splitforms.com
EVENT RSVP · WORDPRESS

Event RSVP for WordPress

Attendance confirmation with headcount and dietary needs. Free for 500 submissions per month — no backend, no SDK, no plugin.

500/mo free·no card·drop-in for WordPress
submit.phpphp28 lines
01<?php
02// Drop into a PHP page. Receives a form POST and proxies it to splitforms.com.
03// Useful when you want to add server-side validation or rate limiting.
04
05if ($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] === 'POST') {
06 $allowed = ['name', 'email', 'attending', 'guests', 'dietary'];
07 $payload = ['access_key' => 'YOUR_ACCESS_KEY'];
08 $payload['subject'] = 'New event RSVP';
09
10 foreach ($allowed as $f) {
11 if (isset($_POST[$f])) $payload[$f] = $_POST[$f];
12 }
13
14 $ch = curl_init('https://splitforms.com/api/submit');
15 curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, true);
16 curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, http_build_query($payload));
17 curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
18 curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, ['Accept: application/json']);
19 $response = curl_exec($ch);
20 $status = curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);
21 curl_close($ch);
22
23 header('Content-Type: application/json');
24 http_response_code($status);
25 echo $response;
26 exit;
27}
28?>
500
submissions / mo, free
5
fields, ready to ship
5
code outputs
60s
from copy to inbox
§ 00WordPress + Event RSVPplatform-specific integration guide

Why WordPress developers choose splitforms for event rsvp

WordPress contact form plugins (Contact Form 7, WPForms, Fluent Forms) work but add database bloat, update fatigue, and a monthly subscription for features like webhook delivery or advanced spam controls. The event rsvp on this page drops into a Custom HTML block — no PHP, no plugin activation, no settings page to configure. Every field POSTs to splitforms as standard form data, so your WordPress admin stays clean. You keep using WordPress for content management and page building while splitforms handles the form pipeline.

§ 00Quick answerPHP · events

Yes — this is the shortest safe path for WordPress.

Use the PHP snippet on this page, keep the event rsvp fields visible in your WordPress UI, and let splitforms handle delivery, spam filtering, storage, and webhooks.

best implementation

Paste the PHP version, then replace YOUR_ACCESS_KEY.

The posted payload contains your name, email, will you attend?, how many guests are you bringing?, dietary preferences. Required fields are your name, email and will you attend?.

native wordpress reality

WordPress core has no contact-form feature — every contact form on a WP site is either a plugin (Contact Form 7, WPForms, Gravity Forms, Forminator, Fluent Forms, Ninja Forms) or a custom theme template.

use case fit

Eventbrite charges 3.7% + $1.79 per ticket. For a free event, fundraiser, or private gathering, the RSVP form does the same job for $0 — and lives on your own domain.

§ 01Event RSVP × WordPresswhy this combination, in 80 words

Built for WordPress developers who hate operating a backend.

Splitforms is the form backend for WordPress sites. One POST endpoint, no SDK, no plugin — drop the event rsvp into a page and ship.

Splitforms is the form backend for WordPress sites. One POST endpoint, spam filtering, and a real dashboard — drop-in, no server, no PHP. Free for 500 dashboard submissions per month; Starter adds email, signed webhooks, exports, and retained uploads; Pro is $5/mo for 5,000.

✦ what you get on the free plan
  • 500 form submissions per month
  • 2 forms on Free; unlimited forms on Pro
  • Spam protection (honeypot + classifier)
  • Webhooks: Slack, Discord, WhatsApp, custom
  • CSV export of all submissions
  • Email notifications (CC and BCC on Pro)
§ 02Copy-paste codePHP · 28 lines

Drop into any WordPress project.

