AI Summary
Do you want to send the contacts your forms capture straight to SendGrid? The SendGrid addon connects WPForms to your SendGrid account, so every form submission can add or update a contact automatically and keep your email marketing lists current.
In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to install and set up the SendGrid addon with WPForms, from connecting your account to mapping your form fields to your SendGrid contacts.
Requirements:
- An active WPForms Plus license
- WPForms 1.10.2 or later
- A SendGrid account on a paid plan or active trial (SendGrid no longer offers a free tier)
Before getting started, you’ll first need to make sure WPForms is installed and activated on your WordPress site and that you’ve verified your license. Then go ahead and install and activate the SendGrid addon.
Connecting WPForms to SendGrid
Once the SendGrid addon is installed and activated, you’ll need to connect your SendGrid account to WPForms.
To do this, go to WPForms » Settings and click on the Integrations tab.
Next, click on the SendGrid integration to expand its settings, then click the Add New Account button.
A connection form will appear, asking for your SendGrid API Key and an optional SendGrid Account Nickname. Before filling these in, you’ll need to generate an API key in your SendGrid account. We’ll walk through that next, then come back here to finish the connection.
Generating Your SendGrid API Key
Log in to your SendGrid account in a separate browser tab. From your SendGrid dashboard, open the Settings menu in the left sidebar and select API Keys.
Then click the Create API Key button in the top right corner.
Give your API key a name you’ll recognize, such as WPForms. Then select Full Access so the key includes the marketing permissions the addon needs, and click Create & View.
SendGrid will display your new API key. Copy it now and store it somewhere safe.
Note: SendGrid shows your API key only one time, so be sure to copy it before you leave the page. If you lose it, you can create a new one. The key must include Marketing permissions, which Full Access covers.
Finishing the Connection in WPForms
Head back to the WPForms Integrations page where you left off, and paste your key into the SendGrid API Key field.
If you’d like, enter a name in the SendGrid Account Nickname field to help you recognize this account later. This is useful when you connect more than one SendGrid account.
When you’re ready, click the Connect to SendGrid button.
After WPForms verifies your key, the integration will show a green Connected status. Your SendGrid account is now ready to use in your forms.
Adding a SendGrid Integration to Your Form
With your account connected, you can add SendGrid to any form. To get started, create a new form or edit an existing one to open the form builder.
In the form builder, go to Marketing » SendGrid and click the Add New Connection button.
A prompt will appear asking you to name your connection. Enter a name for your own reference, then click OK. This name is only visible to you.
Next, choose your account from the Select Account dropdown.
Then open the Action To Perform dropdown to choose what this connection should do. There are three actions to choose from.
Create or Update Contact
This action creates a new contact in SendGrid or updates an existing one, and can also add the contact to one or more of your lists. When you select it, several mapping options will appear.
Open the Email dropdown and select the email field from your form. SendGrid uses the email address to identify each contact, so this field is required.
List
Use the List dropdown to choose one or more lists to add the contact to. The lists shown here are pulled from your SendGrid account. Leave this empty if you want to create or update the contact without adding them to a list.
Custom Fields
Under Custom Fields, you can map your form fields to SendGrid contact fields. In the Custom Field Name column, select a SendGrid field, then choose the matching form field in the Form Field Value column. To map more fields, click the plus (+) button to add another row.
SendGrid’s built-in contact fields include First Name, Last Name, Phone Number, Alternate Emails, Address Line 1, Address Line 2, City, State / Province / Region, Postal Code, and Country. Any custom fields you’ve created in your SendGrid account will appear in this list as well.
Note: SendGrid processes new and updated contacts in the background, so a contact can take a minute or two to appear in your SendGrid dashboard after a form is submitted.
Remove from List
This action removes a contact from a single list. Their contact record and any other list memberships stay in place.
Select your form’s email field from the Email dropdown, then choose the list to remove the contact from in the List dropdown. Both fields are required.
Delete Contact
This action deletes the matching contact from your SendGrid account, including from every list and segment. Select your form’s email field in the Email dropdown to identify the contact to delete.
Note: Deleting a contact can’t be undone. This removes the contact from your entire SendGrid account, not just from a single list.
Setting Up Conditional Logic (Optional)
Conditional logic lets you control when WPForms sends data to SendGrid based on what the user enters. For example, you could add a contact to your newsletter list only when they check an optin box on your form.
To set this up, turn on the Enable Conditional Logic toggle at the bottom of your SendGrid connection. Then build the rules that decide when this connection should run.
For a complete overview of how this works, see our guide to using conditional logic in WPForms.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below, we’ve answered some of the most common questions about using the SendGrid addon.
Do I need a paid SendGrid account to use this addon?
Yes. SendGrid ended its free tier in 2025, so you’ll need an account on a paid plan or an active trial to connect it to WPForms. Any paid SendGrid plan works with the addon.
What permissions does my SendGrid API key need?
Your key needs Marketing permissions. The simplest option is to create a key with Full Access, which includes everything the addon uses. If you prefer a more limited key, create one with Custom Access and make sure Marketing access is enabled. A key without Marketing permissions will be rejected when you try to connect.
Why isn’t my contact showing up in SendGrid right away?
SendGrid adds and updates contacts in the background rather than instantly, so a new contact can take a minute or two to appear in your dashboard after a form is submitted. If a contact still hasn’t appeared after a few minutes, open the form entry to see a note explaining what happened.
Why didn’t one of my mapped fields save to the contact?
SendGrid expects each contact field to be a specific type, such as a number or a date. If a submitted value doesn’t fit the field’s type, that value is dropped while the rest of the contact is still saved. Check that your form field collects the format SendGrid expects for that contact field.
Do I need to set up sender authentication in SendGrid?
No. The SendGrid addon manages your contacts and lists, it doesn’t send email through SendGrid. Sender authentication is only needed for sending email, so you don’t need to set it up for this integration.
That’s it! You can now connect WPForms to SendGrid and send the contacts your forms capture straight into your email marketing lists.
Would you like to explore more ways to grow your audience? Take a look at our guide to the Klaviyo addon for another way to sync your form contacts with your email marketing platform.