Mesh Creation

Mesh SMTP helps route WordPress emails through an SMTP server for better deliverability and reliability.
It is built for site owners, agencies, and developers who want a lightweight SMTP plugin with a simple and modern admin interface.
Version 1.4.0 adds a guided four-step setup wizard, safe export/import tools for reusable SMTP settings, clearer provider guidance, and a more polished admin experience.
<h4>Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>Guided four-step setup wizard for choosing a provider, saving SMTP credentials, sending a test email, and finishing with a quick confirmation</li>
<li>Simple SMTP configuration for host, port, encryption, username, password, From Email, and From Name</li>
<li>Provider presets with auto-detect help for known email domains, SMTP hosts, and site mail-routing hints</li>
<li>Test email tool with clear success and error feedback</li>
<li>Lightweight recent email activity log with the latest 50 entries stored and the newest 10 shown in admin</li>
<li>Last failed email summary card for faster troubleshooting</li>
<li>Copyable diagnostic summary for support requests and debugging</li>
<li>wp-config.php constant overrides for secure deployment-based SMTP settings</li>
<li>Safe export and import tools for reusing settings across sites</li>
<li>Status snapshot with current SMTP configuration summary</li>
<li>Better setup hints, stronger sender guidance, and practical provider notes for popular services</li>
<li>Clean and modern admin UI</li>
<li>Capability checks, nonce verification, and sanitized settings handling</li>
<li>Passwords are not shown back in the UI after saving</li>
<li>Saved SMTP details stay intact when you temporarily disable the SMTP override</li>
<li>Works with WordPress emails sent through <code>wp_mail()</code></li>
</ul>
<h4>Supported provider presets</h4>
<ul>
<li>Gmail</li>
<li>Outlook / Microsoft 365</li>
<li>Zoho Mail</li>
<li>Hostinger</li>
<li>SendGrid</li>
<li>Mailgun</li>
<li>Custom SMTP</li>
</ul>
<h4>Why use Mesh SMTP?</h4>
Many WordPress sites face email delivery issues such as contact form emails not arriving, password reset emails failing, or transactional emails landing in spam. Mesh SMTP gives you a straightforward way to connect WordPress to a trusted SMTP provider and improve email reliability.
The plugin focuses on practical setup, safer configuration reuse across sites, lightweight diagnostics, and a clean WordPress-friendly experience.
<h4>Security notes</h4>
<ul>
<li>Settings are processed with WordPress sanitization and nonce verification</li>
<li>Access is restricted to authorized administrators</li>
<li>SMTP debug output is not exposed in the admin UI</li>
<li>Saved passwords are not displayed back in the settings form after saving</li>
<li>wp-config.php constants can override saved settings for more controlled deployments</li>
</ul>

Mesh SMTP

A lightweight WordPress SMTP plugin with guided setup, safe settings reuse, and practical email diagnostics.

