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Last updated on June 18, 2026 by Formidable Team
The Best Instant Quote WordPress Plugin (and How to Use It)
Looking for an instant quote WordPress plugin? You just need a form builder. We’ll show you how to build a WordPress quote generator today, no code required.
Approximate read time: 11 minutes
A typical request a quote plugin won’t do the trick when your customers need an instant quote. This post will show how any business owner can turn a single WordPress site into a lead generation machine.
Sometimes, visiting the WordPress.org plugin directory gives you depressing results. Just try searching for a WordPress quote plugin. Unfortunately, there isn’t a great plugin that can handle it all.
And if all you need is to collect requests, Formidable Forms has a free Request a Quote template you can install and have live in minutes.
So what’s the next best thing? A plugin that can. We’ll show you how a simple form plugin turns any form into a WordPress quote generator, whether you want to collect a request or return a price on the spot. Even without a cost calculator.
Key features: Lookup Fields • CSV Importer • Email Notifications • WooCommerce Add-on • Drag and Drop Form Builder
Upgrade your WordPress site with powerful, flexible forms.
Why use a quote form on WordPress?
Adding a quote form to a WordPress website has many benefits for the site owner and potential customers. Here are a few:
- Automation and efficiency: No more back-and-forth phone calls and emails. A quote form speeds up the start of information gathering, allowing you time to focus on more important tasks.
- 24/7 availability: Customers can request quotes at their convenience. This avoids delays that may cause them to check out other options.
- Lead generation: A quote request doesn't always become a sale immediately. But now you have a lead to nurture for the future.
- Improved accuracy: A custom form gets all the necessary information upfront, meaning more accurate quotes.
That covers the basics, so let's set up your quote form.
But sometimes customers want a price on the spot, not a callback. That's where it gets interesting, so let's make the form calculate the quote itself.
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Formidable’s calculated fields can streamline real business processes. One window cleaning company, iSparkle in Chester, England, used them to build an instant online quote form and cut its admin workload by around 25%. We’ll show you how to create the same kind of instant quote generator.
For those who don’t know, Formidable Forms is one of the best form plugins for WordPress. And it makes much more than simple contact forms. With its built-in form builder, you have all the custom fields you need to sell products or services online easily. And Formidable Forms Pro packs all the features you need to keep customers in your flow after the quote.
But don't worry, our solution isn't complicated. Sometimes, variables are difficult to calculate when a simple addition or percentage change doesn't give an accurate price. This is an issue many have faced as website developers and WordPress admins.
So we’ll show you how to convert a complex quote calculator into a simple solution using Lookup Fields. This little-known feature can help when calculations become complicated, which we’ll discuss below.
A scenario showing Lookup Fields as a better option
The project: Using the example of a vacation/accommodation business, we will build an online quote form. Our fictional website visitors use it to choose add-on options and get an accurate pricing quote for their stay.
The problem: We want to create a user-friendly WordPress quote request form that handles many variables. Using our vacation/accommodation business example, our customers' accommodation options are 81 separate combinations. It would be complex and time-consuming to create calculated fields for these.
The solution: Instead of using calculated fields, we will use Lookup Fields. This requires the use of 2 forms:
- The actual quotation form
- A price list form that the customer doesn't see
The price list form will contain all the options and prices. The actual quote form uses Formidable’s Lookup Fields to scan the pricing form and return the quote "on the fly."
Only the admin sees the pricing form, commonly populated using CSV (a spreadsheet format). This saves time and makes it easier to get the correct price.
For our example, we'll build a request a quote form for a vacation business.
The form will have 4 categories of options, but many more are possible, and the options can be as complex as your business needs.
Our customers will have a choice of:
- Room Type (Standard, Deluxe, or Suite)
- Package Type (Room only, Bed and breakfast, or All inclusive)
- Spa Package Option (Half day or Full day)
- Day Tour Option (1 or 2 Day tours)
Our example: a request a quote form for a vacation business
This tutorial will build a quotation form for a vacation/accommodation business. As mentioned, customers can choose from a few options, and the price will adapt based on the selected product or service.
It takes just 5 steps to get a working instant quote form:
Step 1: Build the price list form
First, we'll build the Price List Form, which customers won't see.
