At WPBeginner, we’ve talked to and worked with many small businesses to find out what they need from an event ticketing plugin. From their feedback, we researched and tested different options to find the best fit for our users.

We already use WPForms and Easy Digital Downloads (EDD) across our brands for building forms and selling products, so we also decided to investigate their capabilities for selling event tickets. And after this research process, we settled on Sugar Calendar, WPForms, WP Simple Pay, and EDD as our overall top picks.

In this article, we will show you some of the best WordPress event ticketing plugins so you can select the most suitable option for your business.

Want to know which option is best for you? Here’s a quick overview of event ticketing plugins.

How We Tested WordPress Event Ticketing Plugins

It can be overwhelming to try to manage and organize multiple events manually. You’d have to add each event to a calendar, handle all the ticket purchase requests, send out tickets to customers, and more.

Since this is a lot of work, an easier solution is to use a WordPress event ticketing plugin. It automates many of the tasks, as users can simply view the event in the calendar on your site and purchase event tickets with a click of a button. Plus, you can easily manage all the events and track purchases from one place.

To help you find the best event ticketing plugin for WordPress, we tested multiple options. Now, we are already using some of the plugins across our brands, like Easy Digital Downloads and WPForms. But we also went out of our way to help you find more options that might be suitable for your business.

Here’s a breakdown of our testing criteria for each plugin:

• Ease of Use: We assessed how simple the plugin’s interface is for both event organizers and customers. A user-friendly experience is crucial for a smooth ticketing process.
• Features: We evaluated the plugin’s core features, such as ticket creation, calendar options, sales, and management. We also checked additional functionalities like integrations with other tools and payment gateways.
• Customization: We examined how customizable the plugin is, allowing you to tailor the ticketing process to your specific needs and brand.
• Performance: We tested the plugin’s performance to ensure it can handle large-scale events without compromising your website’s speed or stability.

That said, here are some of the best WordPress event ticketing plugins you can choose from.

1. Sugar Calendar

Sugar Calendar is the best WordPress calendar plugin that offers powerful features and is beginner-friendly to use. Among all the ticketing plugins we tested, Sugar Calendar is by far the easiest plugin for showing events on a calendar and selling tickets online.

We have already thoroughly reviewed each feature offered by the plugin. For more details, please see our complete Sugar Calendar review.

It offers an event ticketing addon that lets you show event prices and the quantity available. Then, your event attendees can purchase tickets directly from your event details page with a credit or debit card.

Another reason why we like this plugin is because of the customization options it offers. You can add start and end event times, show events on different calendars, choose time zones, and more. You can also integrate Sugar Calendar with Stripe to accept online payments.

Pros:

• A simple, lightweight, and user-friendly calendar plugin
• Support for one-off, recurring, specific-duration, all-day, and multi-day events
• Organize events based on category and timezone
• Easily sell tickets to events through Stripe or WooCommerce
• Different calendar and event customization options

Cons:

• The event ticketing addon is not available in the free version

Why We Recommend Sugar Calendar: For people looking for a seamless way to manage their events, show them on a calendar, and sell tickets online, Sugar Calendar is a must-have WordPress plugin. We can confidently say it’s a game-changer for anyone looking to streamline their ticketing process.

2. WPForms

WPForms is the best contact form plugin for WordPress, and you can also use it to create a booking form and sell event tickets online.

At WPBeginner, we use WPForms across our entire website. This includes our contact form, suggestion form, and job application form. To learn about all the features and benefits, please see our detailed WPForms review.

What makes WPForms a great event ticketing plugin is its prebuilt form templates and drag-and-drop builder. You can choose from thousands of templates to get started and easily customize them according to your needs.

There are many addons as well that can take your event ticking process to the next level. For example, you can collect event submissions from users using a form without giving access to the WordPress admin panel.

We also like WPForms because it easily integrates with different tools, plugins, and payment services. You can connect with Sugar Calendar and show user-submitted events automatically on the calendar.

For details, see our guide on how to accept user-submitted events in WordPress.

Pros:

• User-friendly drag-and-drop form builder
• Extensive customization options
• 1900+ prebuilt form templates
• Seamless integration with popular payment and email marketing services
• Advanced features like conditional logic
• Excellent customer support

Cons:

• The free version has limited features

Why We Recommend WPForms: We recommend WPForms for its combination of ease of use, flexibility, and powerful features. The plugin’s drag-and-drop interface makes it a breeze to create custom forms and sell event tickets online.

3. WP Simple Pay

WP Simple Pay is the next WordPress event ticketing plugin on our list. If you’re looking to sell online tickets without setting up a complicated eCommerce checkout, then we highly recommend it.

In the past, we’ve used this plugin across different parts of our business to show a buy now button and accept online payments. You can go through our WP Simple Pay review for more information.

Overall, WP Simple Pay is ideal for bloggers who want to make money online by showing a buy now button. The plugin allows you to offer one-time or recurring payments and choose from pre-built form templates.

What impressed us the most was that the plugin supports over 13 different payment methods. Some of them include debit and credit payments, Stripe, PayPal, ACH debit, Google Pay, Apple Pay, Venmo, and more. You can also create buy-now-pay-later options using WP Simple Pay.

Pros:

• Easy to set up and use
• Compatible with multiple payment gateways
• Customizable payment forms
• Over 13 different payment methods
• Affordable pricing

Cons:

• Customization options are limited compared to others
• Few payment methods are available in the free version

Why We Recommend WP Simple Pay: If you’re looking for a plugin that lets you add a buy now button to your site to sell event tickets, then WP Simple Pay is the best option. The Stripe plugin is user-friendly and helps collect online payments without adding an elaborate eCommerce checkout system.

4. Easy Digital Downloads

Easy Digital Downloads (EDD) is an eCommerce platform for WordPress. It’s the best option for selling digital products such as event tickets, ebooks, media files, PDFs, songs, images, software, printables, and more.

We already use Easy Digital Downloads to manage and sell some of our most popular WordPress plugins, like WPForms and MonsterInsights. Find out about all the features in our Easy Digital Downloads review.

Easy Digital Downloads is super easy to use and set up and provides complete control over your digital store.

We were really impressed with the level of flexibility EDD provides. You can set up variable pricing based on categories or simply provide a fixed price for your event tickets. It also supports popular payment services like PayPal and Stripe.

Pros:

• Very easy to use and configure
• Support multiple payment gateways
• Securely offer downloadable content to users
• Easily create a digital marketplace to sell event tickets
• Complete shopping cart
• Detailed built-in analytics and file download logs

Cons:

• Doesn’t support the sale of physical products

Why We Recommend Easy Digital Downloads: When it comes to selling digital products, Easy Digital Downloads is the best WordPress store plugin on the market. It’s beginner-friendly, flexible, and easy to scale for selling event tickets online.

5. Tickera

Tickera is a free WordPress plugin for selling event tickets on your website. It is a great, affordable solution for new website owners and eCommerce store owners who want to sell tickets online.

While testing, we were impressed that the plugin was very easy to use. It offers all the basic features for creating new events, adding tickets to your site, and more.

There is also an option to edit the default ticket template. You can change settings for the event logo, ticket type, event name, location, ticket owner name, and more.

Tickera also integrates with different payment services. The free version comes with 2Checkout, Custom Offline Payments, and Free Orders as payment gateways. If you need more options, then you’ll need to upgrade to the premium plan.

Pros:

• Beginner friendly interface
• Complete ticket and event solution
• Integrations with popular payment services
• User-friendly ticket builder
• Add discount codes for users

Cons:

• Stripe and PayPal are not available in the free version
• Offers premium addons that are sold separately

Why We Recommend Tickera: We selected Tickera because it offers all the basic features you need to create events and tickets on your website for free. There is a premium version as well, which offers more payment gateways. However, the base plugin is ideal for new website owners who are looking to keep costs under control.

