a Quote costs $79.99/year. There’s also a free version of the plugin with limited features.

5. Request a Quote for WooCommerce

Request a Quote plugin for WooCommerce

Request a Quote for WooCommerce is an official WooCommerce plugin. It lets your customer add products to a quote basket as they would normally add products to their cart.

You can customize the quote button text, the quote submission messages, and more. You can also automatically redirect the customer to a specified page on your site after they submit their request for a quote.

Request a Quote for WooCommerce is a great option if you have personalized products that range in price depending on what the customer wants.

You can also use this plugin to sell to wholesale, B2B, or retail customers.

Price:

Request a Quote for WooCommerce costs $5.75/month (billed annually).

Bonus: WP Simple Pay

Is WP Simple Pay the right Stripe payment plugin for your WordPress website?

Once your customer has received their quote, they will need a way to pay for it. This is where WP Simple Pay comes in.

WP Simple Pay is the best Stripe payment plugin for WordPress. It lets you accept one-time and recurring payments online with nearly a dozen payment methods.

It comes with ready-made form templates to add to your WordPress site in one click. WP Simple Pay also has a quote payment form template that lets your clients easily pay for their quotes.

The form templates are customizable with their built-in form builder. You can add or remove fields from your quote form and also customize the quote amount.

Price:

WP Simple Pay costs $49.50/year. Their professional plan costs 199.50/year, including payment pages and advanced subscription options.

We hope this article helped you learn about the best request a quote plugins for WordPress. You may also want to check out our other WordPress guides for your business website.

Best WordPress Guides for Business Sites

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The post 5 Best WordPress Request a Quote Plugins (Instant Quotes) first appeared on WPBeginner.

7 Best Tip Jar Plugins for WordPress

Do you want to collect donations on your WordPress website?

Tip jar plugins allow both non-profits and content creators to make money from their sites. They make it easy for users to give you a donation if they like your content or what you are offering.

In this article, we will share the best tip jar plugins for WordPress (with their pros and cons).

Best Tip Jar Plugins for WordPress

Why Use a Tip Jar on Your Website?

A virtual tip jar is pretty similar to a real tip jar. It’s a way for your audience to give you a few dollars as a “thank you” for your work.

There are lots of reasons why you might use one. Maybe:

  • You are a musician, artist, or writer. You share your work freely online, but you’d like some extra funding.
  • You create free software. You want to give your users a chance to support you so you can keep providing the software for free.
  • You run a virtual class online that you don’t charge for. Donations would help you keep it going.
  • You want to experiment with a tip jar as a way to make money online from your blog.

Tip jars are mini donation forms. They are often placed in the sidebar of a website, making them easily visible.

You want your tip jar to be as simple as possible. That way, people will be more likely to use it.

Using the right tip jar plugin is very important because some of these plugins can offer other useful features based on your needs.

Note: Some tip jar plugins will require you to use an SSL certificate. We strongly recommend this regardless of whether it’s required or not. If you don’t yet have an SSL certificate, then our tutorial on how to get a free SSL certificate takes you through the process of getting one.

With that said, let’s take a look at the best tip jar plugins for WordPress.

1. Charitable

Charitable

Charitable is a powerful fundraising and donation plugin for WordPress, used by over 10,000+ non-profits to raise money online.

It’s not just for non-profits, though. You can also use Charitable as a tip jar to accept donations for your personal cause or project.

Pros of Charitable

Charitable is easy to use, and you can set up your first fundraising campaign in less than 5 minutes.

You can create custom donation forms to suit your exact needs, and you are able to set up as many fundraisers as you like. If you have multiple campaigns, then you can display them as a collection on any page or post of your WordPress website.

You can start accepting donations right away via PayPal or connect to premium payment gateways like Stripe, Authorize.net, Braintree, Windcave, and others.

Cons of Charitable

You can accept donations with their basic plan, but if you want to set up recurring donations, then you will need the Charitable Plus plan. And it’s a little bit expensive.

While the Charitable Plus plan comes with advanced features like anonymous donations, it will only work on a single WordPress site. So, if you have multiple websites, then this may not be the right choice.

Why Do We Recommend Charitable?

Charitable is a popular WordPress donation plugin. It’s trusted by thousands of users to accept online donations.

The Charitable plugin also seamlessly integrates with Easy Digital Downloads. This lets you easily sell digital products like eBooks to raise money for your cause.

There are also premium addons available, including recurring donations, peer-to-peer fundraising, crowdfunding, anonymous donations, and more.

Pricing

Charitable has a free version with limited features. Paid plans start at $99/year for unlimited campaigns, unlimited donors, and no transaction fees.

2. WPForms

WPForms plugin

WPForms is the best WordPress forms plugin, used by over 6 million website owners. You can use it to create a tip jar as a form and customize it to match your brand needs.

It’s one of the most popular WordPress plugins and comes with thousands of ready-made templates. These templates let you create any type of WordPress form in one click, including a contact form, survey form, registration form, donation form, and more.

Pros of WPForms

The WPForms plugin has a beginner-friendly interface. Plus, you can use the WPForms Donation Form template to create your tip jar quickly.

It supports Stripe, PayPal, Square, and Authorize.net to accept donations on your website. You can use it to accept one-time or recurring donations.

You can add the WPForms tip jar anywhere on your website, including standalone pages, sidebars, the footer area, and more.

Cons of WPForms

The recurring donation option is only available with the WPForms Pro and Elite plans. So, you have to pay for the Pro plan to add a tip jar to your WordPress site.

While it’s a little expensive, the WPForms Pro plan comes with more payment options, advanced addons, and more. So it’s worth buying anyway.

Why Do We Recommend WPForms?

WPForms is simple and beginner-friendly. The plugin is built for anyone who wants to add forms to their WordPress site.

When it comes to donations and tip jars, WPForms makes it easy for you to offer something in return for donations.

For example, if you are a musician, then you can offer an exclusive recording that isn’t publicly available. Or, if you are a software designer, then you could give users access to the beta version of your new software.

This helps increase your donations and fill up your tip jar quickly.

To offer your freebie, you can integrate your donation form with your email marketing service. This lets you set up an autoresponder to thank people for their donations and give them a freebie.

Moreover, WPForms isn’t just for tip jars. It has a multipurpose approach, ease of use, and affordable pricing plans.

Pricing

WPForms Pro, which costs $199.50 per year using our exclusive WPForms coupon, lets you accept one-time and recurring donations with no additional transaction fees.

If you are a non-profit, then you can get an additional discount through the WPForms Care program, which offers special pricing on WordPress forms for non-profits.

There’s also a limited free version that lets you accept donations via Stripe, but there’s a 3% transaction fee.

Alternative: If you are looking to create a simple form that accepts tips, then we also recommend WP Simple Pay. It’s the best Stripe payment form plugin for WordPress. There’s also a free version of WP Simple Pay that you can use to get started.

3. GiveWP

GiveWP

GiveWP, also known as Give, is a fantastic, fully-featured donations plugin for WordPress.

It’s one of the best plugins for nonprofits, but you can also use it for yourself or your for-profit business.

Pros of GiveWP

There are loads of different options with GiveWP. For example, you can allow donors to donate in their own currency. You can also accept recurring donations.

You can create goals to fundraise up to a certain point. This could work really well if you are offering your audience something new once you reach your goal.

For instance, if you are a nonfiction author, then you might promise to release a chapter of your upcoming book for free once you reach $1,000 in donations.

GiveWP can be connected to a whole range of payment gateways. These include Stripe, Authorize.net, PayPal, 2Checkout, Braintree, Mollie, Paytm, PayFast, Square, AmeriCloud, Paymill, and many more.

Cons of GiveWP

With GiveWP, you can install many different addons to give you extra features. But you only get the basic addons with the Basic plan. You will need to buy the GiveWP Plus or Pro plan to access premium addons.

The recurring donation feature is only available with the GiveWP Plus plan and above. Unlike WPForms and Charitable, the GiveWP Plus plan is more expensive and may not include the features you get with other tip jar plugins on our list.

Why Do We Recommend GiveWP?

It’s easy to get started with GiveWP. As soon as you install and activate the plugin, you will be taken through the quick start guide.

GiveWP lets you customize your donation forms. But if having full control over your donation form is a crucial feature for you, then WPForms might be a better fit.

Pricing

GiveWP has a limited free version. Paid plans start from $149/year, and the Plus version gives you access to all addons for $349/year.

4. PayPal Donations

Donations via PayPal

PayPal Donations is a simple and free WordPress plugin that lets you get donations through PayPal. It’s very easy to set up.

You can create a tip jar and add it to your sidebar or footer using the PayPal Donations widget.

Pros of PayPal Donations

If you want to add a tip jar quickly, then this might be the plugin for you. It’s free, which could be a big advantage if you are not expecting to get many donations.

You can choose the currency that you want to use for the tips. You can also set a default amount for donations if you want.

Plus, the plugin lets you enter a “thank you” page URL for your users to go to after adding money to your tip jar.

Cons of PayPal Donations

As you might expect from the name, the PayPal Donations plugin only takes donations through PayPal. If you want more payment options for your tip jar, then you will need to use a different plugin from our list.

Why Do We Recommend PayPal Donations?

The PayPal Donations plugin is well worth a look if you want to keep things as simple as possible.

It lets you create a custom PayPal donate button or use one of the built-in buttons. The donors can simply click on the donate button and check out using their PayPal account.

Pricing

PayPal Donations is a free plugin.

5. Tip Jar WP

The Tip Jar WP plugin on the WordPress website

Tip Jar WP is a relatively new plugin, first released in July 2019. Since then, it has helped users make over $1 million through their WordPress websites.

While it doesn’t have the full functionality of premium plugins like WPForms or GiveWP, it’s still a great option for creating tip jars on your WordPress site.

Pros of Tip Jar WP

Tip Jar WP is designed to make the donation process as seamless as possible for your donors. It’s also easy to use, as there’s a simple guided setup process.

The default form is nicely designed and easy to use. You can put it anywhere, such as in your sidebar or footer.

You can add your form to a page or post using WordPress’s block editor, or you can put it in your sidebar using a shortcode.

Cons of Tip Jar WP

Although the Tip Jar WP plugin has many features, it doesn’t integrate with PayPal. And PayPal is a very popular payment option.

You may find that your users are happy to pay through credit card or the supported mobile device methods, but they might prefer the PayPal option.

Another drawback is that the plugin charges a 1% commission on your transactions, even when it’s a donation.

Why Do We Recommend Tip Jar WP?

Tip Jar WP works with all WordPress page builders. The responsive design means it will look good on mobile devices as well.

You can use Tip Jar WP to take recurring payments, such as a donation every week or month. It offers multiple currencies so that donors can use their own currency.

You can take payments by credit card. The tip jar form can also tell whether your user’s device supports Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Microsoft Pay. It will then show your visitor the appropriate option if they have it enabled on their device.

