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Methods to Use Free SMTP Server to Send WordPress Emails

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People commonly face the ‘WordPress not sending email’ issue because WordPress sends emails through PHP mail by default. And, unfortunately, not all WordPress hosting servers are correctly configured to use PHP mail.   Moreover, even when the emails are sent successfully, they are sometimes incorrectly identified as spam. Meaning, they could be automatically deleted without being seen ever.  The simplest way to fix this issue and ensure the successful delivery of your emails is – to use an SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) server. It is an application that mail servers use to send, receive and/or relay outgoing emails between the email senders and receivers. SMTP servers use proper authentication to ensure that every email is sent by an authorized sender.  Now, to connect your WordPress website to a SMTP server, you’ll need a plugin.  In this article, we’ll use WP Mail SMTP plugin, the best SMTP plugin for WordPress. Let’s take a look at how to set up WP Mail SMTP and connect it to popular free SMTP servers. 

Process to install WP Mail SMTP plugin for WordPress 

  1. Install the WP Mail SMTP plugin 
  2. Upon installation and activation, navigate to WP Mail SMTP -> Settings page in your WordPress admin area and set up the plugin. 
  3. Start by entering your ‘From Email’ and ‘From Name’. Your WordPress emails will be sent from this name and email address. (Leave the ‘Force From Email’ box checked to ensure all the emails from your WordPress website are sent from that email id, through your SMTP server). 
  4. As your next step, you need to choose and click on the SMTP mailing service you want to use. 
In the succeeding section, we’ll cover step-by-step process to send WordPress emails using the Sendinblue SMTP server. 

Sending WordPress emails using Sendinblue SMTP server 

Sendinblue allows you to send up to 300 free emails per day from your website. 
  1. Go to the Sendinblue website and create an account. Once you confirm your email address, you will be asked to choose a Sendinblue pricing plan. 
  2. Click on the ‘Continue with a Free plan’ button.  
  3. You will receive a confirmation code via text message that you need to enter. Now, you will see your Sendinblue dashboard. 
  4. Before moving ahead, create a subdomain for your website, such as mail1.yourdomain.com by logging in to your domain registrar or web hosting account, and follow the on-screen instructions for adding a subdomain.
If you are using Bluehost, go to the Domains » Subdomains page under your web hosting dashboard. Herein, enter the subdomain you want to create (e.g. mail 1) and then click the ‘Create’ button to continue. Bluehost will add the subdomain you created to your web hosting.     5. After creating this subdomain, you need to add it to your Sendinblue account. 

Adding Your Subdomain to Sendinblue

  • In your Sendinblue account, go to the Settings page and scroll to the ‘Your Senders and Domains’ section. Click the ‘Configure’ button placed below it. 
  • Navigate to the Domains tab -> ‘Add a New Domain’ button 
  • Enter your whole subdomain, such as mail1.yoursite.com. Ensure you check the box to confirm that you want to use this domain name to digitally sign your emails.  
  • Click the ‘Save’ button .
Once you save, you will see popup listing ways for you to verify the domain. Herein, the default method is to host a file. You’d be required to create the HTML file and upload it via File Transfer Protocol (FTP).   It is recommended to use the ‘Add a DNS entry’ method instead. This will give you a special code with which you can verify your subdomain.  (Even if you cross out this popup by mistake, you can go back to it by clicking the ‘Verify This Domain’ link placed next to your subdomain) 
  • Open the DNS settings for your domain in your hosting account. Your host should provide instructions for this. 
  • In Bluehost, scroll down your DNS records to the TXT section and create a new DNS TXT record. 
  • For the Host Record, enter your subdomain (e.g. mail1.yourdomain.com). Depending on your web host, this may be entered by default or you may have to enter all or a part of it. 
  • For the Value (also called TXT data or TXT Value), you need to copy the special code from Sendinblue. 
Make sure that you save your DNS TXT record. Once done, return to Sendinblue and click on ‘Record Added. Please Verify It’.  (DNS changes may take 24-48 hours to implement across the internet. If the verification fails, try it again in the next few hours). 
  • Now, enter two more DNS TXT records so that Sendinblue can authenticate the emails being sent from your domain, thus, improving deliverability.  
  • In Sendinblue, click the ‘Manage’ dropdown (next to your domain), and then select the ‘Authenticate this domain’ option. You’ll then see a popup with DNS records’ details that you need to add.  
(Herein, you just need to add the first two DNS records. The third is the one that you have already added and the fourth one is not required) 
  • Add these to your domain in your domain registrar or web hosting account in the same way like you did before. Then, click ‘Record Added. Please Verify It’ button for each of them. 
  • Go back to the WP Mail SMTP Settings page that you opened in the previous steps and find the API key box. Click on the ‘Get v3 API Key’ link. 
  • The correct page of your Sendinblue account will open up in a new tab. You just need to copy the API key from here. 
  • Now, return to WP Mail SMTP and paste in the key. Once done, click on ‘Save Settings’. 
Everything is set up now, you just need to wait for Sendinblue to activate your account. Once done, test your email’s working and you are good to go.  We hope this article helped you learn to send WordPress emails successfully using a free SMTP server. 
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