--- title: "How to Create a Popup in Elementor (With Triggers and Display Rules)" url: https://theplusaddons.com/blog/how-to-create-popup-in-elementor/ date: 2026-07-02 modified: 2026-07-02 author: "Aditya Sharma" description: "Say a visitor is about to leave your pricing page. They have read the plans, they are hovering near the back button, and in a second they will be gone...." image: https://theplusaddons.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/q9km5o-1024x538.jpg word_count: 1241 --- # How to Create a Popup in Elementor (With Triggers and Display Rules) Say a visitor is about to leave your pricing page. They have read the plans, they are hovering near the back button, and in a second they will be gone. A well-timed popup can catch that moment: a small offer, a newsletter box, a quick question. Used well, popups capture leads and guide people to the next step. Used badly, they are the reason someone closes the tab. The difference is almost never the design. It is the trigger and the timing. This guide covers what a popup is good for, what Elementor gives you out of the box, and how to build one with real triggers and display rules using The Plus Addons for Elementor, on both the free and Pro versions of Elementor. Table Of Contents ## What an Elementor popup is, and what it is good for A popup is a piece of content that appears on top of the page in response to something the visitor does, or after a set amount of time. It sits above everything else, grabs attention, and usually asks for one thing. The common jobs are lead capture (newsletter or discount in exchange for an email), announcements (a sale, a new feature), and gating (age checks, cookie notices, content upgrades). Popups work because they interrupt. That is also why they are easy to get wrong. A box that covers the whole screen the instant someone arrives will do more harm than good. The goal is to show the right message, to the right person, at a moment that feels helpful rather than pushy. Everything below is in service of that. ## The honest state of popups in Elementor As with most things in Elementor, what you can do depends on your version. The **free version** of Elementor does not include a popup builder. If you are on free Elementor, you either write custom CSS and JavaScript to fake a popup, or you add a plugin that brings a popup builder with it. **Elementor Pro** has a proper Popups feature built in. You create a popup from Templates, design it in the same editor you already use, then set display conditions and triggers to decide where it shows and what sets it off. If you are already paying for Pro, it covers the common cases well. ![Creating a popup in Elementor Pro](https://theplusaddons.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/1cv_sLUScrnAFXYnUXI20sozEJ8f1B4kKk3qYs4y-UWU4EBI0rj2fT4gBnTmi8Fpa3zAdZvjtOyhlycNIDBh8A-scaled.png)Elementor Pro's built-in Popups are created from Templates and designed in the editor. Source: elementor.com So the real question is not whether Elementor can do popups. Pro can. The question is what to do if you are on free Elementor, or if you want more control over triggers and conditions than the native tool gives you. That is where an add-on earns its place. ## What actually makes a popup work: triggers and display rules A popup is only as good as the moment it appears. Two settings control that: the **trigger** (what makes it show) and the **display rule** (who sees it, and where). The triggers worth knowing: - **On page load.** Shows when the page opens. Use sparingly, and add a short delay so it does not slam the visitor. - **On click.** Fires when someone clicks a button, an icon, or another element. The least intrusive option, because the visitor asked for it. - **On scroll.** Appears once the reader has scrolled a certain distance, which signals they are engaged. - **After a number of page views.** Waits until someone has seen a few pages before asking for anything. - **On exit intent.** Detects when the cursor moves toward closing the tab and shows a last-chance message. - **After inactivity.** Waits for a pause, then re-engages a visitor who has stopped moving. Display rules matter just as much. A popup that is perfect on your pricing page can be annoying on your checkout page. Good display conditions let you target specific pages, post types, or visitor situations, so the popup only appears where it helps. ## How to create a popup in Elementor with The Plus Addons The Plus Addons for Elementor includes a [Popup Builder](https://theplusaddons.com/elementor-builder/popup-builder/), available in its Pro plan, and it works with both the free and Pro versions of Elementor, so you do not need Elementor Pro to use it. Here is the flow. ![The Plus Addons Popup Builder for Elementor](https://theplusaddons.