We researched into the top 8 Newsletter extensions for Joomla recently, and were a bit disappointed with the results. Now, we've been developing websites with Joomla for years now, and have installed dozens of newsletters and extensions. Once we find one that we like, we usually stick to it for a couple of rounds until it gives us reason to do another round of research.

We want to prefis this article with YaNC, Yet another Newsletter Component, our favorite extension for Joomla 1.0. YaNC was the ideal newsletter extension. YaNC had templates, fields to insert in newsletters, imported easily the user database, sent emails individually and in groups with a customizable timer in between emails, displayed statistics that showed who read the email and who didn't, sent previews, had editable automatic messages grouped according to email lists, easy user import and export settings, ability to display Joomla articles and modules in the newletters, no advertisement on the newsletters, allowed readers to opt-out of the newsletter... ALL OF THIS FOR FREE.

As with most extension companies at that time, the free and popular qualities was not a good business model. YaNC switched to a membership system, and its development and support for Joomla 1.5 has been, at best, slow. Finally, when Joomla removed all non-Open Source coded extensions from their directory around Joomla 1.5.9, YaNC was removed from Joomla's extension directory, and has never relisted itself. If you need a newsletter for Joomla 1.0, install YaNC because it is the best newsletter extension for Joomla 1.0.

That said, we will use the features of YaNC as a basis to judge all other newsletter extensions. We will also use the average price of an extension that has been around for a while, which is about $20-$30 on Joomla.

So, it's not like the technology to make a good newsletter has changed lately. Granted Joomla makes changes to its code over time, there is still not a lot of new newsletter features being developed. We've consistently seen that without YaNC offering reasonable competition, the prices of all other Newsletter extensions for Joomla have gotten WAY out of hand.

Acajoom

Acajoom has consistently removed features from their free or cheaper priced Acajoom versions, and to charged more money for the same technology. Granted, they have developed a couple more features to integrate with other extensions, but overall we have not be satisfied with the degree to which they've offered less for more money. We own an older copy of their free Acajoom version that we downloaded over a year ago, and it has more features than the free version that they sell now. An example of their offering less for more is that they currently removed link tracking from the entire package and placed it into a whole other plugin priced separately. Also, to gauge the extent to which they're reaching for every penny, we purchased the Plus version a year ago at $66 for its decent statistics, and a year later the price has doubled. With all that in mind, they offer a fairly decent product that other notible extensions can integrate with, and their costumer service has been good but inconsistent.

Pricing & Noteable Features

• News - Free - Validates emails, Templates, batch sending with settings
• Plus Powerpack - $111 - Removes Acajoom ad, tracks who read the email, performs scheduled mailings, auto responder
• Pro Powerpack - $182 - Subscribes via url (used to be on all versions), inserts joomla articles into newsletters (used to be on less expensive versions), insert Community Builder fields
• Other Features turned into plugins now included in the "Power packs" are: Link tracking, auto blacklist email bouncebacks

AcyMailing

AcyMailing is the new kid on the block. Founded in November 2009, their tech support in their forums is on top of things, but they're new, so their component may still be a bit buggy and we are unsure how long they'll last in the long run. Also, for being such a new company, they have an awful lot of 5 star reviews in short amount of time, which makes it look like they created email accounts to rig their Joomla rating in their favor. On the other hand, we were impressed by the new integrations they offered with other extensions, such as Virtuemart.

Pricing & Notable Features

• Starter - Free - Imbed images, create Templates, view online, insert Joomla articles, Queue management, send from gmail, no ad in newsletters
• Essential - $42 - removes the AcyMailing Ad from component, tracks links clicked on, Scheduled newsletters, subscribe via url, welcome message, tracks users
• Business - $77 - Can list Virtuemart Products in newsletter, integrates with Community Builder Fields, integrates with events from JCalPro2, offers decent statistics that tracks when your newsletter was read, tracks each mailing, automatically generates a newsletter and sends it, statistics tracks when your newsletter is forwarded,
• Enterprise - $127 - Can do auto response campaigns, integrates with Community Builder Fields, inserts Joomla Articles into newsletters, bounce-back handlings, insert Joomla Modules

ccNewsletter

We tried using ccNewsletter a year ago and encountered a critical problem with the mailing; I think our links or images weren't displaying correctly. We recommend trying it though, because it's free, they've been around for a while, and they do have Virtuemart integration.

Pricing & Notable Features

• Free - Virtuemart 1.1 integration (not specific as to what this means), Imports from Acajoom, Letterman, YaNC, Communicator user import, Community Builder Plugin, does not validate email addresses, Templates, batch email sending

Newsletter Subscriber Pro

This developer made a fairly basic and easy Newsletter. Though not as robust as others, its fairly straight forward. As it is made by a developer, the customer support going out into the future may or may not be decent.

Pricing & Notable Features

• $14 - Tracks forwarding to a friend, Anti-Spam though not as many self adjustable settings, inserts fields, has statistics, integrates with Community Builder, can send preview emails using the "Tool kit", Imports and exports users.

Communicator

Free, but company website is just a forum and not so navigateable. No Demo and difficult to tell what the features are.

Letterman

Free, but not being developed, so little or no tech support. May work for Joomla 1.0.

MKPostman

For starters, most of the website is in German, with some English Translation. It has some basic features, but it says it was developed by a student as a thesis project, which means the developers may not be working on it or providing tech support going out into the future.

Pricing & Notable Features

• Free - It does auto response campaigns!, apparently doesn't provide SMTP emailing, does not handle email bouncing or allows inserting of custom fields.

RSMail

There wasn't a lot of information about what features this newsletter provides. They price on a support subscription and number of urls basis, and it seems fairly basic for the price.

Pricing & Notable Features

• All Subscriptions allow for: insert fields in newsletters, email templates, customized confirmation messages
• $55 - 1 Domain
• $167 - Unlimited domains

Sun Powered Productions Recommends

1. Trying out the free versions of AcyMailing, ccNewsletter & Communicator. Send yourself some test newsletters to see if they work and that you like any of them.
2. Check out the two in dept videos on Newsletter Subscriber Pro and see if you like the features.
3. If the free versions are not robust enough, we recommend purchasing a more robust version of AcyMailing (after you've tried the free version.)

PLEASE NOTE: The assessment of these companies and extensions was performed on January 26, 2010. This assessment was based on our experience with the companies as to that date over the course of a little more than a 2 year period, and practices and policies of the companies may change as time passes. Some of the prices were converted from Euros or other currencies on that date, and may be different when you read this article.