MailPoet
by Automattic
Sends newsletters and WooCommerce automations from inside WordPress using its own sending service.
This link may earn us a commission. It never changes our rating.
What MailPoet does
Sends newsletters and WooCommerce automations from inside WordPress using its own sending service.
It sits in the email part of a WordPress stack and is sold by Automattic on a freemium basis. We recommend it in our email guides because it does that one job well without asking you to rebuild the rest of the site around it.
Every plugin adds work to a page request, so treat this as a decision with a cost. Record a speed test before you install it and run the same test afterwards, on the same page, so you know exactly what it charged you.
Real user ratings
Score
4.4/5
Reviews
1,431
Active installs
500,000+
Downloads
69.3M
Latest version
5.38.0
Last updated
2026-09-08
These figures come straight from the public WordPress.org plugin directory API for version 5.38.0, not from us. Check them yourself on the WordPress.org listing. Our own editorial score is 4.5/5.
Where MailPoet ranks elsewhere
| Publisher | List | Position |
|---|---|---|
| Themeisle | Best WordPress Plugins | #17 of 22 |
Positions are read from the published articles themselves, so they reflect that publisher's order rather than ours. Lists get re-ordered over time, so follow the link if you want the current version.
What changed in the latest version
- Added: Filters to override the author and categories shown in newsletters that include posts;
- Improved: Validation of the admin notice dismissal request;
- Improved: Validation of form preview requests;
- Improved: Social icon rendering in the block email editor;
- Fixed: Personalization tags showing HTML-encoded characters in email subjects and plain-text emails;
- Fixed: The Amazon SES region list now matches AWS: seven regions added, China (Ningxia) now reaches the right AWS China endpoint, and Hong Kong and China (Beijing) removed because SES does not run there;
- Fixed: One background job that fails to start no longer stops the rest of them, so bounce processing, WooCommerce sync and the other scheduled jobs keep running;
- Fixed: Restricted AI subject line suggestions to users who can manage emails;
Release notes are the developer's own words, published on WordPress.org. Read the full changelog
Pros and cons
- Newsletters without leaving WordPress
- A free tier you can trial before paying
- Actively maintained and used on production sites we test
- Own sending service needed at volume
- The features most sites need sit in the paid tier
How to use it
- 1Install on a staging copy first if the site takes money.
- 2Work through the setup wizard and connect any external accounts it needs.
- 3Configure the one feature you installed it for, and leave the rest off.
- 4Test the result as a logged-out visitor on both mobile and desktop.
- 5Re-run our speed test to confirm the plugin has not cost you load time.
How it compares
Other email plugins we recommend, with their rating and pricing model.
| Plugin | Our rating | WordPress.org | Pricing | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MailPoet | 4.5 | 4.4 (1,431) | Freemium | Newsletters without leaving WordPress |
| FluentCRM | 4.7 | 4.8 (249) | Freemium | No per-contact pricing |
| Newsletter Glue | 4.4 | n/a | Premium | Write once, publish and send |
Guides that cover MailPoet
9 Best WordPress Lead Magnet Plugins for 2026
A lead magnet trades a useful resource for permission to follow up. These plugins handle delivery, consent and page weight differently.
Updated 10 September 2026
7 Best Free SMTP Plugins for WordPress in 2026
WordPress email fails quietly when the server is not set up for delivery. An SMTP plugin routes messages through a proper mail service and shows you what happened.
Updated 10 September 2026
Alternatives
Other email plugins
FluentCRM
WPManageNinja
Self-hosted CRM and marketing automation: contacts, tags, sequences and reporting stored in your own database.
249 reviews · 1.9M downloads · v3.2.0
Newsletter Glue
Newsletter Glue
Turns WordPress posts into newsletters so one draft serves both the site and the inbox.