9 Mailchimp Alternatives for WordPress

Last updated on
Oct 1, 2024

Mailchimp is a popular email marketing service widely used by WordPress website owners. One of the reasons is that it is supported by most WordPress marketing plugins and themes for an email marketing integration. Mailchimp itself is a great email marketing service, with lots of handy features.

However, when a service or tool you use on a regular basis changes its interface too often, it sucks. It is one of the things about Mailchimp that is often complained about by users.

Mailchimp is not the only email marketing service out there. If you don’t like Mailchimp’s convention to makeover its dashboard interface too often (or whatever about Mailchimp that doesn’t suit you), you can use one of the alternatives below.

9 Best Mailchimp Alternatives for WordPress

On the list:

1. MailPoet

When you use Mailchimp, the email marketing processes (managing email subscribers, managing campaigns, monitoring, and so on) are run via the Mailchimp dashboard instead of WordPress. If you have staff dedicated to handling email marketing, it might not a serious problem. A different story applies if you are a single fighter or have no staff to handle email marketing yet.

MailPoet is an email marketing plugin that you can use right from the WordPress dashboard so that you don’t need to go back and forth to different dashboards. You can manage email subscribers, create a new campaign, or check the analytics from your WordPress dashboard. MailPoet is especially a great option if you want to have full control over the email marketing process.

The overall features offered by MailPoet are not much different from Mailchimp. It also comes with a visual email builder that you can use to create your campaign (e.g., newsletter). In addition to sending email newsletters, you can also use MailPoet to send email notifications about new published content. If you use WooCommerce, you can also set MailPoet to:

  • Send email notifications about the abandoned shopping cart
  • Send email notifications for customers about their first purchase

MailPoet itself is a freemium plugin. Meaning that you can use it for free. MailPoet is now owned by Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, WooCommerce, Jetpack, and several other WordPress products and services.

Want to learn more about MailPoet? You can read my detailed review.

Key Features of MailPoet:

  • Built-in Email Delivery Service
  • Built-in Form Builder
  • Email Composer
  • Email Automations
  • Sign Up Confirmation
  • Analytics
  • Subscribers Management
  • Email Personalization

2. weMail

weMail is an email marketing plugin developed by weDevs, the company that also develops popular WordPress products like WP ERP, Happy Addons, and Dokan. It is also a great solution if you are looking for an email marketing plugin that you can use via the WordPress dashboard. weMail is also released as a freemium plugin to give you a chance to use it for free. weMail is a cloud-based service.

To be able to use it, you need to create an account first. For the mail delivery service, you can use Amazon SES, SparkPost, Mailgun, or your own SMTP server if you have one. If you use Elementor on your WordPress site, you can create a stylish email opt-in form on the page or theme builder template as weMail supports integration with the most popular page builder plugin. Or, if you use form builder plugins like Gravity Forms, Caldera Forms, Ninja Forms, and so on, you can also effortlessly integrate weMail with the form builder you use.

weMail is especialy a great email marketing if you have a user-based website (e.g., a membership website). The reason is that it will automatically turn the newly registered user into an email subscriber. The plugin also has the capability to collect email addresses from blog comments.

Key Features of weMail:

  • Built-in Form Builder
  • Clean, More Modern Email Composer
  • Email Automations
  • Sign Up Confirmation
  • Analytics
  • Subscribers Management
  • Email Personalization
  • A/B Testing

3. Sendinblue (Rebranded to Brevo)

Brevo is a web-based email marketing tool just like Mailchimp. However, it offers an official plugin that you can use to run the email marketing processes right from the WordPress dashboard so that you can don’t back and forth between tabs. Once you have a Brevo account, you can connect your account with the Brevo plugin on your WordPress dashboard via an API key.

The features offered by Brevo plugin are not much different from the first two plugins above whereby you can create a new email marketing campaign using the provided visual email builder, manage subscribers, manage forms, check the stats, and so on.

One of the advantages of using Brevo is that you don’t need to be hassled to configure the mail delivery as Brevo comes with a built-in feature to do so. You can also use Brevo for free with the free version allows you to send up to 300 emails per day. There is no limitation regarding the number of subscribers you can collect.

