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WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – The Most Popular SMTP and Email Log Plugin

By Syed Balkhi

Communication & Messaging / Transactional Email

Reviewed by Abdul Hameid

Trusted WordPress expert with 20+ years of experience evaluating plugins for the WP ecosystem.

WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – The Most Popular SMTP and Email Log Plugin Review - In-Depth Analysis

WP Mail SMTP makes email delivery easy for WordPress. Connect with various SMTP providers like Gmail, Outlook, and more. It's the #1 SMTP email plugin for reliable email sending.

Performance Overview

WPS Score

7.8/10

User Rating

4.8/5 (based on 5205+ reviews)

Active Installations

4,000,000+

Update Frequency

Very Good It is calculated using the weighted average of same category plugins.

Security Score

3 / 10 (Low Risk) It is calculated using the weighted average of all versions.

What It Does

WP Mail SMTP is designed to solve email delivery issues for WordPress sites. With over 3 million active installations, it ensures that your emails reach the inbox reliably.

This plugin reconfigures the way WordPress sends emails by using a proper SMTP provider. It helps to improve email deliverability and avoid common pitfalls such as emails ending up in spam folders.

The setup process is straightforward, guided by an easy-to-use wizard, and is supported by comprehensive documentation. WP Mail SMTP is free and includes essential features for reliable email sending.

For users looking for advanced capabilities, WP Mail SMTP Pro offers enhanced features like email logging, detailed reporting, and smart conditional routing, among others.

With multiple SMTP integrations available, including Gmail, SendGrid, and Mailgun, users can easily configure their email settings to optimize deliverability.

Comparing to Alternatives

WP Mail SMTP is one of the most established players in a very crowded field of SMTP and email deliverability plugins. It competes with everything from lightweight single-purpose connectors to full-featured suites like Post SMTP and FluentSMTP, but its long track record and setup wizard give it a strong edge for most everyday users.

Top alternatives

Strengths

Guided setup wizard that simplifies connecting to major SMTP providers
Very high user satisfaction with a huge volume of ratings
Broad support for popular mailers including Brevo, Amazon SES, Gmail, and Resend
Trusted by WPForms, giving it strong integration credibility with form plugins
Free version is fully functional for most small to medium sites

Weaknesses

Two historical vulnerabilities on record, including an admin+ SMTP password exposure
Some users report occasional disconnects from SMTP providers without warning
Advanced features like detailed logging and backup connections require the Pro upgrade

User Sentiment Analysis

With 5,189 ratings and a 4.8/5 average, sentiment is overwhelmingly positive—94.3% of reviewers gave 5 stars, and only 3.5% left a 1 or 2 star rating. Recent reviews echo this, with many users praising the ease of setup and reliability of email delivery.

Positive highlights

"Free + works perfectly. What more could you ask for?" — bcometa1
"The set up wizard makes life easy and the Lite version does everything I need." — kjm13
"Works great and really helps me make sure my website is compliant with my domain's SPF, DKIM and DMARC setup." — JoeCuv
"I have this plugin installed on many websites and it always ensures that enquiry form messages get through." — davros76
"I love knowing my emails are being sent out and not failing." — soccerzortz

Common complaints

SMTP connection dropping unexpectedly, causing missed order confirmations and customer emails
One user reported the plugin became ineffective and stopped delivering results as expected

Weaknesses

A past vulnerability allowed admin+ users to expose SMTP passwords, now fixed in version 4.1.0
An older stored XSS vulnerability existed prior to version 1.4.0
Occasional connection reliability issues reported by a small number of users

Who Should Use This?

Best for

WP Mail SMTP is a great fit for site owners who need reliable transactional email delivery—contact forms, WooCommerce order confirmations, password resets—without wrestling with complex mail server configuration. Its wizard-driven setup makes it especially appealing to beginners and small business owners, while its broad provider support suits agencies managing multiple client sites.

Not ideal for

Users who need guaranteed uptime for critical transactional emails should stay current with updates, since the plugin has had two historical vulnerabilities (both since patched). Those wanting deep email log analytics, backup SMTP failover, or white-labeling out of the box may find themselves needing the Pro tier or a competitor with those features built into a lower-cost plan.

Pricing & Value

Free version includes

The free version covers SMTP setup for major providers, a setup wizard, and basic email sending fixes—enough for most small sites to resolve deliverability and spam-folder issues without paying anything.

Pro version (49 - 399 USD / year)

The Pro version typically adds detailed email logging with attachments, instant email alerts on failures, backup connections/failover, white-glove smart routing, and priority support—useful for businesses that depend on guaranteed email delivery and want visibility into every message sent.

Final Verdict

WP Mail SMTP earns its popularity through a genuinely simple setup process and a free tier that solves the common WordPress problem of emails landing in spam or failing outright. With over 5,000 ratings averaging 4.8 stars, user sentiment is clearly strong, and the handful of complaints—mostly around occasional disconnects—are minor relative to the overwhelming praise for reliability and ease of use.

