Essential Form – The lightest plugin for contact forms, ultra lightweight and no spam
by Jose Mortellaro · Email & Marketing
Also makes 57 other plugins · 25.8K+ installs across the portfolio →
The lightest contact form for WordPress. It's so essential you'll either love it or hate it. Ultra lightweight and no spam.
Try it live opens a temporary test site in your browser, which can take about 20 seconds to load. Plugins that rely on outside services or a full server may not work completely there.
Health
A 89/100
no flags
Active installs
600+
≈600 estimated
Momentum
+62%
downloads vs prior 30d
Biggest opportunity: “anti spam”, “contact form” and “email” aren't earning a slot. You list them, but you're not in the first 24 results for those searches. WordPress.org counts only your first five tags, so free the slot for a search you can win.
89 health vs 66 average across 2,121 Email & Marketing plugins
Install conversion
How it's measured →8.4%
of downloads still active
At least 600 of 7.2K lifetime downloads are still running, above its category: the median Email & Marketing plugin keeps 0.9%, across 1,295 plugins.
Downloads count every update, not just first installs, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower. Compare against other Email & Marketing plugins, not across the directory. wp.org reports active installs as the bottom of a band, so the real rate is this or higher.
This plugin shipped 1 release in the last 12 months, and every existing install that updated counted as another download. wp.org publishes no split between first installs and updates, so we show the raw rate rather than guess at one.
Details
Directory ranking optimization
How it's scored →How well this listing is tuned to rank in WordPress.org search, on the factors an owner controls. Not popularity, optimization.
Well optimized
Most to gain: Support resolution
Updated 31 days ago
Tested up to WordPress 7.1.4, the current branch or newer
4.9★ over 19 reviews, smoothed to 4.32★ and held back under 25 reviews
5 of 5 tags set · short description in place
0 of 1 support threads resolved in the last 2 months
To rank higher: Mark more forum threads resolved — the resolved ratio feeds the ranking.
Get the full rank-higher report →Search visibility
How it's tracked →Directory searches this plugin turns up in, and which way each one is moving. WordPress.org publishes no history of search positions, so this starts the day we first tracked a keyword and never backfills.
38
Momentum
Losing ground
-0.1
Velocity
places per keyword, 28d
17%
Breadth
of keywords climbing, 28d
-0.1
Acceleration
recent half vs earlier
wp.org is where the directory puts the plugin for that search. On merit is where it would sit if results were ranked on rating, support and updates, without the install boost. The last column is how far the wp.org position moved, from our first reading in the last 90 days to the latest.
| Keyword | wp.org | On merit | wp.org move, 90 days |
|---|---|---|---|
| leightweight your tag | #1 | #1 | 0 |
| essential | #8 | #8 | 0 |
| lightweight | #20 | #15 | down 2 |
| light your tag | #23 | #18 | 0 |
| light contact form | #10 | #12 | 0 |
| lightweight contact form | #14 | #12 | — |
| minimal contact form | #14 | #12 | up 1 |
| fast secure contact form | #23 | #21 | down 1 |
| anti spam your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| contact form your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| email your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
27 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 8 listed. 19 left out as unrelated or noise (years, numbers, stray words). 3 of its tags aren't in the top 24 for their own search.
What to do about it
- “anti spam”, “contact form” and “email” aren't earning a slot. You list them, but you're not in the first 24 results for those searches. WordPress.org counts only your first five tags, so free the slot for a search you can win.
Daily downloads
Since 4 Mar 2023 · 1,338 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 464 · peaks are release surges
Directory rank vs rivals
wp.org popularity rank over time · higher is better · when a rival's line climbs above yours, they've overtaken you
Rating trend
Star average over time · dips mark rough releases
Health trend
Composite health score, snapshotted daily
Update activity
How busy the existing users are, measured as downloads in the last 30 days for every 1,000 active sites. A spike means a new release everyone's pulling; a long, slow decline means an aging user base that updates less.
Release cadence
Occasionally updatedHow often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.
1
releases in the last 12 months
5mo ago
latest release · v1.0.2 · 21 May 2026
13
tagged releases on record
Recent releases
What its installed base runs
via wordpress.orgShare of active installs on each version of this plugin · 100% run the current release. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.
