What is SMTP and the Best WordPress SMTP Plugins for 2024

SMTP transfers email messages from the sender’s mail server to the recipient’s mail server. Instead of using a website’s server, SMTP uses an external service to let users send emails. This provides higher security and ensures that the emails are delivered than the default Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) mail function. 

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is a TCP Protocol program that guarantees that the email address exists. SMTP offers numerous features and advantages when integrating it.

How does SMTP Work?

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol is like the internet’s postal system for emails. Let’s run down on some points on how it works:

1. When you send an email, it’s directed to an SMTP server, which acts as a gateway for outgoing emails and analyzes the recipient’s address.
2. The sending SMTP server establishes a connection with the recipient’s server, transferring your email using specific protocols and commands.
3. The receiving SMTP server processes and delivers the email to the recipient’s inbox, with both servers communicating through acknowledgments to ensure successful and secure delivery.

Along the way, both servers chat back and forth to make sure everything’s working smoothly, ensuring your message gets delivered safely and promptly.

SMTP can have many functionalities other than the deliverability of emails and security. Let’s have a thorough look at the best WordPress SMTP plugins for 2024 along with their added advantage.

What are the Advantages of Using SMTP?

Now that you know how SMTP works let us explain some of the advantages of using SMTP.

Reliability: SMTP provides a standardized method of transmitting emails, which reduces the chances of emails getting lost or undelivered.

Flexibility: SMTP may be integrated with a variety of email clients, servers, and applications, allowing for cross-platform and device communication.

Security: SMTP ensures that the email remains secure during transmission. The TLS (Transport Layer Security) support encryption in the modern SMTP helps in protecting sensitive information from eavesdropping or inrerception.

Scalability: Whether you’re sending a few emails or millions, SMTP is intended to handle enormous volumes of email traffic efficiently, ensuring that your communications get to their destination without delay.

Now that you understand the benefits of using SMTP to ensure your emails reach recipients reliably, let’s explore the best SMTP plugins recommended for 2024:

Best WordPress SMTP Plugins for 2024 (Compared):

WP Mail SMTP

The most reliable plugin for making email deliverability easier. WP Mail SMTP allows connecting your WordPress site with a reliable mailer service, including:

• SendLayer
• SMTP
• Google
• Amazon SES, and many more.

With a user base exceeding two million sites, WP Mail SMTP stands as one of the most widely used free SMTP plugins for WordPress. It’s user-friendly interface and quick setup are notable advantages for users. Let’s see some of the notable features of this plugin.

Key Features of WP Mail SMTP:

• Allows seamless email delivery using a secondary mailer if the primary SMTP connection fails
• The email report feature allows a detailed chart displaying the number of confirmed, unconfirmed, and failed emails to get clear data on the emails sent.
• Securely logs all outbound emails from your WordPress site, providing you with easy access to view details such as status, content, origin, and recipient information whenever needed.
• Allows to save attachments that can be viewed and downloaded from the dashboard later.
• The diagnostic logs provide valuable insights into any errors you encounter, aiding in effective problem-solving and troubleshooting.
• WP Mail SMTP offers instant notifications for email issues via SMS, Slack, email, or custom webhooks, ensuring prompt awareness and resolution.

Free Download Purchase Premium

Easy WP SMTP

Easy WP SMTP enables configuration and dispatch of outgoing emails through 8 transactional mailers or an SMTP server, enhancing deliverability and minimizing the risk of emails being marked as spam.

This SMTP plugin enables integration with Yahoo, Hotmail, and various other email service providers. Easily solve the mail deliverability issues by configuring one of these mailers:

• SendLayer (recommended)
• Amazon SES [Pro]
• Gmail or Google Workspace [Pro]
• Mailgun
• Microsoft 365 / Outlook [Pro]
• SendGrid
• Brevo (formerly Sendinblue)
• SMTP.com
• Other SMTP – configure any SMTP server

Key Features of Easy WP SMTP:

• Use Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, or any other SMTP server.
• Lets you connect with a reliable mailer to ensure that your WordPress site is seamlessly connected to handle all outgoing emails.
• Securely deliver the emails to recipients.
• The fastest Gmail / Google integration on the market (configure it in just a couple of clicks).
• Ability to specify a Reply-to or BCC email address.

