Popups can be powerful tools for growing leads and sales on your WordPress site – when used correctly.
Having run our own websites for decades now, we’ve used and tested numerous popup plugins and seen firsthand what truly works.
In this guide, we’ll share our insights on the best WordPress popup plugins that have consistently delivered results. We’ve carefully selected these tools based on their effectiveness, user-friendliness, and ability to boost conversions without compromising user experience.
Our goal is to provide you with clear, actionable information that you can implement immediately. We’ll skip the fluff and focus on what really matters: helping you choose the right popup plugin to grow your business.
From customization options to targeting rules, we’ll cover the key features that set these plugins apart. By the end of this article, you’ll have a solid understanding of which tool best fits your needs.
Let’s explore these top-performing WordPress popup plugins and set you on the path to increased leads and sales.
How We Test and Review WordPress Plugins
We’ve picked the best plugins by looking at their features, ease of use, and user reviews. We’ve also made sure that all the popup plugins in this list integrate well with WordPress.
Here’s the WP101 process:
- Testing: We install each selected plugin on a test WordPress site. Then we evaluate the installation process for simplicity, performance, and compatibility with standard website themes and other plugins.
- Feature Review: We review and test its features and interface to check for ease of use, customization options, and reliability. We also check if the plugin delivers on what it promises.
- What’s Unique?: With even the best WordPress plugins, there’s no one-size-fits-all. So we’ve made sure to look for unique features to help you decide if it’s the right plugin for your website’s needs.
The goal here is to find the perfect plugin to help you added popups to your site with ease.
Why Trust WP101
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What Should You Look For in a Popup Plugin?
When it comes to WordPress, there are thousands of plugins to choose from. While this is a plus, it can also make it confusing to pick just one!
For popups, here are the essentials the plugin should have:
- Easy to set up and use, so you don’t waste a lot of time making popups
- Readymade designs that you can customize easily
- Different types of popups, like ones that float on the screen or slide in from the side
- Works with email platforms and other marketing tools
- Comes with targeting rules to show popups at the right time to the right people
- Keeps track of how well your popups are doing, so you can make them better
We’ve picked the best popup tools in this list based on these things. We’ve also considered how much they cost and how good their customer support is. Let’s get started.
Best Popup Plugins for WordPress Sites
1. The Best WordPress Popup Plugin for Stunning Templates: OptinMonster
OptinMonster is hands down the best WordPress popup plugin. We’ve used this plugin for 4 years and we’ve seen actual results in terms of growing leads and boosting sales.
It’s now our go-to popup maker.
What we love is that there are beautiful templates already created for you. To customize them, there’s drag and drop visual builder that’s so easy to use. You don’t need to be a tech expert to make popups and forms with it. You can do it without any coding or design skills.
When you sign up for OptinMonster, you get campaign types beyond just popup forms. These include welcome gates, fullscreen mats, floating bars, slide-ins, inline forms, and more. So you can choose the type that best suits your website and audience.
Inside the builder, you’ll find powerful elements like countdown timers, CTA buttons, image/videos, and more.
Next, to optimize results, you can be precise with who sees your campaign. OptinMonster lets you choose when and where your popups show up. This makes sure you’re talking to the right people at the right time.
Some of the targeting rules include by location, device, new/returning visitor, date/time, specific page, and more.
One of its most powerful features is Exit-Intent targeting functionality. It can detect when someone is about to leave your website. Then, it shows them a popup to try and get them to sign up for email or checkout with a discount or freebie.
It also connects nicely with email marketing providers like Constant Contact, AWeber, and Mailchimp. So, when people sign up through your popups, you can easily add them to your email list.
Next, OptinMonster lets you test different versions of your popups to see which ones work best. This helps you get more conversions and leads. It also comes with built-in analytics to see what’s working and what’s not.
Highlights
- Unlimited popups
- Stunning templates
- Drag and drop visual builder
- Powerful targeting rules
- Cart abandonment features
- Email marketing integrations
- Built-in analytics
- Extensive documentation
- Reliable customer support
Why I Recommend OptinMonster: With its library of professionally designed templates and user-friendly builder, OptinMonster helps you create professional-grade popups, effortlessly.
If you want to create eye-catching designs that grab the visitor’s attention, then OptinMonster is an ideal choice.
Get started with OptinMonster »
2. The Best Plugin for Advanced Targeting and Conversion Optimization: Thrive Leads
Thrive Leads is a great lead generation tool from Thrive Themes.
You can create various types of optin forms, such as popups, slide-ins, and sticky ribbons, without needing any coding skills. This user-friendly interface ensures that you can design attractive forms tailored to your website’s style.