Pricing

Tip Jar WP is a free plugin. It takes 1% of your donations as a transaction fee, though. If you receive a high number of donations, then a different plugin could work out more cost-effective.

6. Buy Me a Coffee

The Buy Me a Coffee tip jar plugin on the WordPress website

The Buy Me a Coffee plugin is provided by the online platform Buy Me a Coffee. You will need to create an account in order to use it, which is free.

Your donors can use PayPal, a credit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, or other methods to send you a donation.

Pros of Buy Me a Coffee

Buy Me a Coffee is a free tip jar plugin. It has a simple WordPress widget that appears on your site as soon as you install the plugin.

Note: A bit confusingly, what Buy Me a Coffee calls their “widget” isn’t a WordPress widget you add to your sidebar. Instead, once you activate it, it will appear in the bottom right of all your website’s pages as a little coffee cup that expands when clicked.

However, you can also add a button to your sidebar using the Buy Me a Coffee WordPress widget in Appearance » Widgets.

It lets you take both one-off and recurring donations. You can also use it to reward donors with exclusive content or even to sell digital products.

Cons of Buy Me a Coffee

One drawback is that there isn’t much documentation for the WordPress plugin (as opposed to the online platform). Also, some users reported having difficulties reaching customer support.

The second drawback is that it charges a 5% commission on all your transactions, which can be a lot if you get multiple donations.

Why Do We Recommend Buy Me a Coffee?

The Buy Me a Coffee plugin has a widget that looks great out of the box.

It’s also easy to customize, meaning you can change the color with a single click in your WordPress dashboard. You can also change the text.

You can’t alter the donation amounts, though. Your supporters can only pay in multiples of $3.

Pricing

Buy Me a Coffee is free, but it takes a 5% transaction fee from all your donations. It could be worth it if you want to use all of the online platform’s features.

7. Formidable Forms

The Formidable Forms plugin's website

Formidable Forms is another good option for creating a tip jar in WordPress.

While Formidable Forms is a great form plugin, it isn’t quite as beginner-friendly as WPForms. It’s more geared toward developers and experienced WordPress users.

Pros of Formidable Forms

You can use Formidable Forms for your tip jar. The easiest way to do this is to use the “PayPal Donation” template, which is a pre-built form you can customize however you want.

If you want to do something complicated or unusual with your tip jar, then Formidable Forms might be the best option for you.

It offers a lot of power and flexibility. Like WPForms, you can also use it to create lots of other types of forms.

Cons of Formidable Forms

Formidable Forms is definitely a complex plugin built for developers and experienced users.

While the cost is low for the basic plan, you will need to pay for a higher plan to get access to payment options like PayPal.

Why Do We Recommend Formidable Forms?

Formidable Forms is a great WordPress plugin for adding a tip jar to your site. It comes with a recurring payment option, popular payment methods, form templates, and third-party integrations.

The plugin is a good option for developers who want to build complex forms. It offers smart conditional logic and form styling options to customize your tip jar form to match your brand.

Pricing

Formidable Forms has a basic plan that costs $39.50 per year. To use PayPal, though, you will need a Business license that costs $199.50 per year. They offer a 14-day money-back guarantee.

There’s a limited free version available on the WordPress.org repository.

Bonus: WP Simple Pay

Is WP Simple Pay the right Stripe payment plugin for your WordPress website?

WP Simple Pay is the best WordPress Stripe payment plugin that can serve as a tip jar plugin. It comes with multiple donation options, including recurring donations, custom donation amounts, and more.

It also includes a donation form template that you can quickly add to your site. The donation form template is easy to customize using WP Simple Pay’s advanced form builder.

The plugin lets you insert a dropdown, radio buttons, and custom fields to add donation amounts. With multiple payment integrations, it’s easy to collect donations online.

Pricing

WP Simple Pay has a free version (that charges a 3% transaction fee). The premium plans start at $49.50/year with no transaction fees.

Which Is the Best WordPress Tip Jar Plugin?

Any of these plugins could be a great option for your tip jar. The best one for you will depend on what you need.

For an easy donation form that you can put anywhere on your site, WPForms is a great choice. As a bonus, you can use it to create a contact form or add surveys and polls to your site.

If you need advanced features like the ability to manage and contact donors, then WP Charitable is a very reliable option. It’s specifically designed for non-profits and charitable organizations, too.

We hope this article helped you learn about the best tip jar plugins for WordPress. You may also like to take a look at our other WordPress guides that can help grow your donations.

Best WordPress Guides to Grow Your Donations

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post 7 Best Tip Jar Plugins for WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.

How to Add a BMI Calculator in WordPress (Step by Step)

Do you want to add a BMI calculator in WordPress?

If you offer health and fitness-related content, products, or services, then a BMI calculator could be helpful for your audience. It can improve the visitor experience and keep people on your WordPress site for longer.

In this article, we will show you how to easily add a BMI calculator in WordPress without any coding or math required.

Add a BMI Calculator in WordPress (Step by Step)

Why Add a BMI Calculator to WordPress?

BMI stands for Body Mass Index. It’s a rough measure of a person’s body fat based on their height and weight using the following calculation:

BMI = kg/m2

The kg is the person’s weight in kilograms, and m2 is their height in meters squared.

Alternatively, if you are working with imperial units, then you can use this formula, where lb is the weight in pounds, and in2 is their height in inches squared, multiplied by 703:

BMI = lb/in2 ∗ 703

A BMI reading can help your visitors, patients, or clients figure out whether they are underweight, overweight, or a healthy weight for their height. However, asking people to do the calculation themselves isn’t a good user experience.

This is where a BMI calculator comes in.

If you have started a health or fitness blog, then a BMI calculator can help visitors plan the next steps in their health journey. For example, someone who decides to reduce their BMI may sign up for your fitness tracker.

A BMI calculator can also encourage people to spend more time on your site. This can increase pageviews and decrease your bounce rate.

The more time someone spends on your site, the more likely they will convert. For example, they might book a trial at your CrossFit gym or buy exercise equipment from your online store.

With that in mind, let’s see how you can easily add a BMI calculator in WordPress. In this tutorial, we will cover two methods, and you can use the links below to jump to the method of your choice:

Method 1: Create a BMI Calculator With WPForms (Easy)

You can easily create a BMI calculator in WordPress with WPForms. It is the best calculator plugin on the market that comes with a drag-and-drop builder, 1300+ premade templates, and complete spam protection.

The plugin also offers a Calculations addon that lets you add any calculator form you like, including a BMI calculator, mortgage calculator, and age calculator.

First, you need to install and activate the WPForms plugin. For detailed instructions, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Note: WPForms has a free plan. However, you will need the pro plan of the plugin to unlock the Calculations addon.

Upon activation, head over to the WPForms » Settings page from the WordPress dashboard to enter your license key. You can find this information in your account on the WPForms website.

wpforms-license-key

After that, visit the WPForms » Addons page and locate the ‘Calculations Addon’.

Then, just click the ‘Install Addon’ button to activate it on your site.

Install and activate the Calculations addon

Next, you must head to the WPForms » Add New page from the WordPress admin sidebar.

Here, you can start by typing a name for the calculator form that you are about to create.

After that, find the ‘BMI Calculator Form’ template and click the ‘Use Template’ button under it.

Click the Use Template button under the BMI Calculator Form template

The WPForms form builder will now open on your screen, where you will notice a form preview on the right with form fields in the left column.

From here, you can add any field you like and drag and drop them to rearrange their order.

Next, click on the ‘Unit Of Measurement’ field to open its settings in the left column. Here, you will see that the BMI calculator gives users a choice between the imperial measurement system and the metric system.

However, if you only want to use a single measurement system in your calculator, then you can click on the (-) icon next to a system to remove it.

Keep in mind that using both measurement systems in your BMI calculator will help you cater to a wider audience.

Choose units of measurement for the form

After that, you will notice two different unit fields that will be shown to users once they select one of the units of measurement from the dropdown menu.

However, if you are using a single measurement system, then one of the unit fields won’t be necessary, and you can delete it.

For example, if you only offer BMI in imperial units, then you must delete the unit fields for height (cm) and weight (kg) because they are metric units.

Delete a layout field according to the measurement system you chose

Next, scroll down to the ‘BMI’ and ‘Verdict’ fields. These fields will automatically calculate the height and weight of the users and show them their BMI results.

If you delete any of these fields, then the BMI calculator form won’t be able to perform any calculations for you.

Once you are satisfied with your form, simply click on the ‘Save’ button at the top to store your changes.

Save your BMI calculator form

Next, open a page/post in the block editor where you want to add the BMI calculator.

From here, click the add block ‘+’ button to open the block menu and locate the WPForms block.

Once you do that, add the BMI calculator form from the dropdown menu within the block itself.

Add BMI calculator form to the page with the WPForms block

Finally, click the ‘Update’ or ‘Publish’ button to store your settings. Now, you can visit your WordPress website to view the BMI calculator in action.

Here, visitors can simply type in their weight and height, and the calculator will show their BMI and say whether they are underweight, healthy, overweight, or obese.

WPForms BMI calculator preview

Method 2: Create a BMI Calculator With Formidable Forms (Advanced)

If you want to show a BMI range within your calculator, then we recommend making a BMI calculator in WordPress with Formidable Forms instead.

It is an advanced form plugin with more calculation capabilities, including conditional calculations. It also has features like a ChatGPT field, dynamic fields, premade templates, and a drag-and-drop builder.

First, you need to install and activate the Formidable Forms plugin. For detailed instructions, you can see our beginner’s guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Note: Keep in mind that the ‘Calculator’ templates are only available in the pro plan of the plugin. However, you will still need to install Formidable Forms Lite because it provides the core foundation for the premium plugin’s more advanced features.

Upon activation, visit the Formidable » Global Settings page from the WordPress dashboard and select the ‘Click to enter a license key manually’ option.

You can find the key in your account on the Formidable Forms website. Once you enter the information, simply click the ‘Save License’ button to store your settings.

Enter the Formidable Forms license key

Next, you must visit the Formidable » Forms page from the WordPress dashboard.

Here, click the ‘+ Add New’ button to start building your calculator.

Adding a new calculator form

This will take you to the ‘Form Templates’ page. Here, you can click the ‘Calculator’ tab from the left column to view the 55+ calculator form templates, including an advanced mortgage calculator, percentage calculator, compound interest calculator, and more.

Go ahead and click the ‘Use Template’ button under the ‘BMI Calculator’ template.

Choose the BMI calculator template

This will open the form builder, where you will see a form preview on the right with form fields in the left column. You can now add any field to the form and drag and drop these fields to rearrange their order.

For example, the BMI calculator form template does not have a name field by default. But you can add it to the form from the left panel to collect more information about your users.

Add form fields of your choice in the BMI calculator from the left column

After that, you need to click on the ‘Unit of measurement’ field to open its settings in the left column.

From here, you can remove any of the two measurement systems (metric or imperial) by clicking on the (-) icon next to the systems.

