Tally vs WPForms for WordPress: which should you use?

A note before we start: we make Embed for Tally, a free plugin for Tally forms, so we’re not neutral. We’ve tried to be fair, and we say plainly where WPForms is the better choice. Prices and features were checked on 27 September 2026.

The main difference

WPForms is a WordPress plugin. You build forms in your dashboard, and they’re part of your site. On paid plans, entries are saved in your WordPress database.

Tally is a form builder that runs on its own website. You build forms at tally.so, and submissions are stored by Tally, which is based in Belgium and keeps form data in the EU. You then show the form on your site with an embed, and the same form also works as a link, in Notion, or anywhere else.

Everything else follows from that: what’s free, where your data lives, and how the form fits your design.

Free versions compared

	Tally (free)	WPForms Lite (free)
Forms and submissions	Unlimited, within fair use	Unlimited
Where submissions go	Saved in Tally	Emailed to you, not saved in WordPress. An optional backup keeps them for up to a year, to restore after upgrading
Conditional logic	Included	Paid plans
File uploads	Included, up to 10 MB per file	Paid plans
Payments	Stripe, no extra Tally fee	Stripe, plus a 3% WPForms fee
Integrations	Google Sheets, Notion, Airtable, Zapier, Make, webhooks	Mostly on paid plans

For free, Tally does a lot more. The biggest gap is entries: with WPForms Lite you only get submissions by email, while Tally keeps every submission in a table you can search and export.

Paid plans

Plan	Price	Sites
Tally Pro	$29 a month, or $24 a month billed yearly	Any number
Tally Business	$89 a month, or $74 a month billed yearly	Any number
WPForms Basic	$49.50 the first year, then $99 a year	1
WPForms Plus	$99.50 the first year, then $199 a year	3
WPForms Pro	$199.50 the first year, then $399 a year	5
WPForms Elite	$299.50 the first year, then $599 a year	Unlimited

Tally Pro removes Tally’s branding and adds custom domains, team collaboration, partial submissions and custom CSS. WPForms’ paid plans add saved entries, conditional logic and file uploads from Basic, marketing integrations from Plus, payments without the extra fee from Pro, and webhooks from Elite. WPForms’ first-year prices are introductory, so budget for the renewal price.

When WPForms is the better choice

• You want submissions stored in WordPress. On a paid plan, entries live in your own database, next to the rest of your site.
• You’d rather not rely on an outside service. With WPForms, form data can stay on your own site instead of going to another company, which can make privacy reviews simpler.
• You want forms styled exactly like your theme. WPForms outputs regular HTML on your page. A Tally form sits in a frame with its own design, which you can adjust but not fully control on the free plan.
• Your workflow is inside WordPress. If forms need to feed other WordPress plugins directly, a native form plugin fits more naturally.

When Tally is the better choice

• You want a lot for free. Unlimited forms and submissions, logic, file uploads and payments cost nothing.
• You like the builder. Tally’s editor works like a document: you type questions and add blocks with /. Many people find it faster than a drag-and-drop builder.
• Forms live beyond your site. The same form works as a share link, in emails, and in tools like Notion, with all answers in one place.
• You run several sites. Tally’s price doesn’t depend on how many sites you use it on.

Our take

For contact forms, sign-ups, surveys and applications on a small or medium site, Tally’s free plan is hard to beat. The trade-off is that your data lives with Tally rather than in WordPress. If you need entries in your own database, or can’t use an outside service, WPForms is the safer pick.

If you choose Tally, the guide to embedding a Tally form in WordPress shows how to add it to your site, with or without a plugin.