Thrive Leads provides advanced targeting options. You can display optin popups based on user behavior, preferences, or the pages they visit. You can even use a scroll trigger to display the popup when a user scrolls a percentage of the page or reaches a specific point in the content.
This means you can show the right offer to the right audience at the perfect moment.
Next, A/B testing lets you test different versions of your popups to see which ones perform best.
Added to this, integration with email marketing services is seamless. You can connect Thrive Leads with popular email platforms like Mailchimp and AWeber, making it easy to manage your leads and send targeted email campaigns.
It’s worth noting that Thrive Leads focuses on conversion optimization. The tool provides actionable insights and reporting so you can track the performance of your optin forms and make data-driven decisions to improve your conversion rates.
Thrive Leads can be bought as a stand-alone plugin but it’s also a part of a bigger suite from Thrive Themes. Thrive Suite comes with a handful of must-have tools for your site including a page builder, quiz builder, scarcity campaigns, course creator, and more.
Highlights
- Professionally pre-designed template
- WYSIWYG Thrive Visual Editor
- Hide optin forms from subscribers
- 1-click signup
- GDPR Compliance
- A/B testing
- Targeted follow-up campaigns
- Autoresponder messages
Why I Recommend Thrive Leads: Do you need detailed targeting and conversion tracking? Then Thrive Leads is an excellent choice. Its robust targeting and powerful A/B testing are perfect for turning visitors into leads and customers.
Get started with Thrive Leads »
3. The Best Popup Tool for Social Proof: TrustPulse
TrustPulse is a powerful social proof popup tool for your WordPress website. We love it because you just need to set it up once and it will run on its own generating new leads and sales.
TrustPulse tracks activity on your site like recent sales or signups. Then it showcases this in small non-intrusive notifications to your website visitors. They appear discreetly at the corner of the screen, ensuring they don’t disrupt or annoy your visitors.
These popups have several effects on your users. First, it increases the chances of them trusting your website as they see others are actively engaging with you.
Second, it brings about FOMO – the fear of missing out. When the user sees others are signup for your newsletter, they’re more likely to do the same as they want in on the action too.
TrustPulse also lets you create static popups so you can alert visitors about ongoing sales, upcoming events, price drops, and more.
The popups are clickable too so you can add a link that will take them straight to your signup form, contact form, promotion page, checkout, or any other page you like.
There are plenty of customization options to match your website’s design and style seamlessly. You can make it look appealing and perfectly integrated into your site’s aesthetics.
You can also control when and where you want these popups to appear. You can use page-level targeting and device targeting.
TrustPulse lets you set up multiple campaigns to run at the same time too. You can have a different popup appearing on different pages.
You can also have multiple popups appearing with a timed delay. You get to set which popup campaign is prioritized.
Overall, TrustPulse lets you connect with your users and grab their attention without disrupting their user experience.
Highlights
- Track individual and group activity automatically
- Real-time activity tracking
- Smart targeting rules
- Fully customizable popups to match your brand
- Static messages with custom notification
- Integrates with Zapier to capture third-party activity
Why I Recommend TrustPulse: Unlike some other options in this list, TrustPulse focuses purely on using social proof. By displaying user activity in real time, TrustPulse makes your site seem more credible and trustworthy, which can boost conversions.
In my opinion, TrustPulse is an excellent choice for any business that wants to use authentic activity to create a sense of urgency and build trust with its audience.
4. The Best Popup Maker for Ease of Use: Bloom
Bloom from Elegant Themes is another awesome popup maker.
Bloom lets you create all sorts of email optin forms that you can easily add to your website. These include popups, fly-ins, inline forms, and widgets to encourage visitors to subscribe to your email list.
One of the key features of Bloom is its ease of use. It offers a user-friendly interface to create and customize your popups.
The tool also includes a range of pre-designed templates and styling options, making it simple to match the look and feel of your forms to your website’s design.
Next, you also get access to advanced targeting options. With this, you can display optin forms to specific segments of your audience based on factors like user behavior, location, or the content they’re viewing.
Integration with email marketing services is seamless. You can connect Bloom to popular email platforms like Mailchimp, Constant Contact, or ConvertKit, ensuring that your collected leads are automatically added to your email lists.
Added to this, Bloom gives you statistics and insights on the performance of your popups. You’ll be equipped to know what’s performing well and which campaigns you need to improve or scrap from your strategy.
Highlights
- 100+ customizable templates
- 6 display types
- Targeting and trigger rules
- Email marketing integrations
- Fully responsive
Why I Recommend Bloom: This plugin stands out due to its intuitive interface, which helps you create and manage opt-in forms with ease. It also has a wide selection of templates to help you get started.
All of this means that Bloom is an excellent choice for users who want to get an email opt-in form up and running without any technical hurdles.
