Did you know 85% of the world’s email traffic is sent via SMTP, a protocol setting the standards for the sending and receiving side? For email marketers, this means that choosing the right SMTP service provider is critical for achieving high email deliverability (you want all your email delivered, don’t you?).
Below are your 10 best SMTP providers, including plans, pricing, and reliability.
The Best SMTP Providers for Email Marketing
Mailgun SMTP Provider
Mailgun is one of the cheapest SMTP providers, offering integration with marketing tools and support for multiple domains. It is a good choice for enterprises that need a powerful and flexible platform to send emails.
Deliverability, Reliability, and Performance
With Mailgun, you can improve your brand reputation by blocking the path of emails to spam with SPF, DMARC, and DKIM. For improved performance, integrate Mailgun SMTP with your email server and send millions of emails per minute with 99.99% uptime.
Advanced Features
- Free Responsive HTML Templates
- Batch sending and personalization of emails
- Ability to conduct A/B testing
- A convenient tool for analytics and reporting
Source: G2
Ease of Use & Integrations
- A set of APIs that supports various programming languages: Python, Ruby, PHP, C#, Node.js, and Java
- Seamless integration with popular platforms
Pricing
The free plan includes sending 100 emails/day but is limited to 1 domain, API key, and incoming route.
| Basic | Foundation | Scale |
| $15/month (10000 emails) | $35/month (50000 emails) | $90/month (100000 emails) |
G2 Rating 4.2 / 5
2. Amazon SES SMTP Provider
Amazon SES is a cloud SMTP provider from Amazon Web Services. It offers high throughput, scalability, and integration with AWS services.
Deliverability, Reliability, and Performance
Amazon SES provides methods for monitoring delivery using events, metrics, and statistics, helping track rejection rates, complaints, and more. It also offers reliable support for email authentication standards: DKIM, SPF, and DMARC.
Advanced Features
- Real-time analytics
- Customizable reports in the Amazon SES console
- Focus on transactional emails
Ease of Use & Integrations
- Technical documentation for AWS services and SDKs
- Availability of user and developer manuals and links to APIs
- Convenient AWS management console and web-based user interface
Pricing
Amazon SES is a cheap SMTP provider, offering a free trial, a 12-month free plan, and a lifetime free plan. That said, you might have to switch to a paid plan to unlock advanced features and increase limits. Use this price calculator.
G2 Rating 4.3 / 5
3. SendGrid SMTP Provider
SendGrid is a bulk email SMTP service with high availability, detailed analytics, and integration with marketing tools. It is good for businesses that need a reliable and scalable email platform.
Deliverability, Reliability, and Performance
SendGrid is one of the best SMTP servers for mass mailing, allowing sending over 45 billion emails every month. It guarantees trouble-free operation and allows you to test the quality of delivery.
ource: SendGrid
Advanced Features
- Dynamic SendGrid email templates
- Sending mass SMS via SMTP
- Real-time email deliverability checks
Ease of Use & Integrations
- Simple integration through the multifunctional Mail/Send API
- Reliable documentation for self-service
Pricing
Plans for Developers
| Free | Essentials | Pro | Premier |
| $0/month (100 emails per day) | $19.95/month (100,000+ emails) | $89.95/month (2.5 million emails) | Custom price |
Plans for Marketers
| Free | Basic | Advanced |
| $0/month (6,000 emails per month) | $15/month (300,000+ emails) | $60/month (1 million emails) |
G2 Rating 4.0 / 5
4. Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) SMTP Provider
Brevo is a CRM platform that offers marketing automation, Facebook advertising, and an SMTP mail server among its multiple services. But then again, the platform is mainly focused on automation, while SMTP is offered as an additional feature.
Deliverability, Reliability, and Performance
Brevo SMTP email server provides one of the highest delivery rates in the industry at 99%. The automatic exclusion of hard failures guarantees a clean mailing list.
For high-volume senders, dedicated IP addresses are offered to improve domain reputation and protect against spam.
Advanced Features
- Marketing campaigns via mail, WhatsApp, SMS, and web advertising
- Transactional emails via BrevoAPI and SMTP
- Over 50 free email templates and a drag-and-drop editor
Ease of Use & Integrations
- The ability to connect your e-commerce store and get analytics
- Clear developer guides, SDKs, and API libraries
Source: Brevo
Pricing
There’s a trial plan for 300 emails per day. For the paid plans, the cost increases proportionally to the number of emails.
G2 Rating 4.5 / 5
5. Postmark SMTP Provider
Postmark is a reliable email service with an understandable interface and navigation, high deliverability rates, and multichannel support. However, it doesn’t provide SMS marketing features, so it might not be suitable for businesses that conduct SMS campaigns.
Deliverability, Reliability, and Performance
Postmark has endpoints in multiple AWS regions, ensuring that emails are sent to the nearest servers with minimum delay. In addition, it provides clear instructions for configuring SPF and DKIM to ensure DMARC compliance.
Advanced Features
- Tracking messages using invoice and customer IDs
- Free templates and layouts
- Real-time reporting and analytics
Ease of Use & Integrations
- Convenient user interface and navigation panel
- Easy setup of sending emails via SMTP with TLS protocol support
- Developer-friendly SMTP documentation
Pricing
The free plan includes 100 emails per month and 45 days of storage. The price of paid plans depends on the number of emails ($18.60 for 10,000 emails; $455 for 700,000 emails).
G2 Rating: 4.2 / 5
6. Mailchimp SMTP Provider
Mailchimp is arguably the most popular email marketing platform that, as a part of its suite, offers SMTP and transactional email services. It is a good solution for companies that need a professional SMTP email provider.
Deliverability, Reliability, and Performance
Not only does MailChip scale well, but it also guarantees high email deliverability rates, which you can check in the API logs. The platform supports DKIM, SPF, and DMARC.
Advanced Features
- Email A/B Testing
- Mobile-friendly email templates
- Advanced analytics and integration with Google Analytics
Ease of Use & Integrations
MailCon integrates with existing SMTP frameworks and e-commerce platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, and BigCommerce.
Pricing
In addition to the free plan and a zero-cost trial, paid plans are available:
| Essentials | Standard | Premium |
| $13 per month | $20 per month | $350 per month |
G2 Rating: 4.4 / 5
7. SMTP.com SMTP Provider
SMTP.com is a popular email SMTP service that offers fast email delivery, high-volume processing, and shared or dedicated IP addresses. It is a good choice for businesses using WordPress.
Deliverability, Reliability, and Performance
SMTP.com ensures secure email sending thanks to encrypted SSL with DKIM and SPF support. The infrastructure scales seamlessly, from a simple API written in JSON to built-in support for WordPress plugins and Heroku applications.
Advanced Features
- Ultra-fast autoresponders and triggered emails
- Detailed reports for the last 90 days
- Transactional email templates
Ease of Use & Integrations
- Easy integration is provided by a simple web API on RESTful architecture and plug-and-play integration
- Easy migration thanks to the adaptation service
- Advanced mass mailing management
Pricing
| Essential | Starter | Growth | Business | High Volume Senders |
| $25 per month (50,000 emails)
| $80 per month (100,000 emails)
| $300 per month (500,000 emails)
| $500 per month (1,000,000 emails)
| Custom price (minimum of 250 million emails)
|
G2 Rating: 3.5 / 5
8. Mailtrap SMTP Provider
Mailtrap is a mail server service that helps developers and marketers see how their emails look in different email clients and devices before sending them. The platform is a good choice for testing and debugging email newsletters.
Deliverability, Reliability, and Performance
Mailtrap supports SPF, DKIM, and DMARC protocols, with the sending time reaching 1 second. Before sending emails, you can test the service’s performance.
Source: Mailtrap
Advanced Features
- Previewing emails before sending
- A wide selection of personalized templates
- Isolated software environment for mail testing
Pricing
There’s a free plan for 1,000 emails per month and four paid plans:
| Basic | Business | Enterprise | Custom |
| $15 per month (up to 100,000 emails/mo) | $85 per month (up to 750,000 emails) | $750 per month (up to 5,000,000 emails) | By request (over 5 million emails) |
G2 Rating: 4.8 / 5
9. Elastic Email SMTP Provider
Elastic Email is an SMTP cloud service that allows you to send transactional and marketing emails at affordable prices, an ideal choice for growing businesses.
Deliverability, Reliability, and Performance
Elastic Email’s Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) processes billions of emails monthly. You can use their SMTP email relay or a RESTful API to send emails, ensuring DKIM, SPF, and DMARC support.
Advanced Features
- Detailed reports on email delivery, opens, and clicks
- Template editor
- Customizing reports and control panels to suit your needs
Ease of Use & Integrations
- User-friendly email designer
- Custom plugins
- Extensive documentation on the server’s configuration and operation
Pricing
There’s a free plan. Paid plans depend on the mailing. For example, for 50,000 emails per month, you might want to consider the Starter plan ($19/ month) or the Pro plan ($49/ month).
G2 Rating: 4.3 / 5
10. Omnisend SMTP Provider
Omnisend is an omnichannel marketing platform that also offers support for SMTP, integration with CRM and marketing automation tools, built-in message reports, and more. It is a smart choice for businesses that need a platform compatible with popular apps and tools.
Deliverability, Reliability, and Performance
Omnisend guarantees high email delivery, reliability, and performance. This SMTP email provider supports DKIM, SPF, and DMARC protocols and easily handles large volumes of emails.
Advanced Features
- A gallery of over 250 templates
- A/B testing & automation
- Sales and performance reports
Ease of Use & Integrations
- Simple interface with pre-built workflows
- Seamless integration with over 130 applications, including Shopify, Big Commerce, Woo Commerce, and WordPress
Source: Omnisend
Pricing
| Free | Standard | Pro |
| $0 for 500 emails per month | $16 for 6,000 emails per month | $59 for an unlimited number of emails |
G2 Rating: 4.6 / 5
How To Choose the Right SMTP Provider
- Estimate the volume of emails you send now and in the future
- Consider the features you need; for example, integrations or A/B testing
- Determine your budget and compare subscription plans
- Take advantage of free trials or free plans before enrolling in a paid plan
Features-wise, you might need the following features from your provider:
| Dedicated IP addresses
| A dedicated IP address means no one can affect your sender’s reputation
|
| Detailed analytics and reporting
| Search for SMTP relay service providers that offer in-depth analytics that track open rates, click-through rates, and bounce rates
|
| Integrations
| Look for an SMTP provider that integrates with popular email marketing platforms and CRMs
|
| Scalability
| Make sure the SMTP provider in question will be able to scale if your mailing needs increase
|
| Customer Support
| Depending on the business, you may have to solve issues immediately. If so, look for SMTP providers with quick support
|
What You Should Know about SMTP Email Providers
Despite the advent of numerous technologies, email remains a powerful communication tool. For your emails to resonate, it must first reach the inbox. This is where SMTP comes to the rescue.
Source: Medium
When you click send, your email client (Gmail or Outlook) uses a mail transfer protocol to communicate with the recipient’s email server, ensuring your emails are properly formatted, addressed, and delivered safely.
Source: Omnisend
Why Is the Sender’s Reputation Important?
If you are known for sending spam or irrelevant messages, your emails will most likely go to the spam folder. This is where the authorities and SMTP service providers become decisive, blocking your emails or sending them to the spam folder.
Reputable providers offer an email verification feature to ensure the mailing list is clean and free of invalid addresses or spam traps.
| Case Study: Switchboard Boosts Email Deliverability with Reliable SMTP Task: Switchboard needs to keep emails out of spam folders. Decision: partnership with Sinch Mailgun, one of the best SMTP providers. Result: cleaned up mailing lists, improved sender reputation and mail delivery for users. |
How to Increase Your Email Deliverability Rates
- Authenticate your domain with SPF and DKIM
- Remove inactive or invalid email addresses from your mailing list
- Keep an eye on your sender’s reputation
- Regularly check your email analytics and improve them based on the data
- Make sure your emails are relevant, well-written, and sent at the right time
