Creating an email newsletter for your WordPress website is an excellent way to engage with your audience. It enables visitors to subscribe and receive updates about your latest promotions, blog posts, sales, and more.
On our business websites, we manage several successful newsletters with thousands of subscribers and have sent out millions of emails. Newsletters have proven to be an effective tool for nurturing relationships with our audience and expanding our business.
While we primarily use Drip for sending our email newsletters and OptinMonster for gathering more email addresses, we wanted to explore additional options available for small business owners.
In this article, we will introduce you to some of the top WordPress newsletter plugins that can help you quickly build and manage your email list. With these tools, setting up your newsletter has never been easier.
In a rush? No problem! Check out our top recommendations below to quickly find the ideal newsletter plugin for your WordPress website.
| 🏆 | Plugin Name | Best For | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🥇 | Constant Contact | Most user-friendly for small businesses | $12/month |
| 🥈 | OptinMonster | Robust plugin for expanding your email newsletter | $9/month |
| 🥉 | HubSpot | A variety of marketing tools with a free plan option | $20 per month (Free plan available) |
| 4 stars | Brevo | User-friendly with a generous free plan | $9 per month (Free plan available) |
| 5 stars | Omnisend | Ideal for eCommerce stores requiring automation features | $16 per month (Free plan available) |
| 6 stars | FunnelKit Automations | Designed for creating sales funnels and expanding your email list | $249.50 per year (Free version available) |
| 7 stars | SeedProd | Easily add newsletter signup forms | $39.50 per year |
| 8 stars | Uncanny Automator | Automate tasks and grow your email subscriber list | $149 per year |
How We Evaluate and Review Newsletter Plugins
We assessed various popular WordPress newsletter plugins on our websites using the following criteria:
- Ease of Use: We examined how straightforward it is to install and use each plugin, including the creation of signup forms and the distribution of newsletters.
- Features and Integrations: We considered essential features such as automation, analytics, and the compatibility of the plugin with email marketing services.
- PerformanceWe evaluated the performance of each plugin to ensure it doesn’t negatively impact your website’s loading speed.
Why You Can Rely on CanadaCreate
At CanadaCreate, our passionate team has over 15 years of experience in WordPress, design, and email marketing. Our WordPress specialists carefully review and rigorously test each plugin or tool featured here on actual websites. To learn more about our thorough editorial process, please visit our site.
The Importance of an Email Newsletter for Your Website
An email newsletter allows you to maintain communication with your website visitors. Based on our experience, email marketing is one of the most effective strategies for generating revenue from your site.
Some website owners believe they need to reach a specific milestone before launching a newsletter. However, our observations suggest that it’s essential to start building your email list as soon as possible.
While we refer to it as a ‘newsletter,’ you are not limited to just sending regular news updates. Many of our users have successfully created short email courses for new subscribers, helping them engage with their audience. Others utilize their email lists to provide exclusive discounts on products and services.
For more ideas, take a look at our comprehensive guide on creating an effective email newsletter. Many WordPress users have found it invaluable for launching successful campaigns.
There are three main categories of WordPress newsletter plugins:
- The first category is linked to email marketing services, which offer a wide range of advanced features.
- The second category enables you to compose emails directly within WordPress but requires third-party SMTP services to ensure reliable delivery to your subscribers.
- Finally, the third category is designed to help you expand your email list by connecting with popular email marketing services and other newsletter tools.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at the top WordPress newsletter plugins that can help you build and grow your email list.
1. Constant Contact
Constant Contact is a powerful service for building an email list and sending out newsletters. Based on our thorough testing, we consider it the best email marketing solution for small businesses (check out our detailed Constant Contact review for more information).
Because ofConstant Contact’s popularity,leading WordPress form plugins like WPForms provide built-in integration, allowing you to easily create newsletter subscription forms.
The free version of WPForms includes integration with Constant Contact.
This feature allows you to effortlessly grow your email list directly from your WordPress site, utilizing the robust email delivery capabilities of Constant Contact.
