Grade D

HTML Forms – Simple WordPress Forms Plugin

Name: HTML Forms – Simple WordPress Forms Plugin
Rating: 4.9 (57 reviews)
Author: Link Software LLC

⤓ Download v1.6.4 on WordPress.org ↗

by Link Software LLCupdated 2026-03-11⚠️The Handle-With-Care

Finally a form plugin that respects your HTML skills.

Growing

74/100

Developers appreciate the total HTML control despite some reported PHP 8 compatibility issues.

Loved34/40

Trustworthy12/15

Fair & Honest14/15

Maintained15/18

Momentum9/12

Composite 84, adjusted to 74 (×0.88) for a low verified rating or signs of review manipulation.

Active installs

~15,000

our estimate · wp.org shows 10k+

→ on track for 20k+in ~2.2 years

Rating

4.9★

57 ratings

Trend · vs a year ago

+14%

Growing

80 → 92 installs/day

What to watch out for

MINORreviews unevenly distributed over time
MAJORnear-100% 5★ in bursty pattern

Downloads over time

real new installs per day · release spikes shown separately from the trend

2025-04-302025-08-082025-11-162026-02-232026-06-03

organicrelease spikerelease tailorganic trend · 14d rolling median

Growing · +14% in the last year

80/day a year ago→92/day today

Reviews

what people actually say

HTML Forms is praised for its lightweight, developer-friendly design and full HTML control, though a few users report PHP 8 incompatibility and desire more captcha options.

What people like

+Lightweight and efficient with minimal CSS/JS×3
+Developer-friendly, offering full control over HTML markup×4
+Easy to use and configure, described as simple and fast×3
+Good customer support
+Premium version provides webhooks integration×2

Common complaints

−Incompatible with PHP 8, causing redirect loops on robots.txt
−Limited captcha options; users request additional solutions like Turnstile

Review trustReviews look organic

4.92★Verified rating — holds steady vs the raw 4.90★
7%One-shot reviewers — most reviewers are active community members

Reviews per month · 5★ vs lower

2023-12-172025-03-112026-06-04

5★ reviews1–4★ reviews

All-time ratings · 57 total

5★

4★

3★

2★

1★

Latest reviews · 57 analyzed

2026-04-02★★★★★Great plugin!folbert
2026-02-12★★★★★Works great – Excellent support George Paschetto
2025-10-30★★★★★simplest, fastest and easiest HTML form plugin aryanrajseo
2025-04-13★★★★★Fantastic no-bloat solution for developers frisbee9580
2024-10-13★★★★★Lightweight and efficient!karel0017
2024-07-08★★★★★very good plug in, flexibility, I love it kxpro
2024-06-14★★★★★Great plugin and incredible support stevejcoates1-shot
2024-02-25★★★★★Time Savior!shlxng
2024-01-12★★★★★This is the one James Joseph Finn
2023-12-14★★★★★Excellent plugin!!!snippet24

Releases

recent versions from WordPress.org SVN

2026-03-11v1.6.4
2026-02-18v1.6.3
2026-01-19v1.6.2
2025-12-15v1.6.1
2025-12-01v1.6.0
2025-11-05v1.5.6
2025-09-16v1.5.5
2025-09-15v1.5.4

Alternatives to HTML Forms

Top Forms plugins, ranked by score.

Forminator Forms650k installs

Formidable Forms350k installs

SureForms550k installs

WS Form LITE11.8k installs

Ninja Forms980k installs

UserFeedback447k installs

For developers & the curious

the raw signals behind the grade — none of this is on the friendly summary above

Download signals

Baselines are computed on organic days only — release spikes and their tails are excluded, so they're not inflated by the auto-update wave.

Baseline · median of last 7 organic days

107

Prior 7-day baseline

Floor · 25th percentile over 14 days

171

Mean release-day peak (30d)

Latest day · 2026-06-03(organic)

-12.1%

Week-over-week organic trend

Review signals

Concentration and drive-by metrics drive the review-burst and fake-review flags. 30–40% solo reviewers is normal; we only flag the extremes.

18%

Max month share · biggest single 30-day window

1.53

Distribution CV · <0.6 even, >1.5 bursty

98%

5★ share in analyzed sample

Solo reviewers · only this one wp.org activity

—

Volume velocity · last 6mo vs prior 6mo

4.93 → 4.92★

Sample avg · raw → solo-filtered