Nicolas Verlhiac

<h3>Add Mail SMTP settings for WordPress</h3>
Looking to modify the SMTP on your WordPress site? 
Our Custom SMTP solution offers you this possibility, allowing you to easily change your WordPress SMTP settings, ensuring your emails consistently land in the recipient’s inbox.
Custom SMTP solves your email deliverability problems by reconfiguring WordPress to use a proper SMTP provider when sending emails.
What’s more, our intuitive settings page and comprehensive documentation will guide you through the process, making the task of modifying your SMTP settings easier than ever.
Custom SMTP is a free tool, packed with all the essential features you need to send your WordPress emails with absolute confidence!
Built for modern WordPress: WordPress 7.0 ready, PHPMailer 7.0.2 compatible, stateless / cloud-ready (Docker, Kubernetes), and fully translated in English and French.
<h3>Amazon SES API — keyless sending with IAM roles</h3>
Running WordPress on AWS (ECS Fargate, EC2, App Runner)? Custom SMTP can send through the Amazon SES API authenticated entirely by your container or instance IAM role — with no access keys, no secret keys, and no SMTP credentials stored anywhere. The plugin relies on the AWS default credential chain (the ECS task role / EC2 instance role), so your secrets never live in the database or the settings page.
This is the cleanest, most secure way to send from a containerized, 12-factor WordPress:
<ul>
<li>Zero stored secrets — authentication comes from the IAM role attached to the task/instance, not from keys pasted into wp-admin.</li>
<li>Full message fidelity — HTML, attachments, CC/BCC, Reply-To and custom headers are preserved (the message is sent as raw MIME); BCC recipients stay hidden.</li>
<li>SES Configuration Sets — optional, for bounce/complaint tracking and CloudWatch metrics.</li>
<li>Environment-driven — region, sender address and configuration set can be injected as environment variables / PHP constants (<code>SES_REGION</code> / <code>AWS_REGION</code>, <code>SES_FROM_EMAIL</code>, <code>SES_CONFIG_SET</code>), so the same image ships across environments without touching the database.</li>
<li>No extra dependency required — works whether or not the AWS SDK for PHP is present; when it isn’t, a built-in, dependency-free signed API client is used.</li>
<li>One-click test — send a test email and get back the SES MessageId.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Config-as-code & Multisite (immutable deployments)</h3>
For immutable Docker images, <code>DISALLOW_FILE_MODS</code> setups and large networks, every setting can be forced from the environment — no database writes at deploy time:
<ul>
<li>Any setting via a constant or env variable — define <code>CUSTOM_SMTP_<SETTING></code> (e.g. <code>CUSTOM_SMTP_MAILER_TYPE=ses_api</code>, <code>CUSTOM_SMTP_HOST</code>, <code>CUSTOM_SMTP_LOG_RETENTION</code>) and it overrides the saved value everywhere. The Amazon SES shortcuts (<code>SES_REGION</code> / <code>AWS_REGION</code>, <code>SES_FROM_EMAIL</code>, <code>SES_CONFIG_SET</code>) keep working too.</li>
<li>Activate a mailer network-wide with one variable — set <code>CUSTOM_SMTP_MAILER_TYPE=ses_api</code> in the container and every site uses Amazon SES, with zero per-site configuration and no custom <code>option_*</code> filter.</li>
<li>Multisite network settings — on a network, settings are read from the network-wide option (<code>get_site_option</code>) beneath any per-site option, so one configuration can apply to the whole network.</li>
<li>Visible in wp-admin — any field supplied by the environment is shown read-only with a “from <code>VARIABLE</code>” badge, so admins see exactly what the platform controls.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Built-in Email Logging</h3>
Never wonder if your emails were sent again. Custom SMTP automatically logs every email sent from your WordPress site – including WooCommerce order notifications, contact form submissions, and password resets. Preview email content directly in wp-admin, debug delivery issues with detailed error messages, and export logs for compliance.
<h3>Configuration Options</h3>
You can set the following options:
<ul>
<li>From Name & Email – Specify the sender name and email address for all outgoing emails</li>
<li>SMTP Host – Your email provider’s server (e.g., smtp.gmail.com)</li>
<li>SMTP Port – Common ports: 587 (TLS), 465 (SSL), 25 (None)</li>
<li>Encryption – Choose between None, SSL, or TLS</li>
<li>Authentication – Enable/disable SMTP authentication for relay servers</li>
<li>Username & Password – Your SMTP credentials (password stored encrypted)</li>
<li>Provider Presets – One-click configuration for Gmail, Outlook, iCloud, SendGrid, AWS SES, and more</li>
<li>Amazon SES API (IAM role) – Send through the Amazon SES API with no stored credentials, authenticated by your AWS task/instance role</li>
</ul>
<h3>Key Features</h3>
SMTP Configuration 
* Configure any SMTP server (Gmail, Outlook, SendGrid, Mailgun, AWS SES, etc.) 
* Support for SSL/TLS encryption 
* Optional SMTP authentication for relay servers 
* Test connection without sending emails 
* Send test emails to verify configuration
Amazon SES API (keyless, IAM role) 
* Send via the Amazon SESv2 API authenticated by your AWS IAM role — no access keys or SMTP credentials stored 
* Ideal for AWS ECS/Fargate, EC2 and other containerized, stateless deployments 
* Preserves HTML, attachments, CC/BCC, Reply-To and custom headers (raw MIME) 
* Optional SES Configuration Set for bounce/complaint/CloudWatch tracking 
* Region, sender and configuration set configurable via environment variables or constants 
* Works with or without the AWS SDK for PHP (built-in signed API client fallback) 
* “Send Test Email” returns the SES MessageId
Email Logging & Debugging 
* Zero configuration – Logging works out of the box 
* Track all emails sent from WordPress, WooCommerce, Contact Form 7, and any plugin 
* View delivery status (sent/failed) with detailed error messages 
* Debug wp_mail errors easily – See exactly why emails fail 
* Resend failed emails – Re-send a failed message straight from the logs after fixing your configuration 
* Store email headers for advanced troubleshooting 
* Search by recipient, subject, or status 
* Filter by date range (Today, 7 days, 30 days) 
* Export logs to CSV for reporting and compliance
Email Preview & Content 
* Preview email body directly from wp-admin – No need to send test emails 
* View HTML source code of any logged email 
* Outlook-style sidebar for quick preview 
* Download any email as HTML file for archiving 
* Optional content storage (disabled by default for privacy)
Deliverability 
* Cooperates with the automatic Envelope-From / Return-Path behavior introduced in WordPress 6.9 — improves SPF, DKIM and DMARC alignment on strict hosts (AWS SES, Postmark, etc.) 
* PHPMailer 7.0.2 compatible (the version bundled in WordPress 7.0) 
* UTF-8 and emoji handled end-to-end in subjects, bodies, and headers
Privacy & GDPR-friendly 
* SMTP password encrypted at rest (AES-256-CBC) 
* Configurable log retention with automatic purge (30 days by default) 
* Email content storage can be disabled in one click from the settings 
* Email preview rendered in a sandboxed iframe — no JavaScript execution from logged emails 
* All data stays in your WordPress database — no third-party calls
Security 
* SMTP password encrypted in database (AES-256-CBC) 
* All admin actions protected with nonces 
* Capability checks on all operations
Stateless & Cloud-Ready 
* Fully compatible with stateless WordPress hosting (containers, Kubernetes, AWS ECS/Fargate, etc.) 
* Works with Bedrock, Trellis, and other modern WordPress stacks 
* Zero filesystem writes – all data stored in the database 
* No shared storage (EFS/NFS) required between instances 
* Safe to run on read-only filesystems
AI & Workflow Integration (WordPress 6.9+) 
* <code>custom-smtp/connection-health</code> — read the current SMTP state (configured, host/port/encryption/auth, log retention) from any tool 
* <code>custom-smtp/send-test-email</code> — trigger a test email through your configured SMTP server 
* Compatible with MCP-enabled AI assistants, automation tools (n8n, Make), dashboards, and other plugins via the WordPress Abilities API 
* Protected by capability checks (<code>manage_options</code>) — same security boundary as the wp-admin interface

Custom SMTP: Email Deliverability – FREE & Easy-to-use

Effortlessly configure WordPress SMTP and monitor all sent emails. Built-in email logging with preview, error debugging, and WooCommerce support.

Mesh SMTP vs Custom SMTP: Email Deliverability – FREE & Easy-to-use