Advantages
- Constant Contact is a comprehensive email marketing solution that enables you to design stunning emails with templates, organize your subscriber list, automate email campaigns, and much more.
- It provides in-depth analytics, including metrics such as open rates and click-through rates, allowing you to monitor and enhance your email marketing efforts.
- If you don’t have a Constant Contact account yet, they provide a generous free trial to help you get started.
- Numerous third-party plugins, including WPForms, offer seamless integration with Constant Contact.
- Constant Contact provides outstanding customer support through email, chat, and live phone assistance.
- You can also connect Constant Contact with WooCommerce and other eCommerce platforms for enhanced functionality.
Disadvantages
- The Constant Contact email marketing service lacks some advanced targeting options found in marketing automation tools like Drip or Kit (formerly known as ConvertKit).
Reasons to Choose Constant Contact
We recommend Constant Contact as it is the most user-friendly email marketing service for small businesses. Its intuitive interface and simple tools make it easy to set up and manage email campaigns, even for those new to email marketing.
Pricing
The plugin that integrates Constant Contact with WordPress (WPForms Lite) is completely free.
However, you will need to subscribe to their email marketing service. Constant Contact offers a free trial that allows you to send up to 100 emails without requiring a credit card. After the trial, pricing starts at just $12 per month.
CanadaCreate users can take advantage of our Constant Contact coupon code for a 20% discount.
2. OptinMonster
OptinMonster is a leading marketing and email popup plugin for WordPress. We utilize it across all our websites, and you can discover how it helped us expand our email list in our case study.
It enables you to create customized newsletter opt-in forms, helping you grow your email list and convert more visitors who might otherwise leave your site.
OptinMonster is compatible with all major email marketing services and popular WordPress newsletter plugins. It also includes all the necessary tools to ensure GDPR compliance.
Pros
- OptinMonster seamlessly integrates with a variety of email marketing services, including well-known platforms like Constant Contact, as well as plugins such as Brevo and MailPoet.
- With OptinMonster’s innovative Exit-Intent® technology, you can create popups that activate when visitors are about to leave your website, ensuring a smooth user experience.
- Gain access to an extensive library of stunning email opt-in forms, subscription widgets, popups, sidebar forms, and more to jumpstart your email list growth.
- Easily conduct A/B tests on your sign-up forms to determine which headlines, offers, and designs yield the highest conversion rates.
- You can set up segmentation rules to target specific pages on your website. OptinMonster also allows you to customize your newsletter forms based onuser location, previous site interactions, and more.
- All subscription plans come with complete access to OptinMonster University training, which includes a wealth of resources such as plans, checklists, ebooks, guides, webinars, and more to accelerate your email list growth.
- OptinMonster offers a full money-back guarantee. If you’re not satisfied with the software for any reason, simply cancel within 14 days of purchase to receive a full refund.
Cons
- OptinMonster does not include its own mailing list software. You will need to subscribe to a separate service, such as Constant Contact or Drip, to manage your email lists.
- OptinMonster does not offer a free version, nor is there a free trial available. However, they do provide a full money-back guarantee.
Why We Recommend OptinMonster
We recommend OptinMonster because it is the most effective plugin for expanding your email newsletter. Its user-friendly drag-and-drop builder allows you to create high-converting opt-in forms and popups in just minutes. With advanced targeting options, you can tailor your campaigns to optimize subscriber growth.
Pricing
The premium version of OptinMonster starts at $9 per month when billed annually. You can upgrade to access powerful features such as geolocation targeting, gamified opt-in forms, and more.
For more information, you can check out our comprehensive OptinMonster review.
Alternatives:We also suggest Thrive Leads and PopupAlly for creating effective email opt-in popups.
3. HubSpot
HubSpot is a comprehensive marketing platform that enables you to create and manage email newsletters directly on your WordPress site.
We conducted an in-depth analysis of HubSpot’s advanced features, which include email marketing, customer relationship management (CRM), sales tools, automated workflows, a website builder, and more. For a comprehensive overview, check out our detailed HubSpot review.
