OptinMonster vs Hello Bar
OptinMonster and Hello Bar both help capture leads with pop-ups and email forms, but which one’s better? Read our comparison to find out.
OptinMonster vs Hello Bar: An Overview
Campaign Types
Templates
Lightbox Popups
Countdown Timers
Floating Bars
Slide-in Scroll Boxes
Embedded Forms
Fullscreen Welcome Mats
Gamified Spin-to-Win
Full Drag-and-Drop Editor
Multi-Step Campaigns
Targeting and Display Rules
Exit-Intent®
Device Targeting
Geo-Location Targeting
Browser Targeting
Time-Based Triggers
Scroll-Depth Targeting
AdBlock Detection
Campaign Sequences
InactivitySensor™
Analytics & Testing
Real-Time Analytics
Split Testing
Revenue Attribution
Support
Live Chat Support
Knowledge Base
24/7 AI Chat Support
Done-For-You Setup
Pricing
Starting Price
Free Tier
OptinMonster
700+
$7/month
Hello Bar
100+
$29/month
See How OptinMonster and Hello Bar Compare
Both tools promise to help you capture more leads, but the details matter when you’re choosing software that needs to grow your business. We’ve focused our comparison on the six areas that make the biggest difference in your day-to-day success and long-term results.
Want to skip ahead? Click any link below to jump to your preferred section:
OptinMonster vs Hello Bar: Ease of Use
If you’re new to creating email capture forms and pop-ups, you’re probably wondering which tool won’t drive you crazy. Most business owners don’t have time to understand needlessly complicated software when they need results fast.
That’s why our focus has always been on simplicity and ease of use.
We built OptinMonster so you can create and launch smart capture in minutes without needing a developer.
Getting started is simple. WordPress users can just install our plugin like any other WordPress plugin, while other platforms use our global embed code to automatically display all published campaigns.
Don’t worry if this is your first time, as we have detailed step-by-step guides for different website builders and content management systems.
Once connected, you can start creating your campaigns right away. Our campaign creation process is broken down into a few simple steps:
- Choose from 700+ ready-made templates or start blank.
- Customize your campaign using our drag-and-drop editor.
- Choose when, where, and to whom the campaign appears using our display rules.
- Link to 50+ email service providers, or use Monster Leads to store your leads if you don’t have one yet.
- Review your campaign setup with our pre-launch checklist.
- Launch your campaign!
Our campaign builder puts all your settings in tabs on one page, from creating the campaign and setting up display rules to connecting your integrations and launching. No jumping back and forth between screens.
But here’s what really helps beginners get started: our Playbooks feature. These ready-made campaigns come with proven copy, design, and settings already done. Instead of guessing what might work, you can launch professional campaigns in minutes.
We also give you a Done-For-You Campaign Setup bonus, where our experts create one free campaign for you. Even if you’ve never done email marketing, you’ll have a professionally made campaign created by conversion specialists.
Once you have a few campaigns running, we make managing them simple. You can:
- Organize campaigns into folders.
- Copy successful campaigns with just a few clicks.
- Pause campaigns instantly to make changes.
- See how all campaigns are performing from one dashboard.
Hello Bar has similar setup options. WordPress users install their plugin and paste a code snippet, while other platforms use their tracking code directly.
Hello Bar’s campaign creation starts by picking your goal first, like collecting emails or getting phone calls. Then you choose your campaign type and start with their campaign builder. Their interface uses a sidebar menu for settings next to a live preview of your campaign.
The builder includes the basics you need: switching templates, changing targeting rules, adjusting the design, and setting up what happens after someone converts. You can connect to your email service provider right from the campaign settings.
However, Hello Bar feels less guided. Their interface is clean with simple language, but there’s no pre-launch checklist to catch problems before visitors see them.
Hello Bar also doesn’t offer ready-made campaigns like our Playbooks. You’ll create everything from scratch: copy, design choices, and targeting rules. For beginners, this means more guesswork about what actually converts.
🏆 Winner: OptinMonster
While Hello Bar works fine for basic campaigns, we designed OptinMonster specifically to eliminate the frustration that keeps business owners from succeeding with lead capture.
- ✓ Tab-based campaign builder to keep you on track with clear steps (while Hello Bar’s sidebar approach can leave you wondering what to do next)
- ✓ Ready-made Playbooks to give you proven campaigns with settings already done (not available in Hello Bar)
- ✓ Done-For-You Campaign Setup bonus, where experts create your first campaign free (not available in Hello Bar)
- ✓ Campaign folders simplify managing multiple campaigns as your business grows
OptinMonster vs Hello Bar: Campaign Customization
When building campaigns to capture leads, design flexibility can make the difference between a campaign that works and one that gets ignored. It’s important to be able to create campaigns that match your brand and test different ideas to get better results.
