This article summarises nine best SMTP Service Providers that you can pick in the year 2020 for your email related needs. We have tried to compare these SMTP Services on the basis of Email Deliverability, Pricing, their methodology of emailing and their reputation in Email World from sources such as G2, Capterra etc.
For you to have a perfect email marketing strategy, the one big puzzle that makes it way is sending emails in inbox every time!
Am I right?
Well, the fact that makes it more complicated is choosing a right and decent SMTP service which best suits your business. So here, I have narrow it down to 9 Best free SMTP Service to use in 2020. After all, you cannot blindly choose any free SMTP service, there has to be certain criteria that it should fulfil!
SMTP services definitely offer an easy and secure solution when it comes to email marketing, and there are a tons of them in the market.
When talking about certain characteristics, then an integrated SMTP service should do the following:
- Allow sending bulk emails
- Offer high email delivery rates.
- Easy integration etc.
As you scroll down to find 9 Best free SMTP Service. Let’s first get our basics right about SMTP!
What is SMTP?
SMTP, as you might know, stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol which is a protocol used for sending and receiving emails over the network. So how SMTP works is that when you send an email, its server breaks it down into its relevant parts.
This helps move it from your email client to your recipient’s email client. And therefore, most of the emails that are floating in your inbox probably would have come from an SMTP server!
Why do you need an SMTP Server?
Since not all emails are transferred successfully as some of them get bounced over the network, the email open rate eventually lowers down. This is where the SMTP comes handy.
With SMTP installed on your website, you can send emails via a properly-configured SMTP server, rather than your WordPress site’s server. And, with this setup by your side, your WordPress site will send the email to the SMTP server. This then processes the email and sends it on to the proper destination which here, in this case, is the recipient’s inbox.
Now because the SMTP server is configured in such a way that it handles sending emails with proper authentication in place, your emails deliverability rates are improved and the chances of your email making it to recipients’ inboxes also become better.
Also Read: How is Netcore Email API redefining Email Delivery – Best SMTP Server for you.
Which one to pick – SMTP or API?
If you are a developer then you would be in the constant battle to choose between SMTP and API. You would find many articles that would help you choose which is best for you but you might still be confused.
So, let’s try to understand both so that we can pick the best one!
SMTP, on one hand, is a set down procedures for sending emails/messages to an email server. API, on the other hand, stands for Application Programming Interface and is a means by which different applications, platforms, software, and codes communicate with each other and share resources.
Well, for starters, SMTP is the more widely accepted of the two, for here you need not worry about the terms of integration and usage. Whereas on the other hand, its easier to send emails and automated process through API app or platform .
SMTP by extension requires little or no knowledge of coding while Web API gives you the benefit of adding an extra layer of security to your program by utilizing API keys.
That being said, SMTP relay can also be used to connect with an existing application like a CRM system. The Web API is often utilized by developers creating their own product. And therefore, SMTP is an email standard and used universally.
Guess, we have pretty much talked about SMTP. Now let’s dig into our subject matter!
9 Best free SMTP Service to use in 2020
1. Netcore Email API (formerly Pepipost)
Well, Netcore Email API is a wonderful Email API and SMTP transactional email that offers best and the robust SMTP relay service. It has super simple settings to connect your application with Netcore Email API. It gives you a secure platform to send confidential emails without worrying about the security of the email servers.
With Netcore Email API, you can send bulk emails with lightning fast speed with the highest inbox placement.
Also note, G2 rates Netcore Email API as the Most Loved Email Delivery Service Globally.
You can integrate in just 5 minutes and send your time-sensitive, business-critical emails in no time. All it requires is to change your configuration to Netcore Email API’s SMTP servers and add your credentials from Netcore Email API Account. Simple! Isn’t it?
It is the only ESP to give credits back on emails opened and the speed with transparency.
It keeps a full track on email delivery, open rate, and bounce rate. You get notified on unsubscriptions and other actions taken by the users. It has everything that you need!
Price: 30,000 emails are free for 30 days. Later, you’ll get 3000 emails/month for free. The starting plan costs $17.5 per month for 150,000 emails if billed annually.
2. SendinBlue
SendinBlue is yet another popular email marketing service. By using SendinBlue, you can send transactional emails to your subscribers’ lists and even track the emails to find out different metrics like open rate, bounce rate, click rate, etc. By the way, It also provides you with SMS marketing service. You can integrate this software with the help of API, classic SMTP parameters, postfix configuration & PHP library.
