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Best Newsletter Plugin for WordPress: Choose the Right One (Free + Paid)
Get the most from your email marketing with these WordPress newsletter plugins
Nicola Vaughan
September 28th, 2024
Regularly keeping in touch with your customers is one of the most important parts of running a business.
This is why email newsletters are becoming more and more popular.
As your business grows, you need an easy way to do this, which is where WordPress newsletter plugins come in.
WordPress newsletter plugins are essential for WordPress websites.
They allow users to access their website CMS and email Marketing all in one place. Your WordPress site likely records your customer database, so directly linking your newsletter here can be super handy.
There are many WordPress newsletter plugins, but which are the best?
Table of Contents
What Makes a Great WordPress Newsletter Plugin?
With so many WordPress newsletter plugins to choose from, it’s important to know what to look out for when it comes to key features and factors. This will vary depending on your business and email marketing goals, but here are some key features that all newsletter plugins should have:
User Friendly: If a plugin isn’t user-friendly, you just won’t end up using it. A plugin should be easily accessible, for example, it should work on both desktop and mobile devices, without causing any bugs/glitches. Newsletters should be quick and easy to send, and the interface should be a pleasure to use.
Customizable: Being able to customize your newsletter is crucial when it comes to using plugins. While plugins generally make things quick and easy, a red flag would be if the plugin only provides a basic newsletter template that can’t be fully edited. Check you can customize the design and branding of the email template, without extensive coding.
Reliable: A WordPress newsletter plugin should be reliable, without bugs and glitches making life easier for you. The plugin should be stable and should provide great deliverability to your subscribers.
Integration Capabilities: A great newsletter plugin will seamlessly integrate with other tools. You may wish to link it with other systems such as WooCommerce, CRM systems, or APIs.
Support/Updates: While you’d hope that you’d need little support from a plugin, things do occasionally go wrong. It’s worth checking how you reach out if an issue were to arise, as well as plugin reviews to see how supportive the plugin developers are. These should also indicate how quick they are to respond to inquiries.
Reporting: Measuring your email newsletter is vital in determining how to market to your customers moving forward. This is why a detailed reporting system within a newsletter plugin is necessary, reporting key analytics of your newsletter such as open rates, clickthrough rates, spam scores, and deliverability.
Reviews: The best WordPress newsletter plugins will have a great reputation, with their happy customers leaving them reviews. To see which are the best-rated, check the different plugins that are available via the plugin section on WordPress. Each plugin should display customer reviews indicating their level of satisfaction.
Wondering why you need a newsletter plugin for your website? Check out the beehiiv blog for more reasons why your website would benefit from a newsletter plugin!
What Are The Best Free Plugins for WordPress?
Now we know what to look for in a newsletter plugin, how do we narrow down the best ones? There are hundreds of newsletter plugins to choose from, so we’ve made things easy for you by compiling a list of the top 5.
Here are the top 5 newsletter plugins for WordPress to help make the growth of your email marketing campaigns easy.
Archiiv: Free and Complete
Archiiv is a WordPress newsletter plugin that enables you to link your beehiiv account with your WordPress site.
Archiiv allows users to include a simple form on the front end of their website. This form is programmed to add user email addresses to the beehiiv dashboard.
It’s easy to use, and is low maintenance as once installed it works away in the background to increase your subscriber list.
How To Use Archiiv on Your WordPress Website
Installing Archiiv on your WordPress website is super easy.
Follow the below set of instructions to integrate Archiiv into your website, and check out the video tutorial too!
Login to your WordPress website and click Plugins from the left-hand menu.
Click “Add New”.
Search for the plugin “Archiiv” in the search box on the right-hand side.
When Archiiv appears in the search results, click “Install Now” and then “Activate”.
Click “Archiiv” from the left-hand menu.
Click the link at the top of the page that says “Where to find your API Key and Publication ID”. This will take you to your beehiiv dashboard.
In beehiiv, copy your publication ID.
Go back to WordPress and paste the publication ID into the field labeled “beehiiv Publication ID”.
In beehiiv, create a new API Key from the Integrations sections under the Admin menu bar. Give it a name - something you’ll remember - and click copy.
In WordPress, paste the API key into the field labeled “beehiiv API Key”.
Add your redirect URL to the “Redirect Slug” section.
Navigate to the page on your website that you’d like the form to feature and edit the page.
Add the shortcode [beehiiv_newsletter] to the editor and click “Update”.
View the page on the front end of your website and test the form by submitting a test email address.
MailChimp: Versatile Tool for Creators
One of the best-known email marketing systems is MailChimp, with a WordPress plugin allowing you to create signup forms and build your marketing list.