In the WordPress dashboard, go to Formidable → Forms and click the Add New button. There are 3 ways to create a form: build one from scratch, use a pre-built WordPress form template, or use the AI form builder.
Since we want to customize our form, we'll start from scratch, which takes us to the drag and drop interface. This form will be linked internally behind the scenes to the actual request a quote form the customer will use on the front end.
As you can see, we’ve titled this form Pricing Matrix. We also added 4 Dropdown fields, one for each of the 4 categories of options mentioned above.
Finally, we added a Number field, which will act as our Price field. Since we won't enter data here, you can make this Read Only.
Below is a look at our data for the hotel stays, each with its own options and price. Even for our simple example with 4 categories of options, there are 81 possible combinations. Manually populating a price for every combination would be overly time-consuming.
This is where Formidable's CSV import and export features are really useful.
Pro-tip for formatting your CSV file properly: manually fill out 1 or 2 entries in the form and then export the entries. Open the exported file, and you’ll have your columns set up. Add to it from there.
You only need to fill out the user-editable fields; columns for timestamp, entry key, IP, etc. can be left blank. Add one row for each possible combination of options until all are covered.
Step 2: Import the CSV file
Once the CSV is complete with all the rows of possible combinations, go to the WordPress dashboard and to Formidable → Import/Export. Click the Choose File button to select the CSV file on your computer.
Then choose the CSV Delimiter (usually just a comma) and which form the data goes to with the Import Into Form dropdown.
Next, click the Upload file and import button.
On the next page, we can map the fields. There are 3 columns: CSV header, Sample data, and Corresponding field. Since we had matched the column titles, Formidable automatically mapped the data for us.
Note: If any pricing changes, edit the entry or entries in this form to update the results shown in the instant quote.
To view the quote submission entries, go to Formidable → Entries in the WordPress dashboard and filter by the correct form.
Step 3: Build the online quotation form
This request a quote form is the user form and will contain the same 4 categories of options as our Price List Form. It will dynamically get the price from the entries of the Price List Form, depending on the selected options. To retrieve the data, we will build our User Form using Lookup Fields for the 4 categories of options.
We'll add 4 Lookup Fields, use the dropdown option for the Display Type, and title them the same as the fields in the Pricing Matrix form. Use the Get Options From dropdown on each field to choose the Pricing Matrix form and the correct field (column title).
Next, add a number field to display the price. This field should be set to Read Only to prevent users from modifying the price returned by the form.
To get this value from the form, we need to use the lookup feature for the number field. In the field options, go to the Advanced tab and choose the Looker option next to Default Value (it's the magnifying glass). In the Search In section, choose the Pricing Matrix form and the Price field. Finally, set up the Watch Lookup fields section to watch each Lookup field so the results filter for the selected options.
Step 4: Publish and test your WordPress quote request form
Finally, find the post or page where you want to put the form. For us, we'll put ours on our homepage to make it easy. Add a WordPress block, find the Formidable Forms block, and choose our Quotation form from the dropdown.
This automatically displays the form so you can see what it will look like. Test it out, and here's how it looks:
Bonus: Make your WordPress quote request form better
Allowing potential customers to generate a quotation is helpful. But if you stop there, you may lose out on business. Here are 3 bonus ideas to help you maximize this quote functionality.
- Use the power of email. Instead of displaying the price on the screen, add a field to your form for an email address and send the quote via email. Use the Mailchimp and Form Action Automation add-ons for better email marketing.
- Take deposits and bookings. Using the PayPal or Stripe add-ons, turning a quotation into a transaction is easy. You can allow clients to pay the full amount upfront. Or if a smaller deposit is more appropriate for your business, setting up a percentage deposit is easy.
- Make a sale. The WooCommerce Add-on uses the value calculated as the price of your product. This means you can add the quote to customized WooCommerce products and subscriptions. Your customers can choose their options and sign up instantly.
More than an instant quote WordPress plugin
Formidable’s calculated fields are indispensable. But as we’ve seen here, Lookup Fields can build solutions when calculated fields require too much finagling. What kinds of quotation forms are you itching to build with Formidable’s Lookup Fields? Be sure to visit the Lookup Field documentation for more step-by-step instructions.
And if you're ready to create a quote generator in WordPress today, grab the best instant quote WordPress plugin and try it out.
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