Replace YOUR_ACCESS_KEY with your splitforms key, paste into a WordPress page, and ship. No build-time integration required.

submit.phpphp28 lines
01<?php
02// Drop into a PHP page. Receives a form POST and proxies it to splitforms.com.
03// Useful when you want to add server-side validation or rate limiting.
04
05if ($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] === 'POST') {
06 $allowed = ['name', 'email', 'attending', 'guests', 'dietary'];
07 $payload = ['access_key' => 'YOUR_ACCESS_KEY'];
08 $payload['subject'] = 'New event RSVP';
09
10 foreach ($allowed as $f) {
11 if (isset($_POST[$f])) $payload[$f] = $_POST[$f];
12 }
13
14 $ch = curl_init('https://splitforms.com/api/submit');
15 curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, true);
16 curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, http_build_query($payload));
17 curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
18 curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, ['Accept: application/json']);
19 $response = curl_exec($ch);
20 $status = curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);
21 curl_close($ch);
22
23 header('Content-Type: application/json');
24 http_response_code($status);
25 echo $response;
26 exit;
27}
28?>
ALTPrefer plain HTML? View the universal event rsvp HTML snippet25 lines
form.htmlHTML
<form action="https://splitforms.com/api/submit" method="POST">
  <input type="hidden" name="access_key" value="YOUR_ACCESS_KEY">
  <input type="hidden" name="subject" value="New event RSVP">

  <label for="name">Your name *</label>
  <input id="name" type="text" name="name" placeholder="Jane Builder" required>
  <label for="email">Email *</label>
  <input id="email" type="email" name="email" placeholder="jane@example.com" required>
  <label for="attending">Will you attend? *</label>
  <select id="attending" name="attending" required>
    <option value="">Choose…</option>
    <option>Yes — count me in</option>
    <option>Maybe</option>
    <option>No, I can't make it</option>
  </select>
  <label for="guests">How many guests are you bringing?</label>
  <input id="guests" type="number" name="guests" placeholder="0">
  <label for="dietary">Dietary preferences</label>
  <input id="dietary" type="text" name="dietary" placeholder="Vegan, gluten-free, allergies…">

  <!-- honeypot — bots fill every field -->
  <input type="checkbox" name="botcheck" style="display:none" tabindex="-1" autocomplete="off">

  <button type="submit">Send</button>
</form>
§ 03Setup3 steps · 60 seconds · zero config

Generate, embed, receive.

Three actions stand between you and your first event rsvp submission. None of them require a backend, a database, or a CAPTCHA library.

STEP 01GENERATE

Generate a free splitforms key

Sign in at splitforms.com — your access key is created instantly. No credit card, no setup wizard, no SDK to install.

Create your form
key=sk_live_••••••••
STEP 02EMBED

Paste the event rsvp into your WordPress project

Drop the form snippet into a WordPress page, component, or layout. Replace YOUR_ACCESS_KEY with the key from your dashboard. The form action is a hard-coded URL — no env vars or build-time wiring needed.

snippetphp
<?php
  …
</form>
STEP 03RECEIVE

Receive submissions

Dashboard updates live on Free. Starter adds email delivery, signed webhooks, CSV export, Slack/Discord forwarding, and BCC to your team.

inbox · 1 newjust now
FROM contact@yoursite.com
New event RSVP
Maya Iyer maya@studio71.co
Loved the demo — quick question about pricing on the 3-year plan. Are usage limits per project or account-wide?
§ 03bEvent RSVP Form (Public / Private Events)template-specific playbook

The reason this event rsvp exists.

Webhooks into Notion / Airtable / Google Sheets · auto .ics calendar invite.

why it matters

Eventbrite, Splash, and Hopin take 3-7% of every paid ticket and charge subscription fees for the white-label option. For free events (fundraisers, private parties, conferences with sponsor-only revenue, weddings), the platform fees are pure waste. The RSVP form captures attending yes/no, guest count, plus-one names, dietary restrictions, and any custom fields (workshop preference for conferences, song requests for weddings). Webhook to a Notion / Airtable / Google Sheet for the running headcount, plus an automatic confirmation email. Final headcount goes to catering 5-7 days out, same as any platform would deliver.

route the submission
01

Capture attendance and party

Required: attending yes/no, guest count, plus-one names if applicable. Optional: dietary restrictions, song requests, workshop preference, accessibility needs.

02

Update the running list

Webhook to a Notion / Airtable / Google Sheet that the host references. Each RSVP appends a row; conditional formatting highlights special diets. Real-time headcount without spreadsheet work.

03

Confirm via email

Auto-respond with confirmation, event details, and a calendar invite (.ics file). Most guests forget the date once they've RSVP'd — calendar adds reduce no-shows by 30-40%.

§ 03cWordPress production notesnative path · deploy · gotchas

What changes when this event rsvp lives in WordPress.

