Groundhogg review (2026): is it worth $20 a month, billed yearly?
Flat-rate CRM and email marketing plugin for WordPress
Black Friday: is there a Groundhogg sale?
Groundhogg report card
Fair · out of 4.0 · graded Nov 13, 2026
Best for a WordPress owner wanting CRM and email
Groundhogg is a CRM and email marketing plugin for WordPress, with flat pricing and unlimited contacts from $20 a month for 1 site. It only runs inside WordPress, and you need a separate SMTP or sending service to get email out.
Who Groundhogg is for
- Fits if you run WordPress sites and want contacts and email in the same place
- Works for agencies that want one licence across many client sites
Who Groundhogg is not for
- Not for you if you are not on WordPress, as it only runs there
- Skip it if you want email sent for you, because sending needs an SMTP or sending service, and those integrations are listed from Pro
- Watch out: the vendor's price comparison assumes you host it yourself
- Watch out: a licence covers 1, 3, 5 or 25 sites by tier, and refunds are offered within 14 days of purchase
Why Groundhogg gets a 2.0
Five grades, each with its reason. The GPA is their average: an A is 4 points, an F is none.
- CValue for moneyBasic is $20 a month for 1 site on annual billing ($240), inside the email category's middle band. Plus is $40 for 3 sites, Pro $50 for 5 and Agency $100 for 25.
- CFree plan and trial14-day demo of Pro in a private WordPress sandbox, no credit card. No free plan.
- CFeaturesContact management, broadcasts, automated flows, unlimited contacts, sales tools and an AI assistant connection. Sending needs an SMTP or sending service.
- DEase of useNo store rating on record. It needs a WordPress site you host and set up, plus an email sender.
- BPlatforms and integrationsRuns only inside WordPress, with 7 integrations on record.
What these grades rest on. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Groundhogg's own pages on 12 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. How we review and grade.
Make Groundhogg? Put this grade on your site
Paste this where you want the badge. It links here and follows the grade if it changes. About badges
<a href="https://toolgpa.com/tools/groundhogg#review"><img src="https://toolgpa.com/badge/groundhogg.svg" alt="Groundhogg: 2.0 GPA on ToolGPA" width="196" height="56"></a>Where Groundhogg stands among email marketing and newsletter tools
Groundhogg's GPA of 2.0 is higher than 7 of the 57 other email marketing and newsletter tools we grade, and level with 9.
It stands best on platforms and integrations (B, above 7 of 57) and worst on ease of use (D, above 0).
Its paid plans start at $20 a month, against a middle price of $15 for the category: 30 of the 47 others that charge start lower.
On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.0 out of 4. 28 tools score higher and cost less.
Each grade against the category
Every bar is all 58 email marketing and newsletter tools we grade, cut by the letter each got. Groundhogg’s own letter is outlined.
- CValue for moneyAbove 10 of 57, level with 33
- CFree plan and trialAbove 11 of 57, level with 31
- CFeaturesAbove 3 of 57, level with 19
- DEase of useAbove 0 of 57, level with 4
- BPlatforms and integrationsAbove 7 of 57, level with 50
Price against what you get
Each dot is one of 50 email marketing and newsletter tools. Further left costs less, and higher up scores better on features, ease of use and platforms. Point at a dot to see which tool it is.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Keep Groundhogg, or make your own?
Keep it
To replace Groundhogg you would be making newsletters sent to thousands of people that still reach the inbox. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one.
That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 41 of the 57 other email marketing and newsletter tools grade higher. It costs $240 a year. Groundhogg is open source, so there is a third way: take its code and run it yourself.
What you could make
- Sales pipeline: an app builder makes this well.
What you could not
- Newsletters sent to thousands of people that still reach the inbox.
- Email sent in volume that still reaches the inbox.
- An AI agent, with the models and the safeguards behind it.
- It plugs into other products, WooCommerce, Contact Form 7 and BuddyBoss among them.
What this rests on. Groundhogg’s listing: what it does, where it runs, what it plugs into and what it costs. It is a judgement about the kind of software this is. We have not built a replacement for it, and making your own means looking after it too. How we decide, and every tool’s verdict.
What is Groundhogg?
Groundhogg is a CRM and marketing automation plugin that runs on your own WordPress site. It combines contact records, email broadcasts, automated flows and reports, with a licence priced by feature tier instead of contact count. The vendor describes it as open source (GPL) and self-hosted.
Worth knowing
- It runs only inside WordPress; the vendor's price comparison assumes you host it yourself.
- Sending email needs an SMTP or sending service. SMTP and SMS integrations are listed from Pro.
- A single licence covers 1, 3, 5 or 25 sites depending on the tier.
- Refunds are offered within 14 days of purchase.
Key features
- Contact management
- Contact records with tags, custom fields, notes, tasks, activity timelines, saved searches and segments inside the WordPress dashboard.
- Email broadcasts
- Send broadcasts, batch large sends and handle bounces and complaints; bounce handling is a Pro feature.
- Automated flows
- Build automations that move contacts through sequences. Conditional logic needs Pro.
- Unlimited contacts
- The vendor says it never charges more for extra contacts, users, flows or email sends.
- Sales tools
- Booking calendar, lead scoring, content restriction and a sales pipeline from the Plus tier up.
- AI assistant connection
- Connect Claude or ChatGPT to the CRM over MCP so an assistant can work with contacts and flows.
Groundhogg pricing
As of Nov 12, 2026, Groundhogg is a paid product with a free trial, starting at $20 per month for 1 site, billed annually ($240).
- Starts at
- $20 per month for 1 site, billed annually ($240)
- Free plan
- None
- Free trial
- 14-day free demo of the Pro plan in a private WordPress sandbox, no credit card
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | $20per month for 1 site, billed annually ($240) | Premium support, basic add-ons, premium flow steps and superlinks. No company records, booking calendar or sales pipeline. |
| Plus | $40per month for up to 3 sites, billed annually ($480) | Adds form plugin integrations, sales, CRM and marketing add-ons, company records, booking calendar, lead scoring and sales pipeline. |
| Pro | $50per month for up to 5 sites, billed annually ($600) | Adds SMTP, SMS, ecommerce and membership integrations and conditional logic. |
| Agency | $100per month for up to 25 sites, billed annually ($1,200) | Adds white-label branding, all integrations and all add-ons, and permits use for clients. |
Read from groundhogg.io on Nov 12, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Groundhogg before you buy.
Ways to pay less
- Nonprofit50% off for registered nonprofits
A grant gives registered nonprofits 50% off annual licenses for Groundhogg Pro, MailHawk and HollerBox. It does not renew automatically, so it must be re-applied for each year.
Stated on groundhogg.io
Works with
- WooCommerce
- Contact Form 7
- BuddyBoss
- AffiliateWP
- Amazon Web Services
- LifterLMS
- Google Calendar
Groundhogg alternatives
- Groundhogg vs FluentCRM
Free plan · from $129/yr
- Groundhogg vs Mailster
From $79/yr
- Groundhogg vs MailPoet
Free plan · from $8/mo
- Groundhogg vs ActiveCampaign
Free trial · from $15/mo
- Groundhogg vs Mautic
Free plan · from €247.50/mo
Common questions
Does Groundhogg have an Android app?
No Android app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 12, 2026. Groundhogg is listed for Web.
Does Groundhogg have an iPhone app?
No iPhone app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 12, 2026. Groundhogg is listed for Web.
Is Groundhogg open source?
Yes. Groundhogg is open source, according to its own site. It can also be run on a server of your own.
Sources for this page
The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 12, 2026.