November 18, 2019
4 min Read
Domantas G.
Aside from using your hosting’s internal SMTP server to send emails, you can try using Google’s SMTP server as it’s reliable and free. In this tutorial, we will show you how to use Google SMTP and how to send emails using the server.
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is a set of commands that directs the transfer of emails. When you send an email, it will be forwarded from your email client (such as Microsoft Outlook, Gmail, or Mozilla Thunderbird) to the SMTP server. The server will then relay the mail to the recipient’s email server.
The recipient will receive the mail once it’s downloaded from the email server via POP3 or IMAP. There are two types of SMTP servers — internal and external.
Although most hosting providers – like Hostinger offer an internal SMTP server. You can try using an external SMTP server, such as Google’s SMTP server. It provides several benefits that you might want to consider:
Keep in mind that Google limits outgoing emails to 100/day. Regardless, having 3000 free emails/month is a great deal if your site has low email volumes.
In this section, we will show you how to send emails using Google’s SMTP server through a custom domain in Gmail or with a plugin in WordPress.
Before we continue, here is Google’s SMTP details:
If you have a custom email address, the process to connect to Google’s SMTP server is simple. But first, make sure that you have an email address with a custom domain and a Gmail address.
Before proceeding, you need to prepare an App password – which will give your custom email address permission to access a Google account. Make sure that you’ve activated the two-factor authentication on the Gmail address beforehand.
Once you’ve obtained the app password, log in to your Gmail account and follow these steps:
That’s it! Now your custom email address has been linked with Google’s SMTP server. You can also start sending emails from the custom address through Gmail.
Alternatively, you can send emails using Google’s SMTP server through a WordPress plugin. There are plenty of SMTP plugins, but in this tutorial, we will show you how to use WP Mail SMTP:
If the email is successfully delivered, it will look like this:
An SMTP server is essential in the mail delivery process — it’s responsible for transferring emails from an email client. That’s why using an external SMTP server like Google SMTP is an excellent choice since it provides a free and reliable solution, especially for sites with low mail volumes.
In this article, you’ve learned how to use the Google SMTP server in two ways — through a custom domain and using a WordPress plugin.
Do you have any questions regarding this topic? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!
October 05, 2017
It has an error, says, "Message body empty"
October 14, 2017
When trying to send an email with my google account, I get this error message— CANNOT SEND MAIL the connection to the outgoing server “smtp.gmail.com” has failed. Additional outgoing mail servers can be configured for mail accounts in settings>
February 26, 2018
The "SMTP Port Number" mentioned in Step I is wrong, it is '587', I followed the instructions literally and was getting Stack Trace error because of it, so i rechecked the settings changed the port number to 587 and then i was able to get the mails sent. Nice tutorial though Thanks!
Replied on February 27, 2018
Hey Kadahsh, Thanks for pointing this out. Tutorial has been updated with a correct port number!
June 10, 2019
Worked like charm! Thanks a lot for the detailed steps.
Gagarin
Replied on November 30, 2017
Have you done this: "Access for less secure apps can be easily turned on here."