Key Features of Brevo:

  • Built-in Form Builder
  • Clean Email Composer
  • Email Automations
  • Sign Up Confirmation
  • Analytics
  • Subscribers Management
  • Email Personalization

4. Newsletter

Newsletter is a great email marketing plugin if you have a blog or an online magazine although you can also use it on any type of website. There is not limitation regarding the number of email newsletter you can send as well as the number of email subscribers you can collect. To make it easy for you to create a newsletter, you have a visual email builder whereby you can add elements like image, call to action, heading, blog posts, text, social media icons, and animated GIF (integrated with Giphy).

To streamline your workflow, Newsletter comes with email newsletter templates you can choose from. If you have a concern about security, Newsletters also comes with a built-in security feature whereby you can integrate it with Akismet, Antiflood, and reCAPTCHA. The built-in features offered by Newsletter are:

  • Visual email builder
  • Basic analytics
  • Subscriber management.
  • Security

One drawback of Newsletter is that is has no built-in mail delivery feature. You need a third-party mail delivery service or use your own SMTP server to add a mail delivery function to Newsletter.

Newsletter itself is extensible via add-ons. You can install premium add-ons offered by Newsletter to add more advanced features like more composer blocks, integration supports with Google Analytics, Amazon SES, SendGrid, and so on. Almost forgot. Newsletter can also be used via the WordPress dashboard.

Key Features of Newsletter:

  • Email Composer
  • Sign Up Confirmation
  • Analytics
  • Subscribers Management
  • Email Personalization

5. MailerLite

Everyone has a preference. If you prefer to run the email marketing process from the dashboard of a certain email marketing service instead of your WordPress dashboard due to lack resource of your server, MailerLite can also be a great alternative to Mailchimp. MailerLite also offers a free version just like Mailchimp whereby you can send 12,000 emails per month to 1,000 subscribers.

Standard features like visual email builder, analytics, subscriber management, and A/B testing are available. MailerLite comes with photo editor to allow you to make basic photo editing. It also comes with file manager to allow you store and access frequently used files.

In the context of WordPress, you can use a form builder plugin to create an email opt-in form and connect it with your MailerLite account. Or, if you use page builder on your WordPress site, you can also add an email opt-in to the page you are working using the form element offered by the page builder you use. Some page builder plugins have a native integration with MailerLite are Elementor, Divi Builder, and Brizy.

Key Features of MailerLite:

  • Built-in Email Delivery Service
  • Built-in Form Builder
  • Email Automations
  • More Advanced Email Composer
  • Sign Up Confirmation
  • Analytics
  • Subscribers Management
  • Email Personalization
  • Landing Page Builder
  • Paid Newsletter

6. ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign is a premium email marketing service. It offers no free version like Mailchimp does. However, you can try the experience of using ActiveCampaign before you subscribe to one of the offered plans thanks to offered trial. ActiveCampaign develops two official plugins for WordPress:

  • ActiveCampaign for WooCommerce: Once installed and activated, the plugin will automatically synchronize your customers and their purchase data into your ActiveCampaign account. The data include abandoned carts.
  • ActiveCampaign: The plugin makes it easy for you embed the ActiveCampaign forms to a blog post, page, or sidebar. The plugin also allows you to use the site tracking to track your site visitors

ActiveCampaign is also supported by popular page builder plugins like Divi Builder, Brizy, and Elementor in case you use one of those page builder plugins. Do you have a dedicated marketing team? If yes, you can ask them to collaborate on email marketing campaign creation as ActiveCampaign has a feature to do so.

Key Features of ActiveCampaign:

  • Built-in Email Delivery Service
  • Built-in Form Builder
  • Email Automations
  • More Advanced Email Composer
  • Sign Up Confirmation
  • Analytics
  • Subscribers Management
  • Email Personalization
  • Landing Page Builder
  • Paid Newsletter

7. ConvertKit

Looking for a Mailchimp alternative that can be used for free as well? ConvertKit is a great option to try then. ConvertKit is a freemium email marketing service just like Mailchimp, meaning that you can use it for free before upgrading to the pro version to unlock more features. ConverKit itself is supported by most form builder plugins to allow to create an eye-catching email opt-in form.