However, if you want to keep both of them in the BMI calculator, then you can select one as the default measurement system.

Choose the default measurement system for the BMI calculator

On the other hand, if you decide to use only one measurement system for the calculator, then you will have to delete the unit value fields for the other system.

For instance, if you only want to work with the metric system, then you must delete the height (feet and inches) and weight (lbs) fields from the form.

To do this, simply click the three-dot icon on top of the field and then select the ‘Delete’ option.

Delete unit fields for the measurement system that you have removed

Next, you must scroll down to the ‘BMI’ field. This field will automatically calculate the BMI for your users and provide a verdict.

If you delete this field, then the BMI calculator won’t work. We recommend leaving it as is.

BMI field in the Formidable Forms

After that, click the ‘Save’ button at the top to store your settings.

This will open a prompt on the screen where you must add a name for your form and click the ‘Save’ button.

Add a name for the BMI calculator form

Next, you must close the form editor and open the page/post where you want to add the BMI calculator in the block editor.

Once you are there, go ahead and click the add block ‘+’ button to open the block menu and add the Formidable Forms block.

After that, select the form you just created from the dropdown menu within the block itself.

Add BMI calculator with the Formidable Forms block

Finally, click the ‘Update’ or ‘Publish’ button to store your settings.

Now, you can visit your WordPress blog or website to view the BMI calculator. Here, the visitor can type their height and weight to view their BMI. If they want more information, then they can click on the ‘See My Range’ button.

The calculator will then show the ranges for all the different weight categories.

Formidable Forms BMI calculator preview

Bonus: Create a Fitness Tracker in WordPress

Apart from adding a BMI calculator, you can also add a fitness tracker to your WordPress site. This tracker can be a simple form that users fill out every month to track their weight loss journeys.

If you have a fitness blog, then adding this tracker can increase engagement on your site and encourage more users to sign up and be a part of your email list.

You can easily create a fitness tracker with Formidable Forms without needing to learn any code. Then, users will be able to track their weight loss progress over time.

Live fitness tracker

For more details, just see our tutorial on how to create a fitness tracker in WordPress.

We hope this tutorial helped you learn how to add a BMI calculator in WordPress. You may also want to check out our guide on how to create a contact form and the must-have WordPress plugins for business sites.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Add a BMI Calculator in WordPress (Step by Step) first appeared on WPBeginner.

7 Best Data Visualization WordPress Plugins (Charts & Infographics)

Do you want to show colorful charts, graphs, pictograms, or infographics on your website? Data visualization makes it easier for users to understand the data that you’re sharing.

Depending on your goals, there are a number of WordPress plugins and tools that you can use to create graphs, charts, and infographics.

In this article, we’ll share some of the best data visualization WordPress plugins and tools.

Best data visualization WordPress plugins

Understanding Data Visualization

Data visualization simply means turning numbers into graphics like charts, tables, interactive graphs, and infographics.

Creating a visual representation of data can make it much easier to spot trends and patterns. This helps you to figure out what your data is telling you.

For instance, when you look at Google Analytics to see how your website is doing, you’ll likely be looking at a line graph. This might show an upward trend in traffic over the past six months.

You could use data visualization to enhance your blog posts, to let visitors interact with your site, or even to create an email optin like a special report. All of this can help you build your audience and make money from your website.

Some of the tools we’re going to cover can also be used to create dynamic charts and tables that change based on the user’s input.

Let’s take a look at some of the best WordPress data visualization plugins:

1. WPForms: Survey and Polls Addon

WPForms' Surveys and Polls addon

WPForms is a premium WordPress plugin. It’s a fantastic way to run surveys or polls on your blog. It makes it easy for you to see the results in a visual way, too.

To run a survey using WPForms, you’ll need to sign up for the Pro account or higher through the WPForms site. Once you’ve done that, you can download and install the plugin on your site.

To create a survey, you’ll need to install the Survey and Polls addon. Go to WPForms » Addons in your WordPress dashboard to install and activate it.

A great advantage of using WPForms to create surveys is that your existing forms can easily be turned into surveys. This could save a lot of time if you already have a form that you’re using to gather data.

You can follow our instructions on how to create a survey in WordPress to make a survey using WPForms.

With this plugin, you can switch between different ways of visualizing your data. You’re not limited to just one type of graph or chart.

Survey results

You can also download your graphs and charts in various formats, such as JPG and PDF. This makes it easy to use your results in blog posts as well as with colleagues, your boss, or clients.

Best for: Running surveys to get data from your website’s visitors. WPForms’ built-in tools will then turn this data into powerful visualizations like charts and graphs.

2. Formidable Forms

Formidable Forms data visualization plugin

Formidable Forms is a highly advanced forms plugin for WordPress that lets you create complex forms.

You can use it to create a whole range of different forms, including column graphs, horizontal bar graphs, line graphs, pie charts, area graphs, scatter graphs, histograms, stepped area graphs, and geographic heat maps.

You can display the charts anywhere on your site using a shortcode. This makes it really easy to put them into your site’s pages or posts.

As with WPForms, you’ll need to use the plugin to gather data before you can create a graph. You can turn any form data into any type of graph, simply by setting the appropriate type in the shortcode.

You can style your graphs using different shortcode parameters. For instance, you can select the colors by adding hex codes to the shortcode. You can also filter graph data so that it’s specific to different users.

Don’t worry if you’re not very confident using shortcodes, though. Formidable Forms comes with a shortcode builder that lets you pick from a few dropdown lists to create your shortcode.

Best for: Anyone wanting to create a complex form or display a wide variety of data in different ways such as calculators, data-driven apps, user listing tables, directories, and more.

3. Visualizer

Visualizer tables and charts manager plugin

Visualizer is a table and charts plugin for WordPress that lets you create interactive data visualizations for your site.

The free version comes with 9 types of chart, including line charts, area charts, bar charts, column charts, pie charts, geo charts, table charts, bubble charts, and scatter charts.

You can add these charts without installing any extra plugins, too.

If you opt for the pro version, you get an extra 6 chart types and email support. There’s a full 30-day money-back guarantee if you decide you don’t like it.

You can also use Visualizer to create interactive tables for your site, such as a pricing table. Long tables can easily be paginated, and users can search and sort your tables.

Best for: Creating graphs and charts for free. If you’re just getting started with data visualization, the free version of Visualizer could be a great place to begin.

4. wpDataTables

The wpDataTables data visualization plugin

The wpDataTables plugin might sound a bit complicated from its name, but it’s actually just as easy to use as Excel.

It lets you add data and easily create charts and graphs that look great on both websites and mobile devices.

You can provide your data by uploading a file or simply by typing it in. You can even create tables that your user can edit. This will change the charts for them in real time.

You can create filters for your data so that it’s easy to show only results that are from particular dates, locations, and so on.

There’s lots of documentation and a “wizard” that takes you step by step through the process of creating a table of data.

There’s a lite version of the plugin available if you don’t want to pay for the premium version. Note that this has some limitations. For instance, your users can’t edit tables if you’re using the lite version.

Best for: Complex data, or tables and graphs where you want your users to be able to input values.

5. Snowball

The Snowball journalism and data visualization plugin

Snowball isn’t just a data visualization plugin. It’s a block post/page creation plugin that’s designed for journalists to create immersive articles.

One key feature of Snowball is the ability to make charts and graphs. You can use it to create bar charts and scatterplots as well as tables of data and maps.

You can use the graphical interface to make some changes to how your blocks of content look. If you want, you can go further and edit the CSS and HTML code.

Snowball is completely free and it’s maintained by the openHTML research team at Drexel University.

It should work with your existing theme. However, Snowball’s creators recommend enabling its built-in single column theme for your Snowball articles.

Best for: Including data visualization in long-form content, particularly if you want to also include maps or videos.

6. Easy Charts

Easy Charts data visualization plugin

Easy Charts is a free plugin that you can use to create a whole range of different charts. These include several types of bar chart and area chart, plus line charts, pie charts, donut charts, polar area charts, and waterfall charts.

Once you’ve put in your data, you can use it to create any type of chart. It’s easy to switch between the different charts and to preview how they’re going to look on your site.

Because it’s a free plugin, it doesn’t offer some of the advanced functionality you get with other plugins. For instance, you can’t create responsive tables of data that users can edit.

Best for: Creating a range of straightforward, free charts or graphs to display data on your website.

7. Data Tables Generator

Data Tables Generator plugin for WordPress

The Data Tables Generator plugin, from WordPress plugin creator Supsystic, lets you create responsive tables.

You’ll need the Pro version in order to create charts and graphs. These are provided through Google Chart’s technology. You can create all the standard types of chart that you’d expect, like bar charts, pie charts, donut charts, and more.

You can also use data that you’ve got in a spreadsheet elsewhere. The plugin supports importing from CSV, Excel, PDF, and Google Sheets.

One particularly handy feature is that Data Table Generator integrates with WooCommerce. You can use it to create product tables that users can easily search.

Best for: Creating tables of products in your WooCommerce store. These can be filtered and sorted by the user.

Bonus: Canva Infographics Maker Pro

Canva Pro

Canva is a powerful design tool that lets you make beautiful infographics, blog visuals, and other graphics with a completely drag & drop interface. Although it’s not a WordPress plugin, it’s a tool that many bloggers use to create compelling visual content.

They also have pre-made templates for social media graphics for all platforms, posters, banners, flyers, powerpoint presentations, and so much more.

It’s basically a top web design software for non-designers because how easy it is to create something beautiful.

We hope this article helped you learn more about the best data visualization WordPress plugins. You may also want to check out our list of the must have WordPress plugins for all websites, and our comparison of the best WordPress page builder plugins.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post 7 Best Data Visualization WordPress Plugins (Charts & Infographics) appeared first on WPBeginner.

5 Best WordPress Business Directory Plugins for 2024 (Free & Paid)

Are you looking for the best WordPress business directory plugin for your website?

A business directory helps users discover service providers in a particular niche or category. At the same time, it helps those businesses find customers and opportunities.

As a website owner, you can even make money online by selling paid listings in your business directory.

In this article, we have hand-picked some of the best WordPress business directory plugins to help you save some time and money.

Best WordPress business directory plugins

What Is a WordPress Business Directory?

A WordPress business directory is an online collection of company listings within different niches, along with their contact details and other information. It helps users find new vendors while helping businesses connect with customers and other companies.

Unlike a Google Search, a business directory is made up of curated listings with descriptions, reviews, and photos. This makes it more useful for users looking for specific businesses.

A good WordPress business directory plugin allows you to easily create lists of businesses organized by location, category, and other parameters.

It will also offer features like payment collection options, bookmarking tools, support for photos and videos, customizable form fields, and more.

That being said, let’s take a look at some of the best WordPress business directory plugins that you can use.

1. Formidable Forms

Formidable forms

Formidable Forms is one of the best WordPress form builder plugins on the market. It allows you to create advanced forms and add them to your website, including a business listing form.

