WORDPRESS

6 Best WordPress SMTP Plugins (Expert Pick)

Published

1 year ago

October 27, 2023

Max

Are you looking for the best WordPress SMTP plugin for your website?

Using SMTP plugins on your website can improve the deliverability and security of the emails you send to your users. This can prevent your emails from ending up in your users’ spam folders.

In this article, we have hand-picked the best SMTP plugins for your WordPress website to improve email deliverability.

Why Use a WordPress SMTP Plugin?

By default, WordPress uses the PHP mail () function to send emails from your WordPress website.

These include order confirmation emails for customers in your WooCommerce store, form submission emails, newsletters, account activation emails, and more.

However, due to server issues, plugin conflicts, or incorrect email settings, most of these emails never make it to the users’ inboxes or even end up in the spam folder.

For more details on this, you may want to see our beginner’s guide on how to fix the WordPress not sending email issue.

This is where SMTP plugins come in. These plugins easily integrate with popular SMTP services to improve the overall deliverability of your emails.

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is the standard protocol for sending emails. Unlike the PHP mail () function, it uses proper authentication, making SMTP a more reliable protocol with high deliverability rates.

Moreover, an SMTP plugin also encrypts all your emails to prevent them from being intercepted by hackers.

SMTP plugins give you more control over your email settings and even allow you to customize the email that will be sent to the recipients.

That being said, let’s take a look at the best WordPress SMTP plugins on the market.

1. WP Mail SMTP

WP Mail SMTP is the best WordPress SMTP plugin on the market that easily replaces the PHP mail() function on your WordPress blog with SMTP.

Used by over 2 million+ websites, the plugin allows you to connect your website to SMTP service providers like Brevo (formerly Sendinblue), SendLayer, and AWS to improve your email deliverability.

Moreover, WP Mail SMTP even allows you to send test emails to check if the emails are being successfully sent to the users.

The plugin sends you an email every week summarizing the weekly statistics of your WordPress emails. This information can help you strategize and improve your email marketing for better results.

Other than that, its free version also offers features like email logging, advanced email reporting, and backup connections. However, if you want to unlock smart email routing, email tracking, or White Glove setup, then you can upgrade to the paid plan.

Pros

It lets you view a log of all the emails sent from your website.
WP Mail SMTP offers a free version of the plugin.
The plugin sends you an email failure notification through Slack, email, or SMS.
It tracks open and click rates for emails sent through WordPress.
WP Mail SMTP allows you to enable or disable different types of notifications.
It’s compatible with all of the WordPress hosting providers.

Cons

Some of the plugin’s more advanced features, like email tracking and email routing, require a paid plan.

Why we recommend WP Mail SMTP: Overall, WP Mail SMTP is the best choice for WordPress users as it comes with a super high email deliverability rate and easily integrates with many popular SMTP service providers.

Other than that, it completely secures all the emails sent from your website and offers spam protection, IP address restrictions, two-factor authentication, and more.

2. Easy WP SMTP

Easy WP SMTP is a lightweight plugin that allows you to easily configure SMTP settings on your website to increase email deliverability.

It comes with a free plan that you can use to connect with SMTP providers like SendLayer, Brevo, and Mailgun.

The free plan of Easy WP SMTP also allows you to integrate with Gmail and offers debugging on email failure.

Plus, if you upgrade to the paid plan, then you can also access features like backup connections, smart email routing, priority support, and more.

Pros

Easy WP SMTP has a simple interface, making it ideal for beginners.
Its paid plan comes with features like email tracking, email logging, and email reports.
The plugin also allows you to connect your WordPress site with Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo accounts.

Cons

Its free plan offers limited features that only allow you to integrate your website with an SMTP provider.
Easy WP SMTP offers limited support compared to other plugins on this list.

Why we recommend Easy WP SMTP: We recommend opting for the Easy WP SMTP plugin if you are looking for a simple solution. The plugin offers all the features that you will need to switch to an SMTP service, making it a great choice for beginners.

3. Post SMTP Mailer

Post SMTP Mailer is another great plugin that can help boost your email deliverability.

The plugin allows you to easily connect your WordPress site with SMTP service providers and even sends you notifications via the Slack app if an email delivery fails.

It also uses OAuth 2.0 to protect your emails and performs a connectivity test to detect firewall blocks or configuration errors.

Pros

It comes with a built-in email logger to keep track of email details.
You can also connect this plugin with Gmail, Mandrill, SendGrid, and Mailgun using an API.
It’s compatible with WordPress multisite setups.
With Post SMTP Mailer, you can design a secondary fallback SMTP server if the primary server fails.

Cons

The plugin does not offer as many features as other SMTP plugins on the list.
Its free plan does not offer priority customer support.
Its email logs are not very comprehensive.

Why we recommend Post SMTP Mailer: Post SMTP Mailer is a great solution if you are on a budget, as its free plan offers most of the features that you will need to securely deliver your emails.

