WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – The Most Popular SMTP and vs My Newsletter

My Newsletter is a lightweight WordPress newsletter plugin focused on a practical use case many site owners need immediately: Send a campaign to WordPress users. Send a campaign to commenters (optionally only commenters from a specific post). Import and manage your own mailing list (CSV/TXT upload, simple XLSX upload, or paste emails). Queue the campaign and process it in the background (batch sending). Include unsubscribe links in every message. Track basic campaign progress in the admin area. Optional file logging for troubleshooting large sends. Optional built-in SMTP settings (with SMTP test) (no external SMTP plugin required). Save and load reusable email templates (v2.5.0). Manage templates (edit/rename/duplicate/delete) from My Newsletter → Templates (v2.6.0). Import/export templates as JSON for backup and migration (My Newsletter → Templates) (v2.6.1). This plugin is intentionally simple and WordPress-native: Email sending uses wp_mail() (https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_mail/). Background processing uses WP-Cron (https://developer.wordpress.org/plugins/cron/). File uploads in the admin import flow use wp_handle_upload() (https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_handle_upload/). Mailing list import & management (v2.3.0) My Newsletter lets you import and manage your own subscriber list: Import subscribers via CSV/TXT upload, simple XLSX upload, or copy/paste. Preview the first rows before writing to the database. Choose merge behavior: Update existing or Skip existing. Built-in list tools: search, export CSV, delete selected, delete all matching search, and delete by domain. Suppression list (unsubscribed): view/export and remove suppression (admin-only). Important: You are responsible for ensuring you have a lawful basis/consent to email imported contacts, and every campaign must include a working unsubscribe option. Then, when composing a campaign, choose Mailing list (imported) as the recipient source. Core functionality Campaign composer (admin screen) Create a newsletter subject and HTML content. Use the WordPress editor for message body content. Choose recipient source: Users + Commenters Users only Commenters only Commenters on a specific post Mailing list (imported) Background queue processing Recipients are queued in custom plugin tables. Sending runs in batches through WP-Cron (instead of trying to send everything in one browser request). Reduces the risk of timeouts and broken sends on slower hosting. Test email before full campaign Send a test message to any email address from the composer screen. Uses the same rendering path and unsubscribe footer logic as real sends. Secure unsubscribe links Every email includes an unsubscribe URL. Unsubscribe tokens use an HMAC-based signature (derived from WordPress salts; see wp_salt() https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_salt/). Unsubscribed addresses are stored and skipped in future campaigns. Email templates (save/load) (v2.5.0) Save the current subject + content as a template. Load a saved template into the composer to reuse it for a new campaign. Templates are stored locally on your site (not sent anywhere). Template variables (placeholders) {{site_name}} {{site_url}} {{recipient_name}} {{recipient_email}} {{unsubscribe_url}} Settings screen From name From email Reply-To (optional) Max emails per cron run (batch size) Footer HTML (appended to outgoing emails) Logging (optional) Optional log file (v2.3.3) Enable logging in Settings → Logging. View, download, and clear logs in My Newsletter → Logs. Logs are stored in wp-content/uploads/my-newsletter/wpnl.log. Basic campaign tracking Shows recent campaigns in admin. Displays queue progress (total / sent / failed / queued). User Guide (v2.3.3) 1) Quick start (5–10 minutes) Install and activate the plugin. Go to My Newsletter → Settings and set: From name From email (prefer an address on your domain) Go to My Newsletter (campaign composer) and send a Test email to your own address first. Create a campaign: Enter Subject Enter Message (HTML supported via the editor) Choose recipients (Users / Commenters / Mailing list) Click Queue & Start Sending (wording may vary by screen) If you don’t see progress, read the “WP‑Cron” section below. 1B) Email templates (Save / Load) (v2.5.0) On the My Newsletter campaign screen you can reuse content without retyping: Write your Subject and Content (or load an existing template). To save: enter a template name and click Save Email Template. To load: choose a template from the dropdown and click Load Email Template. Tip: keep templates generic (e.g. “Welcome email”, “Promo template”), then adjust the final message before queuing. 