6. The Events Calendar

The Events Calendar is another popular event ticketing plugin for WordPress that is beginner-friendly and packed with features.

One of the standout features we liked was its complete event ticket management feature. If you want to learn more about our experience with this plugin, then you can go through our review of The Events Calendar.

You get total control over event tickets for your website. It provides a simple interface for creating tickets, prebuilt ticket templates, setting up ticket sales, showing stock countdowns, and more.

The Events Calendar also integrates with WooCommerce and payment services like PayPal and Stripe. Besides that, the plugin lets you create a stunning, customizable event calendar for your WordPress website.

One thing we didn’t like was that the plugin is slightly on the expensive side compared to other event ticketing tools on our list. Plus, most advanced features are locked away in premium pricing plans.

Pros:

• Powerful event management plugin
• Complete ticket management system
• Multiple calendar views
• QR code check-ins for users
• Set up recurring and one-time events
• Integrates with PayPal and Stripe to collect payments
• Import events from Google Calendar, Eventbrite, Meetup, and other services

Cons:

• Advanced features and integrations locked in paid plans
• Premium plans are on the expensive side

Why We Recommend The Events Calendar: We chose The Events Calendar for its versatility, reliability, and strong community support. It’s great for anyone looking to create beautiful, functional event calendars and wants a complete event ticketing system for their website.

7. WP Event Manager

WP Event Manager is another WordPress event ticketing plugin you can use. We shortlisted this plugin because it is perfect for WooCommerce users who want to sell online tickets.

The plugin offers a Sell Tickets addon that helps you create event tickets and distribute them amongst your attendees with ease. You get a complete ticket management feature with different customization options.

The thing we liked most about using the plugin is that it also shows a purchase record. When a customer buys a ticket, the plugin automatically records the transaction. This way, you can track who purchased event tickets.

Besides that, other features offered by the plugin include multiple ticket types, event countdown, smooth registration process, attendee information, WooCommerce paid listings, and more.

There is also a free version of the plugin you can use for managing events, but it doesn’t include the WooCommerce integration and Sell Tickets addon.

Pros:

• Complete event management plugin
• Create and manage events without editing code
• Sell Tickets addon
• Show an event countdown
• Integrate with WooCommerce and Stripe

Cons:

• The Sell Tickets addon is not available in the free version

Why We Recommend WP Event Manager: If you already have a WooCommerce store and are looking for an event management tool, then we highly recommend WP Event Manager. It easily integrates with your store and lets you sell event tickets online. Plus, you get lots of features and addons.

Which Is the Best WordPress Event Ticketing Plugin?

After testing and reviewing different WordPress event ticketing plugins, the best option depends on your end goal and purpose.

For example, if you want a plugin that lets you create event calendars and allow visitors to purchase tickets directly from the calendar, then Sugar Calendar is the best option.

On the other hand, you can use WPForms to create an event form and integrate it with a payment service to sell tickets online. WPForms also integrates with other calendar plugins, so you can also collect user submitted events on your site.

Similarly, if you have a blog website and don’t want to install an eCommerce checkout system, then WP Simple Pay is the best option. It lets you add a simple buy now button on your site to sell event tickets.

But if you’re looking for an eCommerce platform to sell event tickets as digital products, then Easy Digital Downloads is the perfect solution. It is very easy to use, and you get complete control over your digital products.

FAQs About WordPress Event Ticketing Plugins

Many of our readers have asked us how to sell tickets online with WordPress. Here are the answers to some of the most common questions.

How do I add event tickets to WordPress?

Adding event tickets to your WordPress website is a great way to promote and sell tickets for your events. Many event calendar plugins, such as Sugar Calendar and The Events Calendar, allow you to sell tickets online.

Can you sell tickets on WordPress?

Yes, you can sell tickets on WordPress. It’s a popular platform for creating event websites and online stores, and there are several effective ways to handle ticket sales. With the right plugin, such as Sugar Calendar, you can create an event calendar to sell tickets, show a buy now button, create an event ticket form, and more.

How do I import events into WordPress?

Depending on the events plugin you’re using, it is very easy to import events into WordPress. Many WordPress plugins offer a feature to import events from other tools and plugins into WordPress.

Best WordPress Guides for Handling Events

• How to Add Event Schema in WordPress (Step by Step)
• How to Host a Virtual Event in WordPress
• How to Add a Facebook Event Calendar in WordPress (Easy Way)
• How to Create a Simple Event Calendar with Sugar Calendar
• How to Create a User-Submitted Events Calendar in WordPress
• How to Add a Google Calendar in WordPress (Step by Step)

We hope this article helped you pick the best WordPress event ticketing plugin. You may also want to see our guide on how to create an event registration page in WordPress and the best online community platforms.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post 7 Best WordPress Event Ticketing Plugins for 2024 (Tested) first appeared on WPBeginner.

At WPBeginner, we’ve been creating digital products for over a decade, and we’ve had a lot of success using Easy Digital Downloads to sell our plugins and software. That being said, we know that other businesses might have different needs for their own online stores.

Since a lot of you have asked about what the best tools are, we’ve come up with this guide to help you choose.

We’ll share our top picks for making and selling everything from eBooks to online courses. These are tools we’ve tested ourselves, and we even use some of them in our own business.

3 Must-Have Tools for Creating and Selling Digital Products

No time to read? Here are our top 3 picks of the best platforms to make and sell digital products online:

🥇1st Place

Beacon

Best for: Creating lead magnets

Pricing: Free to $99/mo

Key features: Drag-and-drop editor, templates, blog content import

Read more

🥈2nd Place

Easy Digital Downloads

Best for: Selling digital downloads

Pricing: Free to $349.65/yr

Key features: Unlimited downloads, licensing, discounts

Read more

🥉 3rd Place

MemberPress

Best for: Membership sites and courses

Pricing: $179.50 to $399.50/yr

Key features: Content protection, drip content, courses

Read more

How We Tested the Best Tools to Sell Digital Products

We take our recommendations seriously, and our testing process reflects that.

Firstly, some of the tools we’ve recommended are ones we use every day in our own business.

For example, we’ve been using Easy Digital Downloads for years to sell our WordPress plugins. This hands-on experience gives us confidence in recommending this tool, as we know its strengths and limitations firsthand.

You also might notice that we’ve featured some of these tools in our other product review articles. That’s because we’ve found them consistently reliable and effective.

For other tools, our experience comes from using them for specific tutorials or projects. Through this process, we’ve discovered their strengths for particular purposes.

We’ve also tested popular options to see if they live up to their claims. Our process involved checking the tool’s features, testing it to see if it actually works as promised, and evaluating its value for money. We’ve also assessed how easy the tool is to use, especially for beginners.

Finally, we’ve paid close attention to customer reviews, like the ones from WPBeginner Solution Center. We know that sometimes we might miss certain contexts or use cases, so these reviews help complement our perspective. They’ve given us insights into how the tools perform in real life.

With that in mind, let’s check out our list of tools to create and sell digital products. We’ve divided this article into two sections, and you can skip to your preferred section using the quick links below:

Best Tools to Create Digital Products

Whether you’re looking to generate passive income or explore new digital products to sell online, these tools can help you create various kinds of digital products efficiently and professionally.

We’ve selected a range of digital content creation tools, including some free options, to help you grow your digital product business.

1. Beacon (Lead Magnets)

Beacon is a freemium lead magnet tool that we use ourselves to create various types of content for email marketing campaigns. With its easy drag-and-drop interface, you can create digital products like eBooks, workbooks, checklists, and even video lookbooks.

