Almost all of WordPress newsletter plugins have the ability to send HTML emails–some of them do so with the nice themes even and with the ability to attach a file to the outgoing message. But not all plugins give your recipients the option to see a plaintext version of the message. Some plugins will either allow you to send an HTML email or a plaintext email–not both.
Find out how the plugins fair when it comes to HTML email support, themes and design of templates and opt-in forms, and their ability to attach files.
You can click on the name of the product below to view its full review.
Tribulant Newsletter
Tribulant Newsletter handles email sending better than any other plugin in its category. It is capable of sending nicely themed HTML emails and with attachments.
The plugin ships with 7 premade themes. You can easily create your own theme by peeking at the existing themes and copying the template tags that are used in them.
Tribulant Newsletter claims to send a plain text version along with HTML, but I don't see any user interface for that.
WP Autoresponder
WP Autoresponder can send themed HTML newsletters. There are two themes: Clean Looks and Blue Vision. You can choose one and load it onto the editor where you write your broadcast. You can also supply a plaintext version of the email for those subscribers who can't read HTML emails. WP Autoresponder cannot send attachments, though.
Satollo's Newsletter
Satollo's Newsletter supports HTML email, but it doesn't have the ability to fallback on plain text for those subscribers who don't support HTML emails. You can either send HTML or plain, not both. And you cannot send attachments along with the email.
Satollo's Newsletter comes with 2 built-in themes. They are minimalist and clean themes, but I would have liked to see more options.
There are no themes or templates for the sidebar opt-in form. Though, someone with graphic design knowledge can easily style the opt-in form.
But, designing a newsletter theme isn't as easy. And unfortunately, the developer doesn't provide sufficient documentation for that.
EasyMail Newsletter
EasyMail handles HTML emails nicely. You can build your HTML in the visual editor of WordPress or by switching to the HTML editor when you're composing your newsletter. The built-in templates of EasyMail are also made of HTML.
With EasyMail, you can pre-style your newsletter with one of the three built-in themes. And it is easy to build your own newsletter theme--just go to the themes folder within the plugin and you'll find a themes_howto.txt file as well as the source files for existing themes, which you can use as a starting point.
It is also possible to style the opt-in form that EasyMail creates with your own CSS.
As for email attachments, they are not supported by EasyMail.
MailPress
MailPress handles the sending of HTML emails pretty well. It also allows you to specify a plain text version of your email. There's no way to include attachments, however.
As for themes and designs, the opt-in forms that MailPress puts out can be styled by anyone who knows web design. They don't have any built-in styles though.
MailPress does include five themes. Three in English and one in French. The author also provides instruction and documentations on making your own MailPress theme.
[GWA] Autoresponder Professional
[GWA] Autoresponder can send HTML emails with one of 19 built-in themes. You can even create your own themes. The plugin allows you to select either an HTML email or a plain text email. It can't send both in one email, like some of the other plugins. However, unlike most other plugins, [GWA] Autoresponder can attach a file to emails.
WPMU DEV e-Newsletter
When it comes to HTML emails and templates e-Newsletter does pretty well. It ships with 6 different beautiful templates. There's also a nice "Preview" feature that allows you to see how the final newsletter will look like.
However, e-Newsletter doesn't support plain text emails or attachments.
MeeNews
MeeNews can send HTML newsletters but it doesn't have any themes. It doesn't support plaintext emails and it doesn't support attachments.