1C) Manage Templates (v2.6.0) Use My Newsletter → Templates to manage your saved templates: Add New to create a template from scratch. Edit to update the template name (rename), subject, or body. Duplicate to quickly create a variation. Delete to remove a template you no longer need. Templates are local to your site and can be loaded into the campaign composer using Load Email Template. 2) Settings explained (My Newsletter → Settings) From name / From email Used as the sender identity in outgoing messages. WordPress email is sent via wp_mail() and your mail transport decides the final headers (https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_mail/). Reply‑To (optional) If you want replies to go to a different inbox than “From”. Max emails per cron run (batch size) Limits how many emails each WP‑Cron run tries to send. Smaller batches reduce timeouts on shared hosting. WP‑Cron is traffic-driven by default (https://developer.wordpress.org/plugins/cron/). Footer HTML Appended to every message. Best practice is to include: your site name, a short reason why the recipient is receiving the email, and an unsubscribe link (the plugin can insert {{unsubscribe_url}}). Logging (optional, v2.3.3) Enable logging when troubleshooting unexpected queue behavior or mail failures. Go to My Newsletter → Settings → Logging and enable the log file. Re-run sending (WP-Cron or “Run queue now”). Open My Newsletter → Logs to view, download, or clear the log. Logs are stored in wp-content/uploads/my-newsletter/wpnl.log. 3) Creating a campaign (My Newsletter → Campaigns) Subject: what recipients will see. Message body: use the editor; HTML is allowed. Placeholders: you can personalize using: {{recipient_name}}, {{recipient_email}} Recipients: choose one: Users (WP users) Commenters (emails from approved comments) Commenters for a specific post Mailing list (imported) Then click the action button to queue recipients and start sending. 4) Recipient sources: what exactly is included Users Uses WordPress user emails (typically wp_users.user_email). WordPress user data is stored in core tables (https://developer.wordpress.org/apis/wpdb/). Commenters Uses emails from comment records (typically wp_comments.comment_author_email) and only approved comments are considered in typical implementations (WordPress comment basics: https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/get_comments/). Commenters on a specific post Same as Commenters, but filtered by post ID. Mailing list (imported) Uses subscribers stored by this plugin in its own table. This list is independent from WP users/comments. 5) Mailing list import (My Newsletter → Mailing List) You have two import methods: Upload file or Paste. 5A) Upload (CSV/TXT) Best and most reliable method. Recommended columns * email (required) * name (optional) CSV example email,name [email protected],Ana [email protected],Marko The plugin will: * accept comma/semicolon/tab-delimited CSV (delimiter auto-detected), * accept a header row if it contains email, * validate emails with WordPress helpers like sanitize_email() and is_email() (https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/sanitize_email/ and https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/is_email/), * deduplicate by email during the import batch, * skip emails that are already unsubscribed. Export from Excel / Google Sheets * Export to CSV. XLSX support exists, but CSV is safer for complex sheets. 5B) Upload (XLSX) XLSX support is intentionally minimal to keep the plugin lightweight. Requirements: * First worksheet (sheet1) * Column A = email * Column B = name (optional) * If cell A1 contains “email”, that row is treated as header and skipped If your XLSX is more complex, export to CSV first. 5C) Paste emails (copy/paste) Paste supports: * one email per line, * comma/semicolon separated emails, * Name , * 2-column lines: email,name or name,email (comma/tab/semicolon). Examples: [email protected] [email protected],Marko Ana Example [email protected] Marko Example [email protected] After import, the screen shows: * imported count, * invalid count, * duplicate count, * skipped unsubscribed count. 5D) Import workflow (Preview + merge rules) Go to My Newsletter → Mailing List. Upload a file (CSV/TXT/XLSX) or paste emails. Click Preview import. Confirm you have lawful basis/consent (required). Choose merge behavior: Update existing (recommended): update name/source/updated_at for existing emails. Skip existing: only add new emails. Click Import now. After import, you can export and clean the list using: * Export subscribers CSV, * Delete selected (bulk), * Delete all matching search, * Delete by domain (e.g. example.com). 