Love them or hate them, you can’t ignore them.
Those tiny advertisement boxes that popup out of nowhere, interrupting your search, can indeed be annoying.
Judging by the impression it leaves, you might think, why should I even care to have them on my website.
However, these invasive little boxes are an effective medium to increase leads and grow your email subscribers.
Well designed popups, easy on the eyes, don’t scare your visitors at all. Moreover, it yields excellent results.
But, with ill-designed, generic, and unattractive popups, you risk the chance of losing your audience.
Table of Contents
Why do I Need a WordPress Popup Plugin?
As per the report, a popup increases email subscribers and leads by a whopping 21%. Now that’s 21% that you could lose just without popups.
Popups are one of the most effective ways to generate leads on WordPress. With popups, you can promote your content, offer discounts, and grow your email lists.
Further, correctly timed popups give you a chance to re-engage your visitors before they leave – effectively doubling your traffic conversion rate.
Moreover, it also increases the visibility of your messages and offers to all your visitors. This way, a popup can guide an overwhelmed visitor to make a decision or find the product they need.
What to Look for in the Best WordPress Popup Plugin?
Your best WordPress popup plugin must offer tons of features and customizations. Most importantly, it should provide full control over popups.
Major features to look for in a popup plugin are Targeting and Trigger options. However, it is not limited to it. So, below are the essential features of the best popup plugin for WordPress.
1. Targeting options
The targeting feature allows you to target your audience. It lets you choose your posts, pages, or custom post types to add your popups.
Some of the commonly used targeting options are:
- Page-level targeting
- New and old visitors
- Geolocation
- Device used
- Cookie control
- Logged in users
- WordPress targeting(tags,categories,archives and more)
2. Performance
Performance is quintessential. It is one of the major issues with most of the WordPress popup plugins. Most of the WordPress plugins rely on WordPress to track analytics. It increases the server load and slows down your site. A laggy website is harmful to SEO rankings.
So, look for plugins that offer analytics and do not hold your site down.
3. Customizable Triggers
The trigger feature allows you to trigger a popup in action. A customizable trigger option lets you set trigger options as per your requirement.
Some of the commonly used trigger options include:
- Exit intent trigger
- User inactivity trigger
- After scroll trigger
- Scroll to element trigger
- After content trigger
- Click to trigger
- Timed trigger
10 Best WordPress Popup Plugins
In a world full of unwanted interruptions to our browsing, you must put effort into your popups for it to pay off. Here is the list of 10 best plugins to add popups to WordPress in less than 10 minutes to help you choose the best plugins to add popups.
1. OptinMonster
OptinMonster is an excellent WordPress popup plugin. With this, you can create many popups to use on website platforms, such as Joomla, WordPress, HTML sites, and others.
With this plugin, you receive all the necessary elements required to create a useful popup to grow your email list. It comes with a powerful drag-and-drop form builder. So, you can easily pick from the pre-designed templates or create a popup from scratch.
OptinMonster comes with advanced opt-in targeting to target your visitors according to their specific interests, physical location, interaction on your site, time spent on the page, and more.
It also features exit-intent, using which you can convert your leaving visitors to your customers with a targeted popup displayed when they are about to leave the site. Besides, you also get scroll, time, user inactivity, and click trigger options.
This plugin is hosted on Amazon’s powerful platform, which means that it improves the loading time instead of affecting your website’s speed.
If you are focused on flexible options in terms of triggering and targeting options, then, OptinMonster is the best bet.
Key Features:
- Multiple form types
- Design-oriented
- Advanced traffic redirection
- Page-level targeting
- Email Marketing Integrations
Target Options:
Referrer detection, Page-level, OnSite follow-up, Old/New visitors, Geo-location, Cookie, Device-based, and AdBlock detection.
Trigger Options:
Page load, Clicks, Scroll, Exit intent, Scroll to element, and After inactivity.
A/B Split testing And Analytics Availability: Available
Free version: Not Available
Pricing:
- $14 monthly for one site with 3,500 pageviews
- $30 monthly for two sites with 15,000 pageviews
- $47 monthly for three sites with 50,000 pageviews
- $80 monthly for five sites with 250,000 pageviews.
