1. User sentiment
| Feature |
Alia |
Privy |
| User ratings |
4.9/5 (107 reviews on Shopify App Store) |
4.5/5 (4k+ reviews on Shopify App Store) |
| Common praise points |
"Actually works" simplicity; fast ROI (days not months); genuine education-first approach; white-glove support; "set it and forget it" AI optimization |
Easy for beginners; strong list-growth uplift; real “hand-holding” onboarding; exceptional human support; education-first guidance via Zoom |
| User critiques |
Limited to Shopify only; higher starting price point ($100/mo); fewer template options than competitors |
Missing or limited features; editor and design issues across devices; frequent technical glitches; uneven support; confusing billing |
| Migration patterns |
Heavy inflow from Klaviyo, Privy, Justuno, OptiMonk; brands cite "finally found popups that convert without discounts" as key reason; Amped refugees after Mailchimp acquisition |
Common entry-point tool for new stores; merchants migrate in from other basic popup tools |
| Retention indicators |
High stickiness once implemented; brands report 3-5x ROI maintaining long-term usage; "wouldn't consider switching" sentiment common |
Strong long-term retention; merchants see +57% revenue lift in 6 months and +50% list growth in 90 days—especially with Privy Coaches guiding ongoing optimization |
| Support responsiveness |
"Best support in Shopify ecosystem"; live chat + Slack channel access; free onboarding calls; CSM feels like "part of the team" |
Email/chat support; 1:1 coaching and dedicated success managers on higher tiers |
Privy maintains a strong 4.5/5 rating for its hands-on onboarding, beginner-friendly setup, and proven revenue lift, though users mention technical glitches, uneven support, and billing confusion as drawbacks.
Alia earns a higher 4.9/5 praise for its simplicity, fast ROI, and white-glove support. Merchants highlight its reliability and “set it and forget it” AI automation—making it the preferred choice for Shopify brands seeking long-term growth without the usual learning curve.
Nakie saw 600% improvement in email capture and $5.8M in sales after switching to Alia
35%
PEAK EMAIL OPT-IN RATE (UP FROM 5-6%)
600%
IMPROVEMENT IN EMAIL CAPTURE
$5.8M
IN ATTRIBUTED SALES
Dean Leibbrandt
Co-Founder of Nakie
“
"We always cared about the customer journey, and Alia's the first tool that actually let us design one that makes sense. And once we did, everything clicked — sign-up rates, conversions, the whole funnel started significantly performing. Since switching to Alia, our lowest sign-up rate has been 28%, and we've even reached 35% in some months."
2
Launch first popup in 5 minutes
Read complete case study here →
2. Design & user experience
| Feature |
Alia |
Privy |
| Template library |
Dozens of production-ready templates in a built-for-Shopify popup editor |
Dozens of proven display templates (pop-ups, quizzes, wheels) for rapid launch |
| User interface |
Shopify-native UX, familiar merchant interface |
Drag-and-drop editor with flexible styling for pop-ups and onsite displays |
| Customization options |
Custom fonts, code, translation, localization and advanced triggers for Shopify stores |
Flexible styling, custom fields, desktop/mobile separate settings, gamification elements |
| Mobile experience |
Templates are automatically mobile-friendly |
Responsive templates; mobile-optimized forms and multi-step layouts |
| Best for |
Shopify stores wanting conversion-focused, educational popups with AI optimization |
Brands wanting flexible, multi-format onsite campaigns with strong design control. |
Privy gives brands broad design control with its drag-and-drop editor, responsive templates, and gamified layouts, but the added flexibility can mean more setup time and less consistency across campaigns.
Alia, by contrast, delivers a Shopify-native experience built for speed and simplicity—offering production-ready templates, auto-optimized mobile designs, and advanced triggers that make every popup feel on-brand from launch. It’s the smoother choice for Shopify merchants who want polished, conversion-ready popups without the extra design work.
3. Automation & site engagement
| Feature |
Alia |
Privy |
| A/B testing and smart variants |
AI-driven automatic testing with optimized variant selection for conversion improvement |
Supports A/B testing and multivariate tests; manual variant creation required |
| Smart triggering/site engagement |
AI-powered timing, smart targeting, and optimized audience engagement |
Real-time segmentation and site displays (exit-intent, cross-sell popups) to engage visitors |
| Automation focus |
Designed for Shopify stores, focused on popups that convert and capture zero-party data via interactive flows |
All-in-one platform: popups + email + SMS + automation flows for welcome, win-back, cart recovery |
| Best for |
Merchants wanting hands-off optimization with automated processes |
Small businesses needing basic email/SMS automation with popup support |
Privy provides solid automation for email and SMS campaigns with effective cart abandonment recovery that works quickly out of the box. However, it lacks advanced flow mapping or branching logic for complex customer journeys.
