How to Add a Contact Form to Your Website: A Simple Step-by-Step Guide (2026)

Learning how to add a contact form to your website is one of the simplest upgrades you can make. A contact form gives visitors an easy way to reach you without showing your email address to the whole internet, and it keeps every message in one place. This guide walks through the steps for WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, Google Sites, and plain HTML sites — no coding needed for most of them.

A contact form is a small form on your site — usually a name field, an email field, and a message box — that sends what a visitor types straight to your inbox. It beats a plain email link in two ways: it hides your address from spam bots, and it lets you ask for exactly the details you need before you reply.

Which method fits your site?

Pick the row that matches your setup. The steps for each one are below.

What fields should your contact form include?

Short forms get more replies. Ask for the least you need to answer well, and nothing else.

• Name (required) — so you know who wrote to you.
• Email address (required) — so you can reply. Make this field check for a real email format.
• Message (required) — a big text box where visitors explain what they need.
• Subject or service (optional dropdown) — useful if you offer more than one service. It helps you sort messages fast.
• Phone number (optional) — only ask for it if you actually call people back. Every extra field costs you replies.
• File upload (optional) — handy for quotes, support, or job applications. Keep the size limit low (5 MB or less).
• Consent checkbox (required where privacy law applies) — a short line like “I agree to be contacted about my message.” This matters in the EU and UK, and it is good practice everywhere.

Leave out anything you would not ask a stranger in person: home address, date of birth, and passwords. A contact form is not the place for sensitive data.

Method 1: Add a contact form to WordPress (plugin, no code)

WordPress has no built-in contact form, so you add one with a plugin. Two free options cover most sites: WPForms Lite (easiest drag-and-drop builder) and Contact Form 7 (free, lighter, a bit more hands-on). The steps below use WPForms Lite.

1. In your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins > Add New and search for “WPForms”.
2. Click Install Now, then Activate.
3. Go to WPForms > Add New and pick the “Simple Contact Form” template. It already has Name, Email, and Message fields.
4. Drag in any extra fields you need (a dropdown, a phone field, a consent checkbox) and delete any you do not.
5. Click Settings > Notifications and check the “Send To Email Address” — this is where messages go. Use an email address on your own domain if you have one; it helps messages land in your inbox instead of spam.
6. Click Save, then open the page where the form should appear and add a WPForms block (or paste the shortcode the plugin gives you).
7. Publish the page and test the form yourself — see the testing checklist near the end of this guide.

WPForms Lite is free. Paid plans start at $49.50 for the first year (renewing at $99 a year) and add entry storage, file uploads, conditional logic, and more templates. One thing to know about the free version: it does not store submissions in your dashboard — messages only arrive by email. If an email fails, that message is gone. If missing a message would cost you business, either use a paid plan or pick a plugin that stores entries.

Contact Form 7 works a little differently: you build the form with simple tags instead of drag-and-drop, then paste a shortcode like [contact-form-7 id="1234"] into any page. It is free and it stores nothing by itself either — pair it with a free entries plugin if you want a copy saved on your site.

Method 2: Add a contact form to Wix

Wix has forms built in, so there is nothing to install.

1. Open your site in the Wix editor and go to the page where the form should sit.
2. Click Add Elements (the + on the left) and choose Contact & Forms, then pick a form template.
3. Click any field to edit it, add or remove fields, and set which ones are required.
4. Open the form settings and check where submissions go — by default they land in your Wix Inbox and in your email. Add a second email address if someone else on your team should get them too.
5. Set the message visitors see after they submit, such as “Thanks — we will reply within one business day.”
6. Publish your site and test the form.

Wix forms work on free and paid plans. The main limit on a free Wix site is the Wix ads and the Wix subdomain, not the form itself.

Method 3: Add a contact form to Squarespace

Squarespace also has forms built in. You have two ways to add one.

Option A — a ready-made Contact page: go to Pages, click the +, choose Page Layouts, then Contact. Pick a layout, name the page, and the form is already there. Edit the fields to match what you need.

Option B — a Form Block on any page: open the page, click Add Block, and choose Form. Add the fields you want, set which are required, and in the block settings check the “Email Address” field under Storage — that is where submissions are sent. You can also connect Google Drive to save a copy of every submission in a spreadsheet, which is a smart backup.

One Squarespace quirk: submissions go to the email address on your Squarespace account unless you change it in the form settings. Check that the address is one you actually read.

Method 4: Add a contact form to Google Sites (free, with Google Forms)

Google Sites has no form of its own, so you build the form in Google Forms and embed it. It costs nothing and takes about ten minutes.