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Eb08eQ3ot9vw0JnvAHTXnJdBXc9Kq9xI7z6a0ko-EysM09_Y9F4Ytu1bdN2zTgsaqge_06DxAPr_HvNTzcCe-A-scaled.png)The Plus Addons Popup Builder, where you set the trigger, display conditions, and loading animation. - **Create the popup.** Open the Popup Builder and add a new popup, then design it in the Elementor editor exactly like any other template. - **Pick the trigger.** Choose how it appears: On Page Load, On Button Click, Icon Click, On Scroll, After X Page Views, On Exit Intent, or After Inactivity. Match the trigger to the intent of the page. - **Set the display conditions.** Decide where the popup shows, whether that is the whole site, one page, a post type, or a situation like a specific WooCommerce cart or category. - **Add a loading animation.** Give the popup a subtle entrance so it feels designed rather than jarring. - **Test the close behavior.** Make sure the overlay and close button work, and that the popup does not reappear the instant someone dismisses it. If you want a slide-in panel rather than a centered box, the Off-Canvas widget has a Modal Popup mode that slides content in from the edge of the screen, with its own exit-intent and after-inactivity triggers and a background overlay. It is a nice fit for cookie notices, menus, or a quiet secondary call to action. ## Timing and triggers that do not annoy people The fastest way to make a popup backfire is to show it too soon, too often, or everywhere. A few rules keep them on the right side of helpful. Give on-load popups a delay of a few seconds rather than firing instantly. Prefer exit intent and on-click over immediate interruptions, because they respect what the visitor is doing. Cap how often the same person sees a popup, so a dismissed box stays dismissed for a while. And always give a clear, obvious way to close it. A popup someone can escape easily is one they do not resent. ## Popups, mobile, and SEO There is an SEO angle that is easy to miss. Google has long discouraged intrusive interstitials on mobile, the kind of popup that covers the main content right as a visitor arrives from search. Popups that block content on small screens can make a page harder to rank. The safe approach is to keep mobile popups small, avoid full-screen takeovers on entry, and lean on exit intent or later triggers there. Keep the popup lightweight too, since a heavy popup can drag on your [Elementor Core Web Vitals](https://theplusaddons.com/blog/elementor-core-web-vitals/). If your build already feels sluggish, it is worth checking whether [Elementor is slowing down your website](https://theplusaddons.com/blog/does-elementor-slow-down-your-website/) before you add anything new. ![Google guidance on intrusive interstitials on mobile](https://theplusaddons.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/8IEYM4NxinP5Ov7SmA5INGUNvavu-2TrebZ2Qe8ydE5s3z4u-cfaNnXAE1S-lEZJ3Khj_wKzCwV6C1X73wm4hg-scaled.png)Google has long discouraged intrusive interstitials that block content on mobile. Source: developers.google.com ## Which route should you take? If you already run Elementor Pro and need standard popups, the built-in Popups feature does the job. If you are on free Elementor, or you want a fuller set of triggers and display conditions without upgrading Elementor itself, The Plus Addons Popup Builder gives you that on both free and Pro, from the same editor you already know, without custom code. [Build your popup with The Plus Addons](https://theplusaddons.com/elementor-builder/popup-builder/) ## Suggested reading - [How to create a contact form in Elementor](https://theplusaddons.com/blog/how-to-create-contact-form-in-elementor/) - [How to add age verification in Elementor](https://theplusaddons.com/blog/age-verification-for-elementor/) - [How to create a password protected page in Elementor](https://theplusaddons.com/blog/elementor-password-protected-page/) - [How to create a header and footer in Elementor](https://theplusaddons.com/blog/create-header-footer-in-elementor/) - [The best free Elementor addons](https://theplusaddons.com/blog/best-free-elementor-addons/)