Custom SMTP: Email Deliverability – FREE & Easy-to-use
by Nicolas Verlhiac · Email & Marketing
WordPress can't send email reliably on its own. Send through your SMTP provider, log every message, get alerts when sending breaks. Free, no upsell.
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.
Health
B 83/100
Few reviews
Active installs
200+
≈200 estimated
Momentum
+49%
downloads vs prior 30d
Biggest opportunity: Swap “email” and “smtp” for “custom smtp” and “logger”. “email” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “custom smtp” sits at #4 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. “smtp” isn't earning its slot: it only gets you to #22. “logger” sits at #12 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. All five slots are taken, so one has to go.
83 health vs 66 average across 2,122 Email & Marketing plugins
Install conversion
How it's measured →3.8%
of downloads still active
At least 200 of 5.2K lifetime downloads are still running, above its category: the median Email & Marketing plugin keeps 0.9%, across 1,295 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.
This plugin shipped 19 releases in the last 12 months, and every existing install that updated counted as another download. wp.org publishes no split between first installs and updates, so we show the raw rate rather than guess at one.
Details
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.
Excellent listing optimization
Most to gain: Rating quality
Updated 67 days ago
Tested up to WordPress 7.0.8, the current branch or newer
5.0★ over 1 review, smoothed to 4.12★ and held back under 25 reviews
5 of 5 tags set · short description in place
1 of 1 support threads resolved in the last 2 months
To rank higher: Too few reviews to rank on quality — nudge happy users to leave one.
Get the full rank-higher report →Search visibility
How it's tracked →Directory searches this plugin turns up in, and which way each one is moving. WordPress.org publishes no history of search positions, so this starts the day we first tracked a keyword and never backfills.
50
Momentum
Holding steady
+0.7
Velocity
places per keyword, 28d
42%
Breadth
of keywords climbing, 28d
+0.6
Acceleration
recent half vs earlier
wp.org is where the directory puts the plugin for that search. On merit is where it would sit if results were ranked on rating, support and updates, without the install boost. The last column is how far the wp.org position moved, from our first reading in the last 90 days to the latest.
| Keyword | wp.org | On merit | wp.org move, 90 days |
|---|---|---|---|
| custom smtp | #4 | #17 | up 1 |
| email logger your tag | #6 | #21 | up 3 |
| mail logger your tag | #7 | #17 | up 1 |
| deliverability your tag | #9 | #22 | up 2 |
| email deliverability | #13 | #24 | down 1 |
| logger | #12 | #21 | 0 |
| smtp your tag | #22 | #23 | 0 |
| dmarc | #13 | #15 | down 1 |
| smtp alerts | #9 | #20 | up 2 |
| sendgrid smtp | #16 | #23 | down 1 |
| gmail smtp | #17 | #22 | up 2 |
| postmark | #17 | #23 | up 1 |
| amazon ses | #17 | #22 | down 3 |
| dkim | #17 | #18 | up 1 |
| bcc | #19 | #23 | up 3 |
| spf | #20 | #21 | 0 |
| mailjet | #21 | #24 | up 1 |
| smtp mailer | #22 | #23 | 0 |
| wp smtp | #24 | #23 | — |
| wordpress smtp | #24 | #23 | down 1 |
| email your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
96 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 20 listed. 72 left out as unrelated or noise (years, numbers, stray words). 1 of its tags isn't in the top 24 for their own search.
What to do about it
- Swap “email” and “smtp” for “custom smtp” and “logger”. “email” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “custom smtp” sits at #4 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. “smtp” isn't earning its slot: it only gets you to #22. “logger” sits at #12 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. All five slots are taken, so one has to go.
Daily downloads
Since 14 Apr 2024 · 932 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 645 · peaks are release surges
Directory rank
Ranked about #11,300 to #12,900, alongside the other plugins at 200+ installs. Plugins with the same install count swap places between wp.org requests, so this is where most of them sit. Checked monthly, last on 1 Nov 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.
Release cadence
Actively maintainedHow often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.
19
releases in the last 12 months
2mo ago
latest release · v2.7.5 · 26 Aug 2026
22
tagged releases on record
Recent releases
What its installed base runs
via wordpress.orgShare of active installs on each version of this plugin. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.
Estimated active installs
The public count shows “200+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.
Crossed into this band 6 days ago and a band this size takes about a year or more to cross, so the real count is still just over 200.
At the current install trend, crossing 300+ in roughly 316 days.
Install history since 13 Apr 2024
Recent reviews
All reviews on wp.org ↗- ★★★★★ jcsamalens2.1y ago
This plugin is really simple but very useful to solve all the problems related to php mail() function. I use it with Amazon SES but they work with any SMTP server. It has fixed issues on many of my websites. And what’s more, it’s free, unlike the others!
Read on wp.org ↗
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
8 of 8 pass · checked 29 Oct 2026Can an assistant quote this readme? Eight deterministic checks over the wp.org listing, no model involved.
- ✓ Says what it does "WordPress can't send email reliably on its own. Send through your SMTP provider, log every message, get ale..."
- ✓ Has a FAQ 9 questions in the FAQ.
- ✓ FAQ asks real questions 8 of 9 read like questions a user would type.
- ✓ Names who it is for Names its audience or use cases ("built for", "for developers").
- ✓ Names what it works with Mentions WooCommerce, Brevo, Slack, Multisite and 1 more.
- ✓ Headings and lists 7 headings and 6 lists.
- ✓ Enough to quote 6,765 characters of description.
- ✓ Tags match the text 3 of 5 tags appear in the text; "email logger", "mail logger" do not.
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2026-10-26 100+ → 200+ up after 198 days in tier
- 2026-04-11 90+ → 100+ up after 15 days in tier
- 2026-03-27 80+ → 90+ up after 7 days in tier
- 2026-03-20 90+ → 80+ down after 24 days in tier
- 2026-02-24 80+ → 90+ up after 2 days in tier
- 2026-02-22 90+ → 80+ down after 7 days in tier
- 2026-02-15 80+ → 90+ up after 68 days in tier
- 2025-12-09 70+ → 80+ up after 1 days in tier
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).
-
WP Mail Logging 300K+ installs · 4.7★ · 3 shared tags A -
WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More 4M+ installs · 4.8★ · 2 shared tags A -
Easy WP SMTP – WordPress SMTP and Email Logs: Gmail SMTP, Office 365, Outlook, Custom SMTP, and more 500K+ installs · 4.6★ · 2 shared tags A -
Email Deliverability – SMTP Replacement, Email API Deliverability & Email Log 200K+ installs · 3.1★ · 2 shared tags B -
SureMail – SMTP and Email Logs Plugin with Amazon SES, Postmark, and Other Providers 200K+ installs · 4.4★ · 2 shared tags B -
Check & Log Email – Easy Email Testing & Mail logging 90K+ installs · 4.8★ · 2 shared tags A
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for Custom SMTP: Email Deliverability – FREE & Easy-to-use into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/custom-smtp" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="Custom SMTP: Email Deliverability – FREE & Easy-to-use — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> Custom SMTP: Email Deliverability – FREE & Easy-to-use: 200+ active installs, 5.0★ (1 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-11-01. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/custom-smtp
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