2. Sumo List Builder
Sumo is a highly converting popup plugin to create professional-looking opt-in forms. This is the most advanced yet very easy-to-use email capture tool on the internet.
Sumo List Builder allows you to control your website’s look and design with total control over background color, text color, text font, and more. You can also create opt-in forms from scratch with a drag-and-drop builder.
Using this plugin, you can time your popup to catch your visitors at the best moment. You get to choose from various trigger options that include exit intent, clicks, timers, scroll, inactivity, and more.
If you want to create popups that will look equally good on mobile as it does on your computer, worry not! Sumo List Builder is mobile optimized, making sure your opt-in form looks good on any screen.
You also get a built-in statistics area and A/B testing, making it easy to optimize and analyze your opt-in forms.
It seamlessly integrates with different email marketing service providers.
Key Features:
- Customizable design
- Mobile friendly
- Drag and Drop builder
- Pre-designed templates
- One-click email marketing service integration
Target Options:
Entire website, Posts, Include/Exclude specific pages, Search pages, and Archives
Trigger Options:
Clicks, Timers, Exit intent, Page load, Scroll, Scroll to element, and After inactivity
A/B Split testing And Analytics Availability: Available
Free version: Available
Pricing
- $49 per month if paid monthly
- $39 per month if paid annually
3. Bloom Email Opt-Ins
Bloom is a flexible plugin to create popups and grow your email lists. This plugin comes with 100+ customizable templates, unique triggers, targeting options, and other essential features.
Using Bloom, you can create six different opt-in forms such as Popup, Fly-in, Below post, Inline, Locked content, and Widget.
Bloom features several targeting and triggering options for the control of when and where your opt-in forms appear.
You can choose to limit the number of times to display an opt-in per session and hide opt-ins on mobile devices.
You can trigger opt-in forms by time, scroll depth, click, after comment, purchase, and upon inactivity.
You also get a built-in statistics area and A/B testing, making it easy to optimize and analyze your opt-in forms.
Also, Bloom comes with inbuilt integrations for all popular email marketing services.
Key Features:
- Multiple display types
- 19 Email Marketing Integrations
- Customizable designs
- Responsive design
- Unlimited color options
Target Options:
Geographical targeting, Page specific, Entire website, Posts, Include/Exclude particular pages, Search pages, Archives, and Referral sites
Trigger Options:
Timers, Scroll, Comments, Purchase, and After inactivity
A/B Split testing And Analytics Availability: Available
Free version: Not Available
Pricing:
- $89 with 1-year support and updates for unlimited sites
- $249 with lifetime support and updates for endless sites
4. MailOptin
Convert your visitors into subscribers with MailOptin. It is a comprehensive WordPress plugin to generate high-quality leads, boost conversions, and increase user registrations.
MailOptin comes with multiple popup display options. You get to choose from different display options, such as lightbox popup, notification bar, slide in, and sidebar. You can also choose to grab the attention of your visitors with a before/after post. If you wish for more flexibility, you can also use an inline opt-in that appears anywhere.
With this popup plugin, you can send automated emails and newsletters and inform your subscribers every time you publish new content.
Scheduling email campaigns daily, weekly, or monthly to keep your visitors engaged is possible. Additionally, you can also send targeted emails based on the customer journey.
MailOptin integrates with various reliable and popular email marketing providers, such as MailChimp, Hubspot, WooCommerce, and others.
Key Features:
- Multiple display options
- Email marketing providers integration
- Built-in analytics
- Performance optimized
- Automated emails and newsletters
Target Options:
Referral detection, page-level targeting, new/old visitors, time on site, and page views
Trigger Options:
Clicks, Timers, Exit intent, Page load, Scroll, Scroll to element, and After inactivity
A/B Split testing And Analytics Availability: Available
Free version: Not Available
Pricing:
Standard: $79 per year for one site
Pro: $199 per year for three sites
Agency: $299 per year for unlimited sites
5. Thrive Leads
Thrive Leads is a high-end conversion plugin for WordPress. It is ideal for smart businesses looking to increase their website traffic.
