Popups for WordPress are annoying, right?
Actually, popups are one of the most effective ways to get people on your email list.
Want evidence? Here's what the studies say:
- Drip found that popups with two input fields convert 206.48% higher than popups with three input fields, according to a study analyzing 1+ billion popups.
- Images can increase conversion by 63.49%, according to Getsitecontrol.com
- Optimonk measured their average popup conversion rate to be 11.09%, whereas Sumo results were much lower at 3.09%
Regardless of what the studies say, your results may differ, and the best WordPress popup plugins can help you achieve the results you want.
In this article, we're reviewing 13 of the best WordPress popup plugins for you to choose from.
In a hurry?
Check out OptinMonster. It's the tool we use to help grow our email list on Niche Pursuits. And with great features and customer support, we'd recommend it to any site owner hoping to do the same.
What to Look For in a WordPress Popup Plugin
No popup plugin is made equal. However, there are strong features you definitely want to look out for when choosing a popup plugin for WordPress.
Triggers
Triggers are how the popups get “triggered” to display on the page. The most common are page load, time on page, and scroll depth.
The mother one that many marketers look out for is exit-intent because they tend to have a higher conversion rate.
Display rules and positions
Display rules determine which pages or posts your popups will show up on.
And positions are the locations on the page, usually in the middle, slide-ins in the bottom corner, or a bar at the top or bottom of the page.
Integrations
These are connections to the best email marketing software so that you can display the stats of your email subscribers inside WordPress.
Some popups enable the collection of emails, whereas others are designed only for this purpose.
Other integrations can hook into Google Analytics and other WordPress plugins like CRMs or form plugins.
Pre-made templates
Some have ready-made templates, so there's minimal effort when designing your popups. Others use simple options panels, and others drag-and-drop editors.
User interface
This essentially comes down to ease of use and how intuitive the plugin is to navigate in the WordPress admin.
Price
And last, the pricing is how much the plugins cost for their premium versions.
Make sure you take this into account if you're on a budget.
13 Best Popup Plugins for WordPress
Below are the best WordPress popup plugins we found on the market. Most have free versions and the option to upgrade to more advanced features.
Optinmonster – Most Used Popup Plugin for WordPress
OptinMonster is used by over 1 million WordPress sites, the most active installations of any popup plugin.
It's actually more of a service than a plugin, as most of the functionality is done through their website, which means it can also be used on sites other than WordPress.
It offers advanced email optin campaigns, a plethora of integrations, triggers, and pre-made templates. This WordPress popup plugin lets you view statistics about your optin campaigns.
To get the full benefits of OptinMonster, you'll need to upgrade to a premium plan.
Strangely, they have a dedicated article on their blog that states they don't offer a free version, even though there is a free plugin.
However, when I installed the plugin and created an account, the billing page clearly stated I was on a forever-free plan.
A bit confusing.
To see the details of the free plan, I clicked the ‘View Plan Features' button:
Forever free plan:
- 1 site allowed
- 300 pageviews / month
- 3 campaigns allowed
- Unlimited Leads
- Analytics and reporting
- List segmentation
- Page level targeting
- Time-display control
- Scroll trigger
- And 8 out of 10 available form types
It isn't clear whether all WordPress users are offered this plan because of the information shared in the above article.
Features
But the good news is that, even if you pay for the tool, it's affordable and offers tons of great features.
Premium features offer many triggers, including exit-intent, scroll, click, and more. High-quality templates, advanced analytics, reporting, A/B testing, geolocation targeting, and traffic redirection.
Popup templates include the usual lightbox popup, floating bars, scroll boxes, gamified wheels, full-screen, and more.
And if there's any confusion at all their support is exceptionally fast to respond and extremely helpful.
Integrations
OptinMonster also offers many email marketing integrations with advanced segmentation.
Integrations include the most popular services, such as ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign, Drip, Klaviyo, MailerLite, Emma, and Ontraport.
Pricing
You get a 14-day trial when upgrading to a premium plan with four plans available.
More expensive plans offer more integrations with email providers, advanced features used on up to 5 websites, and a higher number of popup pageviews.
Pricing starts at $9 to $49 per month, billed annually, which is the discounted rate at the time of writing.
Pros of OptinMonster:
- Although the pricing page advertises a yearly subscription, they do offer monthly plans
- Can be used on platforms other than WordPress
- Offers way more than just simple popups
- Lots of great templates and features
- Exceptional customer service
Cons of OptinMonster:
- You have to create a free account, which sounds innocent, but you're required to enter a credit card.
- There's no obligation to pay, unless you want more features, so needing a credit card on file just to use some of the features might put some people off
- It's not the cheapest option, but they do offer heavy discounts for new users. Just make sure you're happy to pay full price after your first year
Popup Builder – A Great Pick for Most People
Popup Builder is a popular WordPress popup plugin with more than 300,000 active installs and a 4.8 star rating.
You can build many popups, from displaying images and custom HTML to social media popups and email subscription forms.
Something I like about the premium plans is that the cheapest option can be used on two websites and all plans include all available extensions. So more expensive plans are only necessary if you need to use the full plugin on 10 websites or more.
You can also purchase extensions separately for a single-site or multiple site license, which is helpful if you only need 1 or 2 premium features.
Features
With the free plugin version, you can collect emails with the built-in optin form and store your email subscribers directly on your site.
Additionally, a newsletter feature lets you send emails to your subscribers inside WordPress.
Popup triggers include hover over elements, scrolling, and on-click. There's also exit intent and scrolling in the paid versions.
Advanced features let you target specific users by country, after several page visits, or show by shopping cart conditions.
Integrations
The only email integrations available are Aweber and MailChimp. So, if you want to use a different service, you'll need to embed the forms using HTML.
Pricing
There are three plans to choose from Starter for $49.95 per year for 2 sites, up to Agency for unlimited sites at $149.95 per year.
Pros of Popup Builder:
- The ability to purchase any of the pro extensions separately
- It's well built and easy to use
- Affordability
Cons of Popup Builder:
- Limited email marketing service integrations available
Hustle – Another Great Choice Including Exit-Intent for Free
Hustle has over 100,000 active installations and a 4.4 star rating and is part of a suite of WordPress plugins developed by WPMU DEV.
That means if you want to upgrade to their premium plans, you get way more than just a popup plugin.
What I like about Hustle is that they don't restrict the use of advanced features like exit popups in the free version.
The only limitations are the number of popups and campaigns you can run simultaneously, so when you need more than three popups on your site, you can upgrade to a pro plan.
Here a the many unique features available in Hustle:
- Local email lists
- Social media share buttons
- Send an automated email on sign up inside the plugin
- Embed forms into your content to promote a content upgrade
- Two-step optin popups
- Intricately customize the design of pre-made templates using CSS
- Has an ad blocker trigger
Features
Hustle's user interface uses an options panel to customize the settings of your popups. That means there's no drag-and-drop builder like other plugins, yet it is quite easy and intuitive to use.
There are five available triggers: time delay, scroll, click, exit, and ad blocker. A choice of 18 popup templates or starting from scratch, popup animations, and even the ability to schedule popups to display on specific days.
There are a lot of display rules to choose from, including posts, pages, categories, visitor's device, country, and referer.
You can also track popup view and conversion stats to determine which popups perform best.
Pricing
Pricing for Hustle Pro starts at $7.50 per month for a 1 site license, and there's a 7 day free trial.
You also get access to the whole suite of WPMU Dev plugins with any membership.
Pros of Hustle:
- The only popup plugin with exit intent popups in the free version
- Lots of email marketing integrations available including Zapier
- Ease of use
- Attractive user interface
- Affordability
Cons of Hustle:
- There's no drag and drop builder, but uses an advanced editor to design popups
Popup Maker – Flexible Designs
Popup Maker is one of WordPress's most used popup plugins with over 700,000 active installs and a 4.9 star rating.
What differentiates Popup Maker from others is how intricately you can customize the look and feel of your popups.
You can use one of the many premade templates available or go into the settings and change almost every design aspect.
Another thing I like about this plugin is the ability to purchase individual extensions.
That means you can buy the features you need instead of having to purchase a plan with features you might never use, which can save you money.
Features
Other features include Triggers, precise user targeting, popup analytics, scheduled popups, exit intent, scroll, auto open, and click triggers.
Popup Maker has a large number of email marketing integrations too. So, Mailchimp, Aweber, GetResponse, and ConvertKit integrate with the most popular form plugins, such as Ninja Forms and Gravity Forms.
Pricing
Get basic features for $87 per year for 1 site license or all features for $247 and 5 sites.
As mentioned, if you need specific features, you can purchase them individually, which could save you money.
Extensions include Advanced Targeting Conditions, Exit Intent Popups, an Advanced Theme Builder, Popup Analytics, and many more.
Pros of Popup Maker:
- Lots of design flexibility
- Ability to buy pro features separately
- Ease of use
Cons of Popup Maker:
- Theme builder isn't drag and drop, but uses an advanced options panel instead
Bloom by Elegant Themes – Great UI
Bloom is a premium-only popup email optin and lead generation plugin for WordPress, developed by Elegant Themes.
The biggest difference from other plugins on this list is that Bloom can only collect email addresses instead of simply creating popups.
A bonus of purchasing Bloom is accessing all the Elegant Themes products.
The most popular themes are Extra, their page builder Divi, and their social media sharing plugin Monarch.
Features
Bloom has many of the typical optin form popup features and some advanced capabilities.
Choose from 6 popup triggers, from model popups to automatic flyouts. Additionally, they can be placed statically in a widget area, and a content locker requires visitors to subscribe.
Advanced features are conversion and email statistics, and A/B split testing.
Integrations
Bloom supports integrations for 19 popular email marketing systems, which lets you access information about your lists and subscriber stats inside the plugin.
Supported integrations include:
- Mailerlite
- ConvertKit
- Mad Mimi
- Emma
- Mail Poet
- and Mailster
Pricing
Pricing is simple. If you want to use Bloom, you can subscribe to a yearly membership of all Elegant Themes products for $89 or a one-time payment of $249.
Pros of Bloom:
- Very attractive and simple user interface
Cons of Bloom:
- Bloom doesn't offer an exit intent popup
- No drag and drop builder, although the theme customizations are very easy to use
Content Upgrades PRO
Content Upgrade PRO is an email optin plugin for sending content upgrades to your visitors with popup features available.
This premium-only popup plugin works by offering your audience a bonus to the content they are reading. They click the button, which triggers a popup for them to input their details.
Features
It integrates with many email marketing services like MailChimp, Ontraport, ActiveCampaign, and more.
You can also track the performance of your content upgrades with built-in analytics and statistics.
Pricing
Pricing starts at $47 for 1 site, all the way up to $197 for unlimited sites, and each plan is a one-time payment, so you won't be charged for yearly updates.
Pros of Content Upgrades Pro:
- Ideal if you want to offer content upgrades on your blog
- Modern design and attractive user interface
Cons of Content Upgrades Pro:
- You can't add your own custom code into the popups
Boxzilla – Fast & Lightweight
Boxzilla is a very simple slide-in box and popup plugin for WordPress. It has a 4.8 star rating and is actively used on over 30,000 sites.
I think the best thing about this plugin is its simplicity. It's not trying to be the best email marketing WordPress plugin, which makes it appealing.
Features
Out of the box, the free version allows you to create basic popups or slide-ins in multiple locations on the page based on several triggers such as time delay, scroll-depth, or when reaching a CSS class.
Premium features include:
- Exit Intent trigger
- Time on site trigger
- Pageviews trigger
- Themes
- Date range trigger
- And popup stats
Integrations
The few integrations available are MailChimp, Google Analytics, and WooCommerce.
If you want to collect emails with a different service, you'll need to use a form plugin or embed code directly into the popup field.
Pricing
Boxzilla pricing starts at $48 per year for 1 site license and up to 10 sites for $112.
Pros of Boxzilla:
- Very simple to use
- Minimalistic and doesn't slow down your site
Cons of Boxzilla:
- Limited integrations
- Themes addon is quite basic
Popup Anything – Lots of Triggers
Popup Anything is a marketing and lead generation popup tool with 50,000+ active installs and a 4.5 star rating.
The free plugin allows you to create model popup announcements that can contain anything from text, images, or forms from other plugins.
You'll need to upgrade to an annual or lifetime plan if you want to use the built-in lead capture forms or integrate with other email marketing services.
Features
There are 9 popup triggers available in the premium version, but if all you need is a popup to show on page load or when clicking something, the free version might be good enough.
You get a decent number of display rules, but most of the advanced features are only available in the pro version.
Integrations
Popup Anything is more focused on creating popups and tracking how they perform. Therefore, integrations are limited to MailChimp and several form plugins.
Pricing
Premium starts at $99 per year for 1 site license or $149 for unlimited sites. They also offer lifetime licenses at $199 for 1 site and $299 for unlimited sites.
Pros of Popup Anything:
- Has a lot of flexibility and control over how popups are displayed and triggered
- Clear popup stats and reports
- A/B testing and Google analytics integration
- Integrates with popular page builders
Cons of Popup Anything:
- Quite limited in its free version
- No drag and drop builder and design options seem fairly basic
Popup Box – Most Affordable
Popup Box Plugin is another WordPress popup plugin that lets you place almost anything inside a popup. It has a 4.6 star rating and is active with over 10,000 users.
If you want to use this plugin to collect email addresses, you'll need to use an additional form plugin or embed one from your email marketing provider.
Or you can upgrade the plugin to store subscriptions inside WordPress.
Features
Popups can be targeted to specific pages and posts and triggered by clicks, load times, or from exit intents with the pro version.
Integrations
The pro version also lets you integrate with 7 different email marketing services, including MailChimp, ActiveCampaign, and Campaign Monitor.
Pricing
Popup Box Plugin is one of the cheapest premium popups for WordPress. You can get a yearly subscription for 5 sites for $29 or purchase a lifetime plan for unlimited sites for $89
Pros of Popup Box:
- Very affordable for the premium version
- Quite straightforward to use
Cons of Popup Box:
- Some of the designs seem a little outdated
- User interface is a little unorganised
MailOptin – Tons of Integrations
MailOptin is an optin form and email newsletter plugin in one that has popup features. It has 30,000+ active installs and a 4.8 star rating.
