Collecting email addresses splits into two paths: run a popup, or place a contact form.

Shopify ships a first-party app for both — Shopify Forms — and it's free. So the obvious move is to try it first. And then, at some point, you hit a wall. Which wall you hit varies by store, which is why "Shopify Forms is all you need" and "you'll need an app almost immediately" both circulate as advice.

The limits are actually documented with numbers. Twenty-five forms per store. Thirty-one fields per form. And multi-step forms and conditional logic are both listed as unsupported.

Pricing comparison has its own problem. One popup app meters its free tier on impressions, another on monthly pageviews, another on contacts, another on submissions. Four different units — so lining up the monthly prices tells you nothing.

Below: what Shopify Forms can do, established from official documentation, then five third-party apps normalized on the question of what number the free tier actually counts. Researched August 31, 2026.

The short version

Shopify Forms is free and builds two form types: popup and inline. As of August 31, 2026 the App Store shows a 4.5 rating across 678 reviews. The developer is Shopify, and it supports 21 languages.

It does not carry a Built for Shopify badge. Other apps in the same page's related-apps section do display the badge, so this isn't a rendering gap — the app simply doesn't have it.

Four hard limits: 25 forms per store, 31 fields per form, no multi-step forms, no conditional logic. Hitting any one of them means reaching for an app.

Exit intent does exist in Shopify Forms — desktop only. The frequent claim that the native app lacks exit intent isn't accurate.

A/B testing does not exist. The analytics are three metrics: impressions, submissions, completion rate. If you plan to iterate on copy or discount depth, that's your dividing line.

Two form types, and that's the whole set

Shopify Forms builds popup forms and inline forms. You can run both simultaneously.

Popups require enabling the "Forms" theme app embed. Inline forms need the app embed plus a supported theme.

Placing an inline form works two ways. Either generate a new landing page — it lands at example.com/pages/your-handle — or add it as a block to an existing page template by pasting in a six-digit Form ID.

What these two types can't express: forms split across pages, and forms whose fields change based on prior answers. The Help Center states outright that multi-step forms and conditional logic are unsupported. Surveys, quote requests, and booking forms are out of scope from the start.

Popup triggers are coarser than you'd expect

Display style is Floating (position configurable) or Overlay. Device targeting is all, desktop-only, or mobile-only. Page targeting is all pages or specific page types like collections and products.

The trigger is "on the visitor's first, second, or third page," immediately or after a delay. There's also an exit-intent checkbox: show the form when visitors attempt to leave the page, desktop only.

The real constraint is re-display control. Visitor interaction history is stored in the browser's localStorage, and once a visitor dismisses a form, it won't reappear unless they clear cache and cookies or visit in a private window. There's no way to say "show it again in 30 days."

Conditions like "cart value above X" or "only for this customer segment" aren't among the available triggers either.

Where submitted data goes, and why that's a one-way door

Custom fields in Shopify Forms save to local fields, customer metafields, or company metafields.

Two operational traps live here.

First, converting a field to a metafield afterward captures only submissions from that point forward. Historical submissions don't backfill. And once a field is converted to a metafield, it cannot be converted back to a local field.

Second, reuse depends on count. With 20 or fewer metafields, all are reusable. At 21 or more, only pinned metafields can be reused. Stores that accumulate custom data change behavior at that threshold.

Available field types: single-line text, dropdown, radio, multi-line text, multi-select, date, number, and file upload. File upload accepts one file up to 20MB, in GIF, HEIC, JPEG, PDF, SVG, WebP, or XML.

Submissions also record to Metaobjects, viewable under Content > Metaobjects in the admin.

Marketing consent, and the B2B dependency

Consent handling offers three options: subscribe implicitly on submission, subscribe when a checkbox is ticked, or don't subscribe at all (for contact and lead-gen use). Email consent requires an email field; SMS and WhatsApp consent require a phone field.

For SMS double opt-in, consent status goes to pending, and the Help Center states that confirmation is the SMS partner's responsibility.

A less-noticed detail is the B2B dependency. Shopify Forms is a required component of B2B company account requests. Selecting "Company and customer" for a field means submission auto-creates a company, a company location, and a customer. You can't add to an existing company, and the flow is unavailable on fully gated B2B-only stores.

