6 Best SMTP Email Plugins for WordPress

When using WordPress, some people find it hard to send or receive emails through their website.

The main problem is that WordPress is not responsible for delivering your emails. Rather, this is the work of your hosting provider. This can be a bother for many people who use WordPress hence the need to use SMTP plugins to ensure they deliver emails to their desired destinations.

SMTP is a short form for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, and it is an industry-standard set of guidelines for sending emails.

You can install an SMTP plugin in your WordPress website to initiate proper authentication processes and enhance email deliverability. It prevents your marketing emails from being marked as spam.

Here is a list of some of the 6 best SMTP Email Plugins for WordPress website you should check out:

1. WP Mail SMTP

WPForms developed WP Mail SMTP and its one of the most popular plugins in the market with over one million active users.

Once users install it, they can configure the wp_mail() function that allows for redirection to a genuine SMTP provider.

This SMTP is available in four different SMTP set-up options that include Mailgun SMTP, Gmail SMTP, SendGrid SMTP and manual SMTP set-up.

Users who choose the latter are required to specify the SMTP host, port, username, password and choose either SSL or TLS encryption. Users also have the option of using a devoted SMTP authentication.

Pros:

• Provides an enable/disable SMTP authentication
• Offers a manual set-up option
• Allows users to configure wp_mail() function
• The user can either stick with the free plan or pick one of the paid plans that start at $ 49 with premium support

Cons

• Users have to pay to unlock premium support for Microsoft and Amazon SES SMTP solutions

2. Easy WP SMTP

The SMTP Email plugin offers intuitive options and allows users to configure their sites’ emailing service with ease.

It also allows the user to set up the standard email services providers like Yahoo, Gmail and Hotmail as their default SMTP server. After installing it, it configures a new settings panel for the WordPress dashboard to make it easy for the user to configure and integrate this SMTP server. Moreover, it helps the user to manage outgoing emails.

It comes with a log feature for diagnosing and debugging various email deliverability problems.

Pros

• It comes with dedicated testing and debugging to optimize its functionality
• Allows users to interchange the SSL and TLS encryptions
• Has the option to set-up email address replies
• 100 % free SMTP plugin

Cons

• Offers limited support for Microsoft and Amazon SES SMTP

3. Mail Bank SMTP

Mail Bank utilizes the Zend framework to enhance a WordPress website’s functionality. It can be integrated with many SMTP service providers such as SendGrid and Mailgul.

It will also enable website owners or managers to send emails using an existing Gmail, Yahoo or Outlook email through the OAuth 2.0 authentication protocols. It has an email logger feature to enhance email deliverability and allow debugging. This means that users can delete emails individually or in bulk conveniently. Mail Bank also offers compatibility with other email and contact form plugins, user access control, port, and connectivity testing and email sending with WordPress.

There is a free function while the premium version with premium support and extra features costs $ 29.99/year. The premium plan offers the users other additional features like analytics and statistics, integration with APIs, and notifications.

Pros

• Users get a free version
• Compatible with numerous WordPress email and contact form plugins
• It helps make sending transactional emails easier

Cons

• Accessing the premium versions is quite expensive

4. Mailjet

You can use the Mailjet SMTP Email plugin to manage marketing and transactional email services. It offers numerous ways for customers to register with email communications.

With Mailjet, business owners can optimize their marketing campaigns because it provides real-time analysis of marketing and transactional emails to show their performance. It also makes it possible for users to create emails within the WordPress website with ease. This is because it features a drag and drop builder that can open within the WordPress admin panel and allow the admin to create elegant and responsive emails that he or she can send to clients.

There is a free package that is capped at 6000 mails monthly, which means that it allows the user to send 200 emails per day. The paid plan costs $8.69 monthly for 30,000 emails without daily limits.

Pros

• Allows the user to optimize his or her marketing campaigns by providing access to useful market data
• Supports drag and drop builder
• There is a free version
• Offers you instantaneous analysis of marketing and transactional emails

Cons

• The free package offers limited features

5. Gmail SMTP

Gmail SMTP was developed to help users authenticate their Gmail accounts with their WordPress blogs or websites.

It makes it possible for WordPress users to use their Gmail accounts to send emails through the Gmail SMTP. This plugin utilizes the OAuth 2.0 protocol to authenticate access to Gmail API for secure login without using a username and password. Gmail SMTP plugin uses the old technology such as WordPress default wp_mail() to give users access to its functionality.

The plugin can be integrated with PHPMailer library that is utilized when sending emails via PHP’s mail functionality.

Pros

• Offers the option of setting up an application through Google Developer Console
• A site’s admin can use it to set a redirect to a website’s URL
• Utilizes the OAuth 2.0 protocol to enhance the security of users’ data

Cons

• The free plan has a daily limit of 150 emails. This is low when compared to what other SMTP offer as limits in their free plans.

6. Post SMTP Mailer/Email Log

Post SMTP plugin is one of the tools for WordPress that come with enhanced functionalities.

After installing it, it replaces the default WordPress SMTP library and PHP Mailer and connects Zend_Mail to ensure that all the emails are secured. Post SMTP Plugin offers superior security features and supports SMTPS, OAuth 2.0 integration, and STARTTLS. Other features that come with this plugin include a set-up wizard that will scan the SMTP server, fix any configuration mistakes, and search for firewall blocks.

Once the user installs it, he or she can access a connectivity tester and diagnosis for built-in Emails logs among many other useful features.

Pros

• Comes with a set-up wizard that ensures there are no configuration mistakes
• It offers support for third-patty APIs such as Mailgun, Mandrill, Gmail, and SendGrid
• Supports SSL and TLS encryption for enhanced security

Cons

• Users have to rely on third-party SMTP service providers to use it

Conclusion

The above-mentioned WordPress Email plugins can help enhance a site’s functionality and address some emailing issues. However, this is not to say that they can replace solutions like Campaign Monitor or MailChimp. In fact, they are better suited to new site owners because they can use them to manage marketing emails without having to incur huge costs.

If you are building your website using WordPress, you can get the work done quickly by combining the plugins above and using a few of the add-ons that are available at an affordable price.

Tyler Horvath

Tyler Horvath is an SEO Expert with over 15 years of experience in search engine optimization, popular blog author and WordPress SEO expert.