The Newsletter Plugin
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Choose it if you run WordPress, have a small-to-mid list, and want newsletters without monthly SaaS fees.
New check
Comparison
The Newsletter Plugin vs Mailster
The Newsletter Plugin and Mailster both land on Depends.
Mailster
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Buy it if you run a WordPress site and want newsletter sending without monthly SaaS fees.
| Compare | The Newsletter Plugin | Mailster |
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Depends | Depends |
| Best for | WordPress sites wanting free newsletters | Small WordPress sites |
| Who it's not for | Non-WordPress sites | High-volume senders needing managed deliverability |
| Privacy | Poor recent track record: multiple 2025-2026 CVEs (stored XSS, CSRF, auth bypass) on top of a 2020 flaw wave hitting 300,000+ sites.⁷ | Several reported vulnerabilities (reflected XSS, local file inclusion) around v4.0.6; keep the plugin updated. |
| Support quality | Forums exist; no quality evidence found | Users report weeks-long support waits |
| Public sentiment | Redditors actively debate whether it's worth it for lists from thousands to tens of thousands of subscribers, with free-tier appeal weighed against self-hosted tradeoffs.⁹ | Users praise the value for the price and ease of use, but some report support delays and weigh it against standalone email services. |
| Biggest gotcha | Multiple 2025-2026 CVEs (XSS, CSRF, auth bypass); unpatched installs are targets | Ownership changed hands; verify update cadence before committing. |
Pick The Newsletter Plugin when
- WordPress sites wanting free newsletters
- Bloggers avoiding monthly SaaS fees
- Lists up to ~10,000 subscribers
- Teams keeping subscriber data on their own site
When The Newsletter Plugin is not a fit
- Non-WordPress sites
- Guess: high-volume senders needing guaranteed inbox placement
- Anyone who won't patch plugins promptly
- Guess: teams needing advanced marketing automation and segmentation
Pick Mailster when
- Small WordPress sites
- Budget-conscious newsletter senders
- Bloggers wanting in-dashboard sending
- Buyers who hate subscriptions
When Mailster is not a fit
- High-volume senders needing managed deliverability
- Non-WordPress sites
- Teams wanting vendor-run infrastructure and SLAs
- Anyone unwilling to maintain plugin updates
Sources
review
- MailPoet and WordPress Newsletter Plugins vs Mailchimp and Dripdeliciousbrains.comreview
- Best WordPress Newsletter Plugins . WPBeginnerwpbeginner.comreview
- Newsletter . WordPress.org plugin pagewordpress.orgofficial
- Pricing . The Newsletter Pluginthenewsletterplugin.comofficial
- CVE-2026-86824: Newsletter Plugin Auth Bypasssentinelone.comsecurity
- CVE-2025-3584 . Stored XSS to JS Backdoorresearch.cleantalk.orgsecurity
security
review
- The Newsletter Plugin . Crunchbasecrunchbase.comnews
- Mailster official sitemailster.coofficial
- Mailster pricing pagemailster.coofficial
- Mailster templates (400+)mailster.coofficial
- WP Mayor Mailster reviewwpmayor.comreview
- Mailster vs Mailchimp cost comparisoninboxreads.coreview
- Reddit: Email marketing recommendationsreddit.comreview