Both OptinMonster and Hello Bar let you customize campaigns, but OptinMonster’s approach gives you much more creative control and design options to create campaigns that really stand out.
Firstly, OptinMonster gives you 700+ professionally designed templates for all campaign types, so you have lots of options no matter what kind of campaign you want to create.
We’ve broken these templates down into 6 campaign types:
- Lightbox Popups are overlays on your content that are perfect for getting visitors’ attention.
- Fullscreen Welcome Mats that take over the entire screen when visitors arrive. They are particularly excellent for making big announcements.
- Slide-in Scroll Boxes slide in smoothly from the corner as visitors read your content.
- Floating Bars stick to the top or bottom of your page and stay visible as visitors scroll.
- Inline Optins embed directly into your content, such as blog posts for more contextually related offers.
- Coupon Wheel Optins gamify the signup process with a spinning wheel that visitors can interact with.
Our drag-and-drop builder lets you create beautiful optin forms without any coding skills or technical knowledge. You can change every part of your campaign by dragging and dropping new elements where you want them and changing their settings.
Here’s what you can do in our drag-and-drop builder:
- Add text, images, and videos to make your campaigns more engaging.
- Create Yes/No forms to pre-qualify visitors before showing them your main offer.
- Build multiple views within a single campaign to create complex funnels that guide visitors through different steps based on their choices.
- Add countdown timers to create urgency and encourage visitors to take action before time runs out.
- Include coupon codes using our click-to-copy button to offer discounts and incentives that increase conversion rates.
- Use AI Smart Optimizations to automatically improve your campaign copy and headlines for better performance.
- Save favorite blocks you’ve customized so you can quickly reuse them in future campaigns without rebuilding from scratch.
- Apply MonsterEffects™ to add eye-catching animations when your campaigns appear, making them more noticeable without being annoying.
- Insert Smart Tags to personalize campaigns with visitor information like their location or referral source for more relevant messaging.
- Preview and edit your campaign on mobile to make sure it looks perfect and works properly on all devices before going live.
Hello Bar offers 100+ templates that give you good starting points for basic campaigns. You can switch between different templates within their builder if you want to try a different look, which gives you some flexibility during the design process.
Most of the campaign types Hello Bar offers are also available in OptinMonster, except the alert bar and push notification.
However, their alert bars are simply expandable message bars that show more content when clicked, and you can use our slide-in campaign type to achieve the same effect with many more customization options.
For the push notification feature, you can use our partner brand’s PushEngage. This gives you a dedicated tool built specifically for browser notifications with more advanced features than Hello Bar’s.
They also don’t have gamified spin-to-win campaigns, which is important if you want to make lead capture more interactive and fun for visitors, as these typically see higher engagement rates than standard forms.
🎉 PortraitFlip went from nearly zero email subscribers to converting over 3% of mobile visitors in just months. They used our spin-to-win discount wheel with a countdown timer to create urgency and split-testing to optimize their results.
Read the case study to learn their secrets.
Hello Bar’s editor uses sidebar settings with real-time preview, but they don’t offer full drag-and-drop editing like we do. You can only drag form fields, meaning less creative control since you’re stuck with template designs for other elements.
The biggest limitation is that Hello Bar doesn’t allow multiple views within campaigns. Therefore, you’re restricted to basic linear campaigns instead of sophisticated, multi-step experiences that feel more personalized.
🏆 Winner: OptinMonster
OptinMonster gives you creative freedom and advanced features needed to build campaigns that truly convert.
- ✓ Full drag-and-drop editor for every campaign element, while Hello Bar only allows dragging form fields
- ✓ 700+ templates (including gamified coupon wheel campaigns for interactive experiences)
- ✓ Multiple views within single campaigns for complex funnels (Hello Bar can’t do this)
- ✓ Time-saving features like AI Smart Optimizations and reusable favorite blocks
OptinMonster vs Hello Bar: Targeting & Display Rules
Smart targeting and display rules let you show different campaigns to different visitors based on their behavior, location, device, and dozens of other factors. This approach can easily double or triple your conversion rates compared to showing the same generic campaign to everyone.
Both OptinMonster and Hello Bar offer targeting capabilities, but our approach gives you much more sophisticated control over when and how your campaigns appear to visitors.
Our visual rule builder shows you exactly what conditions you’re creating with plain-English descriptions. You can see at a glance whether your targeting makes sense and easily adjust rules without starting over.
When you’re just starting out, you can begin with these essential rules, available to all users:
- Time delay triggers – Show campaigns after visitors stay for X seconds.
