Catch Popup
Catch Popup is a free versatile popup WordPress plugin to display exciting user-friendly popups.
Use with caution
Catch Popup works, but test it on a staging site before relying on it in 2026. It runs on 30+ sites, is rated 5/5 and was last updated 5 months ago, and scores 59/100 on our health check.
- Small user base (30+ active installs)
- Very few reviews so far
How does it stack up?
Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & support
Daily downloads
Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.
Rankings
Where Catch Popup stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| popup | #87 |
| popups | >100 |
| shortcode | >100 |
Version adoption
Share of active sites per release.
Rating breakdown
★★★★★★★★★★ 5 from 1 reviews
About Catch Popup
From the official readme · v2.0Description
Catch Popup is a free versatile popup WordPress plugin that is power-packed with incredible features and customization option. It is completely responsive, flexible, and comes with a wide range of features so that you can customize every aspect of your popup. Even the smallest elements like Titles and Close button are loaded with customization options. Despite the plugin bursting with features, it is extremely easy to use. Features like Popup Themes, Triggers, Appearance, Close button, Targeting, and more are integrated into Catch Popup. All of these features are jam-packed with options inside. You have the hold of each and every aspect of the popup. In addition to its versatility, the WordPress Popup Plugin comes with five in-built popup themes. You can even add popups in your posts, pages, custom post types or anywhere you like with the shortcode option. Since popups can be an excellent marketing tool, Catch popup will help you boost your business and conversion through user-friendly popups.
Installation
The easy way (via Dashboard) :
- Go to Plugins > Add New
- Type in the Catch Popup in Search Plugins box
- Click Install Now to install the plugin
- After Installation click activate to start using the Catch Popup
- Go to Catch Popup from Dashboard menu
Not so easy way (via FTP) :
- Download the Catch Popup
- Unarchive Catch Popup plugin
- Copy folder with catchp-popup.zip
- Open the ftp \wp-content\plugins\
- Paste the plug-ins folder in the folder
- Go to admin panel => open item “Plugins” => activate Catch Popup
- Go to Catch Popup from Dashboard menu
Changelog
2.0 (Released: May 21, 2026)
- Security Fix: Added nonce verification to catch_popup_get_data AJAX handler
- Security Fix: Shortcode html_tag attribute now validated against an allowlist to prevent XSS
- Security Fix: add_plugin_meta_links() output now escaped with wp_kses()
- Security Fix: $_POST[‘post_ID’] sanitized with absint() before use in save handler
- Security Fix: $_POST values unslashed before sanitization in catch_popup_save()
- Bug Fixed: AJAX calls now pass nonce via cpop_object.ajax_nonce localized variable
- Bug Fixed: $tag->post_title corrected to $tag->name for WP_Term objects in catch_popup_get_data()
- Bug Fixed: get_posts() args corrected from ‘status’=>’published’ to ‘post_status’=>’publish’
- Bug Fixed: $styles[‘close’][‘font-family’] no longer stores a boolean from isset()
- Bug Fixed: console.log(counter) debug statement removed from generated popup JS
- Bug Fixed: Duplicate value attribute removed from catch_popup_auto_height checkbox
- Bug Fixed: Dead code $popup->ID; standalone statements removed
- Bug Fixed: Function renamed from something() to catch_popup_maybe_enqueue_assets() to prevent naming conflicts
- Bug Fixed: $_GET[‘post_type’] and $_GET[‘action’] now sanitized with sanitize_key() before comparison
- Bug Fixed: esc_html(‘Remove’, ‘catch-popup’) corrected to esc_html__() so string is translatable
- Bug Fixed: esc_html($post_value[‘post_title’], ‘catch-popup’) — spurious second argument removed
- Bug Fixed: esc_attr() replaced with esc_html() for popup title element text in shortcode output
- Bug Fixed: WP_Filesystem() now initialized before use in enqueue-scripts-styles.php
- Bug Fixed: strtotime(‘now’) replaced with time()
- Bug Fixed: Duplicate ABSPATH guard removed from install-functions.php
- Bug Fixed: Admin script version corrected from hardcoded ‘1.0.1’ to CATCH_POPUP_VERSION
- Bug Fixed: Admin scripts moved to footer for improved page performance
- Bug Fixed: Replaced deprecated wp.editor.ServerSideRender with wp.serverSideRender — block was silently failing to register, making it invisible in the block inserter