What we like about Beacon is its simplicity. After signing up for a free account, you’ll go through a straightforward onboarding wizard. By answering a few questions about your goals, you can quickly select a template and start customizing it in the drag-and-drop editor.

Beacon is designed to be as easy to use as possible, making it accessible even if you’re new to creating lead magnets. Whether you’re a seasoned marketer or just starting out, you’ll find the process intuitive and straightforward.

However, it’s worth noting that some users might find the templates a bit basic and not as stylish as they’d like.

Additionally, during our testing, we occasionally encountered issues when trying to delete certain pre-existing elements in templates. Keep this in mind when customizing your lead magnets.

Pros of Beacon:

• Easy setup and use for quick lead magnet creation
• Ability to import blog content directly into lead magnets
• Dozens of templates from various industry categories and seasons
• Multiple embedding options like inline forms, horizontal bars, and content upgrades

Cons of Beacon:

• Templates may appear basic or less stylish compared to some alternatives
• Some difficulty in deleting pre-existing elements in templates

Pricing: Beacon offers a free plan that includes 1 lead magnet per month, 100 leads, 1 user account, 1,000 monthly pageviews, and 500MB file storage. Paid plans range from $19 to $99 per month, with higher tiers allowing for more lead magnets and additional features.

Why we chose Beacon: We picked Beacon because it’s really easy to use for making lead magnets, which has helped us with our own email marketing. It’s simple, flexible, and has a free option, making it great for all kinds of businesses, even if you can’t customize designs too much.

2. Canva (Beginner-Friendly Graphic Design)

Canva is a popular freemium tool for graphic design that works well as a digital products maker. We’ve found Canva particularly useful for creating eye-catching social media posts and professional-looking eBooks. Many other people have also used Canva to create custom templates and sell them to fellow users.

Compared to Beacon, Canva’s designs are generally more stylish and varied. It offers a wide range of design options, including social media posts, presentations, documents, resumes, print products, websites, and videos.

Besides a drag-and-drop editor, the platform provides pre-made color palettes, font sets, design elements, and more. You can also draw on your own designs.

That being said, Canva can sometimes be slow to use, especially when working with more complex designs. And if you use Canva on mobile or tablet, you might have to be even more patient with its performance.

Pros of Canva:

• Easy to use while still producing professional designs
• Huge design library with over 1 million templates, 1000 design types, and 3 million stock photos
• Powerful premium features like AI tools and team collaboration features
• Video editing feature is also available for creating video products like online courses

Cons of Canva:

• Can be slow to use at times, especially with more complex designs
• We noticed the mobile app can be a bit laggy compared to the desktop version

Pricing: Canva offers a free plan with 5GB of cloud storage. Paid plans range from $15 to $30 per month, offering more storage, premium stock photos/videos, AI tools, and team management features. A 30-day free trial is available for paid plans.

Why we chose Canva: Canva’s ease of use and professional-quality designs make it perfect for creating a wide variety of digital products to sell. For many businesses, it’s become an irreplaceable tool for quick, high-quality graphic design.

3. Google Workspace (Digital Resources)

Google Workspace may not be the most design-friendly tool compared to specialized platforms. That said, its widespread use makes it highly accessible. We use it across our businesses to improve efficiency and communication, but the Workspace suite can also be used to create digital products.

Many people already use these products in their daily lives or work, but they might not know how to maximize their potential. This is where you can step in and offer ready-to-use templates that enhance their Google Workspace experience.

Plus, with the recent integration of Gemini, Google’s AI assistant, using the platform for digital product creation has become even easier. We’re a big fan of it ourselves here at WPBeginner to speed up our workflow and communication.

We’ve seen numerous success stories with this approach. For instance, Luke Scarpino on TikTok shared a Google Sheets template for efficient travel packing. His video went viral, and he now sells a pro packing template, showcasing the potential for monetizing these digital resources.

Pros of Google Workspace:

• Free to get started
• Gemini integration helps with AI content creation
• Accessible and familiar to a wide audience who already use these products
• Easy collaboration features for team projects

Cons of Google Workspace:

• May not be the most flexible for complex designs
• Limited customization options compared to specialized design tools

Pricing: Google Workspace is free for basic use. For additional features like custom domains, advanced security, and more storage, prices range from $3.60 to $ 18 per user per month.

Why we chose Google Workspace: Its massive user base provides a ready market for your digital products. With the Gemini AI integration, it’s an ideal platform for creators to sell templates and resources despite some design limitations.

4. Adobe Illustrator (Logos/Digital Illustrations)

If you’re looking to create and sell licensed digital art, Adobe Illustrator is a powerful tool to consider.

We have used it in the past to create featured images and other graphics for our blog posts. It’s a popular vector graphics software used by professionals to create digital illustrations.

While Adobe products are known for their higher price point, they’re often seen as a worthwhile investment, and we feel the same way. There is a learning curve, but once mastered, Illustrator offers great perks.

For one, designs made with Illustrator are highly scalable. This is great for creating logos, custom fonts, and other digital illustrations with income potential. Additionally, the designs you create in Illustrator are suitable for professional printing, which opens up more monetization opportunities.

Pros of Adobe Illustrator:

• Creates scalable designs, perfect for logos and illustrations
• Industry-standard, lending professional credibility to your work
• Versatile for various projects: web graphics, mobile apps, infographics, prints, logos
• Integrates well with other Adobe products for professional work

Cons of Adobe Illustrator:

• Can be overwhelming for beginners
• Costly subscription model
• Requires a powerful computer for optimal performance

Pricing: Adobe Illustrator costs $22.99 per month. Alternatively, you can get the Adobe Creative Cloud suite, which includes 20+ Adobe apps, for $59.99 per month. A 7-day free trial is available.

Why we chose Adobe Illustrator: Adobe Illustrator’s versatility makes it an excellent choice for artists looking to create and sell high-quality digital art, despite its steeper learning curve and cost.

5. MPL-Publisher (WordPress eBook/Audiobook Creator)

MPL-Publisher is a WordPress plugin that helps you turn multiple blog posts into an eBook or audiobook you can sell. It makes creating and selling digital content from your WordPress website easier.

We downloaded and thoroughly tested this plugin to check out all its features. And our favorite thing about the plugin is how well MPL-Publisher works with WordPress.

Once installed, you can easily add your book details, make a cover, adjust the design, and choose which posts to include.

The process is pretty straightforward, which is why we talked about it in our guide on making eBooks in WordPress. We also liked being able to edit the content to make it fit better in an eBook format and save the book as a MOBI, PDF, or audiobook file.

However, MPL-Publisher’s templates aren’t as fancy as those in Beacon or Canva. If you want to make big changes to how your eBook looks, you might need to know some custom CSS.

Pros of MPL-Publisher:

• Works well with WordPress and easily imports posts
• Offers multiple eBook download formats like ePub, audiobook, and PDF
• Lets you edit post content in the plugin for better eBooks

Cons of MPL-Publisher:

• Offers fewer template options than some other tools and may require CSS knowledge for advanced customization
• Book cover editor only available in the paid version

Pricing: MPL-Publisher has a free version with 50 chapters per book and 2 book designs. The premium version costs $49 per site and includes no ads, unlimited books, and a book cover maker.

Why we chose MPL-Publisher: This plugin is great for turning WordPress blog posts into sellable eBooks or audiobooks. It’s user-friendly and offers various export options, making it a good choice for WordPress users who want to sell digital content.

6. Audacity (Music and Audio Products)

Do you have a knack for sound and enjoy working with audio? If so, you can use Audacity as a digital products maker, turning your talent into money by creating various audio goods.

Audacity is a free audio editing and recording app that works on Windows, Mac, and Linux computers. While music production is an obvious choice, you don’t need to be musically gifted to benefit from this tool.

You can also make audiobooks, record guided meditations, capture nature sounds for relaxing tracks, create podcast intros, or even design sound effects for games or videos.

