Thrive Leads Vs OptinMonster: A Non-Biased Comparison Based On Real World Use

UPDATE: This comparison between Thrive Leads and OptinMonster was originally written in 2019. Much has changed since then. Here in 2024, much has changed. Below, we will start with my original comparison. Then, we’ll get into what has changed.

When it comes to list building with Wordpress, there are a lot of options out there. But, two of the heavy hitters are Thrive Leads (from Thrive Themes) and OptinMonster.

There are some distinct differences between the tools. But, often when you go to find comparisons, you’ll see them swayed one way or the other. For instance, both companies have their own comparison pages. As you would expect, however, each one is biased toward their own tool.

How do the tools compare during real-world use? Which is the better option for a particular situation? What are they like to use on a day-to-day basis?

Plugin or Not A Plugin?

Let me be clear. While both of these options are very popular with bloggers using Wordpress, there are quite distinct differences between the tools and how they function.

Thrive Leads is a Wordpress plug-in and OptinMonster is not. OptinMonster has a plug-in to assist with integration and on-site targeting, however the core of the product is a SAAS (software as a service). So, you will pay annually to use OptinMonster and you will be logging into your account to manage your opt-in forms.

Which is better?

The real strength of the OptinMonster approach is that it can be used on any kind of site – not just Wordpress. Also, since OptinMonster is developed in it’s own environment and not reliant on Wordpress, it has flexibility that a Wordpress plug-in wouldn’t have (we’ll get to that in a moment).

How I Am Evaluating These Solutions

When you start evaluating list building tools, you’re going to find a lot of the same features between them. So, it is no surprise that there is a lot of feature overlap between Thrive Leads and OptinMonster.

I would like to ignore the obvious for the sake of this comparison. So, I’m not going to use a point-by-point comparison here. I’m not going to reiterate the same things you could easily find by simply looking at their features.

Instead, I want to focus only on the differences. I want to look at them from the perspective of real-world use of both solutions. And I’d like to provide some guidance for what to buy in your particular situation.

Both solutions are robust. You honestly can’t go wrong with either one of them. But, that’s not all that helpful, is it? 😉 So, I’m going to look at this from the point of view of a true comparison from the standpoint of a person interested in purchasing one of them.

Let’s roll…

How Thrive Leads Is Better Than OptinMonster

Thrive Leads has a cluttered interface (we’ll get to that in a minute), but one thing I always love about Thrive Themes tools is the power you have – and the fact that they know conversions very well.

Both solutions offer a variety of pre-designed templates you can use for all form types. However, Thrive Leads definitely gets the nod for ease of customization.

At the core, you are using Thrive Architect to edit opt-in forms in Thrive Leads. And simple put, Thrive Architect is the bee’s knees. It is simply awesome.

The full power of Thrive Architect makes doing pretty much anything you want with any opt-in form incredibly easy. There are no limits… and no hand-coding.

You can easily customize ANY aspect of a Thrive Leads form because of the power of Thrive Architect. Your only limit is your imagination.

With OptinMonster, editing forms requires using their less powerful interface. Editing isn’t truly WYSIWYG because you have to edit content separately from the actual content. You also can’t drag-and-drop and do whatever you want with the forms. If you want full flexibility, you have to use their Canvas template. However, that means you have to hand-code your own form. Yay. :-/

You’re also more limited on the kinds of blocks you can put into the form – and the flexibility with which you can move blocks around.

You’ve got the basics with OptinMonster, but it certainly isn’t as flexible as Thrive.

Another way that Thrive Leads is better than OptinMonster is when it comes to split-testing. Both solutions have split-testing, but Thrive Leads is just more robust.

• You can automatically pick the winner, allowing you to set up the test and forget it.
• You can test different TYPES of opt-in forms, not just forms of the same type.

Thrive Leads is a very powerful solution. The fact that they packed so much power into a Wordpress plug-in is quite impressive.

How OptinMonster Is Better Than Thrive Leads

OK, let’s flip this on it’s head. There are definitely ways that OptinMonster outpaces Thrive Leads.

First off, we must mention the interface. While the editing interface of Thrive is better (by a long shot) because of Thrive Architect, the actual Thrive Leads screen is overwhelming and confusing.

On the other hand, OptinMonster really has a gorgeous and simple interface. In short, OptinMonster just looks more professional. More polished.

OptinMonster also has some targeting options that Leads does not. For instance:

• Targeting based on referral source
• Targeting based on UTM parameters
• Targeting based on page visit history
• Targeting based on custom cookies

OptinMonster has more targeting capability… and a much prettier interface to manage it.