Collected contacts land in the "Email subscribers" segment on the Customers page. From there the path is customer tags → segments → sending via Shopify Messaging (formerly Shopify Email). Form submissions can also trigger Shopify Flow automations.

Note that Shopify Messaging's free tier is 10,000 emails per month. The unit is one recipient address equals one email, not contacts stored. Sending one campaign to 800 people consumes 800. Overage runs $1 per 1,000 emails. Worth knowing before your list grows.

Five third-party apps, five different meters

Values below are from the Shopify App Store as of August 31, 2026. Read the "free tier unit" column rather than the prices.

App	Developer	Free tier	Unit metered	Paid starts at	Rating / reviews	Built for Shopify
Shopify Forms	Shopify	Everything, free	—	n/a	4.5 / 678	No
Seguno Popups & Forms	Seguno	1,000/mo, 1 active popup	Impressions	$10/mo	4.9 / 56	Yes
OptiMonk: AI Popup Builder	OptiMonk	10,000/mo, all features	Monthly pageviews	$29/mo	4.8 / 420	No
Klaviyo: Email Marketing & SMS	Klaviyo	250	Contacts	$20/mo	4.7 / 3,025	No
Powerful Contact Form Builder	Powerful Form	40/mo, 1 form	Submissions	$9.90/mo	4.9 / 2,362	Yes
Privy ‑ Email, SMS & Pop Ups	Privy Operations	None	—	$24/mo	4.5 / 3,965	No

Four things follow from the table.

First, price comparison doesn't work. Seguno's $10 buys 5,000 impressions. OptiMonk's $29 buys 20,000 pageviews. Klaviyo's $20 buys contacts 251–500. Powerful Contact Form Builder's $9.90 buys 1,000 monthly submissions. The same number is counting different things. Until you know which quantity grows fastest in your store — impressions, visits, contacts, or submissions — you can't tell which is expensive.

Second, the free tiers differ enormously. OptiMonk's free plan is 10,000 pageviews per month with all features explicitly included. Seguno's free tier is 1,000 impressions and a single active popup. Privy has no free plan at all.

Third, badge status and scale don't correlate. Seguno and Powerful Contact Form Builder carry Built for Shopify badges. Privy (3,965 reviews) and Klaviyo (3,025 reviews) — the two largest by review count — do not. Neither does first-party Shopify Forms. The badge isn't a size signal.

Fourth, language coverage is thin. Shopify Forms supports 21 languages; the third-party options here are mostly English-only, with Powerful Contact Form Builder the exception. Both Shopify Forms and Powerful Contact Form Builder carry the note that the developer doesn't offer direct support in every listed language — interface translation and support language are separate questions.

What each app adds over Shopify Forms

Seguno Popups & Forms

Free tier is 1,000 impressions per month and one active popup, with all templates and analytics included. Standard is $10/month for 5,000 impressions, unlimited popups and forms, and Seguno branding removed. Overage is metered: each additional 10,000 impressions adds $10. Brands on a Seguno Email standard plan get unlimited impressions and forms.

Capabilities beyond Shopify Forms: Canva integration, countdown timers, geolocation/language/date-based targeting, cart popups, and auto-sync to external ESPs including Klaviyo, Mailchimp, Postscript, and Yotpo SMSBump. Rated 4.9 across 56 reviews, with a Built for Shopify badge. English interface only.

OptiMonk: AI Popup Builder

The free plan includes all features with unlimited campaigns and unlimited users — the loosest free tier in this comparison. The constraints are 10,000 monthly pageviews and one domain. Essential is $29/month for 20,000 pageviews, two domains, and no branding; $228 annually (34% off).

Capabilities beyond Shopify Forms: A/B testing, AI-generated popups, spin-to-win/games/quizzes/surveys, countdown timers, custom code and fonts, geolocation, API and webhooks, and revenue-based optimization analytics. Rated 4.8 across 420 reviews. No Built for Shopify badge, English interface only.

Klaviyo: Email Marketing & SMS

Signup forms are included in the Klaviyo app, and included in the free plan. The free plan's feature list names "forms and push notifications," and the feature tags include popups, forms, and exit intent.