That said, we have to admit that using Audacity wasn’t always easy because its layout looks a bit old-fashioned. However, since the software is open-source, we discovered lots of helpful YouTube tutorials and a big community of users ready to assist.

Pros of Audacity:

• Free and open-source
• Has a helpful community of users
• Comes with built-in effects and works with audio.com resources
• Works on different types of computers

Cons of Audacity:

• The interface looks outdated
• Not the best for multitrack music recording and editing

Pricing: Audacity is completely free to use, with no need to buy a license.

Why we chose Audacity: Even though it looks a bit old, Audacity is a powerful, free tool for making many kinds of audio products. Its open-source nature, supportive community, and flexibility make it a great choice for beginners in digital audio creation.

7. Adobe Photoshop (Photo Editing)

Unlike Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop focuses more on editing photos and making graphics that don’t need to be as easily resized. We have used it extensively across our business to create and edit attractive and professional-looking images.

With Photoshop, you can edit photos to sell as stock images, create mockups for various products, design custom brushes or photo presets, and even make digital planners or bullet journals. The software’s flexibility makes it great for creating many different digital products.

We know that Photoshop can be hard to learn, especially compared to simpler tools like Canva. But once you get used to it, you can do so much more. It’s expensive, but it can be worth it if you’re serious about making professional-quality digital products.

Pros of Adobe Photoshop:

• Good for creating many types of visual digital products
• Works with many file types like JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIFF, and PDF
• Lots of tutorials and courses are available to help you learn Adobe Photoshop
• Many brushes and filters online you can download to boost creativity

Cons of Adobe Photoshop:

• It is expensive, and some extra tools like brushes/filters cost more
• Takes time to learn how to use it well
• Needs a powerful computer to run smoothly

Pricing: Adobe Photoshop costs $22.99 per month. Or, you can get the Adobe Creative Cloud package, which includes over 20 Adobe apps, for $59.99 per month.

Why we chose Adobe Photoshop: Even though it’s not easy to learn, Photoshop is incredibly versatile and powerful for high-quality digital product creation. Its wide range of features and how well it works with other Adobe products make it a great choice for serious digital creators.

8. Create Block Theme (WordPress Block Themes)

WordPress block themes are becoming more popular, but there aren’t as many of them as classic themes or themes made with page builders. This means you have a chance to create and sell your own block themes.

The good news is you can use the free Create Block Theme plugin to make your themes. We’ve used it to change our block themes and make custom designs. It’s also great for making child block themes.

From our experience, it’s an easier way to create block themes, even if you’ve never done it before. You can design your theme right in WordPress, which makes it less scary if you’re new to custom theme development.

However, keep in mind that this plugin only works for block themes. Right now, not as many people use block themes, so your market might be small. But as more people start using the full site editor in WordPress, block themes will likely become more popular.

Pros of Create Block Theme:

• Works well with the full site editor
• Easy to use and helps you design themes visually
• Lets you make new themes based on themes you’re already using

Cons of Create Block Theme:

• You can only use it to make block themes, not other types

Pricing: Create Block Theme is free to use.

Why we chose Create Block Theme: This plugin makes it possible for more people to create themes, even if they don’t know how to code. As block themes become more common, Create Block Theme is a great way for WordPress users to start selling their own themes.

9. Divi (WordPress Themes Made With Divi)

If you’ve been using WordPress for a while, you probably know about Divi. It’s a popular tool for building pages and themes, and we rank it third in our theme builder review.

But did you know you can also make and sell Divi child themes and layouts on their creative marketplace?

Divi is widely used, which means there are lots of people who might want to buy your themes or layouts. We’ve also found the platform to be really easy for beginners to use, thanks to its drag-and-drop design, customizable parts, and dynamic content features.

Look at DiviFlash as an example. It’s a Divi plugin that’s been featured on HubSpot.

You could create something like this, too!

One thing to keep in mind is that everything you submit to the Divi marketplace is checked by the Elegant Themes team. This helps ensure quality but can also slow down how quickly your products or updates are available to buy.

Pros of Divi:

• Easy to learn, so you can make layouts or child themes quickly
• You get 70% of each sale you make on the Divi Marketplace
• Lots of potential customers because Divi is so popular

Cons of Divi:

• The review process can slow down your product releases and updates
• You need to keep updating your products to work with the latest version of Divi

Pricing: Yearly plans cost from $89 to $277 per year, with a 30-day money-back guarantee. You can also pay once for lifetime access, which costs $249 to $297.

Why we chose Divi: Divi gives you a great chance to sell to lots of WordPress users who want custom themes and layouts. It’s easy to use and has a big marketplace, making it a great place for creators to design and sell digital products that could become very popular.

10. Camtasia (Video Digital Products)

If you’re comfortable being on camera, you might be good at creating video digital products like online courses. Camtasia is a great tool for this kind of work. It ranks second in our list of video editing software.

We recommend Camtasia over other tools because it has a built-in screen recording feature. This means you can easily capture what’s happening on your computer screen while you’re teaching. It even records audio and mouse movements, which is really helpful for step-by-step tutorials.

Camtasia isn’t just for recording. You can also edit your videos using its many features like filters, transitions, on-screen text, animations, sound effects, and even royalty-free video clips. So, even if you don’t want to be on camera, you can still use Camtasia to create videos made from other clips.

Overall, Camtasia has worked well for us so far. However, some users have reported that it doesn’t always run smoothly on Mac computers.

Pros of Camtasia:

• All-in-one solution: screen recording, audio recording, and mouse recording
• Lots of editing resources: 30 filters, 150 transitions, unlimited royalty-free music
• AI detection for filler words like ‘um’ and ‘uh’
• Easier to use compared to other platforms like Adobe Premiere Pro

Cons of Camtasia:

• Some users report performance issues on Mac

Pricing: Camtasia costs between $134.91 and $375.25 per year. You can try it for free for 7 days.

Why we chose Camtasia: Its combination of easy-to-use screen recording and comprehensive editing tools makes it ideal for producing and selling high-quality videos, even for those new to video creation.

Best Platforms to Sell Digital Products

Now that you’ve created your digital products, the next step is finding the right place to sell and market your digital products. The platforms we’re about to discuss can help you grow your business and optimize your sales process.

You may notice we don’t include digital product marketplaces on our list. That’s because of some long-term problems with using them, which is explained very well in this expert quote:

Third-party marketplaces do make sign-up easy and have a low initial cost. However, you’ll end up paying high transaction fees of up to 30% for every product you sell. You also don’t own your own data; you just rent it.

Your product listings, customer information, and purchase data are all stored on someone else’s server. Migrating to a different platform later can be extremely difficult, if not impossible.

Chris Klosowski, Easy Digital Downloads founder

1. Easy Digital Downloads (Digital Products Only)

Easy Digital Downloads (EDD) is the tool we use to sell our premium WordPress plugins and digital downloads. Over the years, it’s proven to be a reliable solution that has helped grow our business and thousands of others.

For more details, see our complete Easy Digital Downloads review.

For instance, EscapeRoomGeeks uses EDD to sell printable Escape Room Kits, while SetSailStudios sells downloadable fonts through this platform.

We love EDD because it makes it so simple to set up an online store for digital products. The onboarding wizard guides you through the setup process step by step, so it’s hard to get lost.

Another great feature is its automation capabilities. These streamline our workflows by collecting recurring subscription payments, offering content upgrades, and managing renewals. This saves us a lot of time and effort in managing our digital products.

The only downside we can think of is that EDD doesn’t allow physical products. However, this focus on digital products means its features are optimized for selling downloads.

