I’ll be honest. I love folks behind Sumo. And, sometimes there is not much wrong with the existing product. It simply means you outgrow the software. This was my case with Sumo.
Popups are only annoying if they appear at the wrong time. And, that’s why you need to personalize with better popup experience.
Ideally, you should be at this stage but not everyone can be. Some people do need popups like in ecommerce.
Anyway let’s get back to Sumo.
So, despite its strong suits like the ease of setting up and brilliant customer support, Sumo is not without flaws.
From payment-bound functionality to pesky watermarks with the lower-tier plans, many alternatives in the market can offer a more enjoyable experience.
If you’re reading this, you’re probably looking for solid alternatives to Sumo. But with so many options in the market, it can be difficult to find the right one for your business.
During my time as a Head of Growth in the Shopify ecosystem, I used various similar conversion and email capture tools. Today I’ll talk about some of my favorite tools that you can use as Sumo alternatives. But first, we’ll briefly see what Sumo has to offer.
Table of Contents
- Sumo Strengths and Weaknesses
- Poptin: For Customizable Pop-Ups
- Sleeknote: For Companies with More than 20-30K Web Visitors & Solid Business
- OptinMonster: Affordable Efficiency
Full transparency time: I may get some commission if you click on these links, but it won’t cost you anything. Also, these tools have not paid me to write this review. I use them every day, and I support some of these tools regardless.
Sumo
Sumo (formerly SumoMe) is a free widget-like app that users can install on any HTML or popular CMS-based website. It is part of the AppSumo family, including AppSumo, SendFox, and KingSumo.
To increase traffic and content engagement, sumo users can add tools like List Builder, Heat Maps, and Share from a single Sumo plugin. Besides these tools, the software also comes with Google Analytics integration, contact forms, image sharer, content analytics, and more. Ecommerce store owners can also use Sumo Shortcuts to set-and-forget effective marketing campaigns in minutes.
The software integrates with Shopify and all major email marketing platforms, including MailChimp, Campaign Monitor, and Klaviyo. Installing Sumo is simple across HTML, WordPress, Shopify, Squarespace, Tumblr, Blogger/Blogspot, Weebly, and other platforms, and app tools are simple to use thanks to a one-click, drag-and-drop approach.
Sumo’s Strengths
- Sumo integrates with prominent email marketing tools like Aweber, MailChimp, etc.
- The software has an easy-to-understand user interface.
- Sumo gives you the option to create effective email capture forms for free.
- The initial setup and personalization are easy.
- It allows users to customize pop-ups easily.
- The Sumo team offers reliable customer support with email, help desk, FAQs, forums, and chats.
- Users can also access live online training sessions, webinars, documentation, and videos to train themselves using Sumo.
- Besides the free package, there’s also a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Sumo’s Weaknesses
- The free package is watermarked. Removing the watermark requires a premium subscription.
- Deploying multiple tools at once with Sumo can take a toll on the site’s performance.
- New users and beginners face a steep learning curve when starting with Sumo.
- Stats are only available for 30 days in the free version.
- Sumo branding can’t be removed with the free version.
Sumo Alternatives
While Sumo is a popular tool for e-commerce sites and online businesses, multiple similar software solutions are available on the market. This section will look at my picks for the best Sumo alternative- Poptin, Sleeknote, and OptinMonster.
Best Sumo Alternatives#1 – Poptin: For Customizable Pop-Ups
Full disclosure: My popups are also from Poptin.
Poptin is a website visitor conversion tool that focuses on subscriber and customer conversions. The software offers a variety of pop-ups, such as Lightbox, social, mobile, countdown, movies, surveys, and more. With Poptin, you can also add full-screen overlays and bars to the top and bottom of your site.
You can also use Poptin to create different kinds of forms, including contact, email, yes/no, call to action, and other advanced forms that are completely customizable.
To expand your reach, you can utilize a variety of triggers and targets, use autoresponder features to send new subscribers a thank-you message, or use the built-in analytics tools to track insights and performance results.
Poptin offers a wide range of integrations, including eCommerce platforms such as Shopify, BigCommerce, Wix, Magento, etc.
If you want to know more about Poptin, consider checking out my in-depth Poptin review. I share my take on the marketing tool there.
Features
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Pros
- Poptin helps you build stunning pop-ups with 40+ highly customizable templates.
- The software has a clean and user-friendly interface.
- Users can use Poptin’s Free plan without any credit card information required.
- The Poptin support team offers very reliable support services to users.
