Pop-up modals are a great way to increase engagement on your sites. You an use them as exit pop-ups to collect emails, you can use them to display content or forms, and you can use them to showcase images and videos. Whatever the reason you want to add pop-ups to your sites and projects, using a plugin to achieve this functionality is a good way to go. What follows is a list of lightweight, free, and easy to use jQuery pop-up plugins that would be great additions to any projects.
1. animatedModal.js
animatedModal.js is a plugin that creates beautiful, responsive modals that come with a stylesheet for adding animations. You can use the animations and transitions provided for you with the modal, or you can feel free to write your own.
leanModal.js is the perfect plugin for displaying plain page content via a modal. The plugin is simple, lightweight, and comes with two different display options (with or without a close button). You can close out of the modal by clicking anywhere outside of the pop-up.
Colorbox is a very popular plugin that can be used to display images in a stylish way. The plugin comes with a lightbox feature, so not only does the image pop-up when it's triggered, but the lightbox covers the rest of the screen with a semi-transparent layer, so the image is truly on display.
Remodal is a responsive, lightweight modal plugin that comes loaded with CSS transitions and is fully customizable.
Ouibounce is a lightweight, simple plugin that offers lots of different customizable features for you to use to build your ideal modal. Perfect for if you want to implement exit pop-ups.
jQuery Popdown Plugin is a simple plugin that you can use to create pop-ups that appear to slide down from the top of the viewport. Perfect for displaying images and videos.
Magnific Popup is a popup plugin that is responsive and comes with a smooth lightbox feature. Great for displaying images and content.
This jQuery plugin is the perfect way to use pop-up modals as log-in forms because you can use it to block pages until the form within the modal is completed. It comes with lots of features and functionalities that you can customize.
Vex is a unique modal plugin that gives you complete control over the styling, features, and behavior of your pop-up windows.
This jQuery pop-up plugin is simple, lightweight, and comes with a lightbox feature. Can be used to display content, photos, or any embedded content.