Pros of Easy Digital Downloads:

• Easy setup with guided onboarding
• Automatically creates eCommerce pages like checkout and receipt
• Unlimited file downloads with no bandwidth charges
• Powerful software licensing support
• Flexible discount options
• You can add a free trial to your products

Cons of Easy Digital Downloads:

• Limited to digital products only, which is not ideal if you plan to expand into physical products

Pricing: There’s a free version available with basic features like Stripe, PayPal, Apple/Google Pay integration, shopping cart, and basic eCommerce reporting.

Paid plans range from $89.55 to $349.65 per year for more advanced features, payment options, and unlimited products. To get the best deal out of your purchase, you can use our Easy Digital Downloads coupon code and claim a 50% discount.

Why we chose Easy Digital Downloads: As longtime users, we can vouch for EDD’s reliability and effectiveness in selling digital products. Its user-friendly setup and powerful features make it an excellent choice for anyone looking to start their digital download business.

We also recommend using SiteGround’s EDD Hosting to make sure your website is online at all times.

2. MemberPress (Memberships/Online Courses)

MemberPress stands out as a top choice for creating subscription-based content or online courses. We’ve personally used this plugin for our WPBeginner video membership site, which has significantly helped us grow our email list.

For more information, see our MemberPress review.

MemberPress makes setting up a membership site straightforward. It automatically creates essential pages for pricing, login, account, and a thank you message for your users. This saves you time and ensures a professional setup from the start.

What we love about MemberPress the most is its membership-specific features. It offers drip content, a client portal, group memberships, and add-ons for specific types of services like online coaching. This way, you don’t need to install another plugin to build your membership business.

With MemberPress, you can easily restrict access to specific content based on membership tiers, individual members, or a combination of both. This means you can create tailored experiences for different membership levels, ensuring your premium content stays exclusive.

One critique we have for MemberPress is it doesn’t have any free version. That being said, it’s a worthy investment, especially considering everything you’re getting in just one platform.

Pros of MemberPress:

• Flexible content protection rules for various scenarios
• Optimized for memberships with features like drip content (releasing lessons over time) and subscription billing
• Easy setup process with automatic page creation for a membership website
• Supports unlimited membership levels
• Compatible with major payment gateways, including PayPal, Stripe, and Authorize.net

Cons of MemberPress:

• No free version available

Pricing: MemberPress offers annual plans starting from $179.50 and going up to $399.50 per year. The basic plan allows usage on one website and includes unlimited members, unlimited courses, and no transaction fees. A 14-day money-back guarantee is available.

Also, feel free to use our MemberPress coupon code to save up to 50% off of your plan.

Why we chose MemberPress: It’s an excellent all-in-one solution for anyone serious about creating a membership or online course platform. Our experience with the plugin has shown us that it can handle even complex membership structures with ease.

Alternative: Not a fan of MemberPress for online courses? Check out Thrive Apprentice, another powerful platform.

3. WooCommerce (Physical + Digital Products)

WooCommerce is the most popular WordPress eCommerce plugin and is used by millions of online stores. We’ve used it ourselves and can see why it’s so widely loved.

First off, WooCommerce is free. You can start selling immediately without spending a dime, using payment options like bank transfer, cash on delivery, and PayPal.

We also like how it creates important store pages for you, such as checkout and product pages, which saves you hours of work.

Another great thing about WooCommerce is how flexible it is. There are tons of WooCommerce extensions you can add to make your store do more. This means you only pay for extra features you actually need.

Our personal favorite is FunnelKit, which is a plugin that helps boost sales by optimizing your checkout, adding order bumps, and more.

One downside is that there are so many WooCommerce extensions that it can feel a bit overwhelming at first. Plus, there is no direct support. That being said, the WooCommerce community is very large, so it’s easy to find resources to help with your issues.

Pros of WooCommerce:

• Free and easy to set up
• Works for both digital and physical products (great if you sell ebooks and printed books, for example)
• Lots of free and paid extensions to improve your store and sales
• Built-in analytics to track how your store is doing

Cons of WooCommerce:

• The huge number of extensions can be confusing
• No official support team (but the community is very helpful)

Pricing: WooCommerce itself is free, but plugins can cost anywhere from $1 to $299 per year.

Why we chose WooCommerce: We love how WooCommerce can handle both digital and physical products and that you can customize it with plugins to fit exactly what you need. It’s free to start with, and there’s a big community to help you out.

If you’re interested in using WoCoomerce, we recommend using the Bluehost WooCommerce hosting to get your online store up and running.

You can find out more about the platform in our WooCommerce review.

4. WP Simple Pay (Single-Product Online Store)

WP Simple Pay is an excellent choice for those looking to sell a single product or service without the complexity of a full eCommerce platform. We’ve found it to be one of the most straightforward Stripe payment plugins, making it perfect for small businesses just starting out.

For more details, see our WP Simple Pay review.

In our experience, Stripe’s ease of use for both merchants and customers is unparalleled. The setup for businesses is not as lengthy as other platforms, so long as your entity is legitimate. Plus, your customers can make payments directly on your site without needing their own Stripe account.

We’ve tested numerous Stripe plugins, and this one stands out for its simplicity. You only need to connect your website to Stripe and create a payment form, and that’s it. The 70+ form templates covering various business types save you time and ensure your payment form looks professional.

The drag-and-drop form builder also lets you customize the payment form using its built-in field options. This way, the form can be tailored to perfectly match your payment form needs.

Unfortunately, Stripe is not available in all countries. So, if you need an alternative, you might need to look at another payment form like WPForms.

Pros of WP Simple Pay:

• Free version available
• No transaction fees, which keeps more money in your pocket
• Easy setup and customization with form templates and drag-and-drop builder
• Accepts 14+ payment methods, including Apple Pay and Google Pay
• Automatic tax calculation setup for accurate pricing

Cons of WP Simple Pay:

• Some countries may not be able to use Stripe

Pricing: WP Simple Pay offers a free version for basic needs. Paid plans start from $49.50 and go up to $299.50 per year. The most affordable plan allows usage on one site, with unlimited payment forms/transactions and no transaction or monthly fees.

You can also use our WP Simple Pay coupon code to get 50% off of your first purchase.

Why we chose WP Simple Pay: We picked WP Simple Pay because it makes it incredibly easy to set up Stripe payments on WordPress. It’s simple to use, highly customizable, and has smart features like automatic tax calculation.

What Are the Best Platforms for Creating and Selling Digital Products?

In this list, we’ve reviewed a lot of different platforms for digital product creation, but the best one depends on your needs.

If you want to make free guides or eBooks to get more email subscribers, Beacon is our top pick. We use it ourselves and really like how easy it is.

You can quickly make eBooks, workbooks, and checklists without any design skills. It’s great for beginners and pros alike, with a free plan and cheap paid options if you need more features.

Next, we recommend Easy Digital Downloads for anyone starting to sell digital products. We’ve used it for years to sell our WordPress plugins, and it works really well.

EDD makes it simple to set up your store, automate sales, and offer discounts. Just remember, it’s only for digital items, not physical ones.

If you want to create a membership website or sell online courses, go with MemberPress. We used it for our WPBeginner video lessons, and it helped us get more email subscribers. It has everything you need, like drip content and ways to manage different membership levels.

Creating and Selling Digital Products FAQs

Now that we’ve gone through our list of the best tools for creating and selling digital products online, let’s answer some frequently asked questions:

More Expert Tips to Start a Digital Product Business

If you’re looking for more tips about starting a digital product business, you may also be interested in these articles:

• Best Canva Alternatives for Website Graphics (Expert Pick)
• Starting a WordPress Web Design Business? (Things You Must Do)
• How to Create a Viral Waitlist Landing Page for Your Digital Products in WordPress

We hope this article has helped you discover the best tools for creating and selling digital products. You may also want to check out our expert picks of the best WordPress jQuery plugins and our list of excellent WordPress website examples you should check out.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post 14 Tools for Creating and Selling Digital Products (Expert Pick) first appeared on WPBeginner.

