Gravity PDF vs Pinny’s Simple SMTP – Lightweight SMTP Mailer

Gravity PDF is the ultimate third-party PDF automation tool for generating digital PDFs using the popular form-builder plugin Gravity Forms. Highly Customizable PDFs Out of the box you get four highly-customizable PDF designs. Within minutes, you can personalize the look and feel by adding your company logo, header, footer, paper size / orientation, font, color and size. If the free designs don’t suit, select from our range of templates in the Template Shop, go bespoke and have a template build by our team, or build your own using HTML/CSS/PHP. Send as Email Attachment Gravity PDF can automatically email the PDF to both the admin and the user as soon as the form is completed. You can combine this feature with a Gravity Forms payment add-on to sell personalized reports, gift certificates, or generate PDF invoices. Privacy, Security, and GDPR Gravity PDF generates PDFs on your web server, and no third-party service receives your sensitive Gravity Forms entry data. Robust security protects your documents, and the plugin is GDPR-compliant for our European friends. Digital document management with WordPress and Gravity Forms just became simple with Gravity PDF! Free Feature Unlimited Use, No Restrictions – There are zero hard limits to the number of PDFs you can configure across all your forms or generate on your entries. Gravity PDF does NOT stamp documents with our logo, limit the number of PDFs you can create per month, or purposefully restrict essential functionality to force you to upgrade to a paid plan. Privacy and Security – your form data is never sent to a third party to generate the PDFs and the documents are generated directly on your web server. Strong access control policies are put in place to prevent unauthenticated access to your PDFs. Multilingual – a multitude of languages from across the globe can be displayed in PDFs, include complex scripts like Hebrew, Arabic, Thai, Japanese, Chinese, and Korean. Additional Fonts – match your branding and enhance the overall look and feel of PDFs by install your own fonts. Columns – use Drag and Drop columns in Gravity Forms and PDFs will automatically mimic that layout. Shortcode and Merge Tags – You can generate a link or URL to PDFs using both shortcodes and merge tags so your users can download the PDF right after form submission. Export Entries – include the direct link to any PDF(s) when exporting your form entries Webhooks Add-on – send the direct PDF link with Webhook requests when using Gravity Forms Webhooks add-on. Gravity Flow – create complex workflows using Gravity Flow and automatically email Gravity PDF-generated documents at any step in the workflow. GravityView – add links to PDFs when building a members area using GravityView + Advanced Filtering add-on. Background Processing – generating PDFs on form submission can be time consuming. Offload it to a background process will ensure form submissions are processed faster. Design PDFs – developers can build their own PDF templates using HTML, CSS, and PHP with the help of our developer documentation. Documentation and Support – there is extensive documentation covering every feature of Gravity PDF that you can comb through, plus we provide free general support to all users. Unlock More Functionality Pay for additional PDF designs and functionality from our online store. New Designs – get access to 9 additional universal designs, 6 certificates, 6 invoices, and 3 letter styles Additional customizations – watermark PDFs with your own logo or text, control fields that should be displayed per PDF, add field descriptions, display all checkbox or radio field options, add notes, show field values instead of labels, and hide the product table On-screen Preview – allow users to preview the PDF before form submission (and optionally payment) so they can see what the end result will be. This is a great feature for capturing e-signatures, selling PDF reports / certificates / gift cards, or providing an on-screen proof before the PDF is sent to the printers (perfect for business cards). Bulk Download – search, filter, and select entries and then zip up all your PDFs and download all together in a convenient zip file Smart Loading Indicator – improve the UX for your users when generating complex PDFs that take time to create. GravityView – turn GravityView into a drag-and-drop PDF builder for your Single Entry View Layouts. GFChart – create PDF reports that display pie, bar, or column charts with aggregate Gravity Forms data using GFChart. 30-Day Refund Guarantee – Purchase with confidence knowing when you buy a product from our store that you can get a refund within 30 days, for any reason. Hire the Experts Need a tailor-made solution for Gravity PDF that solves complex business problems? Our team of experienced developers have helped thousands of businesses like yours to accomplish these goals. We can even fill existing PDFs like government forms, without sending your sensitive entry data to a third-party server! Find out more. Documentation & Support We have extensive documentation on using Gravity PDF, and our friendly support team provides FREE basic support via GravityPDF.com. Contribute All development for Gravity PDF is handled via GitHub. Opening new issues or submitting a pull request is welcome. Keep up to date with Gravity PDF by subscribing to the newsletter, following us on Twitter/X, subscribing to our YouTube channel, and liking us on Facebook. If you enjoy using the software we’d love it if you could give us a review!

