MailPoet is not an SMTP relay. It is a full email marketing and newsletter platform for WordPress – drag-and-drop email builder, subscriber management, automated campaigns, WooCommerce integration – that happens to include its own sending infrastructure called the MailPoet Sending Service. The plugin has 500,000+ active installs, is maintained by Automattic (the company behind WordPress.com and WooCommerce), and has operated since 2011.
The distinction matters: if you need to route WordPress transactional email (password resets, form notifications, order receipts) through a reliable relay, MailPoet is the wrong tool. Use SMTP2GO, Postmark, or Brevo with a standard mailer plugin. If you need to build and send newsletters to a subscriber list from within WordPress, MailPoet is a strong option – and its sending service handles delivery so you do not need a separate relay for those campaigns.
What the MailPoet Sending Service actually does
The MailPoet Sending Service is the delivery infrastructure behind MailPoet’s newsletter and marketing email. It handles:
- Newsletter campaigns created in the MailPoet editor
- Automated emails (welcome sequences, post notifications, WooCommerce triggers)
- WooCommerce transactional emails (if configured through MailPoet)
- WordPress transactional email (counted against your plan limits)
It does not replace wp_mail() for plugins outside MailPoet’s scope. A contact form plugin, a membership plugin, or WordPress core password reset emails are not routed through the MailPoet Sending Service unless you configure MailPoet to handle all site email – and even then, this is a side function of a newsletter platform, not its primary purpose.
Pricing
MailPoet’s pricing is based on subscriber count, not email volume (except on the free tier):
| Plan | Price | Subscribers | Sending | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | Free | Up to 500 | 5,000/mo via MailPoet service | MailPoet branding in emails |
| Creator | From ~$10/mo | Scales | Your own sending method | Premium features, no MailPoet service |
| Business | From ~$14/mo | Scales | Unlimited via MailPoet service | Premium features + sending |
| Agency | Custom | Scales | Unlimited via MailPoet service | Up to 50 sites |
The free Starter plan (500 subscribers, 5,000 emails/month) includes the MailPoet Sending Service – no external relay needed for newsletter delivery at this scale. The MailPoet branding on free-tier emails is the trade-off.
For context on transactional-only needs: the Starter plan’s 5,000 emails/month sounds generous, but it covers newsletter sends too. A site with 400 subscribers sending a weekly newsletter uses ~1,600 of those emails on campaigns alone, leaving ~3,400 for transactional. SMTP2GO offers 1,000 transactional emails/month free with no subscriber model, no branding, and no newsletter overhead.
When to use MailPoet
Use MailPoet when you need an all-in-one WordPress newsletter and email marketing solution. If your primary need is building subscriber lists, designing email campaigns, setting up automated WooCommerce emails, and sending them from within WordPress – MailPoet is among the best options in the category. The Automattic backing, active development (last updated June 2026), and 500K+ install base provide stability that smaller newsletter plugins cannot match.
Do not use MailPoet as a standalone transactional email relay. If your WordPress site needs password resets, form submissions, and admin notifications to arrive reliably – and you are not building a newsletter – install a standard mailer plugin (WP Mail SMTP, FluentSMTP, Post SMTP) connected to a dedicated relay. MailPoet adds a full email marketing stack you do not need.
MailPoet can work alongside a separate transactional relay: MailPoet handles newsletters via its own sending service while SMTP2GO or Postmark handles transactional wp_mail() via a mailer plugin. This is the recommended configuration for sites that need both.
Plugin data from wordpress.org (v5.30.0, June 2026, 500K+ installs). Plan details from MailPoet Knowledge Base.