If you’re developer using PHP to build a website for yourself or a client, chances are at some point you’ll need to add a form to the site. The most common forms on the average website are contact forms. They enable visitors to contact you quickly and easily. But other forms can come in handy as well. For example, you may want to add a PHP email form as an alternative to the PHP contact form, or add a form to get feedback from your visitors on some aspect of your service or products. Whatever kind of form you need, you’re going to want to have one up and running quickly and easily.
That’s where a PHP form builder comes in. Today we’ll take a look at the five best PHP form builders available at Envato Market and compare them in terms of functionality, flexibility and aesthetic appeal. But first let’s look at exactly what a PHP form builder is.
What is a PHP Form Builder?
A PHP form is a form on a web page that allows visitors to the page to input information and sent it to a server to be processed in some way. In essence, it’s an online version of a paper form where users fill out particular fields and then hand them in to be processed.
A PHP form builder, also known as a PHP form generator, is a tool you can add to your website that enables you to generate a variety of well-designed PHP forms quickly and easily.
Why Should You Use a PHP Form Builder?
The greatest benefit of using a PHP form generator is to speed up the job of creating and adding well-executed forms to your site. The best-designed PHP form generators allow you or your client to create a variety of professionally-designed web forms and add them to a web page quickly and easily. When someone fills out and submits a form, the form builder will they allow the website owner to easily receive notification via a computer or mobile device. They also allow the website owner to collect, browse, or download the data received from the form in an organised and clear way.
Not everyone who needs to add a form to their website wants or needs the same functionality, so the right PHP form generator for you isn’t necessarily the one with the most bells and whistles. Instead, it is the one that best meets your needs.
Comparison of the 5 Best Php Form Builders
Easy Forms: Advanced Form Builder and Manager
Easy Forms PHP form builder checks all the boxes when it comes to the ideal form generator and is the perfect choice for the inexperienced developer. The form builder uses a drag and drop system that allows you to create forms in minutes right from your browser with little coding knowledge, and offers a good selection of themes and templates to appeal to a variety to taste and branding needs.
Easy Forms enables you to create the usual forms you’d expect—like contact
forms, order forms, registration forms and online surveys. But you can
also create specialised forms like multi-page forms and multi-column
forms.
Your forms can then be placed anywhere on your webpage and
once embedded, you can track views, submissions, geographical data,
abandonment rates and other important performance information. What’s
more, Easy Forms offers form analytics to learn more about your data,
the ability to create reports based on the analytics and the ability to
export data collected by your forms.
Additional features:
- user management
- geolocation
- email notification
- autoresponder
- mobile friendly
- and more
User imagesthataspire says:
This is an excellent script and, if you need online forms, will almost certainly meet your needs.
Zigaform PHP Form Builder: Contact & Survey
The Zigaform: Contact & Survey enables you to build a range of forms for any PHP website in a matter of minutes. The builder uses a handy grid system that you can drag-and-drop over 40 form elements into, to create whatever kind of form meets your need. You can use their Skin Customiser and over 700 icons, 650 fonts, 80 animation effects to fine tune every part of your form so that it fits nicely into the webpage on which it’s located.
Once a user has completed a form they receive an acknowledgement email and you receive a notification email, both of which are completely customisable. All data submitted via the Zigaform is stored in the admin panel, where it can be exported from in CSV or PDF from. The builder also allows you to filter and search submitted data which can then be used to create graphic charts for trend and other analysis.
Additional features:
- extensive documentation
- translation ready
- spam protections
- cross browser compatibility
- form validation
- and more
User orlandobcr says:
“I had found the product very useful. Lots of details to customise, lots of options to implement. Nice work!”
Zigaform: PHP Calculator & Cost Estimation Form Builder
The Zigaform: PHP Calculator & Cost Estimation Form Builder is the sister of the Zigaform Contact & Survey Form Builder mentioned above and specialises in helping you to build your own e-commerce and invoicing forms, summary estimate form and instant checkout payment forms that gives your buyers a simplified checkout experience.
Other than these specialised forms, the PHP form generator has the same great features as the Zigaform Contact & Survey Form Builder. You can drag-and-drop the numerous form elements provided into a organising grid and use the Skin Customiser, numerous icons, fonts, and animation effects to customise your form. The builder also offers the same great notification and data processing as its sister form builder.
Additional features:
- advanced search for entries
- import and export your custom forms
- option to duplicate forms and fields
- detailed entries report by form
- mobile friendly
- and more
User davinci7 says:
“This form is absolutely brilliant! I had previously spent more than $400 having a complex form developed for me (in the end it didn’t even work), but I built the same form myself using this software in around 30 minutes. The customer support I received was amazing. I was very reluctant to buy it, but now I can’t recommend it enough.”
PHP Form Builder
A powerhouse of form builders, the PHP Form Builder, allows you to create just about any type of form you need using simple functions. The builder also provides options for horizontal, vertical and inline layouts to suite your page design and accepts any HTML5 form elements, including field sets, multiple selects, opt groups, button groups, etc.
You can customise the HTML with wrappers, IDs, classes and attributes, JavaScript events, and custom code almost anywhere. The builder comes with excellent documentation suitable for both novice PHP users and experienced programmers.
Additional features:
- build any form with any framework
- validate posted values
- send your emails using customisable HTML/CSS templates
- connect your database and insert, update or delete records
- over 120+ prebuilt templates included
- and more
User MonicePetkovska says of this incredible PHP form builder:
“The support is great, I’m really impressed. The product is easy to implement. Thank you again for your support. I’m beginner in PHP and I learned a lot of things from you.”
Aquaria Contact Form Builder 5
The Aquaria Contact Form Builder 5 is the perfect form builder for someone looking for a simple solution to adding contact forms to their websites. A lightweight builder, Aquaria is easy to install and once installed, with one click you can create a PHP contact form that is up and ready to use. The builder offers unlimited colour and over 600 fonts and icons so that you can customise your form to suit your needs.
Additional features:
- works on both PHP and HTML pages
- fully responsive layout
- CAPTCHA protection
- supports all major browsers
- and more
User ar10 says:
“Very customize-able and good customer support!”
Choosing the Right PHP Form Builder For You
From the five PHP form builders covered here, you can see that form builders come in various sizes and functionality. For someone looking for a simple and reliable contact form the Aquaria Contact Form Builder 5 is the right choice, while for someone who needs various kinds of invoicing and e-commerce forms, the Zigaform: PHP Calculator & Cost Estimation Form Builder is a better choice. For someone else who needs a large degree of flexibility in creating a variety of forms the Easy Forms: Advanced Form Builder and Manager will be the best choice.
In other words, any of the form builders featured here would be a great choice depending on what you need.
So the first step to take when choosing a builder is to be clear about what you want from your form builder. Once you’ve gotten clear, take a look again at these form builders to decide which one’s right for you. If none of them are quite what you’re looking for, don’t worry, we’ve got more great PHP form builders at Envarto Market, so head over there and check them out.