7+ Best WordPress File Upload Plugins in 2023

Looking for the best file upload plugin for WordPress?

Accepting file uploads is a great way to get attachments like PDFs, spreadsheets, images, and signed documents.

We’re going to list the best file upload plugins in this post along with some handy tips on accepting files from visitors.

Does WordPress Allow File Uploads?

Yes, WordPress allows users to upload files. The easiest way to do this is to publish a form on your website with a file upload field.

Best WordPress File Upload Plugins

Here are our best WordPress file and image upload plugins:

1. WPForms

WPForms is a form builder that doubles as a WordPress file upload form plugin.

It’s a beginner-friendly tool that lets you easily create a file upload form in WordPress.

WPForms supports a variety of media types and file extensions — including images — so you can also use it as a WordPress photo upload plugin.

By default, WPForms accepts the WordPress file upload types that are enabled for your site. However, you can also impose specific restrictions on your form’s file upload field if there are certain file formats you don’t want to be uploaded by strangers.

WPForms Pro lets you accept one or even multiple file uploads on your forms. You don’t need to paste any HTML to display the form on your site, and you can choose to store the uploads in the Media Library.

WPForms has 2 different WordPress file upload fields.

The Modern style field is really neat. It lets your visitor upload files to WordPress using a simple drag and drop interface.

After a WordPress file has been uploaded and the form has been submitted, WPForms will display a link to the file in the email notification.

If you’d would rather receive uploaded files as attachments, you can Enable File Upload Attachments.

And that’s not the only option.

If you want to allow people to add an image to their entry, you can also use the Rich Text field on your forms. This is a great option if you’d like to accept embedded images, rather than getting the entry and the content separately.

Besides, WPForms comes with tons of great additional features:

• 600+ WordPress form templates – Wide range of form templates, from templates for marketing and customer service to nonprofits.
• Drag and Drop File Upload — The plugin is easy to use for both you and your visitors. The easy file upload option allows users to simply drag and drop their files into the upload field.
• File Size and Type Adjustment —  You can choose which file types users can upload and set the maximum file size limit. (You may need to first change the max file upload size for your site.)
• Conditional Logic — Show or hide different fields based on previous selections. This is great if you want to keep your forms clutter-free and automatically hide the file upload field unless someone needs it.
• Organization — Store uploaded files in the WordPress Media Library for easy organization.
• GDPR features — Easily add a GDPR agreement to your file upload forms.

And here’s the best part: you can even send form entries to Google Drive along with details of the attachments.

Pricing: WPForms Pro starts at $199.50 per year

Create Your File Upload Form Now

2. File Upload Types by WPForms

Are you having trouble allowing visitors to upload files on your forms?

File Upload Types by WPForms lets you expand the list of files that are accepted in WordPress.

It’s a free and open-source WordPress file upload plugin developed by the WPForms team.

File Upload Types let you easily add support for any file type with any extension or MIME type. Just add the description, MIME type, and extension and you’re done. Now your visitors won’t see the ‘file type is not permitted’ error.

We have a tutorial on uploading Adobe Illustrator files to WordPress if you want to see how easy it is to add new file types or create custom ones.

Features:

• WPForms compatible — Built to work perfectly with WPForms, expanding its capabilities even further
• Tons of file types — Upload more file types beyond the limited file extension types that WordPress allows by default
• Easy to use — Simply click the checkbox next to the extensions you want to allow and unclick the checkbox to remove them
• Custom file types — Add your own file types with the corresponding comma-separated MIME types

Pricing: File Upload Types by WPForms is free to download and use.

3. Forminator

Forminator is a user-friendly form builder that allows you to accept WordPress uploads via forms for free.

It has a very easy visual form interface that you can use to build a file upload form on your WordPress site quickly.

However, files uploaded via a Forminator form aren’t automatically added to your WordPress Media Gallery (unlike WPForms, which adds all uploads to the Media Gallery).

If you’re considering using Forminator, here’s a full Forminator vs WPForms guide to help you decide if this is the form builder plugin for you.

Features:

• Impose Upload Size Limit — It’s very easy to change file size restrictions on your upload form.
• Restrict File Types — It supports default WordPress file types for upload, but you can restrict certain file types.

Pricing: Forminator is a freemium plugin. You get the file upload functionality for free. For extra features, Forminator Pro plans start from $5/month.

4. WP User Frontend

WP User Frontend is a great WordPress file upload plugin if you accept guest posts and want to allow user registration on your site. With this plugin, users can easily add featured images to their post submissions.

WP User Frontend is also equipped with various useful features. For instance, you can create guest posting subscription plans and make money from your site by accepting posts by paying guest authors.

The paid version of this plugin unlocks additional capabilities, such as a registration builder which allows guest authors to easily register on your site from the frontend.

Overall, WP User Frontend is an excellent file upload plugin if you’re running a blog with lots of guest authors.

Before settling on this plugin, note that its form-building capabilities are limited. If you need a more well-rounded form plugin with file uploads as well as other features like lead forms and registration forms, then WPForms is a better option than WP User Frontend.

