Adding a mortgage calculator to your WordPress site provides multiple benefits for home and finance websites.
According to data from Mortgage News Daily, having a calculator can increase time on site by 8.4% and lower bounce rates by 5% or more.
In this detailed guide, we’ll walk you through how to add a mortgage calculator in WordPress properly:
Why You Need a Mortgage Calculator Plugin
A mortgage calculator plugin benefits home and finance sites in the following ways:
Shows visitors you understand real estate – By providing detailed estimates and advice around home loans, you position yourself as an expert. This builds credibility.
Provides accurate calculations – Rather than vague figures, visitors get tailored interest rates, tax costs, insurance estimates, etc. This personalization keeps them engaged.
Acts as a lead generation tool – Form fields allow capturing visitor emails and numbers for your newsletter or as sales leads.
Keeps visitors longer – Interacting with the calculator encourages visitors to keep tweaking numbers and figures for desired outcomes. This improves time on site.
Makes content more interesting – The calculator output adds dynamic, personalized content that users love rather than plain text.
Clearly, there are ample reasons to add this functionality. Next, let‘s explore the options for adding a mortgage calculator in WordPress.
Choosing a Mortgage Calculator Plugin
You have a few options when picking a mortgage calculator plugin:
| Option | Overview | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Dedicated plugin | A plugin only focused on an advanced mortgage calculator | Maximum customization |
| 2. Form builder plugin | Comes with pre-made mortgage calculator templates to use | Simplicity and ease of use |
| 3. Custom development | Building a unique mortgage calculator from scratch | Complex sites with very specific needs |
Here are some examples of popular mortgage calculator plugins:
Dedicated plugin – WP Mortgage Calculator
For most websites, a dedicated plugin like WP Mortgage Calculator is the easiest route. The benefit is that the plugin handles all the complex mortgage calculation formulas automatically.
You simply install, activate the plugin, paste a shortcode in your page, and the mortgage calculator form is fully generated for you dynamically.
Now let‘s look at how to install a dedicated mortgage calculator plugin.
Step 1. Installing a Mortgage Calculator Plugin
- Go to Plugins > Add New
- Search for "WP Mortgage Calculator"
- Install and Activate the plugin
And that‘s it! The plugin will now be running on your WordPress site.
Now let‘s see how to actually add the calculator to your pages.
Step 2. Adding Mortgage Calculator Shortcode
- Create or edit a page where you want the calculator
- Type the shortcode
[mortgage-calculator]and publish the page - The calculator form will now appear on that page
By default, WP Mortgage Calculator provides a clean and minimal calculator interface:
Next, let‘s see how to customize the fields and settings.
Step 3. Customizing the Mortgage Calculator Form
The plugin has various settings and options at WP Mortgage Calculator > Settings:
Some key settings you may want to customize:
✅ Currency
✅ Number of fields
✅ Labels
✅ Default values
✅ Color and styling
And more. This is where you can tailor the form to match your site design and needs.
For help with specific settings, see plugin documentation.
The default calculator works great, but you can build more advanced workflows using the formulas, parameters, and hooks provided:
For example, to show payment schedule based on inputs:
[mortgage-calculator show_payment_schedule="true"]
There are many customization options available to tailor precisely to your needs.
Summary
Adding a mortgage calculator in WordPress is straightforward with dedicated plugins like WP Mortgage Calculator. By following the simple installation method above, you can get a calculator running on your site quickly.
Just paste a shortcode in any post, page, or even widget area – and the dynamic calculator form will automatically appear on your site.
Then use the powerful settings to customize your mortgage calculator exactly as needed.
Having an accurate calculator demonstrates your expertise in the home & finance space while increasing engagement.
We hope this step-by-step article helped you learn how to add a mortgage calculator plugin in WordPress! Let us know if you have any other questions.
