Pricing (weighted 12%)
Bloom
$69/year option with NO access to Bloom
Don't get fooled by this one. The website is not very clear about what you're buying. Bloom is just one of many features that is not included with their intro package. Elegant Themes is primarily a website theme provider, and this price point only includes themes.
$89/year for access to Bloom and other plugins
If all you need is a popup application then Bloom will be more of a headache than it is worth. This is pretty cheap, however.
$249 One-time payment
This gives you lifetime access to everything Elegant Themes has to offer, including Bloom.
OptinMonster
$9/month for 1 domain and unlimited popups
At this price level some of the features are disabled. For instance exit-intent is disabled on this level. If that is what you need a popup for this is not the plan for you.
$19/month for more features and 3 domains
At this price point some of the features are added back in, but not all of them. You still miss out on exit-intent, and it is missing features like full-screen takeover and mobile specific popups.
$29/month for every feature and unlimited popups
This package has everything OptinMonster has to offer. Exit-intent, mobile popups, and full-screen are all enabled. You also get access to their premium customer support.
They also have an affiliate program. If you promote OptinMonster on your website they will give you a 20 percent commission on any sales made through that link.
They also offer yearly pricing for 40 percent off.
Design (weighted 12%)
Bloom
Bloom has some pretty good design options. Almost everything about the popup is editable, and Bloom also has 115 design templates to get you started.
The templates look good on their own, but they really are just to get you started. You can customize enough to make them unrecognizable.
The bars and fly-ins are nicely designed as well.
OptinMonster
OptinMonster has deep design capabilities. They have a number of different types of popup templates and they allow for the creation of custom templates. Most of their templates are very well designed too. They look friendly and eye-catching.
There are a few templates that fall short in their design. Some of the floating boxes and banners are a little plain. They aren't terrible, but it would be nice if they were more striking.
Frontend Features (weighted 12%)
Bloom
Bloom has a lot of different kinds of opt-ins. They also have quite a few different kinds of triggers for popups. You can trigger a popup when someone gets to the end of a post, after they comment, or even after a period of inactivity.
The only type of popup trigger they don't include is exit-intent, which is a shame. OptinMonster includes exit-intent in their app, albiet at a higher price point.
Bloom is loaded with features, but if you want exit-intent software this is not it.
Types of Opt-ins in Bloom
After Commenting Popups
After Content Popups
After Inactivity Popups
After Purchasing Popups
After Scrolling Popups
Below Content
Fly-In
Inline
Opt-In Widget
Opt-In to Unlock
Timed Delay Popups
OptinMonster
Since OptinMonster is so customizable, the frontend user experience is largely up to you. There is the danger of a poorly made popup, but there is also the ability to design the popup to fit your specific needs.
It allows for a simple flow to the popups, which decreases user’s frustration, and hopefully leads to more conversions.
OptinMonster also allows for different popups on different pages of your website. This lets you make your popups more personal and compelling to your customers.
They also have floating bars and optin boxes that scroll with the user. These are more polite ways to gather subscribers if you're worried about turning customers off with traditional popups.
Types of Opt-ins in OptinMonster
After-Post Popups
Exit-Intent Popups
Floating Bar
Mobile Popups
Sidebar
Slide-In
Traditional Popups
Backend Features (weighted 12%)
Bloom
Bloom is designed in a weird way. The editor only allows you to preview the popup with the preview button that displays on the screen. This is kind of nice because you get the full experience of your customer, but it is also a bit of a waste of time to not have a live view of what you're changing in the popup. Having to check the popup after every edit gets old very quickly.
Bloom is exclusively a WordPress plugin.
OptinMonster
OptinMonster is pretty user friendly in the backend. I didn't have much trouble creating a popup, but it was a little confusing to navigate the different kinds.
There are quite a number of banners and floating text boxes that you can use in OptinMonster, and because of that the editor can be hard to navigate.
OptinMonster also has a WordPress plugin that lets you install popups without messing with your website's HTML.
Reports & Statistics (weighted 12%)
Bloom
Bloom has a nice statistics page that allows you to make clear, data-driven decisions. The data is presented to you in a clear and well designed way.
They also have a good A/B testing system. It works much the same as OptinMonster's, and provides good analytics to tell you which of your popups are converting more customers.
OptinMonster
OptinMonster has A/B testing and good integration with Google Analytics. The integration is easy to set up, and it gives easy to understand and meaningful data.
In OptinMonster GA is available right from the app dashboard. OptinMonster also has a number of analytics available without going though GA.
Flexibility (weighted 12%)
Bloom
Bloom has lots of different ways to engage with customers. They offer a lot of different kind of opt-ins that allow their platform to convert as many visitors to subscribers as possible.
The customization options allow for deep flexibility. Anything you might want to do with an opt-in is in Bloom.
OptinMonster
OptinMonster is a flexible application. The different types of popups they provide give you multiple ways to engage with customers. They have deep customization options that allow you to create the kind of popup that is good for your brand, not just a cookie cutter template.
OptinMonster and Bloom are both pretty flexible.
Extensibility (weighted 12%)
Bloom
Apps that work with Bloom
AWeber
ActiveCampaign
CampaignMonitor
ConstantContact
GetResponce
HubSpot
InfusionSoft
MadMimi
MailChimp
OntraPort
SalesForce
emma
feedblitz
iContact
mailpoet
sendinblue
WordPress plugin
Bloom mainly has integrations for email marketing apps.
OptinMonster
Apps that work with OptinMonster
AWeber
ActiveCampaign
Campaign Monitor
Constant Contact
ConvertKit
Customer.io
Drip
Emma
Feedblitz
Feedburner
GetResponse
HubSpot
InfusionSoft
Mad Mimi
MailChimp
MailPoet (Wysija)
MailerLite
Marketo
Pardot
SendinBlue
TotalSend
WordPress Plugin
iContact
OptinMonster has integrations for seemingly every product under the sun.
Support (weighted 12%)
Bloom
There are customer service forums on the Elegant Themes website, but that's it. There is no email or phone support. If you want help you have to post a new topic in one of their forums.
This seems pretty ridiculous, especially considering that this is the only means of support for their entire range of products. You also have to scroll all the way to the bottom to get to their Bloom support forums.
The moderators respond to questions quickly, but this is still a web forum and not really an effective means of support.
OptinMonster
OptinMonster’s support is a bit lackluster. They have a big self-help section, but no phone line. They have support tickets you can fill out, and they have a form for basic questions as well.
That said, I got quick responses when I submitted questions to the forms. The support doesn't go the extra mile, but they are good enough for most run of the mill problems. Be careful if you are going to need help getting your popups up and running.