Kadence WooCommerce Email Designer vs SMTP Mailer (2026)
Detailed side-by-side comparison of two WordPress plugins, based on real-time data from WordPress.org.
Kadence WooCommerce Email Designer
100K+ active installs
Free
Quick Verdict
As of April 2026, Kadence WooCommerce Email Designer has a higher user rating (4.5/5 from 142 reviews) and leads in active installations (100K+ vs 70K+). Both are free WordPress plugins. Kadence WooCommerce Email Designer has accumulated 2.1M+ total downloads while SMTP Mailer has 1.4M+.
Detailed Comparison
| Metric | Kadence WooCommerce Email Designer | SMTP Mailer | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rating | 4.5/5 | 4.5/5 | |
| Total Reviews | 142 | ◄ | 65 |
| Active Installs | 100K+ | ◄ | 70K+ |
| Total Downloads | 2.1M+ | ◄ | 1.4M+ |
| Support Resolution | N/A | N/A | |
| Last Updated | 4 months ago | ► | 1 month ago |
| First Released | 2018 | 2015 | |
| Age | 8 years | 11 years | |
| WP Requires | 5.3+ | 6.9+ | |
| PHP Requires | 5.2.4+ | false+ | |
| Business Model | Free | Free | |
| Latest Version | 1.5.18 | 1.1.25 |
Rating Breakdown
Kadence WooCommerce Email Designer
SMTP Mailer
Download Trends
Over the past 30 days, Kadence WooCommerce Email Designer averaged approximately 280 daily downloads while SMTP Mailer averaged 449.
Recent Reviews
Kadence WooCommerce Email Designer Reviews
Was great, not working now
Was one of the best WooCommerce email design plugins available, but it stopped working with the latest WordPress or possibly Elementor. Email sent with the default WooCommerce template, and unable to
Preview doesn’t reflect result
I had high hopes and customisations looked great in preview. Unfortunately the actual emails distributed by this system looked nothing like the preview! There was no header styling and header backgrou
Worked great until it didn’t
Stopped working recently with an update from wordpress or maybe elementor. It’s free, so maybe they don’t update it much. It was good up until now. Have to switch to another.
SMTP Mailer Reviews
A basic and effective plugin. The best.
For my WordPress site, I didn’t want complex plugins with lots of options or that consumed a lot of resources. I was looking for something simple. At first, it didn’t work well because it wasn’t 10
Simple Setup, Works Great with CF7
I’ve tried some of the better-known ‘big name’ SMTP plugins, but none of them did exactly what I needed with CF7 sending both Mail and Mail (2) seamlessly. This one just works with no complications or
Simple needs, simple to use
I needed something quick and easy when a contact page on an old site started breaking for some reason and I decided to redo it with new plugins for the form and mailer. This plugin got me going and fi
Frequently Asked Questions
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Plugin data sourced from WordPress.org. Comparison and analysis by PluginSift.