This popup plugin features all sorts of opt-in forms you need in one single plugin. What’s more? You can simply drag and drop to design your popup form every time.
Thrive leads features A/B testing, making sure you have the best possible opt-in form design to gain massive lead conversion.
You can always choose to show different popups on different pages based on trigger options with smart links and smart exit.
This plugin comes mobile friendly. This way, you get to choose how to and what to show your mobile visitors.
It seamlessly integrates with your autoresponder or email marketing service providers.
Key Features:
- Drag and drop editor
- Advanced targeting
- Multiple display options
- Mobile friendly
- Customizable design
- Email Marketing Service Integration
Target Options:
The entire website, Posts, Include/Exclude specific pages, Search pages, Archives, and WooCommerce page
Trigger Options:
Page load, Clicks, Scroll, Exit intent, Scroll to element, and After inactivity
A/B Split testing And Analytics Availability: Available
Free version: Not Available
Pricing:
1 License for $67 with the full feature set, unlimited updates, and 1-year support
5 Licenses for $97 with the full feature set, unlimited updates, and 1-year support
15 Licenses for $147 with the full feature set, unlimited updates, and 1-year support
25 Licenses for $19 per month( for Thrive members only)
6. PopUp Domination
PopUp Domination is one of the initial popup tools. It is easy to use with a robust visual interface that makes it reasonably easy to customize your popups.
PopUp Domination lets you display your popup differently using user-based time on page, user inactivity, clicks, scrolls, mouse hover, and exit intent. Other advanced targeting options include geolocation, device, and traffic source.
PopUp Domination gives you access to all the features such as unlimited domains and popups, A/B testing, live chat support, and more.
With this popup plugin, you don’t have to upgrade to a premium version to access more features. Instead, it levies cost for the number of total views on your popups throughout your websites.
If you want to display your popups on several websites with low traffic, PopUp Domination is the right solution. However, if you have a few sites with high traffic volumes, it is not the best option.
Key Features:
- Mobile friendly
- Fast loading
- Pre-designed templates
- Email marketing service integration
- Customizable designs
Target Options:
Geographical targeting, Page specific, and Referral sites
Trigger Options:
Clicks, Timers, Exit intent, Page load, Scroll, Scroll to element, and After inactivity
A/B Split testing And Analytics Availability: Available
Free version: 14-day trial available
Pricing:
Starter: $54 per year with 10,000 views
Standard: $114 per year with 30,000 views
Plus: $174 per year with 100,000 views
7. Icegram
Icegram is a free popup plugin offering many marketing-focused features. It comes with 20+ predefined responsive themes.
Using this plugin, you can customize default designs, change brand colors, and add both entry and exit animations to them.
This plugin features advanced targeting. This means your subscription form can pop up if the visitors stay on your page for a specific amount of time, scroll to the middle or bottom, are inactive, or about to leave.
You can utilize the time delay feature to hide the popup automatically in a few secs. You can also choose your audience as per the geographical location, such as continent, country, state, and city.
Icegram monitors the performance of your popups and shows impressions, conversions, and conversion rates. With A/B testing, you can easily read the detailed statistics on conversion rate and your progress.
Key Features:
- 120+ templates
- Social media integration
- Powerful features
- Multiple display options
- Easy to use
Target Options:
Geographical targeting, Page specific, Entire website, Posts, Include/Exclude specific pages, Search pages, Archives, and Referral sites
Trigger Options:
Page load, Clicks, Scroll, Exit intent, Scroll to element, and After inactivity
A/B Split testing And Analytics Availability: Available
Free version: Available
Pricing:
Pro: $97 per year
Max: $147 per year
8. Popup Maker
With more than 300,000 active website installations, Popup maker is a popular WordPress plugin to add popups.
It offers multiple opt-in forms options, like lightbox popup, notification popup, sticky popup, slide-in popup, and more.
With this plugin, you can set your popup triggers on timers and click-based triggers on the navigation to buttons, menu items, sidebars, and more.
It doesn’t have advanced targeting and trigger options as that of OptinMonster and other plugins above. However, you can easily get an Exit-intent feature on their paid extension plugin.
