Post SMTP Review — Is This The Best SMTP Plugin for WordPress?

You already know how bad it is when your WordPress site stops sending emails. Never getting password resets. Order confirmations that go missing. People who fill out contact forms but don't get a response.

WordPress site owners often complain about this, and the reason is almost always the same: the default mail function in WordPress doesn't always work.

Post SMTP is one of the most popular plugins that does just that. It has been a popular choice for both developers and site owners, with more than 400,000 active installs.

Is this really the best SMTP plugin for WordPress, or are there better ones?

This review tells you everything you need to know about Post SMTP, including what it does, how much it costs, and where it works well and where it doesn't.

Why WordPress Emails Fail in the First Place

It's helpful to know what the problem is before you start using the plugin.
By default, WordPress uses the built-in mail() function in PHP to send emails. The problem is that most hosting servers aren't set up to be real mail servers.

Without proper authentication, Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, and other email servers see an email as suspicious. It either gets blocked completely or goes straight to spam.

An SMTP plugin fixes this by sending your WordPress emails through a real email service. Emails are authenticated and sent through a dedicated service like Gmail, Microsoft 365, SendGrid, Mailgun, or something similar instead of your server.

This greatly increases the chances that your emails will actually get to their intended recipients.

Post SMTP is one of the tools that can help you connect WordPress to your email provider.

What Is Post SMTP?

Post SMTP, which is also known as Postman SMTP, was originally a community fork of the original Postman SMTP plugin, which was no longer being updated in 2017. In early 2022, WPExperts bought the plugin. They took an already great free plugin and started adding paid features to it.

The plugin is available in two versions today: a free version on WordPress.org and a Pro version with more features that can be bought through WPExperts.

Key Features

1. A Three-Step Setup Wizard

Post SMTP helps you set up in three steps: enter your email address and name, choose your mailer, and verify your account. The plugin uses OAuth 2.0 for Gmail and Microsoft 365, so you can connect your account without WordPress ever storing your real password. This is a real benefit for people who care about security.

2. Broad Mailer Support

The free version works with Gmail, Brevo (formerly Sendinblue), Mailgun, SendGrid, and any other SMTP server. The Pro version comes with special add-ons that let you use Amazon SES, Zoho, and more.

3. Email Logging

This is one of the best things about Post SMTP and one of the main reasons people recommend it so often. The free version comes with email logging right away. It logs the delivery status, subject line, recipient, error messages, and the whole email body.

You can see what went out, when it went out, and if it worked. The paid version keeps logs for longer and adds logging for attachments.

4. Failure Alerts

The moment an email fails to send, Post SMTP can notify you via email, Slack, a free Chrome extension, Microsoft Teams, or SMS through Twilio (which is a paid add-on). Getting an instant alert when something breaks means you can act before your users even notice there is a problem.

5. Fallback Mailer

If your primary email service goes down, the fallback mailer feature automatically routes emails through a secondary provider instead. This is available in the paid version and is genuinely useful for business-critical sites where email downtime is not an option.

6. Auto-Retry for Failed Emails

Rather than letting a failed email just disappear, Post SMTP can automatically retry sending until it goes through. Combined with the fallback mailer, this makes for a reasonably resilient setup.

7. Mobile App

Post SMTP has a companion mobile app for iOS and Android that lets you check email logs, receive push notifications for failures, and resend failed emails directly from your phone. This is a Pro feature and one that is a little unusual in this plugin category—most competitors do not offer anything comparable.

Pricing

The free version is available directly from the WordPress plugin directory at no cost and covers most use cases for small sites and blogs.

The actual pricing page shows Basic at $59.99/year, Professional at $79.99/year, and Business at $99.99/year. Lifetime licences are also available. WPExperts offers discounts of up to 50% for nonprofits and educational institutions.

A 14-day money-back guarantee applies to all paid plans, which takes some of the risk out of trying it.

When the subscription expires, Pro features disappear, but the free version continues working as normal.

What We Like

The free version is genuinely powerful. Unlike some competitors, Post SMTP does not hold email logging hostage behind a paywall. WP Mail SMTP, for example, charges for logging in its free tier — Post SMTP gives it to you for nothing. For troubleshooting WordPress email issues, this makes a real difference.

OAuth 2.0 for Gmail and Microsoft accounts. Storing SMTP credentials inside WordPress is not ideal from a security standpoint. The OAuth method removes that risk entirely.

Email failure alerts are fast and flexible. Getting a Slack message or an email the moment something breaks is more useful than logging in days later to find dozens of failed sends.

Active support and regular updates. The plugin's WordPress.org reviews frequently praise response times, which is not always the case with smaller plugins.

Who Should Use Post SMTP?

Post SMTP is a strong pick for:

• Site owners who want a powerful free plugin and are comfortable with a more technical-looking interface
• Developers managing multiple client sites who want detailed logs and failure alerts without paying for each one
• WooCommerce stores where missing an order confirmation email is a real problem
• Anyone already using Gmail or Brevo who wants a straightforward setup with good security

It is less ideal for:

• Absolute beginners who want a more polished, hand-holding experience
• Sites with high email volumes that need extended log retention will benefit most from upgrading to a paid plan
• Teams using Microsoft 365 who don't want to pay for the add-on

The Verdict

Post SMTP is a really good plugin. The free version has more features than most paid ones, especially when it comes to logging emails and getting alerts when something goes wrong. The setup wizard is easy for people who aren't tech-savvy to use, and using OAuth 2.0 instead of storing credentials is a big step up in security.