These notes come from the WordPress platform registry and are rendered on this template page so crawlers see the framework-specific answer without opening a separate guide.

without splitforms

WordPress core has no contact-form feature — every contact form on a WP site is either a plugin (Contact Form 7, WPForms, Gravity Forms, Forminator, Fluent Forms, Ninja Forms) or a custom theme template. Plugins add 3-7 database tables, increase TTFB by 50-300ms, and most require a paid SMTP plugin (WP Mail SMTP) on top because shared-host PHP mail() lands in spam. CF7 alone is 1.2MB of JS/CSS loaded on every page. Anti-spam is a separate Akismet subscription ($10/mo for commercial use) or a paid CAPTCHA plugin. Splitforms replaces the plugin: a <form> tag in a Custom HTML block, pointing at our endpoint, with a hidden access_key field. No plugin, no extra DB tables, no SMTP gymnastics.

deploy notes

WordPress runs on shared hosts (Bluehost, Hostinger), managed WP hosts (Kinsta, WP Engine, Pressable), or self-hosted Apache/nginx. The form's POST is cross-origin to splitforms.com, so the host doesn't matter for delivery. Caching plugins (WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache, LiteSpeed Cache) cache the page that hosts the form — that's fine, the form action URL is static. Don't proxy through WP's admin-ajax.php or wp_remote_post — adds latency and re-introduces the SMTP problem. For Multisite, use one access key per site or a shared key with form-name to disambiguate. Headless WP (Next.js/Astro front) doesn't involve PHP at all — use the matching framework's snippet.

WordPress gotcha

WordPress wpautop() mangles your form HTML in posts

If you paste a <form> directly into a Classic Editor post, WordPress's wpautop filter wraps random <p> tags around your inputs and breaks the markup. Use a Custom HTML block (block editor) or a theme template file instead — wpautop doesn't touch those.

WordPress gotcha

Caching plugins (WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache) cache the form page itself

Page caching is fine — your form posts to splitforms.com directly, not a WordPress endpoint, so the cached HTML still works. But if you ever switch to a WP-side handler (e.g. wp_ajax), exclude /contact/ from the page cache or submissions will hit a stale page.

WordPress gotcha

Theme-injected JavaScript can hijack form submission

Some themes (Astra, OceanWP, GeneratePress 'Premium') auto-attach AJAX handlers to every form on the page. Add data-no-ajax="true" or a custom class your theme excludes — or use a Custom HTML block which most themes leave alone.

WordPress gotcha

Cloudflare Bot Fight Mode blocks splitforms responses

If you proxy your WP site through Cloudflare with Bot Fight Mode on, the redirect from splitforms.com → /thanks may be flagged. Whitelist your domain in splitforms's allowed-domains list AND ensure /thanks is reachable without a Cloudflare challenge.

PATTERN A

Pattern A — Custom HTML block (Block Editor / Gutenberg)

Drop a Custom HTML block on any page or post. Survives theme switches and plugin updates. No PHP required, no theme file editing. Reusable Patterns let you save the form once and drop it on every page. Use the same wiring for the event rsvp fields on this page.

pattern-a.phpphp9 lines
01<form action="https://splitforms.com/api/submit" method="POST">
02 <input type="hidden" name="access_key" value="YOUR_ACCESS_KEY" />
03 <input type="hidden" name="redirect" value="/thanks/" />
04 <p><label>Name <input name="name" required /></label></p>
05 <p><label>Email <input name="email" type="email" required /></label></p>
06 <p><label>Message <textarea name="message" required></textarea></label></p>
07 <input type="checkbox" name="botcheck" style="display:none" tabindex="-1" />
08 <p><button type="submit">Send</button></p>
09</form>
PATTERN B

Pattern B — theme template with key from wp-config constant

For developer-managed themes (Bedrock/Sage/classic), define SPLITFORMS_KEY as a constant in wp-config.php and echo it via esc_attr(). Keeps the key out of the theme repo, lets staging and production read different keys via environment. Use the same wiring for the event rsvp fields on this page.

pattern-b.phpphp8 lines
01<?php // page-contact.php in your theme ?>
02<form action="https://splitforms.com/api/submit" method="POST">
03 <input type="hidden" name="access_key" value="<?php echo esc_attr( SPLITFORMS_KEY ); ?>" />
04 <input type="hidden" name="redirect" value="<?php echo esc_url( home_url('/thanks') ); ?>" />
05 <input name="email" type="email" required />
06 <textarea name="message" required></textarea>
07 <button type="submit">Send</button>
08</form>
§ 04Field-by-field rundown5 fields · names you POST

What every field actually does.

