OptinMonster alternative for WordPress
Exit intent is a Pro feature.
Pro renews at
$870 a year.
OptinMonster’s WordPress plugin connects to a paid service: the free account is 3 campaigns and 500 impressions in total, not a month, and paid plans run from $108 for a first year of Basic to $1,470 a year for Growth. Exit intent starts on Pro, $444 for the first year and $870 after. The free alternatives that run inside WordPress are Popup Maker, free with no traffic limit (exit intent in Pro, $99 a year), and Hustle, which includes exit intent free for up to three popups. Below: what OptinMonster’s free plan and pricing really include, the alternatives side by side, a receipt that prices a year of popups at your traffic, Google’s rules for popups on phones, and Builderify’s popups, priced by use.
By the Builderify team
Is OptinMonster free?
The plugin is. The service is not.
The OptinMonster plugin on wordpress.org, with over a million active installations, is a connector. Campaigns are built and served by OptinMonster’s own service, and the plugin page says so plainly: it “is a SaaS service and requires an OptinMonster account.”
The free account it offers includes 3 campaigns and up to 500 campaign impression credits, which OptinMonster says “are yours forever.” Forever is the catch: since January 2023, free-account impressions add up over time and do not reset each month. Use them up and, by default, the account is upgraded so your campaigns keep showing.
An account, not just a plugin
You sign up with OptinMonster, build campaigns in its app, and the plugin places them on your site. Uninstall the account and the popups go with it.
500 impressions, in total
One impression is one visitor seeing one campaign. On the free account they are counted from the day you start, not per month.
Then an upgrade
Automatic upgrade is the default for free accounts. OptinMonster’s support has said the free plan asks for a credit card, and that auto-upgrade can be switched off in your account preferences.
| Page views a month | Popup on half of them | Free impressions gone in |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | 500 impressions | about 30 days |
| 5,000 | 2,500 impressions | about 6 days |
| 10,000 | 5,000 impressions | about 3 days |
| 30,000 | 15,000 impressions | about 1 day |
| 100,000 | 50,000 impressions | under a day |
A month taken as 30 days. OptinMonster’s docs list three choices at a limit for paid plans: upgrade automatically, add a block of page views, or suspend campaigns until the month resets. For free accounts they list automatic upgrade as the default and do not list suspension.
OptinMonster pricing in 2026,
first year and every year after.
New plans are billed a year at a time by default and renew automatically. The headline monthly price is an introductory one for the first year; renewals are at full price, roughly double. Each plan caps how many campaign impressions it covers a month and how many sites it runs on.
Basic
- Impressions
- 2,500/mo
- Sites
- 1
- Billed monthly
- $21/mo
Plus
- Impressions
- 10,000/mo
- Sites
- 2
- Billed monthly
- $57/mo
Pro
Exit intent starts here- Impressions
- 25,000/mo
- Sites
- 3
- Billed monthly
- $87/mo
Growth
- Impressions
- 100,000/mo
- Sites
- 5
- Billed monthly
- $147/mo
| Feature | Basic | Plus | Pro | Growth | Builderify |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Page targeting, time and scroll triggers | Starts here | Included | Included | Included | Yes |
| Mailchimp and other basic email integrations | Starts here | Included | Included | Included | No: its own lead lists |
| A/B testing | Not included | Starts here | Included | Included | No |
| Device targeting | Not included | Starts here | Included | Included | Mobile or desktop |
| Full analytics reporting | Not included | Starts here | Included | Included | Not yet |
| Exit intent | Not included | Not included | Starts here | Included | Yes, on desktop |
| Referrer targeting | Not included | Not included | Starts here | Included | Yes |
| Campaign scheduling | Not included | Not included | Starts here | Included | A date range |
| Countdown timers | Not included | Not included | Starts here | Included | Not in popups |
| No vendor badge on the popup | Not included | Not included | Starts here | Included | No badge |
| Zapier and webhooks | Not included | Not included | Starts here | Included | No |
| New vs returning visitors | Not included | Not included | Not included | Starts here | Yes |
| Geolocation targeting | Not included | Not included | Not included | Starts here | No |
| Coupon wheel campaigns | Not included | Not included | Not included | Starts here | No; a coupon code element |
| WooCommerce and Shopify rules | Not included | Not included | Not included | Starts here | No |
the plan a feature starts on, from OptinMonster’s annual pricing page. Some email services (Kit, AWeber, Brevo, Drip) are listed as Plus integrations, and HubSpot and Klaviyo as Pro.