Cons
- Poptin’s free package has limited functionalities, which only suffice for small, new businesses.
- The software takes some time to get used to, especially for beginners and newcomers.
- Poptin only offers pop-ups but no email and SMS marketing features.
Poptin may not offer the feature, but if you’re looking for a reliable SMS marketing tool, consider checking out my Postscript review!
Pricing
Poptin offers four different monthly plans that are subject to a 20% discount if you opt for an annual subscription.
- The free package offers unlimited pop-ups but is limited to 1,000 visitors per month and one domain. The plan also comes with autoresponder sub-accounts for user management and Chat & Email support.
- The Basic plan starts at $25 per month. This package adds to the features of the free plan with 10,000 visitors/month, 1,000 autoresponders, and the option to remove watermarks.
- The Pro plan starts at $59 per month and supports 50,000 visitors/month, 5,000 autoresponders, and four domains.
- The Agency plan starts from $119 per month and includes all features of the preceding plans, alongside 150,000 visitors/month, unlimited domains, 15,000 autoresponders, and premium support.
Interested in knowing more about other useful marketing tools? Take a look at my full Poptin review here!
Best For
Poptin is great for online marketers, digital agencies, portals, bloggers, and eCommerce companies aiming to generate more leads and sales, reduce cart abandonment, raise subscription numbers, or increase visitor engagement.
Best Sumo Alternatives#2 – Sleeknote: For Companies with More than 20-30K Web Visitors & Solid Business
Sleeknote is a conversion rate optimization software designed by marketers for marketers. It provides pop-ups, forms, widgets, floating bars, and gamification to help convert website visitors into email subscribers. With this tool, managing your email collecting campaigns for each visitor, no matter where they are in their journey, is simple.
Sleeknote is designed especially for medium, big, or enterprise e-commerce stores, and SaaS firms. The conversion tool helps expand your email list and converts targeted visitors into email leads.
Using Sleeknote, you can turn buttons, links, or pictures into a two-step opt-in form to build high-converting content upgrades.
Moreover, with Sleeknote’s Multi-step feature, you can enrich your prospect list without losing your conversions. For instance, you can ask for your visitor’s contact details in the first step form while asking for additional details to cater to their needs in the second.
With this conversion tool, you can also ask visitors to segment themselves when opting in, so they only receive relevant campaigns.
Sleeknote can also link with many prominent email marketing software providers, allowing you to add new email subscribers to your list automatically.
Features
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Pros
- Sleeknote lets you easily design stunning pop-ups with more than 100 templates.
- The Drag & drop elements and mobile-only editor boost ease of use.
- Sleeknote offers advanced targeting and unlimited campaigns with every subscription plan.
- Unlike most competitors, this conversion tool also offers email marketing features.
- Sleeknote comes with real-time personalization & analytics.
- The software easily integrates with Drip, HubSpot, MailChimp, ActiveCampaign, Klaviyo, Agillic, etc.
- All Sleeknote subscription plans come with a 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee.
Cons
- Sleeknote subscriptions are more expensive compared to the alternatives.
- The pricing model charges increasingly for increasing thresholds of visitors or sessions.
- The free trial period is limited to 7 days.
Pricing
Sleeknote offers five levels of subscription plans based on the number of visitors/page views:
- The Lite plan starts from $62/month ($49/mo with an annual subscription). This plan supports 25,000 visitors per month, unlimited domains and campaigns, gamification, one custom-made campaign, and unlimited support via phone, chat, and email.
- The Basic plan starts from $74 per month ($59/mo billed annually). This plan supports 50,000 visitors per month and every feature from the Lite plan.
- The Plus plan starts at $143 per month ($114/mo with an annual subscription), supporting 125,000 visitors/month and three custom-made campaigns.
- The Pro plan starts from $282 per month ($225/mo billed annually). This package offers support for 300,000 visitors per month, a dedicated success manager, and all other features of the preceding plan.
- The Premium package starts from $462 per month ($369/mo with an annual subscription). Other than including all features of the preceding plans, the Premium plan supports up to 500,000 visitors per month.
Best For
Sleeknote is a marketing tool created by marketers for marketers. Though any online business can use it, the software primarily targets medium, large, and enterprise e-commerce companies and SaaS businesses.
Best Sumo Alternatives#3 – OptinMonster: Affordable Efficiency
OptinMonster is a cloud-based lead generation and marketing automation solution. The software allows users to create and A/B test custom opt-in forms, manage forms, deploy prospecting tools, analyze campaigns, and more.
