A Contact Form 7 alternative that keeps your forms.
Forms speaks Contact Form 7: the same [text* your-name] form-tags, the same [your-email] mail-tags, Mail and Mail (2), the same messages. Your forms import as they are, every submission is saved to an inbox, and a visual builder writes the tags for you.
Replaced by the bundled Forms plugin · Included free with Presscomet
Switching from Contact Form 7: the short version.
You get
- Contact Form 7 forms imported unchanged, shortcodes and blocks re-pointed
- Every submission saved, with CSV export — no Flamingo needed
- Flamingo messages imported into the inbox
- File uploads, quiz, acceptance, select, checkbox, radio, date and number fields
Not included
- No reCAPTCHA or Akismet integration — honeypot, time trap, math question and local antispam instead
- Third-party CF7 add-ons (conditional fields, multi-step, CRM integrations) don’t run
- No [file] attachment storage in the inbox beyond the upload itself
Contact Form 7 not sending email?
The classic CF7 failure: the green “Thank you” appears, but nothing arrives. Contact Form 7 hands the message to WordPress, and WordPress hands it to the server’s mail function without authentication, so it gets blocked or filtered.
On Presscomet the same thing would happen without SMTP — so SMTP is bundled, with a test email and a log. And because Forms saves every submission, a delivery problem never costs you a lead.
Saving submissions without Flamingo
Contact Form 7 doesn’t store messages; you add Flamingo for that. Forms has an inbox built in under Contact → Inbound Messages, with spam and read states and a CSV export, and you can turn storage off per form.
Contact Form 7 vulnerabilities and updates
Every PHP plugin is code that runs on your server and has to be kept up to date, and Contact Form 7 is no exception: security fixes only protect you once they are installed. To check any plugin's history, search it in a public vulnerability database such as WPScan, Patchstack or the CVE list.
Presscomet doesn't run PHP at all. Its bundled plugins are part of the application, so they are updated together with it — there is no separate plugin to patch, and no plugin upload that can execute PHP.
Contact Form 7 vs Presscomet
Feature by feature, including what isn’t there. Rows describe what the bundled plugin’s code does today.
| Feature | Contact Form 7 | Presscomet |
|---|---|---|
| Form-tags and mail-tags | Included: Yes | Included: Same syntax |
| Visual builder | Not included: Tag generator over a text editor | Included: Visual builder that writes form-tags |
| Mail and Mail (2) | Included: Yes | Included: Yes |
| Saved submissions | Partly: With Flamingo | Included: Built in, CSV export |
| File uploads | Included: Yes | Included: Yes |
| Spam protection | Included: reCAPTCHA, Akismet, quiz | Partly: Honeypot, time trap, math question, quiz, local antispam |
| Add-on ecosystem | Included: Large | Not included: Add-ons don’t run |
| Reliable delivery | Partly: Needs an SMTP plugin | Included: SMTP bundled |
- Included
- Partly, or on a paid plan
- Not included
- Not needed, with the reason
Contact Form 7 features as publicly documented.
What moves over automatically.
Contact Form 7 data moves as it is; the importer only normalises it and points references at the new IDs.
Imported
- Forms, mail templates, Mail (2), messages and additional settings
wpcf7_contact_form_form_mail_mail_2_messages_additional_settings - [contact-form-7 id="…"] shortcodes and CF7 blocks in your posts re-pointed
- Flamingo inbound messages, linked to the right form
flamingo_inbound
Not imported
- reCAPTCHA and Akismet integration settings
- Settings stored by CF7 add-on plugins
- Contact Form 7: 3 form(s) ready.
- Contact Form 7: updated form references in 4 post(s).
- Flamingo: 212 inbound message(s) imported.
How switching works.
- 01
Check your site
Run the free site check to see which of your plugins Presscomet replaces and what needs attention.
- 02
Run the migration
Connect your WordPress site. Content, users, media and plugin settings are imported into a new Presscomet site; your live site is only read.
- 03
Review and switch
Open Contact in the admin menu: Contact Forms, Add New, Inbound Messages to check the imported settings, then point your domain at the new site when you’re happy.
Where to find it: Contact in the admin menu: Contact Forms, Add New, Inbound Messages.
Contact Form 7 alternative: questions
Do I have to rebuild my Contact Form 7 forms?
No. They are imported as they are, and [contact-form-7] shortcodes and blocks keep working.
Can I still edit the form-tags by hand?
Yes. The visual builder writes form-tags, and you can switch to the text and edit them directly.
Why isn’t reCAPTCHA available?
Forms uses a hidden honeypot, a minimum fill time, an optional math question and the local Antispam checks. They need no third-party script or keys.
Will my Flamingo messages come across?
Yes. Flamingo inbound messages are imported into Contact → Inbound Messages and linked to their forms.
Can I keep running Contact Form 7 instead?
No. Presscomet doesn’t run PHP, so WordPress plugins can’t be installed. The bundled Forms plugin does the job instead, and the migration imports the settings listed above.
Does Presscomet support WooCommerce?
Not today. Presscomet is for content sites — blogs, magazines, business and documentation sites. If your site sells through WooCommerce, it isn’t a fit yet.
Related plugins and next steps
Related
- BundledFormsContact Form 7-compatible forms with a visual builder, mail and auto-reply, uploads, spam checks and an inbox with CSV export.
- BundledSMTPRoute all site mail through SMTP or sendmail, force the From address, send test emails and keep a 30-day log with resend.
- AlternativeWPForms alternativeConverts WPForms fields, notification and confirmation; [wpforms] shortcodes keep working; entries saved with CSV export.
- AlternativeWP Mail SMTP alternativeOther SMTP with forced From, test email and a 30-day log with resend; WP Mail SMTP settings imported.
Move your WordPress site in one go — content, users, media and plugin settings. Free and open source; your live site is only read.
Managed hosting with backupsAll 19 bundled plugins
Contact Form 7, Flamingo are trademarks of their respective owners. Presscomet is not affiliated with or endorsed by them. Names are used only to describe compatibility and migration.