SMTP stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. It is the standard method for sending email reliably across the internet. When you configure WordPress to use SMTP, you are telling it to send emails through a proper mail delivery service — with a verified sender identity, a reliable route, and far better delivery rates than the default setup.
Why you need it
By default, WordPress tries to send emails using the hosting server’s built-in mail function. This is increasingly unreliable — many servers block it, and spam filters reject the messages that do get sent because they come from an unverified source. SMTP solves this by routing email through a dedicated service that is trusted by receiving mail servers.
How to set it up
Setting up SMTP in WordPress involves three steps:
- Choose an email delivery service — Services like Brevo (formerly Sendinblue), Mailgun, or Postmark offer reliable email delivery. Most have a free tier that is sufficient for business contact forms and notifications
- Get your SMTP credentials — Your chosen service will provide a server address, port, username, and password
- Configure WordPress to use them — This is typically done via a plugin that adds SMTP settings to WordPress. Enter your credentials, test the connection, and you’re done
If this sounds like too much to set up
It is not complicated, but it does require a few steps that are unfamiliar if you have not done it before. Some hosting providers handle this for you — WP Clinic includes proper email delivery with our WordPress hosting, so this is not something our clients need to configure themselves.
Read more about why WordPress email fails by default or explore our email knowledge base.