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SMTP by BestWebSoft

by bestweblayout · Email & Marketing

Also makes 30 other plugins · 14.5K+ installs across the portfolio →

Configure SMTP server to receive email messages from WordPress to Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, and other services.

Try it live opens a temporary test site in your browser, which can take about 20 seconds to load. Plugins that rely on outside services or a full server may not work completely there.

⚠ Stale

Health

C 68/100

Stale

Active installs

1K+

≈1.5K estimated

Momentum

+19%

downloads vs prior 30d

Biggest opportunity: Swap “email” for “bestwebsoft”. “email” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “bestwebsoft” sits at #21 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. All five slots are taken, so one has to go.

How scoring works →
68 Health · C
Maintenance 45/100
Rating quality 79/100
Support 70/100
Security 96/100

68 health vs 66 average across 2,120 Email & Marketing plugins

Install conversion

How it's measured →

1.7%

of downloads still active

At least 1K of 57.3K lifetime downloads are still running, above its category: the median Email & Marketing plugin keeps 0.9%, across 1,294 plugins.

Downloads count every update, not just first installs, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower. Compare against other Email & Marketing plugins, not across the directory. wp.org reports active installs as the bottom of a band, so the real rate is this or higher.

Details

Version
1.2.0
Last updated
1.4y ago
Added
2015-02-16 · 11 yrs old
Requires WP
5.6
Tested up to
6.8.12
Requires PHP
—

Directory ranking optimization

How it's scored →

How well this listing is tuned to rank in WordPress.org search, on the factors an owner controls. Not popularity, optimization.

78 / 100

Well optimized

Most to gain: Update recency

Update recency 53/100

Updated 506 days ago, past the ~180 days where wp.org starts discounting

WP compatibility 100/100

Tested up to WordPress 6.8.12, the current branch or newer

Rating quality 67/100

4.4★ over 13 reviews, smoothed to 4.16★ and held back under 25 reviews

Listing tuning 100/100

5 of 5 tags set · short description in place

To rank higher: Last updated 506 days ago — ship an update; wp.org decays a listing's search weight after ~180 days.

Get the full rank-higher report →

Daily downloads

Since 5 Oct 2022 · 1,488 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive

+19% vs prior 30d
2331 Oct 2026

30-day downloads

Rolling 30-day volume · peak 1.8K · peaks are release surges

54231 Oct 2026

Directory rank vs rivals

wp.org popularity rank over time · higher is better · when a rival's line climbs above yours, they've overtaken you

SMTP by BestWebSoft · #6454youSMTP Mailer · #588Gmail SMTP · #1861Simple SMTP · #4399

Rating trend

Star average over time · dips mark rough releases

4.431 Oct 2026

Health trend

Composite health score, snapshotted daily

6831 Oct 2026

Update activity

How busy the existing users are, measured as downloads in the last 30 days for every 1,000 active sites. A spike means a new release everyone's pulling; a long, slow decline means an aging user base that updates less.

54231 Oct 2026

Release cadence

No release in a year
from wp.org release tags

How often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.

0

releases in the last 12 months

1.4y ago

latest release · v1.2.0 · 12 Jun 2025

21

tagged releases on record

Recent releases

1.1.9 · 12 Jun 20251.2.0 · 12 Jun 20251.1.8 · 24 Dec 20241.1.7 · 29 Mar 20221.1.6 · 9 Aug 20211.1.5 · 10 Mar 20211.1.4 · 12 May 20201.1.3 · 1 Aug 20191.1.2 · 6 Dec 20181.1.1 · 29 Jan 20181.1.0 · 12 Jul 20171.0.9 · 8 Feb 20171.0.8 · 28 Dec 20161.0.7 · 26 Aug 2016

What its installed base runs

via wordpress.org

Share of active installs on each version of this plugin · 68% run the current release. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.

v1.2 68%
v1.1 30%
v1.0 2.1%

Estimated active installs

The public count shows “1K+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.

tracked estimate
1K–2K ≈1.5K

Crossed into this band 11 months ago; a band this size takes about a year or more to cross, which places it about 50% of the way through.

Install history since 10 Mar 2015

1K31 Oct 2026

Reviewer account pattern

from wp.org reviewer profiles

6 of the last 10 four- and five-star reviews came from accounts created within a month of posting the review.

Registering a wp.org account just to leave a review is common and often entirely legitimate. The share here is unusually high for the sample, so it's worth keeping in mind while reading the reviews.

Recent reviews

All reviews on wp.org ↗
  1. ★★★★★ zmeeloff
    6.6y ago

    Целый день мучился с этими SMTP, работает только ваш. Спасибо!

    Read on wp.org ↗
  2. ★★★★★ miaoz
    7.5y ago

    I tried 3 of them and they all failed. Only it worked. No working plug-ins: 1.WP Mail SMTP by WPForms 2.Easy WP SMTP 3.WP SMTP

    Read on wp.org ↗
  3. ★★★★★ Kahanit
    10.1y ago

    Works perfect as expected, keep it up!!

