Mediocre tool with some outdated UX ideas. Their cancel flow is pure confirmshaming and it’s almost comical.
OptinMonster, your offboarding process causes second-hand embarrassment.
Response from OptinMonsterDec 9, 2025
Thanks for keeping it real with us. We definitely appreciate the honest feedback, even when it stings a little! 😅
We certainly don't want to be the source of second-hand embarrassment. Our goal with the offboarding process is usually just to make sure users know exactly what features or data they might be losing access to, but it sounds like we might have tipped the scale a little too far into "confirmshaming" territory in your experience. That is definitely not the vibe we want to give off.
We are actively working on modernizing our UX and UI, so I am going to pass your specific comments about the cancel flow directly to our product team. We want the experience to be top-notch from hello to goodbye.
Thanks again for giving us a try and for the constructive criticism.
GA
gavinlucas22
Auto-upgrades and predatory clauses in terms
OptinMonster product is actually pretty good.
However, they engage in subscription traps and auto-upgrades, which are predatory and unfair.
I checked the box to stop serving banners if I went over my allotted pageviews. It was explicit, and I checked it to prevent being charged more.
When the renewal came, I was charged more than twice the previous year. This lifted money from my account needed to pay essential bills and caused significant distress.
Hidden in OptinMonster's terms is a clause that you will be auto-upgraded if you exceed views. In my case, apparently this overrides my explicit choice to not upgrade as checked in my dashboard.
Overall, an OK product, but it has disappointing predatory practices and lame customer service. Not for me going forward.
Response from OptinMonsterFeb 17, 2025
Hi Gavin,
Thanks so much for taking the time to share your feedback. 😀
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on OptinMonster. We really appreciate your feedback and are glad to hear that you found our product to be useful!
I understand that your recent subscription renewal experience was not as seamless as we'd like it to have been, and apologize for any distress this may have caused. It looks like there was some confusion about the transaction, as it was an annual renewal and not an upgrade.
The renewal amount differed from your previous transaction because it was based on your chosen plan, while the previous charge covered the difference when you upgraded from one plan to another last year. That said, I'm glad to see our team was able to assist with a refund to try and remedy the issue as quickly as possible. 😀
Your input is invaluable, as it helps us identify areas where we can improve our services. If you decide to give OptinMonster another chance, we'd be more than happy to assist you in finding the best plan suited to your needs and ensuring a better experience.
Thank you again for your valuable feedback, and we wish you all the best!
CU
customer
They will auto-renew you for WAY more than you think
Unbelievably bad customer service. Bought a one-year contract, had no idea that it was going to automatically renew. It automatically renewed for a LOT more money than I paid for the first year. I have gotten ALMOST ZERO leads, and even less good ones. When I asked for a PARTIAL refund, once I saw that this renewed for ALMOST $1,000, they replied that I missed my 14-day window and it was non-negotiable. I will be filing this review every single place I can find so that people don't fall for this company's terrible antics.
Response from OptinMonsterOct 31, 2023
Hi there,
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback about our refund policy and terms of service. As you mentioned, we have a 14-day window for refund requests shared on our pricing page and our terms of service.
Also, the renewals happen at the regular rate and not the discounted price.
Regardless of usage, if the refund request is received outside of the refund window, we cannot offer a refund.
I know that's different from the resolution you're hoping for, and I will share your feedback with the team.
If you have any other questions about our refund policy or terms of service, please don't hesitate to ask.
MB
Mike B.
Shady renewals - be careful...
I'd love to give it more stars because it works. The pop-up intent works well, maybe too aggressive at times, but it does have different settings.
The most annoying thing to me is how they charge almost double when it comes to renewal 12 months later. And then their excuse is we make it clear the renewal will be $xxx at the bottom of the page. They do, but it's in size font four or something. It's tiny. I had to scroll up and down a few times before eventually finding it...
That, to me, is wrong. They don't warn you that you have a subscription renewal and double the original cost.
That is such shady business practice.
Eventually, after much moaning, they gave me a 20% refund on the renewal. So make sure you push for that if you face the same scenario...
Response from OptinMonsterJun 5, 2023
Thank you for your feedback, Mike! We're so glad you're finding success with OptinMonster and appreciate your feedback about the renewal costs.
While we understand that price increases can be frustrating, our pricing structure has been carefully thought through to balance upholding our operations and delivering value to our customer's long term. We continuously invest in improving our product, adding new features, and enhancing our support services to ensure all our users have the best experience possible.
You gave some great ways we can be more transparent thought, so we'll certainly keep this in mind for the future. Thank you again for sharing your thoughts and for your continued support of OptinMonster! We can't wait to see what you do next!