Using the listings template, you can create a form that allows users to submit their entries to your directory. Then, you can display the business directory listings on a WordPress page.

With Formidable Forms, you can collect user-generated reviews and ratings, free or paid directory submissions, and more. It also offers a front-end submission option, which allows users to submit their own listings.

It comes with many premium add-ons to add more features and functionality to your WordPress business directory. Formidable Forms fully supports Mailchimp, PayPal, WPML, and WooCommerce.

For more details, check out our step-by-step tutorial on how to create a web directory in WordPress using Formidable Forms.

Pros:

  • Easily create complex and advanced forms
  • Front-end submission options
  • Drag and drop form builder
  • Pre-built form templates
  • Smooth integration with third-party tools & plugins
  • Build web applications

Cons:

  • The free version has limited features
  • The directory listing template is not included in the free version

Why We Recommend Formidable Forms: Formidable Forms is the best option for creating all types of business directories. It also allows front end submission, so users can create their own listings, submit reviews, ratings, and more.

2. Business Directory Plugin

Business directory plugin

Business Directory Plugin is a freemium WordPress plugin that allows you to create a simple business directory. It comes with basic features required to run a web directory, like customizable form fields, accepting payments for listings, and more.

It allows you to sort entries into categories and tags, create featured entries, and customize entry forms. There is also an option to offer free and paid listings.

There is a free Business Directory Plugin. If you want to access more features and add-ons, then it has a pro version as well. The premium features include multiple modules, Google Maps support, user ratings, zip code search, file upload, and more.

Pros:

  • Easy-to-use plugin
  • Pre-built directory templates
  • Fully customizable form fields
  • Accept paid listings with Authorize.net
  • Sort listings based on categories

Cons:

  • Features like file uploads, Google Maps, discount codes, and more are not available in the free version

Why We Recommend Business Directory Plugin: If you are looking for a free plugin to create website directories, then the Business Directory Plugin is for you. It even lets you collect paid submissions in the free version and provides features that other freemium plugins don’t offer.

3. Connections

Connections business directory

Connections is a powerful business directory plugin for WordPress. It comes with a set of custom fields that can be used to create almost any kind of web directory.

In the privacy settings, you or your users can set privacy levels for certain custom fields like business phone numbers or internal messages.

Displaying your directory on the front end is very easy. You need to add a simple shortcode to your directory page. It also offers custom shortcodes with extensive options to customize the appearance of your business directory.

Connections plugin also comes with template support so that you can choose a layout for your listings from pre-built directory templates.

Pros:

  • Beginner-friendly free plugin
  • Pre-built templates
  • Offers 4 directory blocks
  • Smooth integrations
  • Open-source, developer-friendly plugin
  • Offers multiple extensions

Cons:

  • No payment gateway support

Why We Recommend Connections: We believe that Connections is a great solution for businesses that need a free directory plugin with reliable core features.

4. GeoDirectory

GeoDirectory

GeoDirectory allows you to create a location-based business directory like Yelp, TripAdvisor, YellowPages, and more.

Using a simple interface, your users can submit listings to the directory. These listings or entries are pointed on the map, and your users can search for locations, businesses, neighborhoods, and more.

You can monetize your website by selling directory listings. GeoDirectory also allows you to display event listings, create multi-location directories, and more. Plus, the plugin works with any WordPress theme or page builder. This makes it highly customizable and easy to use.

However, adding payment gateways requires additional steps, as you will need other WordPress plugins to accept payments.

Pros:

  • 40+ widgets, blocks, and shortcodes
  • Dedicated themes for directories
  • Front-end listing submissions
  • Supports any theme and page builder
  • Highly customizable

Cons:

  • Complicated monetization setup

Why We Recommend GeoDirectory: We highly recommend GeoDirectory to anyone looking to create a directory website based on location. It offers powerful features and lots of customization options.

5. Name Directory

Name directory

Name Directory is another free WordPress directory plugin. It allows you to create a business or personal directory easily. Using the configuration options, you can select a layout and customize plugin functionality.

It supports shortcodes to display directory listings on a WordPress post or page. You can sort the entries to show new listings on top of the page, allowing those entries to gain more exposure.

Pros:

  • Simply and easy-to-use plugin
  • Allows front-end submissions
  • Show or hide multiple form fields
  • Bulk import listings

Cons:

  • Limited customization options
  • No options for monetization

Why We Recommend Name Directory: We recommend the Name Directory plugin for anyone who is looking to create a glossary, business index, or contact information listing.

Which Is the Best WordPress Business Directory Plugin?

After testing multiple WordPress directory plugins, we believe that Formidable Forms is the best solution for all types of businesses.

It offers a drag-and-drop form builder with pre-built templates. Using Formidable Forms, you can create advanced and complex forms for WordPress. It makes it very easy to add a business directory to your site.

The best part is that it easily integrates with payment gateways and supports front-end submissions. This way, users can submit their own listings while you get to monetize your website.

On the other hand, if you are looking for a free option, then we suggest the Business Directory Plugin. The core plugin is free to use and offers lots of features.

We hope this article helped you find the best WordPress directory plugins. You may also want to check out our list of the best email marketing services for small businesses and our tutorial on how to create a searchable member directory in WordPress.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post 5 Best WordPress Business Directory Plugins for 2024 (Free & Paid) first appeared on WPBeginner.

How to Create an Auto Loan / Car Payment Calculator in WordPress

Do you want to create an auto loan or car payment calculator in WordPress?

If you run a car dealership, then a loan payment calculator can help you get more sales. Visitors can also use the calculator to get an estimate for their monthly loan payments, compare offers, and find the best deals on their car purchases.

In this article, we will show you how to easily create an auto loan car payment calculator for your WordPress website.

How to create an auto loan payment calculator in WordPress

What Is a Car / Auto Loan Payment Calculator?

A car or auto loan payment calculator allows users to get estimates for a monthly loan payment, check the amortization schedule, and calculate the total cost of a loan.

It enables visitors to easily perform a complete auto loan calculation with an account of sales tax, dealer fees, trade-in value, interest rate, length of the loan, and more.

An auto loan payment calculator is especially useful for car dealership websites and auto loan financing businesses.

Adding a loan calculator on your WordPress website helps both you and potential customers. Visitors can simply type in their information and see the different financing plans available.

This means they can find the plan that best suits their budget without leaving your website, which will increase engagement and reduce your bounce rate. You can also collect user email addresses through the calculator, making it a great tool for generating leads.

With that being said, let’s see how you can add a car or auto loan payment calculator to your WordPress blog or website. We show you 2 methods, so you can click the links below to jump ahead to any section:

Method 1: Create a Car Payment Calculator Using WPForms

In the past, creating an auto loan car payment calculator would require you to program complex mathematical calculations or hire a WordPress developer.

Luckily, it’s now possible to build an auto loan calculator without writing any code using WPForms. This popular WordPress contact form plugin offers an all-in-one form builder plus 1300+ ready-made templates.

WPForms offers a powerful Calculations addon that lets you create different calculator forms for your website. It comes with pre-built calculator templates and a drag-and-drop form builder, so you get flexibility and control over your form’s appearance.

Setting Up WPForms on Your WordPress Site

For this tutorial, we will use the WPForms Pro version because it includes the Calculations addon. There is also a WPForms Lite version available for free.

First, you will need to install and activate the WPForms plugin. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you can go to WPForms » Settings from the WordPress dashboard and enter the license key. You can find the license key in your WPForms account area.

Adding a license key to the WPForms form builder plugin

Next, you will need to install and activate the Calculations addon in WPForms.

Simply go to WPForms » Addons from the WordPress admin area and then navigate to the Calculations Addon.

Install calculations addon

From here, click the ‘Install Addon’ button, and the addon will automatically install and activate.

Next, you can create a new form with an auto loan/car payment calculator.

Creating an Auto Loan / Car Payment Calculator Form

To start, you will need to head to WPForms » Add New from the WordPress dashboard.

Creating a new form using WPForms

On the next screen, you will see different form templates offered by WPForms.

To get started, you can use the search feature in WPForms and find the ‘Car Payment Calculator Form’ template. Then click the ‘Use Template’ button to customize the form.

Select car payment calculator template

After that, you will see your form template in the WPForms drag-and-drop form builder.

The default template offers a multipage form with all the necessary fields to calculate car payments.

For instance, you will see the field for ‘Car price’, where you can enter the total value of the car. After that, there are fields to set the initial deposit and down payment percentage.

The template also lets you adjust the payment duration, where you can use the slider to change the number of years. Aside from that, the template lets you set the annual interest rate on your payments.

Car payment calculator form

The template also asks if you are trading your car. There are fields for entering the loan amount, total interest paid, and more.

Using the WPForms form builder, you can edit the form template, remove existing fields, and add different form fields. Simply drag a new field from the menu on the left and drop it onto the template.

For example, you can add standard fields like checkboxes, dropdown menus, and numbers. Or use fancy fields like phone number, address, file upload, and more.

Add new form fields to the auto loan form

Each field in the template can be further customized. Simply select a field you’d like to edit.

For example, if you click on the Car price field in the template, then you will see more options in the menu on the left. You can change the name of the form field and add a description.

Change form field name

There are more options if you switch to the ‘Advanced’ tab.

You can change the field size, add placeholder text, enter a CSS class, enable calculations, and more.

View advanced field options

WPForms also lets you edit the formula for the calculator fields.

Simply select a field, and you will see a ‘Formula’ option in the menu on the left. Here, you can change make changes to the calculations and click on the ‘Cheatsheet’ if you need more help.

Edit formula of calculator fields

Next, you can go to the ‘Settings’ tab from the menu on the left.

Under ‘General’ settings, you will see options to change the form name, add a form description, edit the submit button text, and more.

Edit general form settings for auto loan form

After that, you can view the ‘Spam Protection and Security’ settings.

Here, WPForms lets you enable anti-spam protection, store spam entries in the database, enable country and keyword filters, set up CAPTCHA, and more.

Edit spam and protection settings

Next, you can go to the ‘Notifications’ settings tab.

Here, you’ll be able to edit the settings for email notifications that you and your users will receive when submitting a form.

Edit form notification settings

Lastly, you can go to the Confirmations settings for your auto loan calculator form.

WPForms lets you show a message, show a page, or redirect users to a URL when they submit the form.

Auto loan form confirmation settings

After making these changes, don’t forget to save your settings.

Add the Auto Loan / Car Payment Calculator to WordPress

Next, you can add the auto loan/car payment calculator form to your WordPress site.

Simply click the ‘Embed’ button at the top of the form builder.

Embed your auto loan form

You will now see a popup window where you can embed the form into an existing page or create a new one.

For this tutorial, we will select the ‘Create New Page’ option.

Create a new page

Next, you’ll need to enter a name for the new page.

Once that’s done, simply click the ‘Let’s Go!’ button.

