79
SMTP Mailer
A lean mailer that occasionally trips over its own updates.
HealthyDeclining
79/100
Users love the simple design but recent updates caused menu clutter and compatibility issues.
Active installs
~80,000
our estimate · wp.org shows 70k+
Rating
4.5★
66 ratings
Trend · vs a year ago
-57%
Declining fast
585 → 254 installs/day
What to watch out for
- MINORdownloads down 57% 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 · -57% in the last year
585/day a year ago→254/day today
Reviews
what people actually saySMTP Mailer is well-regarded as a lightweight, no-bloat SMTP plugin that does one job cleanly, though it has drawn criticism for a backend menu placement change, an annoying incomplete-setup popup, and a version that broke email sending on older WordPress installs.
What people like
- +Praised for being lightweight and simple, with no unnecessary features or upsells×6
- +Quick and easy to set up, gets SMTP working in minutes×4
- +Includes a useful test form and debug view for diagnosing email issues×2
- +Compatible with popular form plugins such as WPForms Lite
- +Developer was responsive and fixed a compatibility issue quickly
Common complaints
- −A recent update moved the settings out of the standard WordPress Settings menu and into a new top-level admin menu item, which users consider bad practice and backend clutter
- −Version 1.1.18 broke email sending on older WordPress installs by requiring a file (class-wp-phpmailer.php) that no longer exists in those versions (since 1.1.18)
- −An intrusive popup blocks email sending if port information is not explicitly entered, even when credentials are otherwise complete
- −Reported not working on Hetzner servers, while other SMTP plugins work fine with the same credentials
- −At least one user reported test emails never sending despite correct configuration
- −A php_uname() fatal error was reported on the settings page for some server environments
Review trustReviews look organic
- 4.59★Verified rating — holds steady vs the raw 4.50★
- 5%One-shot reviewers — most reviewers are active community members
Reviews per month · 5★ vs lower
2023-08-192025-01-102026-06-04
5★ reviews1–4★ reviews
All-time ratings · 66 total
Latest reviews · 66 analyzed
- 2026-05-23★★★★★SMTP transaction loggingAndrzej Klasén
- 2025-11-12★★★★★A basic and effective plugin. The best.escuderoc
- 2025-10-19★★★★★Simple Setup, Works Great with CF7Jason Wong
- 2025-07-22★★★★★Simple needs, simple to userochrunner
- 2025-05-23★★★★★Settings now has unnec. new top menu itemphalancs
- 2025-04-17★★★★★Version 1.1.18 fails on previous versions of WordPressiCounsellorUK
- 2024-11-06★★★★★Best SMTP pluginleemon
- 2024-11-06★★★★★PHP Problembarbaroshh
- 2024-08-01★★★★★From Name and From emailàafzaal24
- 2024-07-02★★★★★Not workingMr_sordum
Releases
recent versions from WordPress.org SVNAlternatives to SMTP Mailer
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.
256
Baseline · median of last 7 organic days
236
Prior 7-day baseline
273
Floor · 25th percentile over 14 days
11,577
Mean release-day peak (30d)
789
Latest day · 2026-06-03(spike)
+8.5%
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.
13%
Max month share · biggest single 30-day window
1.32
Distribution CV · <0.6 even, >1.5 bursty
88%
5★ share in analyzed sample
5%
Solo reviewers · only this one wp.org activity
-67%
Volume velocity · last 6mo vs prior 6mo
4.55 → 4.59★
Sample avg · raw → solo-filtered