by Introduction & Purpose
Easy WP SMTP is a WordPress plugin designed to solve a common issue: poor email delivery from WordPress sites. Most WordPress installations rely on PHP’s built-in wp_mail() function, which often fails due to misconfigured hosts or gets flagged as spam by email providers. Easy WP SMTP routes your site’s outgoing emails through trusted SMTP servers or transactional mailers to ensure reliable delivery.
Setup & Mailer Support
One of Easy WP SMTP’s greatest strengths is its user-friendly setup:
- It offers a wizard-style onboarding that walks users through selecting a mailer, entering credentials, and testing — all without requiring coding skills. support.hostinger.comeasywpsmtp.com
The plugin supports a variety of mailer options, including:
- Transactional mailers: SendLayer (recommended default), Brevo (formerly Sendinblue), Mailgun, SMTP.com, Postmark, SparkPost, and more.
- Email services (Pro versions): Gmail / Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 / Outlook, Amazon SES, Zoho Mail. WordPress.orgeasywpsmtp.comWP Mail SMTP
In addition, it supports “Other SMTP,” letting you plug in any custom SMTP server settings. WordPress.orgeasywpsmtp.com
Core Features & Pro Enhancements
Free Version
The free version delivers solid essentials:
- SMTP configuration for reliable email delivery
- Basic debugging and test email functionality to verify setup WP Mail SMTPWPFormsWPBeginner
- Integration with several SMTP providers (subject to limitations in free tier) WP Mail SMTPWordPress.orgWPBeginner
Pro Version — Advanced Capabilities
Upgrading to Easy WP SMTP Pro unlocks powerful tools:
- Powerful Email Logging: Log all outgoing emails, view the full content, resend messages, and store attachments. WordPress.orgeasywpsmtp.com
- Email Reports & Tracking: View click and open tracking, generate email performance summaries within your dashboard. easywpsmtp.comWordPress.org
- Backup Connection: Automatically switch to a secondary mailer if the primary one fails, ensuring continuity. WordPress.org
- Smart Conditional Routing: Route different email types through different mailers based on rules or filters. WordPress.org
- Rate Limiting: Manage the volume of emails sent per time period — helpful for avoiding provider limits. WordPress.org
- Background Sending: Send emails in the background to minimize site performance impact. WordPress.org
- Alerts: Get real-time notifications on failures via email, Slack, Teams, Discord, SMS, or webhooks. WordPress.org
- Dashboard Enhancements: Widget and reports show sent, delivered, failed, opened, clicked email stats at a glance. WordPress.org
Practical Uses & Benefits
- Improved Deliverability: Ensures critical emails—like contact forms, registration, and WooCommerce receipts—reach recipients. easywpsmtp.compushengage.com
- Troubleshooting & Compliance: Email logs help debug failed emails, provide audit trails for compliance, and identify abnormal patterns (e.g., spam attempts). easywpsmtp.com
- Resend Capability: Quickly resend important emails (like order confirmations) without recreating them manually.
- Robust Fail-Safe: Automatic backup mailer ensures email reliability even if primary service becomes unavailable.
Comparison with Other SMTP Plugins
- WP Mail SMTP is the most popular option, with over 3M installs, more features, and deeper analytics. But Easy WP SMTP is praised for its simplicity and ease of use. WP Mail SMTP
- Post SMTP offers built-in email logs even in its free tier and has slightly broader features, but Easy WP SMTP Pro offers routing and backup connections that Post SMTP lacks. WPBeginnerWP Mail SMTPTechRadar
- FluentSMTP is a fully free, open-source alternative with logging and routing, though it can be trickier to configure and may lack some advanced commercial features. WPBeginnerWP Mail SMTP
Bottom line:
- If you need a dependable, no-frills solution and potentially plan to access advanced features like routing or email metrics, Easy WP SMTP (especially Pro) is a strong choice.
- If you want a richer feature set out of the box or prefer completely free tools, WP Mail SMTP or FluentSMTP might better suit your needs.
Setup Steps (Concise)
- Install Easy WP SMTP from the WordPress plugin repository (free tier) or download from the developer site.
- Run the Setup Wizard: Choose mailer or SMTP, enter authentication settings, test via email.
- (Pro only) Enable Email Logging, Backup Connection, Routing, Alerts, etc.
- Access Email Logs in WP dashboard to view, manage, and resend emails. easywpsmtp.comsupport.hostinger.com
Pros & Cons Summary
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Easy setup and simple interface—great for beginners | Pro features gated behind paid license |
| Supports a variety of SMTP/mail providers, including Gmail and Outlook (Pro only) | Less popular than WP Mail SMTP—fewer community resources |
| Advanced capabilities in Pro: routing, alerts, logs, backup | Free tier has limited functionality |
| Reliable background sending and performance-conscious design | Pricing starts around $49+ annually for Pro (varies) WP Mail SMTPGravity FormsWPForms |
Conclusion
Easy WP SMTP is a solid, beginner-friendly plugin that brings critical email reliability to WordPress sites through SMTP integration. Its free version covers essential mail delivery needs, while the Pro upgrade unlocks powerful tools—like email logging, routing, backup systems, and alerting—that many businesses will find valuable. Compared to more complex plugins, it’s streamlined, effective, and particularly appealing to site owners who want quick setup without sacrificing functionality down the road.
