Popups can be a tool that helps you improve conversion on your website or get more subscribers to your newsletter. However, they can also be annoying if they are not well integrated with the design of your website or if they are displayed randomly without taking into account where your visitor is at the moment or what they are doing on your website.
So, before installing any plugin to start creating popups, take a look at the following comparison of plugins. The list below is in alphabetical order.
Advanced Popups
- Version: 1.1.3
- WordPress version: 4.9 or higher
- Tested up to: 5.9
- Plans and prices: Free
This plugin has been developed by Code Supply Co. and comes integrated in several themes developed by the same developers. It is totally free and there is no premium version. It is a plugin that, once installed and activated on your website, includes a new option in the Settings tab to create popups. After clicking on it, you can create popups using the block editor.
The popup settings appear below the editor. There you can indicate the type of popup (content, notification box, banner box), adjust its size and position, set up how and where you want it to be displayed, and define some activation and closing rules.
The main advantage of this plugin is that it is free and integrates quite well with the block editor, allowing you to benefit from all the design options there. It includes enough features to create basic popups that meet the needs of a large amount of websites.
Hustle
- Version: 7.4.11
- WordPress version: 5.2 or higher
- Tested up to: 5.8.3
- Plans and prices: Free and Pro – $6/month ($60/year)
Hustle is a freemium plugin from WPMU DEV that adds a framework to your WordPress with a control panel from which to design popups. It comes with 18 predefined layouts (e.g., Black Friday, offer, newsletter subscription, etc.) that you can customize. The free version includes all the features of the paid version but only allows you to create up to 3 popups of type email request, slider, fullscreen or social and floating bars.
At the design level, it allows you to add images, define colors, borders, shadows, margins, typography, and customize the CSS. It also allows you to add animations. As for the popup activation conditions, it allows defining where and when to show it taking into account elapsed time, click, scroll, location, position, page, login, category, tag, referral link and device type.
Hustle also integrates with the most popular email providers, social networks, and the Forminator form builder plugin, also from WPMU DEV.
Finally, note that being a plugin that adds a framework to WordPress, its integration with Gutenberg is limited. It only shows you the preview of the popups without using any of the features of the block editor.
Nelio Popups
Fantastic plugin! It’s really easy to create popups as you’re already used to the editor, and all the options it has are really well crafted.
Juan Hernando
Icegram
- Version: 2.1.0
- WordPress version: 3.9 or higher
- Tested up to: 5.9
- Plans and prices: Free, Pro – $97/year and Max – $147/year
Icegram is a plugin that also adds a framework with its own control panel to create and edit popups. The free version allows you to create an unlimited number of popups but with limited functionality. The editor has a user interface similar to the classic WordPress editor and its integration with the block editor is limited –it only allows you to preview the popup.
At the design level, it allows you to add images, colors and modify the typography in the same way that you would do with the classic editor in WordPress. It also allows you to add the animation of appearing or sliding, define its location and select different pre-defined styles. You can define which pages you want the popup to appear on, but the activation conditions (clicks, scroll, etc.) are premium features, as well as the integration with the most popular mail services.
Nelio Popups
- Version: 1.0.7
- WordPress version: 5.7 or higher
- Tested up to: 5.9
- Plans and prices: Free (premium version in development)
Nelio Popups is a plugin that we have developed so that you can create the popups you need in a way that is 100% integrated with the WordPress block editor. At the moment, we only offer the free version and we hope to have a premium version with advanced features available soon.
Once the Nelio Popups plugin is installed and activated, you have a new option in your menu, Nelio Popups, with which you can create a new popup in the same way that you create or edit any other content in WordPress. In the sidebar of the block editor you have all the design options that you can set up for your popup: size, position, borders and margins, animations, where and when you want it to be displayed, how it should close, etc.
Since Nelio Popups is fully integrated with the block editor, the default content will have the same style as the one you have defined in your theme and you will be able to add blocks, patterns, buttons, forms, etc. in the same way you do on any other page or post.
OptinMonster
- Version: 2.6.10
- WordPress version: 4.7 or higher
- Tested up to: 5.8.3
- Plans and prices: Plus – starting at $100/year, Pro – starting at $200/year and Agency – starting at $400/year
OptinMonster is one of the most popular applications for creating opt-ins. In the WordPress Plugin Directory you will find the free OptinMonster connector plugin (but it requires a credit card to create an account and connect with the OptinMonster application). They provide you with 14 free days to try it out.
The application works through a paid subscription (SaaS) and depending on the functionalities and the number of visits to the popups, you have different plans. In the basic plan you can create popups with all kinds of designs (floating boxes, banners, forms, full size, etc.) and allows a maximum of 2500 visits. The application editor is very visual and intuitive (drag & drop) and allows you to customize the look and feel as you like. The higher plans add the option to create popups on more websites, as well as visual functionalities to the popups, activation control, integration with email providers, etc.