Features:

• Upload Attachments — Registered users can upload attachments from the frontend of your website, keeping the backend admin stuff safe.
• Featured Images — Lets users upload featured images for posts, making it a very useful WordPress image uploader plugin for guest posts.

Pricing: WP User Frontend has a free version and a premium version that starts at $49/year.

5. WP File Upload

The WP File Upload plugin is a straightforward file upload plugin that allows your website visitors to upload files.

It lets you add the file upload tool to any post or page using a shortcode.

Shortcodes can be a bit daunting if your not comfortable with using code. Plus, the file upload tool has a very outdated design that can look plain and unimpressive on your otherwise well-designed site.

If you want a no-code way of adding file upload functionality to your forms and want to provide a great user experience with visually appealing file upload forms, then WPForms is the better choice.

Features:

• Shortcode Embed — If you know how to use shortcode, you can place this in different areas of your site.
• Multiple Storage Locations — You can decide where you want to send the uploaded files to, like the WordPress Media Library.
• Email Notifications — Set up WordPress emails to send out when a file is uploaded.
• Page Redirect — Choose to redirect users to another page after their submission.

Pricing: WordPress File Upload has a free version and a premium version starting at around $20.

6. WP Extra File Types

The simple and straightforward WP Extra File Types plugin lets you accept a file type upload that might be outside of the default of what WordPress lets you accept (WordPress does this for security reasons).

So if you want to configure your website to accept additional file types, you can install this WordPress file upload plugin and do just that.

Features:

• Cost — This is a free, open-source plugin.
• Custom File Types — If you want to include a file format or file type that you want to allow on your upload forms, but it’s not on the preset list, you can add a custom file type.
• Works with WPForms — This plugin lets you expand the file types that your visitors can upload with WPForms.

Cost: WP Extra File Types is free to download and use.

7. Ajax Multi Upload

Ajax Multi Upload for WordPress, like WPForms, lets you add file uploads without needing to reload the page. To embed the file upload plugin, you’ll need to use a shortcode which you can insert in any location on your site.

While the plugin works as intended, it’s very challenging to use for beginners. The developers offer installation services because it can be tricky to set up for non-technical users.

As a result, it’s better to use a user-friendly plugin like WPForms that you lets you add file upload functionality to your site without requiring any setup help from outside.

Features:

• AJAX Support — Will allow files to be uploaded without needing to refresh the page.
• Multiple File Uploads — Lets your users upload just one or even multiple files at the same time.
• Image Editing — Includes an image resizer to change the sizes of the uploaded images.
• Upload Statistics — View how many files have been uploaded to keep track of things.

Pricing: Ajax Multi Upload is $14. You can pay $50 extra to have someone install the plugin since it’s not very beginner-friendly.

8. File Manager

File Manager is a WordPress file uploader plugin that makes file management really easy for WordPress admins.

With File Manager you can instantly edit, delete, or copy already uploaded files. You can also upload new files and download existing ones from the WordPress backend.

While the plugin has impressive capabilities, it’s aimed at users who are confident working directly in the WordPress directory.

Features:

• Simple Move/Copy Function — Admins can use a drag and drop interface to easily move or copy WordPress files singly or multiple files at the same time.
• Archive Management — Create archives in various formats (zip, rar, tar, gzip) and extract them whenever needed.
• File Size and Type Control — Set a file size limit and restrict file types that can be uploaded and downloaded.
• PDF Preview — Instantly preview any uploaded PDF files.

Pricing: File Manager has tons of features available for free, though you can unlock even more with Pro plans starting from $25.

Winner — Best WordPress File Upload Plugin

After a lot of research and searching the internet, we’re confident to tell you that WPForms is the best WordPress file upload plugin.

There aren’t many WordPress photo uploader plugins out there in general. And the ones that do exist are not that easy to use.

Plus, most are only good for specific purposes only like frontend guest post submissions. So they may not be suitable for general use on many different types of forms.

WPForms lets your users upload files to WordPress in the easiest way possible. All you need to do is simply drag and drop the file upload field onto any form and you’re good to go!

Besides, a good form plugin can help skyrocket your conversions and get more leads and customers.

Apart from file uploads, WPForms allows you to grow your subscriber count and generate more leads using online surveys, conversational forms, payment fields, and more,

When your form is done, there’s an easy embed wizard so you can quickly publish your form to a new WordPress page.

And there you have it! Hopefully, this post helped you find the best WordPress file upload plugin for your needs.

Next, Do More With Your WordPress Forms

You might also want to learn how to make WordPress registration forms from a template to quickly create login, password reset, and registration forms.

And if you’re looking for cool ways to design your bio link page for Instagram and other social media, see our list of Linktree alternatives.

So what are you waiting for? Get started with the most powerful WordPress forms plugin today. WPForms Pro includes a free WordPress file upload form template and offers a 14-day money-back guarantee.

Create Your WordPress Form Now

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