SendLayer is a transactional email relay launched in 2022 by the team behind WPBeginner, WP Mail SMTP, and Easy WP SMTP – all properties of Syed Balkhi’s Awesome Motive. This corporate context is relevant. Easy WP SMTP (500,000+ active installs) lists SendLayer as its “recommended” mailer, and WPBeginner articles frequently funnel readers toward it. The product itself is an SMTP/API relay with annual-only pricing starting at $5/month for 1,000 emails.
SMTP settings
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Host | smtp.sendlayer.net |
| Port | 587 |
| Encryption | TLS |
| Username | (not required for API mode) |
| Password | API key (from SendLayer dashboard) |
Confirm current SMTP values in your SendLayer dashboard. The API path via Easy WP SMTP or WP Mail SMTP does not require manual SMTP configuration.
SendLayer supports both SMTP and API submission. The API path is the primary integration method through Easy WP SMTP and WP Mail SMTP, which both include native SendLayer mailer options. For generic SMTP connections via other plugins, use the host and API key above.
SendLayer does not publish details about its sending infrastructure (shared vs dedicated IPs, hosting provider, geographic distribution). This is unusual; Postmark and SMTP2GO are transparent about their infrastructure. The opacity is not inherently a problem, but makes independent deliverability assessment difficult.
Pricing
| Plan | Price | Volume | Domains | Log retention |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trial | Free | 200 emails (one-time) | 1 | – |
| Starter | $5/mo (annual) | 1,000/mo | 1 | 3 days |
| Business | $15/mo (annual) | 5,000/mo | 3 | 15 days |
| Growth | $25/mo (annual) | 10,000/mo | 5 | 30 days |
| Scale | Custom | 20,000+/mo | 20 | 30 days |
Annual billing only; no monthly option. 14-day money-back guarantee.
The pricing is not competitive at any tier against the broader market:
- 1,000 emails/month: SMTP2GO offers this free, indefinitely, with no credit card. SendLayer charges $5/month ($60/year).
- 5,000 emails/month: Brevo offers 9,000/month free (300/day). SendLayer charges $15/month.
- 10,000 emails/month: SMTP2GO Starter covers this for $10/month with 30-day logs. SendLayer charges $25/month for the same volume and retention.
- At scale: Postmark provides 10,000 emails for $15/month with a strong deliverability reputation and no domain limits. Mailgun starts at $15/month for 10,000 with dedicated IP eligibility.
The 200-email trial is the only way to evaluate the service without payment. Most competitors offer either ongoing free tiers (SMTP2GO, Brevo) or more generous trials (Mailgun: 100/day for 30 days; Amazon SES: 3,000/month trial).
Log retention is also constrained: 3 days on Starter means last week’s delivery issue is already gone. SMTP2GO offers 5-day retention on its free tier.
DNS authentication
SendLayer requires domain authorisation before sending. The process adds SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records to your domain’s DNS. SendLayer’s documentation provides the specific record values after you add a domain to your account.
Note: some hosting providers automatically append your domain to the hostname field when adding DNS records. If the provided record already includes your domain, remove the domain portion before adding it; otherwise you get a doubled domain (e.g., sendlayer._domainkey.example.com.example.com).
After DNS setup, test with swaks that messages pass SPF and DKIM alignment. For general DNS setup help, see our WordPress email DNS guide.
WordPress integration
Easy WP SMTP – SendLayer is listed as the “recommended” mailer in 
Easy WP SMTP (500,000+ active installs, also Awesome Motive). The plugin offers a “Quick Connect” option that configures SendLayer with an API key in two clicks. This is the path most users encounter, since Easy WP SMTP’s setup wizard steers toward SendLayer by default.
WP Mail SMTP – WP Mail SMTP (the market-leading mailer plugin, also Awesome Motive) includes SendLayer as a native mailer option alongside 13 other supported providers.
Generic SMTP – Any mailer plugin (FluentSMTP, Post SMTP) can connect via the SMTP settings above. This is the path for users who prefer a plugin without commercial ties to SendLayer’s parent company.
The Awesome Motive ecosystem
The corporate relationship is worth understanding because it creates a promotional pipeline that WordPress users encounter frequently:
- WPBeginner (the largest WordPress tutorial site) publishes articles recommending WP Mail SMTP and Easy WP SMTP
- WP Mail SMTP and Easy WP SMTP (combined 4.5M+ active installs) list SendLayer as a supported and “recommended” mailer
- SendLayer benefits from this pipeline as an ecosystem relay
This is not unusual in WordPress (Jetpack promotes WordPress.com hosting, Yoast promotes Semrush), but it means that recommendations of SendLayer from within this ecosystem are not independent editorial assessments. A reader encountering SendLayer via a WPBeginner tutorial or the Easy WP SMTP setup wizard should evaluate it against alternatives on price and features alone.
nanoPost has no commercial relationship with any provider reviewed on this site.
Assessment
SendLayer delivers reliably and its setup through Easy WP SMTP’s Quick Connect is genuinely the fastest in the category: two clicks from plugin installation to working email relay. The service functions correctly for what it does.
It is not, however, competitive on price, features, or free-tier availability compared to the broader market at any volume level. The cases where it makes sense:
- Users already paying for Easy WP SMTP Pro who want the absolute fastest setup path
- Operators who value a single vendor relationship (Awesome Motive for plugin + relay)
- Sites where the $5/month cost is immaterial and configuration simplicity outweighs everything else
The cases where alternatives are better (most cases):
- Any budget constraint: SMTP2GO’s free tier (1,000/month, no expiry) covers SendLayer’s entry-level volume at zero cost.
- Better value at paid tiers: SMTP2GO Starter ($10/mo for 10K) or Postmark ($15/mo for 10K) deliver more emails for less money with better log retention and deliverability transparency.
- Independence from promotional ecosystems: FluentSMTP paired with SMTP2GO, Postmark, or Brevo provides the same wp_mail() relay without commercial ties between the plugin and the relay service.
SendLayer’s primary distribution advantage is placement within the Awesome Motive plugin ecosystem. On product merits alone (price, volume, free tier, log retention, infrastructure transparency), competitors offer more at every price point.
For the broader setup that places SendLayer inside the WordPress email stack, see the WordPress email setup guide.
Pricing verified June 2026 against sendlayer.com/pricing. Corporate relationship confirmed via wordpress.org contributor profiles and Easy WP SMTP plugin listing. SMTP hostname from SendLayer documentation (confirm current values in your dashboard).