OptinMonster is surely one of the most complete applications to create popups. With this plugin I doubt that you will be missing any functionality… but at a price. Also, remember that being an external platform, it does not know the styles that you have defined in your theme and, therefore, if you want the popups to integrate well, you must adapt the designs in the external platform.
Poptin
- Version: 1.3
- WordPress version: 3.1 or higher
- Tested up to: 5.9
- Plans and prices: Basic – $25/month or $240/year, Pro – $59/month or $564/year, Agency – $119 or 1140/year
Poptin, like OptinMonster, is a plugin that serves as a connector to an external platform that allows you to create popups. You have a free plan that allows you to create popups with all the available features including up to 1000 views. From there on, you must subscribe to one of their plans, whose prices are based on the number of visitors per month, sites and user management.
Poptin includes a large volume of predefined templates and allows you to customize them with its drag & drop editor. It also integrates with most email providers and other third-party CRM services. And, like the previous one, it is a very complete plugin that includes many possibilities but, apart from the price, it has the same integration problems with WordPress.
Popup Anything
- Version: 2.0.9
- WordPress version: 5.2 or higher
- Tested up to: 5.9
- Plans and prices: Free, Personal – $99/year, Best Value – $129/year and Professional – $149/year
Popup Anything is a plugin that adds a framework in WordPress with an editor to create and modify popups. The free version allows you to create an unlimited number of popups.
At the design level you can specify the size, position and speed of appearance. The plugin allows you to add headers, text, links and images. And you can add any custom CSS you want. With respect to the activation conditions, it allows you to specify if you want to display the popup on pages or posts and define if you want it to be activated when the page loads or when you click on a link, image or button.
The premium version also includes other types of layouts, such as a banner or a sliding popup. In addition, it also includes the option to add form fields, social profiles, integrate with emails or other third-party CRM services.
Popup Builder
- Version: 4.0.8
- WordPress version: 4.2 or higher
- Tested up to: 5.8.3
- Plans and prices: Free, Starter – $40/year, Business – $90/year and Agency – $145/year
Popup Builder is a Sygnoos plugin that, like the previous one, adds a WordPress framework with an editor to create and modify popups. The free version allows you to create an image-type popup, a popup to link to Facebook or a subscription popup.
Unlike the previous one, when editing the content you can add Gutenberg blocks. Personally, I find the UI quite confusing, as it mixes the plugin’s design style (very different from Gutenberg’s) with the block editor’s style. The advantage here is that you have the theme blocks at your disposal to create the content of your popup.
The premium version unlocks a lot of features in terms of activation, behavior and design options. In addition, it also includes integration with mail services, third-party forms, and WooCommerce.
Popup Maker
- Version: 1.16.14
- WordPress version: 4.9 or higher
- Tested up to: 5.9
- Plans and prices: Free, Start – $87/year, Grow – $147/year and Optimize – $247/year
Popup Maker is a plugin that, like the previous ones, adds a WordPress framework with an editor to create and modify popups. It is the most popular after OptinMonster. The free version is quite complete, since it allows you to create not only modal popups, but also banners in the header and footer, and sliding or fullscreen popups.
It includes 4 predefined designs and allows you to select different styles and the level of customization. It also allows you to specify different popup activation conditions such as clicking, waiting for a certain time or hovering over a certain element. Some of the activation options such as scrolling, leaving the page, or detecting a period of inactivity are paid options. It also integrates with contact forms and WooCommerce.
WP Popups
- Version: 2.1.4.5
- WordPress version: 3.6 or higher
- Tested up to: 5.8.3
- Plans and prices: Free, Basic – $35/year, Plus – $100/year, Pro – $200/year and Agency – $300/year
WP Popups is a popup plugin that, like most of them, adds a framework to WordPress with an editor to create and modify popups. The editor doesn’t have any Gutenberg integration, but it’s easy to work with because it shows a real-time preview of the changes you’re making.
With the free version of this plugin you can create as many popups as you want that have a modal, scrolling or fullscreen size layout. You can define where you want them to be displayed and make them take some time to appear.
If you want access to default templates, more popup activation options, animations, integration with email or form providers, you will need to have a paid version.
Conclusion
Before you buy or subscribe to implement a whole set of popups, I recommend that you design a strategy of what you really need to better convert your visitors without being too intrusive or annoying. Depending on the type of website you have, you just need your readers to subscribe to your newsletter. Or maybe you need an advanced popup system that offers discounts. Or you want your visitors to take actions depending on their behavior on your site. Once you know about your popup strategy, what you need, and the volume of visits (for those plugins in which this factor impacts the price), start looking at which plugin better fits your needs.
At Nelio we are committed to plugin developments that are fully integrated with the WordPress block editor. We would like to encourage you to try Nelio Popups (remember, it’s free!) and let us know your feedback.
Featured image by Edgar Chaparro on Unsplash.
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