Pinny’s Simple SMTP is a ultra lightweight SMTP plugin weighing in at just 4KB. It’s simple to use, highly secure, and includes all the basic features you need to send emails reliably. 🚀 Super Easy 30-Second Configuration Tired of bloated setup wizards, “Connect Account” popups, and endless menus? Pinny’s Simple SMTP is designed to be invisible. We removed the fluff so you can get back to work. 1. Enter your Host & Port. 2. Enter your Login. 3. Click Save. That’s it. You are done. There is no complex UI to learn. No dashboards to manage. It is a true “Set and Forget” solution that just works. Unlike most SMTP plugins (which are typically 2MB+ in size), Pinny’s Simple SMTP is ultra-lightweight, easy to set up, and never compromises on security. We ensure your sensitive credentials are always protected with automatic encryption—no more storing passwords in plain text. This plugin is different. It’s smaller than a favicon, works with any mail provider, and takes just seconds to set up. Features: Ultra Lightweight (4KB): This is the a ultra lightweight SMTP plugin. It has zero impact on your site speed. Encrypted Security: We take security seriously. Your SMTP password is encrypted in the database using native WordPress salts. We never store credentials in plain text. Dead Easy Setup: No confusing wizards or tutorials needed. Just enter your Host, Port, and Login, then click Save. All Basic Features: Supports TLS/SSL, custom ports, “From” email/name overrides, and includes a 1-Click Test Email tool. Zero Bloat: No ads, no dashboard widgets, no usage tracking, and no upsells. wp-config Configuration Mode: For added security, define SMTP settings in wp-config.php and lock the admin UI. ⚙️ Advanced: Configure SMTP via wp-config.php Pinny’s Simple SMTP supports configuration directly from wp-config.php, allowing administrators and developers to lock SMTP settings and prevent changes from the WordPress dashboard. When enabled, the plugin automatically switches the admin interface to read-only mode. To enable this mode, add the following constants to your wp-config.php file define('PINNYS_SMTP_FORCE', true); define('PINNYS_SMTP_ENABLED', true); define('PINNYS_SMTP_HOST', 'smtp.gmail.com'); define('PINNYS_SMTP_PORT', 587); define('PINNYS_SMTP_ENCRYPTION', 'tls'); define('PINNYS_SMTP_AUTH', true); define('PINNYS_SMTP_USERNAME', '[email protected]'); define('PINNYS_SMTP_PASSWORD', 'your_app_password'); define('PINNYS_SMTP_FROM_EMAIL', '[email protected]'); define('PINNYS_SMTP_FROM_NAME', 'Your Website'); Once PINNYS_SMTP_FORCE is enabled: SMTP settings are loaded from wp-config.php The WordPress settings page becomes read-only Dashboard changes cannot override your configuration Note: If PINNYS_SMTP_FORCE is not defined, the plugin behaves normally and settings can be configured from the WordPress dashboard. 🛡️ The “Zero-Retention” Security Promise Pinny’s Simple SMTP is built on a strict security philosophy: WordPress is a CMS, not an Email Archive. Most SMTP plugins log every email sent from your site into your WordPress database. While this seems convenient, it introduces massive security risks, database bloat, and privacy violations. We feature a Zero-Retention Architecture. We connect, deliver, and vanish. Here is why this is safer for you: 1. The Security Risk (Why we don’t log) Storing email logs in your database creates a high-value target for hackers. The “Big Hack” Reality: In 2024 and 2025, major SMTP plugins (such as Post SMTP) suffered critical vulnerabilities (CVE-2023-6875 and CVE-2025-11833). Hackers were able to bypass authentication, trigger password reset emails, read the plugin’s email logs to capture the reset link, and take over the entire website. Our Fix: You cannot steal what isn’t there. By not logging emails, Pinny’s Simple SMTP renders this entire class of “Account Takeover” attacks impossible. 2. The Database & Privacy Problem Bloat: Transactional logs grow indefinitely. A busy store sends thousands of emails a month. Storing these in wp_options or custom tables slows down your site and bloats your backups. GDPR & Privacy: Your database should not permanently store customer PII (Personally Identifiable Information) like password reset links, purchase receipts, or private contact form messages. If your site is compromised, those logs are a leak waiting to happen. 