LJ
Lance Jacob G.
Pricy, bloat slows down your site, I don't trust them
I've used OptinMonster on my site and a few client sites over the last 3-4 years.
I've never been super amped about popups, but the plugin has some reporting that helps you run some business tests more easily. But it comes at a cost.
Ultimately, I'm sure they do their best, but this does add a lot of bloat to your site. Beware of this before you add it. For me, I would rather just add my own inline forms instead of making one in OptinMonster. They're easier to style and MUCH lighter to load than all the OptinMonster code.
They also have a ton of ad notifications in the app. It's not all bad as it's a good way to illustrate all the features of the plugin, but it comes off as spammy. I don't want spam in the backend of my own site.
On top of that, I was informed that they'd be increasing my price from $348/yr to $564/yr as they forced me off of the legacy plan. They did give me one year off leeway at the old rate.
I removed it from two of my three sites, but I am too late for a refund, so now they're telling me I'm tied to the price I already paid. Just a lot of company policy that I don't really jive with.
So to me, it might be useful if you're REALLY diligent about not installing plugins on your WordPress website and you're not very technical. But for my use, I don't want to pay hundreds of dollars a year to slow down my website.
Response from OptinMonsterJan 4, 2022
Hi, Lance
First, thank you for sharing such an honest review and remaining a loyal OptinMonster customer.
I want to help you have a better experience with OptinMonster, so let's start with OptinMonster causing bloat to your site.
The short answer is, OptinMonster should not affect the perceived load time of your site for your visitors because our script loads after the page content.
We'd be happy to share more about this as well, so I've started an email thread for you. It should be in your account email inbox now.
You also mentioned that you feel tied to OptinMonster, and it's challenging to use.
When you first joined us 3-4 years ago, designing a campaign was MUCH more challenging! We knew we could make it better, and we've updated our builder twice since your first launched your campaigns. In fact, our most recent update was just a few months ago!
I'd love to learn what you're finding the most challenging so that we can share our best advice. Just reply to the email I mentioned above. I'll see you over there!
JO
Jolene
Want to use their "free" version? Beware!
We carefully set up our popup to fall below their cut off for the free version because we are a small organization. We did just fine for the first two months. Each time our page views came in just below the cutoff. I just received an email that they have been monitoring my account and now I'm going to get 200 fewer page views per month...for free! Woo hoo!? Am I supposed to be excited about that? Yes, they offered to give me a third campaign for free, but I don't need another campaign. I'm only using one campaign now as it is. I just want a simple way for our website visitors to sign up for our newsletter. That's it. This experience just tells me that they will push you to the paid version one way or the other. So, if you want or need a free option, don't even start with OptinMonster. It is a beautiful program though, so I'm sorry to have to give that advice.
Response from OptinMonsterNov 8, 2021
Hi Jolene,
Thanks for letting us know about your situation. I can understand that it's frustrating to have a feature change that you've come to rely on like that. While the number of page views is not something we plan to adjust, I want to let you know you can add additional pageviews without upgrading to the next plan level.
Pageview blocks are $29/block/month and are billed monthly. Or, you can stick with the current free plan and pause your campaigns if your account exceeds the pageviews for your plan.
You can learn more about both of these options here: https://optinmonster.com/docs/pageview-and-upgrade-preferences/.
I realize that may not take the "sting" out of the change, but I'd be happy to chat further to see if there's anything else we can do to help you maximize your use of OptinMonster.
JP
Jeffery P.
The Service Works, MAJOR Issues With Billing
I have been using OptinMonster for a little over a month. First, the service has worked. It has almost tripled my email opt-ins. It's easy to use and customize to how you want it to look. Simply put, it works.
HOWEVER, I've had major issues with the billing. They do nickel and dime you for every little feature. Which is annoying, but a common feature these days in companies.
But my big issues are with them charging me a different amount then what was agreed too. When I upgraded my account the total was listed as $146.64 after some promos they were running. I clicked agree to complete the checkout. Later I went to my billing history to see they instead had charged me $225.60... Substantially more than what I agreed to.
I thought it might be a one off mistake. I contacted them and within a day or two it was corrected. About a month later I need to add some more page views (one of those nickel and dining gimmicks). It was listed as $29 a month that would be charge monthly until cancelled. I clicked agree. I went over to my billing and say that I was charged $989. WHAT?! That's not even close to what we agreed too. I'm not sure how a company can get away with these kinds of egregious practices.
I would avoid this service. Or if you decide to go with it be VERY careful that they charge you the correct amount.