10 Best WordPress SMTP Plugins for Improve Email Delivery

Looking for the best WordPress SMTP plugins for your site?

An SMTP plugin can fix email deliverability issues across your whole WordPress site. Plus, the best SMTP plugins also include a bunch of extra features to help you manage your WordPress emails in a better way.

In this article, we’ll explore the best WordPress SMTP plugins to combat your email deliverability issues in WordPress.

What is SMTP?

SMTP stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. It is a protocol used for sending and receiving email messages. When you send out an email, an SMTP server deconstructs it and helps it go from your email client to your recipient’s email client.

Most of the emails in your inbox come from an SMTP server.

Why Do You Need an SMTP Plugin for WordPress?

Almost all WordPress websites make use of email for a number of purposes, including:

  • Creating a new user account
  • Helping in the recovery of lost passwords
  • Password reset
  • Comment notifications
  • Sending invoices and order confirmations

However, many users report that WordPress does not send emails correctly. This is likely because WordPress is set to send emails using the built-in PHP mail() function.

There are various issues with the default PHP mail() setting that cause it to fail.

For example, most hosting providers do not properly set up the feature. Some may even turn it off to safeguard their servers from misuse. Since this function does not need authentication, it is simple to abuse to send spam emails.

Even if the PHP mail() function is enabled in your hosting provider, your WordPress emails may still be in spam folders. This is because most spam filters validate emails based on the sender’s email address, location, and domain name, and your website’s email may be flagged as spam or suspicious.

The only way to fix this issue is to use an SMTP server to send WordPress emails.

10 Best WordPress SMTP Plugins

Many SMTP plugins and SMTP services are available for WordPress website owners. They all have different features, pricing points, and restrictions on how many emails you may send on their free plans. Their deliverability records differ as well.

Below are the best SMTP plugins for WordPress with the highest deliverability and the best feature set.

1. WP Mail SMTP

WP Mail SMTP – Best WordPress SMTP Plugin

WP Mail SMTP has more than 3 million active installations and is one of the best WordPress SMTP plugins for WordPress users.

It integrates with the best mailer services to increase your site’s email deliverability.

Aside from resolving deliverability issues, WP Mail SMTP’s paid version includes extremely valuable features. One of them is email logging. It securely logs all outgoing emails from your WordPress, so you can see the status, content, source, and recipient data at any time.

Another great feature is email tracking, which allows you to view the open and click rates for all of your emails. This is useful if you want to see how different emails are performing.

Additionally, it may send email failure messages to a Slack channel, email address, or to your phone via SMS. If any email errors occur, you will be notified immediately by your selected channel so you can resolve the issue as soon as possible.

Not just that. You may also choose which default WordPress notifications you want to receive using WP Mail SMTP. You may enable or disable several types of WordPress notifications, allowing you to keep your inbox clean and free of needless emails.

Overall, WP Mail SMTP is the most feature-rich WordPress SMTP plugin on the market.

Pricing:

A free version is available on WordPress.org. However, the pro version starts from $49 per year for a single-site license.

2. Easy WP SMTP

Easy WP SMTP – WordPress Email SMTP Plugin

Easy WP SMTP is a popular SMTP plugin. It comes with very simple settings to configure SMTP on your site.

Further, it is simple to install on your site. However, unlike the WP Mail SMTP plugin, it does not have a setup wizard.

Easy WP SMTP can connect to your Gmail, Yahoo, or Hotmail account. However, you will be unable to connect it with major mailing services like SendLayer and SendGrid, which connect easily with WP Mail SMTP.

While Easy WP SMTP is useful for connecting with standard mailing providers to boost deliverability, it lacks some advanced features. For example, you cannot track open and click counts for emails, log emails, or control WordPress notification emails. All of these features come in WP Mail SMTP Pro.

Pricing:

Easy WP SMTP is free to use or upgrade starting at $49 per year.

3. SMTP.com

SMTP Email Relay Services - SMTP.com

SMTP.com is the most powerful email delivery solution for WordPress sites. It’s really simple to set up, and you can send emails in minutes.

What makes SMTP.com unique is that it allows you to easily send and track large volumes of emails.

It also features a scalable infrastructure that may expand your business.

There is also a Reputation Defender addon that will proactively check the health of your email list and protect your domain and IP reputation. This helps to increase delivery rates and inbox placement over time.

Furthermore, SMTP.com has comprehensive reports that can be used to monitor and improve your email delivery and engagement performance.

Pricing:

SMTP.com offers reasonable plans for businesses of all sizes. There’s a 30-day free trial, after which plans start at $25/month.

4. Gmail SMTP

Gmail SMTP – WordPress Plugin

The Gmail SMTP plugin is created specifically for Gmail users. Because of the availability of this plugin, you can use Gmail as an email server even if you do not have an SMTP server.

For this WordPress plugin to work, all you need is a Gmail API account. This plugin uses the OAuth 2.0 protocol for authentication.

As a result, this WordPress SMTP plugin does not require users to keep their usernames or passwords, ensuring better user security.

This plugin uses PHPMailer, a modern library used by other WordPress plugins to send emails using the mail function.

Further, this plugin uses ‘wp_mail’ to send emails rather than modifying WordPress’s default mail function. As a result, it keeps the benefits of WordPress’ standard mail feature.