What counts as an impression
OptinMonster: “an impression is registered anytime your visitor sees an OptinMonster campaign.” It recommends a plan with 20–30% more impressions than your site has page views, enough for a sitewide popup plus a few targeted ones. Its monthly-billing page still labels the same limits “Pageviews”.
What happens at the limit
Paid campaigns are not switched off. In OptinMonster’s words, “we will automatically upgrade you to the next tier should you exceed your impression limits,” and above Growth it moves you to a custom plan. Its docs offer suspending campaigns until the month resets instead, for paid plans.
Monthly or yearly
Monthly billing exists: Basic $21, Plus $57, Pro $87 and Growth $147 a month. OptinMonster says annual plans are 50% less than monthly ones. Every plan has a 14-day money-back guarantee.
US-dollar prices before tax, from optinmonster.com/pricing on 15 October 2026. First-year prices are OptinMonster’s “special introductory pricing”.
The best free popup plugins for WordPress,
next to OptinMonster.
The real difference is what each one counts. OptinMonster counts impressions. Popup Maker and Hustle run on your own server and count nothing: you pay for a licence, if at all. Builderify counts page loads and new signups, in credits.
| OptinMonster | Popup Maker | Hustle | Builderify | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Active installs | 1+ million | 700,000+ | 80,000+ | Not a plugin: one script tag |
| Runs on | OptinMonster’s service; account required | Your WordPress | Your WordPress | Builderify’s widget, on any site |
| Free version | 3 campaigns, 500 impressions in total | Unlimited popups, no traffic limit | 3 popups, 3 slide-ins, 3 embeds | 250 credits every month |
| Exit intent | Pro, $444 first year | Pro, $99 a year | Free | Included, on desktop |
| Scroll trigger | Basic | Pro | Free | Included |
| A/B testing | Plus and up | Not listed | Not listed | No |
| Signups go to | Your email service, by integration | Your form plugin, or a pasted email-service form | Your email service, by integration | A Builderify lead list, confirmed by email |
| Charged by | Campaign impressions | Licence per year (Pro) | Licence (Pro, via WPMU DEV) | Page loads and new leads |
| At the limit | Automatic upgrade, by default | No limit | Upgrade for more than 3 of a kind | The widget pauses until credits refill |
Active installations from wordpress.org. Popup Maker’s Pro is $99 a year for one site, $59.40 for the first year during its current launch offer; if a licence lapses, the Pro features keep working without updates or support. Hustle’s free version has the same settings as Pro; Pro removes the limit of three.
Popup Maker vs OptinMonster
They are the two most installed popup plugins on WordPress and they are built in opposite ways. Pick on where you want the popups to live and what you are willing to pay for every year.
Popup MakerInside your WordPress. Popups are posts in your database, and Popup Maker says your data stays on your server.
OptinMonsterOn OptinMonster’s servers. The plugin connects your site to campaigns you build in OptinMonster’s app.
Popup MakerNothing, until you want exit intent, scroll triggers, analytics or advanced targeting: then Pro, $99 a year for one site.
OptinMonsterImpressions. Exit intent needs Pro whatever your traffic; past 25,000 impressions a month you are on Growth.
Popup MakerNo traffic limit, ever, and the free plugin is enough for a delay or click-to-open popup with page targeting.
OptinMonsterDepth: A/B tests from Plus, revenue attribution, coupon wheels and geolocation, with integrations for most email services.
What would OptinMonster cost you?
A year of popups, at your traffic.
Put in your traffic and what you need. The receipt finds the OptinMonster plan that covers it, the Popup Maker licence, and the Builderify credits, then sets the first two years side by side, because both paid plugins price the first year lower than the rest.
From your analytics: pages viewed, not visitors.
