MailPoet

What it is

MailPoet is an email marketing plugin for WordPress. A guide on startupstash.com describes it as a tool that "allows users to design attractive signup forms, collect and manage subscribers, send newsletters and other promotional emails," and adds that it "also integrates with WooCommerce so that information can be sent to subscribers automatically." An ActiveCampaign blog post calls it "an email and newsletter plugin for WordPress that allows businesses to create and send emails from their WordPress dashboard."

Every source agrees that it is WordPress only. A comparison on formidableforms.com says "MailPoet is an email marketing plugin for WordPress only," and an EmailOctopus article answers the question of whether MailPoet works without WordPress with a flat "No, you need to have a WordPress website to use MailPoet." A Moosend article says MailPoet "was acquired by WooCommerce a couple of years ago," and a July 2026 review on wiserreview.com describes the WooCommerce team's AutomateWoo extension as "MailPoet's Automattic sibling." The same review credits MailPoet with "500,000+ installs."

Building emails and forms

The editor is drag and drop. The Formidable Forms comparison says MailPoet is a drag and drop email builder with basic styling options and email templates that save design time, and an OMR Reviews listing names "customizable templates, and drag-and-drop function" among its features. The EmailOctopus article lists "Drag & drop email editor" as one of MailPoet's pros, next to easy WordPress integration and WooCommerce-specific features.

Signup forms are built into the plugin. Startupstash lists "fully customizable sign-up forms" among the features, while Formidable Forms says that with MailPoet's form builder "the overall look of your forms is pretty basic." Formidable Forms also names popup forms as part of the free plan.

Getting started is quick, according to the same comparison: "It's a WordPress plugin, so you install and activate it. Then, enter your MailPoet details, and you're off and running," and "You can use the plugin with their free plan, too."

Automation, segmentation and reporting

Automation is available on every plan. Formidable Forms says "Automated emails are available in all of its plans, even for free users. It's basic marketing automation, but automation nonetheless." OMR Reviews names auto-send welcome emails and blog post notifications among MailPoet's features. The wiserreview.com article sums up MailPoet as "forms, Woo automations, and managed sending." The reviews are consistent that the automation is simple: the ActiveCampaign post lists "Basic automation features" among the pros and "Limited automation capabilities" among the cons, and Moosend claims "MailPoet doesn't offer A/B testing in any plan."

Startupstash lists segmentation and advanced analytics among MailPoet's features. Formidable Forms is more specific about reporting: "You get basic analytics," covering "open rates, click rates, and subscriber scores." A feature table on easysendy.com marks MailPoet as supporting responsive templates, follow-up autoresponders, RSS email campaigns, event-based campaigns, list management and segments, a GDPR consent checkbox, Zapier integration, and an API and webhooks.

Sending options

MailPoet can send through more than one route. Formidable Forms lists three: "Your host," "With a 3rd party SMTP," and "MailPoet's email-sending service." The wiserreview.com FAQ adds detail from MailPoet's own documentation: on the Creator plan "you send through your own host or a third-party SMTP service instead," MailPoet's documentation "warns that sending with your web host risks speed limits and spam folders," and the free Starter and Business plans use the MailPoet Sending Service, "which handles SPF, DKIM, bounces, and complaints for you." EmailOctopus notes that "MailPoet does have an SMTP, but it can't be used outside their platform."

Plans and pricing

Pricing is based on subscriber count. The wiserreview.com article, checked in July 2026 against what it calls "the official knowledge base and pricing pages," gives the free Starter plan as "500 subscribers and 5,000 emails a month with MailPoet branding, using the MailPoet Sending Service." It says paid plans "scale by subscriber count from 500 up to 200,000, starting around $10 a month at the smallest sizes": "Creator sends through your own service, Business adds unlimited sending through theirs, and Agency covers up to 50 sites."

The article also explains what counts toward the bill. It says that "per MailPoet's official knowledge base, the billed total includes subscribers with Subscribed, Inactive, and Unconfirmed statuses, plus everyone on the WordPress Users and WooCommerce Customers lists," so pruning inactive and unconfirmed contacts lowers the cost.

Other sources give figures from different dates. The EmailOctopus article, posted July 15, 2024, lists the free tier at 500 subscribers and 5,000 emails a month and paid pricing that "Starts at $10" for 500 subscribers and "Starts at $80" for a list of 10K subscribers. The Formidable Forms comparison lists a free plan with "1,000 subscribers and 5,000 emails per month," a Creator plan that is the "Same as business (without MailPoet sending) for $8 per month," a Business plan at $10 per month and an Agency plan at $30 per month. It says "all of MailPoet's paid plans have unlimited monthly email limits." The ActiveCampaign post gives an entry price that "Starts at $9/month billed annually," and easysendy.com says plans start from "$16.15/500 Subscribers." Because the figures vary by source and date, a buyer should read them as a guide to the pricing model rather than a current quote.

What reviewers say

On Capterra, MailPoet holds "4.0 out of 5 across 31 reviews," with 4.3 out of 5 for ease of use. The EmailOctopus article cites a GetApp user rating of 4.3 and names "WordPress sites" as its best use case. OMR Reviews shows 4.5 from 2 reviews.

The praise centers on convenience. Formidable Forms says "if we're talking ease of use as a WordPress user, it's hard to beat MailPoet," and wiserreview.com calls it "the easiest email builder in WordPress." The criticism centers on depth. Wiserreview.com says reviews place its limits at "fewer third-party integrations than the big platforms, segmentation and CRM depth that thins against dedicated tools, and support that gets lighter on lower plans," and that because email runs as a plugin, "a hosting issue or plugin conflict becomes an email problem, too." Formidable Forms says MailPoet's analytics stop at open rates, click rates and subscriber scores.

Who it suits and who it does not

MailPoet suits WordPress site owners who want email inside the dashboard they already use, and WooCommerce stores in particular: EmailOctopus singles out its WooCommerce-specific features, and the free plan, per Formidable Forms, already includes automation, WooCommerce integration, popup forms and pre-built templates. A blogger or small shop with a modest list can start on the free Starter plan, and the Agency plan's coverage of up to 50 sites, as wiserreview.com describes it, suits a developer running email for many client sites.

It does not suit anyone without a WordPress site. Senders who need A/B testing, deep analytics or complex automation will find the reviewers consistent that MailPoet keeps these basic, and stores with many WordPress users or WooCommerce customers who never opted in should check how those contacts count toward the subscriber total before choosing a plan.