    Read on wp.org ↗
  4. ★★★★★ dustyhale
    10.3y ago

    Tried it with Google Apps and gmail settings. Settings correct but it doesn’t work.

    Read on wp.org ↗
  5. ★★★★★ weetrey
    10.4y ago

    BEst simple SMTP for WP!!!

    Read on wp.org ↗
  6. ★★★★★ Knut Sparhell
    10.4y ago

    Had a problem with submissions from Jetpack Contact Form being rejected as spam at the receiving server, because of two things combined: * Sender not in my domain * Sending IP-adresse not trusted as legal sender for the server because of dedicated IP on shared hosting * gmail.com or other free email service as Reply-To By sending to the local SMTP server using an default account, it worked again. Excellent plugin to work with and set up.

    Read on wp.org ↗
  7. ★★★★★ SydneyT
    10.6y ago

    Love this plugin.

    Read on wp.org ↗
  8. ★★★★★ sale1h
    10.9y ago

    Excellent work successfully Thank you

    Read on wp.org ↗

Security history

via Wordfence Intelligence

All 2 disclosed vulnerabilities are patched in the current version (1.2.0). Sites still on an older version should update.

  1. 2025-03-07 CVE-2024-13908 Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type Affects <= 1.1.9 Patched in 1.2.0
  2. 2017-04-12 CVE-2017-18518 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation Affects <= 1.0.9 Patched in 1.1.0

Vulnerability records provided by Wordfence Intelligence. Copyright 2012-2026 Defiant Inc. License and terms.

CVE records: Copyright 1999-2026 The MITRE Corporation. CVE terms of use.

Behavioral tests

via WP Hive

Automated install-time checks, tested on PHP 8.1.12 · WP 6.7.2

✓ Low memory footprint
✓ Low page-speed impact
✓ Runs on latest PHP + WP
✓ No PHP errors
✓ No JS errors
✓ Activates cleanly
✓ No resource errors
✓ No external HTTP errors
✓ Optimized database use
✕ Frequently updated

Languages

via translate.wordpress.org

Translated into 121 languages, 2 at 90% or more

Russian 97%
Ukrainian 97%
Japanese 57%
Czech 56%
French (France) 29%
Spanish (Spain) 25%
German 18%
Romanian 16%
Italian 15%
English (Australia) 13%
English (New Zealand) 12%
Portuguese (Brazil) 12%
Dutch 11%
Finnish 11%
English (Canada) 10%
Serbian 9%
Swedish 9%
English (UK) 8%
French (Canada) 8%
Polish 8%
Korean 7%
Vietnamese 7%
Welsh 7%
Norwegian (Nynorsk) 6%

Plus 97 more locales with partial translations.

AI assistants

How it's measured →

Whether ChatGPT and Claude name this plugin when asked the category question, and whether the readme gives them something to quote.

Not measured yet for this plugin’s topics. Its tracked searches are not among the measured topics. See the topics measured so far.

Readme readiness

5 of 8 pass · checked 28 Oct 2026

Can an assistant quote this readme? Eight deterministic checks over the wp.org listing, no model involved.

  • ! Says what it does Short description names no action; say what the plugin does for the site.
  • ✓ Has a FAQ 4 questions in the FAQ.
  • ✓ FAQ asks real questions 3 of 4 read like questions a user would type.
  • ! Names who it is for One audience phrase ("if you have"); say who the plugin is for and what they use it for.
  • ! Names what it works with Names no plugin, service or platform it works with.
  • ✓ Headings and lists 5 headings and 8 lists.
  • ✓ Enough to quote 1,589 characters of description.
  • ✓ Tags match the text 3 of 5 tags appear in the text; "smtp mail", "smtp plugin" do not.

Growth timeline

Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow

  1. 2025-12-03 2K+ → 1K+ down after 8 days in tier
  2. 2025-11-25 1K+ → 2K+ up after 1 days in tier
  3. 2025-11-24 2K+ → 1K+ down after 2290 days in tier
  4. 2019-08-18 1K+ → 2K+ up after 1232 days in tier
  5. 2016-04-03 800+ → 1K+ up after 154 days in tier
  6. 2015-11-01 300+ → 800+ up after 153 days in tier
  7. 2015-06-01 30+ → 300+ up

Competes with

The plugins that solve the same job, ranked by shared tags then reach, closest match first. The letter on the right is each plugin's health grade (A best, F worst).

Embed this report card

Drop a live Pulse card for SMTP by BestWebSoft into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.

<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/bws-smtp" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="SMTP by BestWebSoft — Plugin Pulse"></iframe>
Preview card ↗

SMTP by BestWebSoft: 1K+ active installs, 4.4★ (13 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-10-31. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/bws-smtp

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