I’ve spent over a decade in digital advertising, and popup campaigns are my job. Which means I spend extra hours inside popup makers than virtually anybody you’ll meet, together with the competing ones, as a result of figuring out what each software on this market does properly is a part of the work.
So that is my sincere tackle the perfect WordPress popup plugin for every sort of web site: the strongest total WordPress popup builder, the perfect completely free possibility, and the appropriate picks should you’re already dedicated to Elementor, Divi, or Thrive Themes.
Costs checked July 2026. Most of those instruments run intro reductions that renew at full value, so deal with these as beginning factors.
| Plugin | Finest for | Free model | Internet hosting | Beginning value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OptinMonster | Concentrating on depth and conversion optimization | Sure, restricted to 500 marketing campaign impressions, out there just for WordPress plugin customers. Good for getting began. | Cloud | $7/month (billed yearly) |
| Popup Maker | Finest free popup builder | Sure | Self-hosted | Free, Professional $99/yr |
| Thrive Leads | A/B testing inside WordPress | No | Self-hosted | $199/yr |
| Elementor Professional | Websites already constructed with Elementor | No | Self-hosted | Superior Solo plan |
| Bloom | Divi and Elegant Themes members | No | Self-hosted | $89/yr (with Divi) |
| HubSpot | Popups plus a free CRM | Sure | Cloud | Free |
| TrustPulse | Social proof notifications | Sure (500 periods/month) | Cloud | $5/month (billed yearly) |
The internet hosting column issues greater than individuals assume. Cloud instruments load their scripts from exterior servers asynchronously, so that they don’t lean in your WordPress internet hosting. Self-hosted plugins hold your information by yourself server however do their work inside WordPress, which may matter on high-traffic websites with tight assets.
Finest for: anybody whose popup technique is mostly a conversion technique, particularly ecommerce shops and content material websites severe about e mail listing development.
Full disclosure: OptinMonster is our product. You’d anticipate a roundup on our personal weblog to place us first, so I’ll make the case the identical manner I make it for each different software right here, cons included. Right here’s why I’d nonetheless decide it if I give up tomorrow.
The builder itself is desk stakes. Each software on this listing has drag-and-drop modifying and templates (OptinMonster ships 700+ of them). What separates OptinMonster is what occurs after you design the popup: the focusing on and set off engine.
You possibly can present a special marketing campaign to first-time guests, returning guests, individuals from a particular referral supply, individuals in a particular metropolis, or individuals who have already seen (or dismissed) one other marketing campaign. On the set off aspect, Exit-Intent® Expertise detects when somebody is about to depart the web page and fires the marketing campaign at that precise second, which constantly turns abandoning guests into subscribers as a result of it interrupts no one who was nonetheless studying.
A concrete instance of how these items mix. Say your Search engine optimization suggestions publish will get regular visitors. You possibly can provide an Search engine optimization guidelines as a lead magnet, use Web page-Degree Concentrating on to indicate it solely on that publish, and set off it with Exit-Intent® so readers see it on their manner out. That one marketing campaign sample is behind loads of the ends in our case examine library.
Actual numbers: Storyly grew their e mail listing 45% and elevated conversions 80% utilizing OptinMonster campaigns, and Social Media Examiner added 95,654 subscribers in seven months utilizing an exit-intent popup.
As a result of OptinMonster is cloud-based, the embed script hundreds asynchronously and doesn’t sluggish web page rendering, and campaigns run with out including weight to your WordPress set up.
Trustworthy cons: The free model consists of 500 marketing campaign impressions, the entire options of Fundamentals, and is barely out there should you’re utilizing our WordPress plugin. If you wish to present your campaigns greater than that or reap the benefits of further options, you’ll must improve. If all you want is a straightforward e-newsletter field and also you by no means plan to phase your leads or personalize your gives or check campaigns to enhance them, you may get away with the Free or Primary plans. OptinMonster earns its price when focusing on and testing begin driving income, which can be when free instruments run out of street.
Pricing: begins at $7/month billed yearly. Professional ($29/month) provides Exit-Intent®, and there’s a 14-day money-back assure, no questions requested.