Enter name for form embed page

As an alternative, you can also add a WPForms block in the content editor.

From here, simply choose your auto loan calculator form from the dropdown menu.

Add the WPForms block

Next, you should see a preview of your car payment calculator form in the content editor.

Once you are happy with its appearance, simply publish or update your page. After that, you can visit your website to see the auto loan calculator in action.

View auto loan calculator form preview

Method 2: Create an Auto Loan Calculator Using Formidable Forms

Another way of creating auto loan/car payment calculators for your WordPress site is by using Formidable Forms. This is the best solution if you are looking to make a more advanced and complex calculator for your website.

Formidable Forms comes with a powerful car payment calculator template that lets you build an auto loan calculator with just a few clicks.

The car payment template has the loan calculation formula already set up, so you don’t need to program any complex mathematical equations or use additional WordPress plugins.

Note: To use the car payment feature, you will need to buy a Formidable Forms Business plan.

Install Formidable Forms on Your WordPress Site

The first thing you need to do is to install and activate both the Formidable Forms Lite and Formidable Forms premium plugins. The free plugin has limited features, but Formidable Forms Pro uses it as the base for its more advanced features.

For detailed instructions, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you can go to Formidable » Global Settings in the WordPress dashboard.

Here, you can click on ‘Connect an Account’ and follow the instructions to connect WordPress to your Formidable Forms account.

The Formidable Forms license page

You can also select ‘Click to enter a license key manually’ and then paste your license key into the field.

You’ll find the license key by logging in to your account on the Formidable Forms website.

Enter the Formidable Forms license key

After entering the information, click on the ‘Save License’ button.

Build an Auto Loan and Car Payment Calculator in WordPress

Now that you have successfully set up Formidable Forms, you are ready to build a car payment calculator form.

To start, simply go to Formidable » Forms and then click on the ‘Add New’ button.

Create a new form

Next, you’ll need to select a form template.

You’ll find the Car Payment Calculator template by clicking on the ‘Calculator’ section.

Select auto loan calculator template

This will open the template in the Formidable Forms editor.

The default template offers fields like ‘Price of Car’ and ‘Sales Tax’. There are sliders for adjusting the annual interest rate and length of loan (in months). Besides that, there are fields to select whether you are trading in a car and to enter the trade-in value.

At this point, you may want to customize the form to match your needs.

Edit car loan calculator form

To change a field’s label, default value, or placeholder text, simply click on that field.

You can then use the ‘Field Options’ settings in the left-hand menu.

Customizing a car payment form

If you want to customize the ‘Loan Calculation’ or ‘Monthly Payment’ fields, then be careful not to change the settings under ‘Advanced’ as they include the calculation formula.

If you change these settings, then it might break the entire form.

Changing the settings on an auto loan form in WordPress

Once you’ve finished customizing the fields, you can review the form’s settings by clicking on the ‘Settings’ tab.

First, you can change the form’s title and description in the ‘General’ tab.

Change general form settings

You can also change what will happen when a visitor submits the form by selecting ‘Actions & Notifications’ in the left-hand menu.

If you click to expand the ‘Confirmation’ section, then you’ll see the message that Formidable Forms shows to visitors by default.

Change confirmation settings

To change this, simply type your own message into the text editor.

If you prefer, then you can redirect visitors to a page after submitting the form. For example, you might create a custom ‘thank you’ page using a drag-and-drop WordPress page builder such as SeedProd.

To set up a redirect, click on the ‘Redirect to URL’ tab. You can then type or paste a link into the ‘Redirect URL’ field.

Redirect following a form submission in WordPress

Another option is to show content from another WordPress page by selecting the ‘Show Page Content’ tab.

You can then open the ‘Select a Page’ dropdown and choose a page from the list.

Redirecting to a WordPress page or post after a form submission

After that, click to expand the ‘Email Notification’ section.

Here, you can see the message that Formidable Forms will send to your WordPress admin.

Sending an email upon successful form submission

You can add more email addresses, change the body text, add an email subject, and more.

After that, you may want to add more actions that Formidable Forms will perform when a visitor submits the form. To do that, simply scroll to the top of the page and click on any of the actions.

For example, you might automatically add the visitor to your Constant Contact or ActiveCampaign email list.

Adding actions to a car payment form

In this way, Formidable Forms can help grow your email list.

There are more tabs and settings in the left-hand menu that you can look at, but this is enough to create a car payment calculator.

When you are happy with how the form is set up, click on the ‘Update’ button. After a few moments, you’ll see a ‘successfully updated’ message.

Publishing the car loan payment calculator

Adding the Car Payment Calculator on Your WordPress Site

Now you’ve created a car payment calculator, it’s time to add it to your online store or WordPress website. Simply create a new page or open an existing page where you want to show the calculator.

You can then click on the ‘+’ icon and type in ‘Formidable Forms.’ When the right block appears, give it a click to add it to the page.

The Formidable Forms WordPress block

After that, simply open the ‘Select a form’ dropdown and choose the payment calculator you created earlier.

WordPress will now load the form automatically.

Adding car loan calculator to wordpress

To make the calculator live, simply click on the ‘Update’ or ‘Publish’ button.

Now, if you visit your site, then you will see the car payment calculator.

We hope this article helped you learn how to create an auto loan car payment calculator in WordPress. You may also want to see our guide on how to sell car parts online and our expert picks of the best email marketing services for small businesses.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Create an Auto Loan / Car Payment Calculator in WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.

12 Best WordPress Donation and Fundraising Plugins (2019)

Are you looking for the best WordPress donation plugins?

Collecting online donations is a very effective way to raise funds for a non-profits, charities, relief funds, and special causes.

In this article, we will share the best WordPress donation and fundraising plugins that will help you easily collect one time donations as well as recurring donations using PayPal, Stripe, WooCommerce, other credit card processors, and even cryptocurrency.

Best WordPress donation plugins

How to Choose the Best WordPress Donation Plugin

There are dozens of WordPress donation plugins available in the market. The problem is that not all of them are easy to use, and a lot of them lack customization options.

Accepting donation payments on your WordPress website is an extremely important task.

You need a donation plugin that is reliable, works on mobile as well as desktop computers, supports your preferred payment gateway, sends receipts to donors, allow donors to make recurring donations, and is customizable enough to look good on your website.

On top of all that, you want a WordPress donation plugin that charges the least amount of fees. Ideally it should either be free or fixed yearly payment vs something that charges a percentage fee on all your donations.

We used the above criteria to compare the best WordPress donation plugins for non-profits and charities.

Here’s our editorial pick for the top WordPress donation and fundraising plugins.

1. GiveWP

GiveWP

GiveWP is one of the best WordPress plugins for non-profits to accept donations and raise funds for your cause.

What makes GiveWP standout and earn the top-ranked spot in our best WordPress donation plugin list is their complete set of features along with their non-profit friendly pricing model.

GiveWP makes it easy to create a custom donation form inside WordPress to easily setup one-time donations as well as recurring donation options.

You can integrate with a wide variety of payment gateways to accept credits card donation payments including Stripe, Authorize.net, PayPal, 2Checkout, Braintree, Mollie, Paytm, PayFast, Square, AmeriCloud, Paymill, and many more.

GiveWP also allows you to fine-tune just about every aspect of your donation process with features like customizable donation tributes like “in honor of”, multi-level donations, campaign level donation goals / incentives, currency switcher options, tax deductible donation receipts, and more.

It comes with a complete donor management area with full-featured reporting, so you can easily manage all your donations (both online and offline donations).

GiveWP integrates with all major email marketing services, so you can easily communicate with your donors about seasonal gift giving campaigns.

If you run an online store with WooCommerce, then GiveWP allows you to add a donation upsell on the checkout screen, and they have seamless Google Analytics integration with enhanced eCommerce tracking.

GiveWP’s offers a free WordPress donation plugin, but you will have to upgrade to their yearly paid plans to unlock all the powerful addons and features. Basic paid plan starts at $240 / year, but you will need the Plus plan ($360 / yr) to get all their add-ons.

2. WPForms

WPForms

WPForms is the most beginner friendly drag & drop form builder for WordPress. It comes with a built-in form template to create an online donation form on your website.

A lot of smaller charities and non-profits don’t need a full-featured giveaway platform. Instead they just want a simple and easy to customize donation form that can accept one-time and recurring donations.

WPForms offer you just that. It integrates with both PayPal and Stripe, so you can securely collect donations via credit card right on your website.

Since WPForms is a more comprehensive form builder, it can also serve multiple purposes for a charity website such as contact form, survey forms, polls, email newsletter signup form, volunteer signup form, etc.

WPForms seamlessly integrates with all major email marketing services and CRM platforms like Constant Contact, SendinBlue, AWeber, MailChimp, and hundred others.

WPForms free plugin is used by over 2 million websites, but you will need their payment addons to accept online donations. They offer a special discounted license for non-profits at only $99 / year which is 75% off their regular price.

This gives you all of their Pro features that lets you build donation forms as well as other types of forms that we mentioned above. You can see the full list of over 150+ form template demos here.

Note: WPForms is a sister company of WPBeginner. The plugin was co-created by WPBeginner’s founder, Syed Balkhi.

3. Easy PayPal Donation

PayPal Donation for WordPress

Easy PayPal Donation is a free WordPress donation plugin that lets you add a PayPal donate button on your website.

Your website visitors can click on the button and send donations using their PayPal account or credit card.

This is a very simple donation plugin that comes with 7 button templates, and you also have the option to upload a custom button style to match your design.

The goal of this plugin is to make it easy to connect your PayPal account with WordPress and receive the donations. This plugin also allows visitors to choose recurring monthly donation options.

We have this plugin listed as #3 not because it’s the most feature-rich, but because sometimes you may not need all the features that plugins GiveWP and WPForms offer.

If you don’t want to customize your donation form and want a straight-forward solution that’s completely free for accepting one-time donations, then this plugin can do the job for you.

For setting up recurring donations, you will need their Pro version which costs $59.95 / year at which point you’re better off going with WPForms because you get a lot more value.

4. WP Crowdfunding

WP Crowdfunding by Themeum

WP Crowdfunding is a powerful WordPress fundraising plugin that helps you create a fundraising backer site like GoFundMe or KickStarter.

You can use the crowdfunding campaign style only for your charities or even offer an aggregate fundraising platform for other charities in your network.

It integrates with Stripe, PayPal, Authorize.net, and all WooCommerce gateways if you choose to process your payments with WooCommerce. WP Crowdfunding Native wallet system allows you to track pledges for each campaign and distribute funds accordingly to individual stakeholders.

If you’re looking to create an aggregate crowdfunding site like GoFundMe, then you also have the option to charge a commission fee for helping other charities collect donations.

The base plugin is free, but you will need to upgrade to the paid plan to unlock full features which starts at $149 / year.

5. Charitable

Charitable

Charitable is an easy WordPress donation plugin that allows you to create unlimited fundraising campaigns and set goals for your cause.