With HubSpot’s email marketing feature, you can effortlessly design professional newsletters. It includes a user-friendly drag-and-drop editor, a variety of templates, and extensive customization options.
Advantages
- HubSpot provides an intuitive email editor with drag-and-drop capabilities, allowing you to swiftly create engaging email newsletters.
- It offers a range of templates, layouts, images, call-to-action (CTA) buttons, and various customization options to enhance your newsletters.
- HubSpot enables you to schedule emails in advance. Its email marketing tool also guarantees high deliverability rates, ensuring your newsletters reach inboxes instead of spam folders.
- HubSpot CRM helps you deliver a personalized experience for each subscriber. You can track where email subscribers are in their buying journey and automatically present the most relevant email subject lines, links, CTAs, and more.
- It simplifies the process of creating drip campaigns, autoresponders, and A/B testing for your email subject lines and landing pages.
- HubSpot integrates smoothly with WordPress, WooCommerce, WPForms, and various other premium marketing services.
Drawbacks
- To access advanced features like email automation and A/B testing, you will need to upgrade to the premium plan.
- The free version does not allow you to remove HubSpot branding or access detailed reporting for your newsletters.
Reasons to Choose HubSpot
We recommend HubSpot because it consolidates various marketing tools into a single platform, simplifying your marketing management. Their free plan enables you to send up to 2,000 emails per month, making it an excellent choice for small businesses beginning their email marketing journey.
Pricing Information
HubSpot Email Marketing is free, allowing you to send 2,000 emails each month. For additional features, you can upgrade to their premium plan, starting at $20 per month.
4. Brevo (Previously Sendinblue)
Brevo, previously known as Sendinblue, is another highly recommended email marketing and management software. It is user-friendly and offers a free plan, along with a straightforward plugin available for download from WordPress.org.
In addition to email marketing, Brevo allows you to send emails directly from your website. It is one of our top picks for the best SMTP email service provider due to its excellent email deliverability.
Advantages
- The Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) WordPress plugin can be easily installed directly from your WordPress dashboard. After creating your account, simply activate the plugin using the API key provided by Brevo.
- Brevo offers a completely free plan that allows you to send up to 300 emails daily to your newsletter subscribers without requiring any credit card information.
- The Brevo customer support team is both helpful and responsive, available for assistance via email or live chat.
- If you’re using WooCommerce, you can utilize the WP Mail SMTP plugin to integrate Brevo’s SMTP service and send confirmation emails to your customers.
- Brevo provides a variety of newsletter templates to choose from, all of which are responsive and optimized for mobile viewing.
Cons
- Brevo has a more limited selection of templates compared to some other email service providers, and it also lacks advanced segmentation and automation features.
- Importing your contacts can be somewhat complicated if you have previously created a mailing list on a different platform.
Reasons to Choose Brevo
We recommend Brevo for its intuitive interface that simplifies email marketing, making it accessible for beginners. Their free plan allows you to send up to 300 emails daily, making it an excellent choice for small businesses aiming to expand their newsletter without incurring additional costs. Check out our comprehensive Brevo review for further details.
Pricing
Brevo offers a free plan that lets you send up to 300 emails each day. For those needing more, paid plans start at $9 per month, which provides 5,000 emails monthly with no daily sending restrictions.
5. Omnisend
Omnisend is a robust omni-channel marketing automation tool designed for eCommerce businesses. We found it to be an effective newsletter plugin for online stores seeking enhanced automation capabilities.
Creating professional email campaigns is straightforward with the drag-and-drop email builder and a variety of pre-designed responsive email templates.
Additionally, Omnisend provides a generous free email marketing plan that includes advanced features such as pre-built automation, subscriber segmentation, A/B testing, SMS marketing, web push notifications, and more.
Pros
- Connecting Omnisend to your WooCommerce store is simple using the Omnisend WordPress plugin.
