6 Best Easy WP SMTP Alternatives for WordPress

WordPress’s default mailing system isn’t reliable when it comes to email delivery. It usually sends PHP emails that either get blocked by hosting servers or filtered to spam by email clients such as Gmail and Yahoo! Mail.

For this reason, WordPress emails don’t get sent at all or end up in the user’s spam folder. A more alarming fact is that there’s no way to understand whether your WordPress emails are getting sent or not. 

This limitation of WordPress forces people to use WordPress SMTP plugins.  And when it comes to SMTP plugins, you’ll find Easy WP SMTP among the most popular options. 

However, Easy WP SMTP doesn’t offer anything other than a basic SMTP setup wizard. Besides, there’s limited support for email services like Amazon SES and Outlook. But that’s not the only reason why you’ll need an alternative for Easy WP SMTP.

Let’s look at why you MUST look for an Easy WP SMTP alternative!

Why do you need an Easy WP SMTP alternative?

Considering Easy WP SMTP is a free plugin, the feature set might just be acceptable to you. But if you consider that Easy WP SMTP exposed thousands of websites to security vulnerabilities multiple times in the past, first in version 1.3.9 and then in version 1.4.2, it’s not worth the risk.

“Easy WP SMTP exposed thousands of websites to security vulnerabilities”

Source 1 | 2

If you have a business online, your website is at the center of everything. An insecure website will not only reduce your chances of driving traffic but will also scare your existing customers away.

Hence, you must avoid plugins that expose your site to security threats.

There are many free, feature-rich and of course, secure SMTP plugins available in the WordPress plugin repository. But if you’re struggling to find one, we’re here to help!

Best Easy WP SMTP alternatives for WordPress

Sure, Easy WP SMTP provides a classic SMTP setup wizard and email debugging feature which anyone can use. But that doesn’t mean you have to put your website at stake.

So today, we are going to give you some options that not only check these boxes but do even more.

So without further ado, let’s look into the best Easy WP SMTP alternatives!

FluentSMTP

FluentSMTP is currently the maximum feature-packed SMTP plugin for WordPress. And surprisingly, it’s completely free!

FluentSMTP has native API and OAuth integration with many email service providers such as Google Workspace(previously Gmail), Outlook, MailGun, SendGrid, Amazon SES, SendGrid, Sendinblue, etc.

Its wide range of features include:

• Email reporting – to track email deliverability
• Multiple SMTP connections – to use multiple email services in case you need to use different services for routing different kinds of emails.
• Email SMTP fallback – to use a second email sending service in case one of the services isn’t working properly
• Email logging – to show a log of all emails WordPress is sending
• Email notification control – to receive a summary of emails via email notification
• Email test – to test email configuration by sending an email to your preferred email address

FluentSMTP is made by the same developers who built Fluent Forms and FluentCRM. Since they prioritize speed and security over anything else, you don’t have to worry about security breaches at all. Thus, it makes the top Easy WP SMTP alternative with many wonderful features!

Post SMTP Mailer

Post SMTP Mailer is a recreation of Postman SMTP. Postman SMTP was a very popular SMTP and email log plugin. However, the developers stopped supporting the plugin and it was removed from the WordPress repository due to an unpatched security vulnerability.

Anyway, Like FluentSMTP, the Post SMTP mailer supports both OAuth and SMTP and you can use email services like Mandrill, Google Workspace, Mailgun, SendGrid, etc.

It is another excellent plugin that offers many excellent features for free.

The features include:

• Test Email – to test email configuration
• Email Logging – For tracking all emails sent from WordPress
• Notification – To get notified of email issues through email, Pushover, and Slack
• Email Fallback – For using an alternate email sending service in case the default email service isn’t working
• Chrome extension – to get notified of email issues on your Google Chrome browser

While using Post SMTP Mailer, you can also get support through multiple platforms like WordPress forums and Slack without paying a dime. So it’s surely a great Easy WP SMTP alternative to consider!

WP Mail Bank

WP Mail Bank is another efficient SMTP plugin that lets you connect with SendGrid and Mailgun API. With some knowledge, you can also connect WP Mail Bank with any SMTP service.

Another good thing about WP Mail Bank is that it’s one of the frequently updated plugins. This means there won’t be too many compatibility issues and you can use the plugin without worrying about your website’s security.

However, note that most of the features are only available in the pro version. WP Mail Bank’s features are:

• Email testing – for sending a custom test email to check email configuration
• Connectivity test – to check if there is any connectivity with the SMTP host
• Email reports – to see detailed logs of WordPress emails
• Email notification – to get notified of email issues via email or Slack
• Admin menu control – to control who can access the WP Mail Bank menu. 

While WP Mail Bank costs $29.99 per year, it’s not as good as FluentSMTP or Post SMTP mailer. However, the plugin has some good features and is more secured compared to Easy WP SMTP.

WP Mail SMTP

WP Mail SMTP is probably among the first few names when you’re considering WordPress SMTP plugins. It is built by a trusted team who are known for their ability to make great WordPress plugins.

WP Mail SMTP supports a lot of email sending services including SMTP.com, Google Workspace, Outlook, Zoho, SendGrid, Mailgun, etc. Once you install WP Mail SMTP, it has a very intuitive setup wizard to help you configure your desired email sending service for sending WordPress emails. WP Mail SMTP includes features such as:

• Notification management – to control what kind of mails WordPress can send.
• Email test – to check email connectivity by sending a test email to your preferred email address
• Email deliverability enhancement – for improving the ability to deliver emails more accurately
• Email logs – to check a log of emails your WordPress site has been sending
• Email tracking – for tracking WordPress emails for open and click rates

Note that, useful WP Mail SMTP features such as email notification management and email log are only available in the premium version of the plugin which costs $99/year. You can also get your email sending service configured by one of their experts by paying an additional $50. So, with the features and services on offer, WP Mail SMTP is a very good alternative to Easy WP SMTP.

WP SMTP

WP SMTP is the simplest WordPress SMTP plugin of today. This plugin is as basic as they get. But don’t let that make you think that it isn’t good at all.

WP SMTP doesn’t offer any API integration. But its simple interface allows you to connect with most SMTP services through SMTP credentials. And of course, it sends WordPress emails reliably with SSL and TLS encryption. All you have to do is find the right details, and you’re good to go!

While WP SMTP isn’t a feature-rich plugin, you do get to see your email log and they also allow you to export all the data via CSV file. 

SMTP Mailer

The SMTP Mailer plugin is much like WP SMTP. It’s a basic SMTP plugin that can be used for sending WordPress emails reliably. 

It supports SSL and TLS encryption and you can connect your site to most SMTP services including Gmail, Yahoo, Mandrill, Outlook, and so on. While it’s not the best option, the SMTP Mailer allows you to disable SSL verification. This may solve any errors while connecting to SMTP servers.

Like WP SMTP, the SMTP Mailer isn’t a feature-rich plugin either. You can set up an SMTP service and test email deliverability by sending an email. But that’s about it. However, you won’t have to worry about security vulnerability at all because the plugin gets updated often.

Wrapping Up

Easy WP SMTP used to be a great plugin because it offered most of the features WordPress users need. But when the question is about security, there’s no point in risking anything.

If you’re struggling to find a good alternative, don’t look beyond FluentSMTP. This is the best among SMTP plugins and it’s free forever! And if this looks like a marketing pitch, try out other Easy WP SMTP alternatives we’ve listed. They are all good options!