You can select a fixed donation amount, add a custom amount, or both. You can embed the donation form on your pages, posts, sidebars, and modal popups.

While the base plugin is free, you do have to upgrade to their Plus plan ($99 / year) to unlock their payment gateways like Stripe, Authorize.net, etc as well as newsletter sign up forms.

If you want recurring donations, crowdfunding, peer to peer fundraising, donor fee relief, and other powerful features, then you will need their Pro plan which costs $249 / year.

6. Seamless Donations

Seamless Donations

Seamless Donations is a free donations plugin for WordPress. It gives you complete control to collect and manage donations within the WordPress dashboard.

Seamless Donation works with PayPal, so users can make donations using their PayPal account or credit cards.

You can accept one-time donations or recurring donation payments. You can also allow users to select which campaign they want their funds allocated.

Unlike other plugins, Seamless donation sells few addons on an a-la carte basis such as Thank You Enhanced which lets you setup custom thank you pages and Giving Level Manager which lets you attribute custom donation levels.

7. Donorbox

Donorbox

Donorbox is a powerful donation form plugin that works on both WordPress as well as standalone websites.

It allows you to setup one time donations as well as monthly, annual, and weekly recurring donations. You have the option to do company gift matching and accept company donations.

Donorbox allows you to accept payments from credit cards as well as popular payment platforms like Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal Express with One-Touch, and ACH bank payments for US and Europe based donors.

It also comes with many other powerful features like Goal Meter, Donation popup forms, multi-currency support, donor wall, donor profile, complete donor management, end of year tax receipts, and so much more.

The reason why we have Donorbox listed towards the bottom in our list is because their pricing is not friendly to non-profits.

While they let you collect free donations for up to $1,000 per month, you will have to pay a 1.5% platform fee for all other amounts. This platform processing fee is in addition to the payment processing fees that are added by Stripe, PayPal, and other banks.

They do have the option to have your donors cover the fees, but we believe its better to use a platform like GiveWP where more of the donation money goes towards the actual cause.

Donorbox also charges separate monthly fees for various email marketing and CRM integrations.

To be fair, out of other SaaS donation platforms like Crowdrise, Donately, etc, Donorbox is by far the most affordable.

The reason why you may want to use the Donorbox platform is because they take away the technical management headache away from you.

You don’t have to worry about the security of your payment infrastructure because it’s all handled by their team.

8. Formidable Forms

Formidable Forms

Formidable Forms is the most advanced WordPress forms plugin. It allows you to easily create complex forms with drag and drop builder.

It has tons of form templates including a pre-built template to collect online donations. You can view the donation stats in graphical charts within the WordPress dashboard.

The plugin allows you to export the form data outside WordPress. It also gives you the option to import your donation entries from third-party services. Formidable Forms is fully compatible with the WPML translation plugin to translate the form in any language.

9. Donation Thermometer

Donation Thermometer

Donation Thermometer is a classic WordPress donation plugin. It uses a thermometer style parameter to display the collected funds and your target amount.

It is ideal for sharing your fundraising campaign with your website visitors and motivate them to help out. It is also perfect for organizers to see how close or far away they are from their fundraising target

The thermometer is fully customizable for colors, text, currency, meter size, and more. You can use a shortcode to display the donation thermometer in your posts and pages. All settings are easy and manageable within WordPress.

It’s important to note that this plugin DOES NOT help you accept any donations. You can use it alongside any of the other WordPress donation plugins in this article.

10. PayPal Donations

PayPal Donations

PayPal Donations is another free WordPress PayPal donation plugin to raise funds for charities and non-profits. You can use their sidebar widget or the shortcode to add the PayPal donation button on your website.

Like other PayPal plugins, it lets you connect WordPress to your PayPal account and accept donations from visitors. Other settings include multiple currencies, localization, multiple button sizes, and more.

11. YITH Donations for WooCommerce

YITH Donations for WooCommerce

YITH Donations for WooCommerce allows you to add an option to collect donation in your online stores.

You can run seasonable campaigns to support your causes. Each time a user adds a product to cart, they will be prompted with an option to make a small donation.

This concept is utilized by many in the retail world, and YITH Donations for WooCommerce allows you to add this to your eCommerce website.

YITH has a free version of the plugin that’s quite limited. To get all the features like donation form on cart page, customize amounts, donation receipts, etc, you will need the premium version of the plugin which costs $59.99 for a single site.

Note: GiveWP also offers this feature along with a lot more which we believe is a better value.

12. Cryptocurrency Donation Box

Cryptocurrency Donation Box – Bitcoin & Crypto Donations

If you’re looking to accept donations in cryptocurrency, then look no further. This free WordPress donation plugin allows you to accept donations in top 20 major cryptocurrencies.

You can accept payments in Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Cardano and more.

We hope this article helped you find the best WordPress donation and fundraising plugins for charities and non-profits. You may also want to check out our expert pick of the best WordPress page builders and must have WordPress plugins for all sites..

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post 12 Best WordPress Donation and Fundraising Plugins (2019) appeared first on WPBeginner.

How to Add a Mortgage Calculator in WordPress (Step by Step)

Do you want to add a mortgage calculator in WordPress?

If you have a real estate or finance website, then a mortgage calculator can help visitors see whether they can afford the properties you are promoting. This can keep people on your website for longer and help you sell more properties.

In this article, we will show you how to easily add a mortgage calculator in WordPress.

How to Add a Mortgage Calculator in WordPress

Why Add a Mortgage Calculator in WordPress?

A mortgage calculator allows users to get estimates for their mortgage payments, with the interest rate and amortization period.

Visitors can simply insert information like their home value, down payment, interest rates, and so on. After that, the mortgage payment calculator will figure out how much they have to pay per month based on the given details.

If you are making a real estate website with IDX property listings, then a mortgage calculator will also help with lead generation. Visitors can use the calculator, but they will have to enter their email address to save their results.

An example of a mortgage calculator in the Zillow website

It can also reduce your bounce rate because visitors don’t have to visit a different site to get a mortgage calculation.

Other people who may benefit from a mortgage calculator on their sites are financial advisors, mortgage brokers or banks, and personal finance educators.

That being said, let’s take a look at how to easily create a mortgage calculator in WordPress. This tutorial will show you two beginner-friendly methods with two different mortgage calculator plugins: WPForms and Formidable Forms.

You can use these quick links to skip to a specific plugin:

Method 1: Add a Simple WordPress Mortgage Calculator With WPForms

The first method is to use WPForms. With its 1700+ form templates, this drag-and-drop form plugin is perfect for creating various forms, including a mortgage calculator, for different types of websites.

This method is recommended for people who just want to create a simple yet responsive mortgage calculator without added calculations for taxes or insurance.

WPForms' mortgage calculator form template

Note: While there is a free version of WPForms, this tutorial will use the Pro plan as that’s where the Calculations addon is available. Here’s a WPForms discount you can use to save 50% off of your purchase!

First things first, go ahead and install the plugin in WordPress.

Once done, go to WPForms » Settings and insert your Pro plan’s license key from your WPForms account page. Then, simply click ‘Verify Key.’

Verifying a WPForms license key

Choose and Customize a Mortgage Calculator Form Template

Now that the license key is active, you need to navigate to WPForms » Add New.

Clicking Add New in WPForms inside the WordPress admin panel

On the next screen, you can give your new form a name. It can be something as simple as ‘Mortgage Calculator Form.’

Scrolling down, use the search bar to find a mortgage calculator form template.

Finding the Mortgage Calculator Form template in WPForms

You will see that WPForms has two templates: Mortgage Calculator Form and Simple Mortgage Calculator Form. Both templates provide similar functionality but differ in the specific fields they include.

The Simple Mortgage Calculator Form Template is best for real estate sites that want to help potential buyers quickly estimate their monthly mortgage amount.

On the other hand, the Mortgage Calculator Form Template provides a comprehensive breakdown of the mortgage details, including total interest paid, total mortgage payment, and annual payment amount. This level of detail can be useful for customers who want to fully understand their financial obligations.

It’s up to you which calculator you’d like to use, but for demonstration purposes, we will use the Mortgage Calculator Form Template.

You can click ‘View Demo’ to see what each form looks like in action.

Once you’ve made your choice, just click ‘Use Template.’

Clicking the Use Template button in WPForms

At this stage, a popup will appear saying that the form requires the Calculations addon.

Just click ‘Yes, install and activate’ to continue.

Installing and activating the WPForms Calculations addon

You will now arrive at the drag-and-drop form builder. As you can see, the template already has the calculator fields added for you.

This particular template has fields for users to enter their home value (total cost of the house) and their down payment amount (how much the buyer pays upfront when purchasing a property).

Customizing the mortgage calculator form template in the WPForms builder

Users can also use the sliders to enter information about their home loan interest rate and mortgage term.

Once the form has all of the mortgage details, the bottom section will automatically calculate the user’s mortgage monthly and annual payment amount, total interest paid, and total mortgage payment.

The mortgage calculation section in the WPForms mortgage calculator form template

You can find the calculation formula for this bottom section by going to ‘Field Options’ and navigating to the ‘Advanced’ tab in the left-hand panel. At the bottom, you will find the ‘Formula’ box.

We recommend not making changes to this section unless you are confident in doing so. That said, WPForms has a Calculations cheat sheet you can use if you need help.

The mortgage calculation formula in the WPForms mortgage calculator form template

Let’s go ahead and customize the form. To add a new field, go to the ‘Add Fields’ section in the left-hand panel. Then, just drag and drop any field to the form builder.

Here, we have added a ‘Name’ field to the form to capture the user’s name.

Dragging and dropping the Name field to the form in WPForms

To customize a field, just click on it, and the left-hand panel will bring you to the ‘Field Options’ tab. There are three tabs that you can further configure: General, Advanced, and Smart Logic.

What you can customize varies by the field type. If you want to change the field label, insert descriptive text, or make the field required, then you will go to ‘General.’

Here, we’ve changed the ‘Home Value’ field label to ‘Property Price’ and added descriptive text for additional instructions. We’ve also made the field required so that users must insert this field to get their mortgage payment calculation.

Configuring the WPForms' General field options

The ‘Advanced’ tab is where you can add placeholder text, specify the field’s CSS class if you want to use custom CSS, opt to hide the field label, and enable a calculation function if needed.

By default, the form has a ‘$’ sign as a placeholder to let users know that values should be in American dollars.

Alternatively, you can insert an example in the field label, like ‘e.g. 500,000,’ so the user knows how to insert the price correctly.

Customizing a field placeholder text in WPForms

The ‘Smart Logic’ tab lets you enable conditional logic in the field. It’s optional, but it’s a good feature for making your mortgage calculator form more engaging.

To use it, just toggle on the ‘Enable conditional logic’ button.

Then, you can choose to show or hide the field based on certain criteria. In the example below, we have chosen to show the ‘Property Price’ field if the user has entered their email address.