Estimated active installs
The public count shows “600+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.
Crossed into this band yesterday and a band this size takes about a year or more to cross, so the real count is still just over 600.
At the current install trend, crossing 700+ in roughly 880 days.
Install history since 3 Mar 2023
Recent reviews
All reviews on wp.org ↗- ★★★★★ myjosephines9mo ago
Simple and no bloat, love it
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ eleventyseventy9mo ago
Sorry, I removed the text as I should have posted in “Support Threads” instead This topic was modified 5 months, 3 weeks ago by eleventyseventy.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ sybydesign10mo ago
Like you say, love it or hate it. This is perfect for one of my sites, and I love it. Not enough form for my other site, but that’s OK. It works great for what it works for. Thank you for making this light easy form plugin.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ N.g1.4y ago
Very fast, thank you!
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ mcdeth1.5y ago
Got rid of contact form and wpform, no more bloats. Hands down to Jose
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Gabriel R.1.6y ago
It should use the theme style, but it’s not, fields and buttons are tiny and HTML defaulty looking. This topic was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by Gabriel R..
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Sahil Dadwal1.7y ago
Mind blowing plugin. never see that type plugin in past. just 14kb size plugin with no-spam feature inbuilt. Best of luck Jose ❤️🎉
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Mauro2.4y ago
The plugin is a great alternative to the classic plugins used for contact forms. Very lightweight and easy to configure.
Read on wp.org ↗
Behavioral tests
via WP HiveAutomated install-time checks, tested on PHP 8.1.12 · WP 6.8.3
Languages
via translate.wordpress.orgTranslated into 11 languages, 3 at 90% or more
AI assistants
How it's measured →Whether ChatGPT and Claude name this plugin when asked the category question, and whether the readme gives them something to quote.
Not measured yet for this plugin’s topics. Its tracked searches are not among the measured topics. See the topics measured so far.
Readme readiness
7 of 8 pass · checked 31 Oct 2026Can an assistant quote this readme? Eight deterministic checks over the wp.org listing, no model involved.
- ! Says what it does Short description names no action; say what the plugin does for the site.
- ✓ Has a FAQ 4 questions in the FAQ.
- ✓ FAQ asks real questions 4 of 4 read like questions a user would type.
- ✓ Names who it is for Names its audience or use cases ("if you need", "if you want").
- ✓ Names what it works with Mentions Contact Form 7, WPForms, Ninja Forms.
- ✓ Headings and lists 11 headings and 6 lists.
- ✓ Enough to quote 7,260 characters of description.
- ✓ Tags match the text 4 of 5 tags appear in the text; "leightweight" does not.
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2026-10-31 500+ → 600+ up after 1 days in tier
- 2026-10-30 600+ → 500+ down after 1 days in tier
- 2026-10-29 500+ → 600+ up after 41 days in tier
- 2026-09-18 600+ → 500+ down after 10 days in tier
- 2026-09-08 500+ → 600+ up after 238 days in tier
- 2026-01-13 400+ → 500+ up after 1 days in tier
- 2026-01-12 500+ → 400+ down after 56 days in tier
- 2025-11-17 400+ → 500+ up after 1 days in tier
Competes with
The plugins that solve the same job, ranked by shared tags then reach, closest match first. The letter on the right is each plugin's health grade (A best, F worst).
-
Akismet Anti-spam: Spam Protection 5M+ installs · 4.7★ · 2 shared tags A -
Gravity PDF 20K+ installs · 4.9★ · 2 shared tags B -
ActiveLayer Anti-Spam: Spam Protection for Forms & Comments 10K+ installs · 4.4★ · 2 shared tags A -
Contact Form Email 8K+ installs · 4.3★ · 2 shared tags A -
VS Contact Form 6K+ installs · 4.7★ · 2 shared tags A -
Generate PDF using Contact Form 7 4K+ installs · 4.5★ · 2 shared tags A
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for Essential Form – The lightest plugin for contact forms, ultra lightweight and no spam into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/essential-form" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="Essential Form – The lightest plugin for contact forms, ultra lightweight and no spam — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> Essential Form – The lightest plugin for contact forms, ultra lightweight and no spam: 600+ active installs, 4.9★ (19 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-11-01. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/essential-form
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