1. Go to Google Forms and start a blank form, or use the “Contact Information” template — it already has Name, Email, Phone, and Message fields.
2. Edit the questions, and switch on “Required” for the fields you need.
3. Click Send, then the link icon (<>), and copy the embed code.
4. Open your Google Site, go to the page, click Insert > Embed, and paste the code. Or use Insert > Forms and pick the form from your Drive.
5. Publish the site and test it. Replies land in the Responses tab of your form, and you can switch on email alerts under Responses > Get email notifications for new responses.

Google Forms is free, has no submission limits, and stores every reply in a spreadsheet for you. The trade-off is the look: it will always look like a Google Form, with less styling control than a builder or a WordPress plugin.

Method 5: Add a contact form to a static or HTML website

A plain HTML site has no server code to handle a form, so you need a form backend — a small service that receives the submission and emails it to you. Formspree is a popular choice, and it has a free tier for low-volume sites.

1. Create a free account at Formspree and create a new form. You will get a form endpoint — a web address that looks like https://formspree.io/f/xyzyabcd.
2. Add a normal HTML form to your page, with your endpoint as the action:

   <form action="https://formspree.io/f/xyzyabcd" method="POST">
     <label>Your name: <input type="text" name="name" required></label>
     <label>Your email: <input type="email" name="email" required></label>
     <label>Your message: <textarea name="message" required></textarea></label>
     <button type="submit">Send</button>
   </form>

3. Submit the form once yourself. Formspree sends a confirmation email to prove you own the address — click it, and the form goes live.
4. Set a redirect or a thank-you message in your Formspree dashboard so visitors know their message went through.

Netlify Forms works the same way if your site is hosted on Netlify: add data-netlify="true" to your form tag and Netlify handles the rest. Either way, the pattern is the same: your form sends to a service, the service emails you.

Method 6: Shopify and Webflow (quick notes)

On Shopify, every theme already has a contact page template — go to Online Store > Pages, add a page, and pick the contact template. Submissions go to your store email. For extra fields or file uploads, a form app from the Shopify App Store is the way to go.

On Webflow, drop a Form Block onto any page, add the fields you want, and set the form’s action in the settings panel. Webflow can send submissions to your email or to a connected tool like Zapier.

Set the confirmation message (do not skip this)

Every form needs a clear answer after someone clicks Send. A visitor who sees nothing will click Send again, or assume it failed and email you anyway. Set one of these:

• An on-page message: “Thanks for your message — we will get back to you within one business day.” Simple, and it works on every platform.
• A thank-you page: send visitors to a separate page after they submit. It feels more finished, and it lets you track form completions in Google Analytics as a goal.

Say how fast you will reply, and then reply that fast. A form that promises “within a day” and gets answered in a week is worse than no promise at all.

How to protect your contact form from spam

A form with no spam protection will fill up with junk within days of going live. Bots scan the web for forms all day. Use at least two of these layers:

• Honeypot field: an invisible field that humans never see and never fill in. Bots fill in every field, so any submission with the honeypot filled gets thrown away. WPForms, Contact Form 7 add-ons, and Formspree all support this, and visitors never notice it.
• CAPTCHA: Google reCAPTCHA is the best-known option. Version 3 works in the background and scores visitors without a checkbox; version 2 shows the familiar “I am not a robot” box. hCaptcha is a similar alternative that some site owners prefer for privacy reasons. Only add a visible CAPTCHA if spam is actually a problem — it adds friction for real visitors too.
• Akismet or a spam filter: on WordPress, the Akismet plugin checks submissions against a list of known spam patterns. It catches a lot of junk that slips past a CAPTCHA.
• Simple rules: block submissions with links in the name field, limit how many messages one IP address can send per hour, and never publish your email address as plain text anywhere on the site — that is what the form is for.

Start with a honeypot. Add a CAPTCHA only if spam still gets through. Most small sites never need more than that.

Test your form before you tell anyone about it

Run through this checklist right after you build the form, and again any time you change it:

1. Fill in the form yourself with a real message and click Send.
2. Check that the confirmation message or thank-you page appears.
3. Check your inbox — and your spam folder — for the notification email.
4. Reply to the test message to make sure the reply-to address works.
5. Try it on your phone. Fields should be big enough to tap, and nothing should overflow the screen.
6. Submit with a field left blank to check the error message makes sense.
7. Check where submissions are stored (your plugin dashboard, a spreadsheet, or your form service) so you have a backup if email fails.

If any step fails, fix it now. A form that silently eats messages is worse than no form — visitors think they reached you, and you never know they tried.