Users can create various forms with OptinMonster, such as slide-ins, floating bars, inline forms, scroll boxes, lightbox pop-ups, slide-ins, etc.
OptinMonster also allows users to personalize form branding, including messages, graphics, and colors, using the drag-and-drop form builder without coding knowledge.
OptinMonster’s built-in page-level targeting lets users segment their email list based on subscribers’ interests and website interactions, allowing them to display unique campaigns or offers based on location and behavior.
Users can change the form content, title, style, layout, and opt-in trigger, allowing them to A/B test several form versions to determine the one with the highest conversion rate.
OptinMonster also automatically duplicates the existing opt-in form that users are testing for modifications, then serves each variant to visitors at random, tracking impressions, conversions, and landing pages for each option.
Exit-Intent® Technology is also included in the software, which records visitor activity, detects when they are about to leave the site, and sends up tailored advertising when they are ready to leave.
Campaigns come with chat invites from support agents, special offers or discounts, incentivized email list signups, and more. OptinMonster is specially designed to enhance conversions by reducing cart abandonment.
Features
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Pros
- OptinMonster allows you to add visual and sound effects to pop-ups with MonsterEffects™.
- It gives you access to conversion experts who can design one campaign for you, free of charge.
- OptinMonster University offers resources like guides, videos, ebooks, and expert courses in every subscription plan.
- The software also offers a 14-day unconditional money-back guarantee if you are dissatisfied.
- OptinMonster also supports integration with any software.
Cons
- With all the features and resources OptinMonster offers, getting used to the software takes some time.
- Other than if you’re on the Pro plan and above, OptinMonster doesn’t let you remove watermarks.
- The Lower-tier subscriptions for OptinMonster come with limited integrations. To unlock all integrations, users require a Premium subscription.
Pricing
OptinMonster currently has four packages, but you can also contact them for a custom plan if your business is enterprise-grade.
- The Basic plan starts from $14 monthly ($9/month with an annual subscription). Besides educational resources through OptinMonster university, the plan also offers unlimited campaigns, page-level targeting, basic integrations, simple reporting, etc. This plan supports a single site and has a monthly limit of 2,500 page views.
- Starting at $30/month (or $19/month if billed annually), the Plus plan includes all basic plan features, full reporting, integrated A/B testing, and additional popup effects and sounds. The limit is 10,000 page views per month and two sites for this plan.
- The Pro plan starts from $47/month ($29/month with an annual subscription), and it adds to the features of the preceding package with Exit Intent® Technology, mobile-specific campaigns, campaign scheduling, cart, and form abandonment pop-ups, custom eCommerce forms, sub-accounts, and many more features. You get three sites and 25,000 page views per month with this plan.
- Priced at $80/month ($49/month if billed annually), the Growth plan includes all Pro plan features, besides unlocking all possible features of OptinMonster. This plan supports real-time campaigns, OnSite retargeting, custom integrations with all software, behavior automation, etc. The Growth plan supports up to 5 sites and is limited to 100,000 page views per month.
Best For
Allowing you to convert visitors into subscribers at an affordable price, OptinMonster is ideal for bloggers, eCommerce websites, marketing agencies, and other businesses operating on a tight budget.
Final Thoughts
Most of the Sumo alternatives I discussed have the same basic function, but each has its unique feature. Poptin provides effortless customization, and OptinMonster gives you the best value for money, while Sleeknote may be a better option for email marketers.
You’ll be able to engage visitors with customizable pop-ups, forms, and other ways to collect their emails using these tools. But while all of them offer similar features, the interface, pricing, and feature limitations, such as the number of visitors per month, the number of supported sites, and so on, are the main differences between the software.
If you’re looking for the cheapest alternative to Sumo, OptinMonster is a safe bet. But if yours is a sizable business with thousands of website visitors, give Sleeknote a try. Best suited for marketers, Sleeknote is a great tool to help you create pop-ups without requiring any coding knowledge. On the other hand, if you’re looking for the best popup customization capabilities, Poptin is worth a try.
These tools provide solid features and helpful functionalities, but none of them are perfect. To pick the best tool to serve your needs, I recommend identifying the problems you want to solve, factoring in your budget, and selecting the software that aligns most with your business goals.
Disclaimer: Please note that I may receive affiliate compensation for some of the links above at no cost if you decide to purchase a paid plan. However, these are the best tools I have tested for launching a website/store. You can read my affiliate disclosure in my privacy policy & affiliate disclosure.