A small, self-hosted newsletter for WordPress with double opt-in signup. No external mailing service, no tracking.
The idea
Subscribers live in the site’s own database, emails go out through the mail service the site already uses, and nothing is shared with a third party.
It’s deliberately small. No open tracking, no click tracking, no pixels, no dashboard of engagement metrics, designed for approx. 500 subscribers top.
Signing up
Confirmed, not assumed
Readers subscribe through a block or a shortcode placed anywhere on the site. Both work with JavaScript switched off, so the form is never dead on arrival.
Every signup is confirmed by email before it counts. The subscriber clicks a link in their inbox, and only then are they on the list — which keeps the list clean, keeps mistyped addresses out, and is what consent law expects. The time and IP of that consent are recorded against the subscriber, so there’s an answer if anyone ever asks for one.
Keeping the list clean
A public signup form on a live site is a target. Several layers of protection sit in front of this one:
- A hidden field bots fill in and people don’t.
- A signed timing check.
- A blocklist and disposable-address filtering.
- A check that the domain can actually receive mail.
- Rate limits by address, by network, and across the site as a whole.
None of it asks a real reader to prove they’re human.
Writing & sending
The block editor, not a new one
Broadcasts are written in the block editor, like any other content — the same tools, the same preview, no separate email builder to learn.
Sending is queued rather than fired off in one go. Messages leave in batches under a daily limit, so a large list doesn’t trip the sending limits of the mail service behind it, and a new setup can be eased into sending gradually. Each subscriber gets their own message, with their own unsubscribe link.
Leaving
One click, no questions
Unsubscribing is one click: the unsubscribe button mail apps put at the top of the message, alongside a link in the footer. No login required.
The link is safe for mail scanners to follow, and the list is updated the moment someone acts on it.
Privacy
Nothing leaves the site
Subscriber data is covered by WordPress’s own privacy tools: a personal data request exports what’s held, and an erasure request removes it, without anyone having to go digging in the database.
Nothing is sent to an outside service. No tracking pixels are embedded in messages, and no record is kept of who opened what.
What it doesn’t do
On purpose
Deliberately out of scope: bounce handling, open and click tracking, segmentation, automation sequences, and integrations with external mailing platforms. A site that needs those has outgrown this plugin — and that’s the right time to move to something larger.
Delivery
Maintained, not abandoned
Simple Newsletter Mattrs isn’t on the WordPress plugin directory. It’s installed directly and updates itself in place.
| WordPress | 6.4 or newer |
| PHP | 8.1 or newer |
| Sending | Uses the site’s existing mail configuration — no new account, no API keys |
| Storage | Subscribers are stored in the site’s own database |
Built and maintained by Mattrs, free to use.