As a business owner, your time is valuable. You need to focus on growing your business, not just writing emails. Luckily, email automation tools can help you do that.

That being said, there are so many tools out there that it’s hard to know which one to choose. That’s why we’ve tested many of them and looked at how easy they are to use, how much they cost, and how well they can personalize your emails.

Although we personally use Drip on WPBeginner, we have also done a deep dive into other options for small business owners.

And in this article, we will share the best email automation tools we have found. These tools will help you save time and still send emails that feel personal to each recipient.

Top 3 Email Marketing Automation Tools

In a hurry? Here are our top 3 picks for the best email marketing tools.

🥇First	🥈Second	🥉Third
Constant Contact	Brevo	HubSpot
Pricing: $12-$80/mo (free trial available)	Pricing: Free (paid plans cost $9-$18/mo)	Pricing: Free (paid plans cost $15/user-$800/mo)
Best for: Small businesses/beginners	Best for: Businesses looking to grow	Best for: Email marketing + CRM
Key features: Hundreds of customizable templates and layouts, automatic list segmentation	Key features: Unlimited contacts, marketing automation to send emails at the right time	Key features: CRM integration, automation features for nurturing and engaging leads
Read more	Read more	Read more

How We Test and Review Email Automation Tools

When we review tools, we don’t just look at fancy features. We focus on whether the tool can actually help your business grow.

Marketing expert Neil Patel perfectly sums up what’s most important:

The big things I look for in email marketing are:

1. Segmentation: The goal is to create email campaigns that are personal and relevant to each recipient.
2. Personalization: When you personalize your email content, you make a connection with your contacts on a human level—which can lead to improved click-through rates, higher open rates, and more conversions.
3. Valuable: Make sure the content of your email provides value that’s relevant to your audience’s interests, and more importantly, that doesn’t come across as a sales pitch.

Neil Patel – Digital Marketing Expert and Entrepreneur

With that in mind, we’ve been using some of the tools featured here every day for our own websites, so we know firsthand how they work. We use them to send welcome emails to new customers, remind people about items they left in their cart, and share special offers.

Other options are super popular tools that we tested to see if they lived up to the hype. We dug into online reviews to see how they perform in the real world. We want to make sure we recommend tools that are reliable, easy to use, and offer good value for the price.

1. Constant Contact

Constant Contact is the best all-around email marketing automation tool, trusted by over 600,000 businesses. We have tested it extensively, which you can read about in our Constant Contact review.

Constant Contact segments your audience into four categories: most engaged, somewhat engaged, least engaged, and everyone else.

This segmentation isn’t as targeted as some other tools, but it’s helpful for beginners wanting to separate their most loyal customers from the rest.

It has one of the most user-friendly interfaces we’ve tested. From the moment you start the free trial, it guides you through a super-simple setup process.

You can also choose from hundreds of customizable templates and layouts. Whether you need an eye-catching email for newsletters or a simple announcement, there’s a template to fit your needs.

Pros of Constant Contact:

• Automatic list segmentation helps you target your audience efficiently.
• Hundreds of customizable templates to match your branding.
• Comprehensive analytics tools to measure the performance of your campaigns.

Cons of Constant Contact:

• They don’t offer unlimited sends.

Pricing: Constant Contact starts from $12 to $80 per month, with pricing based on the number of contacts. They also offer a 30-day free trial period. You can use our Constant Contact coupon code to get 20% off of your purchase.

Why we chose Constant Contact: We like Constant Contact for beginners because it covers the email marketing basics well. The service helps with list building, automating campaigns, and designing mobile-friendly emails, making it perfect for new users.

To learn more about the tool, check out our Constant Contact review.

2. Brevo

Brevo is an email marketing app that gives you access to an unlimited number of contacts on any plan. We tried it out to test all the features, which you can check out in our complete Brevo review.

The tool comes with contact segmentation features so you can target smaller groups of subscribers. You can engage them with relevant content by filtering contacts by previous engagement, declared interests, purchase history, and other options.

It’s our second choice because it’s one of the only platforms that offers unlimited contacts right off the bat, which is great for growing your list.

One downside of Brevo is that multi-user access is only available for higher-tier users, which can limit collaboration for people on lower-tier plans.

Pros of Brevo:

• Unlimited contacts on all plans.
• Marketing automation to send emails to specific segments at the right moments in their user journey.
• Predictive sending feature to send emails at the best time for each individual.

Cons of Brevo:

• Multi-user access is unavailable in lower-tier plans.

Pricing: Brevo is free to start with unlimited contacts and up to 300 email sends per day. The paid plans start from $9 to $18 per month.

Why we chose Brevo: We chose Brevo because it offers unlimited contacts on all plans, which is ideal for growing businesses. Its segmentation and predictive sending features help you target the right audience at the best times.

If you want more information, feel free to read our Brevo review.

3. HubSpot

HubSpot is one of the most affordable and diverse marketing automation tools, making it into our top three. We made a HubSpot account for this roundup and went through all the features, which you can see in our HubSpot review.

With HubSpot, you can send automated emails after someone fills out a pop-up or embedded form, which helps you start nurturing leads right away. You can also segment your contacts and personalize your emails to ensure they reach the right people.

Starting at $15 per user per month, you can get up to 1,000 marketing contacts to kickstart your campaigns.

One drawback is that HubSpot only allows 10 automated actions in its lower-tier plans, which might be enough initially but limiting as you grow. To access more, you need to upgrade to the Marketing Hub Professional plan.

Pros of HubSpot:

• 1,000 marketing contacts, offering plenty of room to grow.
• The email tool syncs with CRM contacts for seamless data integration.
• Automation features for nurturing leads via email and engaging users who submitted their information using a form.

Cons of HubSpot:

• Only 10 automated actions in lower-tier plans, with a high price jump to the next higher-level plan.

Pricing: HubSpot offers a free plan to get started. The Marketing Hub Starter plan costs $15 per user per month. For more marketing contacts and unlimited automated actions, you can opt for the Marketing Hub Professional plan at $800 per month.

Why chose HubSpot: We chose HubSpot for its affordability and versatility. With robust automation features and seamless CRM integration, it provides powerful tools for building customer relationships.

You can read our HubSpot review for more details.

4. Drip

Drip is one of the best email automation tools on the market due to its advanced feature set. It goes beyond just addressing the recipient by name, as it uses liquid tags to personalize emails based on specific behavior, location, or other attributes.

That’s one of the biggest reasons why we switched from Mailchimp to Drip at WPBeginner, as it allowed us to send more customized content to our valued readers.

One thing to consider is that Drip is more expensive than other solutions, starting at $39 per month for 2,500 subscribers. However, we think it’s worth it for businesses looking for more powerful features.

Pros of Drip:

• Smart segmentation can automatically segment your audience.
• Liquid tags allow you to create dynamic content based on various attributes.
• Drip syncs all product data from your WooCommerce store so you can make product recommendations or send upsell emails.

Cons of Drip:

• Can be more expensive compared to other solutions on the list.

Pricing: Drip starts at $39 per month for up to 2,500 subscribers, with pricing increasing as your subscriber count grows. You can also use our Drip coupon code to get a 14-day free trial.

Why chose Drip: We chose Drip for its advanced personalization features that make email content dynamic and highly relevant. Its smart segmentation makes it an excellent choice for businesses seeking powerful automation tools.

5. Groove

If you need a collaborative email platform with powerful automation features, then Groove is a top choice. We use Groove across our partner companies to efficiently handle support emails from our customers.

For more details, see our extensive Groove review.