The most unique feature of this plugin is the design options and user interface you get. It uses the familiar theme customizer to edit the design and setting of your popups.
You point and click your mouse on the elements you want to change, and it loads up the options.
Another difference is the built-in newsletter feature, which lets you send email broadcasts to your subscribers and email automations. These are paid features, though. Therefore you'll need to upgrade if you want to use them.
Features
There's several pre-made themes to choose from, and display rules let you choose which pages or posts they show on.
However, if you want to enable any triggers, you'll need to upgrade to a premium plan.
Integrations
There are a ton of email marketing integrations to choose from, and unlike other plugins on this list, are available to connect to in the free version.
It also connects into popular CRMs such as HubSpot and Ontraport.
Pricing
Pricing starts at $89 for 1 site, but if you want the newsletter and email automation features, you'll need the Pro plan for 3 sites at $199.
There is also a plan for unlimited sites for $399 and the rare lifetime option at $999.
Pros of MailOptin:
- Easy to use and great design interface
- Huge amount of integrations available for free
Cons of MailOptin:
- You can't set any popup triggers in the free version
WP Popups – Clean UI
WP Popups is a free and premium popup plugin for WordPress with a 4.9 star rating and over 30,000 active installs.
It has some neat, unique features, such as a leaving notice addon to warn visitors when they click a link to leave your site, an age verification popup, and a login and registration addon.
However, you'll need to upgrade to a premium plan or buy them individually to access these addons.
Features
Out of the box, WP Popups is quite basic because there's no drag-and-drop builder and no templates to choose from in the free version.
The free plugin and website doesn't show what the popup template designs look like. Therefore, it's hard to know what you're getting if you want to upgrade.
What you get is a simple field to place your own forms inside the popup that shows. You can customize the popups' appearance and choose from 8 positions on the page.
You get a lot of display rule options including page, post, referer, user browser and many more.
There's 4 free triggers to choose from and you can use exit intent in the cheapest plan, which starts at $35 per year.
Integrations
Integrations let you connect to 9 different email marketing providers or The Newsletter plugin, which allows you to send email marketing campaigns from your WordPress site.
Pricing
Pricing starts at $35 per year for their basic plan, to their Agency plan for $299 per year, which you can use on unlimited sites.
Pros of WP Popups:
- Minimal and simple user interface and popup design
- Perfect if all you need is to add a form from a form plugin to a popup
Cons of WP Popups:
- It's quite limited on features, unless you upgrade
- There's no premade templates or ability to collect emails, unless you upgrade
Icegram Popups for WordPress
Icegram Popups help you engage visitors, capture leads, and optimize conversions. It's installed on 30,000+ WordPress sites and has a 4.7 star rating.
On installing the free plugin, you're guided through a setup wizard to choose a campaign and the popup type and shown an options panel to finely tune your popup settings.
Features
Most of the features are limited to the Pro or Max plan. More on pricing later.
However, you can display anything inside a popup, including the plugin's own opt-in forms called Rainmaker.
You can also collect email addresses with their other plugin, Email Subscribers, which seamlessly integrates with the other plugins.
Pricing
To use advanced features of Icegram, pricing starts at $97 per year, or you can gain access to all the Icegram plugins for $199 per year.
Pros of Icegram:
- The setup wizard makes it easy to create popup campaigns
- Integerates seamlessly with their other plugins
Cons of Icegram:
- Many of the features require the premium version
Ninja WordPress Popup Plugin
Ninja Popup is a premium popup plugin sold on CodeCanyon with over 40,000 sales and an average star rating of 4.3.
It uses a drag-and-drop visual editor to make it easy to create your own popups or choose from over 70 premade themes.
Features
Other features include an optin and social locker to lock content and get people to subscribe or follow you on social media, fully responsive designs, page-level targeting, conversion and hit statistics, exit popups, and lots of other triggers.
Ninja Popups also has one of the largest numbers of integrations of any popup plugin, connecting to over 30 of the major email service providers.
Pricing
You can purchase Ninja popups for $24 on CodeCanyon, which gives you 12 months of updates and 6 months of support from the plugin developer.
Pros of Ninja Popups:
- It's very affordable
- Ease of use
- Good customer support
Cons of Ninja Popups:
- Some say the plugin feels a little outdated and clunky
Conclusion: The Best WordPress Popup Plugins
There you have it! These are 13 of the best WordPress popup plugins.
Many are advanced popup plugins with email marketing capabilities; others are email optin forms with powerful popup features.
However, they all essentially do similar things and offer the goal of collecting emails from your WordPress website visitors.
If you want an all rounder, go with OptinMonster. But if you need exit-intent for free, then Hustle is the one for you.
The post 13 Best WordPress Popup Plugins to Grow Your Email List appeared first on Niche Pursuits.