Optimonk Vs Privy

We took a deep dive and compared Optimonk to Privy to help figure out which popup software is right for you.

Bottom line:

For a best in class popup solution go with Optimonk.

If you’re looking for an all in one solution that does popups, email and sms, without having to link together three different platforms then Privy is worth considering.

Why trust us?

The agency arm of this blog, chatblender.com has used both tools on client sites. So we’re in the unique position of having tested both on live sites. As client’s look to incorporate new functionality, we do comprehensive research to help client’s pick the best tools for their tech stack.

We’ve researched (signed up for) 27+ popup. builders and tested 11 popup on live sites.

Overview

Best software tool for popups: Optimonk

Best all in one platform (popups, email and SMS): Privy

The short and sweet version is:

If you’re looking for a best in class solution that has varied popup types,makes it easy to build, test and iterate, choose Optimonk.

If you want an all in one platform (and you can’t undervalue what that brings) choose Privy.

Privy does allow you to just select “Privy Convert” aka Privy’s Popup builder. However it’s not as advanced and pricing is worse than Optimonk.

On the other hand Privy’s full platform is worth consideration if you don’t want to integrate several best-in-class tools that come at a higher price point.

“Popup” Types offered by Optimonk and Privy

Winner: Optimonk

Optimonk has more useful types of popups than Privy.  Though Privy does offer full, standalone landing pages and Optimonk doesn’t.

Popup

Most popups you see are modals, which means they block out the rest of the browser while they load. Typically they appear in the center of the screen.

Slide-in (side message)

This can also be called “flyins”, “slide-ins” etc.  They come into view on the side of the screen.

A slide-in is a type of popup that comes into view on the side of the screen. They are often used to provide more information about a product or service, and can be very effective at getting attention. They are also less intrusive than a standard modal popup, which can be a plus.

Sticky Bar

A sticky bar is a toolbar that remains at the top or bottom of the screen as you scroll, making it always visible. This type of popup is ideal for announcements, such as a new sale or promotion, or for prompting users to take specific actions, such as signing up for a newsletter or downloading an app.

Gamification

Gamified popups use game mechanics to encourage users to interact with them. They can be very effective at getting attention and typically have high conversion rates.

There are 3 main types of gamified poupups:

• Spin the wheel
• This type of popup displays a spinning wheel that contains a variety of different prizes. When users click on it, they are given a chance to win one of these prizes. Course you can control how likely they are to win a certain prize :)
• Contest
• Quiz

Full screen

Full screen popups, sometimes called a “welcome mat” take over the whole screen and becuase of that they get attention. But they’re also super intrusive.

Embedded

Embedded “popups” aren’t really popups. Consider them a static section that serves the same purpose as a popup and is much less intrusive.

Typically you’ll see lead capture embeds on blog pages, headers, footers or other pages that are NOT product pages.

Survey

Worth mentioning here because Optimonk categorizes surveys as a type of popup. If you want to collect information beyond just an email or SMS capture from your audience… Say a CSAT (customer satisfaction) survey, Optimonk has that option.

Landing Page

Only Privy offers the ability to build a stand alone landing page. Though I’d be reticent to use it. Customizations are basic and not on par with any best-in-class solution.

If you’re in a pinch and really need a landing page then you might consider using this functionality from Privy.

Templates & Template Marketplace

Optimonk’s templates and marketplace are a lot better than Privy’s.

Variety

Winner: Optimonk

Quality

Winner: Optimonk

Ease of use (selecting templates in marketplace)

Winner: Optimonk

Optimonk Templates and Template Marketplace

Optimonk at the time of this writing has 681 templates to choose from. The marketplace is easy to use and gives you sorting mechanisms to find the right template.

Sort by:

• Goal (build your list, collect feedback, stop cart abandonment)
• Message type (popup, embedded, sticky bar)
• Industry (ecomm, saas, publisher)

We’re fans of the new “theme” feature. Pick a theme so all your popups, sticky bars, embeds etc… are cohesive. With the color picker, you can preview all theme templates in your brands colors.

Privy Templates and Template Marketplace

The template marketplace only offers sorting by message type.

Like Optimonk, Privy offers a good number of templates around 200 if we had to venture a guess.