5. The Best Integration with Marketing and CRM Tools: HubSpot
HubSpot Popups is a feature within the HubSpot platform designed to help websites engage with visitors and capture leads.
You can create customizable popups for your site.
One of its strengths is its integration with the broader HubSpot ecosystem, which includes a full suite of marketing, sales, and customer service tools. This means you can seamlessly collect leads through popups and manage them within HubSpot CRM and email marketing.
You can use HubSpot Popups to target specific segments of your audience with personalized messages. This helps you tailor your offers and content to the right people at the right time.
The tool offers analytics and reporting, giving you insights into how well your popups are performing. You can track conversion rates, engagement, and other important metrics to optimize your lead generation strategy.
HubSpot Popups also has A/B testing options. This allows you to experiment with different popup designs and content to determine which ones are most effective in converting visitors into leads.
There’s a free version as well as a premium version available that gives you access to advanced features.
Highlights
- Seamless HubSpot integration
- Customizable popup templates
- Advanced targeting options
- Real-time analytics
- A/B testing
- Responsive design
Why I Recommend HubSpot Popups: The seamless integration with HubSpot’s marketing and CRM suite makes this a comprehensive, all-in-one solution for managing leads. This powerful combination of a free plugin and CRM system is perfect for any business that wants to centralize its lead management and marketing efforts.
6. The Best Popup Plugin for Advanced Trigger Options: Convert Pro
Convert Pro is a user-friendly WordPress plugin that offers a range of features to create popups for your site.
It comes with a library of professionally designed templates that can be easily customized to match your website’s style and branding. Plus, all forms and popups created with ConvertPro are fully responsive, ensuring a seamless experience for users on various devices.
You can trigger popups and forms based on user behavior, such as exit intent, scroll depth, user inactivity, time on page, and more, ensuring they appear at the right moment.
It also comes with targeted display rules to target specific pages, referral sources, new/old visitors, and more.
Together, this lets you precisely target specific audience segments and display personalized messages, improving relevance and engagement.
You can connect ConvertPro with popular email marketing platforms like Mailchimp, AWeber, and others to streamline lead management. You can also run A/B tests to compare different versions of your forms and popups, optimizing your conversion rates over time.
ConvertPro provides detailed analytics and insights, helping you track performance and make data-driven decisions to improve your lead generation strategy.
Highlights
- Drag and drop editor
- Advanced trigger options
- Device-specific popups
- Mobile editor
- Ready to use templates
- Real-time analytics
Why I Recommend Convert Pro: This plugin’s flexible and sophisticated trigger options let you target a very specific audience with precise timing. This makes it a great tool for creating highly personalized campaigns that convert visitors into leads and customers.
Get started with Convert Pro »
Bonus: Create Professional Lead Magnets
Need help creating lead magnets that your users will find irresistible?
Lead magnets can make all the difference in the number of clicks your popups get. Here’s the thing: Even the best popup plugin won’t perform well if your offer isn’t compelling.
This is a crucial point that many website owners overlook.
You see, popups are just the delivery mechanism – the real magic lies in what you’re offering to your visitors. A well-designed popup might catch the eye, but it’s the value of your lead magnet that will convince someone to take action.
Think about it: if you’re interrupting a visitor’s browsing experience with a popup, you need to make it worth their while. Your lead magnet should be something your target audience truly wants or needs. It could be an insightful ebook, a helpful checklist, an exclusive video tutorial, or any other resource that provides genuine value to your potential leads.
This is where creating high-quality, professional lead magnets becomes essential. And that’s where a tool like Beacon.by comes in handy.
Here’s how it can help you:
- Easy-to-use templates: Choose from a wide range of pre-designed templates for ebooks, checklists, white papers, and more. These templates are fully customizable to match your brand.
- Drag-and-drop editor: No design skills? No problem. Beacon’s intuitive editor lets you create stunning lead magnets without any technical expertise.
- Content upgrading: Turn your existing blog posts into valuable downloadables with just a few clicks, making it easy to offer relevant lead magnets throughout your site.
- Integration with email marketing tools: Seamlessly connect your lead magnets to your email marketing software, ensuring a smooth process from popup to lead capture.
- Analytics: Track the performance of your lead magnets to understand what resonates with your audience and optimize accordingly.
By combining a top-notch WordPress popup plugin with high-quality lead magnets created through Beacon, you’ll be well-equipped to significantly boost your lead generation efforts.
Remember, the key to successful popups isn’t just in their timing or design – it’s also in the value you’re offering. With Beacon, you can ensure your lead magnets are as professional and enticing as the popups promoting them.
That’s our list of the best popup plugins to choose from for WordPress.
Which is the Best Popup Plugin for WordPress?