Groove’s AI features make it a standout for businesses. With Instant Replies, you can turn a specific response into a reusable, automated one with a few clicks. Plus, the automation templates make it easy to route, categorize, and organize customer conversations.

Keep in mind that Groove is designed for customer service emails, not marketing. It doesn’t have email marketing templates or a drag-and-drop email builder.

Pros of Groove:

• Instant replies to save time on repetitive questions.
• Over 50 automation templates to streamline processes.
• Collision detection to avoid double replies and ensure smooth team communication.

Cons of Groove:

• No feature for email marketing templates or a drag-and-drop email marketing builder.

Pricing: Groove’s pricing ranges from $16 to $56 per user per month. A free 7-day trial is available without requiring a credit card, allowing you to try it out before committing.

Why we chose Groove: We chose Groove because its AI and automation features save a lot of time on repetitive emails. This makes Groove ideal for small businesses wanting to improve their customer support.

Learn more about this email service in our Groove review.

6. FunnelKit Automations

If you use WooCommerce and want to boost your store’s performance with emails, then FunnelKit Automations is for you. We’ve tested it across a bunch of WooCommerce stores – just read our FunnelKit review for more details.

What we like about this tool is that you can run automated email campaigns right inside WordPress.

Here, you can easily import pre-built sequences for abandoned cart recovery, post-purchase follow-ups, win-back campaigns, and lead nurturing. All emails are pre-written and customizable with the visual builder. Plus, you can also create audiences based on items bought or average order value.

One downside is that setup can be more complicated because you may have to use an SMTP service to ensure email deliverability. FunnelKit also doesn’t recommend using Gmail or Outlook as email service providers, so you may have to switch to a different one.

Pros of FunnelKit:

• Integrates with WordPress, WooCommerce, and popular tools like WPForms and Slack.
• Comes with many email sequence templates, from abandoned cart recovery to welcome sequences and newsletters.
• The visual builder makes it easy to customize your automation to your exact preferences.

Cons of FunnelKit:

• Setup can be more complicated compared to other options.

Pricing: Starts at $99.50 per year for FunnelKit Automations alone and $249.50 per year for FunnelKit Automations and FunnelKit Funnel Builder. The second includes a sales funnel builder to optimize your website for more conversions.

Why we chose FunnelKit Automations: We chose FunnelKit Automations for its seamless integration with WordPress and WooCommerce. Plus, it offers many email templates and a visual builder for creating effective campaigns, even if you have no experience.

Get more information about the platform in our FunnelKit Automations review.

7. Omnisend

Omnisend is arguably the best eCommerce marketing automation tool around. We signed up for an account and tried out all the features, which you can learn about in our Omnisend review.

It helps you improve targeting, drive sales on autopilot, and remain consistent with your brand messaging. Plus, it works across many channels, from emails and SMS to web push notifications.

One unique feature that we don’t see elsewhere is the smart campaign booster feature. It automatically resends your email campaigns that haven’t been opened or clicked. That allows you to reach subscribers who missed out on the opportunity the first time easily.

However, Omnisend has a limited number of contacts. Even the highest plan only allows up to 2,500 contacts, whereas alternatives like Brevo offer more contacts at a lower price.

Pros of Omnisend:

• Campaign Booster helps boost engagement by automatically sending the same message to people who haven’t opened it.
• Pre-built workflows for email communication with customers and re-engaging them to make a purchase.
• Unlimited custom events to assign as triggers for email workflows.

Cons of Omnisend:

• Limited number of contacts compared to other options on the list.

Pricing: Omnisend is free to start for up to 250 contacts. The paid plans range from $16 to $59 per month.

Why we chose Omnisend: We chose Omnisend for its smart campaign booster and strong multi-channel capabilities. Its pre-built workflows will make it easy for eCommerce businesses to automate and improve their marketing.

If you want to learn more, head to our Omnisend review for more details.

8. AWeber

AWeber is an email marketing service that covers all the essential features you need to send automated campaigns and email blasts. We’ve experimented a lot with AWeber, and we’ve written about it in our AWeber review.

What we enjoyed about AWeber is its behavioral automation, making it easy to track and engage your most active subscribers.

For example, you can trigger special campaigns based on email opens and link clicks. This lets you send targeted content to those who interact with your messages.

One downside is that the user interface feels a bit outdated and clunky. However, AWeber does have a Canva integration to make designing easier.

Pros of AWeber:

• Behavioral automation to engage with subscribers based on their actions.
• Email tagging lets you categorize your subscribers into different segments based on their interactions.
• Design email templates in Canva without leaving AWeber.

Cons of AWeber:

• The software has an outdated interface that feels clunky.

Pricing: You can get started for free. Paid plans start from $12.50 per month to $899 per month.

You can also use our AWeber coupon code to get 33% off of your purchase.

Why we chose AWeber: If you like using Canva to design emails, then AWeber is a great choice. Its behavioral automation and email tagging can help you create highly targeted and engaging campaigns.

9. MailerLite

MailerLite is one of the most beginner-friendly email marketing services available. We did a deep dive into its email marketing features, which you can see in our MailerLite review.

The drag-and-drop editor makes it easy to create emails using pre-built design blocks or dynamic content blocks for personalization.

You can build automated workflows to reach the right people at the right time. For advanced functionality, MailerLite offers multi-trigger automation, allowing up to three triggers in one automation, which creates multiple entry points.

However, live chat support is only available for Advanced plan users, which can be a downside for people on lower-tier plans.

Pros of MailerLite:

• The drag-and-drop block editor with dynamic content blocks makes email creation easy and personalized.
• Built-in email verification tool to clean and optimize your list.
• Multivariate testing allows you to test up to 8 variations of the same campaign to see what works best.

Cons of MailerLite:

• Live chat support is only available for Advanced plan users.

Pricing: MailerLite is free to start for up to 12,000 monthly emails. Paid plans range from $9 to $18 per month, offering unlimited monthly emails.

Why we chose MailerLite: We chose MailerLite for its user-friendly drag-and-drop editor, dynamic content blocks, and multivariate testing. These features make it ideal for beginners looking to create effective email marketing campaigns with ease.

10. ConvertKit

With ConvertKit, there’s no need to build a new email list for each project launch or sale. It offers segments and unique tags to group subscribers based on custom form fields, location, or other tags. This way, you can easily manage and target specific audiences.

ConvertKit also has a lead-scoring capability to assess the quality of your leads. For example, if a customer doesn’t open your last five emails, then you can deduct points. If they visit your pricing page or click a link, you can add points. This helps you focus on your most engaged leads.

However, we found its analytics to be limiting. Detailed analytics like open and click rates are only available in the highest-tier Creator Pro plan.

Pros of ConvertKit:

• Lead-scoring capability to identify and engage your most active leads.
• Group subscribers automatically using custom form fields, making segmentation easy.
• Unlimited landing pages, opt-in forms, and email broadcasts in all plans.

Cons of ConvertKit:

• Helpful analytics are only available for higher-tier users.

Pricing: ConvertKit is free to start for up to 10,000 subscribers. Paid plans range from $25 to $50 per month, with pricing increasing as you get more subscribers.

You can also use our ConvertKit coupon to get a discount.

Why we chose ConvertKit: If you’re a content creator or an online business owner, then ConvertKit’s features can help you effectively manage and engage your subscribers.

11. ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign comes with an automation builder and map, which we found to be easy to use. To initiate events, simply assign triggers (conditions) and actions. This visual overview makes it easy to manage and optimize your automation workflows.

ActiveCampaign also offers conditional content, which lets you personalize email sections based on specific attributes. This means you can target messages to the right people, like showing event details only to local subscribers or tailoring content by sales stage.

One thing to consider is that ActiveCampaign has no refund policy, so make sure to use the 14-day trial to see if it suits your needs.

