When it comes to growing your email list with WordPress, there are two stand-out list building tools currently available: Thrive Leads and OptinMonster. But the question is, which one should you consider using?

Whether you’re starting a new blog or finally thinking about growing your email list for your current blog or business, the best way to make your life easier is to use some kind of lead generation list building tool.

But before we dive into comparing two of the most popular tools in the industry, let’s first talk about why building an email list is so important.

With Google forever changing its algorithm rules, and with social media now a pay-to-play platform, email list building has never been more crucial for any business model.

That said, building just any old email list won’t do you or your business any favors. You need to build a high-quality and engaging email list, right?

What would you prefer to have?

A list of 10,000 zombies that never take action or engage with your emails or 1,000 highly targeted subscribers who are ready, willing and totally able to do business with you?

I think I already know what your answer would be. The zombies, right?

Just kidding.

Anyhow, when it comes to generating leads through your WordPress website, or your blog, there’s an abundance of tools, apps, services available these days.

Choosing the right tools for the job can be a bit of a challenge; I know this. So, in this post, we’re going to be glancing over two compelling list building tools on the planet; they are, of course, Thrive Leads (Affiliate link) and OptinMonster (Affiliate link).

The best of the best, of the best!

These two are among the most popular and most powerful opt-in form builders and list building plugins/tools available on the market.

Both of these plugins are loaded with all the features you would ever need to build a powerful email list for your blog or business. But which one stands out as being the champion of all list building tools?

In this comparison post, we’re going to be looking at the following important criteria’s:

• Key differences.
• Key features.
• Features comparison.
• Built-in marketing tools and metrics.
• Ease-of-use.
• Pricing, and a bunch of other stuff…

Hopefully, by the time you’ve finished reading this post, you’ll be in a better position to decide which of these two tools will be best suited for you and your business’s needs.

Let’s go!

Thrive Leads VS OptinMonster: Key differences

Let’s first look at some of the key differences between these two list building and form builder tools.

#1. The most popular by far is?

OptinMonster has been around for a little longer than most of its rival tools, making it one of the most favorable and popular opt-in form builder and lead generation tool currently being used.

At the time of revising this post, OptinMonster is serving over 700,000 businesses and marketers worldwide, including some of the industries, top influencers, i.e., Chris Brogan, Neil Patel, and Joost De Valk.

Thrive Leads, on the other hand, taking in mind that the tool is still relatively new in comparison, even though it’s been around for several years now, already has over 100,000 users, and growing very fast.

#2. WordPress, and some

One of the other significant key differences between these two tools is that OptinMonster is not just available for WordPress. It’s also available to use on many other popular website building platforms. As long as the website runs on HTML, it will work.

This means OptinMonster can cater for a wider audience.

Compatibility platforms include:

1. Drupal
2. Magento
3. Joomla
4. Shopify
5. Blogger
6. Weebly
7. Squarespace
8. Tumblr
9. And much more… Click here for the full rundown.

Thrive Leads, on the other hand, is only available for self-hosted WordPress users.

Key Features of both tools

OK, so let’s dive deeper and compare the built-in multi-tools and features of both Thrive Leads and OptinMonster.

#1. Drag-and-drop form builder, templates, and design elements

Now, having a built-in form builder that’s easy to use, even for complete newbies, is what really makes both these tools stand-out from the rest of the pack.

Gone are the days of embedding silly and complex codes into your website pages just to get your signup form working.

Both Thrive Leads and OptinMonster offer a simple point, click, drag and drop form builder, complete with ready-made templates for you to use or customize and drop straight into your site.

This essentially means less time wasted and more time spent on generating leads.

#2. Thrive Leads Form Builder

From my own experience with experimenting with both of these tools, I would go as far as to say that Thrive Leads form builder gives you just that little bit more flexibility than OptinMonster’s form builder! Again, that’s my own opinion purely based on how I’ve used both of these tools on my websites.

With Thrive Leads, you get a ton of options and elements to choose from right out of the box.

You also have the ability to move, add, remove, resize, change literally everything you see in your forms, regardless of whether you’re creating a form from scratch or editing one of the built-in pre-designed form templates.

The form builder in Thrive Leads uses the same beautiful UI technology found in the Thrive Architect plugin.

#3. OptinMonster Form Builder

Optin-Monster also has a fantastic form builder with some great templates to choose from; however, I feel like there aren’t as many options or elements to choose from for building your forms from scratch.

That being said, the canvas is still compelling for creating custom forms. It does require you to have some basic knowledge of HTML and CSS, however.

#4. API & HTML Integration with all email marketing service platforms

Both Thrive Leads, and OptinMonster offers seamless API and HTML integration with all major email marketing service platforms.

These include Aweber, MailChimp, InfusionSoft and SendInBlue.

Click here to learn how to integrate MailChimp with Thrive Leads if you are using Thrive Leads.

This is a massive plus point in my opinion, and more likely than not, both these tools will work regardless of who you use to serve your email marketing emails.

Full features comparison

When it comes to built-in tools and features, both these plugins pull huge punches. Let’s take a look at them below.