Other than that, you can also use its paid plan to unlock features like email authentication, email scheduling, email encryption, and more.

4. FluentSMTP

FluentSMTP is a free WordPress plugin that allows you to easily deliver emails using SMTP providers like Brevo, SendGrid, Mailgun, and more.

Other than improving your email delivery, the plugin allows you to keep a log and track the emails sent to users from your WordPress dashboard.

Pros

It is an open-source plugin that’s completely free.
FluentSMTP offers email encryption to make your email completely secure.
It comes with email routing and lets you resend failed emails.

Cons

FluentSMTP is a bit tricky to set up with some SMTP providers.
It does not support Microsoft Exchange servers.

Why we recommend using FluentSMTP: We recommend using FluentSMTP if you are on a tight budget and looking for a simple solution, as it’s open source and completely free.

5. Gmail SMTP

The Gmail SMTP plugin is an ideal choice if you want to use Gmail as an SMTP server. The free plugin allows you to easily connect your WordPress website with Gmail and send emails through it.

The plugin also offers spam protection, email logging, and great customer support.

Pros

Gmail SMTP uses OAuth 2.0, which is a more secure login method.
It allows you to send test emails to verify if everything is working correctly.
It encrypts your emails before sending them to protect them from hackers.

Cons

Gmail SMTP is a bit trickier to set up compared to other plugins on this list.
It does not offer email tracking or analysis features.

Why we recommend Gmail SMTP: We only recommend Gmail SMTP if you want to send WordPress emails through your admin Gmail account.

6. SMTP Mailer

SMTP Mailer is a free WordPress plugin that allows you to easily send emails through SMTP service providers like SendLayer, SendGrid, SMTP.com, and more.

The plugin has an easy-to-use interface and uses authentication to ensure that your emails are delivered to the recipient’s inbox.

Pros

It has a simple user interface.
SMTP Mailer is completely free.
The plugin lets you test sending emails to ensure deliverability.

Cons

You have to manually connect the SMTP Mailer plugin with a mailing provider.
It doesn’t allow you to track emails, log emails, or schedule them.
It doesn’t offer great customer support.

Why we recommend SMTP Mailer: SMTP Mailer is a plugin with limited functionality and a simplistic user interface. We only recommend using this plugin if you are on a tight budget and don’t mind manually integrating an SMTP service provider with the plugin.

What Is the Best SMTP Plugin for WordPress?

In our expert opinion, WP Mail SMTP is the best WordPress SMTP plugin on the market. It’s used by over 2 million websites and allows integrations with popular SMTP service providers like SendLayer and Brevo (formerly Sendinblue).

The plugin also tracks emails, sends weekly email statistics reports, and comes with email logs, making it the ultimate SMTP plugin.

However, if you are a complete beginner, then you might prefer using the Easy WP SMTP plugin, as it is super easy to use, offers a free version, and allows you to connect your WordPress site with Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo accounts.

You can also use Post SMTP Mailer if your run a WordPress multisite or opt for Gmail SMTP if you use Gmail as an SMTP server.

Frequently Asked Questions About WordPress SMTP Plugins

Here are some questions that our readers often ask us about using WordPress SMTP plugins.

What is an SMTP plugin?

By default, WordPress uses the PHP mail () function to send emails from your WordPress site to your users.

However, most of the time, emails sent using the function are never delivered, making it unreliable and insecure.

With an SMTP plugin, you can easily connect your WordPress website to an SMTP service provider and send emails through an SMTP server. This ensures higher deliverability rates for your emails.

What are the benefits of using an SMTP plugin?

An SMTP plugin uses SMTP servers to send emails, which is a more reliable method. This means that by using one of these plugins, your emails are less likely to end up in a user’s spam folder.

Moreover, SMTP plugins use encryption to protect your emails from being intercepted by hackers, helping you prevent spam and phishing attacks.

Other than that, these plugins also allow you to track the delivery and open rates of your emails, which can improve your email marketing strategy.

What is the best SMTP provider for WordPress?

SendLayer is the best WordPress SMTP provider on the market because it’s super easy to use, affordable, and has a high deliverability rate.

It also works seamlessly with WP Mail SMTP to connect to your WordPress site and even offers amazing features like spam filter protection, subdomains to protect your reputation, built-in email list management, and great customer support.

For more details, you may want to see our expert picks for the best SMTP service providers with high email deliverability.

What is the best free SMTP plugin?

WP Mail SMTP is the best free SMTP plugin for WordPress, as its free version allows you to integrate with any SMTP provider of your choice. It also offers many helpful features, including email logging, advanced email reporting, and backup connections.

However, the free version of Easy WP SMTP is also a great choice as it allows you to easily configure SMTP settings to increase email deliverability and lets you integrate with any SMTP service provider of your choice or your Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo accounts.