Each field below ships in the event rsvp template — rename, remove, or add your own. Splitforms accepts any name you POST.

nameREQUIRED
TEXT

Your name

Greeting + dashboard label so submissions don't all read 'anonymous'.

placeholder · Jane Builder
emailREQUIRED
EMAIL

Email

Reply-to address — splitforms wires this so hitting reply goes back to the sender.

placeholder · jane@example.com
attendingREQUIRED
SELECT

Will you attend?

Dropdown — keeps responses normalised so you can filter the dashboard.

Yes — count me inMaybeNo, I can't make it
guests
NUMBER

How many guests are you bringing?

Standard input — splitforms accepts whatever you POST under this name.

placeholder · 0
dietary
TEXT

Dietary preferences

Logistics input you'd otherwise gather over email anyway.

placeholder · Vegan, gluten-free, allergies…
§ 06Questions9 answered

Event RSVP on WordPressFAQ.

Direct answers, no marketing fluff. Missing one? Email hello@splitforms.com.

01Does this event rsvp work on WordPress?
Yes. The form is plain HTML with a single POST endpoint, so it runs on any WordPress site without server-side code, plugins, or SDKs. Drop the snippet into a WordPress page or component and submissions land in your splitforms dashboard.
02How much does the event rsvp cost on WordPress?
Free for 500 submissions per month — no credit card, no trial. Pro is $5/mo for 5,000 submissions, and there's a one-time $59 3-year plan (15,000 submissions/mo for 36 months). The same pricing applies regardless of which framework hosts the form.
03Can I customize the fields?
Yes. The template ships with sensible defaults (your name, email, will you attend?, how many guests are you bringing?…) — add, remove, or rename any of them. Splitforms accepts whatever fields you POST.
04How does spam protection work on the event rsvp?
A hidden honeypot field catches dumb bots, and a tuned classifier scores the rest. You only see real submissions in your dashboard. No CAPTCHA, no friction for human users — and it works the same on WordPress as on any other framework.
05Can I send the event rsvp submissions to Slack or Discord?
Yes. Webhooks are available on Starter and above, with auto-formatted payloads for Slack, Discord, and WhatsApp (via CallMeBot). Or send raw signed JSON to any URL — Zapier, n8n, your own server. Configure in the splitforms dashboard.
06Will it work on a static WordPress site?
Yes — the form posts directly to splitforms from the browser, so no server is involved. Works on Vercel, Netlify, GitHub Pages, Cloudflare Pages, S3, or any plain Apache host.
07Why not just use Eventbrite or Splash?
For free events, both charge subscription fees ($30-100/mo for white-label) plus per-ticket fees. The form costs $0, lives on your own domain (which matters for weddings and brand events), and the data is yours — not licensed inside their platform.
08Can I send a calendar invite (.ics) automatically?
Yes — generate an .ics file and attach to the auto-responder. Webhook to a Zapier / Make automation that crafts the .ics with event title, date, location, and notes. Most email clients render the attachment as 'add to calendar' inline.
09How do I handle plus-ones?
Add 'plus-one yes/no' and a name field that appears conditionally. For weddings, the 'plus-one allowed' is invitation-specific — capture invitation code on the form, and the webhook validates whether that invite includes a plus-one before accepting the second name.
§ 07Comparisonvs Web3Forms · vs Formspree

splitforms vs everything else.

Same drop-in API. More free submissions, Starter signed webhooks, MCP support no other backend has.

FeatureWeb3FormsFormspreesplitforms
Free monthly submissions25050500
Custom fields beyond contactYesPro tierFree
Webhooks (Slack / Discord)Pro tierPro tierFree, signed
AI / MCP submission inboxNoNoYes
Long-term plan (3-year flat)$59 every 3 years
✻ ✻ ✻

Ship a event rsvp on WordPress in 60 seconds.

500 submissions per month, free forever. No credit card. Copy the snippet above and paste it into your WordPress project.

Get free access key →Read the docs
founders pricing locked in · early access open