---
title: What is Hive Mail?
description: Hive Mail is an email marketing plugin that runs inside WordPress. See what it does and what you need to start sending.
url: "https://hiveplugins.com/docs/hive-mail-what-is-hive-mail/"
updated: "2026-10-28"
category: Hive Mail
---

# What is Hive Mail?

Hive Mail is an email marketing plugin for WordPress. You collect subscribers, write newsletters, automate follow-up emails and read the results, all from one screen in your WordPress admin. Contacts, campaigns and statistics are stored in your own WordPress database, and Hive Mail sets no limit on contacts, emails or automations.

![The Hive Mail Dashboard with the audience numbers, the last campaign and the Where to start card](https://hiveplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/hivemail-start-dashboard-01.webp)

## What you can do with it

| Area | What it gives you |
| --- | --- |
| Audience | [Contacts](/docs/hive-mail-contacts/) with [lists](/docs/hive-mail-lists/), [tags](/docs/hive-mail-tags/), [custom fields](/docs/hive-mail-custom-fields/) and saved [segments](/docs/hive-mail-segments/). Import from CSV, WordPress users or other plugins, and [check your list](/docs/hive-mail-check-my-list/) for risky addresses. |
| Collect subscribers | [Signup forms](/docs/hive-mail-signup-forms/), or [forms you already use](/docs/hive-mail-connect-a-form-you-already-use/), with double opt-in and spam protection. |
| Campaigns | [Create a campaign](/docs/hive-mail-create-and-send-a-campaign/) in four editors, from [templates](/docs/hive-mail-templates/) and [starter designs](/docs/hive-mail-starter-designs-and-seasonal-recipes/). Merge tags, A/B subject tests, scheduling and [reports](/docs/hive-mail-read-a-campaign-report/). |
| Automation | [Flows](/docs/hive-mail-automation-basics/) on a visual canvas, [recipes](/docs/hive-mail-automation-recipes/) and [Flow Studio](/docs/hive-mail-flow-studio/). |
| Shops | [WooCommerce](/docs/hive-mail-woocommerce/) and [Easy Digital Downloads](/docs/hive-mail-easy-digital-downloads/) customers, [abandoned-cart recovery](/docs/hive-mail-abandoned-cart-recovery/) and [revenue per email](/docs/hive-mail-reports-and-revenue/). |
| Visitors (optional) | A small tracker for live visitors, pages and sources. It is off until you switch it on. See [marketing intelligence](/docs/hive-mail-what-marketing-intelligence-records/). |
| Compliance | Double opt-in, unsubscribe and preference pages, a do-not-email list and bounce handling. See [Consent and the law](/docs/hive-mail-consent-and-the-law-guide/). |
| AI assistant | An icon in the header opens a chat that answers questions and makes drafts, emails and automations for you, after you approve its plan. See [The AI assistant](/docs/hive-mail-ai-assistant/). |

## What you need

- WordPress 6.4 or newer and PHP 8.0 or newer.
- A way to send: an SMTP plugin, a Mailgun account or a SendGrid account. Hive Mail queues and writes your emails but has no mail server of its own. See [How Hive Mail sends email](/docs/hive-mail-how-hive-mail-sends-email/).
- Ideally a real cron job, so scheduled campaigns go out on time. See [Scheduled sending and cron](/docs/hive-mail-scheduled-sending-and-cron/).

> **Tip:** "No limit" describes Hive Mail, not your host. How many emails you can send per hour depends on your web host or sending service.

Next: [Requirements and installation](/docs/hive-mail-requirements-and-installation/), [First steps checklist](/docs/hive-mail-first-steps-checklist/), [Key concepts](/docs/hive-mail-key-concepts-glossary/).