Add Plain-Text Email
Adds a text/plain email to text/html emails to decrease the chance of emails being tagged as spam.
Solid choice
Add Plain-Text Email is a solid plugin choice in 2026, with a few things worth checking first. It runs on 100+ sites, is rated 5/5 and was last updated 2 months ago, and scores 71/100 on our health check.
- Tested with the latest WordPress (7.1)
- Small user base (100+ active installs)
- Very few reviews so far
How does it stack up?
Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & support
Daily downloads
Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.
Rankings
Where Add Plain-Text Email stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| >100 | |
| html email | #47 |
| spam | >100 |
| spamassassin | #1 |
| text email | #9 |
Version adoption
Share of active sites per release.
Rating breakdown
★★★★★★★★★★ 5 from 4 reviews
About Add Plain-Text Email
From the official readme · v1.2.1Description
Add Plain-Text Email
This plugin will add a plain/text version of your HTML emails to your WordPress emails. This decreases the chance of your legit emails being marked as spam by tools as SpamAssassin.
This plugin comes without any settings. When activated, it will automatically look for HTML emails being sent using the wp_mail() function and when necessary add the plain text version.
The source code of this plugin is available on GitHub: ibericode/wp-add-plaintext-email.
About the plugin author
Danny van Kooten has been building WordPress plugins since 2010, starting with WordPress 3.0.
He is the founder of ibericode, the small software company behind popular WordPress plugins including Mailchimp for WordPress and Koko Analytics.
Installation
Installing the plugin
- In your WordPress admin panel, go to Plugins > New Plugin, search for Add Plain Text Email and click “Install now”
- Alternatively, download the plugin and upload the contents of
add-plain-text-email.zipto your plugins directory, which usually is/wp-content/plugins/. - Activate the plugin. Your HTML emails will now automatically have a plain text version attached.
- (Optional) Test your new mail score using http://mail-tester.com/
Frequently asked questions
Why add a plain text version?
Because it decreases the chance of your legit email being marked as being spam and thus disappearing in spam folders. http://wiki.apache.org/spamassassin/Rules/MIME_HTML_ONLY
Will this mess up my HTML email?
No, the plugin does not affect the HTML message of emails.
Will the people I send email to notice?
No, 99% of all email clients will just show the HTML version of the email. The other 1% can’t properly display HTML and will show the plain text email. Without this plugin, they would have had nothing to show.
Where can I check my SpamAssassin score?
You can use the following online tools to test the spammyness of your WordPress emails. http://mail-tester.com/ http://isnotspam.com/ http://spamscorechecker.com/ http://www.port25.com/support/authentication-center/email-verification/
Changelog
1.2 – Nov 20, 2023
- Preserve href attribute from
<a>elements. Thanks Benjamin Danon! - Remove
PHPMailerparameter type as it somehow isn’t working on some set-ups…
1.1.3 – Dec 23, 2022
- Remove incorrectly working check to prevent running more than once.
- Update tested WP version.
- Add license information to source code.
1.1.2 – September 1, 2015
Remove faulty debugging statement.
1.1.1 – August 31, 2015
Improvements: The plugin is now a lot smarter when it comes to adding line-breaks.
1.1 – August 24, 2015
- Fixed: WordPress’s “lost password” emails were stripped of links.
- Improvement: Now only running on
text/htmlemails with no text version.
1.0 – October 21, 2013
- Initial release
For developers
Is this your plugin? Show off the numbers.
Add a live badge to your site, docs or GitHub README. It updates on its own — no account needed.
Best Add Plain-Text Email alternatives
All email plugins →
FAQ
Add Plain-Text Email: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Oct 5, 2026
Is Add Plain-Text Email free?
Yes. Add Plain-Text Email is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.
Is Add Plain-Text Email safe to use in 2026?
Add Plain-Text Email is a solid plugin choice in 2026, with a few things worth checking first. It runs on 100+ sites, is rated 5/5 and was last updated 2 months ago, and scores 71/100 on our health check.
How many websites use Add Plain-Text Email?
Add Plain-Text Email is active on 100+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 6,671 times since it launched in October 2013. It was downloaded 129 times in the last 30 days.
Does Add Plain-Text Email work with WordPress 7.1?
Yes. The developer has tested Add Plain-Text Email up to WordPress 7.1.2, the latest release. It requires WordPress 3.1 or newer.
What PHP version does Add Plain-Text Email need?
Add Plain-Text Email requires PHP 7.4 or higher. Most hosts run PHP 8.x today, so it works on any modern WordPress hosting.
When was Add Plain-Text Email last updated?
The latest version, 1.2.1, was released on August 20, 2026 (2 months ago).
Who makes Add Plain-Text Email?
Add Plain-Text Email is developed and maintained by Danny van Kooten.
What are the best alternatives to Add Plain-Text Email?
The most popular alternatives to Add Plain-Text Email are WP Mail SMTP by WPForms (4M+ installs), MC4WP: Mailchimp for WordPr… (1M+ installs) and Easy WP SMTP (500K+ installs).
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