Alia offers hands-off automation through AI-driven testing and smart triggers, helping Shopify merchants boost conversions with minimal setup. Its zero-party data capture and interactive flows turn engagement into long-term insights—making it the more sophisticated choice for growth-focused brands.
4. Performance & site optimization
| Feature |
Alia |
Privy |
| Site speed impact |
Built for Shopify; optimized to load instantly without slowing store performance |
Fast setup with reliable performance; standard popup loading |
| Analytics & tracking |
Includes conversion analytics and performance tracking for popup campaigns |
Unified dashboard for email/SMS/display campaigns showing views, conversions, revenue attribution |
| Optimization focus |
Prioritizes Shopify site performance and seamless in-store integration |
Focuses on ease of use, multi-format marketing setups, and cross-channel performance tracking |
| Best for |
Shopify stores prioritizing site speed and conversion |
Brands needing flexible multi-channel tools, combining popups, email, and SMS with analytics. |
Privy performs reliably across campaigns with multi-channel tracking and an easy-to-use dashboard, though its popups load at a standard rate and can add weight on high-traffic sites.
Alia, built exclusively for Shopify, delivers instant-loading popups that don’t affect site speed and include built-in analytics for real-time performance tracking. It’s ideal for Shopify brands focused on conversion speed and seamless optimization without compromising store performance.
"
"Switching to Alia was a seamless experience , and we’ve never looked back.
Their optimized popups have not only improved our opt-in rates but also allowed us to better engage and segment our audience with ease."
Margaret Fortner
SVP of Marketing
Read complete case study here →
5. AI-powered features
| Feature |
Alia |
Privy |
| Automated testing |
Automatically generates and tests multiple popup variants |
Supports A/B testing & multivariate tests; variant setup is manual |
| Smart optimization |
AI-powered smart triggering learns from traffic and behavior |
Enhanced popup builder with multi-step forms, custom fields, quizzes and “Smart Triggers” |
| Content intelligence |
Optimizes popups for brand story and conversion, not just discounts |
Dynamic popups + displays: quizzes, custom fields, spin-to-win wheels, real-time sync |
| Automation level |
Highly automated for Shopify: AI testing, smart triggers, and self-improving popup performance |
Good automation via email/SMS plus popups; setup still requires user rules, flows and segmentation |
| Best for |
Merchants wanting mostly hands-off automation of their popup optimization |
Brands wanting flexible onsite campaigns + popups + email/SMS with more manual control |
Privy offers flexible popup automation with Smart Triggers, multi-step forms, and custom fields, giving brands strong personalization options—but setup is still manual and rule-based, requiring time to fine-tune.
Alia, in contrast, delivers fully automated optimization through AI-driven testing, smart triggers, and self-learning popups that adapt in real time. It’s ideal for Shopify merchants who want conversion-ready automation without the manual setup or micromanagement.
6. Targeting & personalization
| Feature |
Alia |
Privy |
| Data collection |
Zero-party capture via mini-quizzes, multiple-choice, and free-text; sync to ESP/SMS |
Multi-step forms for email/SMS capture, custom fields and audience data |
| Targeting options |
Target by page, geo, traffic source, UTM, and moreTarget by page, geo, traffic source, UTM, and more |
Precise targeting with behavior, geography, cart value, history, and pop-up display rules |
| Personalization |
Uses smart triggers and AI testing to adjust timing and content |
Real-time segmentation with dynamic content, flows, and site-display triggers |
| Visitor management |
Auto-suppress popups for existing subscribers (cookies/ESP detection) |
Frequency controls, visitor targeting, rules prevent over-messaging; full visitor lifecycle logic |
| Best for |
Shopify brands prioritizing zero-party data and education-led signup flows |
Businesses needing granular behavioral targeting and complex personalization across channels |
Privy gives brands granular targeting through behavior, cart value, and visitor lifecycle rules, making it powerful for teams running complex segmentation across email and SMS—though it can feel heavy for simpler popup campaigns.
Alia, meanwhile, simplifies targeting with AI-driven smart triggers and zero-party data capture through quizzes and forms. It auto-suppresses existing subscribers and personalizes based on real behavior, helping Shopify merchants boost signups and conversions without overwhelming users.