Choosing the best WordPress popup plugin depends on your specific needs, as every website or business has unique requirements.
Despite this, I generally recommend OptinMonster for most users. Its stunning templates and user-friendly interface make it an excellent choice for creating eye-catching popups that grab the visitor’s attention and encourage them to convert into leads and customers.
However, there’s a few other plugins that I recommend for specific use cases:
- If you need advanced targeting and conversion optimization, then Thrive Leads is my top pick for businesses that are focused on getting more conversions. This plugin’s powerful features give you a high degree of control over your campaigns, so you can show the right message to the right person, at the right time
- If you’re looking to leverage social proof effectively, then TrustPulse is an excellent choice. This social proof plugin displays user activity in real time, which makes your business seem more trustworthy and credible. It’s a great tool for increasing conversions by creating a sense of urgency and FOMO (fear of missing out).
- If you want a straightforward solution, then Bloom can streamline the pop-up creation process. I was really impressed by its user-friendly interface and the wide range of customizable pop-up templates. This makes Bloom a perfect choice for users who want to get a professional-looking form up and running with minimal effort.
What I Look For in a WordPress Popup Plugin: My Checklist
Finding the right WordPress popup plugin can feel overwhelming.
To help you out, here’s the key areas I focus on when choosing a popup plugin for my WordPress website. By following these simple pointers, you can be confident in your decision.
1. Ease of Use
For me, a top-notch popup plugin should provide a user-friendly experience, even if you’re completely new to WordPress.
The process of creating and customizing popups should be straightforward, so I look for things like a drag-and-drop editor and a variety of pre-built templates to help you get started.
2. Advanced Targeting and Trigger Options
A great popup plugin should include advanced targeting features, so you can display popups based on user behavior, location, or referral source.
Similarly, I look for flexible targeting options like exit-intent, scroll depth, and timed delays. In my experience, these features are essential for boosting engagement.
3. Customization and Design Flexibility
Customizing your popups helps you keep a consistent brand identity.
With that said, I look for powerful, flexible design tools such as the ability to customize colors, fonts, images, and animation effects.
4. Performance and Responsiveness
It’s crucial that your plugins are quick to load and mobile responsive, so they don’t hurt your website’s speed and performance.
That’s why I look for optimized code and responsive design, so I can be confident that my popups work seamlessly across smartphones, tablets, and desktop computers.
5. Seamless Integration with Marketing Tools
A good popup plugin should integrate effortlessly with popular email marketing services and CRMs. This helps you collect and manage leads more effectively and streamlines your entire workflow, which is crucial for keeping your marketing operations organized and efficient.
6. Reliable Support and Documentation
Excellent support and documentation are important for any plugin, but they’re absolutely essential for a popup plugin. When you’re trying to capture leads and convert visitors, a technical problem can cost you money.
By choosing a popup plugin with reliable support and documentation, you can minimize downtime and grow your business more easily.
FAQs on WordPress Popup Builders
Are there other popup form plugins that aren’t mentioned here?
Yes, there are. We’ve narrowed it down to the ones we think are best to not give our users choice paralysis. Other popup builder plugins include Sumo, Elementor Popups, Icegram, Popups for Divi, and Ninja Popups.
What is a lightbox popup?
A lightbox popup appears like a window or box of light on top of the existing page. It creates a semi-transparent overlay on the webpage, preventing users from interacting with the background content. This is sometimes also called a modal popup.
Can I track the performance of my popups?
Yes, most popup builder plugins come with analytics features that allow you to track the performance of your popups. You can monitor metrics such as conversion rates, click-through rates, and engagement data. Some popup builders like OptinMonster also let you integrate with Google Analytics.
Will using popups negatively affect my site’s SEO?
While popups themselves don’t directly impact SEO, intrusive popups that interfere with the user experience may affect your site’s ranking. It’s crucial to use popups strategically and ensure they don’t disrupt the user’s ability to access content.
Are there any free WordPress popup plugins?
Popup Maker, Icegram, and HubSpot have free versions of their popup plugins. They also offer premium plans.
Which is the best popup plugin for WooCommerce sites?
OptinMonster is hands down the best option for any eCommerce site. It has powerful features that are designed to recover abandoning users, increase sales, and boost conversions.
Do I need coding to make a popup in WordPress?
With most popup plugins you do not need any coding like CSS, PHP, or HTML. Some plugins make you embed the popup using shortcodes which is really simple to do, you don’t need coding knowledge for that.
How to add an optin form to my sidebar?
Use WPForms to create a sidebar optin form. It’s beginner-friendly and you can create any kind of form you need for your site.
What is the WordPress plugin for image popup?
OptinMonster lets you create image popups for your site.
That’s it. Up next, you may also want to see our other lists:
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