#1. Thrive Leads

• List building/Opt-in form builder plugin for WordPress hosted websites.
• One time payment
• Drag ‘n’ drop form builder.
• Pop-up forms.
• In-line (Content) forms.
• Top of header forms.
• Sidebar forms.
• Blank canvas forms.
• Scroll mat forms.
• Slide-in forms.
• Mobile responsive forms.
• Triggered forms.
• Advanced Animations.
• Exit-intent feature.
• Page-level targeting.
• Ready-to-use templates.
• List Element.
• Tracking analytics.
• A-B Testing engine.
• Conversion reports.
• Lead source reports.
• Content marketing reports.
• Alternative content for subscribers only.
• No landing pages (Although available through Thrive Architect)

#2. OptinMonster

• List building/Opt-in form builder plugin for WordPress & HTML websites.
• Annual billing
• Drag ‘n’ drop form builder.
• Pop-up forms.
• In-line (Content) forms.
• Top of header forms.
• Sidebar forms.
• Blank canvas forms.
• Scroll mat forms.
• Slide-in forms.
• Mobile responsive forms.
• Triggered forms.
• Monster effects
• Exit-intent feature.
• Page-level targeting.
• Ready-to-use templates.
• List Element.
• Tracking analytics.
• A-B Testing engine.
• Conversion reports.
• Smart subscriber recognition.
• No landing pages.
• No lead source reports.
• No content marketing reports.

As you can see from the list above, there’s very little difference between these tools as far as features go, making it very tough to decide which tool to use for your business.

So far, we’re in the middle of the road for both these tools. However, I should mention this now; not all the features outlined above are available with all the OptinMonster plans. I’ll talk more about that later on.

Thrive Themes are always adding new features to their list building plugin, making Thrive Leads one of the most exciting opt-in form building tools to own. You never know what new and exciting features they’re going to announce next!

Conversion tracking, optimization, and marketing tools

I’m a complete sucker when it comes to graphs and charts. Really I am; I love spending time studying data, as sad as that might sound. And so no list building plugin would be complete without these essential analytical features.

Both Thrive Leads and OptinMonster offer some compelling and useful conversion optimization metrics of their own.

Thrive Leads have a full suite of built-in A-B testing reports, conversion reports, lead referral reports, lead tracking reports, content marketing reports, and more.

OptinMonster also offers conversion reports and content marketing reports.

Pricing and payment structure

Now here’s where things get very interesting.

OptinMonster has an annual billing structure, whereas, with Thrive Leads, you only pay a one-time fee to use their product.

Here are your options:

1. With Thrive Leads, you can pay $67 for single-site use.
2. $97 for 5 licenses.
3. $147 15 licenses.
4. Or, $19 per month for 25 licenses, and full access to not only Thrive Leads but all the plugins and tools available in the Thrive Themes Membership package, including Thrive Landing Pages, themes, and Thrive Architect.

It’s worth noting that regardless of the plan you choose with Thrive Themes, you get full access to all of the features inside of Thrive Leads.

Check out my full review of Thrive Themes Membership here.

1. With Opt-in Monster, on the other hand, you can pay $49 per year for a single-site use, and with limited access to features.
2. $99 per year to use on up to 3 websites, with access to everything from the basic plan, plus some additional features.
3. $199 per year to use on unlimited sites, with access to all features.

Pros & Cons

OK, so far, so good, right?

Now let’s take a quick look at a list of the pros and cons of both of these tools.

OptinMonster

PROS

• Easy to integrate into WordPress website using a dedicated plugin for API authentication.
• Available for all website platforms built on HTML, not just WordPress.
• Easy-to-use intuitive drag-and-drop opt-in form builder with templates.
• Huge list of features and built-in conversion optimization tools.
• Conversion reports.
• A-B testing.
• Documentation, reference materials, and tutorials.
• 100% 14-day money-back guarantee.

CONS

• Not the most affordable solution. Basic plan at $49 only gives you access to limited features.
• Limited elements available in form builder.
• Ready-made forms, not 100% editable.
• Canvas form builder requires some knowledge of coding, HTML and CSS.

Thrive Leads

PROS

• Affordable one-time payment gives you full access to plugin features across all plans.
• Thrive Membership / Developer Plan available for web designers.
• Easy to integrate into WordPress website using a dedicated plugin.
• Easy-to-use intuitive drag-and-drop opt-in form builder with a full suite of basic and advanced elements.
• Fully editable and customizable ready-made templates.
• Huge list of features and built-in conversion optimization tools.
• Full conversion analysis, reports, and metrics.
• Full A-B testing engine (Test form designs, triggers, form types and offers)
• Documentation, reference materials, and tutorials.
• Member’s support forum and tutorials.
• Knowledgebase.
• Free plugin updates.

CONS

• Only available for WordPress self-hosted sites.
• User interface although attractive can be a little overwhelming for new users.

The final verdict

I appreciate the value of both of these tools. They both boast a ton of awesome features, useful benefits, and complete ease-of-use.

It’s easy to see why they’re both industry leaders. However, if I had to pick one to use in my business, it would be Thrive Leads. I do use Thrive Leads.

Why Thrive Leads?

Firstly, the price structure I think is hugely appealing if you’re thinking of buying Thrive Leads.

If you have more than one website or blog that you want to build an email list on, then Thrive Leads at just $97 one-time payment for five licenses is pretty much a no brainer.

Secondly, it’s so simple to install, configure, and start using. And not to mention it’s incredibly powerful. It’s the complete works.

Again, Thrive Leads hasn’t been around as long as OptinMonster, yet it’s already proving to be a force to be reckoned with. 100K users can’t be wrong.

The built-in conversion tools, reporting, and A-B split testing tools are a clear winner for me. In addition, Thrive Leads is constantly evolving into a better tool/plugin.

So, Shane and Co have done wonders with this plugin, things can only get better, right?

Please don’t think I’m biased towards Thrive Leads because there is nothing wrong with OptinMonster. It’s a fantastic tool, in fact, with a lot more users than Thrive Leads.

I’ll now leave you to decide which tool would be best suited for your needs and goals. Enjoy.

Check out this post to learn how I’m using Thrive Leads to grow my email list.