"
With Alia, we've seen a massive lift in new customer acquisition—
Sign-ups are up 260%, and we’ve exceeded our Black Friday revenue goal by 25%."
Conor Gallagher
Founder of Kensington House Media
Read complete case study here →
7. Integration ecosystem
| Feature |
Alia |
Privy |
| Total integrations |
Focused Shopify ecosystem with key integrations |
Integrates with major ecommerce + marketing tools |
| ESP/SMS platforms |
Supports Klaviyo, Yotpo, Attentive, Omnisend, Sendlane, One Text, Contlo |
Syncs contacts and events with ESPs like Klaviyo and Mailchimp, plus other ecosystem partners |
| Ecommerce compatibility |
Shopify exclusively with native integration |
Works with Shopify, BigCommerce, Wix and other store platforms |
| Analytics & tools |
Yotpo, Ground AI, Black Crow AI, Fermat |
Connects to Google Analytics and other apps to track sign-ups and campaign performance |
| Best for |
Shopify merchants wanting deep, native integrations |
Brands needing email/SMS + popups that slot into a broader multi-platform stack |
Privy integrates widely across Shopify, BigCommerce, and Wix, syncing seamlessly with tools like Klaviyo and Mailchimp for cross-channel marketing. It’s built for brands managing multiple platforms and marketing layers but may feel broad for single-platform merchants.
Alia, on the other hand, keeps integrations Shopify-focused and deeply native, connecting with key tools like Yotpo, Attentive, and Black Crow AI. This ensures faster setup, smoother data flow, and better reliability for Shopify merchants who prefer simplicity over multi-platform sprawl.
8. Pricing & scalability
| Feature |
Alia |
Privy |
| Pricing model |
Plans start at US $100/month (up to 20k visitors) |
Starter: $30/month (up to 1,500 contacts); Growth: $45/month (up to 5,000 contacts) |
| Trial options |
14/30-day free trial with full feature access |
15-day free trial; pop-ups only plan offers low-cost entry |
| Usage limits |
Pricing based on monthly site visitors; higher tiers available |
Pricing based on mailable contacts for email/SMS; for pop-ups only, pricing based on pageviews (e.g., up to 10,000 pageviews in base plan |
| Best for |
Shopify merchants wanting predictable, all-in-one popup pricing |
Brands needing flexible entry pricing and scaling across email + SMS + pop-ups |
Privy offers a lower-cost entry with plans from $30/month, making it appealing for small brands—but costs scale quickly once email and SMS contacts grow, with multiple usage tiers and limits to manage.
Alia, meanwhile, provides straightforward pricing from $100/month (up to 20K visitors) with full feature access and no add-on confusion. It’s ideal for Shopify merchants who want predictable, all-in-one popup pricing that scales cleanly with site traffic instead of contact lists.
MiHIGH saw 5X more signups per day and $600K in revenue after rethinking popups with Alia
18%
EMAIL OPT-IN RATE (UP FROM 6%)
$600K
IN SALES IN 30 DAYS
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Caleb Madsen
VP of Growth, WIN Brands Group
“
Alia completely changed how we approach popups
— turning a standard opt-in into an engaging, educational experience. The results were immediate:
higher sign-ups, more conversions, and $600K in sales in just 30 days.
2
Launch first popup in 5 minutes
Read complete case study here →
9. Support & resources
| Feature |
Alia |
Privy |
| Onboarding |
Free whiteglove onboarding/setup support for all users |
Free onboarding session for stores over 250 contacts; live chat & email support. |
| Support channels |
Live chat, email, Slack support, and dedicated Customer Success Manager (CSM) |
Email and chat support seven days a week; 1:1 ecommerce coaching available |
| Trial support |
Full support during 14/30-day trial period (depending on plan) |
Free or low-cost plans with standard support; premium support on higher tiers |
| Expertise level |
Help centre articles and onboarding tutorials available |
Broad ecommerce marketing expertise; dedicated Customer Success team built for scaling merchants |
| Best for |
Shopify merchants wanting hands-on support from day one |
Brands needing scalable support, strategic coaching, and multi-channel onboarding |
Privy earns praise for its coaching and broad e-commerce expertise, with accessible chat and email support and 1:1 coaching on higher tiers. However, free-plan users note limited guidance unless they upgrade.
Alia takes a more hands-on approach, offering white-glove onboarding, Slack and live-chat support, and a dedicated Customer Success Manager even during trials. Shopify merchants benefit from immediate, done-with-you assistance that helps them launch and optimize faster without relying on upsells or extra service tiers.
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