- The free plan allows you to send up to 500 emails each month to a maximum of 250 contacts. Additionally, you can send up to 500 push notifications and receive complimentary SMS credits.
- Unlike many other newsletter plugins, the free plan offers access to advanced features such as unlimited subscriber segmentation, A/B testing, and detailed performance reports.
- It includes pre-designed email workflows for scenarios like product abandonment, cart abandonment, cross-selling, and more, helping to drive sales automatically.
- It provides built-in signup forms, popups, and landing pages to help you attract more email subscribers.
Cons
- The extensive advanced features of Omnisend may be overwhelming if you’re seeking a straightforward email newsletter plugin.
- The setup process and interface of Omnisend can be somewhat confusing, particularly for those new to email marketing.
Why We Recommend Omnisend
We recommend Omnisend for eCommerce businesses that need a multi-channel marketing platform equipped with automation tools. It offers advanced features that enable customer engagement through email, SMS, and other channels, streamlining marketing efforts and enhancing sales.
Pricing
Omnisend’s free planallows you to send up to 500 emails per month. As your list of subscribers grows, you will need to upgrade to a paid plan starting at $16 per month.
Related:Check out our comprehensive review of Omnisend for more insights.
6. FunnelKit Automations
FunnelKit Automations, previously known as Autonami, is a comprehensive email automation solution designed for WordPress. We appreciate how it allows users to effortlessly create both broadcast and automated email campaigns directly from the WordPress dashboard.
It includes ready-to-use workflows for abandoned cart emails, automated discount coupons, upsell emails, follow-ups, welcome messages, and more. Additionally, you can design your own workflows from scratch using the intuitive visual builder.
There is also a built-in library of customizable WooCommerce email templates, and you can easily personalize your WooCommerce emails with the drag-and-drop builder.
Advantages
- There are no restrictions on the number of emails you can send or the number of contacts you can add.
- Integrates seamlessly with popular email marketing platforms such as Brevo, Mailgun, Amazon SES, and SendGrid, as well as SMTP plugins like WP Mail SMTP to enhance email deliverability.
- Easily tailor all of WooCommerce’s default emails to fit your brand using the drag-and-drop email builder.
- Develop email marketing automation from scratch with the visual builder, or import pre-designed email automations with a single click.
- A built-in CRM provides a comprehensive 360° view of your contacts, allowing you to understand your subscribers better and monitor their journey throughout your campaigns.
- The free version of FunnelKit Automations includes all the essential features needed to set up autoresponders for your WooCommerce store.
Drawbacks
- The free version of FunnelKit Automations is limited to basic features.
- It offers fewer integrations with popular applications and tools compared to other newsletter plugins.
Reasons to Choose FunnelKit
We recommend FunnelKit for its user-friendly interface that enables you to create high-converting sales funnels and expand your email newsletter. With its robust automation capabilities and smooth integration with WordPress, FunnelKit enhances your marketing strategies and increases conversions without requiring advanced technical expertise.
Pricing Information
FunnelKit Automations is available starting at $249.50 per year, which includes unlimited emails, contacts, and automation features. Additionally, you will gain access to FunnelKit, the top sales funnel builder for WooCommerce. A free version of FunnelKit Automations is also available for you to test.
Bonus: SeedProd
SeedProd is the leading landing page builder for WordPress, enabling you to create eye-catching landing pages to launch your email newsletter and grow your email list.
We utilize SeedProd on many of our websites to create effective landing pages. Discover more in our review of SeedProd.
Choose from hundreds of professionally designed landing page templates to kickstart your project, all of which are fully customizable. The plugin features a user-friendly drag-and-drop page builder, making it simple to design various types of pages, such as coming soon pages, sales pages, checkout pages, and more.
SeedProd seamlessly integrates with popular email marketing platforms like Constant Contact, Kit (formerly ConvertKit), Brevo, and others.
Advantages
- SeedProd is user-friendly and features a drag-and-drop landing page builder, making it incredibly easy to create pages for capturing email addresses.
