75
WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – The Most Popular SMTP and Email Log Plugin
Sends your emails reliably until you try using Microsoft 365.
GrowingReview burst
75/100
It reliably fixes email delivery issues but charges a high premium for Microsoft 365.
Active installs
~4.5 million
our estimate · wp.org shows 4.0M+
Rating
4.8★
5,140 ratings
Trend · vs a year ago
+41%
Growing fast
15,001 → 21,093 installs/day
Warnings
- Reviews concentrated in a single month — usually a marketing push or paid wave.
What to watch out for
- MAJOR31% of reviews in one month (2026-04-05)
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
Growing fast · +41% in the last year
15,001/day a year ago→21,093/day today
Reviews
what people actually sayWP Mail SMTP is well-regarded as a reliable, easy-to-configure plugin for routing WordPress emails through external mail services, though some users find the pricing model unreasonable for features like Microsoft 365 support being locked behind higher-tier paid plans.
What people like
- +Reliably delivers emails to the inbox instead of spam×3
- +Easy and quick to set up, even for non-technical users×3
- +Works with multiple email services including Gmail and Office 365×2
- +Core functionality available in the free version
Common complaints
- −Microsoft 365 support is locked behind an expensive higher-tier paid plan, which users find disproportionate to the value offered
Review trustMostly organic
- 4.77★Verified rating — holds steady vs the raw 4.80★
- 13%One-shot reviewers — most reviewers are active community members
- past spikeReview timing — up to 31% of all reviews landed in a single month
Reviews per month · 5★ vs lower
2026-03-062026-05-052026-06-04
5★ reviews1–4★ reviews
All-time ratings · 5,140 total
Latest reviews · 90 analyzed
- 2026-06-04★★★★★Stopped Hitting Spammarie9691-shot
- 2026-06-03★★★★★Helped with Renewal, very generousgingerj000
- 2026-06-01★★★★★fixed my email issuessherry8
- 2026-06-01★★★★★WP SMTP Mail – A Time Saver!rgauvin
- 2026-06-01★★★★★Truly my favorite add-on for the SMTP protocolsiry55
- 2026-05-27★★★★★Works like a charm.clebing
- 2026-05-26★★★★★The best dam pluginshaunmac
- 2026-05-26★★★★★Very nice and reliablemarcbeziat
- 2026-05-26★★★★★fixed my emails tbhJayme Jion
- 2026-05-25★★★★★My favorite SMTP pluginmichel1965
Releases
recent versions from WordPress.org SVNAlternatives to WP Mail SMTP by WPForms
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.
23,250
Baseline · median of last 7 organic days
25,516
Prior 7-day baseline
15,274
Floor · 25th percentile over 14 days
69,779
Mean release-day peak (30d)
23,250
Latest day · 2026-06-03(organic)
-8.9%
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.
31%
Max month share · biggest single 30-day window
0.37
Distribution CV · <0.6 even, >1.5 bursty
86%
5★ share in analyzed sample
13%
Solo reviewers · only this one wp.org activity
—
Volume velocity · last 6mo vs prior 6mo
4.73 → 4.77★
Sample avg · raw → solo-filtered