WordPress plugin comparison
Essential Form vs Ninja Forms
At a glance
- Ninja Forms has more active installs: 500K+, against 600+ for Essential Form.
- On a typical day, Ninja Forms is downloaded about 13,741 times, Essential Form about 12.
- Essential Form is rated higher: 5.0 out of 5 from 20 reviews, against 4.4 from 1,398 reviews.
- Essential Form was updated more recently: Nov 6, 2026, against Nov 2, 2026 for Ninja Forms.
- Ninja Forms resolves more of its support threads: 55% in the last two months, against 0% for Essential Form.
- Both are tested up to WordPress 7.1.4.
- Ninja Forms has been around longer: since 2011, against 2023 for Essential Form.
Line by line
Ninja Forms leads on 5 of 7 comparable lines.
| Metric |  Essential Form |  Ninja Forms |
|---|---|---|
| Popular rank | #8,519 | #114 |
| Active installs | 600+ | 500K+ |
| Downloads, last 30 days | 730 | 851.4K |
| Rating | 5.0(20) | 4.4(1.4K) |
| Support threads resolved | 0% | 55% |
| Tested up to | 7.1.4 | 7.1.4 |
| Search multiplier | ×0.58 | ×2.56 |
| Last release | 2 days ago | 6 days ago |
| Requires PHP | 7.2 | 7.4 |
From WordPress.org's public data, refreshed every night. Downloads are WordPress.org's official daily figures for the last 30 days.
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