But almost all the designs, no sugar coating, suck.

They look like something from the early days of the web, or from some direct marketer that purposely made the designs look terrible.

There are a handful of popup designs that are decent. But for the most part if you want an upgraded design you’ll need to do it yourself.

This is a fairly big deterrent to getting up and running quickly with minimal resources.

Examples:

Advanced Triggers & Targeting

Triggers winner: Optimonk

Targeting Winner

Overall : Optimonk

For local Business: Privy

Side by side comparison of Triggers and Targeting

Triggers

Optimonk’s triggers are more advanced than Privy’s. Not only do you have more options, but you have finer grained control. Whereas with Privy you can only set triggers for predefined intervals (ie 25% scroll or 3 seconds, 6 seconds etc…) you can set whatever interval you want with Optimonk.

Optimonk triggers

• Time
• Scroll
• Click
• Time on site
• Time on page
• Exit intent
• Inactivity
• Javascipt

Privy triggers

• Time on page
• Scroll depth
• Exit intent

Targeting

Winner: Optimonk (slight edge)

Both Optimonk and Privy have detailed targeting – listed below. Optimonk does almost everything that Privy does. However Privy does have better location targeting that is better for local (physical) businesses.

That said many of the Privy triggers are for use cases that I can’t really see as useful. Such as initial traffic type. Why would I care if you came from mobile first or desktop first? I might care what device you’re on NOW.

Both platforms let you layer conditions.

Privy has an edge letting you pick between and/or conditions. Optimonk let’s you pick OR conditions only from the “when to show” section above. All Targeting below is just AND. Something I find annoying and leads to creating multiple popups when you might have only needed one.

Overall because of the useful targeting options, ease of the interface, and ability to layer between the “when” to show and triggers, Optimonk has a slight edge over Privy for targeting.

Optimonk Targeting Conditions

• Pre-Defined Segments
• Cart-Value & Product Targeting
• By device
• Frequency
• Engagement with past campaigns
• Source
• Country
• Subscribers or non-subscribers
• Current page or url
• Visited Url
• Number of pages visited
• Cart rules
• Custom Variable

Optimonk Only

• Ad block detection
• Block IP Address
• Klayvio Segment
• Cookie Segmentation

Privy targeting conditions

• Country
• Custom Field
• Cart Product Ids
• Cart Value
• Cart Variant IDs
• Order Count
• Display Seen
• Display signed up
• Current Url
• Device Category
• Initial Traffic Type
• Initial Url
• Page views All time
• Page Views this sessions
• Reffering Url
• Sessions Count
• Traffic Type
• User Identity

Privy only:

• Language
• Postal code
• Region
• Day of week

Campaign Analytics

Winner: It’s a wash

Optimonk and Privy offer basic analytics within the app.

You get:

• Impressions
• Conversion Rate (signups)
• Conversions (abs number)
• Assisted Revenue (orders, privy gives you Order rate too)
• Impression Value (Optimonk only)

Basically the same. And both allow you to connect to Google analytics so you can analyze performance in more depth.

A/B Testing

Winner : It’s a wash

Has a/b testing of variations within one campaign. The limitation here is that you have to use same base design for your popup.

To test different templates or designs you have the option of campaign vs campaign a/b testing. Though this feature is in beta, it’s pretty easy to setup.

Privy

Offers a/b testing within campaigns, because you can pick entirely different popup designs, and choose different display conditions they opted not to do a campaign vs campaign a/b test.

Because it’s all in one tab and there’s no additional setup needed I may give a tiny edge to Privy.

Integrations

Winner:

Overall: It’s a wash

For Ecommerce: Optimonk

At the time of this writing Optimonk has 56 integrations and Privy has 48.

Both Privy and Optimonk have Zapier integrations so you can build your own “integrations” if you need.

Optimonk has a negligible amount more. Because of that this one is hard to call.

When evaluating software, for me it’s more important that the right integrations are there, and how deep those meaningful integrations are.

Most Shopify brands our agency works with use Klayvio for email marketing. And Optimonk has a very deep Klayvio integration, even allowing you to use Klayvio segments in your targeting.