Pros of ActiveCampaign:

• Easy-to-use automation builder with various triggers, such as actions related to eCommerce, emails, and sales.
• Conditional content to personalize emails based on specific attributes.
• AI content generation tool to save time writing emails.

Cons of ActiveCampaign:

• No refund policy, so try the free trial before committing.

Pricing: Pricing ranges from $15 to $145 per month, with a 14-day free trial available.

Why we chose ActiveCampaign: We like how ActiveCampaign strikes a good balance between ease of use and advanced personalization features. This makes it great for businesses of all sizes.

Looking for tools similar to ActiveCampaign? Check out our list of the best ActiveCampaign alternatives.

12. GetResponse

GetResponse comes with template autoresponders, allowing you to use proven workflows like welcome series, post-purchase, abandoned cart, webinars, events, and sales promotions. These workflow templates save you time by removing the need to tinker with sequences.

You can also set up A/B tests to experiment with different subject lines and email content. Simply create two versions of your email, and GetResponse will test both to see which one performs best.

One downside is that not all automation templates are available in all plans. Higher-tier plans have exclusive features like drip campaigns.

Pros of GetResponse:

• Wide range of automated email templates, from follow-ups to post-purchase emails.
• Besides emails, you can create lead magnets, opt-in forms, sales pages, and webinar funnels.
• Google Analytics integration for tracking campaign performance.

Cons of GetResponse:

• Some automation templates are only available in higher-tier plans.

Pricing: GetResponse offers a free plan. Paid plans start at $13.20 per month and go up to $82.90 per month.

Why we chose GetResponse: We chose GetResponse for its variety of email templates and easy A/B testing. It’s perfect for businesses wanting to simplify their email marketing and improve performance with minimal effort.

13. EngageBay

EngageBay is an all-in-one automation platform that integrates sales, marketing, and support team operations into a single platform.

It offers a variety of tools like template builders, email workflows, and marketing automation. Its email autoresponder allows users to pull information from their built-in CRM, so you can send more personalized messages based on previous interactions with your business.

If you want to use EngageBay, we recommend opting for the two higher-tier plans, as the free and lower-tier options don’t include automation features.

Pros of EngageBay:

• All-in-one CRM and email automation tool that eliminates the need to pay for these features separately.
• Email automation syncs with CRM to ensure a seamless customer journey.
• Predictive lead scoring to find and engage qualified leads.

Cons of EngageBay:

• Automation features are only available in higher-tier plans.

Pricing: EngageBay offers a free plan for up to 250 contacts. The paid plans start from $12.74 to $101.99 per user per month.

Why we chose EngageBay: EngageBay’s all-in-one solution is great for businesses that want to streamline operations and manage everything from one platform.

14. Moosend

Moosend is one of the most affordable email marketing services, making it perfect for businesses on a tight budget.

When testing Moosend, one feature that stood out was its ability to show how many people on each list bounced off your email. This helps you clean your list to boost open rates and improve your sender score.

One thing you should consider is that transactional emails, like order confirmations and shipping notifications, are only included in the Enterprise plan. This means if you run a business site but can only use the Pro version, you cannot send these transactional emails.

Pros of Moosend:

• Free 30-day trial and affordable pricing, including pre-built automation templates and an automation workflow designer.
• List optimization to improve email deliverability.
• Email heatmap analytics to see how users interact with your emails.

Cons of Moosend:

• Transactional emails are not available in non-Enterprise plans.

Pricing: Moosend offers a 30-day free trial. The Pro plan starts at $7 per month for up to 500 contacts, with Moosend+ (Pro with add-ons) and Enterprise plans available at custom pricing.

Why we chose Moosend: Moosend’s affordability and comprehensive features make it ideal for businesses on a budget. Its list optimization and email heatmap analytics are also great for improving email performance.

Bonus: OptinMonster

An email automation strategy wouldn’t be complete without a tool to bring in leads. For this, we recommend OptinMonster.

OptinMonster is the best lead-generation WordPress plugin, helping you automatically collect and segment email addresses. It’s what we use to increase our email subscribers by 600%. You can segment new subscribers based on attributes like cookies, user activity, location, and more.

It offers a visual builder to create high-converting opt-in forms, along with exit-intent technology. This prevents visitors from leaving your site without taking action by showing a targeted campaign just before they leave.

To learn more, check out our OptinMonster review.

Pros of OptinMonster:

• Create spin-to-win coupon wheels to boost engagement.
• Integrates with all the popular email marketing software.
• You can A/B test various opt-in campaigns to maximize conversions.

Cons of OptinMonster:

• No free version is available.

Pricing: OptinMonster ranges from $9.97 per month to $49.97 per month. All plans include unlimited campaigns, unlimited subscribers, and no transaction fees.

Why we chose OptinMonster: OptinMonster’s ease of use and powerful targeting and segmentation features are ideal for businesses looking to maximize conversions and build their email list efficiently.

Bonus: WP Mail SMTP

Here’s the thing: By default, WordPress sends email through the PHP mail function, which often causes your messages to go to spam. This is because PHP mail lacks proper authentication, leading to deliverability issues.

WP Mail SMTP is the best SMTP plugin for WordPress users. Essentially, it is ideal for people who want to make sure that their emails land in users’ inboxes and not in the spam folder.

We use WP Mail SMTP across our websites, so check out our complete WP Mail SMTP review for more details.

It uses an SMTP server to properly authenticate the sender, improving email deliverability and ensuring your messages are seen.

For more details, you can see our guide on how to fix the WordPress not sending email issue.

Pros of WP Mail SMTP:

• Integrates with many email marketing services like Brevo and SendLayer.
• Offers open-and-click tracking to see which recipients opened your emails.
• Smart email routing lets you send emails through different providers based on factors like message and subject.

Cons of WP Mail SMTP:

• Setup is a bit technical, but we have a full guide on how to do it in our article on fixing the WordPress not sending email issue.

Pricing: A free version is available. The Pro version starts at $49 per year and goes up to $399 per year, with higher plans allowing use on more sites.

Why we chose WP Mail SMTP: WP Mail SMTP is essential for any small business with a WordPress site. It ensures all your important emails, like password resets or shipping notifications, reach your users’ inboxes.

What Is the Best Email Automation Tool for Small Businesses?

If you’re looking for the best all-around email marketing automation tool, then Constant Contact is our top recommendation.

Trusted by over 600,000 businesses, it’s user-friendly and perfect for beginners. With hundreds of customizable templates and easy audience segmentation, it helps with list-building and automating campaigns. That said, it doesn’t offer unlimited sends.

For people needing unlimited contacts from the start, Brevo is an excellent choice. Ideal for growing businesses, it offers segmentation and predictive sending capabilities. These features allow you to target your audience effectively. Note that multi-user access is only available in higher-tier plans.

HubSpot is another great fit. Starting at $15 per user per month, it provides powerful email automation, segmentation, and CRM integration. While lower-tier plans limit automated actions, upgrading unlocks more advanced features.

Frequently Asked Questions About Email Automation

Now that you know the best email automation tools, let’s answer some frequently asked questions about email automation:

Ultimate Guides to Email Marketing

• How to Create a Free Business Email Address (in 5 Minutes)
• Email Marketing Mistakes WordPress Users Must Avoid
• How We Use a Video Membership Site to Grow Our Email List
• Why You Should Never Use WordPress to Send Newsletter Emails
• How to Send Email to All Registered Users in WordPress
• How to Notify Subscribers of New Posts in WordPress

We hope this article helped you find the best email automation tool for your small business. You may also want to check out our list of tested and easy ways to grow your email list faster or our comprehensive guide on how to build an email list in WordPress.

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The post 14+ Best Email Automation Tools for Your Business (Expert Pick) first appeared on WPBeginner.