Why your form emails are not arriving (and how to fix it)

This is the most common contact-form problem on WordPress. Your form works, the visitor sees “Thanks!”, but nothing reaches your inbox. The cause is almost always email delivery, not the form.

• Use a business email address as the sender. Forms that send “from” a free Gmail or Yahoo address get flagged as spam by receiving servers. Send from an address on your own domain, like hello@yourbusiness.com.
• Use an SMTP plugin on WordPress. WordPress sends mail with a basic built-in method that many hosts block or mishandle. A free plugin like WP Mail SMTP routes your mail through a real mail service (your host’s SMTP, Gmail, SendGrid, or similar) and fixes most delivery problems in one step.
• Check your spam folder first. Before you change anything, search your spam folder for a test message. If it is there, mark it “not spam” and add your own form address to your contacts.
• Check SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. These are three small records in your domain settings that tell other mail servers your mail is genuine. Your host or email provider can set them up, and they make a real difference to whether form emails land in the inbox.
• Keep a stored copy. Whatever platform you use, make sure submissions are saved somewhere besides email — a plugin entries page, a Google Sheet, or your form service’s dashboard. Email should be the alert, not the only copy.

Privacy: what the law expects from your form

A contact form collects personal data, so a few privacy basics apply — and they are good practice even where no law forces them:

• Link your privacy policy near the form. One short line under the button is enough: “We only use your details to reply to your message. See our privacy policy.”
• Only collect what you need. Every field you add is data you are responsible for. If you do not need a phone number, do not ask for one.
• Get consent where required. If visitors in the EU or UK use your form, GDPR asks for clear consent before you store or use their details — that is what the consent checkbox is for. California’s CCPA works differently (it focuses on disclosure and opt-out), but the same short privacy note covers both in practice.
• Delete old submissions. Set a routine — once every few months is fine for a small site — to delete messages you have already answered. Old inboxes full of personal data are a risk nobody needs.
• Use HTTPS. Your whole site should already run on HTTPS (the padlock in the browser). Without it, form data travels in plain text. Every host and builder now offers free HTTPS — if yours does not, switch hosts.

Troubleshooting: why is my contact form not working?

• Nothing happens when you click Send: a JavaScript error is the usual cause. Open your browser’s developer console (F12), look for red errors, and try turning off other plugins one at a time to find a conflict. Caching plugins are a common culprit — clear the cache and test again.
• The form shows, but messages never arrive: see the email delivery section above. Start with WP Mail SMTP (or your platform’s mail settings) and check your spam folder.
• The form looks broken on phones: your theme or builder may be forcing a fixed width. Switch the form to a single-column layout on mobile, and check that the submit button is fully visible.
• Spam floods in overnight: switch on the honeypot first, then add reCAPTCHA if it continues. Also check that your form is not listed on a public page you forgot about, like a test page.
• “There was an error, please try again”: on WordPress, this often means a plugin update broke something, or your host changed a mail setting. Update the form plugin, clear the cache, and re-test. If it persists, check the plugin’s error log or ask your host whether outbound mail is blocked.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use a Google Form as a contact form?

Yes. Build the form in Google Forms, embed it on your site, and replies land in a spreadsheet automatically. It is free and reliable. The only downside is the look — it will look like a Google Form, not like the rest of your site.

Where can I create a free website contact form?

Google Forms is free with no limits. On WordPress, WPForms Lite and Contact Form 7 are both free. Wix and Squarespace include forms in every plan, and Formspree has a free tier for static sites. For most small sites, the free option is enough — you only need a paid plan when you want stored entries, payments, or advanced logic.

Are website contact forms secure?

More secure than a public email address, but not secure by themselves. A form hides your email from spam bots, but it can still be abused for spam, phishing, or data collection if it has no protection. Use HTTPS, add a honeypot or CAPTCHA, keep your plugins updated, and link your privacy policy. That covers the realistic risks for a small site.

What should a contact form include?

Name, email, and message — those three are enough for most sites. Add a subject dropdown if you offer several services, a phone field only if you call people back, and a consent checkbox if privacy law applies to your visitors. Short forms get more replies than long ones.

Should I have a contact form on my website?

Yes, if you want visitors to reach you. It lowers the barrier — people message you without opening their email app — and it keeps your email address private. Put it on a Contact page, and link that page in your main menu and footer so it is easy to find.

How do I design a contact form that people actually use?

Keep it to three or four fields, stack them in one column, label every field clearly, and make the button say what happens next — “Send message” beats “Submit”. Test it on a phone, and put the form near the top of the page instead of burying it at the bottom.

Last updated: November 2026