64
Gmail SMTP
Simple and lightweight until your site structure gets complicated.
HealthyDeclining
64/100
The lightweight design works for basic sites but technical issues and poor support frustrate many users.
Active installs
~10,000
our estimate · wp.org shows 10k+
Rating
4.1★
101 ratings
Trend · vs a year ago
-37%
Declining fast
101 → 64 installs/day
What to watch out for
- MINORdownloads down 37% vs a year ago
Downloads over time
real new installs per day · release spikes shown separately from the trend2025-04-302025-08-082025-11-162026-02-232026-06-03
organicrelease spikerelease tailorganic trend · 14d rolling median
Declining fast · -37% in the last year
101/day a year ago→64/day today
Reviews
what people actually sayGmail SMTP is praised for its lightweight design, simple setup and reliable core functionality, but users frequently report it breaks on larger or non-root sites and suffers from poor support and authentication hassles.
What people like
- +Lightweight and not bloated
- +Simple, clean interface with minimal settings×3
- +Easy-to-follow configuration instructions and helpful documentation×4
- +Works as described and functions reliably for many users×4
- +Secure email handling
Common complaints
- −Fails on larger sites or installations outside the root directory
- −Support responses are slow or nonexistent×2
- −Configuration and Gmail/G Suite authentication can be difficult or break×2
- −OAuth flow may encounter technical errors or dead ends×2
- −‘From Email Address’ field is ignored, causing confusion
- −Plugin can stop working after initial success without clear cause×2
Review trustMostly organic
- 4.06★Verified rating — holds steady vs the raw 4.10★
- 12%One-shot reviewers — most reviewers are active community members
- past spikeReview timing — up to 25% of all reviews landed in a single month
Reviews per month · 5★ vs lower
2024-07-142025-07-092026-06-04
5★ reviews1–4★ reviews
All-time ratings · 101 total
Latest reviews · 90 analyzed
- 2025-07-17★★★★★Good when it works, only for small sites installed at rootkarlosuccess
- 2025-04-14★★★★★Works well, simple clean interface.FredEval
- 2025-02-04★★★★★Worked Like Magic!djaberadber1-shot
- 2024-07-06★★★★★Minimal, Clean and EffectiveMenn
- 2023-04-21★★★★★Yes, it's works and cleanMontri Udomariyah
- 2023-04-13★★★★★All is good!wpsolution
- 2022-12-28★★★★★great plugin. thanks!shlomostrauss
- 2022-03-06★★★★★Fantasticrossty001-shot
- 2021-06-23★★★★★Works, but …rob64
- 2021-05-10★★★★★Gave up on gmail integrationtrainingcity
Releases
recent versions from WordPress.org SVNAlternatives to Gmail SMTP
Top Email plugins, ranked by score.For developers & the curious
the raw signals behind the grade — none of this is on the friendly summary aboveDownload signals
Baselines are computed on organic days only — release spikes and their tails are excluded, so they're not inflated by the auto-update wave.
72
Baseline · median of last 7 organic days
60
Prior 7-day baseline
74
Floor · 25th percentile over 14 days
1,671
Mean release-day peak (30d)
129
Latest day · 2026-06-03(tail)
+20.0%
Week-over-week organic trend
Review signals
Concentration and drive-by metrics drive the review-burst and fake-review flags. 30–40% solo reviewers is normal; we only flag the extremes.
25%
Max month share · biggest single 30-day window
2.24
Distribution CV · <0.6 even, >1.5 bursty
74%
5★ share in analyzed sample
12%
Solo reviewers · only this one wp.org activity
—
Volume velocity · last 6mo vs prior 6mo
4.04 → 4.06★
Sample avg · raw → solo-filtered