- Bug Fixed: Added missing wp-server-side-render script dependency to block registration
- Bug Fixed: Replaced deprecated ‘wp-editor’ script dependency with ‘wp-block-editor’ in block registration
- Code Quality: Plugin Check — NonceVerification.Missing in catch_popup_theme_save() fixed by checking nonce field presence before any $_POST access
- Code Quality: Plugin Check — MissingUnslash in catch_popup_theme_save() fixed by calling wp_unslash() on the submitted popup_theme array before sanitizing individual fields
- Code Quality: Plugin Check — NonceVerification.Recommended for $_GET reads in catch_popup_maybe_enqueue_assets() suppressed with phpcs:ignore; these params are read only to detect the current admin page, not to process user input
- Code Quality: Plugin Check — NonPrefixedHooknameFound fixed; filter hooks generated_css, theme_get_generated_styles, generate_popup_theme_styles, and generate_popup_styles now all carry the catch_popup_ prefix
- Code Quality: Plugin Check — NonPrefixedVariableFound fixed; global-scope loop variable $hook in catch-popup-editor-button.php renamed to $catch_popup_hook
- Bug Fixed: “Error loading block: Invalid parameter(s): attributes” — replaced ServerSideRender REST call with a static editor placeholder; the block trigger preview now renders instantly in the editor without any REST API round-trip
- Bug Fixed: Click-triggered popups never opened — wp_strip_all_tags() was used to write the generated JS cache file, which silently deleted all JavaScript content inside the tags; replaced with preg_replace() that strips only the tag wrappers
- Bug Fixed: Click-triggered popup only opened on first page load and failed on refresh — click handler was bound inside $(window).on(‘load’) which is a one-shot event missed entirely when the page loads from cache; moved handler binding directly into the DOM-ready jQuery wrapper
- Bug Fixed: Clicking a trigger for popup A would set container opacity on popup B — the opacity line used a hardcoded PHP loop variable instead of the dynamic id captured from the click target’s data-popup attribute
- Code Quality: Plugin Check — removed load_plugin_textdomain()
- Compatibility check up to version 7.0
1.5 (Released: February 05, 2026)
- Bug Fixed: WordPress.WP.AlternativeFunctions.file_system_operations_mkdir
- Bug Fixed: WordPress.WP.AlternativeFunctions.strip_tags_strip_tags
- Bug Fixed: WordPress.DateTime.RestrictedFunctions.date_date
- Bug Fixed: WordPress.Security.EscapeOutput.OutputNotEscaped
- Bug Fixed: WordPress.WP.I18n.NonSingularStringLiteralText
- Bug Fixed: WordPress.WP.I18n.TextDomainMismatch
- Bug Fixed: plugin_header_invalid_author_uri
- Bug Fixed: Translation loading
- Bug Fixed: stable_tag_mismatch
- Bug Fixed: license_mismatch
- Compatibility check up to version 6.9.1
1.4.4 (Released: November 15, 2023)
- Compatibility check up to version 6.4
1.4.3 (Released: December 14, 2022)
- Compatibility check up to version 6.1
1.4.2 (Released: February 24, 2022)
- Compatibility check up to version 5.9
1.4.1 (Released: August 06, 2021)
- Bug Fixed: Catch popup blocks
Screenshots
For developers
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FAQ
Catch Popup: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Oct 4, 2026
Is Catch Popup free?
Yes. Catch Popup is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.
Is Catch Popup safe to use in 2026?
Catch Popup works, but test it on a staging site before relying on it in 2026. It runs on 30+ sites, is rated 5/5 and was last updated 5 months ago, and scores 59/100 on our health check.
How many websites use Catch Popup?
Catch Popup is active on 30+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 10,044 times since it launched in September 2019. It was downloaded 123 times in the last 30 days.
Does Catch Popup work with WordPress 7.1?
Catch Popup is officially tested up to WordPress 7.0.6, while the latest release is 7.1.2. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.
What PHP version does Catch Popup need?
Catch Popup requires PHP 7.4 or higher. Most hosts run PHP 8.x today, so it works on any modern WordPress hosting.
When was Catch Popup last updated?
The latest version, 2.0, was released on May 21, 2026 (5 months ago).
Who makes Catch Popup?
Catch Popup is developed and maintained by Catch Plugins.
What are the best alternatives to Catch Popup?
The most popular alternatives to Catch Popup are Popup Builder & Popup Maker… (1M+ installs), Popup Maker (700K+ installs) and Popup Builder (200K+ installs).
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