Mailpiece vs WordPress.com
You wanted a letter. You got a website and a plan.
Here we compare WordPress.com's built-in newsletter, where subscribers get your new posts by email. For WordPress on your own server, see Mailpiece vs WordPress.org. We think a newsletter deserves to be more than a blog's notification. WordPress.com is a fine place to build a website, but if all you do is write to people who asked to hear from you, you're running a site, a plan and a hosted list to send a letter.
With WordPress.com
A blog post, emailed after
- Write in their block editor, on their site
- WordPress.com mails each new post, unless you switch it off
- Count opens and clicks
- Your own domain on a paid plan
With Mailpiece
A newsletter, on your own domain
- Ask your agent to write it, or write it yourself
- Mail through the provider you choose
- No tracking. Readers say if they liked it
- Free, on your own server and domain
A week with each
write in the block editor, or have an agent draft and publish through its MCP server on a paid plan
tell your agent what this week's issue is about, and it drafts, tests and schedules it, for free
mail every post you publish, unless you switch it off for that one
write the issue as an issue, and send yourself a test first
check open and click rates in your stats
hear from the readers who say they liked it
let readers follow you in the WordPress.com Reader, next to every other site
greet new readers with welcome emails you write, and say goodbye to those who leave
keep the list in your WordPress.com account
keep the list on your own server
Side by side
- WordPress.com is built to host your website, and charges for your own domain. In Mailpiece, your newsletter feels like your own place, on your own domain.
- On WordPress.com, you write in its block editor, or have an agent draft and publish through its MCP server. In Mailpiece, your agent does all you can do on screen: drafts, sends you a test, schedules, publishes.
- On WordPress.com, your list lives on WordPress.com. In Mailpiece, it lives on your server.
- On WordPress.com, your readers are tracked. In Mailpiece, they're left alone.
- As your list grows, WordPress.com takes a cut of what readers pay, on every plan but Commerce. In Mailpiece, nothing changes.
- On WordPress.com, you have a site to run. In Mailpiece, you write, test and send.
Moving from WordPress.com
Install Mailpiece, download your subscribers from WordPress.com as a file and import the addresses, then connect the mail provider you want to send with. Your next issue goes out from Mailpiece, on your own domain. Your old posts, your theme, your paid subscribers and the readers who follow you in the WordPress.com Reader stay with WordPress.com: keep the site up as an archive for as long as you like.
Who should stay on WordPress.com?
Someone whose newsletter is really a website, with pages, a theme, a shop or paid subscriptions, and readers who follow in the WordPress.com Reader. Mailpiece is only a newsletter, on purpose.
Can I keep my WordPress.com site and use Mailpiece for the newsletter?
Yes. Put Mailpiece's sign-up form on your site and send the newsletter from Mailpiece, on a domain of its own. Make sure WordPress.com no longer emails your posts to the readers you've moved, so nobody gets two.
Can I charge for my newsletter?
Not with Mailpiece. It mails everyone who asked to hear from you, for free. If paid subscriptions are the point, stay where they're built in.
Move your newsletter this afternoon
Install Mailpiece on a server, import your list, connect your sender, and send your next issue from it.