3. The Right Way to Log If you need to track email delivery, do it where it belongs: At your Email Provider. Gmail / Google Workspace: Has a “Sent” folder and comprehensive audit logs. SendGrid / Mailgun / SES: These services are built to archive millions of emails securely, with proper rotation policies and access controls. Microsoft / Outlook: Native “Sent Items” retention. Pinny’s Simple SMTP keeps your WordPress database clean, fast, and secure by letting your email provider do its job. 🚫 The “Anti-Bloat” Architecture: Why We Rejected OAuth Pinny’s Simple SMTP is built on a strict performance philosophy: Do not load code you do not use. The industry standard is to force users into OAuth (Log in with Google/Microsoft). While this looks fancy, for a WordPress plugin, it is technically inferior to standard SMTP. Here is why we deliberately stripped OAuth out of Pinny’s: 1. The “Universal Adapter” Trap (Bloat) Most users connect to one provider (e.g., just Gmail). However, to support OAuth, other plugins must bundle massive SDK libraries for 10–15 different services (Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Yahoo, Zoho, etc.). The Result: You install megabytes of vendor code just to send a simple email. Our Fix: Pinny’s uses standard SMTP. We don’t force you to host 14 unused API libraries on your server just to use the 15th. This keeps our codebase at ~4KB. 2. The Complexity Risk (Security) In security, Complexity is the Enemy. OAuth flows require redirects, token storage, refresh tokens, and constant API updates. Every external library added to a plugin increases the “Attack Surface”—more code means more places for bugs to hide. The Reality: If a plugin’s bundled “Google API Client” has a vulnerability, your site is at risk—even if you are using Outlook. Our Fix: We use native WordPress functions. No external dependencies. No third-party SDKs. No supply-chain vulnerabilities. 3. The Reality of “Shared OAuth Infrastructure” Many plugins advertise “one-click OAuth login” for Gmail or Microsoft 365. To provide this convenience without requiring users to create their own developer credentials, these plugins typically authenticate through a shared OAuth application (Client ID and Secret) owned by the plugin developer. This creates several potential risks including: Shared API rate limits OAuth quotas apply to the shared application, not your individual site. Abuse impact If other sites using the same OAuth application send spam or violate provider policies, the provider may restrict or flag the application, potentially affecting all connected users. Application suspension When the shared OAuth application is disabled or restricted by the provider, authentication will fail for every site using it. Developer infrastructure dependency Some plugins route OAuth authentication through servers operated by the plugin developer. If that infrastructure experiences downtime, users may be unable to connect accounts or refresh authentication tokens. Maintenance risk OAuth integrations require ongoing API updates. If a plugin is abandoned and the OAuth application is not maintained, authentication may eventually stop working. Pinny’s Simple SMTP avoids these dependencies entirely by using direct SMTP authentication, allowing your site to communicate directly with your mail server without shared OAuth infrastructure. 4. App Passwords: The Superior Choice We use App Passwords (Standard SMTP Authentication). This is the secure, recommended method for server-side mailing (Gmail/Workspace & Microsoft 365). Strictly Scoped: An App Password usually only has permission to send mail. Unlike an OAuth token (which can sometimes be scoped too broadly), an App Password cannot be used to change your account settings or read your Drive files. Instantly Revocable: If you suspect a breach, you can revoke that specific App Password instantly from your Google/Microsoft dashboard without changing your main login credentials. Zero Downtime: OAuth tokens expire or disconnect if the API changes. App Passwords work until you say stop. Pinny’s Simple SMTP chooses stability over shiny buttons. Enter your Host, Port, and App Password → Save. Done.