It supports all the major WordPress plugins, like WPForms and email newsletter tools like MailChimp and AWeber.
Key Features:
- Unlimited templates
- Visual theme builder
- Responsive and mobile-friendly
- Multiple trigger types
- Accessibility ready
Target Options:
Content, User, Device, Ecommerce, Referral, and Custom conditions.
Trigger Options:
Auto open, Exit Intent, Click, and Scroll
A/B Split testing And Analytics Availability: Available
Free version: Available
Pricing
- $87 for 1 website.
- $147 for 3 websites.
- $247 for 5 websites.
9. Elementor Pro
Elementor Pro is one of the most used drag-and-drop page builder plugins for WordPress. Using it, you can build stunning landing pages on your website.
The plugin comes with a powerful popup builder tool. It lets you customize popups without additional payments.
Using Elementor Pro, you can create various popups that include login forms, email subscriptions, promotions and sale banners, and more. You can easily choose to display your popup in different styles, like a full screen, fly-in, bottom bar, help bar, slide in, and more.
You can target your viewers based on device, user logged-in status, pageviews or sessions, and referral source/URL.
This plugin features 100+ stylish popup templates and 100+ Elementor content widgets to help you create unlimited popups for your website.
Key Features:
- Design-oriented
- Unlimited pageviews
- Unlimited interactions
- 100+ Elementor Widgets
- Intuitive targeting
Target options: Entire website, Posts, Include/Exclude specific pages, Search pages, Archives, and WooCommerce page.
Trigger options: Page load, Clicks, Scroll, Exit intent, Scroll to element, and After inactivity.
A/B Split testing And Analytics Availability: Not Available
Free version: Not Available
Pricing
- $49 with 1-year support and plugin updates for one site
- $99 with 1-year support and plugin updates for three sites
- $199 with 1-year support and plugin updates for 1000 sites
10. Popup Builder
Popup Builder is an excellent plugin with robust functionality and easy-to-use features. This plugin works well with all the WordPress configurations.
Using this plugin, you can add unlimited Popups with animation effects and custom options. Further, creating an opt-in form from scratch is effortless with the drag-and-drop builder support.
It comes with a unique scroll popup option that triggers a popup when visitors scroll down on your site. You can also choose to enable notification sound to alert the visitors.
Adding popups in any desired language is possible with WPML compatibility. Likewise, this plugin works well with WordPress multisite network. It also runs smoothly on all your subsites.
Key Features:
- Multiple display types
- Email Marketing Integrations
- Customizable designs
- Responsive design
- Unlimited color options
Target Options:
Geographical targeting, Page specific, Entire website, Posts, Include/Exclude specific pages, Search pages, Archives, and Referral sites
Trigger Options:
Page load, Clicks, Scroll, Exit intent, Scroll to element, and After inactivity.
A/B Split testing And Analytics Availability: Not Available
Free version: Available
Pricing:
- $39.95 per year for two websites
- $89.95 per year for ten websites
- $149.95 per year for unlimited websites
FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
How do I use a popup plugin in WordPress?
You can easily use the popup plugins in WordPress by installing and activating the software
Are popups responsive?
Yes, Popups are responsive. You can easily create responsive popups that work well on all screen sizes with plugins like Popup Builder, Popup Maker, Icegram, and Bloom.
What are the things to consider while using Popups?
There are a few things to keep in mind before creating popups for your visitors.
• Avoid displaying popups frequently. Focus on effective popups focused on lead generation.
• Make sure your popups don’t contain irrelevant content.
• Create a simple popup form requesting minimal information like name and email.
Conclusion
If you seek the most flexible WordPress popup plugin in terms of targeting and triggering rules, OptinMonster is the best there is.
Bloom has some unique triggers for commenting/purchasing.
Ninja Popups is robust with its visual builder, while Elementor Popups is also a great option, especially if you want to build more than just email opt-ins.
You can pick from Popup Maker or Popup Builder for a free plugin with basic features and customizable popups.
If you want a popup builder under budget, then Icegram or Sumo are the basic options.