The free version allows limited features. However, if you upgrade to the premium you can get the added features:

• Get reports of how many emails were sent, opened, and clicked in your WordPress dashboard.
• Allows you to log all emails sent from your WordPress site, resent emails, store attachments, and much more with Email Logs feature.
• For a glance, the dashboard widget shows you sent, delivered, failed, and clicked stats.
• You can use different transactional mailers: SendLayer, Amazon SES (Pro), Gmail / Google (Pro), Mailgun, Microsoft 365 / Outlook (Pro), SendGrid, Brevo (formerly Sendinblue), and SMTP.com.

Free Download Purchase Premium

Post SMTP

Post SMTP mailer which has WordPress multi-site compatibility can send emails when SMTP ports are blocked (API).

Post SMTP mailer is properly authenticated which guarantees the delivery of WordPress emails. So, you won’t have to worry about your emails being marked as spam.

With Post SMTP, you get many SMTP mailer options, such as:

• Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) SMTP – Recommended
• Microsoft 365 SMTP (Office 365 and Outlook)
• Gmail SMTP (Gmail API, G Suite, Google Workspace)
• Amazon SES SMTP
• Zoho Mail SMTP
• Mandrill SMTP
• Mailgun SMTP
• SendGrid SMTP
• Mailjet SMTP
• SparkPost SMTP
• Postmark SMTP
• Elastic Email SMTP
• Amazon SES
• Other SMTP (To connect any SMTP server)

Key Features of Post SMTP Mailer:

• With a simple click view, filter, and check the status of all your WordPress emails and errors.
• Post SMTP is easy to use and powerful setup wizard for quick SMTP configuration.
• To make sure any email failures, alerts are directly sent to your Chrome browser windows.
• Allows to set up a backup WordPress SMTP mailer in case of a failure with the mail mailer.
• Authenticate all major SMTP service providers’ accounts (i.e., Microsoft 365, Brevo, Gmail, Amazon SES, SendGrid, etc.) securely using APIs.

These are some of the free features, however, if you upgrade to pro version you can get added features, which are:

• With a single click resend any email attachment right through your email log screen.
• Receive a weekly summary of your WordPress email dispatch report directly to your email, detailing the overall count of emails sent, failed email instances, successful email deliveries, and additional insights.

Free Download Purchase Premium

Brevo SMTP

Brevo’s all-inclusive email marketing plugin extends far beyond mere email handling. Experience a comprehensive suite that includes transactional emails, subscription forms, contact management, and integrated marketing campaigns—all under one streamlined platform.

Key features of Brevo:

• Certainly! Here are the key features presented in single points:
• Customizable Subscription Forms
• Integration into Posts, Pages, or Sidebars
• Efficient Contact List Management
• Advanced Segmentation Capabilities
• User-Friendly Newsletter Design
• Mobile-Responsive Drag-and-Drop Builder
• Access to Template Library
• wp_mail() Integration for Transactional Emails
• Enhanced Deliverability and Tracking
• Real-Time Performance Reports
• Metrics including Opens, Clicks, and Bounces
• Seamless WordPress Integration for Marketing Automation
• Auto-Script Installation
• Identify Tag Functionality

Free Download Purchase Premium

SMTP Mailer

The SMTP Mailer plugin for WordPress is a straightforward tool designed to enhance email deliverability by allowing users to set up an SMTP mail server rather than relying on PHP mail functions.

However, one limitation of SMTP Mailer is its lack of built-in compatibility with popular third-party mailer services such as SendGrid, Brevo, and Amazon SES. To use these services, users must manually configure the plugin using specific SMTP details and account credentials associated with their chosen mailer service.

Furthermore, SMTP Mailer is primarily focused on facilitating SMTP server configurations and does not offer additional functionalities such as email logging, open and click tracking, or features like email exporting and notification management. For users seeking a more comprehensive solution, WP Mail SMTP would be a preferable option, as it includes these advanced features and capabilities.

Free Download

Conclusion

In simple terms, SMTP plugins help WordPress sites send emails more reliably through SMTP servers instead of basic PHP mail. While basic plugins like SMTP Mailer are straightforward, they might not support services like SendGrid or offer advanced features like email tracking. For those needing more features and flexibility, plugins like WP Mail SMTP are worth considering. Choose based on what your site specifically needs for better email performance.