Once you are done customizing the form, just click ‘Save’ at the top right corner.

Configure the Form’s Settings

Now, let’s go ahead and switch to the ‘Settings’ tab on the furthest left side of the menu.

In the ‘General’ tab, you can change the form’s name and insert a description at the top of the form. You can type in some instructions and call-to-action text to encourage users to fill out the form.

Additionally, you can customize the submit button’s text and button processing text.

Configuring the WPForms General settings in the Settings tab

You also want to switch to the ‘Spam Protection and Security’ tab.

WPForms already comes with anti-spam protection that’s enabled by default. But you can also activate Akismet for further protective measures.

Additionally, feel free to set a minimum number of seconds a user must spend before they can submit the form. This gives users enough time to fill out the form but not enough time for a spam bot to submit the form rapidly.

Configuring the Spam Protection and Security Settings in WPForms

Scrolling down, you can also enable a country filter to allow users from certain countries to fill out the form. We recommend doing this if your real estate website only sells in a certain country.

Once you’ve toggled on the ‘Enable country filter’ button, just click ‘Allow’ below the Country Filter and select the country you sell to.

You can also customize the Country Filter Message if needed.

WPForms' Country Filter settings

If you move down the page, you can also enable a CAPTCHA functionality to prevent spammy form submissions.

WPForms allows custom CAPTCHA, reCAPTCHA, and hCAPTCHA.

WPForms' CAPTCHA options

Let’s go ahead and move to the ‘Notifications’ tab. This is where you can send yourself an email every time there is a new form submission.

To enable this function, simply click ‘Enable Notifications.’ We also recommend using WP Mail SMTP to make sure you always receive these email notifications, as emails sent from WordPress are likely to get lost.

For more information on this, check out our guide on how to fix WordPress not sending email issue.

Feel free to edit the email content as needed.

Enabling email notifications in WPForms

You can also create a custom confirmation email to the user in these settings, too. To do this, you can follow our tutorial on how to send confirmation emails after WordPress form submission.

Like before, don’t forget to click ‘Save’ once you are done with the settings.

Embed the Mortgage Cost Calculator on Your WordPress Site

You are now ready to display the mortgage calculator form on your WordPress blog or website. What you need to do is click the ‘Embed’ button in the top menu.

Clicking the Embed button in WPForms

Now, an embed popup will appear, asking you to select an existing page or create a new one to add the form to.

Alternatively, you can also use a shortcode.

The embed options in WPForms

The process for adding the form to an existing or new page is pretty similar.

If you choose the ‘Select Existing Page’ option, then the next screen will ask you to choose a page to add the form to. After that, click ‘Let’s Go!’

Choosing an existing page to embed WPForms in

If you choose the new page option, then the next screen will ask you to name this new page so that WPForms can create it for you.

Similar to the previous method, click ‘Let’s Go!’ to proceed.

Creating a new page to embed the WPForms form in

Both options will bring you to the Gutenberg block editor.

Now, go ahead and click the ‘+’ add block button anywhere on the page and select the WPForms block.

Adding the WPForms block in the Gutenberg editor

Once the block is there, open the ‘Select a Form’ dropdown menu.

After that, simply choose the form you created earlier.

Selecting a WPForms form to add in the block editor

You will now see your newly created form displayed in the block editor.

In the Block settings sidebar, you can customize the form’s design further, like the background color and the field border. You can also click ‘Edit Form’ to go back to the WPForms builder if needed.

The WPForms block settings sidebar in the block editor

Once you are happy with how the form looks, just click ‘Update’ or ‘Publish’ to make the changes official.

Here’s what our mortgage calculator form looks like:

An example of what a mortgage calculator form created with WPForms looks like

If you use a classic, non-block WordPress theme and want to display the form in a widget-ready area, like headers, footers, or sidebars, you can also do that.

Just go to Appearance » Widgets and click the ‘+’ add block button in any widget-ready area. Like before, add the WPForms block there and select the form you just created.

Adding a WPForms widget in the WordPress widget editor

In the widget editor, you can also edit the block settings of the mortgage calculator widget, just like you would on the block editor.

Once you are satisfied with the form, simply click ‘Update.’

Updating a widget-ready area after adding the WPForms block as a widget

Alternatively, if the methods above don’t work, then you can use the shortcode method to insert the forms in pages, posts, and other template parts. Simply click the ‘use a shortcode’ link on the embed popup from earlier.

Then go ahead and copy the shortcode and paste it wherever you like.

For more information, read how to add a shortcode in WordPress.

Copying the WPForms form's shortcode

Method 2: Add an Advanced WordPress Mortgage Calculator With Formidable Forms

This next method is excellent if you want to create an advanced WordPress mortgage calculator that takes into account your annual property taxes, insurance, and PMI (private mortgage insurance).

Once the form has that data, along with the user’s home price, loan amount, loan term, and interest rate, it can preview the user’s payment breakdown, which is also called the amortization schedule.

For this method, we will use the Formidable Forms plugin. This user-friendly WordPress contact form plugin comes with an advanced mortgage calculator template that you can add to your site.

The first thing you need to do is to install and activate both the Formidable Forms Lite and Formidable Forms premium (Business plan) plugins.

The free plugin has limited features, but Formidable Forms Pro uses it as the base for its more advanced features.

For detailed instructions, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, go to Formidable » Global Settings in the WordPress dashboard. Here, you can click on ‘Connect an Account.’

Activating the Formidable Forms premium license key

On the next screen, simply log in to your Formidable Forms account.

You should have your account information after you purchase a plan.

Logging in to Formidable Forms

You will now arrive at a page that asks for your permission to install Formidable Forms Pro.

Click ‘Connect and Install Formidable Forms Pro’ to activate your license key.

Connecting and installing Formidable Forms Pro on WordPress

Now that you’ve successfully set up Formidable Forms, you are ready to add a mortgage calculator form to WordPress.

Use the Advanced Mortgage Calculator Form Template

To start, simply go to Formidable » Forms and then click on ‘Add New.’

Creating a new Formidable Forms form in WordPress

A popup will now appear, showing all the ready-made templates that you can use on your WordPress website.

To find the mortgage calculation form template, just type in ‘Advanced Mortgage Calculator’ in the search bar. Then, hover your cursor over the template and click ‘Use Template.’

Finding the advance mortgage calculator template in Formidable Forms

You will now arrive at the Formidable Forms builder. At this point, you can customize the form to match your needs.

To start, click on the field that you want to customize and then select the ‘Field Options’ tab.

Editing an existing field in WPForms

From there, you can change the field label, choose whether the field is mandatory or optional, add placeholder text, and many other things.

The cool thing about Formidable Forms is you can insert a default value in the calculator, allowing users to see what the calculation may look like later.

Editing the default value of a form field in Formidable Forms

If you click on any of the fields in the ‘Financial Analysis’ section, then try to avoid changing any of the ‘Advanced Options.’

This area contains the calculation formulas, so changing them can completely break the mortgage calculator.

The Financial Analysis section in a Formidable Forms mortgage calculator

When you are happy with how the form looks, just click on ‘Save’ in the top right corner to save your changes.

After that, type in a name for your form so that you can easily identify it later. Then, click ‘Save.’

Saving a form created with Formidable Forms

Customize the Style of the Mortgage Calculator Form

Let’s now switch to the ‘Style’ tab at the top menu. This is where you can choose a design for the form.

Editing the style of a Formidable Forms form

If you don’t like any of the styles, just click the ‘+ New Style’ button.

After that, a popup will appear. Simply write a name for this new style and click ‘Create new style.’

Creating a new Formidable Forms form style

You will now be directed to a page where you can customize the design of the form style.

Feel free to modify the typography, color scheme, button styles, checkboxes, and so on.

Configuring a custom form style in Formidable Forms

Once you are satisfied with the design, just click the ‘Update’ button at the top right corner.

Configure the Formidable Forms Settings

At this stage, you can navigate to the ‘Settings’ menu at the top.

First, in the ‘General’ tab, you can customize the form title and description, as well as choose to display them on the website later. This may be a good place to insert some instructions on how to use the form.

Note that if you want to style the text, you need to use HTML.

Configuring the General settings in Formidable Forms

Scrolling down, you will find a setting to enable Honeypot and JavaScript for spam prevention.

We recommend enabling them both to prevent fake and malicious spam entries.

Enabling spam protection in Formidable Forms

The ‘Actions & Notifications’ tab is where you can customize the confirmation email for the user.

You can either show a custom thank you message, redirect users to a specific URL, or send them to a different page.

Configuring the Actions and Notifications settings in Formidable Forms

Another tab we recommend checking out is ‘Buttons.’

This is where you can customize the submit button text and position and even enable a ‘Start Over’ button in case the user wants to empty the form and start over.

Configuring the Buttons settings in Formidable Forms

After you have configured the form settings, just click the ‘Update’ button.

Embed the Advanced Mortgage Calculator Form on Your Website

Now that your advanced mortgage calculator form is ready, you can add it to any post, page, or widget-ready area of your WordPress theme.

To start, click the ‘Embed’ button in the top right corner.

Clicking the Embed button in Formidable Forms

You will now see a popup that says you can add the form in three ways.

You can embed the form to an existing page, insert it into a new page, or use a shortcode.

Choosing a method to embed a Formidable Forms form

If you choose the existing page option, then you will select a page in the next screen.

Then, click ‘Insert form.’

Selecting a page to insert the Formidable Forms form in

On the other hand, choosing the new page option will make you create and name a new page.

Once you do that, go ahead and click ‘Create page.’

Creating a new page to insert a Formidable Forms form into

With both options, Formidable Forms will automatically insert the form block in the page’s block editor. All you need to do is rearrange it.

If you need to edit the form right from the block editor, just open the block’s settings sidebar and click ‘Go to form.’

Adding and editing the Formidable Forms block in the block editor

When you are ready, either click on ‘Publish’ or ‘Update.’

Here’s what our Formidable Forms mortgage calculator form looks like:

Example of the mortgage calculator form made with Formidable Forms

Alternatively, you can add the mortgage calculator using a shortcode or PHP code.

In the embed popup from earlier, click ‘Insert manually.’

The Embed form shortcode and PHP code options to display the Formidable Forms form

Then, you can copy either the shortcode or the PHP code. Again, for the first option, you can read our article on how to add a shortcode in WordPress.

As for the PHP code, we only recommend using it if you are comfortable with working with code snippets. We recommend using WPCode for this, as this plugin makes it safe and easy to insert code in WordPress.

WPCode - Best WordPress Code Snippets Plugin

For more information, you can read our guide on how to insert code snippets in WordPress.

We hope this article helped you learn how to add a mortgage calculator in WordPress. You may also want to see our article on how to create an auto loan or car payment calculator in WordPress and our expert pick of the best email marketing services for small businesses.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Add a Mortgage Calculator in WordPress (Step by Step) first appeared on WPBeginner.