6) Viewing and managing the list In My Newsletter → Mailing List, you can: * see the total subscriber count, * search by email or name, * browse paginated results, * export subscribers as CSV, * delete selected subscribers (bulk), * delete all subscribers matching the current search (with confirmation), * delete by domain (e.g. example.com) for quick cleanup. In Mailing List → Suppression list, you can: * view unsubscribed emails (suppressed), * export suppression list as CSV, * remove suppression (admin-only) if you need to re-subscribe someone manually. 7) WP‑Cron and reliable background sending This plugin uses WP‑Cron to send queued emails in batches. WP‑Cron runs on site visits (traffic). On low‑traffic sites, campaigns may send slowly (https://developer.wordpress.org/plugins/cron/). For reliable sending on production: * Configure a real server cron to hit wp-cron.php at a fixed interval. WordPress explains this approach here: https://developer.wordpress.org/plugins/cron/#what-is-wp-cron. Admin tools: * In My Newsletter → Settings, use Run queue now (admin-only) to process one batch immediately for testing/troubleshooting. * The Settings screen includes ready-to-copy cron examples (curl/wget) for common hosting setups. 8) Deliverability (what matters most) This plugin hands off email to WordPress via wp_mail() (https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_mail/). Deliverability depends on your mail transport and DNS. If you care about inbox placement: * Use an SMTP provider (or transactional email service). * Use a sender on your own domain. * Configure SPF/DKIM/DMARC (vendor-specific docs). 9) Compliance and consent (your responsibility) The plugin provides unsubscribe links, but it does not enforce consent or double opt‑in. You must only email people you have a lawful basis to contact and you must honor opt‑outs. FTC CAN‑SPAM overview: https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business EU GDPR overview (lawful basis, consent, etc.): https://commission.europa.eu/law/law-topic/data-protection/reform/what-does-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr-govern_en

WordPress Mail SMTP Plugin Is your WordPress site not sending emails? You’re not alone. 4+ million websites use WP Mail SMTP to send emails reliably. Our goal is to make email deliverability easy so that your emails always reach the inbox. WP Mail SMTP fixes your email deliverability issues by reconfiguring WordPress to use a proper SMTP provider when sending emails. Best of all, our easy-to-use Setup Wizard and detailed documentation guide you through the process. WP Mail SMTP is free and has everything you need to reliably send your WordPress emails! WP Mail SMTP Pro unlocks even more powerful features like email logging, advanced email reporting and stats, backup connections, email alerts, smart conditional routing, and much more. What is SMTP? SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is an industry-standard for sending emails. Proper SMTP configuration helps increase email deliverability by adding authentication to the emails sent from your site. Popular email clients like Gmail, Yahoo, Office 365, and Zoho are in a constant battle with email spammers, so they check whether emails are originating from a genuine sender. If the proper authentication isn’t there, emails either go in the SPAM folder or, worse, disappear. This is a problem for a lot of WordPress sites. By default, WordPress uses the PHP mail function to send emails generated by WordPress or any contact form plugin like WPForms. But most WordPress hosting companies don’t have their servers properly configured for sending PHP emails. This is why WordPress emails aren’t delivered. How does WP Mail SMTP work? WP Mail SMTP plugin easily resolves email delivery problems by changing the way your WordPress site sends email. We reconfigure the wp_mail() function to use proper SMTP host credentials or an SMTP mail provider. With our built-in SMTP mail provider integrations (recommended), emails are sent using the provider’s direct API. Even if your web host is blocking SMTP ports, your emails will still be sent successfully. This helps you fix all WordPress not sending email issues. WP Mail SMTP plugin includes many different SMTP mailers: SendLayer (#1 Recommended) SMTP.com (Recommended) Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) SMTP (Recommended) Gmail SMTP (Gmail, Google Workspace, G Suite) Elastic Email Mailgun SMTP Mailjet SMTP SendGrid SMTP Postmark SMTP SparkPost SMTP SMTP2GO Microsoft SMTP One-Click Setup (Outlook.com and Office 365) [Pro] Amazon SES SMTP [Pro] Zoho Mail SMTP [Pro] Other SMTP For most options, you can specify the “from name” and “email address” for outgoing emails too. All of these powerful features make WP Mail SMTP the best SMTP solution for WordPress. If you don’t know which mailer to choose, see our Complete Guide to WP Mail SMTP Mailers. SendLayer SendLayer is our #1 recommended transactional email service. Its affordable pricing and simple setup make it the perfect choice for sending emails from WordPress. It also has open and click tracking and email logs. 