Lite, Pro and Enterprise¶
There are two packages, built from one source — the free one and the paid one. The paid one comes in two editions, Pro and Enterprise.
| maennchen1 Newsletter Germany | wpNewsletterGermany | |
|---|---|---|
| Where from | the WordPress directory | shop.maennchen1.de |
| Costs | nothing | updates and support for 12 months |
| Directory | newsletter-germany |
wpnewslettergermany |
| Support | forum | forum, plus telephone and e-mail via a ticket |
What is sold are not licences but updates and support for twelve months. There is no subscription and no automatic renewal. When the period runs out, your plugin keeps running — it simply stops receiving updates.
The plugin is licensed under the GPL. The paid package too.
What the free package can do¶
Everything that belongs to sending a newsletter. That is not a polite phrase but the rule decisions are made by: does a beginner need it in order to send a newsletter at all? Then Lite.
- Subscribers and groups, any number, with multiple assignment
- Subscription and unsubscribe form, as a page, shortcode, block or widget
- Double opt-in with a consent record
- Spam protection without a third-party service
- Writing newsletters, test sends, preview, scheduled sending
- Three of the ten templates, plus your own layouts
- Placeholders, plus the placeholder rule for values that depend on a condition
- Newsletter archive on the front end
- Post notification, immediately or as a digest
- CSV import and export
- Sending log — who received what
- Export, disclosure and erasure through the WordPress privacy tools
There is no volume limit. Not on subscribers, not on groups, not on sends, not on time.
What the paid package adds¶
| Statistics | Opens, clicks and clicks per link, with charts and CSV export |
| Bounce processing | Fetching undeliverable mail over POP3 and matching it up |
| Subscriber fields | Your own fields in the subscription form |
| Attachments | Attaching files to a newsletter |
| SOAP and REST interface | Other systems enter subscribers |
| Captcha | Google reCAPTCHA on the form — spam protection does the same without a third-party service and is in both packages |
| Seven more templates | Zeitung, Karte, Breit, Dunkel, Kompakt, Zweispaltig, Brief |
| Connection to wpShopGermany | Customer data from the sister product |
Plus the thing you actually pay for: updates and support for twelve months.
Pro or Enterprise¶
The paid package comes in two editions. They do not differ in what they can do — every feature, every module and every template is in both. The difference is where you are allowed to use them:
| Pro | Enterprise | |
|---|---|---|
| Domains | one | several |
| Multisite network | no | yes |
| Features, modules, templates | all | all |
| Updates and support | 12 months | 12 months |
Which edition your key carries is shown under Newsletter → Configuration → Update access. That is also where you register the address — and that is not an optional step: the access is only valid on registered addresses. On an address that is not on the key, the plugin runs as a trial version and shuts itself down after fourteen days.
Moving with a Pro key
A Pro key covers one address, but not always the same one. When you move, you release the old address and enter the new one — the plugin tells you as much if you try it on a second address. The procedure is described in Moving to a new website.
Multisite needs Enterprise
In a WordPress network all sites share one set of data — subscribers, groups and newsletters exist once for the whole network. What that means for your setup is described under System requirements.
Switching from Lite to Pro¶
There is nothing to transfer. Both packages work on the same tables and the same settings — your subscribers, groups, newsletters and settings are unchanged after the switch.
Here is how:
- Upload the paid package like any other plugin (Installation).
- Activate. In doing so it switches the free package off by itself and tells you once in the backend.
- Enter the activation key in the plugin row.
- Register the address — Configuration → Update access → Domain management. Without it the plugin shuts itself down after fourteen days, see Update access.
- Only then delete the free package.
Keep to the order
As long as both packages sit in the plugin directory, uninstalling deletes no data at all — not even if you switched that on under Maintenance. That is a safety net: without it, deleting one package would take the other's subscribers away.
This is why the switch „Remove data on uninstall" does not even appear while the second package is present — instead it says why. Decide once only one package is left.
If both do end up running¶
That is not intended, but it happens during a switch. In that case: the paid package wins.
| Situation | What happens |
|---|---|
| Lite is running, Pro is activated | Pro switches Lite off and reports it once |
| Both active, Lite loads first | Lite goes quiet immediately, Pro runs; at the next backend request Lite is switched off |
| Both active, Pro loads first | Lite goes quiet as soon as its turn comes |
| Two copies of the same package | The second goes quiet |
A package that has gone quiet does nothing — it only writes one line into its own row of the plugin list saying what to do.
Back to the free package¶
That works too, and all data stays in place as well. What is missing afterwards are the Pro modules: your newsletters, subscribers and groups remain complete.
Two things you will notice, and the plugin reports both by itself:
- A newsletter containing the placeholder of a subscriber variable no longer has anything to resolve it. When you open a newsletter that has not been sent yet, a message in the form says so.
- Attachments hanging on a newsletter no longer go out with it. That too appears as a message in the form.
Both messages disappear by themselves as soon as the module is running again.