- With over 300 pre-designed landing pages and theme templates available, you can easily get started. Alternatively, you can create a landing page from scratch using a blank template.
- There are various customizable blocks available for your email newsletter landing page. You can include an opt-in form, contact form, testimonials, countdown timer, social sharing options, and much more.
- SeedProd supports premium integrations with well-known email marketing services and eCommerce platforms like WooCommerce.
Disadvantages
- SeedProd offers a free version to help you get started, but it has limited features. The free version does not include advanced customization options or premium integrations with email marketing services.
- You won’t be able to view your actual mailing list in SeedProd, but you can connect the plugin to an email marketing service like Constant Contact.
For more information, check out our comprehensive SeedProd review, which covers its advantages, disadvantages, and various features.
Why We Recommend SeedProd
We recommend SeedProd because it makes it easy to create stunning landing pages for your newsletter signup forms. It also allows you to design on-demand landing pages for your newsletter campaigns using a user-friendly drag-and-drop builder.
Pricing
SeedProd’s pricing starts at $39.50 per year, and it comes with a 14-day money-back guarantee. There is also a free version available to help you get started.
Bonus: Uncanny Automator
Uncanny Automator is the top automation plugin for WordPress. It enables you to automate various tasks within WordPress effortlessly, without needing to edit any code.
Uncanny Automator functions like Zapier for WordPress. It connects different WordPress plugins and marketing tools, allowing Uncanny Automator to handle tasks on your behalf.e Zapier for WordPress. It helps you connect different WordPress plugins and marketing tools, allowing Uncanny Automator to do the work for you.
You can set up automated workflows for various tasks. For instance, when a user fills out a form with WPForms, they will be automatically added to your email list in ActiveCampaign.
You can also create additional automation recipes, such as linking Google Sheets with WooCommerce or scheduling Zoom calls and webinars directly in WordPress.
Advantages
- Uncanny Automator is user-friendly and enables you to build powerful automated workflows.
- With automation, you will save time, reduce errors, and handle multiple tasks without needing to write any code.
- The plugin is compatible with over 150 different WordPress plugins and third-party applications.
- You can choose from more than 1,000 triggers and actions.
Disadvantages
- Uncanny Automator has a free version that includes many integrations. However, to access integrations with Google Sheets, Mailchimp, Slack, Zoom, and other marketing tools, you will need to upgrade to the premium version.
Reasons to Choose Uncanny Automator
It enables you to automate tasks and connect your WordPress site with your preferred email marketing tools. With its robust automation capabilities, you can establish workflows that effortlessly enhance your email newsletter.
Pricing
Uncanny Automator offers plans starting at $149 per year, which include premium integrations, unlimited automation recipes, dedicated support, and more. You can also explore the free version to set up newsletter automation.
Important Note:We reviewed several other WordPress newsletter plugins, such as Kit, MailPoet, The Newsletter Plugin, and Newsletter Glue, among others. However, we chose not to include them all in this article to avoid overwhelming you with choices.
Conclusion
For WordPress newsletter plugins, it’s usually best to utilize a dedicated email marketing platform that provides comprehensive email delivery services like Constant Contact, Brevo (formerly Sendinblue), or Drip.
The downside is that many of these platforms often lack robust signup form capabilities, which is where WordPress newsletter plugins like OptinMonster, along with form builder plugins like WPForms, can be beneficial.
These plugins enable you to integrate your WordPress site with powerful email marketing services, effectively merging the strengths of both.
Most experienced professionals and advanced WordPress users prefer not to use a newsletter plugin within WordPress for managing their email lists, as they wish to avoid the complications of connecting an SMTP plugin to an email delivery service.
Your email list is a crucial asset for your business, and it’s advisable to let professional email marketing services manage it. Even at CanadaCreate and our software ventures, we rely on third-party email marketing providers despite having the technical expertise ourselves.
We hope this article has helped you discover the top WordPress newsletter plugins for building and expanding your email list. You may also find our proven strategies for rapidly growing your email list and our recommendations for the best business phone services useful.
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