5 Best SMTP Plugins to Ensure WordPress Email Deliverability

WordPress is the most powerful CMS platform in the world. It offers so many amazing features that you can create an e-commerce, e-learning, or membership site without spending a dime. However, some of the built-in WordPress features have some limitations, one of which is email deliverability.

If you have a WordPress site, you may notice that it can send important emails such as:

• Notifications
• Password reset emails
• Form submission emails
• purchase confirmation emails, etc.

These emails are often vital for website owners, customers, and visitors. Thus, ensuring that these emails are delivered to the intended recipient’s inbox correctly is vital.

This is where a WordPress SMTP plugin can help you. By configuring an SMTP plugin with your WordPress site, you can ensure secure and accurate WordPress email deliverability. In this piece, we’ll present you with 5 of the best SMTP plugin for WordPress.

But before that, let’s understand what SMTP is and why you need an SMTP plugin for your website.

What is SMTP and Why Do You Need a WordPress SMTP Plugin?

SMTP stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. It is the recommended method for sending and receiving emails. However, WordPress emails function differently.

Since WordPress is built with PHP language, its email functionality also depends on a PHP function called wp_mail(). There are two primary problems with using PHP for emailing:

1. WordPress uses your hosting server’s email sending capability to deliver emails, and most hosting providers do not support PHP. As a result, your WordPress emails stay undelivered.
2. Popular email clients like Gmail, Yahoo, and Microsoft 365 do not support PHP. Therefore, they often filter your WordPress emails to the spam folder.

An SMTP plugin can solve this issue by replacing WordPress’s default emailing function with SMTP. They usually allow you to integrate an external email service like Amazon SES, Google Workspace, Microsoft Office 365, MailGun, etc., with WordPress. With a WordPress SMTP plugin installed and configured, your WordPress emails will accurately reach their recipient’s inboxes.

Top 5 SMTP Plugins for WordPress

SMTP plugins are a must-have for any WordPress site. However, not all SMTP plugins are made equal. So before you choose an SMTP plugin, you need to ensure that your SMTP plugin helps you integrate your preferred email service with WordPress.

For example, if you’re using Google Workspace, your SMTP plugin should help you integrate your WordPress site with Google Workspace.

While it’s not mandatory, having the email logging feature is also helpful. That way, you’ll know whether your WordPress emails are getting sent.

Now that you know which features an SMTP plugin should have, let’s look at the best SMTP plugins for WordPress!

FluentSMTP

FluentSMTP is a free SMTP plugin by WPManageNinja. However, being free doesn’t necessarily mean it’s poor.

If you consider the number of email service integration and feature it offers, FluentSMTP is undoubtedly the most powerful SMTP plugin for WordPress. Over 1,00,000+ WordPress sites are actively using the plugin, and you’ll surely want to use this plugin if you’re looking for one.

Here are the key features of FluentSMTP:

• Email API key integration with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Sendinblue, Pepipost, PostMark, TransMail, SparkPost, and Elastic Email
• OAuth 2.0 integration with Google Workspace and Outlook
• Zoho and other email service integration via SMTP credentials
• You can use multiple SMTP integrations simultaneously
• Fallback email to use a different email service when the primary email service fails
• View email delivery statuses of WordPress emails through email logging
• Email deliverability testing for checking email deliverability
• Auto-delete email logs to keep your WordPress database clean
• Weekly email notification to stay updated about how many emails are getting sent from WordPress

WP Mail SMTP

WP Mail SMTP was(or still is?) the best SMTP plugin before FluentSMTP came out. It is developed by Awesome Motive and has over 3 Million active installations on the WordPress repository. While it offers lesser features compared to FluentSMTP, using the plugin has its own unique advantages. They also offer hands-on assistance setting up WordPress with your preferred email sending service.

Here are the key features of WP Mail SMTP:

• SMTP.com, SendLayer, Sendinblue, Mailgun, SendGrid, Postmark, SparkPost, Amazon SES, and Zoho email integration via API
• Google Workspace and Microsoft Office 365 integration via OAuth 2.0
• Other SMTP service integration via SMTP credentials
• Email logging with open rate and click tracking
• Email notification alert for failed emails
• Weekly email summary notification
• Email notification control for various WordPress email notifications

WP Mail SMTP is primarily free; however, some features are locked behind the Pro version of the plugin, which starts at $99/year.

Post SMTP Mailer

Another reliable WordPress SMTP plugin is the Post SMTP Mailer. It’s not as feature-rich as FluentSMTP or WP Mail SMTP; however, it does the job well.

Post SMTP Mailer is popular for the secure email deliverability it offers. It also has an excellent setup assistant through which you can easily set up your SMTP plugin.

Here are the key features of Post SMTP Mailer:

• Mandrill, Mailgun, SendGrid, Sendinblue, and Amazon SES integration through API
• Google Workspace, Yahoo, and Office 365 email service integration through OAuth 2.0
• Email debugging to test and ensure WordPress email deliverability
• Email logging for viewing delivery statuses of WordPress emails
• Ability to control WordPress email notifications
• Ability to use a fallback email service if the primary email service isn’t working
• Secure email deliverability through SMTPS and STARTTLS (SSL/TLS)

The free version of Post SMTP Mailer offers a limited number of email service integrations and features. You can use other features and integrations by getting extensions for different prices. However, if you want to use Post SMTP Mailer, it’s best to buy a membership plan which starts at $39.

Mail Bank

Mail Bank WordPress SMTP plugin trusted by over 40,000+ businesses. It has a basic free version through which you can solve your WordPress email deliverability. The plugin also has a simple setup assistant to help you integrate your WordPress site with the supported email services.

Mail Bank only offers a few notable SMTP features. However, most features are only available in the pro version.

Here are the key features of Mail Bank:

• Gmail, Outlook365, Outlook, and Yahoo email service integration through OAuth 2.0
• Mailgun and SendGrid integration through API
• Email testing and email logging with debug reports
• User role management access for SMTP setting access
• TLS and SSL encryption for secure email delivery

One downside of Mail Bank is that the plugin doesn’t support integration through SMTP credentials. As a result, you can’t use any unsupported SMTP service with this plugin. So if you’re going for Mail Bank, double-check whether it supports your preferred email service.

Easy WP SMTP

If you need a plugin that isn’t feature-rich but does the job well, Easy WP SMTP is what you need. While it offers a simple setup process, the plugin is pretty basic. However, Easy WP SMTP is pretty lightweight. As a result, over 6,00,000 websites are actively using the plugin.

Here are the key features of Easy WP SMTP:

• Integration with any SMTP email service via SMTP credentials
• Email debugging for troubleshooting deliverability issues
• Domain verification to avoid any kind of domain mismatch, potentially helping you prevent your domain reputation

Easy WP SMTP is free and is a useful plugin. If you don’t need many features, it’s a great pick.

Wrapping up

Whether your WordPress site is only sending email notifications or a massive number of marketing emails, ensuring email deliverability is a must. SMTP plugins can help you ensure email deliverability and stay out of the spam box.

We hope this article helped you choose the correct SMTP plugin for your website. Let us know which SMTP plugin you’re using and how it’s helping you run your website smoothly!