Pricing:

Gmail SMTP is free to use.

5. Post SMTP

Post SMTP Mailer/Email Log – Best Mail SMTP For WP

Post SMTP is a free WordPress SMTP plugin that is easy to set up.

Like WP Gmail SMTP, it supports OAuth 2.0, so you don’t have to save your email password in the WordPress dashboard. It is also compatible with WordPress multisite.

Post SMTP connects with popular mail services, including Mailgun, Sendgrid, and Gmail.

You may also use email testing to determine which emails were not delivered. Keep in mind that support may be limited compared to other SMTP plugins.

Pricing:

Post SMTP is free to use.

6. SMTP Mailer

SMTP Mailer – WordPress Plugin

SMTP Mailer is a simple WordPress SMTP plugin. By installing an SMTP server for the plugin, you may easily send emails from your website.

However, SMTP Mailer does not offer support for any specific SMTP provider. Rather, you must obtain the SMTP service using WordPress’s settings and account credentials.

With SMTP Mailer, you can specify the SMTP port and kind of encryption for your emails. The plugin allows you to send test emails to see if your WordPress SMTP settings are right.

SMTP Mailer may usually work with any email service provider that integrates with the SMTP server. It includes several contact form tools, such as Contact Form 7, Jetpack, and Formidable Form Builder.

Overall, SMTP Mailer is an excellent SMTP plugin for email marketing campaigns.

Pricing:

SMTP Mailer is free to use.

7. Mail Bank

WP Mail Bank

Mail Bank is a free SMTP WordPress plugin that improves and tests your email deliverability.

It changes the wp mail() function to allow you to modify your outgoing email settings.

This means you can use Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, and other SMTP service providers. Aside from those integrations, you can also link with popular SMTP email service providers like Mailgun and Sendgrid to increase functionality.

Pricing

The standard version is free. However, the premium version starts from €29.99 per year for unlimited sites.

8. WP Offload SES

WP Offload SES

WP Offload SES is a good SMTP plugin; however, it only connects to Amazon SES.

Furthermore, configuring the plugin for the first time is difficult and lacks the simplicity of WP Mail SMTP.

WP Offload SES, on the other hand, offers some extra features, such as weekly email reports that show the delivery status of your sent emails. Furthermore, the premium version can track open and click counts for sent emails.

However, it does not offer email failure notifications, which is a bit disappointing. Furthermore, if Amazon SES is not your mail server, you should use WP Mail SMTP because it supports many mailing services besides Amazon SES.

Pricing

The standard version is free. However, the premium version starts from $80 per year for a single site.

9. Mailgun

Mailgun

There are many SMTP plugins on the market, but Mailgun is among the simplest to use.

This plugin allows you to send mass transactional emails and use a RESTful API for data management.

This WP SMTP plugin provides strong and simple email APIs, allowing developers to focus on building excellent websites rather than managing email servers.

You may use this plugin to check the status of all your email messages, no matter where you are. Furthermore, this plugin is compatible with the most common programming languages, including PHP, Ruby, Python, C#, and Java.

Furthermore, because it uses the Mailgun HTTP API by default, this plugin allows you to send email regardless of whether your server supports SMTP or restricts outbound SMTP.

Pricing

A free version is available on WordPress.org. The premium version starts from $35 per month for 50,000 emails.

10. FluentSMTP

FluentSMTP – Free WordPress SMTP Plugin

FluentSMTP is a good option with native email service providers if you want a quick and safe solution to your email delivery issue. This plugin integrates common email services such as Amazon SES API, Gmail OAuth API, Google Workspace, and others.

You can also use its email tracking tool to keep track of every email sent from your site.

Its multiple email routing feature enables you to use several SMTP servers on the same website. This is a useful function, especially if you use WordPress email marketing plugins to send marketing emails.

FluentSMTP also has an email reporting feature. This allows you to see a detailed visual analysis of your website’s emails daily. Fluent SMTP will present this detailed report to you in the form of graphs and charts.

Pricing

Fluent SMTP is free to use.

Which is the Best WordPress SMTP Plugin?

WP Mail SMTP is a must-have if you’re searching for the best WordPress SMTP plugin. It has excellent deliverability, features, and scalability.

It also has a free version that is perfect for beginners. Aside from that, it’s the quickest and easiest way to set up SMTP on your WordPress site.

Moreover, even though the plugin is simple to use, you will have access to thorough documentation and tutorials to learn how to configure suitable email settings for your domain name.

If you want to outsource the configuration process, you may contact their support team and rely on them to do the task for any site, including eCommerce.

We hope this article helps you find the best WordPress SMTP plugins for your site.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is Post SMTP Mailer free?

Yes. Post SMTP Mailer is a fully free WordPress plugin.

Is WP Mail SMTP Plugin free?

No. WP Mail SMTP is a freemium plugin that offers both free and paid versions.

What is wp_mail in WordPress?

The wp_mail is a PHP function that allows users to send emails.

Do I Need WP Mail SMTP?

WordPress sends emails using the PHP Mail function by default. However, it is recommended to use SMTP because it handles messages better and may also be used to send emails from a third-party mailing service.