Best Form Plugin WordPress – (Review Updated For Winter of 2019)

How can your website visitors contact you?

It’s a simple question, yet I see so many sites with complex solutions.

Take a moment to put yourself into the shoes of a user navigating your website. For one reason or another, they have decided they want to reach you. This person shouldn’t be forced to find your phone number, dial, wait on hold, and potentially get a voicemail depending on your business hours. That’s just too many steps and not very efficient.

Here’s another scenario. The visitor has to look up your email address, navigate to their email platform, then copy and paste your email address before typing a message.

I’ll give you one more example, just for good measure. In order to contact you, the website visitor has to search you on social media, and then send a direct message or leave a comment on your page.

Should you have options for people to contact you via phone, email, and social media? Absolutely.

But you can simplify this process by allowing people to contact you directly from your website. The solution: contact forms.

A simple contact form can help you increase conversions and improve your customer experience. Each additional step a visitor has to take to perform an action reduces the chances that they’ll complete that action.

By setting up a contact form on your website, people can reach you without having to take extra steps or navigating to third-party platforms. There’s a high likelihood that they won’t finish a multi-step process. They might get distracted, or give up — it’s not worth all that work to them.

Adding a form plugin to your WordPress site will make it much easier for visitors to get in contact with you. You can also use these plugins for other forms.

So what’s the best form plugin for WordPress? I’ve identified the top options worth consideration.

1. Ninja Forms

Ninja Forms

When it comes to simplicity, the Ninja Forms plugin is definitely toward the top of the rankings. Unlike other plugins on the market, Ninja Forms integrates nicely into your WordPress dashboard and makes it easy for you to create a form in minutes.

Ninja Forms is great for beginners but has enough add-on options for advanced WordPress users as well. That’s why more than one million sites are actively using this plugin.

You can sync the forms up with your email marketing software. So all of the responses can be managed through services that you’re already using. Ninja Forms supports the majority of the most popular email tools:

  • Constant Contact
  • MailChimp
  • Aweber
  • Campaign Monitor
  • iContact
  • GetResponse

Ninja Forms even has features that allow you to collect payments through Stripe, PayPal Express, and Elavon.

Another reason why this is one of the best form plugins for WordPress is the ability to collect, export, and analyze any data submitted in the forms. Ninja Forms integrates with CRM software such as Salesforce, Zoho, and Batchbook. You can also send data to productivity and team tools like Trello, Slack, and Zapier.

The basic version of Ninja Forms is free, but add-ons can be purchased separately. They also have plans starting at $99 per year.

2. WPForms

WPForms

WPForms is arguably one of the most beginner-friendly form plugins available for WordPress. That’s because it offers a drag and drop form builder that’s as straightforward as it gets.

The simplicity behind the drag and drop builder makes it easy for anyone, regardless of their technical background, to create a form in just a few minutes. WPForms also has plenty of pre-built templates to get you started in the right direction.

You can create forms with conditional logic. This means that certain elements of the form (such as fields, sections or buttons) will be changed based on options a user selects.

For example, a website visitor who is filling out a form about a previous purchase could have different form options than someone who has a question about one of your products that hasn’t been purchased yet.

WPForms also lets website visitors submit files. Let’s say someone has a problem with something they bought from you. You can give them an option to upload a picture to improve the communication about the issue.

This plugin can also integrate with email marketing software as well as productivity tools.

WPForms can be embedded anywhere on your website.

Pricing for WPForms starts at just $39 per year, which is pretty affordable considering all of the benefits you’ll get.

3. Gravity Forms

Gravity Forms

Gravity Forms offers a clean navigation for building and managing forms on WordPress. You can consider using this plugin if you’re a beginner, but Gravity Forms offers lots of options for advanced WordPress users as well.

Other form plugins require you to add on the conditional logic feature, but that option comes standard with Gravity Forms.

Another feature I like is the ability for visitors to save and continue a form for later. This is great for those of you who plan on adding longer or more complex forms to your website. Sometimes those won’t be completed in one sitting, and you don’t want to force people to re-submit information or abandon the process altogether.

Gravity Forms lets you limit the number of submissions through one particular form. They also give you the ability to schedule forms.

Something else that sets this plugin apart from the competition is its calculations feature. Gravity Forms can automatically perform advanced calculations based on the form fields submitted by a visitor. So if you had a real estate website, you could set this up to calculate an estimated mortgage payment based on things like the purchase price, down payment, interest rate, and mortgage period.

Gravity Forms starts at just $59 per year for a basic license. If you’re a developer or have an agency, you can purchase an elite license for just $259 annually, which is valid for an unlimited number of sites.

4. HappyForms

Happy Forms

A reason why HappyForms is considered one of the best form plugins for WordPress is because it’s 100% free.

According to its website, the average cost of a WordPress form plugin is $186 per year. So for those of you who are looking for a free form plugin, this will be a top choice for you to consider.

HappyForms lets you completely customize your forms with different types of form fields.

  • Short text
  • Long text
  • Email
  • Website links
  • Multiple choice options
  • Single choice
  • Dropdown menus
  • Numeric fields
  • Phone numbers

All of these can be added to one form. The drop-down menus and multiple choice options are very user-friendly. It’s easier for someone to make a selection from a list as opposed to manually typing a response. This will also help you stay organized when you’re sorting through data and submissions from these fields.

It’s easy for you to manage all of your messages from one place. HappyForms lets you filter the messages based on your preferences, so you can respond in a logical way. For example, you may prioritize a certain type of request over another, as opposed to responding in the order the forms were submitted in.

HappyForms also has ReCaptcha and Honeypot built-in, so you won’t have to worry about getting spam messages.

Overall, this is one of the best free form plugins for WordPress on the market.

5. Caldera Forms

Caldera Forms

Caldera Forms also has a free option. If you want to upgrade to a pro version, pricing starts at $15 per month. They also have individual add-ons available for purchase.

With that said, if you’re just looking for a basic form plugin, you can probably get away with the free version.

This plugin is another option that includes a drag and drop builder, which is great for those of you who aren’t too tech-savvy and want to create forms as fast as possible.

Caldera Forms has advanced calculations, drop down menus, and conditional logic. There’s also a built-in spam filtering tool, so you won’t have to waste your time reviewing spam submissions.

I dig the auto-responders, which ensures that your website visitors always get a quick reply.

For those of you who run a blog and accept guest posts, users can submit posts directly through the form fields with Caldera Forms, too.

6. FormCraft

FormCraft

FormCraft is unique because it specializes in designs. We’ve all been to websites that have generic forms that just aren’t very appealing. You don’t want your website visitors to have that feeling when they’re on your site.

This WordPress plugin also has a drag and drop builder, making it easier for anyone to create a from as fast as possible.

FormCraft also has a wide range of templates based on the type of form that you’re trying to build. This is very helpful for those of you who will be embedding multiple forms on your WordPress site. For example, a form to sign up for your email newsletter should be distinguishable from your contact form.

Another top benefit from FormCraft is its popup forms. A user action can trigger a form to appear on the page, as opposed to embedding it somewhere on a landing page that might be overlooked.

You can create multi-page forms with FormCraft as well, although this is one of the many paid add-on features. The basic package starts at $49 per year. Add-ons range from $19 to $29 each.

7. Contact Form 7

Contact Form 7

Contact Form 7 is another WordPress plugin that’s completely free. They won’t try to upsell you with any premium features or add-ons. With over 5 million active installations, this is one of the most popular free WordPress plugins you’ll find.

What I found interesting about Contact Form 7 is that they have exceptional customer support for a free plugin. You’ll have access to an extensive FAQ page, support forums, and documents explaining how to do things.

Some of the top features of Contact Form 7 include:

  • CAPTCHA fields
  • Radio buttons
  • Drop down menus
  • Checkboxes
  • Quizzes
  • File submission fields

You’ll be able to embed the forms anywhere on your website. It’s a top option for anyone who doesn’t want to buy a form plugin.

8. weForms

weForms

I like weForms because it’s extremely sleek and responsive. It has a drag and drop builder, which makes it easy for beginners to create a form. There are also tons of pre-built templates that will save you time compared to creating a form from scratch.

The shortcode allows you to embed forms within your posts, as well as anywhere else on your site. With weForms, you can build forms that have entry and time restrictions and over 33 types of form fields for you to choose.

The versatility of weForms makes it one of the best form plugins for WordPress.

It syncs with some of the most popular email marketing solutions on the market. It provides anti-spam protection, and let you create forms with conditional logic. In addition to contact forms, it’s great for:

  • Volunteer application forms
  • Event registration forms
  • Error reporting forms
  • Applications
  • Referrals
  • Internal company requests
  • Patient intake forms

9. Quform

Quform

At just $29 per year, Quform is an affordable WordPress form plugin. This plugin is extremely responsive and mobile-friendly.

You’ll have the option to create multi-page forms, with complex layouts, and reCAPTCHA with the drag and drop builder.

The plugin comes with lots of different form themes as well. You can set up conditions that will automatically display elements for specific replies through your website forms. With Quform, users can attach files to their submission.

For those of who you don’t want to spend a ton of money on a plugin, but want to upgrade from a free WordPress form plugin, you’ll definitely want to checkout Quform.

10. Formidable Forms

Formidable Forms

Last, but certainly not least on our list is Formidable Forms.

This plugin is unique because it lets you create forms that are GDPR compliant. So for those of you who have lots of European visitors navigating to your website, you’ll want to consider Formidable Forms.

You can create simple contact forms as well as complex multi-page forms with this plugin. It comes standard with top features like advanced calculations, file uploads, and conditional logic.

Formidable Forms is also one of my favorite plugins for analyzing data that’s been submitted in your website forms. You can view information in graphs, which is always helpful for identifying trends.

This plugin lets you take the information that you collect through forms and use it to build directories, listings, or any other data-driven application.

The drag-and-drop builder paired with front-end WordPress editing makes Formidable Forms impressive. Pricing ranges from $49 to $399 per year, depending on your needs. But I’d say the majority of you won’t need one of the higher-cost plans.

Conclusion

Traditionally, website forms are used as a contact method. It’s a great way for your website visitors to reach you directly without having to leave or site or go through extra steps.

But as you can see, these forms can be used for so much more. That’s why it’s crucial for you to have a WordPress plugin that can help you create the forms you need.

So what’s the best form plugin for WordPress?

It depends on what you’re looking for. Some websites need to build complex, multi-page forms, with conditional logic and file submissions. Other sites may just need a simple form with a few fields.

How do you want to create your forms? If you want something that’s easy and user-friendly, you’ll want to look for a plugin that has drag and drop builders.

Price is also something that you need to keep in mind when you’re searching for a form plugin. Some are free, while others vary in price range depending on features, plans, and add-ons.

Based on all of this information, I’m sure you can find what you’re looking for on the list that I’ve come up with above. These are the best form plugins for WordPress, and I made sure to include something for everyone.