The free tier covers email to 250 contacts plus 150 SMS/MMS credits, with A/B testing and segmentation included. Paid starts at $15/month for SMS (1,250 credits) or $20/month for email (contacts 251–500).

If email marketing is going to run on Klaviyo eventually, there's no need for a separate popup app. Rated 4.7 across 3,025 reviews. No Built for Shopify badge.

Powerful Contact Form Builder

A contact-form app that covers both of the things Shopify Forms explicitly doesn't: conditional logic and multi-step forms. It adds CAPTCHA/reCAPTCHA, auto-reply emails, custom CSS, data export, and integrations with Google Sheets/Calendar, Zapier, Make.com, and n8n.

Free plan: one form, 40 submissions per month, 200MB storage, 20MB upload limit. Premium is $9.90/month for unlimited forms, 1,000 monthly submissions, and conditional logic. PRO is $19.90/month for 10,000 monthly submissions plus the external integrations.

Rated 4.9 across 2,362 reviews with a Built for Shopify badge. One of the few options with a Japanese interface, though the developer doesn't provide direct support in Japanese.

Privy ‑ Email, SMS & Pop Ups

No free plan; pricing starts at $24/month. Popups & Displays is $24 (up to 10,000 pageviews), Email is $30 (1,500 contacts), Email & SMS is $45 (1,500 contacts plus 1,250 SMS credits). Note that the metered unit changes between plans.

Capabilities beyond Shopify Forms: A/B testing, multi-step and mini-quiz forms, email campaigns with a flow builder, SMS, abandoned-cart messaging, drip campaigns, and back-in-stock and price-drop alerts.

Rated 4.5 across 3,965 reviews. Recent reviews include multiple reports of billing continuing after cancellation and of unexpected charges (January and July 2026). The listing also notes that charges may be billed externally, separately from Shopify billing. Verify the cancellation path and billing route before installing.

Choosing by situation

You just want to collect email addresses

Shopify Forms covers it. Free, multilingual, and collected contacts flow directly into customer segments and Shopify Messaging. Just confirm that "first, second, or third page visited" is a sufficient trigger for you.

You want to test copy or discount depth

Shopify Forms has no A/B testing, so you need an app. OptiMonk states all features are available on its free plan, letting you test within 10,000 monthly pageviews. Klaviyo also includes A/B testing on its free plan.

Your contact form needs branching or multiple pages

Documented as unsupported natively, so an app is required. Powerful Contact Form Builder covers both, though conditional logic starts at Premium ($9.90/month) rather than the free plan.

You're designing email marketing from scratch

Choosing a tool that already contains forms — Klaviyo, for instance — keeps your app count down. Free tier is 250 contacts.

You need to accept B2B company account requests

Shopify Forms is a required component, so there's no substitute. Note that the flow is unavailable on fully gated B2B-only stores.

Pre-install checklist

• Whether your form count stays under 25 and your field count under 31 per form
• Whether conditional logic or multi-step forms are in your requirements (neither is possible natively)
• Whether you need day-based re-display control (native is localStorage-based, with no day setting)
• Whether exit intent needs to fire on mobile (native is desktop only)
• Whether A/B testing is a requirement
• Whether you understand that metafield conversion for custom fields is one-way
• Which quantity grows fastest in your store: impressions, pageviews, contacts, or submissions
• Whether overage past the free tier is metered or forces a plan upgrade
• Whether the app bills externally, separately from Shopify billing
• Interface language and support language, checked separately

In short

Four steps, in order.

1. Check the four hard limits first — 25 forms, 31 fields, no conditional logic, no multi-step. Clear all four and Shopify Forms finishes the job, for free.
2. Decide whether you need A/B testing. If you do, native can't deliver it. This is the sharpest dividing line in the category.
3. Identify which number grows fastest in your store. Impressions, pageviews, contacts, or submissions. Without that, the monthly prices aren't comparable.
4. Check interface language and support language separately. They're rarely the same thing, and App Store listings say so explicitly.

Pricing, ratings, and features reflect what the Shopify App Store and Shopify Help Center showed on August 31, 2026. Free tier terms change often, so re-check official pages before installing.