- Distance scrolled triggers – Show campaigns after visitors scroll X% down.
- Number of pages viewed – Target visitors who’ve looked at multiple pages.
- URL path – Show campaigns only on certain pages to match offers.
🎉 Paint Your Life converted 28.57% of visitors using OptinMonster’s page-level targeting. They showed Christmas-themed campaigns only to visitors on their Christmas Gifts page and wedding-themed campaigns to visitors looking at anniversary gifts.
From there, you can add behavioral targeting that responds to how visitors actually interact with your site, such as:
- Inactivity Sensor™ – Catch visitors when they stop reading.
- Exit-Intent® Technology – Show campaigns right when visitors are about to leave.
- Device targeting – Show different campaigns to phones versus computers.
- Browser targeting – Show different campaigns based on which browser people use.
- MonsterLinks™ triggers – Show campaigns when visitors click certain buttons.
- Referral URL targeting – Show different campaigns based on how visitors found your site, like from Facebook or Google.
- JavaScript variables – Use information from your website to create custom targeting rules.
- Cookie targeting – Show campaigns based on what visitors did on previous visits to your site.
For the most advanced targeting scenarios, you can use these sophisticated options:
- Geo-location targeting – Show different campaigns based on where visitors live in the world.
- New vs returning visitors – Show welcome campaigns to first-time visitors and different offers to people who’ve been to your site before.
- AdBlock detection – Show different campaigns to people who block ads versus those who don’t.
- MonsterChains® – Show follow-up campaigns based on what visitors did with your previous campaigns.
- Cart value targeting – Show campaigns based on how much visitors have in their shopping cart.
- Product page targeting – Show specific campaigns on individual product pages to match what visitors want to buy.
If you want to combine rules to create more specific targeting, you can do that, too.
Just choose whether visitors need to match all your rules or just one of them. Our interface shows you clearly when to use each option:
- Use ‘ANY ONE’ when you want to show campaigns to visitors who match at least one of your rules.
- Use ‘ALL’ when you want to show campaigns only to visitors who match every single rule you set.
You can also save these rulesets for future use, so you don’t have to rebuild the same targeting conditions when creating new campaigns.
Hello Bar also offers targeting and display rules, but they lack several advanced options. Their system covers the essential targeting needs, such as:
- Geo-location targeting – Target by country, state, or city
- Device targeting – Different campaigns for mobile, tablet, or desktop
- Visitor behavior – Target new versus returning visitors
- Page targeting – Show campaigns on specific URLs or pages with certain keywords
- Scroll and time triggers – Display after scrolling or time spent on the page
- Exit intent – Display when visitors are about to leave
- Click triggers – Show campaigns when visitors click specific elements
- Custom events – Trigger campaigns using custom JavaScript code for advanced setups
Hello Bar lets you combine rules using all or any logic, just like OptinMonster.
However, as mentioned earlier, they don’t offer some advanced features we provide. For instance, they don’t have inactivity detection to catch distracted visitors, and they can’t create sequential campaigns that respond to previous campaign interactions.
Also, if you want cart-based rules like showing campaigns based on cart value or specific products, Hello Bar requires custom JavaScript code as it does not have built-in eCommerce targeting.
🏆 Winner: OptinMonster
While Hello Bar provides solid basic targeting options, OptinMonster’s targeting system is designed for businesses that want maximum control and sophisticated visitor experiences.
- ✓ More behavioral triggers including Inactivity Sensor™ and advanced Exit-Intent® that Hello Bar doesn’t offer
- ✓ MonsterChains® for sequential campaigns that create personalized visitor journeys
- ✓ Built-in cart value and eCommerce targeting, while Hello Bar requires custom JavaScript coding
- ✓ Visual rule builder with smart guidance to prevent impossible combinations that waste your time
OptinMonster vs Hello Bar: Analytics & Testing
Getting clear data about your campaign performance is important for improving your results over time. You need to know which campaigns are working, which ones aren’t, and what changes will increase conversions.
Our dashboard analytics shows you the most important numbers for each campaign right away:
- Impressions – How many people saw your campaign
- Conversions – Total number of people who signed up or took action
- Conversion rate – The percentage that shows how well your campaign works
- Top campaigns – Which campaigns perform best
- Top pages – Which pages have the best conversion rates
This gives you an instant snapshot of what’s working and what needs attention. You can filter all data by date range to see performance over specific periods, and our dashboard shows a rolling 30-day view so you always have current performance data.
For deeper analysis, you can click into individual campaign reports to see detailed breakdowns of their conversion rates, impressions, and top pages over time.