Most of the targeting options of Thrive Leads are tied to Wordpress – which makes sense given that it is a plug-in. But, the independent nature of OptinMonster allows it a lot of power to be a much more robust solution for serving targeted forms based on visitor behavior, external traffic sources, etc. You can set up some pretty cool onsite retargeting with OptinMonster and you can’t really touch that kind of thing with Thrive Leads.

One thing I should note about those robust targeting options is that you’re going to need a beefier subscription plan (at least the PRO account) to get those things. At that point, price becomes a real point of differentiation here. We’ll get to that in a moment.

Lastly, the SAAS nature of OptinMonster means that it plays nicely with external software using API. It could end up being a more integrated part of your overall marketing stack than Thrive Leads.

For instance, OptinMonster provides a webhook on every form. This will allow you to trigger external software. For instance, if you were a user of Deadline Funnel, you could start an evergreen countdown timer for one particular user and trigger it based on the submission of an opt-in form.

What I Don’t Like About Thrive Leads

I have been using Thrive Leads for awhile now. But, nothing is perfect.

I think the interface of Thrive Leads (the actual interface, not the Architect editor) is confusing and overwhelming. It becomes a long, unwieldy list of buttons, shortcodes and yuckiness.

I don’t like that it is difficult to manage a bunch of forms with Thrive Leads. For instance, being able to easily clone an opt-in form to a different lead group would be a major time-saver. It seems like such a basic feature, yet it isn’t there.

The 2-step opt-in forms with Thrive Leads are tedious to use. You are given a shortcode to use and you end up needing to use that in place of a link. On the front-end, there’s a little delay while that shortcode is rendered. Overall, I find 2-step opt-in forms more difficult to use.

With OptinMonster, they call this MonsterLinks and it is just a simply URL link you can easily use in place of the normal one. Very simple.

What I Don’t Like About OptinMonster

The form editor in OptinMonster is pretty good, however once you’re used to the flexibility of Thrive Architect, OptinMonster feels constrained. You can’t just drag elements around and take full control.

Also, editing any element requires a separate editing pane. Simple text editing means you have to click the element, then edit it separately. Overall, the editing experience with Thrive is superior.

For a long time, the only analytics provided by OptinMonster required Google Analytics. Good news is that they more recently upgraded their system to provide some basic conversion analytics built into the app. However, those analytics are only on a per-form basis. With Thrive Leads, I can view conversion statistics globally for the whole site at once. The OM dashboard will show conversion rate – this is true. But, in Leads, you’ve got full graphic trend history of conversions across the whole site, broken down by form.

Price. A BIG Point of Difference. (2024 Updated)

So far, you’ve been reading my original comparison from 2019. But, then it comes to pricing. Some things have changed.

Originally, Thrive Leads was definitely the better deal. You could get the entire Thrive Suite (which includes Leads) for just $228/year. It was a great deal. But, that no longer is true.

Today, the same company owns both products. That company is Awesome Motive. Awesome Motive acquired Thrive Themes and changed quite a lot about the culture of the company. One of which is that they radically increased the pricing of Thrive Themes to the point where it is no longer an obvious choice.

At this time, Thrive Leads will run $99/year for one site and it is part of their “Convert” package.

Typical with Awesome Motive, they engage in that tricky pricing. So, reality is you’ll pay $99/year for just the first year and then $199/year thereafter. So, you’re paying $199/year to run Thrive Leads on one single website. Frankly, that’s ridiculous for an optin plugin.

OptinMonster isn’t any better. They limit your sites and your page views. Once again, pay attention to the scratched-out annual pricing because that’s the real price.

So, while it used to be that Thrive Themes was clearly the better investment, today it is less clear.

Today, I still think Thrive Themes would be the better investment between these two, however the truth is…. I would buy neither of them. They’re both highly overpriced.

My Current Thoughts On Thrive Themes Vs OptinMonster

So, here we are in 2024. About 5 years after my original comparison. And my thoughts are…

Don’t buy either one of these tools.

Look, in terms of software, both tools are good. And overall, I think Thrive Leads may still hold the advantage when it comes to bang for your buck.

But, the differentiation is definitely less now. In fact, both products are now owned and run by the same company. Same marketing gimmicks and same BS.

It is made worse by what Awesome Motive did to Thrive Themes upon takeover. The culture of Awesome Motive was so radically different from that of Shane’s Thrive Themes that it came as an assault on existing customers.

Major price increases. Content lock-out. And watching a company like Thrive Themes that always stayed true and clear with their marketing now engage in the shady misleading pricing with asterisks…

No, I no longer recommend Thrive Themes. They’ve gone into the Awesome Motive “family” of products and I don’t recommend any of them.

So sadly, I end this comparison with a negative update 5 years later. I wouldn’t suggest either one of these tools to anybody.

My optin forms are done using Fluent Forms. I’ve built some with Kadence Blocks. There’s just no need for a big, fancy overpriced optin form plugin. Save your money.