The two historical vulnerabilities are worth noting but are low-severity, old, and already patched, so they shouldn't deter users who keep the plugin updated. Given the sheer number of alternatives on the market, from FluentSMTP to Post SMTP, buyers have plenty of choice, but WP Mail SMTP's combination of trust, simplicity, and a capable free tier makes it a safe default recommendation for most WordPress sites.

Other Notable Features

Here are a few other notable features of this free WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – The Most Popular SMTP and Email Log Plugin plugin.

Email Logs

SMTP

Screenshots

FAQ

SendLayer

SendLayer is our recommended transactional email service.

Its affordable pricing and simple setup make it a great choice for sending emails from WordPress. It also has open and click tracking, email logs, and email list management.
SendLayer is reliable, fast, and easy to set up. You can send hundreds of emails for free when you sign up for a trial.

Read our SendLayer documentation for more details.

SMTP.COM

SMTP.com is a recommended transactional email service.

With over 22 years of email delivery expertise, SMTP.com has been around for almost as long as email itself. They have a strong reputation with internet providers.

Their easy integration process lets you start sending emails in minutes and benefit from years of experience. SMTP.com provides users 50,000 free emails the first 30 days.

Read our SMTP.com documentation for more details.

Brevo (formerly Sendinblue)

Brevo is a recommended transactional email service.

They serve 80,000+ growing companies around the world and send over 30 million emails each day.

Their email deliverability experts are constantly at work optimizing the reliability and speed of their SMTP infrastructure. Brevo provides users 300 free emails per day.

Read our Brevo documentation for more details.

Gmail SMTP (Gmail, Google Workspace, G Suite)

Often bloggers and small business owners don’t want to use third-party SMTP services. Well you can use your Gmail or Google Workspace (also known as G Suite/Google Apps) account for SMTP emails.

This allows you to use your professional email address and improve email deliverability.

Our Gmail option uses OAuth to authenticate your Google account, so your Google password is never stored on your site.

WP Mail SMTP Pro also offers a “One-Click Setup” option, which allows you to start sending emails from your Gmail account with just a few clicks. It eliminates the need to manually configure your own Google App, which is a technical and time-consuming process.

Read our Gmail documentation for more details.

Elastic Email

Elastic Email is a cloud-based email marketing platform offering tools for email campaigns, automation, transactional emails, and analytics, designed for businesses of all sizes. Elastic Email offers a limited free plan where you can send emails to your verified addresses.

Read our Elastic Email documentation for more details.

Mailgun

Mailgun SMTP is a popular SMTP service provider that allows you to send large quantities of emails. They provide 5,000 free emails per month for 3 months.

WP Mail SMTP plugin offers a native integration with MailGun. All you have to do is connect your Mailgun account, and you will improve your email deliverability.

Read our Mailgun documentation for more details.

Mailjet

Mailjet is a global email sending service that allows you to design, send, and track marketing and transactional emails. They provide 6,000 free emails per month (up to 200 emails per day).

WP Mail SMTP plugin offers seamless integration with Mailjet. By connecting your Mailjet account, you can enhance your email deliverability and ensure your WordPress emails reach your recipients’ inboxes.

Read our Mailjet documentation for more details.

SendGrid

SendGrid has a free SMTP plan that you can use to send up to 100 emails per day. With our native SendGrid SMTP integration, you can easily and securely set up SendGrid SMTP on your WordPress site.

Read our SendGrid documentation for more details.

Postmark

Send emails securely using your Postmark account with our API integration. You can sign up for a free trial without a credit card, which allows you to send up to 100 emails per month.

Read our Postmark documentation for more details.

SparkPost

SparkPost is a transactional email provider that’s trusted by big brands and small businesses. It sends more than 4 trillion emails each year and reports 99.9% uptime. You can get started with the free test account that lets you send up to 500 emails per month.

Read our SparkPost documentation for more details.

SMTP2GO

SMTP2GO is a transactional email provider that offers a robust and reliable email delivery service with global infrastructure, real-time analytics, and advanced security features. If you’re just starting out, you can use SMTP2GO’s free plan to send up to 1000 emails per month.

Read our SMTP2GO documentation for more details.

Microsoft (Outlook.com and Office 365)

The Microsoft 365 / Outlook mailer is a great choice if you already use Microsoft’s email services (Outlook, Office 365, Microsoft 365, or Hotmail). Due to the fairly complex manual Microsoft App configuration, we recommend the One-Click Setup, which will get you up and running in just a few seconds.

Read our Outlook and Microsoft 365 documentation for more details.

Amazon SES

Advanced or technical users can harness the power of Amazon AWS (Amazon Web Services) with the Amazon SES mailer. With this integration, you can send a high volume of emails at a very reasonable rate.

Read our Amazon SES documentation for more details.

Zoho Mail

Send emails using your personal or business Zoho Mail account, all while keeping your login credentials safe.

Read our Zoho Mail documentation for more details.

Other SMTP

WP Mail SMTP plugin also works with all major email services such as Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, Microsoft Live, and any other email sending service that offers SMTP.

You can set the following options: