How To Fix WordPress Not Sending Email

The main problem is that WordPress uses PHP’s mail function to send emails, and many hosting servers either block or heavily restrict this function because spammers have historically abused it. When PHP mail is blocked, WordPress sends no error: emails are simply dropped without any notification.

A second issue is sender reputation. Email providers check whether the sending IP address is authorized to send mail for the domain it claims to be. A shared hosting server sending email “from” your domain typically has no SPF or DKIM record authorizing it to do so, which means receiving email servers treat the message as suspicious and either block it or route it to spam.

The solution is to use SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol), which authenticates your connection properly and routes email through a service that email providers trust.

Before you install an SMTP plugin, check these common causes first:

Wrong delivery email in your contact form. Many contact form plugins default to sending to the developer’s email address during setup. Open your form plugin’s settings and confirm the “To” address is actually yours.

Emails are going to spam. Check your spam folder and any email filters before assuming delivery is failing. Ask a test contact to check their spam folder too.

The correct email address isn’t set in WordPress general settings. Go to Settings > General and verify the “Administration Email Address” is a valid address you control.

A recent plugin change broke email. If email stopped working after you installed or updated a plugin, deactivate the new plugin and test again. Some security plugins block outgoing connections.

If none of these explain the problem, proceed with an SMTP plugin.

Post SMTP is a powerful WordPress plugin designed to solve email delivery issues by using modern, secure email protocols. Here are the key highlights:

1. Advanced Email Logging – Post SMTP keeps detailed logs of every email your site attempts to send, including timestamps, recipient addresses, and delivery status. When something breaks, you can see exactly which emails failed and when, rather than guessing.
2. Supports Modern Protocols – Unlike basic SMTP plugins, Post SMTP supports OAuth 2.0 authentication alongside standard SMTP. This means you can connect to Gmail or Microsoft 365 without storing a password in WordPress – you authorize the connection through your Google or Microsoft account directly.
3. Easy Setup Wizard – After installing the plugin, a step-by-step configuration wizard asks which email service you want to use and walks through the connection. For Gmail, it generates the OAuth credentials; for other providers, it prompts for SMTP host, port, and credentials.
4. Test Email Tool – Once configured, send a test email from inside the plugin to confirm delivery is working before relying on it for real notifications.

Post SMTP works well for sites that need Gmail or Microsoft 365 integration without handling OAuth setup manually. For simpler hosting-based SMTP, any of the other options below are faster to configure.

Easy WP SMTP is a lightweight option for routing WordPress emails through a standard SMTP server. Setup takes about five minutes:

1. Install and activate the plugin from the WordPress plugin directory.
2. Go to Easy WP SMTP > Settings in your WordPress admin.
3. Enter your SMTP host, port, and authentication type. For most shared hosting accounts, your SMTP host is something like mail.yourdomain.com or smtp.yourmailprovider.com.
4. Enter the SMTP username (usually your full email address) and password.
5. Save, then use the “Send Test Email” option to confirm it works.

The main limitation: your SMTP credentials are stored in the WordPress database in plain text. Any administrator-level user on your site can see them. For low-traffic personal sites where you control who has admin access, this is a minor concern. For sites with multiple admins or client access, use Post SMTP with OAuth instead – it never stores a password.

Easy WP SMTP is best suited for sites connecting to a hosting provider’s own SMTP server, where you’re using the same credentials as your email account on that host.

WP Mail SMTP is the most widely installed WordPress SMTP plugin, with over 4 million active installations. It works by replacing WordPress’s default PHP mail function with a proper SMTP or API connection to a mail service of your choice.

Why it’s popular: WP Mail SMTP works with virtually every major email service – Gmail, Outlook, SendGrid, Mailgun, Amazon SES, Brevo, and SMTP.com, among others. The free version supports all of these. There is a Pro version with additional features (priority support, email logs with open tracking, conditional logic for routing), but the free version handles email delivery reliably for most sites.

How to set it up:

1. Install WP Mail SMTP from the WordPress plugin directory and activate it.
2. Go to WP Mail SMTP > Settings.
3. Under “Mailer,” choose the email service you want to use. If you have a Gmail account and want to use it, select “Gmail” and follow the OAuth authorization flow – this avoids storing your Google password in WordPress.
4. For a standard SMTP connection (hosting provider, Zoho, etc.), select “Other SMTP” and fill in your host, port, encryption type (TLS/SSL), and credentials.
5. Scroll down and use the “Email Test” tab to send a test email once settings are saved.

Common gotcha: if you’re connecting to Gmail with standard SMTP (not OAuth), Google blocks “less secure app” access by default. Use the OAuth/Gmail integration option instead, which doesn’t require a password at all.

SendGrid is a dedicated email delivery service that offers a free plan for low-volume sending. As of writing, the free plan allows up to 100 emails per day indefinitely after a 30-day trial period.

To use SendGrid with WordPress, install one of the official SendGrid WordPress plugins or a generic SMTP plugin (like WP Mail SMTP) and configure it with your SendGrid API key. The API key method is more reliable than password-based SMTP because it doesn’t require storing email credentials in WordPress. You’ll need to verify your sending domain by adding DNS records, which takes a few minutes but significantly improves deliverability.

SendGrid is a good choice if you want better delivery analytics or if you expect to send more than a few hundred emails per month, since its paid plans scale up at reasonable rates.

Mailgun is a developer-focused email API service with a generous free tier. New accounts include a 3-month trial with 1,000 free emails per month. After the trial, pricing is based on volume.

To use Mailgun with WordPress, you’ll need to verify your domain by adding a few DNS records. Once verified, configure any SMTP plugin to connect using your Mailgun SMTP credentials or API key. The plugin routes outgoing emails through Mailgun’s servers, which sidesteps most PHP mail blocking issues entirely.

Mailgun is well suited for WooCommerce stores that send order confirmation and shipping notification emails, since those volumes can add up quickly and Mailgun’s infrastructure handles high-volume sends reliably.