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 a reputation for being one of the most reliable senders on the internet. You can start sending emails in minutes and benefit from 50,000 free emails in your first 30 days. Read our SMTP.com documentation for more details. Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) SMTP Brevo is a recommended transactional email service. It serves 80,000+ companies worldwide. Brevo is reliable, fast, and gives you 300 free emails per day. Read our Brevo documentation for more details. WP Mail SMTP PRO In addition to native Microsoft, Amazon SES, and Zoho Mail integrations, WP Mail SMTP Pro provides access to many other powerful features. Click here to purchase WP Mail SMTP Pro now! Email Log Email logging is a powerful feature that keeps a record of all sent emails in WordPress. Email logging helps you to archive, audit, resend, or test email delivery and formatting. Our WordPress email logs also include: Email Log Details Our email logs provide a complete history of all emails sent from WordPress. View the subject, sender, recipients, content, headers, open and click rates, delivery status, source plugin, and more! Resend Emails Resend emails individually or in bulk, whether they failed or were delivered successfully. You can also forward important emails to an alternative email address. And many more Email Log Features Store all email attachments, export email logs, print emails, see delivery status, and more. Email Reports Review weekly sent and failed emails in a dashboard chart. Email reports make it easy to track deliverability and engagement. Open rates and click-through rates are grouped by subject line, making it easy to see the performance of your campaigns or notifications. Weekly Email Summary Get statistics about WordPress emails, including how many emails are being sent and which ones are being opened and clicked. The Summary also shows you deliverability statistics without the need to log in to WordPress to check them. Track Email Opens and Clicks View open and click stats for WordPress emails, grouped by subject line in your Email Report. Email Alerts If your emails stop sending, get notified instantly via Slack, Microsoft Teams, Discord, SMS/ Twilio, webhooks, or email (via secure API). In combination with our email logging and resending features, Email Alerts ensure that no important email will ever be lost. Backup Connection Configure an extra connection that kicks in if your primary connection fails. WP Mail SMTP automatically detects connection issues and automatically switches to the backup mailer. It will also automatically retry emails that failed. Smart Conditional Routing Create criteria to send different types of emails using different mailers. Filter by the contents of the email Subject or Message, From or To addresses, the plugin that generated the email, and more. This allows you to mix transactional and marketing providers to improve deliverability. Rate Limiting Control the number of emails your WordPress site sends in a specific amount of time so you stay within your SMTP provider’s rate limits. WP Mail SMTP allows you to specify the maximum number of emails that will be sent every minute, hour, day, week, or month and automatically queues emails to stay within those limits. Optimized Email Sending Are emails slowing down your site? Let WP Mail SMTP queue your emails for better performance. With optimized sending, emails are queued in the background and sent when your server has sufficient resources, avoiding bottlenecks that can slow down your site. Manage WordPress Emails and Notifications Control the default notifications WordPress sends. Use a simple switch to disable specific types of notifications if you don’t want to receive them. WordPress Multisite WordPress Multisite Network Settings For users running a multisite network, save time with a centralized location to easily configure your SMTP settings for all sites. Manage Multisite Email Logs Easily Network Admins can view and manage email logs for subsites with easy switching and dashboard views. Expert Support We provide limited support on the WordPress.org forums. World-class one-on-one email support is available to WP Mail SMTP Pro users. White Glove Setup If you’re not sure how to fix your emails, sit back and relax. We’ll set up WP Mail SMTP for you! White Glove Setup includes installation, configuration in WordPress, DNS configuration, full mailer setup, and testing. White Glove Setup is available for our recommended mailers: SendLayer, Brevo, and SMTP.com. Credits WP Mail SMTP plugin was originally created by Callum Macdonald. It is now owned and maintained by the team behind WPForms – the best drag & drop form builder for WordPress. You can try the free version of WPForms plugin to see why it’s the best in the market.