Elementor, Divi Builder, and Brizy also support integration with ConvertKit. Same as ActiveCampaign, ConvertKit also develops two official WordPress plugins you can install according to your needs:

  • ConvertKit: The plugin allows you to embed a ConvertKit form to a blog post, page, or sidebar.
  • ConvertKit for WooCommerce: The plugin will automatically synchronize your customers and their purchase data into your ActiveCampaign account.

The overall features offered by ConvertKit are similar to other email marketing tools above where you can build a campaign using its visual email builder, track the stats, and so on. The free version of ConvertKit allows you to collect up to 1,000 subscribers.

Key Features of ConverKit:

  • Built-in Email Delivery Service
  • Built-in Form Builder
  • Email Automations
  • More Advanced Email Composer
  • Sign Up Confirmation
  • Analytics
  • Subscribers Management
  • Email Personalization
  • Landing Page Builder
  • Paid Newsletter

8. GetResponse

GetResponse a feature-rich email marketing tool you can use to replace Mailchimp. However, you can’t use it for free unless during the 30-day trial period. Some features offered by GetReponse include a visual email builder to make it easy for you to create the email, analytics to track the campaign performance, A/B testing, list management, and so on.

GetResponse is supported by Divi Builder, Elementor, and Brizy, allowing you to add an email opt-in form to a page you are creating using those page builders and connect it with your GetResponse account via an API key. GetResponse itself also offers an official plugin to allow you to embed a GetResponse form to any page.

It will also add an opt-in box to comments and registration form of your website. If you have a WooCommerce-powered site, the plugin also automatically adds your customers to the list at the checkout process.

Key Features of GetResponsive:

  • Built-in Email Delivery Service
  • Built-in Form Builder
  • Email Automations
  • More Advanced Email Composer
  • Sign Up Confirmation
  • Analytics
  • Subscribers Management
  • Email Personalization
  • Landing Page Builder
  • Paid Newsletter

9. Mailjet

If you are looking for a Mailchimp alternative that allows you to run the email marketing processes via the WordPress dashboard like some of the alternatives we mentioned earlier above, then Mailjet is another option you can try.

Mailjet offers an official WordPress plugin that you can use to collect and manage email subscribers and create and send new email newsletters to your subscribers right from the WordPress dashboard. The plugin also allows you to access real-time statistics on your campaigns.

The Mailjet service itself can be used for free although you can only send 6,000 emails per month (200 emails per day).

Key Features of Mailjet:

  • Built-in Email Delivery Service
  • Built-in Form Builder
  • More Advanced Email Composer
  • Sign Up Confirmation
  • Analytics
  • A/B Testing
  • Subscribers Management
  • Email Personalization
  • Landing Page Builder
  • Paid Newsletter

Summary: Which is the Best to Replace Mailchimp?

Looking for a Mailchimp replacement is not an easy task, especially if you have been using it for so long. In WordPress itself, there are two Mailchimp replacement types you can choose? A plugin and SaaS just like Mailchimp.

Using a newsletter plugin to replace Mailchimp is great fit if you want to have a full control over your data, but you need to have a solid WordPress hosting service as it requires more hosting resources, storage in particular.

On the other hand, a SaaS newsletter is a better fit if you look for a Mailchimp replacement that doesn’t require a complex set up, despite a lack of control over data.

This page may contain affiliate links, which help support the project. Read our affiliate disclosure.

Aliko Sunawang

Aliko is a professional blogger and web creator. He has been blogging with WordPress since 2013. In his spare time, he loves going out to take some photos. More

Hey 👋🏻

Do you have a blog?

If so, you may need these. All the resources you need to grow your blog.

Want to build passive income with your blog? You need these resources, then.

Where should we send the template?

Thanks! Please check your inbox to confirm.