Not all campaigns are about lead generation, as some are designed to drive sales directly. That’s why Revenue Attribution is so important. This feature shows you exactly how much money each campaign has made from actual sales, not just email signups or clicks.
Need more insights? We integrate directly with Google Analytics so you can run advanced reports and see how your OptinMonster campaigns fit into your overall website performance.
Once you have clear data on how your campaigns are performing, the next step is optimizing them for even better results. Our A/B split testing makes it easy to improve your campaigns.
We suggest testing one thing at a time (like changing your headline or button color) so you can clearly see what made the difference. That said, you can compare completely different campaign designs if you want to test bigger changes.
When you create a split test, we randomly show visitors either your original campaign or one of your test versions. Our split test reports show visitors, conversions, and conversion rate for each version, with conversion rate being the most important number for choosing a winner.
Before OptinMonster, the conversion rate on the Stays.net blog was 1%. Using OptinMonster, we improved it to 6%. We were constantly improving by A/B testing and trying different types of popups. As a result, the conversion rate on the blog is now around 10%. Today, we are able to grow our sales 10% a month with the leads generated by OptinMonster popups.
Hello Bar provides basic analytics through its dashboard, which shows campaign views, emails collected, clicks, and other goal-based metrics. You can filter data by date range and export reports to CSV files.
Unfortunately, Hello Bar doesn’t offer native revenue tracking like we do, so you won’t get clear data about how much money your campaigns actually generate.
As for A/B testing, Hello Bar limits what you can test to mainly content, colors, and timing. They specify that changing other elements no longer makes it a true A/B test, which restricts your testing options compared to our more flexible approach.
🏆 Winner: OptinMonster
Hello Bar covers basic analytics needs, but OptinMonster provides the complete tracking and testing tools needed to maximize your campaign performance:
- ✓ Revenue Attribution tracking shows exactly how much money each campaign makes you (not available in Hello Bar)
- ✓ More flexible A/B testing that lets you test any part of your campaign, not just content, colors, and timing
- ✓ Direct Google Analytics connection for advanced reports and deeper insights
OptinMonster vs Hello Bar: Customer Support
When you’re working on important business campaigns, reliable support can make the difference between solving a problem quickly and losing hours of productivity. You need help that’s available when you need it and actually solves your problems.
Our support system is designed around getting you answers quickly so you can keep your campaigns running smoothly. We offer several ways to get help:
- Live chat support is available Monday through Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM ET
- Archie AI Chatbot works 24/7 to answer common questions instantly
- Email ticket support lets you send us detailed questions
- In-app support button gives you help while you’re building campaigns
- Our knowledge base has hundreds of step-by-step articles, videos, and troubleshooting guides.
Other than that, we give you tons of learning resources to help you succeed:
- The OptinMonster University has guides and courses that teach you how to get better conversions and more leads.
- The Inner Circle Facebook Group connects you with thousands of other OptinMonster users who share tips, ask questions, and celebrate their wins.
- Join our weekly live webinars for training and ask questions directly to our experts.
- Check out our blog, where we share conversion optimization strategies, industry tips, and campaign ideas you can use right away.
Also, we offer a free Done-For-You Campaign Setup in all subscriptions ($297 value). With this, our experts will create one free campaign for you, so you get a professionally made campaign even if you’re just starting out.
Hello Bar also gives you support options to help with your campaigns, but they offer fewer resources overall.
- Live chat support is available from Monday through Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM PT.
- Email ticket support lets you send questions and get answers from their support team.
- Help articles are available to help you with basic setup and common questions.
- Read their blog posts to get tips about conversions and using their platform.
But Hello Bar doesn’t have some of the extra support features we give you. They don’t have a chatbot that works 24/7 for instant answers when their team isn’t available. They also don’t create a free campaign for you to help you get started, such as our Done-For-You Campaign Setup.
🏆 Winner: OptinMonster
OptinMonster gives you a complete support system designed to help you succeed at every level:
- ✓ Multiple support options including live chat, email tickets, in-app help, and weekly webinars
- ✓ 24/7 AI chatbot for instant answers anytime, while Hello Bar only offers support during business hours
- ✓ Done-For-You Campaign Setup, where our experts create your first campaign free (worth $297)
OptinMonster vs Hello Bar: Value for Money
When you buy lead capture software, you want to make sure you’re getting good value for your money. The right tool should bring in more customers at a positive ROI, making it a smart investment for growing your business.
OptinMonster’s pricing is based on campaign views, which means you only pay when someone actually sees your campaign, not for every person who visits your website pages.