The forms can be easily integrated with other plugins such as WooCommerce, and users can create an unlimited number of forms without the need to reload the page. MailChimp also features a drag-and-drop editor which is super easy to use.
There is a free plan for the WordPress MailChimp plugin, and while it is highly versatile it does have limitations such as no scheduling options and up to 500 contacts. The paid plans are more attractive, with additional subscriber/sending options and more targeting features.
For more email builders with easy-to-use drag-and-drop functionality, check out the beehiiv blog.
MailPoet: User-friendly and Efficient
MailPoet is a WordPress newsletter plugin that allows users to both design and send email newsletters within WordPress.
It is well-suited to those without coding capabilities, as it has an intuitive drag-and-drop editor. This makes it user-friendly and efficient with a range of attractive templates.
MailPoet offers a free plan for under 1,000 subscribers. You can also upgrade to one of the paid plans to benefit from unlimited sending, customized branding, and the ability to add MailPoet to different websites.
Brevo: Automation and Auto-Install Script
Brevo, formerly known as Sendinblue, is a WordPress plugin that is known for its automation capabilities and auto-install script.
The Brevo script can be auto-installed on your WordPress site so that you can access its online dashboard easily, helping you to streamline your newsletter management. It also offers automatic replacement of SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) which provides better tracking and deliverability.
Brevo can be used for free for sending up to 300 emails per day to an unlimited number of contacts. Paid plans start from $9 per month and include benefits such as increased daily email sending, marketing automation, and the ability to remove Brevo branding.
Omnisend: Renowned Email and SMS Automation
The WordPress newsletter plugin Omnisend is known for its email and SMS automation features.
With email and SMS marketing all in one place, users find this tool to be an affordable option and easy to use. It integrates well with WordPress and WooCommerce and allows new customers to try it for free with all features included. You’ll just have a limited number of subscribers that you can send to.
Omnisend also offers comprehensive documentation for easy setup within your WordPress site.
Choosing the Best WordPress Newsletter Plugin for Your Needs
Choosing the best newsletter plugin for your specific requirements depends on several factors. No size fits all, so it’s important to analyze how your email marketing works and what you want from your email marketing.
If you have a large mailing list, you may want to consider a plugin that doesn’t charge you per number of subscribers. This can get costly as your subscriber base grows, and there are systems out there that don’t charge in this way.
Consider the features that you want your newsletter WordPress plugin to have. This could range from automation features, scheduling options, and advanced analytics, to A/B testing abilities, and great usability. Bear in mind what you want now and may want in the future when choosing which tool is best for you.
If a free plan is important to you, check which tools offer the best features within their free options. Many plugins offer a range of tools on a free plan, which is worth considering before delving into more expensive email marketing options.
The Archiiv plugin by beehiiv can make importing your subscribers to your mailing list easy. If you’d like to give beehiiv a try, you can sign up for a free 30-day trial here and check out some premium features such as automations, A/B testing, and monetization opportunities such as the beehiiv Ad Network and beehiiv Boosts.
Why Listen to Me? I have been working in the digital marketing space for nearly 10 years, predominantly helping brands with their email marketing and online presence. I now specialize in creating great content for beehiiv to help people nail their email strategies!
How To Use WordPress Plugins for Free?
There are many free WordPress plugins that you can integrate within your WordPress site. Simply click “Plugins” on the left-hand menu in WordPress and start exploring!
Remember that there may be limitations to free plugins versus the ones that have paid plans - keep an eye out for potential upgrades when looking for plugins to gain access to advanced newsletter features.
How to Add Plugins to WordPress for Free?
To add the best WordPress newsletter plugins for free to your site, click “Plugins” on the left-hand menu in WordPress and search through the different options. It’s important to check the review scores of plugins before you download them to ensure that you’re downloading a reputable and reliable plugin.
How to Download WordPress Plugins for Free?
Follow the below steps to download and install free newsletter plugins for WordPress:
Login to your WordPress site.
Click “Plugins” on the left-hand menu.
Click “Add New”.
Click the search box and either type in the specific plugin you’re looking for or keywords such as ‘newsletter’ or ‘email marketing’.
Click on the plugin that you want to download and click “Install”.
Once the plugin has been installed click “Activate”.
Are Plugins for WordPress Also Free to Edit?
Most plugins can be customized with hooks, filters, and CSS. However, if the developer of the plugin were to issue an update, your changes would likely disappear.
Speak to an experienced developer if you’d like to edit a free WordPress plugin to ensure you get the most out of it.
There are ways that you can access premium features in WordPress plugins for free, however, these should be used with caution.
A plugin that has been hacked to allow access for free is known as a nulled plugin. We do not recommend these types of plugins, however, as there will be legal implications and it’s highly likely that the plugins will have malware or bugs.
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