People who leave their email in a popup.
Each runs its own popups.
A welcome offer, an exit popup, a bar…
Exit intent starts on Pro, whatever your traffic. Billed monthly instead: $1,044 a year.
Pro adds exit intent, scroll triggers, analytics and advanced targeting. First year at the current 40% launch offer, then $99 a year.
2 Starter packs for 2,000 credits: enough for the first year. Bought once; purchased credits never expire. Without a pack, the 250 free credits last about 20 days a month. Then the widget, popups included, pauses until you top up or the next month’s credits arrive.
- OptinMonster
- $1,314
- Popup Maker
- $158.40
- Builderify
- $36
You want OptinMonster’s depth in one account: coupon wheels, geolocation, revenue attribution and Shopify or WooCommerce rules, all on Growth.
Hustle’s free plugin also fits: up to three popups, exit intent included, signups sent to your email service. $0.
US-dollar prices before tax. OptinMonster impressions are taken as page views × the share that shows a popup; it suggests a plan 20–30% above your page views if you run several campaigns. Builderify uses its published rate card: 10 credits per 1,000 page loads of the widget, whether a popup shows on that page or not, 1 per new lead, 100 once for each website after the first, and 250 free credits a month. Packs are one-time, from $9 for 1,000 credits.
Will a popup hurt your Google ranking?
A cover will. A banner won’t.
Whichever tool you pick, Google’s guidance is the same. It says intrusive interstitials and dialogs “make it hard for Google and other search engines to understand your content, which may lead to poor search performance,” and its page experience checklist asks whether your pages avoid them.
Its advice is specific: instead of full-page interstitials, “use banners that take up only a small fraction of the screen,” and reuse those small containers for things like newsletter sign-up prompts. Don’t cover the whole page, and don’t send people to a separate page for their input. Legally required interstitials, such as an age gate, are exempt.
-
01
On phones, a bar, not a cover
A bottom bar or a corner card leaves the content readable. Builderify’s New Posts by Email template is exactly that: a slim bar at the bottom of the page.
-
02
Exit intent is a desktop trigger
It watches the cursor leave the window, and phones have no cursor. Use a scroll or page-view trigger there. How exit intent works.
-
03
Once per visit is plenty
Show a popup once per session, and one at a time. Rules for running several popups without stacking them.
-
04
Real deadlines only
A countdown that resets for every visitor is fake urgency, and regulators treat it that way. The countdown timer rules.
An OptinMonster alternative
priced by use, gaps listed.
Builderify’s popup builder has exit intent, scroll and page-view triggers, device, visitor and referrer targeting, and scheduling, with no plan to climb for any of them. Signups go into a lead list, are asked to confirm by email, and then start that list’s email sequence.
It is not a WordPress plugin. One script tag loads the popups along with anything else you switch on, from live chat to a cookie banner, which is the point of the fewer-plugins approach to WordPress.
Add it to WordPress
- 01 Start free, add your website and copy its script tag.
- 02 Install a code plugin such as WPCode or Code Snippets, add the tag as a snippet and set it to load in the site header.
-
03
Or, on a classic theme, paste it in Appearance › Theme File Editor › header.php just before
</head>. Block themes have no header.php and theme updates overwrite edits, so the code plugin is safer. - 04 Build a popup from a template, pick its trigger and audience, and connect a lead list.
There is no Builderify plugin to install yet. If your WordPress forms are not sending email at all, that is a separate fix: why WordPress contact forms stop sending email.