It’s other notable features include drag and drop email builder, A/B testing for emails, and advanced reporting for an optimized email marketing campaign. You can perform the deliverability test & access open rates, click-through rates that will help you in the analysis and further implementations.
Price: 300 emails/day with unlimited contacts are free. Starting cost for the basic plan is $25 / month.
3. SendGrid
Next in the list we have SendGrid, which is a cloud-based SMTP service and is one of the most popular SMTP email provider. It lets you send and receive bulk emails without managing an SMTP server.It supports excellent scalability and you can even create your own email marketing campaigns.
This SMTP service is easy to set up and works with any WordPress website. It also provides complete analytics and real-time feedback for every email sent and you will have access to tools that will improve dedicated IP addresses and domain name authentication.
Price: The premium plan starts at $9.95 per month and includes 1,00,000 emails per month.
4. Amazon SES
Amazon SES is also a good option to consider for free SMTP servers. This is simply because of its Pay as you go option and scalability. You get a huge number of first 62,000 emails to send for free each month. But here comes the catch that you need to send the email from an application hosted on Amazon EC2, also known as Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud.
Further, it is a flexible and scalable SMTP transactional email service, primarily geared towards application developers and digital marketers. It lets you easily send notifications and transactional emails to your users.
It comes with a robust system to make sure your emails avoiding the spam filters. Easy tracking for email delivery, bounce rate, and rejections through their smart mechanism is also available.
Price: It’s a pay-as-you-go service. You can send 62,000 emails/month for free. After the free limit, you’ll need to pay $0.10 for every 1000 emails. If your emails include attachments, then you’ll have to pay $0.12 / GB.
5. Mailgun
Mailgun is a popular and easy to scale SMTP service for developers. It supports powerful APIs for easy sending, receiving, and tracking of transactional emails. It has advanced email validation to increase your conversions. It also features a robust sending infrastructure with SMTP integration and a simple API to send bulk emails to your users.
It supports testing mode and is great for developers: has a RESTful API with libraries and code examples in curl, Ruby, Python, PHP, Java, C#, Go.
Price: With Mailgun you get 10,000 emails and 100 email validations per month are free. For 20,000 emails and 500 email validations per month, it costs $9 / month. There is no daily limit.
6. Postmark
Postmark is another one of the best SMTP services that specializes in sending transactional emails, which is focused on email deliverability and speed. This mail client offers excellent analytics and security, as well as mobile-friendly responsive email templates, message events that can be triggered with simple webhooks, and more.
You can get detailed analytics with 45 days’ worth of email logs showing emails sent, received, who received them, who read them, and who marked them as spam.
Price: Plans start at $10/month (number of emails: up to 10,000 emails/month).
7. Elastic Email
Another free SMTP service to use in 2020 is Elastic Email. You can schedule numerous campaigns using this service and even apply various settings like send time and more. Also, it avoids duplicate addresses automatically and runs on an advanced algorithm which helps the user identify invalid emails. Elastic Email tool provides detailed statistics.
It allows quick modification of the template with its drag and drops editor. You can range 100 million emails and more per month. It also allows easy connection via HTTP API.
Price: The Unlimited plan starts with $9 per month and includes unlimited emails for 2500 subscribers.
8. Moosend
Moosend is a yet another affordable SMTP transactional email service with a drag and drops email builder to design your transactional emails instantly. It has a good deliverability rate that can combat spam filter. You can also get advanced analytics reports for your transactional emails.
It allows you to create an email blast and tracks the emails in real-time.
Price: It’s free for up to 1000 subscribers. For the next 1000 subscribers, you’ll need to pay $8 per month if billed annually. All plans offer unlimited emails and campaigns each month.
9. Mailjet
Mailjet is a global SMTP service which is rapid, reliable and easy to use. It enables the user to track the marketing and transactional emails via API, SMTP and more interfaces. Using the email builder, you can create responsive and informative emails easily.
The tool has an intuitive drag-and-drop editor, which is absolutely free. Its template system is user-friendly with an intuitive layout designer that quickly creates automated emails.
Price: You get 6000 emails per month, with a limit of 200 per day. Mailjet premium plans start at $8.69 per month which limits the user with 30,000 emails per month.
Conclusion
We hope you found this article about free SMTP service to use in 2020 super informative. These are the best for a reliable and a powerful email campaign! If you know more such amazing SMTP services then let us know by commenting below!
Interested in checking whether your emails are landing in spam?
#fortheloveofemails
