There are many reasons why you may want to use a 3rd party email provider to send email from your WordPress site, such as if you are having deliverability issues on our platform, or if you are sending newsletters or other bulk email. Being a WP Engine customer means having many aspects of managing your site taken care of for you as you sleep – one part that we require your involvement on is using a 3rd party mail provider if you’re looking to send mail in bulk.
Please note: WP Engine utilizes Google Cloud servers, which restrict the standard outgoing email ports (25, 465, and 587). Only Google Apps may be used on ports 465 and 587. Port 25 is always blocked for all services. Any 3rd party provider you use must support sending emails over an alternate port (port 2525 is recommended), or via an API. Microsoft Office 365 currently only supports the use of ports 25 or 587 for outgoing mail and do not have an API service, meaning their service cannot be used as an SMTP solution with WP Engine’s Google Cloud servers.
We have provided 3 guides below to walk you through the steps of configuring outbound mail through a 3rd party provider:
- SendGrid
- Mailgun
- Other SMTP providers
Configuring SendGrid on WP Engine
1. Download and install the SendGrid plugin from the WordPress.org repository
2. Navigate to Settings -> API keys within the SendGrid portal and create a new “General API key” with full mail send access
3. Copy the newly generated API key, then paste it in the SendGrid plugin settings on your WordPress install
4. (Optional) fill in the “Mail settings” area with your desired configuration options.
5. Save your settings using the “Update Settings” button.
Configuring Mailgun on WP Engine
(Note: This guide assumes that you have gone through Mailgun’s own setup process.)
1. Download and install the Mailgun for WordPress plugin from the WordPress.org repository
2. Navigate to your Mailgun dashboard, and scroll down to the “API keys” section to obtain your secret API key
3. Enter your Mailgun domain and Secret API key into the plugin settings page on your WordPress install
4. Save your settings using the “Save changes” button
Configuring other SMTP providers on WP Engine
(Note: Your 3rd party SMTP provider must allow sending email on a port other than 25, 465, or 587)
1. Download your desired SMTP plugin. We recommend WP Mail SMTP.
2. Your SMTP options should appear similar to the following
3. Fill in your SMTP options with the host, port, encryption, and authentication details provided by your SMTP provider, then save your changes.