Finest for: anybody who wants a free popup plugin and is keen to commerce elevated alternatives to transform leads for price.
I’m recommending a competitor second, which ought to inform you one thing: Popup Maker deserves its 780,000+ energetic installs. It’s essentially the most put in free popup plugin within the WordPress repository, and the free model is an actual product, not a trial in disguise. Limitless popups, no visitors caps, page-load and scroll and click-to-open triggers, all free.
The workflow may be very WordPress-native. You construct popup content material in the usual WordPress editor and configure show guidelines in a settings panel. When you’re comfy in WordPress, nothing right here will confuse you; it simply takes extra clicks and extra studying than a visible SaaS builder, and the outcomes look pretty much as good as the trouble you place in, since you’re styling issues your self quite than ranging from designed templates.
Nonetheless, some options in Popup Maker’s premium plans which price cash are tablestakes for OptinMonster – out there with any plan at no additional price:
- Web page scroll depth focusing on
- Superior customized taxonomy focusing on
- Present on particular URLs or URL sample
- and Consumer login standing
are just some examples.
Trustworthy cons: Exit-intent, superior focusing on, and most integrations reside within the paid extensions, and the interface is purposeful quite than nice. By the point you’re paying $99/yr and assembling extensions, evaluate the overall towards a purpose-built paid software.
Pricing: free core plugin. Professional begins at $99/yr (presently discounted for the primary yr), which provides Exit-Intent, scroll triggers, and superior analytics.
Finest for: entrepreneurs who need severe A/B testing and reporting with none information leaving their WordPress set up.
Thrive Leads is the strongest self-hosted possibility for testing. Variant testing and conversion stories reside proper in your dashboard, grouped by lead group and content material sort, and all the pieces stays in your server, which issues to groups with strict information insurance policies.
The builder is versatile, with opt-in and popup varieties most instruments skip: ribbons, content material locks, scroll mats, in-content varieties. SmartLinks is a genuinely intelligent function that hides opt-in varieties from individuals who already subscribed and reveals them one thing else as a substitute.
Trustworthy cons: the show guidelines take longer to be taught than anything on this listing, and since it runs totally in your server, it provides load that cloud instruments don’t. It’s additionally priced for dedicated customers now: the standalone value is $199/yr, double what most older roundups nonetheless declare (together with, till this replace, ours). The higher deal is the complete Thrive Suite at $299/yr should you’ll use the opposite Thrive instruments.
Pricing: $199/yr standalone, or $299/yr for Thrive Suite (presently discounted from $599).
Finest for: websites already constructed with Elementor that need popups in the identical editor as all the pieces else.
If Elementor is your web page builder, its popup module is the trail of least resistance. Identical drag-and-drop editor, identical widgets, identical styling system, so your popups routinely match your web site’s design language. Triggers cowl the necessities: web page load, scroll depth, click on, time on web page, and exit intent.
Trustworthy cons: the popup builder isn’t within the least expensive Elementor plan; you want Superior Solo or greater. And shopping for Elementor Professional only for popups is senseless, because you’d be adopting a complete web page builder’s CSS and JavaScript for one function. This decide is for present Elementor customers solely.
Pricing: included within the Superior Solo plan and above. Elementor modifications costs and runs promotions consistently, so test their pricing web page for the present quantity.
Finest for: Divi customers who already pay for an Elegant Themes membership.
Bloom comes bundled with the Elegant Themes membership alongside Divi, so for present members it’s successfully free. It covers six set off varieties (together with exit intent and the bizarre after-comment and after-purchase triggers) and ships about 100 templates for signups, reductions, and content material upgrades.
Trustworthy cons: Elegant Themes has poured its improvement consideration into Divi 5 and AI options, and Bloom hasn’t seen significant updates in a very long time. It really works, nevertheless it isn’t going anyplace new. Customization runs by way of a settings panel quite than a real visible builder, and as a self-hosted plugin it provides its personal CSS and JavaScript to each load. I wouldn’t purchase the membership to get Bloom; I’d use Bloom as a result of I have already got the membership.
Pricing: included with Elegant Themes membership at $89/yr, or $249 lifetime.