Last thing to note is that Privy was acquired by Attentive (SMS marketing platform)

Editor

Overall Winner: Optimonk

Optimonk’s editor is by far more flexible and allows more customization of popups than Privy.

Privy’s editor is easy to use but imprecise.

Video Comparison of each Popup editor – side by side

We’ll take you through each feature of both editors. Keep scrolling down for comparison tables and analysis in text.

Ease of Editing & Design

Winner: Optimonk

Optimonk Editor

When editing in Optimonk you can create columns and place headlines, forms, or any element inside the column. This makes aligning items much easier.

Optimonk also lets you nest items so that they can be moved and resized as a group whereas privy doesn’t.

Because you can nest items, Optimonk gives you a hierarchical view of all your elements that makes it easier to select the intended element.

Unfortunately you can’t drag and drop elements from the hierarchical view. And sometimes dragging an element within the editor’s UI into the right section can be harder than it should be.

For advanced customizations Optimonk has a css editor and JS editor. So you can basically do whatever you want.

Though it’s a minor bonus, Optimonk overlays the popup on your website so you can get a feel for what it will actually look like once it’s live.

Privy Editor

Privy however doesn’t have columns, you have to manually place each item in the spot that you want. There’s no snapping feature to help alignment, only a basic function to align all the way right, left, center etc…

Unlike Optimonk, with Privy you can place elements in any position just by dragging and dropping. It’s great because it’s easy. But without additional alignment tools, snapping etc… it’s hard to get a great looking design, often elements are slightly off and look a bit sloppy.

Access to elements in the editor

Winner: Optimonk

Privy

With Privy’s popup editor you don’t have access to all elements within the interface. For example, Privy has a timer bar and also can display coupons if you select that sort of popup at the outset. But you can’t add those elements into any other popup from the editor.

You can only add in the following:

• text
• image
• button
• sharing icons
• html

Optimonk

With Optimonk you have access to virtually all elements. The only exception is with a “spin the wheel” element, you have to select that type of campaign. Otherwise you have can add the following:

• text
• image
• floating image
• button
• Input (Name, email, phone, any custom field)
• Radio buttons
• Checkboxes
• Dropdowns
• Feedback (stars, smiles, Thumbs up/down)
• Text areas
• Survey response options
• Blocks (with columns)
• Spacers
• Dividers
• Countdown timers
• Discount codes
• Product displays (up to 3 displayed)
• Send to Messenger (Recart, ManyChat, ShopMessage)
• Social Sharing Icons
• Video
• Html

Mobile editing

Optimonk let’s you edit the mobile design separately from the desktop design should you want to make tweaks or changes to the design.

Privy does NOT let you edit the mobile design. Whatever the desktop design, you get a scaled down version that you can’t edit, for mobile.

Support

Winner: it’s a wash

Both Optimomk and Privy have quick fast and helpful support.
Because we use Optimonk we can confidently say that they typically answer within a few minutes.  But we weren’t sure about Privy, so we decided to test.

We sent both a message at the same time.

• Optimonk answered in 3 minutes 11 seconds.
• Privy answered in 4 minutes 27 seconds.

The response times for both are quite good and in both cases, we found support to be helpful and knowledgeable.

Pricing

Winner

For popups alone: Optimonk

Comparing apples to apples, Optimonk is cheaper than Privy.
With Optimonk’s Grow Package you get 100,000 pageviews per month for $79 vs. Privy’s popup only offering called “convert” starts at $70 per month for 50,000 pageviews.

However, things get a bit more complicated if you consider signing up for Privy’s popup, email and sms package.  

Optimonk

Privy

Alternatives

• OptinMonster
• WisePops
• Picreel
• Sleeknote
• Popupsmart
• Poptin
• Seguno
• Justuno
• Powr.io
• Adoric
• Wheelio
• WooHoo
• One
• Rivo
• Bounce Exchange

Bottom line

Optimonk is a better popup builder, with more flexible, better designed and varied options that comes with a lower price tag than Privy.

If you want best in class popups go with Optimonk.

However Privy is worth considering if you want their poup plus, email and sms package.  The Pricing for those plans are much more comparable to email/sms platform pricing and a decent popup builder gets thrown in for free.