Help Centre / Email

Connect Your Own SMTP Provider

Updated 2 October 2026

Your website can already send the mail WordPress needs. Connecting your own SMTP provider is the better arrangement for anyone sending real volume, and for anyone who wants their mail leaving under their own sending reputation rather than a shared one.

You also get delivery logs, which is the part people appreciate most. Instead of wondering whether an order confirmation arrived, you can look it up and see.

Once connected, mail leaves through your provider instead of ours. The traffic still counts as a small amount of bandwidth, and a bulk run will be throttled.

Choose A Provider

Any of these work. The differences that matter in practice are the free tier and how much work setup is.

If you already pay for Google Workspace and your volume is modest, use that. If you run a shop and order confirmations matter, Postmark or Mailgun are worth the money for the logs alone.

Step 1: Create The Account And Get Your Credentials

Sign up with the provider and find either an API key or a set of SMTP credentials. Most offer both, and the API route is usually a little more reliable because it does not depend on an outbound mail port.

Copy the key somewhere safe. Most providers show it once.

Step 2: Install WP Mail SMTP

In your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins, then Add New, search for WP Mail SMTP and install and activate it. It is the plugin we suggest because it supports every provider above, it is actively maintained, and its setup wizard holds your hand through the awkward parts.

Step 3: Choose The Provider And Paste The Credentials

Open WP Mail SMTP in the dashboard, then its settings. Pick your provider from the list and paste in the API key, or the SMTP host, port, username and password if you are going that route.

Set the From Email to an address at your own domain, such as orders@yourdomain.com, and the From Name to something a customer will recognise. Tick the options to force both, so a plugin cannot override them with something that will get filtered. Do not use a Gmail or Hotmail address here. It is the most common cause of mail being refused.

Step 4: Verify Your Sending Domain

Your provider will give you DNS records to add to your domain. This is the step people skip and then wonder why delivery is poor. Add them.

There are usually two:

SPF is a record that lists which servers are allowed to send mail for your domain, so a receiving server can check that the mail came from one of them.

DKIM adds a signature to each message that a receiving server can check against a key published in your DNS, which proves the message was not altered and really came from you.

Add both exactly as the provider shows them, in whatever manages your domain’s DNS. See DNS records explained if you are not sure where that is.

Then go back to the provider and press whatever verifies the domain. It may take a few minutes for the records to propagate, sometimes longer.

Step 5: Send A Test

WP Mail SMTP has an email test tab. Send one to an address you can check, ideally a Gmail address and a work address so you can see both.

When it arrives, open it and check the details. It should show as sent by your provider on behalf of your domain, with SPF and DKIM passing. In Gmail, use the three-dot menu and “Show original”.

Then test the real paths: trigger a password reset, submit your contact form, and place a test order if you run a shop.

Step 6: Check Your MX Records Are Untouched

Nothing in this process should change your MX records, and nothing here lets you receive mail. Oxyforge does not host mailboxes. If you read mail at your domain through Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, those MX records stay exactly as they are. See what your website can send.

Troubleshooting

The test fails with an authentication error. The key or password is wrong, or it was pasted with a space on the end. Generate a fresh key and paste it again.

The test says it sent but nothing arrives. Check your provider’s own log. It will tell you whether the message was accepted, bounced, suppressed or deferred. A brand new provider account sometimes starts in a sandbox mode that only sends to verified addresses.

Mail arrives but lands in spam. Almost always the domain was not verified, or SPF and DKIM are not passing. Re-check the records, including that you did not end up with two SPF records.

Some mail sends through the provider and some does not. A plugin is bypassing WordPress’s mail function and talking to a mail server directly. Check the settings of whichever plugin is sending the stray messages.

It worked and now it has stopped. Check whether the provider suspended the account, usually for a spike in bounces or a complaint rate, and check whether the API key was rotated or expired.