Easy WP SMTP plugin review and common issues

Authentication failures indicate incorrect credentials or security settings. Check: (1) the SMTP username is your full email address (not just the local part before @); (2) the password is correct — if using Gmail, you must use an App Password (generated in Google Account → Security → App Passwords) rather than your Google account password, as Google blocks less secure app authentication; (3) the SMTP host and port match your email provider’s specifications — Gmail uses smtp.gmail.com port 587 (STARTTLS) or port 465 (SSL/TLS).

Easy WP SMTP lacks email logging, making diagnosis harder. Install a temporary logging plugin (or switch to FluentSMTP which includes free logging) to capture the next failed delivery attempt and view the SMTP response code. Alternatively, add a test form submission and check your SMTP provider’s sending logs directly — Gmail’s Sent folder shows if the email was accepted. If the SMTP provider shows the email as sent but it never arrives, the issue is recipient-side spam filtering rather than WordPress delivery.

Easy WP SMTP has “Force From Name” and “Force From Email” options. If these are enabled, they override whatever From Name and From Email individual plugins (WooCommerce, contact form plugins) set. Go to Settings → Easy WP SMTP and configure the From Name and From Email to your preferred values. Enable “Force From Name” and “Force From Email” to standardize all WordPress email sender identity. If you want individual plugins to control their own From Name (e.g., WooCommerce orders using your store name), disable the Force options.

In Settings → Easy WP SMTP, set SMTP Host to smtp.gmail.com, Port to 587, Encryption to TLS. For Username, enter your full Gmail address. For Password: if using a personal Gmail account, create a Google App Password (Google Account → Security → 2-Step Verification → App Passwords → generate password for “Mail” and “Windows Computer”) and use that 16-character code instead of your regular password. For Google Workspace accounts, use the same process or consult your workspace administrator for SMTP app password generation.

Yes — Easy WP SMTP supports Amazon SES via SMTP. In the SES console, go to SMTP Settings and create SMTP credentials (username and password specifically for SMTP — not your AWS access keys). Enter the SES SMTP endpoint (e.g., email-smtp.us-east-1.amazonaws.com), port 587, STARTTLS encryption, and the SMTP credentials in Easy WP SMTP settings. Ensure your sending domain is verified in Amazon SES and your account is approved for production sending before sending to external recipients.

Honestly, FluentSMTP provides more features at the same zero cost — email logging, multiple mailer connections, native API integrations, and email routing are all free in FluentSMTP but absent in Easy WP SMTP. Easy WP SMTP’s only advantage is an even simpler interface for users who only need basic SMTP credentials entry and nothing else. For most sites, FluentSMTP is the better free SMTP choice. Easy WP SMTP may be preferred by site owners who want the absolute minimum number of settings and are certain they will never need logging or API connections.

For a small WooCommerce store where order confirmation emails are the primary concern, Easy WP SMTP can work — it will route WooCommerce emails through your SMTP provider reliably. The significant limitation is the absence of email logging: if order confirmation emails fail to deliver (which directly impacts customer experience and trust), you have no diagnostic tools to identify which orders were affected or why delivery failed. For WooCommerce stores, FluentSMTP or Post SMTP (both free with email logging) are strongly preferable to Easy WP SMTP.

Yes, that can happen, especially on older sites with many plugins. This usually happens when the plugin, theme, and add-ons are updated out of sequence. In most cases, testing on staging catches the issue before it reaches the live site. From experience, backups and changelog reviews save a lot of cleanup time.

Start by checking whether another plugin already does the same job. In most cases, overlap is what creates avoidable conflicts and performance issues. A common issue is installing a plugin because it looks convenient without checking the stack first. From experience, a short compatibility review avoids most of the pain later.