Finest for: groups that need popups wired straight right into a CRM with out paying for both.
The HubSpot WordPress plugin is free and consists of popup varieties, reside chat, and the CRM itself. The popup builder is ok however primary. The explanation to put in it’s what occurs after the popup: each submission lands as a contact document in an actual CRM the place a gross sales workforce can really work it, and also you paid nothing for any of that.
Trustworthy cons: you’ll really feel the ceiling rapidly. The design choices are restricted in comparison with devoted builders, and the options that make HubSpot highly effective (automation, segmentation, testing) are in paid Advertising and marketing Hub tiers that get costly quick. The free tier is a genuinely helpful on-ramp; simply know what street it’s an on-ramp to.
Pricing: free plugin and free CRM. Paid Advertising and marketing Hub tiers add automation and testing.
The free instruments on this listing are authentic. Popup Maker will run limitless primary popups without end, and HubSpot’s free tier consists of popups plus a CRM. In case your total objective is “accumulate e-newsletter signups on a small web site,” begin free.
Paying begins making sense when any of those grow to be true:
- You want Exit Intent. It’s the only highest-leverage popup set off, and it’s paid in all places: OptinMonster’s Professional plan, Popup Maker’s extensions, Elementor’s paid tiers.
- You want focusing on. Displaying everybody the identical popup is the place “popups are annoying” comes from. Web page-level, referral, geo, and conduct focusing on are paid options throughout the board.
- You’re testing. When you A/B check popups towards one another, the winner normally pays for the software program many instances over. Storyly’s 80% conversion improve got here from precisely this sort of iteration.
A helpful method to determine: estimate what one e mail subscriber is price to you, then ask what number of additional subscribers per thirty days the paid options would want to provide to interrupt even. For many websites with actual visitors, the quantity is small.
- Finest total: OptinMonster, on the power of focusing on depth, Exit-Intent®, and testing. It’s the one which treats popups as a conversion system quite than a design widget.
- Already on Elementor: use Elementor Professional’s popup builder and hold one design system.
- Already on Divi: use Bloom, because you’re paying for it anyway.
- Need testing with out the cloud: Thrive Leads, if the $199/yr matches how critically you’ll use it.
- Desire a free CRM hooked up: HubSpot.
Badly constructed popups can. Google has penalized intrusive interstitials on cellular since 2017, which implies fullscreen popups that fireside instantly on web page load, particularly on cellular, can price you rankings. Popups that don’t damage Search engine optimization comply with just a few guidelines: set off on exit intent, time delay, or scroll depth quite than on load, hold the shut button apparent, by no means stack a number of popups, and use a software that hundreds its script asynchronously so Core Internet Vitals don’t endure. Configured that manner, popups and rankings coexist advantageous, and each software on this listing could be configured that manner. Our information to Search engine optimization-friendly popups goes deeper on every rule.
Set up a popup plugin, design the marketing campaign from a template or from scratch, set show guidelines for the place and when it seems, and publish. With OptinMonster the sequence is: join the plugin, decide a template, customise it within the drag-and-drop builder, select focusing on and triggers, and the plugin embeds it routinely. Our full walkthrough on making a WordPress popup covers every step with screenshots.
By set up rely on the WordPress repository, OptinMonster, with greater than 1 million energetic installs. The precise variety of websites utilizing OptinMonster is greater, since it may be used on any sort of web site, not simply WordPress. Popup Maker is second with 750,000 energetic installs.
No. WordPress core has no popup function. You possibly can hand-code a popup for WordPress with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript in your theme, however you’d be rebuilding triggers, focusing on, cellular conduct, and analytics from scratch, which is why successfully each web site makes use of a plugin or a cloud software for this.
Begin Turning Visitors Into Subscribers
Each plugin on this listing can put a field on a display screen. The distinction between them is what occurs across the field: who sees it, when it fires, what you be taught from it. Decide primarily based on the system you’re committing to, not the screenshot gallery.
If that system is conversion optimization, begin with OptinMonster. Campaigns take minutes to construct, focusing on is the deepest out there, and the 14-day money-back assure means the chance sits with us, not you.