Here’s what we offer at different price levels:
- Basic ($7/month): 1 website, 2,500 campaign views/month, unlimited campaigns, 700+ templates, basic targeting features, and email integrations
- Plus ($19/month): 2 websites, 10,000 views/month, everything in Basic plus A/B testing, device targeting, InactivitySensor™, and Yes/No forms
- Pro ($29/month): 3 websites, 25,000 views/month, everything in Plus plus Exit-Intent® Technology, countdown timers, and revenue tracking
- Growth ($49/month): 5 websites, 100,000 views/month, all features including advanced targeting rules, spin-to-win wheels, and eCommerce targeting
🎉 Plus subscribers can use our Yes/No forms like Social Media Examiner, who added 250,000 subscribers after discovering that two-step optins got them “monstrous improvements” compared to regular forms.
We don’t have a free subscription, but our 14-day money-back guarantee lets you try everything risk-free and see real results before you commit.
On the other hand, Hello Bar offers a free plan to get started, which scales based on popup views:
- Free: Unlimited popups and subscribers, 5,000 popup views per month, basic features only
- Growth ($29/month yearly): 50,000 popup views/month, unlimited A/B tests, better support, 3 user accounts
- Premium ($49/month yearly): 150,000 popup views/month, premium support, unlimited user accounts
- Elite ($99/month yearly): 500,000 popup views/month, all features included
To demonstrate the value of both platforms, let’s compare similar-priced subscriptions:
When you compare our Growth plan with Hello Bar’s Premium plan (both $49/month), Hello Bar gives you 150,000 views while we give you 100,000 views.
Yes, you get fewer views with OptinMonster, but you also get:
- Spin-to-win campaigns that Hello Bar doesn’t offer at all
- Advanced eCommerce targeting that lets you show campaigns based on cart value and purchase history
- Revenue tracking so you can see exactly how much money each campaign makes you (something Hello Bar can’t do)
Plus, every OptinMonster subscription includes VIP Done-For-You Campaign Setup (valued at $297), where our conversion experts create a professional campaign for you, and access to OptinMonster University (valued at $1,997).
When you factor in these elements, OptinMonster gives you much more capability to create campaigns that actually work.
🏆 Winner: OptinMonster
When you compare what you actually get for your money, OptinMonster delivers more value:
✓ Advanced campaign features like spin-to-win wheels, Revenue Attribution, and eCommerce targeting that Hello Bar simply doesn’t offer
✓ OptinMonster’s Done-For-You Campaign Setup ($297 value) and OptinMonster University ($1,997 value) are included with every plan
✓ 14-day money-back guarantee to try OptinMonster without risk
Why Choose OptinMonster Over Hello Bar
OptinMonster gives you everything you need to create professional lead capture campaigns that actually convert visitors into customers. While Hello Bar covers the basics, we’ve built advanced features that help serious businesses grow faster.
Get More Conversions with Smart Campaign Features
- Spin-to-win coupon wheels make lead capture fun and interactive (Hello Bar doesn’t offer gamified campaigns)
- Multi-view campaigns let you create sophisticated funnels that guide visitors through multiple steps
- 700+ professional templates give you proven designs for every campaign type and industry
- AI Smart Optimizations automatically improve your headlines and copy for better performance
Target the Right Visitors at the Perfect Moment
- Advanced behavioral triggers like InactivitySensor™ catch distracted visitors before they leave
- MonsterChains® creates personalized visitor journeys with sequential campaigns that respond to previous actions
- Built-in eCommerce targeting shows campaigns based on cart value and purchase history without custom coding
- Visual rule builder with plain-English descriptions to easily combine multiple display conditions
Track What Actually Matters to Your Business
- Revenue Attribution shows exactly how much money each campaign makes you (not available in Hello Bar)
- Flexible A/B testing lets you test any campaign element, not just content and colors
- Google Analytics integration connects your campaign data with your overall website performance
- Real-time dashboard gives you instant insights into what’s working and what needs attention
Try OptinMonster risk-free with our 14-day money-back guarantee and see the difference for yourself.
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In only 7 months, we added more than 95,654 names to our email list using OptinMonster’s Exit Intent™ technology. We strongly recommend it!
I hate popups, so I was hesitant to try one on my site. But the results from OptinMonster exit-intent popup speak for themselves. I doubled my subscription rate immediately without annoying my users. I haven’t had a single complaint. My only regret is that I didn’t start using OptinMonster sooner. I can only imagine how many subscribers I could have added to my email list! If you have a blog, then I highly recommend you start using OptinMonster. I’ve researched them all, and it’s the best in market.
Exit-intent popups have doubled my email opt-in rate. When done right, you can see an instant 12% lift on driving sales. I highly recommend that you use OptinMonster for growing your email list and sales.