What it does
- 13 templates, including New Posts by Email, a slim bar at the bottom of the page
- 11 elements: heading, text, rich text, image, button, email form, coupon code, a no-thanks link, fine print, divider and spacer
- Triggers: a delay, scroll depth, exit intent, a number of page views within 1 to 30 days, or a click on your own link or button
- Audience: mobile or desktop, new or returning visitors, a referrer, and a page rule to include or exclude URLs
- Once per session, and a date range for each popup
- Up to 10 popups per site; if two fire at once, the second waits for the first to close
- Signups confirmed by email, then into the list’s sequence or a broadcast
- No Builderify badge on the popup
Not yet
- A/B tests on popups: Builderify’s A/B testing changes your pages, not popups
- A per-popup report of views and signups
- Direct connections to Mailchimp, Kit or Zapier: signups stay in Builderify lists, with a CSV export
- Exit intent on phones: it follows the cursor, so it fires on desktop only
- Coupon wheels, geolocation and ecommerce rules
OptinMonster upgrades you at its limit; Builderify stops. When an account’s credits run out, the widget, popups included, pauses until you buy a pack or the next month’s 250 free credits arrive. Only a cookie banner keeps showing. The receipt above says roughly when that would happen at your traffic.
Where a popup signup goes
-
Popup form
Email, plus text, phone or message fields if you add them.
-
Lead list
Saved to the list you chose, as pending.
-
Confirmation
A confirmation email goes out from your own sending domain.
-
Confirmed
Campaigns skip anyone who has not confirmed.
-
Sequence
The list’s welcome emails start, timed from confirmation.
Five emails to start with are in the welcome sequence template. Moving a list off Mailchimp’s shrunken free plan? What changed, and what it costs elsewhere.
Which OptinMonster alternative
fits your site?
You need one to three popups, exit intent included, and a free plugin that sends signups to Mailchimp or similar.
Hustle. Its free version has the same settings as Pro, exit intent and email integrations included; Pro is for a fourth popup.
You want popups inside WordPress with no traffic limit, and a delay or click trigger is enough.
Popup Maker, free. Add Pro, $99 a year for one site, when you want exit intent, scroll triggers, analytics or advanced targeting.
You test everything, sell through WooCommerce or Shopify, and want coupon wheels, geolocation and revenue attribution in one account.
OptinMonster. A/B tests start on Plus, exit intent on Pro, ecommerce rules on Growth. Budget for the renewal price, not the first-year one.
You want signups confirmed and welcomed automatically, priced by your traffic, with chat, a cookie banner or bookings from the same script tag.
Builderify. 10 credits per 1,000 page loads and 1 per new lead, from 250 free credits a month. If you need popup A/B tests or a direct Mailchimp connection today, pick one of the tools above.
OptinMonster alternatives, before you ask.
The WordPress plugin is free, but it connects to OptinMonster's paid service and needs an OptinMonster account. The free account includes 3 campaigns and up to 500 campaign impressions in total, not a month. When they run out, the account is upgraded automatically by default so campaigns keep showing.
Annual plans start at $108 for the first year of Basic (2,500 impressions a month, 1 site) and renew at $210. Plus is $324, then $570; Pro is $444, then $870; Growth is $804, then $1,470. Monthly billing costs $21 to $147 a month.
Exit intent starts on the Pro plan, whatever your traffic: $444 for the first year and $870 a year after. A/B testing starts on Plus, and new versus returning visitor targeting and geolocation on Growth.
Hustle includes exit intent in its free version, for up to three popups, three slide-ins and three embeds. Popup Maker is free with no traffic limit, but exit intent and scroll triggers need Popup Maker Pro, $99 a year for one site. Builderify includes exit intent and is priced in credits, with 250 free a month.
Popup Maker runs inside your WordPress with no traffic limit and charges only for Pro features. OptinMonster runs on its own servers, charges by campaign impressions, and goes further, with A/B tests, coupon wheels, geolocation and ecommerce rules. Pick Popup Maker for simple popups on one site, and OptinMonster if you need that depth and can budget for its renewal prices.
Sources
Read on 15 October 2026.
- OptinMonster Pricing, annual plans and FAQ
- OptinMonster Pricing, billed monthly
- OptinMonster Docs Pageview and upgrade preferences
- WordPress.org OptinMonster plugin: free account, 3 campaigns, 500 impression credits
- WordPress.org OptinMonster support reply on the free plan and credit card
- WordPress.org Popup Maker plugin: free and Pro features
- Popup Maker Pricing: Pro and Pro+
- WordPress.org Hustle plugin: free limits and features
- Google Search Central Avoid intrusive interstitials and dialogs
- Google Search Central Understanding page experience
Stop losing the visitors
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